Page 83 of Baited

“I don’t think I was always on Trefa.” Rych shakes his head sadly. “But then if we don’t know where we come from, we don’t have any reason not to fight. The dome gave us food, board, something to do.” He shuts his eyes again. “It’s not like any other Gryn came looking for us,” he growls.

“You could go looking for them?” I suggest.

Rych opens one eye and looks at me. “If they couldn’t be bothered to look for me, I’m not going looking for them,” he retorts.

Through the bond, Blayn makes it clear he only wants me. He also has a number of suggestive images hovering in the back of his mind which send heat spiking through me.

I curl my hands into his feathers and respond in kind, causing him to wriggle next to me.

Rych glares at us, sighs, and unfolds himself from his seat.

“I’m going to find out how far out we are from Trefa,” he says, stalking off in the direction of the pilot, a friendly Lepke who, furry wings fluttering, informed us he had the fastest sub space transport on all of Trefa.

And he owed Nood a favor.

“Has he gone?” Blayn lifts his head, eyes half lidded. “Because I want to do things to my mate.”

“Oh, do you?” I nod over at the madame.

“She knows all about the things I want to do to you.”

“That’s entirely possible, Gryn,” the madame says, not opening her eyes. “But it doesn’t mean I want to witness them.”

Blayn writhes uncomfortably and I laugh.

“My cocks are hard for you, mate,” he whispers loudly.

“You do know you can use the bond.” I kiss him on the lips, cradling his head in my hands. “If you need to let me know how you feel.”

“I do, but my cocksarehard. I want to sheath myself in you,” he whines.

“And that’s how she got herself with young.” Madame huffs, also rising, her skirts swirling around her. “We’ll be in Tatatunga in ten nova-minutes, young Gryn. You’ll have to keep it for later.” She levels her formidable gaze at Blayn who doesn’t shrink from it. “I know you’ll be able to perform whenever you need to.”

I cover my mouth with my hand, choking on my laughter. Blayn gives me a blank look until he taps into the thoughtbond and a very wicked smile creeps onto one corner of his mouth.

“Correct, Madame. A Gryn can go all night. A gladiator Gryn can go all nova-day and night.”

The madame glares at him for several beats before huffing out a word which sounds very much like “males!” Only then does she glide away from us to organize her luggage.

“I like the thoughtbond,” Blayn says, snuggling into my side.

“You like it because you can let me into all your filthy thoughts.” I lean against him, luxuriating in his warmth and scent.

“Not all my thoughts are filthy,” Blayn replies.‘But all of them are about you.’

BLAYN

Iunderstand we needed to both get away from Sartak quickly and back to Tatatunga with the same haste, but I would have appreciated more time with my mate.

Still, having her in my head is a good thing. Before the thoughtbond clicked into place, confirming what I already knew, that Izzy was my fated mate, having her close was everything, but now it’s like she’s always with me.

I just have to hide some parts of myself from her. My gorgeous mate can’t know what I’ve had to do to survive. She can’t know what happened in the amphitheater. It’s hard, but I push those thoughts back down inside myself. Then I concentrate on what I do like.

As soon as the Habosu announces we are closing in on Tatatunga, anxiety flows from Izzy down the bond.

“I’m worried for you,” she says out loud. “What if the procurator won’t let you go?”

“He will. He won’t have any other choice. Buying a youngling to put it in the dome is something even the Tatatunga council can’t endorse, no matter what amount of credits change hands.”

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