Page 78 of Baited

“I don’t think you can tell anything’s in there yet.” I put my hand over his, feeling the gnarled flesh and the bumps where his claws retract. “It’s probably the size of a pea or something.”

Blayn flaps a wing against the wall where we’re sitting. “A pee?”

“A small, very small vegetable.” I measure out the size of a pea between my thumb and forefinger.

“A vegetable?” Blayn queries.

I stare up at him. His mouth quivers at the corner.

“You’re terrible at lying.” I lean my head back against his chest. “You know what a vegetable is.”

The feeling of exhaustion I had earlier is growing. I don’t want to fall asleep out here, even if the courtyard is quiet, and Blayn is warm, and there’s the scent of flowers in the air which mingle with the scent of his feathers. I thought I’d never see him again, and yet here he is, large as life.

My heart seems to swell in my chest. This male, who is in my head. And thinking about vegetables…

“This thoughtbond thing, can we turn it off?” I ask.

Blayn shrugs. “I didn’t turn it on.”

“Can you stop thinking about vegetables then? You’re making me hungry.”

“If you require food, I will get it for you.” Blayn shifts and I cling to him. “But I’m comfortable.”

“Then…” I see his mind moving through the options, selecting Rych and then growling silently at him before coming back to him as his only option. “Rych can get us food.”

Blayn has zero filter and with the thoughtbond I can see every thought. Actually, I can’t see his thoughts, I can feel them, and it means I also feel growly, hungry, and…horny.

“I’m not getting involved,” Rych responds, his feathers lifting and then slicking back down. “If you want food for your mate, you’ll need to get it yourself. I don’t want to risk losing a wing.”

He flashes me a bright smile before pushing away from the wall where he’s been leaning and walking down the courtyard into the building.

“He does know this place is a pleasure house, doesn’t he?” I query.

“Rych has plenty of experience with pleasure houses,” Blayn says, and I’m treated to a little flashback to the Lux.

“Something he does when he’s not helping you kill things in the dome?” I ignore the rumble in my stomach and cling to my gladiator.

“Females request him for night activities, or sometimes he gets sent.”

“Night activities?” And when it hits me, because Blayn’s mind is blank, he flinches. “Oh. Does he like it?”

Blayn frowns. “I don’t think so. But he does it because otherwise he’d be sidelined for the games, and he loves to fight even more than I do.”

Images of fighting dance through my head.

“We’re going to have to get a grip on this thoughtbond thing or I’m going to get whiplash.”

“I like it,” Blayn says happily. “Your head is a nice place.”

“My stomach is not.” I put my hand over my stomach as it growls.

“Food.” Blayn also growls, and he gets to his feet, lifting me in his arms.

“I can walk.”

“What if I don’t want you to walk?”

“What if I kiss you?”

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