Page 16 of Her Males

The extinction of an entire gender is an issue too significant to use for personal gain, which is precisely what Aziel did.

Breeds began to partner up once the issue was detected, and many information-sharing-based alliances were put in place. The decline happened so suddenly and, for many breeds, was so immediately detrimental that funding for scientific studies were dropped rather quickly.

The human world, at least, fell into chaos within a matter of years. Warring countries began targeting females, and by the time the humans decided to come together as one, too much damage had been done.

I suspect something similar happened to many other breeds.

“You don’t think you could come together for the sake of the females?” I ask. “You guys fucked up, but you’re making a genuine effort to fix it now.”

Silas doesn’t look convinced.

“Can we at least try?” I practically beg.

The sound of Silas’s office door opening captures my attention, and I turn just in time to see Gray come strolling inside. He grins as he takes in my position on Silas’s lap, clearly pleased by it, before he drops onto the sofa.

I move to get up, but Silas tightens his hold on me so I can’t leave.

“I don’t think it would hurt to try,” Gray offers, answering the question I asked Silas earlier. “Let’s see if we can use that option as leverage during our talks with Levia first.”

Silas frowns but doesn’t immediately argue, which I take as a good sign.

4

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GRAY

SHOULD I TELL Charlie we can smell her fear? She adjusts on Silas’s lap, and after a moment’s hesitation, I decide against saying anything. It’ll probably just make things worse.

We’ve been waiting inside Levia’s conference room for almost five minutes now, a fact that’s greatly pissed off Aziel, and there’s been screaming coming from the doors behind it the entire time.

Silas wraps his arms around Charlie’s waist and gives her a gentle squeeze, and I smile at the two before turning toward Aziel. He blatantly avoids looking in their direction, his lips curled into a permanent frown.

I’m sure he’s not having fun watching me and Silas choose Charlie over him.

He went from thinking he’d have me, Silas, and a female as his bonded, to now only one female. Wraths generally prefer to be monogamous, but I know he cares for Silas and me more than he lets on.

Charlie shivers and grabs Silas’s wrists as the screaming continues. I’m sure this is all a ploy by Levia, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes at the dramatization of it. He hopes to scare our female and gain the upper hand, but he fails to realize Aziel isn’t affected by Charlie’s fear.

I may have thought long ago that Aziel cared for her, but now I realize that what happened at the Lust party was a fluke. Aziel’s too selfish to see how amazing Charlie is, and she deserves better than some male who needs to beconvincedto care for her.

“What’s going on in there?” she asks Silas, gesturing toward the door the screams are emerging from.

Silas shrugs and presses a kiss to the back of her head.

“I don’t know, but it’s nothing for you to worry about,” he assures her.

It’s not what I would’ve said, but I don’t correct him. I need to be better about letting them figure out their relationship on their own, which is admittedly harder to do than I initially anticipated.

Charlie makes it obvious she prefers me to Silas, which I can’t blame her for. I’ve been with her for months while Silas only just admitted his interest, but I can tell it’s upsetting the fate. I don’t want to say anything and cause her to be even weirder around him, but I’m trying not to interrupt whenever they’re alone.

Even though I desperately want to.

Charlie leans into his chest with a sigh, and her hands slide down his wrists before she slots her fingers between his. I beam as I watch. I’m happy they’re together, and I’m even more pleased as Silas’s arousal reaches my nose.

I can’t remember the last time he was intimate with anybody, and now he’s lusting twenty-four-seven around Charlie. She throws herself on his lap, he’s horny. She holds his hand, he’s horny. She sneezes, he’s horny.

I fucking love it.

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