Page 11 of Gairo

She curled her smaller frame into my body. “There’s something wrong here.”

“I’m glad you’re with me, sweetheart.” I kissed the top of her head. I was tired, but I wasn’t too tired to send my hand traveling between her thighs. From the way that she bucked against my hand, I could tell that she wasn’t too tired either. I wait until she was worked up to eat her. She tasted fresh beneath my tongue as I took her through orgasm after orgasm. When she was limp, I made love to her as gently as I could. It felt like a miracle, watching her fall asleep in my bed. A small sound was all the warning I got before a gas canister went off in the room.

Males in masks ran into the room, and I killed two with one of my knives and injured a few more before the gas got to me. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Zyloxia taking off a gas mask.

WORST HEADACHE

VERONICA

Iwake up with a migraine, almost as if an aki was bucking in my skull. I can feel a male’s hands help me drink, but he doesn’t smell like my mate. I opened my eyes to see a very concerned Rathgar.

“Why are you here?”

“We were ambushed.”

I cursed, using the most imaginative ones that I had from home. “I knew that we couldn’t trust Magdorian and Zyloxia.” I looked around. “Why are we in a cell?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know where Gairo is.”

* * *

Zyloxia cameto our cell door with a meal, which I didn’t trust at all.

“What’s going on?”

“I see no reason not to tell you, now that you’re in this cell. Magdorian is correcting the mistake that I made years ago. He and I decided to kill Gairo, but I hoped the amnesia would help keep Tyrlyn safe from Magdorian. Tyrlyn is the heir to their warlord papa. Now that Veronica is pregnant, he has a chance to claim all this territory for his own. Magdorian has no intention of letting it happen. He’s as cruel as he needs to be, and he’s power hungry with it. He’s forcing me to fix my mistake by bringing back Tyrlyn and killing the new child. It’s too public, though.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Rathgar.

“There’s an ancient rite where they’ll fight to the death. The victor will claim the territory.”

Rathgar started muttering to himself. “I’ve heard of it, but it’s a barbaric tradition.”

“If Tyrlyn loses, Vi and the child will die as well.” Zyloxia sighed. “I don’t like slaying children. I’m sorry that you were dragged into all this.”

Without answering more questions, she swept away and left Rathgar and me staring after her. Where was Gairo?

MANACLED

GAIRO

My head ached. My wrists were manacled behind my back and attached to something. My ankles were chained together.

“Ah, my brother awakes,” Magdorian said.

My vision was a little blurry, but Magdorian was looking at a tablet.

“You know, Zyloxia told me how successful you were as a pilot on the other continent. Mother and Father always believed in you.”

“Where is my heart-mate?” I asked. She was pregnant.

“You don’t have to worry about Veronica. You really should have stayed forgotten on the other continent.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m going to give you two choices: you can kill your pregnant heart-mate yourself and disappear again back to the other continent or you can fight in an ancient rite to the death on the next full moon.”

“I’d rather fight to the death.” I’d never kill my pregnant heart-mate.

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