Page 34 of Bound

“You are all I think of, my little spark,” I respond.

I want her to be able to get back to her home, to her family, almost as much as I want her by my side.

Chrissie moves over me, and my cocks slip free from her delicious heat. I carefully clean her up, the hot water making her sleepy. By the time I finish, she’s happy again, and I carry her up and out of the baths to our room and place her on the bed before going outside to spin my feathers and rid myself of the last of my bath.

CHRISSIE

Rych orders the food. When it’s delivered, he sets it out on the comfortable seating area near the balcony and then insists on making sure I eat what he considers is “sufficient” and is far more than I usually would consume.

I enjoy everything far more than I have for a long time. I also enjoy the attention from Rych. Part of me wants to deny it, to push him away, to make it difficult for him to like me.

But I’ve been alone, here on Trefa, for so long, having someone like him here, someone I find it easier and easier to talk to, about anything…it is right.

Whether I deserve it or not is a different matter, but I’m going to force myself to accept what we have because the alternative is a solitude I don’t want to go back to.

“Did you enjoy fighting in the dome?” I ask him as I munch on a purple vegetable with the texture of a carrot and the flavor of an onion. “When you were a gladiator?”

“Perhaps enjoyment is the wrong word,” Rych says, contemplating another piece of meat. He very much likes his meat. “My fellow gladiators might have enjoyed it more than me, feral creatures that they were.” Rych releases a dry chuckle. “Klynn most definitely. That vrexer could cause a fight in anempty room.” He takes chunk of meat and chews thoughtfully. “I am a fighter. I like to fight. Put a sword in my hand and I’ll do a job.” Rych gives me a wicked grin. “For the right price.”

“I thought you were indentured?”

“We were, most of us. Some were sent to the dome as punishment for crimes they committed or were said to have committed,” Rych replies. “But we got credits for…” He eyes me as his words come to a halt.

“For what?”

He looks away. “For certain kills.”

“I don’t…”

“If someone was participating in the dome, and they had enemies, they could pay for that someone to be killed, sometimes in a certain way,” Rych says, still not looking at me, his voice strained.

I put my hand on his arm. He doesn’t move and he doesn’t look up. I slide a hand into his feathers, knowing how much he responded to my touch earlier.

“I didn’t like the dome. But it was all I knew,” he says quietly. “I didn’t want to leave.”

My fingers touch the warm skin underneath the soft down, and he closes his eyes. I find an apology hovering on my lips, but I know he doesn’t want it.

“But you’re here now. You have a job which means you don’t have to kill anyone.”

He raises his face, his jaw slightly slack. “I’d kill for you, my little spark. I’d protect you with my last breath.”

“I’d rather you didn’t. I like having you around.” I push my hand deeper, and a glassiness comes over his eyes.

“My…mate,” he says, a slight slur to his voice.

“Your mate?”

“Mine.” His eyelids droop in slow motion.

Having this huge beast at my mercy is somewhat empowering, especially when he’s been ordering me about all day.

“Yours?”

“Mine,” he growls, and I’m caged by a huge, feral monster who looks like he wants to devour me.

“Yours,” I say with a smile and a stretch. “But this mate is tired.”

Rych half hums, half growls as his dark eyes search my face.

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