Page 92 of Chained

“He was injured fighting the Bogarok in the dome. He’s in a secure location.” I don’t sheath my sword.

There’s something about the Sarkarnii which I can’t trust. It could be the lack of pants. It could be the way Draco and the other two size me up.

It reminds me of the games, and my desire for violence hasn’t quite dissipated yet.

Smoke curls from Draco’s nostrils. “I need to see him.”

The fact my mate is where Retah is means there is absolutely no way I’m taking the Sarkarnii anywhere near her.

“You don’t need to see him. I’m here,” I growl, shaking out my feathers. “You deal with me.”

“That very much depends what you have to deal with, Gryn,” the blue Sarkarnii growls.

“Let him speak, Drega.” The green Sarkarnii huffs out smoke.

“Nev off, Draxx. You’re getting soft in your old age,” Drega spits. “We came all this way to deal with some nevving Bogarok. Now I stink of them, and no aquium is going to get the stench out before I get back to my mate.”

My ears prick at the word ‘mate’. From what little I know about Sarkarnii, they have no females left.

“If you could kill one of them without eviscerating it, you’d avoid the worst of their innards,” Draxx says, as if killing Bogarok all nova-day is something he does. Green lights skitter under his scales as if he’s lit from within.

“Enough,” Draco grumbles. “We agreed to help Baronn because he was able to provide us with the pulsix cannon we needed. I want off this foul rock as much as you do, but we have a contract, and I want to get it done before we go back to finding the Sarkarnii.”

“You’re looking for Sarkarnii?” I query.

Draco brings his attention back to me with a snarl. “What is it to you, Gryn?”

“I was a Gryn commander…I think…my memories were stolen from me. I want to find the other Gryn, my unit, my species, and my planet.”

Draco looks at Drega. He inclines his head, making me wonder if these brothers have a thoughtbond like I have with my mate.

Or if they’ve fought together for a long time, like I have with Klynn, Rych, Sylas, and Blayn. I grip my blade and smoothly slide into a fighting stance, ready for the assault.

I’ve not survived so far only to be struck down by three ridiculously colored reptiles.

“Looks like Draxx is not the only one going soft,” Draco says, pulling a pulsar from a belt around his waist and pointing it at me. “I appreciate an honorable warrior, and I appreciate his cause.”

As he fires, I duck and roll, and I’m on my feet in an instant, roaring as I leap towards him, fully intending ending this meddlesome Sarkarnii.

“Maxym! Wait!”

Her voice.

Cleo’s voice.

The thoughtbond lights up, brighter than a sun going supernova with her love and her desire for me. For our future, for the youngling growing inside her.

Draco hasn’t moved, even with my blade an inch from his person. He tips his head on one side, his scales glittering in the dim light.

“A mate,” he rumbles. “They are incredible things, aren’t they? Mine worked out a way of making a belt so I could carry a pulsar even when shifted.” He points to his waist. “It’s called ex-last-tic,” he adds proudly.

I don’t quite know what to do, so I lower my sword as Cleo hits me, her arms wrapping around my waist and her fingers disappearing into my feathers.

I think I might have dropped my weapon as she touches just the right parts of me. But if I’m in her arms, I simply don’t care anymore.

CLEO

Maxym captures my mouth with one of his demanding kisses, his thoughtbond a whirl of desire, fear, and pleasure, plenty of which seems to have made it to his crotch as what I feel pressing against me is not his armor.

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