Page 23 of Hooded

Fern draws in a juddering breath.

I don’t think that was the right thing to say.

“Get on with it!” A shout comes from above. “You don’t have long to do the deed, Gryn, or we’ll mate her ourselves.”

She closes her eyes, and I take my chance, caging her against the wall and placing my lips next to her ear.

“I promise you, little fury, I will not do anything you don’t want me to do. Just give the word, and I will destroy them all.”

Fern looks up at me. “How?”

“I’ll find a way.”

“They’ll just freeze us again. I’ve never come across this tech before. We can’t fight it.”

“I will.”

“Klynn, they’re going to kill us.” Her voice is high-pitched, terrified. “Or worse, they’re going to kill you andstillbreed with me.”

“Then I will have to breed you first,” I breathe.

There has to be a first time for everything, after all.

FERN

He means it. And I don’t know what to make of it. I can’t be aroused, not in this situation, not knowing what they want from us. Not knowing what lies in store if it turns out I can get pregnant by Klynn.

What will happen to him, to me, to our baby?

I don’t want any of it.

“The Gryn and the…female will mate,” a voice calls from high above us. “I don’t think he needs his wings to mate.”

A pulsar bolt comes through the forcefield and slams into the wall, just where the shoulder of Klynn's left wing was half a second ago.

“Vrex,” he says through gritted teeth.

“If they leave it any longer, I think they can do without heat, light, and food for a nova-day. Bet that concentrates their minds.”

“And other parts.” Someone else laughs mirthlessly.

Klynn looks up and snarls. “The female is MINE,” he says in a voice which is entirely different from any he’s used before.

I’m lifted off my feet and tossed onto the hard ledge which functions as a bed. Klynn’s body covers mine in a move too quick for me to do anything about it. He pins my wrists above my head.

“Klynn…” I say his name desperately.

“I will not do anything you don’t want me to do,” he says.

“But we don’t have any choice.” I’m hoarse with overwhelm.

“There is always a choice… but I haven’t mated before,” Klynn says, his eyes darker than ever. “And now, even though they’ve been hard for you since we met, my cocks don’t want to be hard.”

The pain is evident in his face.

“You were hard for me from the moment we met?” I query. “I thought you hated me.”

“Hate, love, it’s the same thing. It all comes from here.” Klynn slams his fist over his heart. “But I don’t want you to get hurt and yet I can’t get my cocks to go hard. I can’t mate you to save you.”

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