Page 69 of Hooded

“But don’t do it again,” she growls, running her hand over her stomach. “Because pissing off a pregnant lady is not something any Gryn, or anygladiator, ever wants to do.”

“Is this your mate?”

I look up to see a large Gryn, flanked by many others. I snarl as a default because all of them are too close to my Fern. The best distance being the other side of the galaxy.

“Yes,” Fern says, “this is Klynn.”

“Guv.” Mylo strides past me to greet the other Gryn. “I see you brought the team.”

“When there’s Proto to be dealt with, I could hardly stop them,” the big Gryn says.

“You are here to deal with Proto?” I look down at my Fern.

“I’m here for you. These Gryn believe there’s an old enemy here,” Fern says. “One which has been stealing Gryn for a long time.”

“It’s about time Proto was destroyed and the galaxy being safe for all Gryn,” the largest of the Gryn says. “I am Strykr. This is my team, Vypr, Ayar, Syn, and Jay.”

The three Gryn directly behind him variously nod, or in Ayar’s case, growl at me.

“Destroying Proto is only the start,” I respond. “The Galactic Council is complicit, or at least some of them are, and until they are dealt with, until their hold over the galaxy is managed, their desire to control all those who might challenge them will keep us at risk of a similar situation.”

Strykr looks me up and down and his lips hitch into a smile.

“The gladiator,” he says. “The fighter.”

I shake my feathers at him. “We are all fighters.”

He straightens. “We are. But fighter or not, it remains for us to kill the unkillable.”

“Nothing is immune from death,” I growl. “I have seen enough of it to know.”

Fingers slide into the downy feathers at the base of my wings, and all my troubles, all my grief at losing my sweet Fern are gone in an instant. She is here, with me, and has a grip on my heart I never want her to let go.

“Is he drooling?” one of the other Gryn asks.

“With a ripe little mate, of course he is,” the response comes back.

I want to growl, I really do. I don’t like having all these Gryn so close to my Fern, but having her in my arms once again, a mate who came for me, who found me, who forgave me when I let her down…

I am the luckiest male in the entire universe.

FERN

Klynn smells like burning, his torso covered in burn marks and the rest of him coated with a thin film of the gray dust which is everywhere on Hatul. A planetoid my systems assured me used to be filled in life.

Now a wasteland.

Although not completely, given I’ve found Klynn here. I knew I needed him. I didn’t know how much my body was craving being close to him. Despite everything, his feathers still exude the spicy scent I adore, and with my hands deep within them, I’m enjoying every second of being in his arms once again.

Danger be damned. I’m here with him, and everything will be okay. He might move worlds, but I will destroy any which stand between us.

Including this one.

“Little fury,” Klynn hums with pleasure from my touch. “Destruction is not in your nature. Let me do the destroying.”

Ah, the thoughtbond, the intermittent psychic leap between us, always popping up at an inappropriate moment.

“I need you, Klynn. The baby needs you,” I say.

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