Page 35 of Bred By Zyros
I clasp my hands over my ears, slamming my eyes closed and letting my knees hit the ground deep inside his coil. The sounds of my ragged breathing drown out the chaos. The domtics press on as the adrenaline skewers my chest. When hands find me again, I flinch and scream. They gently pry my palms from my ears. It’s only then that I realize I’m rasping, full hyperventilation.
“Calm, my mate. You’re safe, I’m here.”
I slam my eyes open. Stumbling as I wrap my arms around his neck, flinging myself into Zyros as he lifts me and heads for what I can only pray is an exit. My eyes find the group of females. The red and golden one’s mouth is bloody and malformed. She’s doubled over, panting, her eyes glued to the floor, splattered with blue black blood.
And nobody moves to help her.
nineteen
Zyros
The sound of my ferocious mate’s sobs fills the jungle. Nyssara is quiet as it grieves with her, allowing her guttural sobs what she’s owed, letting her take her inch of peace. I have spent many long nights demanding my own, roaring my pain into her soil.
My damaged body is already healing, but each cut, gash, and bite pulls. It is nothing compared to the way her tears needle my chest. I have failed her already too many times. I slip into a grotto close to our home, unwilling to take her there in her state and see the mess I made of the males who lie there. She cries, quieter now, as I pull us into the spring. Her small body trembles with exhaustion as I sit her on my tail, letting the water take her weight. We don’t speak, my hands roaming over the darkened coloring of her skin as I wash the paint from her. Her light, dotted skin, freckles, she called them, are hidden, a deep shade of purple on her back, the imprint of a tail makes bile rise in my gut. My female is brave but soft. Zaelshar was a stupidmale to have handled her this roughly. Without her warning, her scream, the other nameless males may have bested me. I was nearly mindless, going after her. They hid with their cowards' blood, trying to sneak around my jungle.
They are dead now.
Zaelshar would never harm a female. He is one of the foolish ones who worship and praise them. It is why he still breathes. He has always been different than the other males. He was bitten by a Verdalis as a young one. I can remember the elders crying, saying his brain was not right. The other males use him for their hunting, the females for their spying. He no doubt thought what he was doing was right when Xyphora whispered her delusions into his ear. The other males had meant to kill him before he made it. They’d meant to take my female as their own. I choke back a hiss, wanting to be quiet for my shaken mate. When she’s free of paint, my markings no longer covered, I’m lost to my thoughts, guilt and shame keeping me quiet.
She speaks first.
Her words are gutting.
“I’m so sorry, Zyros. I’m sorry I didn’t listen, didn’ttryto understand.”
I curse at her softly before realizing it was in my language, the translation not carrying. “You have done nothingwrong. It isIwho failedyou, Sssaryth.”
Her hands shake, her blue eyes rimmed red and even more vivid for it. “No, I-I just—” She stops speaking, burying her head in my chest. My arms wrap around my small mate, sucking in her citrus scent like my life depends on it.
“I didn’t know it was that bad, Zyros. Why did you stay? Why are you still trying to give them what they want?”
Her words make me stiffen, but there is no accusation in her voice. No judgment, only her gentle words. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath before I tell her of my shame, before Iexplain something that haunts me every night, that torments my waking thoughts. The things that have made me a weak, bitter male who hates the sight of his scales.
“I do not know why I do not fight them. I am a strong male. I could.”
She rears back at that, her sad blue eyes making a thick feeling form in my throat. I try to swallow it down, but it won’t go. “You being strong has nothing to do with it. What they did waswrong. It is considered an intergalactic crime, Zyros.”
My eyes narrow as I ponder her words. “It is not acrime. I am here to be bred. I was born under the same moon I blessed you with. I was a male born in the moon of a goddess. It was a sign.”
“Forget all that for a moment. Did youwantit?”
I hiss, “Enough, Melody.”
Her breath comes in a shudder, choosing her words carefully the next time she speaks. I don’t truly wish her to be quiet. I am her mate; it is her right to know, but more than that… I find I want to tell her. Perhaps I will feel lighter for it, to give voice to these terrible things.
Weak, foolish male.
“Zyros, if you took one of the females when they said no, and forced yourself on them—”
I snarl. “I would never. You cannot touch a female—”
“Why is it different because you are a male, then?”
I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes at first. My brow furrows as my heart quickens in my chest. The sight of my gleaming scales under the water against her pretty pale skin makes my stomach knot. “I am stronger, Iextruded.”
Her lip wobbles, the small divot in her chin making an appearance. The sight is wrenching, too close to pity.
“Hold your breath,” I order.
