Page 37 of Bred By Zyros
I might’ve panicked a bit when Zyros told me.
I’d worried I’d have to perch on top of it like a screwed-up version of an Old Earth chicken, but he assured me they open shortly after birth. That’s the thing though…most of the people on this planet, even the outliers, which there aren’t many of, haven’t seen a baby born in ages. Nobody, save for the same elders who held me down and blessed me, has ever witnessed a live birth. Usually, the females miscarry after only a few handfuls of solars.
The end of that window is approaching fast. Each day weighs on him, although I feel confident that me and egg baby are fine. As far as pregnancy symptoms, this has been my easiest go so far. It’s actually quite nice, aside from my limited palette. My poor mate has had to brave the storms outside to get more of the leaves I’m obsessed with.
I even started doing yoga again, although my cheeks had burned to a crisp when Zyros groaned and covertly slipped into his chamber. The sounds coming from inside had me panting with want. So much so, I had another go at sinking myself to the bottom of the spring. I just came out wet and still needy. With the large male sleeping outside my chamber, self-pleasure has been out. Truth be told, I’m dangerously close to humping the walls. There’s a little smooth edge of rock, rounded, that sticks out further than the rest. I bet I could rub—
The Thryss chitter at me, earning them a scowl from Zyros and distracting me from the bizarre track of my thoughts. I pick through my basket of leaves, sorting the ones that look more ripe than the others. I’m halfway to popping one in my mouth when the Thryss shoot a barb at me. “Bad little dude!” I scold and grip my basket, keeping it away from them. “You don’t even like these!”
“May I kill them yet?” Zyros asks, unhelpfully, from the art he’s hammering from the cave wall. I’d screeched when I woke two mornings ago to see him destroying it.
“Not yet.” I direct toward the Thryss, earning me some warbles before they gang up on me, hopping around like balls of rage. I can’t stay irritated with them for long. That day in the woods when they’d run…they’d gone to Zyros, trying to get help. One had even had a hand in helping kill the other males. I mean, sort of. He just shot him in the eye with a barb as he lie bleeding to death, but I count it as helping. I like for the little dudes to feel important; also, they’re good baby training for Zyros.
They do this nearly every time I get the leaves now from whatever stores he’d bulk picked while I was in my week long nap. I will admit, it’s getting old. They chitter around and fuss, lording over my baskets. Sometimes they leave it at that, other times they snatch it and drag it into the spring. The hot water makes the leaves all mushy and gross. I’ve tried the whole gentle parenting approach, but they respond better to letting my mate hiss at them. By better, I mean they leave me alone for a minute and shoot him with barbs so I can eat. I lift a leaf from my pile to stick in my mouth when a high-pitched warble fills the air. Everything that happens next happens quickly. I drop the leaf, wincing as a deep throb starts in my head. Zyros is on the Thryss next, diving into the pool, dragging it with him. The others hop forward, snatching my basket. I only grip a handful of them for myself, my head throbbing and heart pounding when the sound finally cuts off. Panic fills me as I crawl to the edge, waiting for them to surface. Only Zyros does, keeping the Thryss under the water.
My eyes slam wide at the blueish blood dripping from his ears. “What the hell was that? Are you alright?”
“I’ve only seen them do it once when I was young. One was being eaten by a snapdrake plant; he’d been caught in itsbristles. They only do it under great stress. It hurts them as well.”
His chest is heaving, eyes dropping to my stomach with worry.
“We’re good. Let him up. He was that upset about the leaves?”
“No, Sssaryth. They leave or I kill them. I refuse—”
“No, Irefuse, let him up, Zyros.”
He glares at me, and I glare back, my handful of leaves crumpled in my palm as the other Thryss offload darts in Zyros’ back, chittering and hissing on behalf of their friend. When glaring doesn’t work, I go for reasoning. Sighing as I sit back down on my butt. “Maybe the leaves are like the vines. They hate the vines.”
He shakes his head, eyes furrowed. “It’s the smell they don’t like about the vines. The leaves are different.”
My lip wobbles. “Let him up, Zyros, please. I love them.”
He works his throat, and already I can see the wound forming in his eyes. He wants me to love him, too. My cheeks flush. It’s not that I don’t…it's just, I don’t know how you even go about telling someone that. It’s not a sentiment that was shared often around me. Like I should’ve just known, you know? It’s not like we’ve been dating. Fate kind of slammed us together. I got knocked up out of pleasure, but also obligation. We’ve been attacked; I was kidnapped; it’s been…a lot.
“Zyros…” I urge.
He heaves a sigh, surging from the water, and the intense look of anger in his eyes takes me aback. I know it’s not directed at me, it’s just…the safest thing for him to feel. A gasp leaves my throat, though, as he crowds over me, his claw-tipped hand gently but firmly gripping my chin. His teal hair leaves droplets to fall on my face as they track down my neck. “This distance can only last so much longer, female, before I decide my mate no longer needstime.”
My lips part as the Thryss hops back onto the cave floor. A tendril of heat works into my core, making me clench my thighs together. I realize in that moment that’s what I want. God, that’s what I want so badly that I’m pulsing. I want him to demand it of me, to take the choice away. He leans closer, rubbing his face against mine. The affectionate move throws me for another loop, my heart fluttering as he moves away back to destroying his art.
twenty-one
Zyros
My mate is going to be the death of me. Even now, she taunts, huddled over her gaggle of useless Thryss. Her pretty pale brows furrow as she blinks at her leaves, scanning them, although she said her implant has been malfunctioning. I nearly jerked her into my arms and took her to space when she said that, while gripping her head in pain, but she assured me hard falls or high-stress situations can mess with the calibration. This is normal.
It does not feel normal for my mate to have a machine in her brain.
I watch her as she mimics taking a bite of a leaf, my tail tensing in warning as the Thryss kicks up a riot, fussing at her and over her asIshould be. Jealous of the fucking Thryss. I glare at them, wondering if there is any good way to justify killing them. I do not wish to risk my sweet Melody becoming despondent again, as she was in those first few days after the attack. She’d cried a lot, refused to eat. I’d been sick with worry until one day shesnapped back into place like a band, explaining she just needed to “feel sorry for herself for a moment.” Her words had wounded me, despite me understanding them. I put my mate through much.
She mimics another bite with a different leaf, and the bug-eyed creatures don’t react.
Stupid Thryss.
Abject horror floods me as she gently wrenches one’s mouth open, shoving her hand deep into their throat. The maw of razor-sharp, needle-point teeth inches from her delicate wrist. I hiss, my tail banding around her just as she jerks her hand free, shooing me away. She’s been like this for hours, pretending to eat a leaf, blinking at it, feeding it to the Thryss, cleaning up the leaf when they are hacked up, calming the brainless animals. She grabs other plants and repeats the process, all the while blinking at everything in sight, performing her scans, then getting upset when they fail.
The storm died down an hour ago; I had tried to coax her from her task to show her the moon, but it only seemed to irritate my mate when I wouldn’t allow her past the mouth of the cave, so I left her to it. I have an important task of my own. Dismantling the crystals on the walls is tedious, so as not to let half of their value be broken off deep within. My mate and I will need it once we leave Nyssara. The thought pains me, as much horrible memories my home holds…I love it. I love my jungle and springs, my goddess moons, and how close I feel to them here. If our child lives, they will be born under the watchful eyes of the goddesses…then we will say goodbye. Even with the other females taking Xyphora out of power, it is not safe here for my mate.
