Page 41 of Bred By Zyros
My heart is pounding as I eye the leathery winged creature he’d apparently just killed. I open my mouth to explain, to apologize, when a scan is triggered, notifying me of the animal containing the same chemical. I drop down, a little too quickly in my current state, to stare at it. “Have the fauna also declined since the machines were installed?”
He hisses, pulling me into his arms. “Enough, female. Enough of this. You are heavy with child.”
“Don’t-don’t call meheavy.”
He rolls his eyes, heading off in the direction of home.
“Do you have more of that meat you usually eat at home?”
“No, I am needing to hunt.”
“Can you hunt now?”
The male sighs so hard I worry he’ll damage his lungs. “It is the middle of the night. We are being pelted by rain, and my mate has just attempted to sneak from the safety of her cave to dig in the dirt with her horde of Thryss by the cursed machines.”
“Is that a no?”
He hisses, using one of his hands to jerk my chin toward him, bearing his fangs at me. “It is ano.”
My belly flutters, and he must notice the look in my eyes because he turns his head before I can see his smirk. “Insatiable female. I will hunt when the storm passes, butyouwill sleep.”
“After you do that thing with your tail…and tongue?”
“After that.”
I did not sleep, and when he returned with the animal he calls sylveron, a leathery-looking boar, that sick feeling in my gut grows even more. Worry and…anger jam my throat closed as he stares down at me with concern.
Their primary food source has not only experienced birth decline as well, albeit to a slighter degree, its meat is with the chemical compound from the soil. He follows me as I run back outside, quiet when he scoops me into his arms. He goes where I direct, testing the soil at varying distances from the machines. Testing plants and scanning what animals I can along the way, now emboldened by the safety he provides.
By the time we reach the cave again, another storm is rolling through, always in waves, always no more than three hours apart. The sun is making its first appearance. I’m exhausted, my head throbbing as bile curdles my gut. The worry in his voice lances my chest as I rush to the wasting chamber to vomit, his hands gathering my hair, cursing the fact that I’ve always had a weak stomach. “I need a signal to contact my dad,” I croak.
“My Melody, hush, please. You are worrying me.”
“It’s the machines, Zyros. They’re positioning your food source and yourfoods, food source.” I turn on him, my hands shaking. “If they’re capable of all that, it’s not a hard jump to the possibility it could cause the miscarriages.”
He’s still, so still. I know he’s already worked out my meaning when he speaks. “What does that word mean?”
I use his wording anyway. “The quiet ones. I don’t have the tech to confirm that there would be any ill effect from this chemical on pregnancy, but my dad does. I can upload what I’ve found, and if we can confirm a link, we might be able to convince one of the females to be tested. The food would need to be testedtoo. Maybe my dad can come up with some kind of bare bones device they could use to identify what’s safe—”
His forehead crashes into mine with a dull thud, cutting me off. His chest heaving,
“Oh, my love, come here. It’s okay. The baby is okay.” I sniffle, wrapping my arms around the big, scary male, trying to keep my tears at bay. “I could be wrong, but we-we just need to get in contact with my dad.”
He lifts me into his arms, his hand landing protectively on my stomach. “You must be close now, Sssaryth. With the storms and space flight, how do we know it’s safe—”
My hands clasp on either side of his face, swallowing the lump in my throat. “You just have to trust me.”
That seems to steel him as he nods. “In anything.”
twenty-three
Melody
Truth is, I’m not sure if hyperdrive is good for a pregnancy, but we only need to go high enough up to get a signal. The catch is, we have anywhere from an hour to three to do it before reentering Nyssara could get us caught in a storm. With the planet's heavy protective ozone layer casting the entire thing in a shield of green haze, it’s impossible to know until we’re in it. On our trip to the station, he’d ensured I watched every second of it, despite there not being much to see, knowing how upset I was the first time. My mate's tail swishes and thrashes, betraying his unease as I wait for my upload to begin.
My hand snaps out, triggering the ship’s AI. “Connect to my contact Alexander Arnold. Keep the projection off.”
“Connecting, audio only.”
