Page 13 of Bred By Zyros
The butterflies erupt with a vengeance deep in my belly, making me suck my lips between my teeth.
“I must venture out today to get supplies. It will be the last chance before the season is on us and leaving gets too dangerous for asoftfemale.”
My flush spreads to my chest, averting my eyes from his moon burst ones. I only nod.
eight
Melody
Apparently, getting supplies includes me, which I’m thrilled about. Not that the cave isn’t nice, but the sunlight is better. I also have a deal to hold up, one I am currently slacking on horribly. That thought alone dampens my excitement. My dad’s words echo in my chest.
“I am the first human to be given a seat on the Intergalactic Alliance, only for my daughter, myonlychild, whom I have giveneverythingto…to what, Melody? Be a human toy to the species I have worked hard to be on even footing with? A breeder?”
My eyes had darted to mom, not surprised to find her already crying. She tried to hold my gaze as if me seeing her tears, how much she hated hearing him talk to me like this, would excuse her silence. It didn’t.
Ungrateful.
Embarrassment.
Disappointed.
Stupid.
Those were all the words that had been thrown around that day. I had proved humans to be as low astheythought we were, according to him. In a few hours, my dad, the man who kept me beside him in his lab, taught me everything he knew, instilled in me a love for the galaxies and all the amazing things they held…in a matter of a few stupid zentics, he’d become someone I barely recognized. And I could tell he thought the same about me. In a handful of heated moments, he destroyed a confidence, a self-image he’d spent twenty years building.
All it took was onesinglestep out of line.
I saw myself differently after that, although I recognized how silly that was, like I’d dimmed on the inside. The confidence I’d held my entire life was now more of a chipper facade thanme. That was when the measuring started. Every bite I took, everything I wore, every step, every pound, everything Isaid. He’d never apologized.
Not that it would’ve made a difference. The way he saw me changed, and so did the way I saw myself. Old Earth used to have a saying: Never meet your heroes. Never disappoint your heroes seems exponentially worse. I had an amazing life, but never one that suitedme. I learned differently, slower than he wanted, so I worked harder. By the time I was twenty, the burnout I felt was soul deep. I’ve long suspected that I have some kind of learning…difference. Things that are so simple to others aren’t for me. I can’t imagine the look on his face if I’d voiced my concerns. I’m grateful now that I didn’t. Mom helped when she could, but she couldn’t often. Mom’s feelings were glass shards in my palms, ready to poke and cut. Eggshells.
I lived on eggshells.
So, when I joined Dad at a meeting held on Vortara and found The Solar Breeding Agency…they clocked me a mile out. I didn’thesitate, and I haven’t looked back since. In a year or so, by the time I’m returned to our station housing far from the family home, I’ll never see again on Terra2, I’ll already be itching to leave again.
My eyes turn toward Zyros, watching the practiced way he knots and ties the blankets from my bedding into bags slung around his muscular frame. The odd greenish sun beats down on me just outside the cave in the small clearing. A handful of long strides, and the thick heart of the jungle dominates again. His slitted eyes track and follow every rustle and sound, every tiny movement, and there’s something about being protected by this male that makes my chest feel funny.
As he adds another looped bag over him, six now, I bound over and snatch a blanket from the ground. He doesn’t speak, as per his usual, only watches as I attempt to mirror his movements. My brows furrow as he moves quickly, missing a step or two, the humidity making the air in my lungs thick. My bag, if you could call it that, falls apart as he grabs another. This time, his movements are notably slower. I write the blush on my cheeks off as due to the heat, my damp agency dress hanging tight to my frame.
When the tip of his tail snakes out around my wrist, tugging at my hand, to place it further down on the loop, my heart flutters. He keeps it there, bound gently around me like one of the prettiest pieces of jewelry I’ve ever seen. My pale flesh contrasts with his vibrant scales. I refocus my thoughts, or try to, but I can’t stop looking at where he’s touching me. There’s something so gentle about it, from a being that’s built to be anything but. Eventually, after a handful of times, his six bags are now twelve, and my single one is finally completed. A huge smile overtakes my face as I slip it on, twirling and modeling my hard work for him.
He slips his tail away, huffing, but it almost looks like there’s a tilt to his lips. It’s short-lived as his head snaps up toward the darker part of the jungle. A chill breaks over my flesh despite the heat. Everything that was once so loud and full of life is quiet, eerily so. Everything that happens next happens fast. The gentle coil of his tail turns punishing as I’m flung back inside the entrance of the cave.
A scream erupts from my throat as a flash of crimson and gold shoots from the wood line, slamming into Zyros with a vicious clash of flesh. The air is knocked from my lungs as my back collides with the cave wall, vicious hissing filling the space as I try to force my breath back where it should be.
My eyes widen at the scene before me in horror as Zyros tangles in another Vrircik. Her face is softer than his, but only in its sculpting. Right now, it’s marred with a look of pure fury as he slams her upper body into the ground, her claws digging into his forearms. Whatever she hisses at him is in their native language. My translator struggles to pick it up. It’s said so fast, so gutturally, I only get pieces.
“…betrayal…outsider…”
When Zyros speaks, his head dips inches from hers, and for some reason, my heart clenches in my chest. There’s no mistaking the violence in their interaction, the hate…but it seems wrong for him to be twisted with her that way. That bizarre thought forces me to my feet. I take a hesitant step out, only for him to release a warning hiss in my direction that brooks no argument.
Stay put.
“You told me to choose. Ichose,” he spits back at her, his fangs bared and dripping venom.
“You would threaten a female?” She breathes, the look of surprise nearly as prominent as the anger.
“You will not harm her,” he warns, releasing a vicious hiss when her eyes fall to me.
