Page 32 of Bred By Zyros
“No!” I yell, the sudden volume and anger in my voice making us both flinch. It hardens him, a mask slipping over his eyes as the walls of the cave tighten on me. “Youmade achoiceto bind us together without evenaskingme.Youtook my right to choose.Youwill allow me at least a moment to process it, Zyros.”
The words feel like bile on my tongue as I turn away from him, nearly running from the cave.
seventeen
Melody
I barely cross into the thick jungle at the wood line before the Thryss start up around me, chittering and warbling with their displeasure. I nudge them away as I stomp through the lush path. My eyes avoid my own skin like my life depends on it, tears blur my vision as I run on shaky legs. Something I had only let myself consider in dreams is happening. I-I’m someone’s mate. I’ll never admit that was part of the allure of The Solar Breeding Agency. It’s rare, so rare.
It's special.
And right now? It’s wounding.
The jungle around me seems to fall quiet as I cry and sniffle, slamming my weight onto a fallen tree. Each step feels sluggish and abnormal, like I’ve just woken from being frozen in ice. The smell of soil and fresh rain blends with the sound of a roaring creek nearby, the already humid and damp jungle sodden. I find each little thing, the dirt underneath my palm, smeared on thefallen tree. The way my bare feet press into over-saturated soil, making it wet between my toes. The smells, the Thryss, now quietly hissing in front of me.
I take in everything, forcing air into unresponsive lungs, my attention turning to the amethyst-colored crystal beside me. I shouldn’t have grabbed it. I don’t need it. That hurts just as badly as what Zyros has done. He took my life from me without evenasking. He bound me to him, forever, without caring if I was okay with it or not.
I would’ve been…in time.
I will be.
I’ll forgive him, I’ll be happy and excited, like I was at first. I can feel all those things already bludgeoning deep in my chest.
A mate.
Scary, rude, hurtful, sweet, handsome, serious Zyros.
My chest lets out a betraying flutter at the thought.
I’d never been good at staying mad. Hence why I have an implant lodged somewhere deep around my brain stem. The recovery had been hellish, the headaches nearing the same level of agony I’d felt giving birth, albeit in a different pain and a very different location. I shake my head, wiping my tears on the neckline of my brown T-shirt. It’d been done after Dad had found out about the Breeding Agency. He’d asked where I was going, and when I told him it could be anywhere, it was like that anger dissolved. I could see the wheels turning. The moment he decided it wasn’t worth being mad at, but anopportunity. He’d had the surgery scheduled the same night. I’d gone to my first match still reeling from it, hiding the pain and how, for the first two weeks, I’d done more vomiting than sleeping.
I’d finally done something formyself.
And in less than a few hours, he’d taken that too.
I’d forgiven him. Hell, I hadn’t even realized I had a reason to be angry at first.
That came later…our first holo message. The first thing out of his mouth was about the scans. It’d shaken me to my core. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. I was the opposite of him, and him me. We both baffled and frustrated each other equally, but I’d missed my dad.
Orbits and orbits by his side, day and night.
He hadn’t even missed me.
I’d left, and life had gone on.
I may neverleaveNyssara, and life will go on. Mom will cry, probably have to go for anotherwellness retreat, and Dad will pretend everything is normal and bury himself in work. He’d wait for more scans to upload, he’d demand, he’d order, but he wouldn’t ask.
All he ever had to do wasask.
How are you? How is the pregnancy? Are you missing home? Is it fun? Will you trade your brain for my work?
Will you stay with me?
Will you be my mate?
I bury my head in my hands, trying to calm my tears, trying like all hell to shove them down, down, down, but only more come. A Thryss hops up beside me, nudging me with its enormous head. They aren’t much for physical affection, so I suppose this is about as much comfort as they can offer me. I take it, but it only makes me cry harder.
“I need a fucking hug.” I sob to myself.
