Izzy

IZZY

I t could be I’m getting used to it, but the bond is settling. The initial spikes of emotion are quieter, subtler, nicer. I can still hear Blayn thinking about food, his cocks, me…mostly me with the occasional side thought about weapons, but I’m finding it easier to manage. It’s also sweeter than before, especially when he catches my eye and smiles his secret smile, his love shining through the bond and lighting me up from the inside.

He’s also wondering about his family, the one which hovers on the edge of his consciousness still. The one he desperately wants to remember but there are so many blocks in his head, he doesn’t know how to get past them.

I lace my fingers between his, mine stretched wide.

“We can try together,” I say.

He lifts up my hand and plants a kiss on my skin.

“My ,” he says. “You don’t mind going back to Tatatunga?”

He’s used the bond to tap into my desire to get away from the place.

“I don’t mind. I’d rather we didn’t have to, but we’ve got friends.” I look over at Madame Birrix, who has fallen asleep in the transport, her head thrown back, her mouth open as she snores gently. “We’re not alone.”

“I didn’t like being alone,” Blayn says. “I didn’t like the dark and the light. But you’ve helped me see it for what it was.”

“I don’t think that was me.” I run my hand through his feathers, and he leans into me, shoving his head into my hair. “I think Nood triggered your memories.”

“It was you,” Blayn says, voice muffled. “It is always you.”

He wants to sort through his jumble of a mind, the desire to find out who he is strong within him. Nood has explained he was an immature Gryn, on the cusp of maturity, when the accident took place.

It means he spent formative years in the dome, and I can tell he’s doing everything in his power to keep those memories from me. Something I’m not going to abuse the bond for. When he wants me to know, Blayn will let me in.

In turn, I hope I’m keeping my anger from him. My anger that such a sweet creature was taken from his adoptive family, ripped away and tossed into a pit of violence and hate.

Rych has been relatively quiet. His eyes are closed, but he’s not sleeping.

“You realize what this means,’” he says quietly.

Blayn lifts his head from my neck, looks at Rych, decides he’s not a threat, and shoves his head back again, this time covering me with a wing, meaning I have to pull the feathers down to see. Blayn grumbles against my skin but doesn’t shift further.

“It means he was the first,” Rych muses. “The first Gryn in the dome.”

“That doesn’t tell us anything. Where did you come from?”

“I was in a research facility, with Maxym.”

“And where were you before that?”

“I was…” Rych’s eyes darken, his fists balling up. Blayn lifts his head and glares at him, thoughtbond radiating with concern for both Rych and me. “I was in some sort of…camp. Then I don’t remember.”

My heart burns in my chest. All of these gladiators have been so badly treated, my sweet Blayn, Rych, Maxym, and presumably Klynn too.

“What happened to all of you, to end up here on Trefa?” I wonder out loud.

“Don’t know,” Blayn says into my hair.

“I don’t think I was always on Trefa.” Rych shakes his head sadly. “But then if we don’t know where we come from, we don’t have any reason not to fight. The dome gave us food, board, something to do.” He shuts his eyes again. “It’s not like any other Gryn came looking for us,” he growls.

“You could go looking for them?” I suggest.

Rych opens one eye and looks at me. “If they couldn’t be bothered to look for me, I’m not going looking for them,” he retorts.

Through the bond, Blayn makes it clear he only wants me. He also has a number of suggestive images hovering in the back of his mind which send heat spiking through me.

I curl my hands into his feathers and respond in kind, causing him to wriggle next to me.

Rych glares at us, sighs, and unfolds himself from his seat.

“I’m going to find out how far out we are from Trefa,” he says, stalking off in the direction of the pilot, a friendly Lepke who, furry wings fluttering, informed us he had the fastest sub space transport on all of Trefa.

And he owed Nood a favor.

“Has he gone?” Blayn lifts his head, eyes half lidded. “Because I want to do things to my mate.”

“Oh, do you?” I nod over at the madame.

“She knows all about the things I want to do to you.”

“That’s entirely possible, Gryn,” the madame says, not opening her eyes. “But it doesn’t mean I want to witness them.”

Blayn writhes uncomfortably and I laugh.

“My cocks are hard for you, mate,” he whispers loudly.

“You do know you can use the bond.” I kiss him on the lips, cradling his head in my hands. “If you need to let me know how you feel.”

“I do, but my cocks are hard. I want to sheath myself in you,” he whines.

“And that’s how she got herself with young.” Madame huffs, also rising, her skirts swirling around her. “We’ll be in Tatatunga in ten nova-minutes, young Gryn. You’ll have to keep it for later.” She levels her formidable gaze at Blayn who doesn’t shrink from it. “I know you’ll be able to perform whenever you need to.”

I cover my mouth with my hand, choking on my laughter. Blayn gives me a blank look until he taps into the thoughtbond and a very wicked smile creeps onto one corner of his mouth.

“Correct, Madame. A Gryn can go all night. A gladiator Gryn can go all nova-day and night.”

The madame glares at him for several beats before huffing out a word which sounds very much like “males!” Only then does she glide away from us to organize her luggage.

“I like the thoughtbond,” Blayn says, snuggling into my side.

“You like it because you can let me into all your filthy thoughts.” I lean against him, luxuriating in his warmth and scent.

“Not all my thoughts are filthy,” Blayn replies. ‘But all of them are about you.’