Sylas

SYLAS

T he Remek female has reasonable sized furniture, but it's still too small for my frame. And my wings keep getting in the way.

But I'm next to my eregri , my mate, and with her scent in my nostrils and her soft voice in the air, I think you could probably cut my vrexing wings off and I wouldn't care a jot. All I need for her to do is…

I barely contain the groan as she slips a hand into my feathers, her tiny fingers ruffling through the soft down next to my skin. I'm certain my cocks will simply explode, or I'll end up mating her on the floor. Unlike the last place we found ourselves in, I don't think the couch will take my weight.

My eyes want to roll back in my head as Alex chats to her Remek friend, her hands tripping through my feathers without a care for the destruction she's about to wreak on my pants.

"Is your Gryn feeling okay?" the Remek female asks. "He's drooling."

I growl because her observation means Alex has withdrawn her touch.

"My female needs food and a bath," I grumble, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

"You need a bath." The Remek sniffs disdainfully. "When did you last bathe, gladiator? Before your last killing bout?"

I don't think she likes me much. Feeling's mutual.

"I bathed in the blood of a Remek warrior who was foolish enough to try his luck in the dome," I snarl back.

"Then I'll need to avenge that warrior," she retorts, amusingly pulling out a curved blade from behind her back.

I unsheathe my remaining claws, each one the length of her blade.

"With pleasure," I growl.

"Stop it!" Alex is on her feet looking despairingly between the two of us. "I'm in enough trouble as it is. I don't need you to fight each other." Water appears in her eyes, and before I can stop her, she runs out of the room and a door slams somewhere in the little dwelling.

I'm on my feet, feathers bristling, but the vrexing Remek is in front of me, her horns lowered like she could take me on.

"Stand aside, female. I do not wish to fight you, regardless of my gladiator status."

She snorts a laugh. "Have you heard yourself, Gryn?"

"My name"—I lower my voice to keep it as menacing as possible—"is ."

"Oh, I know your name, . Most of Tatatunga knows you , gladiator. Scourge of the dome, slayer of all comers. the victor. You'll have made a pretty credit or two doing what you do. But you don't get to take my Alex along with your scheme, whatever it is. She's suffered enough at the hands of the foul Habosu who believes he owns her," she snarls.

I sheathe my claws.

"Alex is my mate, my eregri . No harm will ever come to her, from me or anyone else." I glare at the Remek, who easily holds my gaze. "As for my credits, yes, I have gained the occasional bonus, but the games are my sentence for the uprising I led, and unless I do what I've just done, I cannot leave until the dome extracts the ultimate price."

She lowers the dagger, tucking it back to where she got it from.

"I didn't know, . I'm sorry," she says, but then her eyes flick from me to the room behind.

I turn to see my eregri staring at me, her hand to her mouth.

"Is that true?" she says, voice hoarse.

Her face has red patches, and she looks like she'd be about to fall down if she wasn't leaning against the wall.

I swallow down my pride, my heart, and probably my last and only chance of keeping her as my mate.

"It is true, little feather. I was sent to the dome for my crimes by the Galactic Council." My fist balls and I hide it behind my back. "Sentenced to die in the games. But I'm not dead yet."

"You're a slave of the dome as much as I am of Ixor?"

"I belong to no one." My claws slice into my hand as I attempt to hold on to what little is left of my sanity. "But after I lost my warriors, I deserved my fate."

Alex's eyes widen. "That's not true. No one deserves to be a slave."

"I am a killer, little mate. It is all I will ever be."