Alex

ALEX

H e apologized for who he is. My heart rips into a thousand pieces.

Having met Maxym and seen them together, as much as the Gryn are killing machines, it's clear they have been made. Their species, wherever they are from, is not born wanting to serve death to all comers.

"You are who you are, Sylas. And I don't care for company anyway," I say, trailing my hand down his arm. His eyes close.

"I don't recall who I was," he says on a sigh. "But it has been wiped out by what was done to me, in order to better make me a gladiator."

"What was done to you?" I stutter, staring at the scars on his body.

"I am faster, stronger, better. I heal quicker, I strike harder. I am the dark death which stalks the dome," he says, as if repeating a mantra.

"And you also made me a nest."

Those liquid eyes, deeper than ever, turn on me. If there was ever a moment I could dive in and swim to the bottom, it is now.

"I made you a nest," he says, the words sticking in his mouth as if he doesn't know how to say them. "I did, didn't I? I've never made a nest before," he adds, with a growing realization I see in his eyes.

"And I've never had one made for me, so there's two firsts." I take his hand, and we start walking again, the transport hub rising up out of the scrub like a dusty tortoise as we get nearer.

"A nest," Sylas says with a happy snort and a shake of his head. "Who'd have thought it?"

My heart flips in my chest. It's been all of a nova-day since I met this huge creature and let him plunder me to oblivion. How can he have stolen an organ I thought long desiccated and destined to be forever held in abeyance?

In the turmoil of what happened to me, being abducted, sold, enslaved, the last thing I expected to find at the very bottom of the pile was someone like Sylas. Someone who can make my heart beat again.

The transport hub is a little oasis in the dusty tundra. Cooled by large solar wings which soar over the place, it's quiet, and that's probably the reason Ixor was using it to get to Tatatunga.

"You said you had credits?" I query with Sylas. "We're going to need them if we're going to…?" I can't remember the name of the place he wants to travel to.

"Chohan." Sylas reminds me. "I have credits." He plucks at the leather strap which sits in the center of his chest, and a small credit chip pops out.

"Right." I put my hand on his impossibly hard pectoral muscle, as this does seem to have an effect similar to a vat of chamomile tea on him. "You need to stay here and not draw attention while I go see what's available."

Whilst the hand on the chest thing did work, the mention of me leaving has his feathers tightening.

"I cannot let you go alone," he growls.

I'm getting used to the growls.

"Look, you're a well-known gladiator from the dome. I haven't ever seen any other Gryn on my travels on Trefa, or anywhere else. We need to keep a low profile until we get away from here, and you are positively not low profile."

Sylas grumbles under his breath.

"So, give me the credit chip and I'll see what I can find."

Sylas holds it just out of my reach. "Stay where I can see you, and if any other male approaches you, I will be there before he can draw breath."

"Yes, okay, but you promised no killing." I sigh, reaching for the chip, which he holds up higher.

"I promised no killing if you were not in danger."

I contemplate the compromise. No one pays any attention to a small cloaked human anyway. I shrug.

"Fine, I stay in the open at all times. Anything else?" I ask, stretching up on tiptoes, balancing myself against him.

Sylas's lips brush mine and he brings down the credit chip, but now I don't want it. The clawed hand cups the back of my head, and he dominates me with a kiss that shouldn't be legal.

And by the time he releases me, I've virtually forgotten my own name. The clawed finger he's slipped under my chin is the only thing holding me up. He presses the credit chip into the palm of my hand.

"I'll collect the rest of my price later, little feather," he rumbles, all sin and feathers.

I don't so much walk towards the main area of the hub as stagger.

Underneath the cooling solar wings, there are a number of transports, some which look sleek and safe and some which look like they're held together with the alien equivalent of duct tape and blue rope. A Cirmos lounges against the hull of the worst looking one of the lot.

Her ears twitch in my direction, but she's watching a small vid screen, her striped tail twitching from side to side. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Cirmos, given they all look like tabby cats.

"What do you want?" she asks, not looking up from her screen.

"I'm looking for transport to Chohan for me and a…friend," I say, taking a few steps closer to her.

"The massive Gryn gladiator over there? The one trying to look like he's part of the structure and failing?"

"Um…yeah?"

"He's your mate, right?" She lifts her head and fixes me with her green cat eyes.

"Sort of. We only met yesterday."

"It's ten thousand credits each, half now, half when we get to Chohan," the Cirmos says, pressing a blue button on the side of her craft which hisses out smoke, a door opening and a gangway unfolding in a series of painful hitches.

I look around at the other transport. "I might get cheaper elsewhere…"

"You won't," the Cirmos says, climbing up into the craft. "And you won't find anyone else who will take a mated Gryn either."

I poke my head inside and wrinkle my nose at the shabby interior.

"Eight thousand each," I say. "And we leave straight away."

The Cirmos mews out a laugh. "You've got a nerve." She leans into me, her dark lips curling up like a cat's. "I like that. You've got a deal."

She looks over to where Sylas is now no longer even attempting to hide. The shoulders of his wings are hunched, and he frankly, looks like he's about to explode, and not in a nesty way.

"Get him over here and out of sight. I need to get some supplies and we can go. Travel to Chohan will take a couple of nova-days." She turns her green gaze back to me, lips hitched to show sharp fangs. "And I'll take the payment now, if you don't mind, little human."