Alex

ALEX

T he four other Gryn gladiators are something else. Rych is dripping in gold and jewels, the other two, Blayn and Klynn, are covered in tattoos, and all of them, including Maxym, look completely unhinged.

Each one sports an arsenal of swords and daggers. No wonder they have been used as gladiators, fighting for entertainment. Not a single one of them has any sense of self-preservation, that much is clear from the way their feathers bristle and the fact two of them look like they're about to explode at the earliest opportunity, especially the dark one, Blayn. More tattooed than any of the others, he shakes with repressed violence, his feathers shivering as we move through the tunnels.

Sylas seems to have recovered since I first saw him. He's steadier on his feet, sword in hand and focussed on his task. Except when he trips over something which isn't there and glares at it with extreme prejudice.

"I love you," I tell him with a smile.

He hiccups slightly, his gaze a little unfocussed. "My eregri ." He leans closer. "When this is all over, I'm going to mate you until neither of us can see straight, fill you with seed, and devour it from you."

We're in the most incredible danger, at the heart of a place which is built for killing, and I'm surrounded by killers, and yet…

My lady bits pulse with desire.

"And I love you with the force of a dark star falling into a sun," he adds with the brightest smile.

My stomach flips and my heart pounds, my skin heating as he inhales deeply before straightening.

"Let's get this vrexing over with. I have a mate who needs me, and I want to bury myself in her within the next nova-minute." He strides through the gladiators leading us and I'm pulled along in his wake.

"Is this a good idea?" I ask Maxym as I pass him.

"Not at all." He laughs. "It's a brilliant one."

And somehow, I don't know how, I feel the safest I've ever been in my entire life. Five unhinged killers in the heart of a killing machine and I know I will survive, Sylas will survive, and when this is all over, we will be together.

We reach the end of the passage where it opens out into a larger space, lit from above by something which if not sunlight, is something close.

Sylas shifts his wings.

"What the vrex have you got on you?" Maxym asks with a look of disgust.

"Dunno," Sylas replies. "It's sticky."

"Let me look." I gently pull out the affected wing, and my big gladiator puts out a hand onto the nearby wall to steady himself.

His left wing is gummed up with long strands which are, as Sylas described, sticky. I get to work removing them as the other Gryn watch me with interest.

"Sticky," Blayn says, his lips pulled back in a grimace.

All four of them look very uncomfortable as I continue my work. I'm guessing they either dislike having their wings touched or the idea of anything stuck to them.

Sylas groans as I have to shove my fingers deep into his feathers in order to pull the stuff free. It's like cobwebs if they were made out of kevlar. However the stuff isn't sticking to me any more than a burr might as I gather plumes of it from his wing and drop it on the floor.

All four huge gladiators take a step back, as if the ball of not-cobwebs might explode.

"He's drooling," Klynn says.

"That's normal," I reply, getting rid of the final few strands and releasing my grip on Sylas.

He is drooling, although given his state of intoxication, it's hardly a surprise. The other four Gryn are entirely, entirely spellbound, their jaws open. Sylas wipes the back of his hand over his mouth and bristles his wings.

"All done," I trill. "Nothing to see here," I add, given Sylas coming to his senses means he's about to commit an act of extreme violence against his fellow gladiators.

"Mistress," says the particularly unhinged one, Blayn, bristling with knives criss-crossing his chest. "We meant no harm, it's only…"

Words fail him.

"We are not used to seeing a mated male," Maxym interjects. "Or a mate who cares for him as you do."

In a move which instantly stops Sylas's growling, all four give me a low bow.

Across the open space next to us there is a clatter, and the five gladiators straighten, muscles tense and weapons at the ready.

"Is there a plan?" Maxym says quietly. "Or are we just going to use these vrexers to unleash chaos?" He jerks his thumb at Blayn and Klynn.

Sylas gives them a brief glance. "I'm going to need a distraction," he says. "But no one gets hurt for this. It's my battle, no one else's."

"We're gladiators. We fight for glory, for the bonuses, and because we've nothing else to do." Klynn growls. "I don't care about your battle, I only care about the one ahead."

Without a further word, he moves into the open and stretches his wings wide. Howling like a beast, he slams the flat of his sword against his chest as the black-clad dome guards appear.

Blayn whines, and with a final look at us, he dives forward, beating hard to get into the air as a number of pulsar bolts zip past him.

"I suspect there will be no bonuses for this performance," Maxym says with undisguised glee. "But it will be one of the most enjoyable ones yet."

He, too, plunges into the rapidly escalating maelstrom of Gryn and flashing swords.

Sylas sighs.

"I think they're going to do what they're going to do." I rub my hand up his arm. "You offered them freedom, but maybe they need more time to come to terms with the idea. And when they do, we can be waiting."

I'm gathered up in the enormous arm I was holding, and Sylas's lips are on mine in a devastating kiss we simply do not have time for and I wouldn't miss for all the galaxy.

"I thought fate was spending the rest of my days in the cage," he says as I'm released, panting with desire. "But it turns out, fate is you in my life, and the stars never looked brighter."

Then he smiles and my world lights up like bonfire night.