Page 14 of Bred By Zyros (The Solar Breeding Agency #2)

thirteen

Melody

We’re going to space.

Again.

I’m already seated in my chair beside the pilots when Zyros settles into his.

He doesn’t warn me this time before we launch into the air, his thick tail wrapping around me and my seat, securing my middle, thankfully leaving my arms free, even if it is only to receive the wasting bag he thrusts into my hands.

I grimace. “I’m not going to throw up.”

He doesn’t spare me a look as he launches into hyperdrive, and I immediately make a liar out of myself because I most certainly do, in fact, throw up.

I’m still panting and retching when we finally slow.

He wastes no time passing me a canteen and mouth cleansing tablet before he removes the sick-filled bag from my hands and tosses it in the waste lock.

The silence drags on like eons, until it’s a physical rod lodged in my chest, and I can’t take it a millisecond more, despite knowing it's my fault.

“Who buys the crystals?”

Zyros doesn’t answer at first, his claws digging into his seat as he pilots the small ship.

“How’d you even get a ship?” I doubt the Alliance would hand one of those over.

Still no answer, but I’ve never minded one-sided conversations. “Did you kill someone for it? I bet you did.”

“Three,” he responds.

“Huh?”

“I killed three someones for it.”

I gawk at him. “Wait, seriously?”

“It was a small team with the Intergalactic Alliance coming to check on their machines . They come every few orbits to empty them. Last time, they took more than Nyssara wished to give. I lead a pack of thaldrakes to them. If they were worthy of being here, they could have defended themselves.”

I stare in horror before taking a deep breath and settling into my seat again. “So, you just took their ship.”

It’s not a question, so he doesn’t elaborate.

When he finally speaks, I’m lost to my racing thoughts, disturbed to find I’m not all that…

disturbed. The Intergalactic Alliance has a history of making shady decisions.

Mining on a primitive planet that would’ve had zero knowledge of the outer galaxies is terrible but not even remotely close to being amongst their worst.

“Learning to operate it was…interesting.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I can imagine that’d be pretty intense.”

“Its course was pre-logged wherever they intended to offload the cargo. I’d long ago opted to get the translator, so I sold them instead.

It was odd and…overwhelming to think all of that, all this time, has existed above the clouds.

It took me a few orbits to decide to go back after a creature had helped me return.

They had shown interest in the crushed ones from my art.

I brought them back the next time, whole. ”

I shake my head, smiling softly at him. “What do you do with the credits?”

He huffs. “I do not need credits ; I prefer to trade. Add to the ship, sometimes get things I cannot make on Nyssara. Like these,” he lifts the canteen before continuing. “Mostly nothing.”

“Then why go through the trouble?”

“It is…enjoyable being off of Nyssara.”

My mind goes back to the brightly colored female and the male he also seemed not to be friendly with. I swallow hard, questions on the tip of my tongue I’d bit back for over a week trying to surface.

“Ask, female,” he hisses, his body tensing.

“Why did you need a breeder?” I nearly whisper the question, but he hears me just fine.

Another long pause fills the space. “The little ones do not live, human Melody.”

My heart drops to my stomach. “Wait, I don’t—”

“It is the females. They cannot carry them until they are big enough. They do not care to find out why . All of this out here, there are things we do not understand. Machines that can do good, unlike the ones on our home. They repeat again and again and pray something will change. They—” he cuts himself off, his words ending in a snarl.

“Oh god, Zyros.” I breathe, emotion clogging my throat, despite it being nothing new.

Like humans on Old Earth, alien species of all kinds seem disposed to their own myriad of issues.

Those being disease, famine, greed, or infertility.

The ones who visit the agency are obviously interested in the latter, where some simply prefer to breed with a human…

that, like me, is the exception, not the rule.

“She feels betrayed by what you did…in choosing me.”

He hisses, baring his fangs. “She felt her control slipping. It is all she cares for. They have not seen all of this above us. They do not listen.”

My eyes widen, unease again filling my gut. “Her control? Is she a leader?”

He nods, but only barely.

“My god, you attacked her. Which I’m grateful for, don’t get me wrong, but—”

“Hush, Sssaryth, no harm will come to you while I am around. What Xyphora wants is a child , something to show the others as they lose hope. Even some of the females have declined to present when I am summoned, as they do not think there is any point. Our people are dying out.”

“When you’re summoned?”

His teal hair shifts as he avoids my stare, and he doesn’t speak again, not until we’re arriving at the port, docking with a trillion stones sitting heavy in my stomach and a looming, sickening sense of dread.

The port is small, far smaller than Vortara, and come to think of it, I’ve never been to a merchant port before.

My smile brightens, and my chest feels lighter the deeper we go, gravity carts following behind us with their bio-coded lids.

It is all surprisingly high tech for a primitive male.

While the rest of his people are debatable, that term surely no longer applies to him.

As soon as we dock, my holo pager dings with messages, mostly from my father.

Soon enough, he’ll be receiving the uploaded data now that I’m somewhere near a network.

I stare down at the message from Lenora again, hoping she’s doing well.

Zyros more or less ignores me but only outwardly.

His eyes are scanning the station the same way he scans the jungle back home.

When we weave through the twisted market halls, I nearly yelp as a lumbering male steps in front of our path.

Zyros is huge by my standards, his tail running the length of his ship stretched out all the way, but this is a giant .

He bends his head lower, making Zyros hiss and wrap his tail around me.

“This is a human.” The huge alien booms, his voice slow and drawn. His leathery skin wrinkled and pooling.

“She is mine ,” Zyros answers, baring his fangs.

“I will purchase it. Name your price.”

My pulse ratchets up in my neck, making my heartbeat whoosh in my ears.

“She is claimed.”

The faint giant seems unbothered, leaning closer to sniff at me.

The heady smell of sulfur invades my nose.

I move back, closer to Zyros, who pulls me fully behind him now.

I nearly balk as he uncoils his tail from me, leaving me feeling unprotected, despite knowing I am safe with him.

“She is unclaimed. You lie . I cannot smell seed—”

I nearly scream as Zyros’ tail strikes out like a whip, coiling around the giant’s neck, his leather skin pulling at odd angles. He makes a sluggish choking sound as Zyros jerks the rest of his deadly form to the giant’s height, tightening as he bears his fangs, readying to strike.

My heart stops, eyeing the others surrounding to watch the fight. “Zyros, that’s enough! He gets it. Let’s just go.”

He doesn’t listen, his fangs glistening as he strangles the giant, the awful sounds the creature is making churn my stomach.

I blurt out the first thing I can think of. “Zyros, I…my stomach is hurting. I don’t feel good, I think I need to eat.”

That gets his attention, his head snapping toward me, murder and concern marring his handsome, severe features. He unravels as the giant drops heavily to the ground, working his tail out from under the other male’s colossal frame before rushing to me. “Come, I will find you—”

“You can’t do things like that! You can’t just attack someone because they offered to buy me. I’m a human, Zyros. It’s what they do.”

He just glares at me before lifting me into his arms, to which I heave a long sigh, making my displeasure known despite feeling none at all, really. My core is pulsing again, my heart thundering while my belly feels ticklish…giddy. My cheeks are no doubt ruddy to an embarrassing point.

God, I’m insane.

And so is he.

Zyros pivots, slipping over the giant's snoring form and through the crowd before heading back toward the outer layers. He trades crystals worth more than the plates of food I’m served and scowls at every alien within spitting distance of me, hissing and carrying on like an absolute lunatic while I eat food I don’t want in the slightest. While it is nice to have a small break from being trapped in his cave, this continues for zentics.

He carries me around, hissing at aliens who stare a little too long while he ducks in and out of shops.

One Sul'Vorrithan female, a feline-type species, even tries to steal the carts of gems. It shocks her as she tries to pry the lid off. I then have to plead and distract Zyros again as he is prepared to bludgeon her with his tail. It’s hard to imagine how he’s survived going to ports this long with his temper without being hauled off by Alliance Enforcers.

By the time we’re done shopping, for me , we have several carts loaded with items of lesser value than his gems. My cheeks are flushed and I’m… having so much fun.