Page 22 of Bred By Zyros (The Solar Breeding Agency #2)

nineteen

Zyros

The sound of my ferocious mate’s sobs fills the jungle. Nyssara is quiet as it grieves with her, allowing her guttural sobs what she’s owed, letting her take her inch of peace. I have spent many long nights demanding my own, roaring my pain into her soil.

My damaged body is already healing, but each cut, gash, and bite pulls.

It is nothing compared to the way her tears needle my chest. I have failed her already too many times.

I slip into a grotto close to our home, unwilling to take her there in her state and see the mess I made of the males who lie there.

She cries, quieter now, as I pull us into the spring.

Her small body trembles with exhaustion as I sit her on my tail, letting the water take her weight.

We don’t speak, my hands roaming over the darkened coloring of her skin as I wash the paint from her.

Her light, dotted skin, freckles, she called them, are hidden, a deep shade of purple on her back, the imprint of a tail makes bile rise in my gut.

My female is brave but soft. Zaelshar was a stupid male to have handled her this roughly.

Without her warning, her scream, the other nameless males may have bested me.

I was nearly mindless, going after her. They hid with their cowards' blood, trying to sneak around my jungle.

They are dead now.

Zaelshar would never harm a female. He is one of the foolish ones who worship and praise them.

It is why he still breathes. He has always been different than the other males.

He was bitten by a Verdalis as a young one.

I can remember the elders crying, saying his brain was not right.

The other males use him for their hunting, the females for their spying.

He no doubt thought what he was doing was right when Xyphora whispered her delusions into his ear.

The other males had meant to kill him before he made it.

They’d meant to take my female as their own.

I choke back a hiss, wanting to be quiet for my shaken mate.

When she’s free of paint, my markings no longer covered, I’m lost to my thoughts, guilt and shame keeping me quiet.

She speaks first.

Her words are gutting.

“I’m so sorry, Zyros. I’m sorry I didn’t listen, didn’t try to understand.”

I curse at her softly before realizing it was in my language, the translation not carrying. “You have done nothing wrong . It is I who failed you , Sssaryth.”

Her hands shake, her blue eyes rimmed red and even more vivid for it. “No, I-I just—” She stops speaking, burying her head in my chest. My arms wrap around my small mate, sucking in her citrus scent like my life depends on it.

“I didn’t know it was that bad, Zyros. Why did you stay? Why are you still trying to give them what they want?”

Her words make me stiffen, but there is no accusation in her voice.

No judgment, only her gentle words. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath before I tell her of my shame, before I explain something that haunts me every night, that torments my waking thoughts.

The things that have made me a weak, bitter male who hates the sight of his scales.

“I do not know why I do not fight them. I am a strong male. I could.”

She rears back at that, her sad blue eyes making a thick feeling form in my throat. I try to swallow it down, but it won’t go. “You being strong has nothing to do with it. What they did was wrong . It is considered an intergalactic crime, Zyros.”

My eyes narrow as I ponder her words. “It is not a crime . I am here to be bred. I was born under the same moon I blessed you with. I was a male born in the moon of a goddess. It was a sign.”

“Forget all that for a moment. Did you want it?”

I hiss, “Enough, Melody.”

Her breath comes in a shudder, choosing her words carefully the next time she speaks. I don’t truly wish her to be quiet. I am her mate; it is her right to know, but more than that… I find I want to tell her. Perhaps I will feel lighter for it, to give voice to these terrible things.

Weak, foolish male.

“Zyros, if you took one of the females when they said no, and forced yourself on them—”

I snarl. “I would never. You cannot touch a female—”

“Why is it different because you are a male, then?”

I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes at first. My brow furrows as my heart quickens in my chest. The sight of my gleaming scales under the water against her pretty pale skin makes my stomach knot. “I am stronger, I extruded .”

Her lip wobbles, the small divot in her chin making an appearance. The sight is wrenching, too close to pity.

“Hold your breath,” I order.

Her eyes furrow before slamming wide as I grasp her, filling her lungs domtics before I drag us below the water.

My tail moves us quickly, deeper into the spring.

It is an old cave system. The crystals will need a few more years to replenish, but suddenly, right in this moment, I wish to show her, to move her mind to something else, something pretty.

She gasps as I surface, her eyes having gone from wide to slammed shut as we’d entered the darkened parts of the system.

Her small hands wipe at her eyes, and she’s no less beautiful in the dim glow of the young crystals. “They look like stars.”

“They are more beautiful than the stars,” I answer, but my eyes are only on her.

She turns her attention back to me, pressing her plush lips against my forehead. The cave is tight, only fitting my upper body with her in here, too. It means she is forced to cling to me. Her words needle at my mind.

It is a crime.

That means something bad, not allowed. A transgression, we call it.

It certainly feels like a crime .

“You can’t help it, you know. How your body reacts. Males of most species can’t help it. It’s blood flow. That’s it.”

“Blood flow?”

She sighs. “That is what causes you to harden. It can be done naturally through arousal like with me or manually with movements. It’s just a reaction. It means nothing, Zyros. It’s important to me that you understand that.”

A long time passes after that. I say nothing. We hold each other, her pressing her lips over my body. I’m not sure what the function is of the lip pressing, but I like it. It calms the worst of what’s battering my chest as the salty water cleanses my wounds as they knit together.

Her voice is a whisper when she speaks again. “I’m really pregnant?”

“Yes.”

She nods, taking a deep breath. “I’d like to go home now.”

Home.

Despite everything, her words please me.