Page 8 of Bred By Zyros (The Solar Breeding Agency #2)

seven

Melody

The morning comes quickly, although there’s little sign of it inside the cave.

My head is achy as I sit up, my body slightly sheened with sweat from the night.

The makeshift dress has become no more than another blanket for the pallet.

My eyes widen at the cut on the leg. If you can even call it that.

It’s healed, just an angry red line where it once was, but it’s the skin around the cut that draws most of my attention.

It’s tight, stretched, and slightly sunken in.

The medical advancements of that alone demand to be scanned.

Dad would want me to, but I don’t. The flora and fauna are more than enough.

Scientists, even him, have a bad habit of losing sight of should I just because they can .

I grimace at the sight, hoping whatever either his venom or the toxin had on my skin will fade over time. The smell of rainstorms and heady musk is every bit as strong here as it is in the main chamber as I gather my dress around me.

Today is a new day.

Given the tension and legality of what we’re doing here, I think a straightforward approach would be best. My smile comes easily, along with a new anticipation deep in my gut. My eyes land on emerald and teal shining scales and the coppery tang of fresh blood.

“Here, female,” he offers, not bothering to turn toward me where he’s coiled on the cave floor beside the tunnel toward the entrance.

My eyes finally, reluctantly leave the strong expanse of his back, and immediately my stomach revolts.

He slides a rock slab, obviously fashioned into some kind of plate, to the side as an offering, piled high with raw cuts of meat.

I don’t need to hazard a glance at the fire to know it's unlit.

“Morning, Zyros,” I offer, finally reaching him, popping my head down beside his with a smile.

He rears back, huffing. “Eat.”

I eye the raw meat again, pursing my lips.

Would it be easier to just ask him to light a fire so I can cook it?

Yeah, sure, but perhaps this can be an olive branch moment.

I don’t have to be his buddy, but I do have to be buddy enough to fuck, so I plop down beside him.

My pulse jumps as his tail slips closer to me, making something of a corral around me, close enough not to touch, but it would only be an arm’s length away.

He’s engrossed in the butchering of whatever he’s hunted, slicing the meat with his claws.

My stomach heaves, too much saliva filling my mouth as I pluck a piece of meat from my plate.

It’s warm but not heated warm. More like, hasn’t had a chance to cool warm, and I think I’m going to be sick long before I force the slice into my mouth.

I can feel his eyes on me, but mine slam closed, fighting the good fight like any warrior of peace.

It’s metallic and gamey, but the scan said it’s safe to eat.

I gag slightly.

Ew God, no, don’t chew. The meat has grittiness to it that gets stuck in my teeth.

Just swallow.

Nope.

Nope.

I retch, coughing the offending piece of meat back into my palms before flinging it to the ground.

My eyes are filled with tears, chest heaving as I fight to keep my sick where it belongs.

I can’t throw up next to him twice in the first forty-eight zentics, so I bolt for the cave entrance, accidentally upsetting my plate of squishy raw meat, and then myself .

The ground meets me hard as I skid to a stop, flat on my belly.

The silence that follows is loud.

I barely feel the pain or taste the gross metallic grime still coating my tongue, as teal hair and slitted eyes fill my field of vision. “It is after the high sun, not morning.”

I’m plucked from the ground by a set of strong, scaled arms, my heart pounding in my chest as he settles me next to him like last night.

Tight and close. His eyes scan me, ensuring I’m okay.

I am, in all matters, except my pride. Bright side?

I don’t feel like throwing up now. Maybe crying, but I’m twenty percent certain I won’t do that.

“I—” my words cut off as I contemplate whether sinking myself to the bottom of the spring is a reasonable reaction to what just occurred. “A drink of water would be nice, perhaps a fire to cook the meat.”

“ Cook it?”

“Yes, humans don’t usually eat raw meat like that. It could make us sick.”

His harsh brow line furrows. “Yet you attempted to eat it?”

“I scanned it to make sure, but I was trying to be your buddy.”

“What is a butt-i ?”

“Bud-E.” I correct. “Like…friends but not best friends, just friends enough to have sex.”

“If you’re going to insist upon making foolish decisions, do so after you have provided me a child.”

Fair enough, I suppose.

He bends slightly, making my arms snap out to band around his neck, although I know there’s no chance of dropping me.

More of that ticklish electricity seems to seep into my skin as I plaster myself to him.

His upper arms pass me to his lower ones as he hands over something he’d pulled from the various hooks on the cave ceiling.

I smile at him in thanks, as just one of his hands covered the entire canteen.

It takes both of mine to bring it to my lips.

All the while, I’m in his arms. I watch from the corner of my eye as his eyes track the bobbing of my throat.

Perhaps this morning is salvageable after all.

After handing back off the large drinking pot of slightly sweet tasting water, which he sits low enough for me to get myself this time, I wiggle in a silent plea to be sat down, putting on my best, experienced human breeder face as I straighten my not dress .

Good grief, why are my cheeks so hot?

The other species I’ve been matched with weren’t, for the better part, off-putting at all.

I’d gotten quite lucky not to be matched with anyone too odd.

Aside from the Sylvarii male that is, something about being bred by a creature that looks more plant and humanoid hadn’t sat well with me, but he was incredibly kind, and the baby, or as they say, budling , we brought into the world together was terribly cute.

He doesn’t stick around while I’m lost to my thoughts, trying to ignore that tiny pang in my chest that comes with thinking about the babies.

Like missing something that was never yours.

It was only dimmed by the gift I gave them and how good it felt to do so.

I take my time using a mouth cleansing tablet and fixing my curls before I check my dress, finding it still pretty damp.

All the while, he watches me, cleaning the butchering space with a practiced grace.

Where he is comfortable in silence, I’m not, never have been.

It makes the bouncing of my thoughts louder, more wayward, the trajectory subject to change on a whim.

“If you are agreeable, I don’t require any adjustment period. I’d like to go ahead with the breeding. I usually only take a handful of couplings before the first—”

A loud hiss fills the chamber, his hand snapping clean through whatever porous rock he was cleaning with. “No,” he grits out, and oh god, why does my chest feel gored?

I stand there in horrified silence for a moment, trying to rationalize what I’m feeling and why . It’s perfectly reasonable to adjust more to one another. Such things have never bothered me before.

My smile is watery when I force it to my face. “Of course, we can give it—”

“Stop, female. Do not do that with your face.”

My hand snaps up, touching the offending area like I’m going to find something out of sorts.

“Your smile is wrong. It agitates me.”

My smile is wrong. My brain trips back and forth between offense and confusion before it clicks.

Sad.

My smile looked sad.

The butterflies erupt with a vengeance deep in my belly, making me suck my lips between my teeth.

“I must venture out today to get supplies. It will be the last chance before the season is on us and leaving gets too dangerous for a soft female.”

My flush spreads to my chest, averting my eyes from his moon burst ones. I only nod.