Page 6 of Hooded (Gladiators of the Gryn #5)

KLYNN

Eregri.

I know the word. It shouldn’t be true, but it is. She is the reason I was traveling the undercroft. She is the reason I didn’t strike first.

She was bait.

She is my mate.

Interesting.

“Um…hello?” the female says through the viewing window. “I hope you can understand me okay. I brought you something to eat.”

A hatch opens in the wall, and a platter filled with fragrant meat slides through. I slam my claws at the opening, but I’m too late. It’s already closed, leaving just the food.

And her looking on. I glare at the meat for a while, and then, even though my head isn’t willing, my body is, so I lift my gaze to her.

Human.

Like the mates of my fellow gladiators, this human is small, far too small. Her body is shrouded in a coat which is seemingly too large for her and hides her form from me. Her long hair is a strange color, not one I’ve seen on the other humans. It is like the aftermath of a supernova, burning with a deep flame. Her bright blue eyes and red lips are enticing to say the least.

But she’s on the other side of the cell wall.

I slam my hands on either side of the viewing window. She recoils briefly before returning, and her stunning eyes search my body.

“Out,” I snarl. “Let me out.”

“I can’t do that,” she says with a wan smile. “You’re destined to answer for your crimes with the”—she checks a small wrist comm—“Crivan.”

“Never heard of them,” I growl. “I was serving my sentence at the dome.”

“I don’t know anything about that. All I know is I was tasked to pick you up and take you to the Crivan. The bounty was for you to be brought alive.” Her voice is strained.

“You’d be better off with me dead,” I snarl, until what she said finally filters through my thick head.

This little human is a bounty hunter. She isn’t working for the Bogarok or anyone else, other than her client.

She caught me.

She put me in this cage.

Her.

The tiniest of tiny humans, all coat and flaming hair. She is my captor and regardless of the rights and wrongs of why she has me, I am duly impressed, along with being intrigued. She can’t hope to hold me here. And once we reach her destination, the error will be discovered. But in the meantime…for once in my miserable existence, this could be fun.

Rych tried to teach me the concept of fun once. He got a scar on his thigh he won’t forget. But I don’t want to maim the little creature. I want…something else.

Something I’ve never wanted before. Something which is causing parts of my body to stir where previously there was no feeling at all.

I was never chosen for sale to a female for the night, unlike some of the others. I was considered too dangerous, even where there were females who wanted the danger.

I’d have ripped them apart because I don’t need to be touched in any way except with a blade or claw.

“Please eat,” she says to me, her eyes strangely watery. “And please don’t make me use the immobilizer foam again.”

“And if I eat, you won’t use it?”

“Unless you try to escape,” she says, her gaze hardening. “I will use it to stop you from hurting yourself.”

“Or getting to you,” I growl, leaning closer to the viewing window and baring my teeth.

She doesn’t concede any ground, despite the fact I’m considerably larger than her. I lift my head and scent the air. The window itself is simply part of the wall which can become transparent at will, so her smell has to be on the food she has sent in for me.

Which means she obtained it herself, and there’s no automatic feeding function here, like other places I’ve been kept in.

This little fury has no option but to tend to me while I’m in here. She is as much a captive as I am, and she has to keep me alive.

“You won’t get to me,” she says. “I had these built to withstand space worms should any client want them captured. You’re in here for the duration.”

I can’t help admiring her confidence.

However, for the time being, I have an appearance to keep up. I give her a snarl which used to make my opponents in the dome quake, and I push back from the viewing window, stalking the few paces to the food she has provided.

I am ravenous. The Bogarok were inedible and there was nothing left in the rest of the undercroft to eat. Even the pikrats had vacated. My stomach twists, wanting the food and wanting me to temper my enjoyment or it will revolt.

“Is it okay?” the female asks. “I can get you something else if you don’t like it.”

She really means it. She wants to keep me happy.

Fun…it’s a new concept to me…but it absolutely seems like this could be…fun.