Baited (Gladiators of the Gryn #2)

Blayn

BLAYN

I stare at her. My mate has not woken, she has not said anything, and our bond is lost, fragments, or nothing. She breathes. Her friends from the pleasure house come in periodically to check on her.

But there’s nothing.

I need her like I need my wings, my claws, my tattoos. I want her to wake up. I want to see her eyes and her smile.

But what I want isn’t helping anything. I attempted to throw myself in front of the pulsar bolt, When it hit her, I thought all was lost. Maxym, Klynn, and Rych immediately leapt onto the procurator and disarmed him…literally…he lost a limb, and he might have lost more if Maxym hadn’t held Rych and me back.

The dome has the best medics, and they did exactly what they were supposed to do.

They saved her life. They saved the life of our young.

But she won’t wake up.

“Izzy,” I whisper, because I’m always whispering to her. The medics say she can hear me, so I should talk to her. “Izzy, come back to me. Your friends want you back too. They miss you, I miss you. My cocks miss you.”

The whispering ceases, my voice coming to a halt because I want to tell her everything, everything, how Maxym and Rych marched the procurator out of the dome and straight to the council for his crimes, how Rych hasn’t left the nearest bar since gaining his freedom, how kind the Habosu madame has been, how many gifts have been brought for Izzy.

How I nested for her and I did my very, very best. Letting anyone in has been a struggle, but because she needs to get better, I’ve let them, even if my growling gets out of hand sometimes and I get told off.

How empty my head and my heart are without her. How I don’t know what to do if she doesn’t come back to me. How nothing tastes good, how I don’t want to bathe or preen while she’s not here.

“I can tell,” Izzy murmurs.

I lift my head.

Did I hear her speak?

“ Eregri ?”

“I hurt. My chest hurts,” she murmurs, her eyes still closed. “Why does it hurt?”

I don’t know what to do. I want to hug her, enclose her in my arms and never let her go, but as the bond sparks into life, I feel her pain, her confusion, and her fear.

“The procurator had a pulsar pistol. He shot you,” I tell her. “I wanted to kill him, but the others wouldn’t let me, and now he’s incarcerated until the games start again.”

Her eyes open and they’re dulled with pain.

“The baby…?” Water runs down the side of her face and into her hair. “What about the baby?”

“Our young is healthy and growing well.” I’m struggling to breathe because I need her close to me. “He is going to be a fine warrior.”

“He?” she chokes, attempting to sit up, wincing. “It’s too early to know what sex he is!”

“You carry a Gryn youngling, my sweet mate.” I gingerly put my arm around her, and the touch of her skin against mine sparks perfectly. “He will make his presence known sooner rather than later.”

With a gentle groan, Izzy clings to me as I help her sit up. She studies my face, then her eyes wander away from me.

“You’ve been busy,” she says, a smile pushing through the pain.

“I nested,” I state, my chest puffing up because I love nesting for my mate. “I nested for you.”

Her tiny hand curls around my bicep.

“It’s beautiful, ,” she whispers. “Absolutely beautiful. You did all this for me?”

“It’ll never match how I feel about you, eregri .” I sigh. “Or how stunning you are, but when I thought…” I do my best not to let my emotions overwhelm me, all the terror in the dark past days, where I battled the dark and the light.

When I thought she might not come back to me.

“I’m sorry.” She leans into me and I put my wing around her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You were with me when I needed you. It is I who should be sorry, little mate. I let you down. I let the procurator hurt you,” I rasp, my voice breaking with the lack of use and my desperate need for Izzy.

“No one is to blame, least of all you, .” She gazes up at me and love shines down the thoughtbond. A love which is entirely for me and me alone. “You were doing what was right.” She traces her finger over the healing pulsar wound on my shoulder. “And you were up against an opponent who wanted to win, no matter what.”

My world is alight with her smile and her love.

“And the procurator will face the dome’s justice, as is right,” she adds.

“You know about that?”

“You told me. You weren’t impressed he released you first.”

“You heard me?” I pull my sweet mate into my arms. “The medics said to talk to you, so I talked.”

“I heard you, .” She puts her hand weakly on my chest and warmth blooms under her touch. “I was a long way away, but I heard every single word.”

“Everything?”

She chuckles in my arms, and I think I would like for things never to change because nothing can ever be as good as having her here, soft, warm, and alive.

“Everything, even the stuff about your cocks.”

“They missed you, eregri . I missed you.”

“I know…” She shakes her head and winces, gingerly rubbing her chest. Her pain fires down the thoughtbond, and I pull it into me. Izzy’s eyes trace up my chest until they’re gazing into mine.

“How did you do that?” she whispers.

“Your pain is mine, my mate. You set me free and it’s my turn to give you wings.”

Her pain is nothing compared to what I’ve held in my body for as long as I can remember, so taking it is like a mere scratch. Her face and body relax, and she melts into me.

“What did I do to deserve you, ?” she asks.

“You didn’t let me go when I did everything to make you. You believed in me when no one else would, including myself. I don’t deserve you, my ere…”

My words are cut off by her ky-ss. She holds me for so long, I’m sure we’re both going to run out of air.

“Let’s just say we were two lost souls who found each other across time and space,” she whispers, her beautiful eyes not leaving mine.

“My heart belongs to you, Izzy. Fate has given me my real wings, and I will use them to lift you, forever.”