“Because it was fuckin’ hot!” Rykarn shouts in celebration. His neck and eyes gleam with his Inferno’s light. “I might have to sign up for this froufrou party just to get a taste of that!”
Osiris rolls his eyes.
“Guard her, please?” I throw Rykarn a warning glance.
“I will.” Osiris places himself between Rykarn and Brynna, who’s still flushed in the cheeks and looks like she doesn’t know what to make of Rykarn’s outburst.
“He’s always been a hot head,” I tell her as I step into the room. “But he won’t hurt you.”I hope.
I change quickly, zipping the back of my navy blue ABR suit around my wings. Before I zip up the front, I take the panel and hold it over my chest, wishing I didn’t have to wear it here. But my elite power status among the species means either I wear Eluni’s Arrestor or the ABR ones, which Aura said are junk. As much as I don’t want my Inferno hindered while courting Brynna, I don’t want to torch her or this place either.
I press it into my chest, and the tines bite in again. Stifling a grunt from the pain, I zip up the front of my suit and step out of the room.
“You look good in that.” Brynna eyes my body up and down in the tight suit.
Rykarn points at my ass. “Really?”
“I couldn’t tuck it.”
Brynna’s expression is such a mixture of befuddlement and disgust that I curl my tail up and tap her in the forehead. It only makes her expression deepen. She crosses her eyes and leans back. “You have a tail?”
“Suit’s too tight,” I reply. “At least they built in the option. I’m tired of hiding in my armor. Besides, it looked weird down the back of my leg.”
Brynna snorts and starts laughing. “How did I not notice before?”
“Others tend to pull on them.” Sidius is serious. All the time. “We keep them hidden so they don’t get cut off.”
“I’ll keep an eye on it.” Brynna winks and encourages me down the ramp. “Come on. The rope challenge is going to start soon.”
Osiris tugs at my wings, and I feel the ABR bands slide over them again, keeping them tied up against my back.
I sigh and lumber down the ramp, feeling like a drugged and bound servant instead of a participant in a game.
Brynna loops an arm around mine and leans against me as we leave the hangars for the main race corridor. We pass the male dorms and several other species that chat as they head for the ropes course.
We push through the glass doors along the hallway and outside to where the females are lined up by the towers interconnected with swinging bridges, rope nets, and ladders. It’s a more complex system than I remember Aura running with Jovie.
“Sky!” Brynna finds my hand, takes it, and jerks me excitedly through the crowd to another woman, who she hugs. “How are you?”
“Great.” The blue-banded female glances at me. “You?”
“Us too.” Brynna looks around. “Where’s your guy?”
“Right here.” A Mindor pushes through the crowd to stand by the female Brynna calls Sky. He looks at me, and I slide back a step, pulling Brynna behind me.
“Relax, Drathious,” he growls. “I do not have a beef with you. I knew something was up with Fenrysin. He didn’t…act right. And the tribal marking on his neck was not one I recognized. I’ve met most of our packs.”
“Forgive me if I do not trust you. It’s not the first time your kind has attacked me,” I growl.
Brynna squeezes my hand. “Fenrysin was a cloaked Talhuskin.”
“She figured it out with her…orb,” Sky says, leaning into her Mindor mate.
“And he protected Osiris and me,” Brynna adds.
I look down at her. “When was this?”
“While you were healing.” Brynna turns to him. “I never got your name.”
