Lily’s breathing hard, her chest rising and falling too fast, and the sweet deliciousness of her heat has been overridden by the scent of bitter fear. Fear I feel as well, fear that grows as I cast my gaze around the cavern.
Magma flows all around us. Impossibly hot. A certain death sentence.
As I stare, rocky protrusions begin to form and change across the magma. Impossible.
Another couple huddles near us. The red-skinned Draegon has his arms protectively around an incredibly petite and plump auburn-haired female who looks utterly terrified, shaking in his arms.
While Lily has been scared, she has never looked as scared as the red draegon’s tiny creature. She is not made of the same stuff as my Lily, and I’m twice as grateful for the fact that the human who chose me is.
I cannot think of a better mate than the one I already have, the one who’s clinging to me like I am the only source of her hope and happiness. Or maybe that’s my imagination, because that is exactly what I want to be for her.
Well, perhaps not her only source, but the main one.
With a grunt, I sit upright, and the red draegon’s eyes follow the contour of my broken wing, a look of utter horror filling his face as he takes in the damage. Damage I don’t even trust myself to look at right now without further worrying my human.
I simply raise my chin until he meets my eyes again. He drops his nearly immediately, a lower-ranking member of ourspecies. Although I do not know his name, he does appear to be a good male, and I’m grateful that he’s found a way to protect Lily’s friend.
“Are we safe now?” Lily asks. “Please tell me all that heat I feel from all around us is because Ken is cooking us a giant barbeque.”
“I still do not understand what a barr-be-cute is or why you are so obsessed with it. But no,” I say slowly, “it is not from a meal.”
I swallow hard as Lily finally lifts her chin from where she’s been curled up on my chest and neck, taking in the situation all around us as we get our bearings.
The ground shakes again, and she clings to me for comfort, her legs squeezing my chest tight.
Stone benches begin to rise all around the cavern, and, to my horror, the seats almost immediately become filled with all manner of creatures. There are replicas of Ken’s holograms all around, I assume filling the empty seats.
But there are Roth.
“Oh my god, that’s Billy,” Lily says, pointing at the stands. “She’s one of the original producers. Don’t you remember her? And look, Arrow.”
The Roth sitting next to Billy barely moves as Lily points them out. In fact, he looks like he’s about ready to implode in a way only a Roth alien can.
Billy looks fragile and tired, deep circles under her eyes.
“Holy shit, what has Ken been doing to them? This is not OK,” Lily says.
I see the moment the realization that I’ve already had hits her.
“We’re going to have to compete here, aren’t we? This is like a gladiator arena or something. Holy shit, we’re so cucked,” Lily says. “How’s your wing? You shouldn’t have put it out like that.”
She’s blabbering on and on, and all I can think is that I’ve failed. That we’ve made it this far, and now, for this challenge, where it looks like it will matter most, I no longer have my wings to help me.
Despair fills me. I have failed Lily.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
LILY
“Were deep in the ship now,”I mutter, then notice that Zan is standing stiffly, gripping on to me just slightly too tight.
“Your wing,” I murmur, shifting slightly and unwrapping my legs from him as I slide to the ground.
It’s hot on my bare feet, almost painfully so, but I’m more focused on the fact that Zan is holding his wing strangely, listing to the side slightly.
“Oh god, you made it worse, didn’t you?” I say, rushing around him to examine the injured appendage.
