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Once again, I awake in the middle of the night, or was it day? It has been two days, and I am already losing track of time. Fuck doing this for months on end, years even! At least Ryze knows not to shit on the damn floor or your shoulder when you’re holding him. These bastards have no manners. They have been devouring more worms than we can dig up. We have resorted to hand feeding them mushed-up bran flakes with a syringe.
“I need sleep,” Lycus growls, rolling into me. Placing his hand on my chest, he sleepily blinks down at me, a smirk on his lips.
“I will suck and fuck the life out of you if you do this feed for me.” I shake my head. It is his turn.
“Please? I need my beauty sleep. You could go without sleep for a year and still be pretty,” Lycus says between yawns. He drops his head on my chest, and I hear Darius chuckle as Lycus tries to bribe me.
“Please? I won't even complain while doing it,” he purrs. I roll my eyes.
“No complaining of a sore jaw or chapped lips,” I growl at him, and he pats my chest, rolling off to face Aleera as I climb out of bed. Stretching my arms above my head, I look at Darius. He has a chick in his hands, and forces the syringe in its beak to feed it before grabbing the next.
“Lycus will suck your dick if you make me coffee,” I volunteer the germ that woke me. “He already owes me a dick sucking for doing his night shift,” Darius says, and I glare at Lycus.
“That fucker is getting more sleep than all of us,” I groan, feeling a little used. “That little bitch will be paying up, or I will pin him down and fuck his face. Either way, he is licking these nuts.”
“Get in line. He's got a lot of dick to suck. Pretty sure he owes Kalen one too,” Darius says, and I shake my head, cursing Lycus internally for tricking me.
Sitting next to Darius, I grab a bird and syringe and help him feed them. Ryze flies into the room moments later, and I try not to throw up when he helps feed them, spitting the mushed up worms into the chicks mouth, it is far too early in the morning for that display of parenting.
“Good boy,” Darius tells him as Ryze feeds a few from the other crate.
“Marvelous creatures. I didn't even ask him. He flew off when they woke me and has been back and forth out the window,” Darius tells me as he gives Ryze a scratch under his beak. Ryze then bounces off out the window.
“They sense her,” I tell him, and he nods, glancing at the bed of our mates. “I don't think they just sense her, though. I think they know what you were,” I tell him. He swallows and nods.
“When she shreds…” I am about to ask when he holds up a hand and cuts me off.
“Don't. I know what you are going to say.”
“Darius, whatever it is you're hiding, she'll forgive you,” I tell him.
“It's not her I am worried about. She may forgive me, doesn’t mean the rest of you will,” he mutters.
“Forgive what?” I ask him.
“It doesn't matter,” he says. I see his eyes darken as he reaches over by the fire and grabs another log. He tosses it in and turns back to the birds. I sigh, changing the topic, knowing I won't get anywhere with the previous one.
“The power hunters?” I ask him, and he peers over at me.
“She has found us,” Darius answers, and I know he is right. There is only one group of power hunters that large, and they haven’t been seen in years because no one survives them when they hit their targets.
“I never saw her,” I tell him, and he shrugs.
“They clearly didn't expect what they found. I don't think they even knew why they were here besides power. I believe this was just to test out our defenses,” he replies.
“You think she figured it out?” I ask him.
“No other group, not even the council, are crazy enough to step foot into my Kingdom,” Darius says, and he is right. We have never been attacked here before, ever.
“She would have been looking for infinite power source flares and Aleera.” He peers around at the crates of Phoenixes.
“These birds, they would have been like a beacon,” Darius states.
“Are you going to tell Aleera her mother is hunting her?” I ask him, reaching for another bird. He hushes me, looking toward her behind us, then shakes his head.
“You need to tell her, and you need to tell the others you killed her father,” I tell him. Honesty is the only way we will get through this. Darius is the most secretive of us all.
“I can't,” he whispers.
