Page 39 of Wrath

“Fuck off,” Wrath growled while the rest of us burst out laughing.

Chapter 12

Wrath

Kwan flew Dread, Varnog, and me to the entrance of the air vent with a shuttle. Instead of using a chaser again to tear off the grid of the remaining air vent leading into the storage room of the base, we used our tools to carefully remove it to avoid a collapse. Dread flew down ahead to confirm the room was safe. As soon as he gave us the all-clear, Varnog flew down our excavator bot. For a moment, I considered rappelling down rather than being carried by Dread. It was a silly reaction. He’d carried me before in a different context. But now, I suddenly felt self-conscious about it because my mate was watching.

My mate…

The taste of her lingered on my tongue, driving me insane with need. I had not intended to act with such boldness and push her limits so far. But damn, she had looked so delicious in her Vanguard uniform dress, staring at me like I was the most wonderful thing in the universe. I couldn’t regret a single minute of it. This wretched mission needed to be over so that I could devote every moment of my time wooing my soulmate and forming our bond. I felt dizzy just thinking about Kwan, the way she looked at me, touched me, spoke to me… I had dreamed for so long of being wanted like this by the one woman created for me and to know, at long last, the pleasure of a mate’s embrace.

Dread flying back out of the vent to land next to me snapped me out of my wandering thoughts.

“In my arms, big boy,” Dread said teasingly, extending his hands towards me.

I glared at him while Kwan chuckled.

“You arenotcarrying me like a bride,” I growled.

“Then what do you suggest?” Dread asked, opening wide his eyes with the fakest air of innocence. “I sure as hell am not carrying you caveman-style. I’m not flying around with your behind that close to my face.”

Kwan burst out laughing, her beautiful dark brown eyes sparkling with mirth as she observed us. I gave Dread a sideways glance, fighting the urge to give him a good trouncing. He held my gaze with a shit-eating grin.

“Varnog is ruining you,” I growled. “You are forbidden from hanging out with that fiend.”

“Hey! What did I do?!” Varnog asked while flying out of the air vent.

“Wrath is complaining that you’ve apparently corrupted me with your irreverent tongue and provocative ways,” Dread deadpanned.

“I’ve made you far more interesting,” the Scelk replied smugly as he landed next to my mate before turning his attention to her. “I’m corrupting her next.”

Kwan playfully bumped shoulders with him, and he grinned fiendishly. As insufferable as he could be at times, through his marriage to my little Half-Pint, Varnog had become as close a brother to me as Legion and the other four who were firstborn with me. It pleased me tremendously to see the fraternal friendship that was blossoming between him and my mate.

“You will leave her be if you know what’s good for you,” I threatened.

Varnog smirked, not intimidated in the least. Shaking my head in discouragement, I took a step towards Kwan and brushed my lips against hers. She returned the kiss and caressed my cheek. I would never tire of this. Stepping away from her I looked at Dread over my shoulder.

“Let’s get going,” I said, lifting my arms. “I want to be done with this shit.”

“At your command, team leader,” Dread said teasingly.

Closing the distance between us, he wrapped his arms around my chest. His own pressing against my back, he leaned forward, his lips brushing against my left ear.

“Fly away with me, sweetheart,” he ‘whispered’ loudly enough to be heard by the other two.

Their laughter accompanied us while we flew down the vent.

“You know that I will get even at some point, right?” I told him over my shoulder.

He chuckled without any remorse. “Oooh, I know. But it was too hard to resist,” he added teasingly.

I loved Dread like a son. I’d more or less adopted both him and Bane as my own. Their mother, Elisa, had been my first Soulcatcher. To this day, guilt continued to gnaw at me that I hadn’t been there to prevent General Khutu from kidnapping her. Like so many of our other Soulcatchers who got abducted, she endured decades of abuse at the hand of our nemesis. But her sons, like all the other Dragons, made the women proud. Without them, we likely never would have defeated the Kryptid General.

At the end of the short flight down, the three-meter-wide tunnel of the vent opened up into the large storage room. Dread landed, then released me.

“All teasing aside,” he said, sobering, “congratulations on your newfound happiness. No man deserves it more than you.”

My hearts constricted as I turned to face him, the sincerity of his sentiment moving me deeply.

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