Page 37 of Claimed By the Drakarn Warrior Lord

My hands were still shaky from the less-than-smooth flights to and from that dust-choked excuse for a hideout. Darrokar’s gaze felt like a physical blow, and honestly? I deserved every ounce of the accusation radiating off him.

Instinct screamed I should’ve laid everything bare from the start, trusted him, consequences be damned. But theothers. I couldn't ignore the responsibility I had to them.

The steady rhythm of the underground river in the distance did nothing to slow the frantic hammering of my pulse. Darrokar remained a towering silhouette against the soft glow of heat crystals embedded in the walls. Every line of his bodyscreamed tension, his golden eyes, those vertical slits, burning twin holes right through me.

Words were inadequate, clumsy shields against the raw emotion crackling between us.

“Why?” The weight of his question settled on my chest, heavy and suffocating. “You lied. About everything.”

“Not everything,” I managed, my voice low, strained. It sounded weak, even to my own ears. My hands betrayed my inner turmoil as my thumbs rubbed agitated circles against the worn fabric of my borrowed pants. “When we woke up … it was chaos. They’re mostly civilians, Darrokar. My job is to protect them. When we saw you, your warriors coming for us … I told Selene and Lexa to hide them. We couldn’t risk—” My voice hitched, the lie sticking in my throat like grit.

“Couldn’t risk what?” He loomed, his sheer size filling my vision, stealing the air from my lungs. “Risk trusting me?”

“Yes.” The word burst out, sharper than intended, the blunt admission tasting like ash.

His wings flared, the membranes shifting, and I saw the subtle flex of the claws at his sides. But I pushed on, the need to explain, however poorly, eclipsing my worry.

“Yes, I couldn’t risk trusting youyet. You don’t understand what it was like. We went to sleep on a ship, expecting … Earth. We woke up tothis. Fucking sand lizards attacked us before some of us were even fully out of the cryo-pods. This whole damn planet has tried to kill us since we opened our eyes. How could I trustanything?”

The crystalline light in the room did nothing to soften the harsh planes of his face, the molten fury still simmering in his gaze. That anger wasn’t foreign—some emotions transcended galaxies. But this was different. This wasn't directed at some faceless enemy; this was aimed squarely atme.

“That might hold if we were speaking of the first days,” he said finally, his voice dangerously soft, the quiet menace more cutting than any roar. “But you thought I would allow them … allowyou… to suffer within my city? Despite every breath within me screaming to protect you?”

Guilt twisted in my gut, a sharp, sickening lurch. “That wasn’t my intention.”

“Then clarify it for me,luvae.” He stalked closer, until there was barely a breath between us, trapping me in the inferno of his gaze. “Tell me why you withheld the truth.”

The room felt smaller. I needed a moment, abreath, to gather the scattered pieces of my rationale. “I didn’t …” My breath hitched as I met his unwavering gaze, the raw hurt there a far sharper torment than any outward rage. “I do trust you. Iwantedto trust you. But they were my responsibility.”

His expression didn’t soften, but something behind the gold flickered, a flicker of … understanding? “And now?”

“Now?” I blew out a frustrated breath, the sound ragged. “Now, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore.” I pressed two fingers hard against my temple, the gesture more forceful than necessary. “My head and my heart are a damn mess because of you.”

“You speak as if it is a curse,” he murmured, though the underlying tension in his voice hadn’t fully dissipated. His golden eyes narrowed, dissecting my defenses like a surgeon’s blade.

“Because it feels like one,” I admitted, the words leaving a bitter taste. “Because I’m terrified of trusting it. Of trustingyou.”

His wings lifted slightly, the movement subtle but significant, eclipsing the faint light filtering from a high crevice, making him seem impossibly vast, impossiblyother.

Because he is, that traitorous voice whispered inmy mind, the one I'd ruthlessly silenced with every lie, every deflection, every self-deceptive argument that this connection couldn’t possibly be as profound as it felt.

“And yet,” he said, his voice dropping, becoming a low thrum that vibrated through me, “you do.”

My breath hitched. His proximity was overwhelming, too close, yet utterly necessary, a grounding force in the swirling chaos of my emotions. I didn’t understand it, not completely. But I was beginning to understandus, and that realization was more terrifying than any alien predator.

“I …” The words caught, snagged by a sudden surge of panic, my pride a stubborn knot in my throat. I couldn’t articulate it, couldn’t give voice to the gaping void inside me that only his presence seemed to fill. But my body betrayed me, a subtle shift bringing me closer, erasing the inches between us until I could feel the radiating heat of his scales against my skin, his scent, that intoxicating mix of spice and something uniquely Darrokar, engulfing me.

“Tell me,” he commanded softly, the word a quiet insistence, not a roared demand. It was a steady anchor in the storm raging within me. “Do you loveme?”

Every muscle locked tight.

The question, stripped bare of any artifice, hit with brutal force. My towering, formidable Warrior Lord, demanding nothing less than the unvarnished truth of my heart—a truth I’d barely dared to whisper to myself.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I breathed, the confession barely audible, trembling in the charged air. “I’ve been trained for a thousand things, Darrokar. But not this. Notyou.”

“That is not an answer,luvae.” His voice deepened, becoming impossibly intimate, laced with a raw thread I couldn’t quite decipher—hope, perhaps, though he guarded it fiercely.

I could have lied. Deflected. Offered some carefully crafted response to sidestep the core of his question. But the desire to shield myself, to maintain that brittle control, had fractured.

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