Page 38 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

I strip off my clothing and pull on the swimming costume. My legs could do with a shave, but then the niceties of personal grooming haven’t been high on the list (or possible) recently, what with the alien abduction and living like rats in the back passages of a pirate space ship.

Back at the aquium, I waste no time slipping into the water. Rosalie is powering up and down like a machine. Maggie spins silently, floating on her back, and Scarlett has an interesting smile on her face as she leans back near the side. Lydia is still sitting, gently kicking her legs.

“You coming in?” I ask.

“Can’t swim,” she says with a brief smile. “I’m fine here.”

I duck under the surface. The water is silky against my skin, so very different from anything I’ve swum in on earth. It’s entirely possible it has additives which are good for the Sarkarnii, given Darax mentioned something about using an aquium to help him shed his skin.

I mean, he is a reptile, of sorts. It’s what they do. And they have technology, so they are going to use it to make their lives better.

Underwater, I release a sob which is part frustration and part all the fear I’ve felt for the last few weeks hitting me hard in the stomach.

Hands reach in and I’m pulled to the surface, meeting a set of concerned faces.

“Are you okay?” Scarlett asks. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have teased you about Darax.”

“I’m…struggling, but then we all are,” I say, running my hand over my face to clear out the water, both from the aquium and from the tears.

“It’s not every day you get abducted and dropped into the lap of a massive dragon man.” Maggie nods sagely.

“Just some days.” Rosalie laughs, earning her a stern glare from Scarlett.

“I was minding my own business, sitting on a park bench, looking at the sky when—boom! Abducted,” Scarlett says.

“Yeah, the Lake District national park.” Maggie laughs. “Plenty of room for aliens there. Try putting your bins out and being abducted.”

“Like you didn’t live on the edge of the North Yorks moors,” Scarlett retorts. “If I was an alien, I’d be actively looking for humans to pinch from the arse-end of nowhere.”

“I still don’t understand why they’re taking people from the UK,” Rosalie says as I roll my eyes at her favorite subject. “They prefer Americans, don’t they?”

“Not this time. Maybe they got all the good ones,” Lydia says quietly, swishing her legs in the water.

“I do not count myself as a ‘good abductee’,” Maggie says. “I made sure I kicked my abductors in any part of their weird anatomy I could. It’s the reason they shoved me in that tin can with Scarlett and fired us into space.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Scarlett grumbles. “Not that I was making things easy for me either, I suppose,” she adds with a grin.

“Maggie and Scarlett didn’t get a good look at their abductors,” Rosalie tells me. “Not like us.”

“Alien seafood.” I make a face.

“From what Rosalie has told me, I’m pleased we didn’t see much,” Maggie says. “I’m allergic.” She shudders.

I look at all of them, their hopeful faces, their true desire to have fun in the face of adversity, and I burst out in tears.

“I promised you this place would be safe,” I manage between the sobs, hating my show of emotion but having no way to stop it. “And I don’t know whether it is.”

A snarl proportionate to the size of the pool room reverberates around it.

A quick glance indicates it is coming from a very, very pissed off Darax.

“What are you doing to mymate?” His words are barely formed past his huge fangs. “If you have hurt her in any way…” He leaves the threat hanging.

Scarlett opens her mouth, but I push past her before she can say anything which might antagonize the massive Sarkarnii who has clearly taken leave of his senses. I scramble to get out of the pool.

“They haven’t done anything. Don’t youdaretouch them,” I snarl right back at him.

Darax blinks at me, and before I can stop him, he has hold of my arm, and we’re diving straight back into the water. I hear the muffled shouts of the others, but he’s dragging me down, down, down into the depths.

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