Page 40 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

Her shoulders hunch, and she looks down below the surface.

“I want to be safe. I want the others to be safe, and so far, nothing,nothingI have seen suggests we’re any safer than when we were on the Bloar ship.”

She glares up at me. I can see it in her eyes, the fear.

No mate of any Sarkarnii should fear anything.

No mate of mine should ever fear anything.

“Because I have laid my claim on you, you will always be protected,” I rasp. “You have my word as a Sarkarnii warlord.”

“And my friends?”

“Your friends are my friends. They have the same protection.”

“Even from the other warlords?”

“Even from them,” I reply. “They will have guards night and day, anything they want. You will have anything you want too.”

Kerra continues to hold my gaze. I feel it is not enough.

“My empire stretches the length and breadth of this galaxy. I can give you all the assurances. Here, on Vorostor, you are safe.”

“Because you rule it? It’s hardly an assurance of safety if a king can be toppled.”

I slam my mouth over hers, mating it with all my might. For a brief instant, she resists before her lips soften and let me in.

“No one can best me, little snack, least of all a tiny scrap like you.”

KERRA

Ididn’t want to kiss him again, not until there were answers.

But wanting something in return for my body is the wrong answer. Wanting Darax as much as my body does is most likely going to get me killed, but I can’t seem to stop myself.

His touch makes my skin sing. The fire in his eyes, the scent which rolls off his skin, spicy, smokey, sweet, even while we’re in the water—it sets my core on fire. Darax’s dominance is something I always swore I would avoid.

But it comes with an easy confidence I’ve never had. He knows what he wants, and he takes it, like any warlord.

Darax is taking me. And I’m going to let him, regardless of the reticence which sits in my mind. That this could all be the rut he’s so fond of talking about. A physical reaction which, when done, leaves me cast aside, along with my friends…

Save for the claiming he insists on. Whatever that may be.

Yet again, I’m out of my depth in too many ways, Darax pulling me to the middle of the pool, my legs dangling above the deep water, my chin captured in his huge hand.

“I need to shed, my mate,” he rumbles, with a hint of the purr which lulled me to sleep before.

“Shed? Your skin?”

“It is one of the most intimate acts a male can do with his mate. For a short while, I will be more than vulnerable to your venom.” Darax studies my face. “Should you wish to bite me.”

“I don’t…bite?” I respond, but his gaze doesn’t waver, almost as if he doesn’t believe my words.

“But mating after a shed is supposed to be one of the best experiences,” he murmurs.

“You’ve never done it before?”

“You are my first female, Kerra. I could not mate with any who were not my heartsfire.”

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