Page 44 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

“Your friend is fine,” I growl at them as I pass back through the aquium. “She will remain with me, but you are welcome to visit.”

Oddly, I do not get the response I was expecting from my generous offer. Instead there are a chorus of derisory snorts.

“I think we’ll leave that decision up to Kerra,” Rosalie says. “But good luck explaining it to her.”

“I doubt very much there will be explaining going on.” One of them chuckles. “Unless there are body parts involved.”

I return to my aquium, where Kerra is sitting on the edge of the pool, her feet in the water.

“Your friends do not believe you belong to me.” I put her clothing down and extract a set of spare pants I keep in my aquium.

“Because perhaps it is the human way for the males to belong to the females and not the other way around,” she says without looking in my direction.

I bark out a laugh which I was not expecting. “Maybe that is how it is with Sarkarnii too.” I touch the area on my shoulder she sank her teeth into. It is slightly tender, but there was no venom. I do not think I angered her too much and the mating, such a glorious mating, may have had enough of an effect to put me back into Kerra’s affections.

If she didn’t envenomate me, it has to be a good thing. Plus, her teeth have left enough of a mark on my freshly shed skin I can demonstrate I have survived a mating with a female.

That, if my rut is fatal to my sanity, means I die with the respect of my fellow Sarkarnii.

The mere thought makes my body swell, my shift threaten, but I cannot shift, not yet, not if I want to keep her mark on me, to show her it is necessary for me to claim her too, to mark her fair skin with my fangs.

To give hermyvenom and my life. To reverse the damage my rut is already doing, the way my venom is slowly poisoning my body. Something which will end when our DNA combines.

The one opportunity my brother did not get.

Away in the far distance, there is a long, low howl of pain.

“What is that?” Kerra asks.

“No doubt warriors misbehaving,” I say swiftly.

“Sound certainly carries in this place,” Kerra says, as she gets to her feet and pulls on her clothes.

“Yes.” I smile. “It does.”

KERRA

If I thought I was confused before, I was wrong. The more time I spend with Darax, the more nothing makes sense.

But then, things haven’t been making sense since I was abducted by aliens, so this is not a new state of affairs.

It’s more I can’t grasp my own feelings. Darax is bombastic, overly confident, handsome, and vulnerable all in one package. He’s more than any man I’ve ever met, mostly because he is not a man. He is a Sarkarnii.

And they have some very interesting views on what constitutes a relationship. The rutting I remain completely in the dark about. The fact he seems to fear my disapproval because I might bite him is also odd, although I found out what happened when I did.

Some of the best sex of my entire life. From a male who only had sex for the first time, with me, not so long ago.

All of this has happened so damn fast. In the blink of an eye, Rosalie and I were scratching out a living on a filthy pirate ship, and now we’re with the Sarkarnii who have tech which would make any human scientist weep and probably most of the rest of this galaxy.

Especially given how they overpowered the Bloar.

The Sarkarnii have clean living conditions, food, the ability (and desire) to bathe. They also like blowing things up and fighting. Basically, they are feral, and Darax is one of the worst offenders.

But considering how much they have all gone through, with the loss of their females, finding themselves sick and a very long way from home, I’m sort of understanding why they are the way they are.

At least until Darax gets into a snarling match with two of his warriors because they looked at me.

“Look, if you’re going to do this, I’m going to spend time with my friends,” I say, over the noise. “I got over all the ‘mine’ stuff a while back.”

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