Page 208 of Scorching the Alien Empire
She’s unraveling.
I stop. Let my shadow fall over her. She flinches. Backs into the corner like a wounded animal.
Then, suddenly—she hurls Todd toward the exit.
The creature flails, spindly legs twitching from its bloated segmented body. Its singular black eye gleams, reflecting my confused face.
“Run, Todd! Be free! Save yourselffrom bad daddy Dracoth!” Princesa shrieks with genuine panic.
The cyloillar scurries toward me, clambers up my leg, then arm, and promptly curls on my shoulder. Croaking softly in sleep.
Princesa stares blinking. “You wee traitor! Even he’s abandoned me.”
I move toward her slowly, silently.
“He smells your repugnant fear,” I say. “As do I.”
My hand lowers, two fingers grasping her delicate neck, lifting her to her feet like a toy. Her breath hitches—no longer fighting, just trembling.
She rasps— hands clutching my wrist as I bear down on her, fear shimmering in the depths of her mercury eyes.
Then... she shifts.
A hoarse laugh bubbles from her lips. The nails that once dug into my vambrace now stroke playfully. Her fear turns syrupy. Eyes flutter. Her voice lowers.
“That’s it, my Red Dragon,” she purrs, pressing her softness against the unyielding arcweave of my armor. “Let’s fuck it out. Like we used to.”
She throws her head back, laughter cracked and crooked. Her fingers trail fire along my belt.
“You still want me, don’t you? Put that massive cock in me. Prove I’m yours,” she whispers, voice sticky with heat and desperation. She plants human female kisses across the obsidian plating of my chest—metal that’s drunk the blood of empires. “Isn’t this what you want? A little obedient toy to play with. I can be that for you.”
Her hands move to my belt. Tearing. Pulling. Her breath quickens.
“Remember what we were?” she gasps. “Unstoppable. You and me. Ruling the Lexie-verse like you promised.” A moan laces her words, wild and hungry. “You said we’d rise to the top. That we’d take it all.”
Heat builds. Need rises with aching, burning force. Princesa—her breathtaking delicate beauty. The groans of submission, speaking of power. The way she moves, the way she melts against me. The wildfire rises in me. Like nostalgia—a lost part of me, the best part returning.
My fingers curl into her golden hair. I yank her head back. She groans—a husky willing sound. Neck bared. Lips parted, beckoning me onward. She’s mine to feast upon, mine to devour. I lower to claim what belongs to me.
Then I stop.
Through our bond—Ifeel it. Not lust. Not affection. No. Manipulation. The expectation of looming victory.
She expects me to give in. She thinks she’s won.
Revulsion ignites. Cold. Absolute.
The fire inside me douses in a rush of bitter ice. I shove her away, breath ragged, shame licking at the edges of my soul.
Her sultry smile warps into a sneer. “What? Not man enough?” she spits. “Going to run off crying again?” Her voice cracks. The fury can’t quite hide the grief bleeding through. “Maybe I should visit this Krogoth guy. Bet he knows how to fuck like a real man.”
Her words are vipertail poison.
I look at her—this blazing ruin where once my Princesa stood.
“I was wrong,” I mutter, each word a claw wound, an enemy I can’t overcome. “My Princesa... she’s gone.”
I turn, cloak dragging ash behind me. Our bond—I will sever it with distance.
