Page 64 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord
A rut which fills me with the mating mix any time I’m close to my Scarlett, and now is no exception. Her scent invades my nostrils, her lack of thoughts in my head are calming to a degree I don’t think I’ve ever known.
“It can scan you with me in here too, can’t it?” she queries.
“We’re about to find out,” I reply.
“No, Dexx…” Her eyes are wide as the pod hums and the scanner starts.
I cup her face in my hand, marveling at how unbelievably delicate she seems, and yet she can take all of me.
“Do not fear, my heartsfire. I would give all I have, all my hoard, my crew, my clan, my ship, the galaxy, and the universe to keep you safe, to hold you until the end of time.” I study her face, wanting to ensure it is burnt into my brain. “The scanner will not harm you. Keep your eyes on me.”
The scanner increases its whine, and I keep hold of her chin so she cannot turn away. But Scarlett does not attempt to move. Instead her eyes rake over my face with a heat I cannot ignore, my lips hitting hers and reveling in the way she arches her back to lean into my mouth. Our tongues tangle and she moanssomething which could be my name and I’m going to take it as such.
With a hiss, the cover to the pod opens and cooler air rushes in. I’d like to mate my Scarlett here and now, but it can wait because she is always willing.
She blinks at me, as if she has awoken from a slumber as I swing my legs out of the pod and pad over to the console.
“Any idea what it means?” Scarlett joins me and wraps her arm around my waist. I regret wearing pants.
“I am not a healer. TheSteel Jewel’s healer was one of our females.” I stare at the results. “And I never was much good at healing.”
“So, it’s not any help?”
“From what I can tell, my physiology has changed.” I trace a claw over the screens. “But it could be my rut generally, not anything specific. What I need is a healer who can interpret the data.”
The console flashes up something else, something unexpected as I had not set the scanner for my mate as well. It causes smoke to fire from my nostrils harder than I have done before.
“What is it?” Scarlett pulls at my arm. “What do you see?” She attempts to peer at the screens, but it’s clear the information is beyond the nano translators she has installed.
I drop to my knees in front of her.
Scarlett is my everything. She is the stars, she is the ships, she is the bedrock of all species. The ancestors sent her to me for this exact moment. The moment which changes everything.
“Dexx, you’re scaring me,” Scarlett cries out. “What’s wrong? What did you see?”
SCARLETT
The way Dexx goes quiet and sways slightly in front of me is disconcerting to say the least. I grab at his shoulders as his wings extend around us, my stomach in knots.
Is he ill? Has the rut done something permanent to him? His silence is terrifying.
“Little mate, my heartsfire, my Scarlett,” Dexx murmurs. “The scanner looked at you too.”
“What? What about me?”
Dexx slides his hand over my stomach. “You are with young, my sweet mate. Your belly is filled.”
My head swims, my hand involuntarily closing over his.
“I’m pregnant?” The words come out in a hoarse whisper. “Really? We’re going to have a baby?”
“No,” Dexx says, and my heart goes into free fall, my knees buckling because I don’t know what he means.
He catches me. Of course he does.
“We are going to have two sarkarnlings. You are filled with two.”
“Twins?” I can barely speak for the whistling in my ears and the way my brain wants to shut down.
