Page 68 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord
I see my proud mate rearing up, Veseli clinging to every part of him as he attempts to shake them off, his flame still escaping as I yell his name, the pincers of the Veseli digging into my flesh.
And the worst thing is I know exactly how they got in here. The only thing I don’t know is why.
A white powder is puffed into my face, and despite my best efforts not to inhale, I can’t help but snuff some of it up my nose.
There is instant, unwelcome oblivion.
I come to with a rush that knocks me sick, my stomach heaving as I sit upright, absolutely certain I’m about to lose my lunch.
“Little mate.” Dexx’s voice rumbles out of the darkness. “Are you unharmed?”
I don’t know whether to be relieved he is here or not because presumably it means we’re both incarcerated.
The sound of a huge body moving, scales rasping over the floor, means I hear Dexx before I feel his thick tail curl around me.
“Where are we?”
“I do not know,” Dexx says in the dark. “I was given more paraxio. I do not recall what happened after the Veseli invaded our quarters.”
“It’s Dalsor,” I say quietly.
“Dalsor?”
“He’s the only one who visited all of the places explosives were found or went off.”
“Dalsor, my second in command?” Dexx rasps above me, the tone in his voice unbelieving. “I have known him since he was a youngling. He was the nephew of a great general, Draxx.”
“I don’t think any of that matters, Dexx. He is the only one who was in all the same places. If it was a coincidence, the numbers wouldn’t have worked out.”
“Dalsor.” I hear Dexx scratch at his huge head. “But why?”
I shake mine. “It’s not a question I can answer. Did you not get anything from his thoughts?”
“No,” Dexx shakes his head, “but then he knows me, and has more likely than not become adept in keeping his thoughts to himself.”
My heart is in my boots. I hate this for Dexx so much. After meeting Drex, I can see how much they mean to him and he means to them. To discover a traitor in his midst, a traitor with an agenda which doesn’t make any sense, blowing up random parts of the various warlords’ sectors, is hard enough. But to find the traitor is his second in command…
All I want to do is comfort my huge Sarkarnii. Dexx is so large in his shift, I have to wrap my arms around his tail, the only part of him I can get hold of. I lean my head on his cool scales.
“What do you think they want with us?”
“No matter what it is, little ember, they will not touch a hair on your head again.” Dexx growls in the darkness. “I know how they operate. They revealed too much in our taking.”
I feel safe next to my big beast, even if everything else in my head is a whirl of emotions. But as long as I have Dexx by my side, I feel like I can take on anything, even yet another abduction.
DEXX
It has been more than twelve nova-hours, and I cannot change my form. I’ve tried everything. Thinking about it, not thinking about it, attempting to surprise myself, forcing the shift…everything.
Nothing has worked. I remain in my Sarkarnii form regardless.
Perhaps it is the shame of allowing a member of my crew, my clan, to betray me and put her in danger. My mate, my heartsfire, my reason for being.
My unclaimed heart. I should have heeded what Dalox told me about the claiming bite, but instead I am stuck as a Sarkarnii and to bite her would be to kill her with the amount of venom I would produce.
Scarlett stirs where she slumbers against my flank.
“Dexx?” Her sleepy voice makes my cock want to poke out of its pouch. “Why are you still a dragon?”
