Page 19 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

I am not ready to meet the ancestors yet.

KERRA

Darax folds my legs gently under me into the pod. It’s not tiny, presumably because it’s made for huge Sarnarkii or other aliens, but it’s still far, far smaller than I’d like. I’m not even a fan of an elevator in most cases, preferring the stairs where possible, so this is essentially my worst nightmare.

I’m shifted over as Darax climbs in beside me, his clawed fingers far more dexterous than I’d expect as he presses the symbols on the outside of the pod and a canopy forms over the top of us once more, as if being created out of the air.

My rate of breathing increases, which means the pain in my chest ramps up to intensity ten. I most definitely cracked some ribs when I fell, and I’m lucky nothing punctured a lung, but that’s where my luck ended.

“Look at me, little snack,” Darax says, the merest wisp of smoke curling from his nostril. “Concentrate on me.”

We’re face to face, and as I thought, with him inside there’s little room to maneuver. I feel the panic rising inside me, insidious and awful, as if I’m falling into a hole and at the same time being constricted to the point I can’t breathe or think.

“I said to look at me,” Darax growls, pulling all my attention back to him in an instant.

His expression hasn’t changed, his stunning eyes searching mine for recognition I’m back with him.

And how could I not be when he ordered me to be present? To look at him.

To look at the strong jaw, the muscle twitching there as he doesn’t look away, to the small, delicate scales which cover his skin, some reflecting the light, some seeming to pull it in, almost like freckles. Darax has long, dark eyelashes, but he chooses not to blink much.

I am mesmerized.

“The pod will start the healing cycle now,” Darax says.

“What about you? It won’t hurt you if you’re not injured, will it?” I’m still searching for a way out.

I’m still not entirely here, with him.

“Very little penetrates my thick hide, Kerra.” Darax cups my chin with his hand. “And when it does, it rarely causes any damage, unless it’s directly to my heart.”

He’s cut off any avenue of escape as the pod hums and the light within dims. I slam a hand against the oval surface of the pod in alarm. It’s a hand which is taken and enclosed in a huge, warm, scaled one.

“What you need is a distraction, female,” Darax rasps.

Because being here in a pod on an alien planet, in an alien space ship, is not distraction enough? I frantically look around at what little I can see which doesn’t involve an enormous scaled Darax until my gaze alights back on his face.

His firm grip on my chin means I’m going nowhere. All I can concentrate on are his lips, full and golden. The more I look at them, the more I think they should be kissed.

I think he likes you.

Panic sits in my hind brain, desperate to make itself known, but Darax has my hands pinned together at the wrist. There isnothing I can do, nowhere I can go. We are all there is. He is all there is.

I don’t even know at what point our lips touch, but they do. I wasn’t expecting them to be soft and yielding, but they are.

Darax’s breath stutters against mine.

“Little snack,” he murmurs. “What is this?”

I mean, why would aliens kiss? Why would he know what I was doing? I suddenly feel absolutely terrible, my cheeks flaming. What have I done?

“I like it.” He rasps. “Do it again.”

I study his face, not entirely sure what I should do. I kissed him without permission and he wants more.

Darax doesn’t even acknowledge my hesitation, his mouth hitting mine in a long, dominant kiss which sucks all the fear from my head and body. For someone who hasn’t been kissed before, he’s certainly showing how the Sarkarnii are the top dogs, er…dragons in this galaxy.

Which means I have to gain the upper hand. I slide my tongue between his lips, and for half a second, it stops him in his tracks before he releases a soft groan, hand sliding up my arm and into my hair as he presses me against him.

---