Page 35 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

“I think I did.” Darax is lifting his lip again in the half smile which is as wicked as it is beguiling. But as there are other warriors around, it’s gone as soon as I glimpse it.

My core does something it shouldn’t, and his nostrils flare, smoke streaming from them.

“I will accompany you back to the female quarters,” he says quickly, tail lashing, the vicious spikes impacting the floor and leaving a mark as he glares at any warriors in our vicinity.

They all make themselves instantly scarce.

Darax seems to have that sort of effect.

We make our way back through the atrium and past the entrance to the baths he seems so keen on, then the dining hall which is also, impressively empty, until we reach the maze of corridors, one of which finally leads to a door I recognize.

Two Sarkarnii wait outside, shuffling warily as Darax approaches.

“Go get your meals,” he snarls at them. They don’t need telling twice.

“You like being a warlord, don’t you?” I say as their tails disappear around a corner.

“It’s what I was born to do, little snack,” he rasps, backing me against the wall and capturing my chin with his clawed thumband forefinger. “Or at least, being a member of the High Bask meant I was always intended to be a leader, even if warlord wasn’t specifically mentioned.”

“But you are one,” I respond, looking into his mesmerizing gaze. There is so much fire in his eyes, I could stare into them all day and not get bored. “As well as being in rut.”

“I rut for you, my Kerra. After the radiation killed all our females, I never expected to rut, but I do,” Darax murmurs.

“Killed all your females?” I squeak out the words.

“My female crew was considered one of the fiercest and brightest,” Darax says. “Even now, so many nova-years later, we miss them.”

I take heart he usedwerather thanI. But even so, I hate the swell of jealousy which consumes me, followed ever so swiftly by its sibling, guilt.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was not your fault. It was our own,” Darax growls.

I’m about to ask what the hell happened for them to have lost all their female crew and not the males when the doors to the female quarters snap open and Maggie bursts out.

“I’m not staying in there a moment longer,” she tosses over her shoulder. “We’re not prisoners…oh!”

She spots Darax and me and shuts her mouth with an audible click of teeth.

Are we in a compromising position? Yes.

I just have to be grateful this time he’s wearing pants.

KERRA

“Ihope I’m notinterruptinganything,” Maggie says pointedly.

“Kerra was going to mate my mouth,” Darax says before I can stop him.

I hear a loud snort from inside the room which can only be Rosalie. Sure enough, she pops her head out for a good look as I pull away from Darax and duck under his arm.

“What’s going on?”

“Maggie’s got cabin fever,” Scarlett says, stepping out of the doorway. “I’m the same. Either we’re prisoners or we’re not.”

I look over at Darax. “Are we your prisoners?”

“You’re definitely not,” Rosalie murmurs with a laugh.

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