Page 78 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

“Walk,” I am ordered.

I look over my shoulder, but now the egg/room looks like any other. Closed and sealed. A pincer slams into my shoulder, sending me forward.

If I wanted a reminder the Veseli are not friendly, I got one.

Two of them move in front of me while two take up the rear. I’m doing my best to breathe through my mouth rather than my nose as the stench is overwhelming. Somewhere in the vast space, there is a deep, echoing roar.

“We have your Sarkarnii.” The words hit my mind like a sledgehammer.“His capture means you both belong to us.”

My stomach hits the floor, my boots dragging and all my limbs feeling like they are filled with lead.

“What do you want?”

“Control.” The word reverberates inside my head. “And we will have it with you and the Sarkarnii. He will help us destroy the others, and he will give us back the galaxy for our own use.”

I do not want to be used in this way. I want to fight, but I don’t know if fighting will get me anywhere.

But here, surrounded by the giant cockroaches, I don’t think I have a choice. No matter what my friends have said, here and now, there is no choice at all. Live or die, I’m going to affect Darax and not in a good way.

There’s every chance this will result in bloodshed, and I fear it will be his.

DARAX

Dante is correct—the stench of our old enemies is everywhere.

“I don’t understand. Dalox killed the last of them. We were sure they’d been routed from this sector of space,” I growl under my breath as we follow a trail through the vegetation.

“We must have missed some,” Dante says. “It won’t happen again.”

His claws click over the belt of pulsar grenades he’s wearing.

If I don’t lose a limb, he will. I feel like it’s guaranteed at this point. Not that Dante will care. He’ll just grow it back, the nevver. Of all of us affected in different ways by the wormhole radiation, he got regenerative powers.

Of course he did.

That is how fate works.

And fate has yet to best me. I will find my Kerra, and I will kill the rest of the Vseli who dared to think they could challenge a Sarkarnii warlord for his mate.

As for Deus, he will pay for his crimes this time.

“Over there.” Dante swerves in front of me.

The air is filled with the scent of pulsar fire, not so recent. I increase my pace, my wings shifting even though in this dense forest they are worse than useless.

Out of the tree line, a rocky slope leads to a large cave.

“This is where Deus took his mate?” I query.

Dante nods.

I suck in the air around me before releasing a cloud of smoke. There is a hint, a tiny hint of Kerra. I shove Dante to one side as I thump my way up the slope in two paces to reach the entrance of the cave.

It is impressive, somewhat reminiscent of our home planet, now long lost. I can see why Deus would want to be here. But I’m not interested.

All I want is my mate. To bury myself in her body, to hold her in my arms.

To never be separated.

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