“If you wish to bite, I will accept,” he growls.
“I don’t want to bite you, Dalox,” I respond. “And I’m not saying I don’t want to…be with you. But this is all new to me, all of it, including you and the Sarkarnii. I’m very grateful you took me out of the pit and that you got me medical attention. I’m grateful you haven’t eaten me or made me fight or done anything to me I don’t want.” I take a breath. “But as for anything else…I need time.”
“We will have time,” Dalox rumbles. “Once I have the mapping system, we will have time as we journey to your planet. Perhaps then, you might consider being my mate.”
He gives me a low bow, similar to the ones I’ve seen the Sarkarnii do to each other, his eyes not leaving mine.
“I will arrange for food and clothing to be brought to you. Should you require anything, I will be next to you.” Dalox points at the doorway. “But it will be locked so only you can open it.”
With that, he turns, his tail swishing behind him, and exits the way we came in, the door closing in a swirl of metal and leaving me entirely alone, dripping onto the floor.
After everything which has happened to me today, new planet, aliens who turn into dragons, an entire colony of human women, and one massive alien who has decided I belong to him, I feel like I should be relieved to be alone, finally.
Only I’m not. Of all the things I’ve longed for since I found myself being taken away from Earth on an alien space ship, this sudden solitude is not it. For all my whirling emotions about Dalox, being apart from him like this is not going to help.
Not one bit.
DALOX
My skin feels fresh and tender from my shed. I thank my ancestors my mate decided not to envenomate me for my earlier transgressions, although I suspect my ancestors would not be impressed with my mating attempts so far.
I am also unimpressed. I believed it would be easier to mate than it turns out it is. When the rut rages within you, sending skin shedding into overdrive, the shift even harder to control, pleasing a mate whom I don’t even know is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
So far, the fact she hasn’t envenomated me has to be luck rather than any form of judgement. I have not proved myself to her in any way. All I’ve done is offer her my hoard and made a promise I don’t even know I can keep.
No wonder she wanted to have nothing to do with me other than helping with my shed.
My entire body shakes at the thought of her tiny hands working at my spines. I nearly spilt my seed everywhere as she touched me. Had she touched any other part, I know I would not have been able to control myself. My aquium would have beenfilled with my spill. Gillian would have known I was a male who could not be trusted.
“My Lord.” My comm bursts into life. “Lord Dante wishes to speak with you.”
Dante is the last warlord I wish to see.
“Tell him I am busy with my mate.”
“I don’t think you are.” Dante lounges in the doorway, picking at his claws.
“Who let you in my nevving quarters?” I growl. “I will have their tail.”
“No need to maim your warriors.” Dante pushes himself upright and wanders over to my food dispenser. “I have various means to get in places I shouldn’t.”
“Then perhaps it is your tail I should have,” I growl, tapping out my instructions to get food and clothing to my mate on my console before giving Dante my full attention.
He already has a goblet of ale wine in one hand and a platter of meat in the other, his cheeks bulging with the food he has purloined.
“Give me that.” I swipe them both from him, my desire for the rare cuts he has ordered up greatly increased by my recent shed.
Dante releases all of what he’s holding without a word, simply turning back to get more. He then strolls to my pit and throws himself down without invitation and as if he owns the place.
There are plenty of things I could do to Dante, but not a single one of them will stop him from behaving like this over and over again. I sit opposite him with a growl which, of course, he pays no attention to.
“My mate says yours wants to return to their plane,Urth,” Dante says through another mouthful.
“She does.” I glare into my goblet. “And I need to find the mapping system, one which is actually functioning this time, for the wormholes, or we will never reach her home.”
“Deus,” Dante says, leaning back and spreading out. “His was functioning after we came through. He was the one who told Darax there were still wormholes opening up even when we thought there were not.”
“What are you talking about?” I wrinkle my nostrils because the ale wine tastes terrible. Instead I slurp up the meat on my platter as if I’ve never eaten before.
