“What do we do with Dante?” Dexx rasps.
“Let him stew. Some time spent contemplating his rut without a female will maybe concentrate what’s left of his mind,” Dalox says. “But don’t touch his female. I’d prefer it if the chamber remained intact.”
The huge, grizzled warlord nods at me. I get to my feet and glance at Dante.
He’s drooling. Darax nudges him in the ribs, and he wipes a hand over the back of his mouth, grins at me, and shoots daggers at Dalox.
How did I get myself in this situation again?
Ah yes, I got abducted by aliens because I was homeless and living in my car. All because I lost my home as my landlord didn’t like having a self-employed tenant. Admittedly, I hadn’t paid my rent for several months as times had been lean as a computer hacker and legitimate coder. I probably should have stayed in nurse training like my mum had always wanted.
At least she wasn’t around when the aliens took me. A task I doubt I made hard for them.
At the far end of the balcony I’m occupying, a door opens, and Kerra gestures wildly at me. I give Dante one last look. He is leaning back against the bulkhead with his muscled arms foldedover his scaled chest, looking for all the galaxy like he does this sort of thing every day.
And he probably does. If bythis sort of thingI mean cause chaos. Dante is chaos. So, why does walking away from him make me heat up? Why did I want his claws around me?
He bit me. I should be so angry and yet, I’m not. I’ve seen the very bottom of what could be called living, and being bitten by a Sarkarnii warrior is not it.
“Little female,” Dante rumbles, causing me to stop in my tracks with my back to him. “If I misstepped, I am sorry.”
My legs seem to be frozen in place.
“I was not myself when I bit you. It won’t happen again.”
The chill which runs through my body extinguishes any heat which was growing inside me.
“You weren’tyourself?” I say, my fists bunching up. “So, this whole rut thing is a ruse to get out of being punished?”
“No?” Dante doesn’t sound sure. “I mean I don’t want to be punished, but I…”
I look back at him over my shoulder. He has his hand behind his head which is cocked on one side, making him look like he absolutely knows what he’s doing. Like the big scaly twat he is.
“I hope Dalox comes up with your worst imaginable punishment,” I snarl at him. “The one which haunts your nightmares.”
And without a further look, I make it to the door and out of the chamber, where I promptly burst into tears like the pathetic creature I am.
DANTE
The door closes behind my female. I leap for it, my form half shifted when I’m caught, hung up in the air, unable to move.
“You like this?” Driok appears in my view, inspecting a small black oval which seems to be projecting a pale blue light. “I took it from some pirates on the far side of the galaxy I came across on a routine patrol.”
“You don’t do routine patrols,” I growl, attempting to move and finding I can’t. “You protect Vorostor, when you’re not out stealing tech.”
Driok continues to look at the oval. “Protecting Vorostor means I do routine patrols, rather than just hunting down the pirates and blowing them up.”
Unable to help myself, a shiver runs up my spine.
“And why not? It’s not like we need what they have. We have a good trading arrangement thanks to the gygament and star fuel.”
“And yet, I have this.” He turns it over in his clawed paw. “And you are…the way you are.”
“What do you want, Driok?” I growl, the scent of my female strong in my nostrils, my desire to follow her intensifying the longer he holds me here.
“I want more star fuel.”
“I’m a little busy,” I snarl.
