“Yes.” He doesn’t sound overly confident in his reply. “I claimed you.” His brow furrows, but then he peers at my neck. “I definitely claimed you,” he adds triumphantly.
I’ve been around these Sarkarnii warriors for the past few months, and I felt like I was getting to know what they are and how they operate. After all, two of my friends are mated to individual warlords, so I know what it entails. Turns out, I had absolutely no idea…at all.
The shock has yet to kick in over the adrenaline. Of all the things I thought might happen to me, here with the big scaly dragon aliens, being bitten wasn’t one of them.
Andof courseDante had to be the Sarkarnii who bit me.
“I’m not sure that’s how it works,” I respond.
“It is,” he says with a newfound confidence which appears to be a form of bravado. “You are mine,” he growls with a glare which could cut stone at the other Sarkarnii.
My hand is yanked by him once again as he strides into the neutral sector, his warriors hot on our heels.
As we pass through, there is the most enormous explosion off to our right, causing me to duck and pull back on where he has a grip on me.
“Don’t worry, small female. It is just my warriors celebrating.” Dante gives me a smile which is more fang than anything else.
“My name is Rosalie,notsmall female.”
Dante quirks his head on one side and looks me over. “But you are small and a female?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you get to call mesmall female.”
Behind us, I hear some commotion, and Dante’s focus, such as it is, goes from me to the warriors behind us. Or rather they were behind us. They’re scattering in all directions.
“Come,” Dante says, still gripping my hand. “There’s going to be more.”
“More what?”
“More explosions!” he says with glee.
Before I can say another word, I’m being half carried through the neutral sector, past already blast scorched areas towards where a large mushroom cloud is hanging in the air high above us, and there is a distinct stink of cordite, or the Sarkarnii equivalent.
The neutral sector is the supposed buffer zone between all of the warlords’ individual sectors. Somewhere within it is a meeting place for them all, which seems both appropriate, given how territorial these aliens are, but also terrifying given how much they like fighting…mostly each other.
“Here!” Dante drags me into an open area about the size of a football pitch. There are groups of Sarkarnii, many of them with similar patterning on their scales to him, marking them out as his crew.
Someone hands Dante a small, flat square. He finally releases my hand, but it doesn’t matter. I have nowhere to go, and I don’t particularly want to have him chase me. So instead, I attempt to massage some feeling back into my crushed wrist and look around for the nearest bulkhead I can dive behind when they start exploding things once more, which is absolutely going to happen.
“Look, little female,” Dante exhorts, completely forgetting our very recent conversation as he catches my hand, pulling me towards a large, round object which has a dull, silver surface and is surrounded by a crowd of warriors, all of whom give Dante and me a wide berth. “This is our latest acquisition.”
“Let me guess, it goes bang?” I suggest.
He grins at me. In fact, they all grin with bright white fangs. It is distinctly unnerving.
“Let me show you.”
He doesn’t even take a step back, just taps his claws three or four times on the black square. The round object morphs like the metal has become liquid, and it spawns a smaller version of itself. Dante looks at me to make sure I’m watching, then he taps his claws on the black square again. The smaller sphere fires upwards, and everyone lifts their heads to follow its trajectory. Tails and wings are shifted. One or two of the Sarkarnii, seemingly unable to help themselves, have turned into full dragons, and their flanks are heaving with excitement.
Something comes flying through the air at the sphere, which jinks to one side and then, as if possessed with intelligence, it follows its assailant as they chase each other left and right, up and down. All of the Sarkarnii are watching like cats following the movement of a particularly tasty bird, then the sphere puts on a burst of speed, and there is the most tremendous explosion.
I fling myself down on the floor and cover my head, absolutely certain this is how I meet my end because it has to have blown the entire of the neutral sector to smithereens. After a while, I can’t hear or feel any debris, and I risk a peek.
Dante stands over me with a perplexed look on his face. I’m surrounded, albeit at a distance, by the rest of his crew.
“Interesting,” Dante says, yet again his head cocked on one side. “Would you like me to do it again if you enjoyed it so much?”
“NO!” I get to my feet in a mad scramble as he takes a step back from me. “I do not want you to do it again, and what the hell makes you think I enjoyed it?”
