Across the hall, I spot some of the other human females. My Lydia takes off at a sprint towards them. I am about to follow when Dalox drops a hand on my shoulder.
“I never thought I’d see the day you were mated and not a traitor,” he says.
“I was never a traitor,” I growl.
Dalox looks at me.
“I was slightly a traitor on one occasion,” I growl. “For which you have my apologies.”
Dalox continues to stare at me, his eyes burning with a blue flame.
“And my bond never to be a traitor again.”
Dalox lifts his lip briefly and then scans our surroundings.
“I believe you have proved yourself, Deus.”
“Does that mean I don’t have to work for these nevvers?” I ask, glaring over at Driok and Dante.
“I didn’t say that,” Dalox says. “It depends on one thing.”
“What?”
“Whether you intend dancing for that mate of yours,” he says.
“Dance?”
“Surely you are not so far gone you forget you need to dance for your mate?” Driok says as he joins us, leaving Dante as he continues to remove the collars from the downed warriors. “After all, what is mating unless there is a dance?”
“There is breeding your female. Which I much prefer to dancing,” I growl.
“Your female will expect a dance.” Dalox looks over to the females who are very animated. “And if you want to breed her, you will give her what she wants.”
“My female gets anything she wants, any time she wants it,” I snarl.
“Then dance for her,” Dexx rumbles as he walks past. “Or you will regret it.”
He heaves his axe onto his shoulder and stomps off in the direction of the females. One of them peels away and, with a sarkarnling on her hip, embraces the big grumpy warrior.
I shake my head. “I do not understand how that nevver got a mate.”
“Every Sarkarnii deserves a mate. Even you, brother,” Darax says through the comm.
I want to fling the thing as far from me as possible.
“What are my chances of not ending up in my brother’s prison again?” I ask Dalox.
“I would suggest you dance for your female and then gather your warriors, return to your sector, and potentially you will not end up in a cell for the foreseeable future,” Dalox says. “The Sarkarnii females have missed you. I can’t understand why.” He says with a growl.
I scan his face. The old warrior appears to be serious, or maybe sort of serious.
His female appears alongside him. Her belly is rounded as she is clearly in the early stages of her pregnancy.
“There’s hope for us all, Deus,” Dalox says. “Even me.” He puts his head on one side. “So go, talk to your female, tell her you want to dance for her, and it can be arranged once we’ve dealt with these nevvers and expunged the Ulep from this galaxy for good.”
“And if you don’t dance for her,” Driok says, appearing by my side. “We’ll know you’re a traitor.” He gives me a lopsided grin. “So go on, before she’s taken away by all the other females to do female things.”
I can see the group of females are moving. My shift still hasn’t resolved itself, but it at least means I can use my wings to close the distance between us in a nova-second.
