Page 15 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord (Fated Mates of the Sarkarnii Warlords #2)
I ’d already made the decision before I returned to my quarters to be honest with the little female. But from the moment I entered and her scent hit me, my mind became a blank.
Which is why I blundered into the conversation with about as much finesse as a space worm in a nebula. Now Scarlett stands on the other side of my den, glaring at me.
“If you think I’m mating with you out of pity, you’re so, so wrong,” she says. “And as for taking me without my agreement, for this? It makes you no better than a space pirate or one of the horrors who took me from my planet in the first place.”
I swarm over to her, partially shifted so she cannot get away, as the mating mix fills my veins and my heart pounds.
My head pounds.
My hips swing in a dance…only for her.
I rut. I didn’t think I would, but her scent after a night spent working in the mines is all it took. I’m tipped over the edge into a maelstrom of emotions, a desperate desire to sheath myself in her, a heat, a cold, flame and ice all at once.
I rut for the female and it is…not as pleasant as I thought it might be.
“I want you to mate me because you want to mate me,” I growl, gathering her in my arms.
Scarlett squirms.
“I don’t want to mate you, Dexx,” she says. “Not now, not ever. Not if you were the last male in the universe.”
She bares her teeth, and I instantly let her go.
I do not want to be envenomated.
Scarlett stares at me. I’m not sure she’s breathing. She doesn’t move.
I don’t move.
Moving might make her pounce, and I’ll get bitten.
I do not want to be bitten by a female unimpressed with my mating. Not only will it hurt like a nevver, but it’ll incapacitate me for too long.
I need to take care. I need to prove to her I can be a good male, a good mate.
I need to dance for her. It might be early, given we are not yet close to mating, but it’s all I can think of.
My foot taps out a beat on the floor, my hips circle and swing, my tail lashes as I move slowly, carefully around her.
I open my arms and dance away, holding my arms around as I spin, hoping to distract her, to catch her attention, to let her know my rut is here, for her.
“Dexx, what are you doing ?” Scarlett’s arms are by her side, her teeth no longer bared and a quizzical look on.
“I dance,” I pant, “for you.”
“Dance?” Her breath stutters. “For me?”
I increase the beat and spin on the spot.
“Dexx, stop,” she says.
“I cannot. Not until I know you won’t envenomate me and that you’ll accept my rut for you.”
Scarlett staggers a little. “What?” she says. “I won’t what?”
“Bite me.”
“I won’t bite you, Dexx. Kick you in the pants, yes, but no biting,” she says wearily, her hand fluttering over her forehead.
“You won’t?”
“Can you stop moving around? You’re giving me a headache,” Scarlett says.
“You don’t want me to dance for you?”
“I…I…don’t mind. But it’s…”
She hits the wall behind her and slides down until she’s sat on the floor. It could be a trick, I suppose, by a female wanting me to get close and then she could show her displeasure. But I don’t like the way she sits there, a look on her face I’m not sure I understand.
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted from me,” she says finally.
“I want nothing unless you give it freely,” I respond, forcing my hips to behave and to reduce my dance to a standstill.
“But you’re in rut for me? And you think that might save your entire crew?”
“My rut happens whether I want it or not, but I am prepared to try anything for my clan.”
“And where does that leave me?” Scarlett looks up at me. “I’m just a vessel you stole. Nothing more than a science experiment for aliens, like I always thought.”
I drop to my knees in front of her, wanting to touch but knowing touching could result in pain. This female feels like I don’t respect her.
I do.
Despite everything, despite the dark hole my heart has become, despite the onset of the rut, I respect her deeply. Mostly in the hope she won’t bite me.
And the biting part seems to be my main concern.
“My rut has no agency, other than to make my cock ache and my skin itch, little ember. But it is all for you,” I tell her. “You are no experiment. I knew I needed you the nova-second I scented you.”
Scarlett shakes her head. “You say that now, but how am I supposed to know what is the truth and what isn’t?”
“I need to prove it to you?”
“I’m a human, Dexx. Our males don’t rut. They don’t turn into dragons either, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m out of my depth. I don’t understand any of this, only what I’ve been told. You came for me because you thought I might be a cure.”
“If your males don’t rut, how do you know when to mate?” I query, confused.
“We go on dates, get to know each other, then if we like each other enough, we mate .” Scarlett glares at me.
“What is a date? I will get you one immediately,” I growl.