Page 23 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord (Fated Mates of the Sarkarnii Warlords #2)

I look down at the faces of my two crew members, Dorok and Dahal. Good strong warriors both. Their shift did not save them, and in death, they have returned to their biped forms.

I slam my fist against the bulkhead, allowing my claws to cut into the flesh as the thoughts of my clan surround me.

They want answers.

They want blood.

I don’t blame them. Accidents don’t happen. We’ve been mining here too long for anything as stupid as incorrect propping to occur. I snarl out loud. We’ve already lost so much. Too much.

I place the scales over the eyes of my warriors, each one a vivid blue, the blue of my clan. These are my scales, plucked from my tail as tradition dictates.

“The ancestors are waiting for you.” I stand back and thump the palm of my hand over my chest three times in quick succession. “You served me well and your places are assured by their sides.”

I bow, as always for a Sarkarnii, my eyes not leaving them for even a nova-second, before I take my leave from their quarters which are doubling as a mausoleum until we lay them to rest.

“What anomalies have you found?” I hold out my hand for the vid-pad from Dalsor.

His face is grim. I know he was close to Dorok, and his thoughts are a maelstrom of revenge and anger.

“Nothing, Lord Dexx,” he growls. “If there was sabotage, then it was well concealed.”

“Then it has to be external,” I respond, looking over the figures and evidence collected from the scene. “We encountered the Veseli recently along with another life form which only the females saw.”

“We should increase patrols, my Lord,” Dalsor says.

“Agreed.” I nod. “I want another look at the scene before we start mining that area.”

“We are going to mine it?” he asks me, a small spike of fear bisecting his thoughts.

I take hold of his shoulder, my long claws hovering above his scales.

“If something or someone wants us to stop, I will not stop. I will never stop. Mining gives us purpose. It makes use of our shift. It makes us indispensable to Vorostor Central, and it is our destiny. You know me well enough, warrior, to know nothing stops me.”

Dalsor doesn’t waver from my gaze. It’s the reason he is my second. Loyal to a fault and prepared to challenge me even when he might lose his head, he is the best warrior I have ever met.

“And the female…your mate?”

“We have come to an…understanding,” I say painfully. “I believe it is a female thing.”

Dalsor stares at me, eyes wide and innocent now, his thoughts almost empty.

Unlike so many of the other warriors who find their pleasure elsewhere, Dalsor does not.

He came onto my ship only just having completed warrior training and just before we came through the wormhole.

He has not had any experience of females.

“A female thing?”

“There are rules.” I shrug.

His eyes widen further.

I reveal my fangs and he takes a step back.

“Rules.” He nods.

“No male wants to be envenomated, warrior,” I growl.

“She wouldn’t envenomate you, Lord Dexx,” he says, his voice a mere whisper.

“Depends what he’s been doing.” Scarlett’s voice echoes down the hallway. “I might.”

Dalsor disappears. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a warrior move as fast, even when there is fresh meat on the menu in the dining hall.

“Hi,” she says as she reaches me. “I was looking for you to show me around.” She peers after Dalsor. “Maybe even meet some of the others.”

The snarl which comes from my lips has been ripped from my stomach.

“No other warriors.”

“Dexx, there’s no way I can go around this ship without encountering other warriors. Rule One,” she says.

I turn the snarl into a grumble. If Dalsor’s reaction to her is anything to go by, the chance of any warrior getting close is minimal to non-existent.

They know what will happen if they do.

“Fine.” I can’t quite keep the growl from my throat. “I need to go look at the site where the cave-in happened. You can accompany me.”

If that was supposed to put her off, I was wrong. Scarlett nods solemnly.

“I know a little about mining. There was an old lead mine on my family’s land, and I did some research into it,” she says tentatively as we make our way through the ship to the mining entrance. “I doubt it’s anything like the operation you have.”

“I expect digging into the crust of a planet is the same whatever the planet,” I respond. “Did your family mine much?”

“They didn’t. They mostly raised animals.”

“And did you?”

“No, I was a research chemist.”

I tip my head on one side. The words don’t make a lot of sense through my nano translator.

“You looked at chemicals?”

“Sort of…” she says. “I had a small business helping develop compounds to the point of manufacture. Like whatever process it is you use to turn the stuff you mine into star fuel.”

“Interesting.”

“Oh, you didn’t expect a female to be able to do something like that?” She stares at me, daring to dispute her words.

“On the contrary, Sarkarnii females were extremely good with tech. Significantly better than males. Our top scientists were female, back on our home planet,” I respond, attempting and probably failing to keep the smugness out of my voice.

“My ship, the Steel Jewel would not exist if it wasn’t for Sarkarnii females. ”

I’m not sure what the emotion is which flits over Scarlett’s face, and with the absence of her thoughts, unless she tells me, I will not know.

“Then you don’t think what I do…what I did, is boring?”

“Not in the least,” I respond. “Who would call your work boring?” I growl.

“Oh…no one,” she says cagily. “No one on Vorostor anyway.”

I half growl, half purr under my breath.

“If you know about chemistry, then I am going to need your help, little mate.” I point at the entrance to the main shaft just as two warriors burst from it in their Sarkarnii forms. “And it is also my time.”

“Your time for what?” She is still watching the others as they make several turns around the large atrium.

“My time to shift,” I say through teeth which are growing larger by the second. “I hope you are ready.”