Page 24 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord (Fated Mates of the Sarkarnii Warlords #2)

I t’s not like I haven’t seen Sarkarnii as dragons up close, or seen them change from man to dragon, but even so, watching Dexx become his Sarkarnii in a violent swirl of light is intriguing.

What rises above me should be terrifying. But I’ve seen dragons now, and instead, I see Dexx for what he is.

Magnificent.

His blue scales are even deeper in color, almost black in places, with a pattern that runs over him, diamond like, snake like. His huge eye burns with fire, and the slit pupil has a reflection of me.

“Come, little mate.” Dexx uncurls a paw filled with vast claws.

“I am not flying down there with you.” I fold my arms.

My stomach is quaking. I always knew this moment would come, or rather I expected at some point there would be flying.

I can’t do it.

The snap is audible as Dexx changes back into his biped form. He takes hold of my upper arms, studying my face.

“You fear the flight?” he rasps.

“I fear any flight. I’m sorry, Dexx. I’m going to have to take the stairs or tunnels to get down there. I can’t fly, I really can’t.”

There is a sheen of sweat on his brow. “To reach the bottom of the shaft by foot will take several hours, and that is if you are Sarkarnii, not…” He looks me up and down.

“I can’t do it, then.” I shake my head. “I have a thing about flying.”

“While you can see?” Dexx asks.

He’s sharp, too damn sharp. I shake my head in exasperation at my own fears, the ones I can’t control.

Dexx slides his hands down my arms, taking hold of my hands briefly, his skin hot against mine, then he sticks out a single claw, slowly slicing through the top I’m wearing.

“Dexx?” I try to get away, but he easily completes the strange task.

“If you do not need to see, you do need to trust,” he says, lifting up the strip of fabric he’s cut from my clothing.

“Oh.” I can’t stop the strange noise coming out of my mouth, somewhat strangled surprise.

I do have to trust, not just Dexx but his Sarkarnii too.

And I’ve seen his Sarkarnii.

Dexx lifts the fabric up to my face.

“If you wish?” he asks.

I have to choose. Do I trust him? Can I trust him? He stole me without asking. But he also agreed to the rules. And now he’s prepared to let me help him. Dexx’s hands tremble slightly.

It’s getting close to the time he needs to shift. And I’ve let him do it once but return to his current form. I’m not sure I have much of a choice.

“Okay,” I agree.

Dexx wraps the fabric over my eyes, blanking out most of my vision. I can still see light and dark, and if I look down, I can still see my chest and feet.

“Are you ready, my little ember?” Dexx’s velvet, dark voice says in my ear.

“Yes,” I whisper.

There is silence, save for the ticking and clanking of the ship surrounding us.

“I am going to put you on my back.” Dexx’s voice comes from high above. I’m grasped around the waist and lifted up. I try not to wriggle or peer out from under the blindfold as I’m placed onto something huge and scaly and my hands touch something hard and bony.

“Hold on,” the deep voice rumbles.

I don’t need to be asked twice. I grasp at the bone, which I can get my arms around, and I feel Dexx lift into the air. I crush down the fears which attempt to swallow me.

I cannot see anything, and that is the only way I can tolerate this. Wind rushes past me, and under the blindfold, I close my eyes, keeping them tightly shut as I expect my ride to tip and shift.

Only there is nothing, no movement, no sliding. Instead the gentlest of thumps and a voice in my ear.

“Can I lift you down, little mate?” Dexx asks.

I squeak a yes and the hand curls around me once again, placing me on my feet which wobble. I lift the blindfold to be confronted by Dexx’s huge dragon head.

We are in the mine, or at least in a huge excavated cave.

Far, far above us is a tiny pinprick of light.

It’s hot down here, like we’ve descended into hell.

All around us, huge Sarkarnii are moving vast containers filled with ore through passages.

There are lights but like the rest of Dexx’s empire, they are dim, only just enough for me to see.

“My apologies, little mate. I am no longer able to return to my biped form,” Dexx says. A huge hand extends towards me. In the center, looking particularly tiny, is a vid-pad. “I will need you to operate this for me.”

“It might be an idea to design something you can use in your…current form,” I suggest.

“If I felt it was necessary, I would have my tech warriors undertake such work,” Dexx rumbles. “But today I have you,” he adds with what could be mirth, only he’s a dragon and it’s difficult to tell.

Dexx extends a claw, pointing down one passage. “We need to go this way, my ember,” he says, motioning for me to go ahead.

The ground underneath us is studded with glowing lumps of the ore.

“How do you get star fuel from the gygement?” I ask, professional curiosity setting in. “I presume it’s inert in its current state.”

“It is. It requires crushing and processing,” Dexx responds. “Before it is passed through superviolet light to activate the mineral within.”

“Then what?”

“We form it into the necessary fuel rods. Our gygement produces the most efficient star fuel, not only in this galaxy, but in all the galaxies I have visited,” Dexx rumbles. “But even with this, we are still too far from our own galaxy to return.”

“You want to go back?” I ask.

Dexx makes a low noise in his dragon throat. It could be a growl, but I don’t think it is.

“Not like this,” he says.

He means stuck in his dragon form.

“Why?” I ask. “You are all Sarkarnii. You can all shift.”

“Being unable to control your shift is considered a failure in Sarkarnii society,” Dexx says. “If we were to return, we would be outcasts.”