Page 25 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord (Fated Mates of the Sarkarnii Warlords #2)

T he early part of my enforced shift is usually the roughest, but with Scarlett by my side, it seems easier. I was surprised I could shift to my biped form at the top of the shaft when she needed me.

I’m not sure I could do so now, but it still feels easier than ever before. As much as I doubted being mated would change anything, it appears Dalsor was right.

The intense emotions I felt once the hoo-man females appeared were an indication something was changing within me. Especially as such emotions were never present with the Sarkarnii females.

My parents believed in strict training for their young. As such, the fear instilled into me about a female’s bite was overwhelming.

Mating had to be off limits. Until now.

Shifting back to my biped form might still be unlikely for many nova-hours, but I am comfortable in my Sarkarnii skin with my Scarlett by my side.

“Down here.” I guide her gently with the very tip of my tail into another branching passage.

“How do you know where to mine for the ore?” she asks.

“If you activate the vid-pad, it will show you our scans,” I suggest. “We regularly use self-propelling probes to burrow where necessary to find the skeins.”

“Wow,” Scarlett says quietly, as she looks at the pad. “This place is riddled with them, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I respond. “And our duty is to mine it.”

“Duty? Don’t you get paid?”

“We get supplies from Darax and the others. Driok guards the star fuel as well as distributes it to other planets.”

Scarlett stares down at the pad. “Is it up here? Where the cave-in took place?” she asks, pointing to the branch up ahead.

“It is. How do you know? It’s not been marked yet.”

“There’s something…” She lifts the pad up to me. “Here.” A slender, clawless finger points to the screen, “It’s different.”

I lean in over her shoulder to study the pad where she is indicating.

“That’s a probe,” I say.

“But it’s nowhere near the skein,” Scarlett points out. “I mean, it’s not even close if you were looking for it. See?” She moves her finger. “This is where you’ve been working, so logic dictates you’d be searching over here.”

I growl under my breath.

“I think we should have a look at that probe.” I stalk past her and down the passage.

Something smells strange. Amidst all the flurry of activity in getting out those warriors who were buried and injured, along with those who were killed, it didn’t give me time to stop, listen, scent.

“What is it?” Scarlett is beside me.

“I can smell…” I lift my hand up to the excavated wall.

“The probe, or whatever it is, is just above you.” Scarlett looks down at her pad and back up at me.

I rear up on my hind legs and shove my muzzle against the stone, huffing out smoke as I pull in the scent.

It doesn’t smell good at all.

“Do you need to get tools or something?” Scarlett asks. “It looks quite deep in there.”

I shove my claws hard into the rock and pull out a chunk, flinging it behind me, away from her.

“Okay, maybe not,” Scarlett says as I rip deeper.

I enjoy destruction, like any hot-blooded Sarkarnii should, and mining certainly gives us plenty of opportunity for such mayhem, interspersed with explosives. In any other situation, this is a Sarkarnii paradise.

The smell gets stronger, almost overpowering, and a light blinks at me.

“Do you see it?” Scarlett asks.

“I can smell it,” I growl. “There is something here.”

“Take care,” she warns. “This device is indicating whatever it is, it’s unknown. It might be booby-trapped.”

“There is no trap which can hold me,” I rasp, digging my claws in deeper to scoop out the item along with the rock it is buried in. “Booby or otherwise.”

I drop it at Scarlett’s feet like a prize. She jumps back initially, but curiosity draws her in once more to the light.

“What is it?”

“Use the scan function on the vid-pad,” I suggest. “Now you have it close, it should be better able to determine the origin of whatever this thing is.”

It’s tubular, as far as I can make out. My claws are blunt instruments now. It would be better in my biped form in order to remove it from where it has been buried. Likelihood is, as Sarkarnii, I would damage the thing.

Scarlett clambers up onto the rock and uses the pad to take a scan. It bleeps at her suddenly and she frowns.

“This is not Sarkarnii,” she says.

I inwardly curse my current form.

“Everything down here is Sarkarnii. Vorostor had not been mined until we arrived.”

Scarlett shrugs. “Well, this isn’t Sarkarnii, but the pad can’t work out what its origins are.”

“Can it tell us what it does?” I dip my head. “And why it smells so nevving bad?”

“It smells bad?” Scarlett queries, sniffing at the air. “I can’t smell anything.”

“I am in my Sarkarnii form.” I take a step back. “I expect I can scent much better than you.”

Scarlett looks up at me and smiles.

My knees, all of them, go weak at the sight of her teeth. My cock, hitherto relatively dormant, pushes at my pouch.

I do not know if Scarlett is ready to take me in my Sarkarnii form. I have to resist her.

“I think I can get it out.” She puts the pad to one side and delves into the rock, twisting and pulling until the slender tube comes free.

The terrible smell cuts off, and I feel like I can breathe again, releasing a cloud of smoke to clear my nostrils.

“Still bad?” she asks.

“It’s gone,” I respond.

“Maybe it was some sort of Sarkarnii repellant,” Scarlett suggests with a twinkle in her eyes. “I could have done with it a few days ago.”

“I’m following the rules, am I not?” I respond.

“Yes, Dexx, you are following the rules,” Scarlett says, holding the tube in her hand.

“Then I am a good mate.” I feel my heart beat faster, my head spin, and the mating mix fill my veins.

I have to be at least three-quarters mating mix by now.

I think I like it.