Page 4 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord (Fated Mates of the Sarkarnii Warlords #2)

I ’ve wriggled around for hours and hours, rolling onto my tummy, off again, attempting to contort myself into all the weird shapes I can, but other than managing to get my arms from behind my back to in front of me, I’m unable to undo the bonds either at my wrists or my ankles.

Finally I fling myself on my back with a shout of annoyance. Not that the big Sarkarnii who brought me here cares in the least. Presumably I could shout myself hoarse and he wouldn’t care.

“Fuck the Sarkarnii,” I grumble. “Fuck all of this.”

“I expect that is what you are here for.” A voice comes out of the darkness, prim and clipped.

“What?” I sit bolt upright. “Who’s there?”

“I’m going to raise the lighting in here, so shield your eyes,” it says.

I turn my head into the wall and then decide this could be a trap, so I turn back again. The room gets gradually brighter, and I’m able to see I am, where I thought I was. A set of Sarkarnii living quarters.

And standing in front of me is a raccoon.

“What the f-?” I scramble back a ways, not that I’m able to go far with feet and wrists bound.

“Do not be alarmed,” the raccoon says.

“I AM alarmed. You’re a talking raccoon. I’m talking to a raccoon! ”

“I am not a raccoon. I am a Paralnyi.”

“Other than being a raccoon, what is a Paralnyi?” I ask as the creature approaches me and starts fiddling with the bonds around my ankles.

“To you, Scarlett, I am what is going to stop Lord Dexx from eating you alive.”

“How the hell do you know my name?” I snarl at it as the bond pops free from around my ankles.

“I have access to the Sarkarnii databases. I know what they know,” it says. “My name is Cestapal.”

Cestapal hops over me and grabs my hands, working away with its dextrous paws until the bonds loosen and my hands spring free. I rub at my aching, buzzing wrists and gaze around me.

“So I’m in…”

“Lord Dexx’s quarters, yes,” Cestapal says.

I’m on my feet, and then I’m not, face planting in a particularly ungraceful way as my legs decide they don’t want support me after all this time bound together.

My legs have died, along with my dignity.

“Take it easy, Scarlett. Lord Dexx isn’t one for comfort or the niceties of life. He prefers claws to words. And leaving you tied up like this is his style.”

“Lord Dexx is an arsehole,” I retort, massaging my calves until some feeling comes back into them and I attempt to stand again.

“He is an arsehole you’re going to have to get used to. You belong to him now.”

“The fuck I do!” I crawl up out of the dip in the floor.

Oh boy, Cestapal wasn’t exaggerating when it said Dexx didn’t go in for the niceties.

There is absolutely nothing else in this entire room, not a scrap of furniture save for a large throne-like chair situated in pride of place.

Otherwise there’s no indication he actually lives here at all, other than the jumble of blankets behind me in the pit which are covered in a spicy, pleasant scent.

If they weren’t there, I’d have said this place was uninhabited.

I make for the door.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Cestapal calls out.

“Why?” I fire over my shoulder, ready to slam my hand on the exit button. “I could go where I liked on Darax’s ship.”

“Because if Lord Dexx finds you’ve been anywhere near any of the other warriors on his ship, he’ll have them all executed.”

“What?” I stop my hand mid strike. “He wouldn’t do that!”

“You want to find out?”

I debate for probably too long. There’s no way I’m going to be the reason some unhinged dragon guy uses to hurt others.

“Fine.” I spin away from the door, my legs failing to catch up with me as I wobble to one side. “So, what am I supposed to do?”

Cestapal shrugs. “I don’t know. My species doesn’t mate.”

“Okay, what?”

“We females leave eggs, and they are fertilized by a male when the time is right.”

I hold up a hand, palm flat, at the Paralnyi. “Say no more.”

Cestapal opens her mouth.

“No, really, I don’t want to know. Just don’t go leaving any eggs near me, thank you very much,” I exhort her.

“Oh, I’m long past egg laying age.” Cestapal bustles out of the dip in the middle of the floor. “Now I clean up after Sarkarnii males.” She huffs.

“You’re a slave?” I gasp.

“Of course not!” Cestapal rounds on me, her little beady eyes blazing. “Whatever the warlords are, they would never do anything like that. It is completely beneath them. The Paralnyi are not slaves to anyone.”

“But you said…” My words trail off because I feel terrible for insulting Cestapal, even if I don’t feel bad about insulting the Sarkarnii.

“I said I clean up after them, which is in the Paralnyi nature. We take, we hoard, we make, we sell,” Cestapal says. “And the Sarkarnii allow us to do what we desire.”

I sit down heavily on the edge of the dip and stare into my lap. After all my energy in attempting to get free has gone, all the adrenaline has left me too. I am exhausted.

“Good for you,” I say.

“You need food,” Cestapal says.

“I need the bathroom,” I reply as my bladder makes itself known. Twisting, I look around the quarters, wondering if the loo is in the same place as it was on Darax’s ship, before heaving myself to my feet and making my way to where it should be.

The door slides open at my approach, and I enter the most opulent bathroom I’ve ever seen.

For all Dexx’s quarters are spartan, this bathroom is something else.

An aquium bath twice the size of the one in the female quarters rolls with hot water.

The walls are covered in what looks like marble, all save the far one which is a huge mirror, somehow staying clear in the steam.

I quickly use the loo, which is, like the others I’ve encountered, familiar enough to determine its function.

I had long discussions about alien toilets with my friends, about how they seem to be the same.

We eventually came to the conclusion either aliens use them…

or they don’t. At least that’s what Kerra and Rosalie, who have spent time on a ship not crewed by the Sarkarnii, believe.

A sob wells up inside me. I miss my friends. I don’t want to be a prisoner…again.

Which is when the door snaps open and a huge shape fills the gap with a growl. A filthy Sarkarnii with only one eye.