Page 6 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord (Fated Mates of the Sarkarnii Warlords #2)

I am going to kill him in his sleep.

Dexx has hold of me, not in a painful way, unless I try to struggle. The way he has me suggests he’s done this before. It’s not uncomfortable but it could be.

The chances of him making it uncomfortable are very high as I study his one good eye, filled with fire as much as the other is milky white, the scar which covers that side of his face slicing through it.

Kerra told us the Sarkarnii are self-healing, which, given how much they fight each other, is probably necessary. It means this is the first Sarkarnii I’ve seen with any evidence of injury.

Not that it makes Dexx weaker in any way, I’m absolutely sure of it. Any wound he has suffered which he’s recovered from has to be one so catastrophic most Sarkarnii wouldn’t have survived.

“Sweet ember, all I wish to do is feed you,” Dexx rumbles.

“My name is not Ember. It’s Scarlett,” I say, teeth gritted. “If you’re going to abduct someone and insist they belong to you, you can at least get their name right.”

“Scarlett…” Dexx growls my name, rolling it around his mouth as his nostrils smoke. “The same color as my favorite jewel.”

“You have a favorite jewel?” I forget I’m pinned to the wall by this creature as the absurdity of my situation takes hold.

“All warlords have their hoards. I am particular about what goes in mine.” Dexx smokes, his one eye raking over me yet again before he finally releases me.

I rub at my wrists but refuse to touch my neck. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction in the same way I don’t care what he wants from me. He cannot have it. Not now, not ever. Even if his bad boy attitude is one which has always inexplicably attracted me.

My mum used to say it would be my downfall as I turned up on the back of another motorbike, gripping the leathers of yet another biker boy.

Little did she know the biker boys were the very least of my worries after the night sky over our remote farm in the Cumbrian uplands became a riot of color night after night…until the final night. The night I crept downstairs, the ancient cricket bat which had once belonged to my father in hand…

I know mum won’t miss me. Even if she tells everyone she does, that she’s been abandoned by me, that I went off with a man and left her. But it’ll get her more attention which is all she needs, all she ever wanted, and the reason she hated me so much because I found a way to exist without her.

“I’m not part of your hoard.”

Dexx fixes me with his one eye but says nothing. Instead he picks up one of the brioche style bread rolls, slices it open with a vicious looking claw which retracts into his finger, and folds a slice of meat into it. As an afterthought, he adds a dollop of what looks like wasabi.

Then he takes a bite.

And purrs.

This huge, dirty, scaly, scarred warlord purrs like a cat.

I take a step back. It could be a trap. There’s no way he’s gone from smoking fury to fluffy kitten with a bite of food. That’s taking hangry to a whole new level.

There’s nowhere to go. I know this behemoth can easily catch me because of my time watching the Sarkarnii warriors on Darax’s ship, and even if they are larger than large, they can move far quicker than you might imagine.

I’m not testing him. I’m not giving him the satisfaction, the big beast.

Dexx finishes off his impromptu sandwich with a smack of his lips and then licks his fingers…and claws…insolently at me.

“Are you done?” I query.

“Not yet.”

There’s a low scraping sound, and I check briefly over my shoulder, not wanting to take my eyes off Dexx for any longer than I have to. I see the pit in the center being closed up like an iris. I look back at him, and he grabs my waist, pulling me against him as he settles himself on his “throne.”

The food is within easy reach of him, and as his arm weighs heavy over my thighs, I glare at him.

“You can do what you like. I’m not yours to play with like a pet,” I say evenly.

“A pet? What is a pet?” Dexx asks.

“It’s a creature you keep for companionship, entertainment, and love,” I say before realizing I should have told him it was something entirely different.

Dexx’s mouth twitches at the corners. The scar seemingly makes part of his face immobile.

“Then you are my pet, little ember,” he rasps. “Because I want all those things from you.”

Dammit! Why can’t I keep my big mouth closed?

Instead, I fold my arms over my chest and glare at him. “I’d like to see you succeed.”

Dexx swipes a platter of food from next to us and balances it on the arm of his throne .

I stare at him. He stares at me, his eye glittering in the dim lights. We appear to be at an impasse.

Dexx’s fingers dip ever so slowly towards the food, as if he’s trying not to spook a young animal. His claws extend, and he snags another of the small sweet rolls, right on the very tips. He lifts it closer and closer to my lips.

“I…” Before I can say anything, he has put the bread roll in my mouth. I’ve got no option but to bite into it.

The purr rumbles through Dexx. For a very brief instant, I think I like it. But then the reality he took me from what was essentially my home, by force, and is keeping me here as his prisoner settles in. I swallow the bread and clamp my lips shut.

Dexx holds the remainder of the roll to me. I shake my head. This time there is not a purr but a suppressed growl, and I fling myself from his lap and onto the floor.

He rises from his throne, towering over me. Smoke and flames fire from his mouth and nose.

“For your next meal, I will require your presence in the dining hall with my warriors. They will expect my mate to eat from me,” he says.

“They’re going to be disappointed.” I respond.

Dexx bends over, his face close to mine, huge wings unfurling from his back and his long tail lashing from side to side.

“If you ever want to have contact with the other females again, you’ll comply with my orders, mate ,” he snarls before flicking upright and stalking out of the room.

Somehow, I don’t know how, Dexx has pressed the one button which will make me do as he asks. I can’t imagine not being able to see my friends again.

So, I fume as he leaves. I don’t want to do anything he says, and I’m going to have to find some way of complying without complying. If I have any luck at all, he might just reject me and send me back to Darax.

Although the fact he’s just called me his mate would suggest I’m going to have to do something pretty catastrophic to even get his attention, let alone his rejection.