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S he is so warm, so fragrant, so perfect in my arms. My cock softened enough to release her with a gush of our combined juices, but I cleaned her up without waking her. My little mate sleeps on, as if she hasn’t slept in a long time.

I am already hard again. Hard to be within her, to feel the silky smoothness of her cunt, to have her tiny form take me so well.

I did not expect the rut to be like this. To make me feel as if I could take on this galaxy, any galaxy, any creature, any enemy.

But I do. Even if it will be my very end as a Sarkarnii, as a warlord, as a creature with a mind and soul.

My comm chimes. I know what it is. The meeting is imminent.

“Darax?” Kerra lifts her head from my arm, confusion flooding her face.

“The warlords want to see us.” My voice seems different somehow, deeper, more resonant.

“Us?”

“They know I took a prisoner. As is our agreement, I need to declare you.”

“But not the others.”

“Not the others. Not yet.”

Her little brow furrows. “Okay, but I’m sticky with…well, you know.” She dips her head, but I capture her chin between my thumb and forefinger.

“I want you like this. the scent of my seed on you will stop any of the warlords claiming you,” I growl.

“Oh.” Kerra’s eyes widen. “They would want me?”

The door to my quarters takes a pounding, no doubt from the warriors I selected to accompany me into the neutral sector.

“Little mate, there’s too much you don’t yet understand about the Sarkarnii,” I respond, releasing her from my grip before leaning in to mate her mouth briefly.

I think I like mating her mouth almost as much as mating the rest of her, especially as she arches her back into me.

Despite the fact I have no desire to leave my personal den, because having a warm body in it is incredibly comforting, I rise and pull on my pants.

Kerra stretches out, revealing her delicious body to me. A body I want to plunder all over again and one which makes my cock push from my pouch.

“I need to speak to my warriors. I will be right outside. Take all the time you need to get ready, but do not use my personal aquium,” I growl.

Kerra nods at my words, and I shield her with my body as I open the door and step out. The two warriors I handpicked are bristling with unused energy, something they will need if we are to survive a meet in the sector.

“You understand the mission,” I growl at them. “Protect the female, and at no point must you mention the additional hoo-mans.”

Both nod, although just how much penetrates their excitement and desire to go into the sector where there are no rules and plenty of Sarkarnii to play with is debatable.

I have to trust them, or…

“Failure to adhere to my orders will mean clipped wings and the next nova-year on filter cleaning duty,” I growl.

I think it gets their attention, or it could be the door opening behind me and Kerra stepping out.

She is dressed, and she is covered in my scent, but it doesn’t stop me snarling at my warriors to stay back. Every atom of my being wants to shift, to protect, to keep her with me. The mere proximity of warriors creates a maelstrom of violence, itching to extend from my claws into their flesh.

And these are mere Sarkarnii, not even the members of the High Bask who present the biggest threat to my mate and my rut.

“Darax? Is everything okay?” Kerra asks, putting her hand on my arm.

It’s as if I’ve been dropped into a vat of ale-wine, bliss filling my veins, somehow calming the fire within me. I thought the rut was all explosions and growling.

I may have been wrong.

“We should go,” I say as I’m dragged back up to the surface by my brain.

My cock, on the other hand wants to go straight back to my den.

It will have to wait, or I risk the warlords, Dalox particularly, breaking into my sector and starting a war.

A war I would win because I have a mate.

With the two warriors keeping a respectful distance at our rear, I take Kerra through our sector, pointing out the dining hall, which is thronged with warriors as it always is, the entrance to the aquiums, which I promise to show her later, and the main atrium where there are a number of shifted Sarkarnii in the air.

She takes it all in with quiet interest. Once we reach the main airlock into the neutral sector, we stop.

“We may call this place neutral, but it is anything but,” I explain. “Whatever happens in this sector is kept within the sector. It doesn’t start a war, it doesn’t count as war, but it can be big and it can be bloody,” I tell Kerra.

“And there are explosions,” one of my warriors says with an element of glee he should really try to contain.

Except the desire to destroy rises within me too. The neutral sector is a place all Sarkarnii enjoy, even if all of us probably shouldn’t.

Especially the leader of a clan.

“Dante does good explosions,” the second warrior chimes in.

I release a long, smoke-filled breath. My skin is already tight with the need to shed. I am not in the best of moods for overexcited warriors. They both back off.

“Dante?”

I indicate to the guard warrior to start the opening cycle for the airlock into the sector. Gears grind as the mechanisms release.

“Dante is one of my fellow warlords. His clan have the southern sector and the star quadrant. He is a piece of work, the one who set the explosives on the Bloar ship.”

“So, I have him to thank for nearly being spat out into space?” Kerra growls.

“You do.” I attempt to hide my grin. If she hates Dante already, then I have one less warlord to worry about.

“Then there’s Driok, whom you don’t want to cross if you value your wings.

He has the eastern sector and the bright quadrant.

Dexx who is a secretive nevver. He has the western sector and the nebular quadrant.

Finally there is Dalox, our former fleet admiral. ”

“Dalox?” Kerra raises her eyebrows. “What about him?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”