Chapter 11
GILLIAN
I’ve never kicked a puppy. I wouldn’t ever kick a puppy. Kicking puppies is not in my lexicon.
But Dalox looks as close to how I would imagine a puppy might look, had I theoretically kicked one. Oh, and the puppy was a seven-foot-tall alien who can turn into a dragon.
“Lydia explained how it wasn’t possible for you to leave this galaxy until now, but you have found a way to be able to leave, and we’d like to go home.”
“You wish to leave Vorostor?”
“Yes.”
“You wish to traverse to your own galaxy?”
“Yes.”
“And this is what you truly want of me?”
“It is.”
“Then I will take you, and I will make your home my home.”
Oh, shit. I didn’t factor in this particular possibility. My brain still isn’t firing on all cylinders.
“That’s…not going to be possible, Dalox.”
“Why not? Any inferior species would be grateful for the presence of a Sarkarnii warlord and his warriors for protection.”
Admittedly, I bristle a little at the word inferior, given I’ve put him on the ground twice.
“Humans…they wouldn’t accept you. Chances are they’d capture you and experiment on you.”
“No one could capture me or my warriors.”
I admit, the whole turning into a dragon thing would make capture difficult.
“If they couldn’t capture you, I can guarantee they’d kill you.”
“I’d like to see them try. Sarkarnii are indestructible,” Dalox growls.
“Believe me, humans are creative. They’d find a way,” I say quietly.
“I will still come with you,” Dalox says. “I do not care what the other humans think or not. They cannot beat a Sarkarnii warlord.”
I don’t really have an answer. I guess I’ve warned him. But also, despite the fact I’m sure other humans would find a way to stop him, I really would like to see them try to deal with these alien behemoths. And, in fact, perhaps Dalox on Earth could actually be helpful for me.
Admittedly, I don’t think Stoke on Trent is ready for an alien invasion, but it would seem like it’s going to get it.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I respond, sounding exactly like my mum. Before she put me on the floor.
A formidable woman would probably quite like Dalox, when I think about it.
Dalox leans into me, his musky, spicy, smoky scent invading my nostrils.
“Warning accepted, little spark. But with you by my side, I am sure it will not be necessary.”
Why…why do his words make my core heat up? It would appear my body has not got the message. Dalox might be worth a look, but I am not up for breeding, and I am not going to be his mate.
A word which, apparently, does not mean the same here as it does in The Potteries. Mate, according to Lydia, means he thinks fate has put me in front of him and we are going to get alien married and have lots of little Sarkarnii.
So, that’s cleared that up. Although it hasn’t exactly helped. Especially when my body reacts to the great scaly creature in this particular way.
Dalox’s nostrils flare, and he makes a low guttural sound in the back of his throat which doesn’t help.
Lydia has explained about the lack of females, and although the older Sarkarnii had been around females for some time, their mating practices meant virtually none of them had any experience in the bedroom department, as she put it.
When I asked if she also meant Dalox, she shook her head.
“He’s older than the others, so maybe he has.”
“Older?”
“It’s the reason he’s their fleet admiral. That and the fact he is apparently completely unhinged when it comes to battle. He’s the one who brought them all through the wormhole which put them in this galaxy,” she added.
I’d like to say I understand. I mean I didn’t live in a bubble. I understand, vaguely, the concept behind wormholes and the like. I sort of know something general about space. But all of this, and there being aliens too, I have let wash over me.
Probably because if I really thought about it, I’d lose my mind. Or what’s left of it.
“Where did the other female go?” Dalox looks around.
“She went back the way you brought her in.” I fold my arms. “Which, as it turns out, wasn’t by turning into a dragon and flying her here through a dark cave.”
Dalox lifts the corner of his mouth in the way which I shouldn’t think is a bit cute, but for reasons I can’t fathom, I do. A bit.
“I did not say there was only one way in,” he says.
“You didn’t say there was more than one,” I point out.
His hitched lip spreads, and then he is showing far more teeth in something of a smile.
“You didn’t ask.”
For all Lydia tried, it seems, to persuade me of the innocent nature of these Sarkarnii, Dalox seems anything but innocent.
In fact, he seems entirely wicked.
I just wish someone would tell my heart to stop beating fast when he looks at me because it’s making everything harder. I’ve known him all of half a day and yet…
I’ve never trusted any man in my life, so why would I trust Dalox?