Chapter 27
DALOX
Istare at the door. I want to be on the other side of it. I want to be with my Gillian. Only she doesn’t want to be with me.
I thought being envenomated by a female was the worst which could happen to a Sarkarnii male.
I was wrong.
The room is silent now, empty of her, and with her absence, my heart seems ever louder in my chest. I press my forehead against the cold metal.
“Gillian.”
There is no answer. She may as well not be in there. She could be on another planet, she seems so far away.
She should speak to me. I am a Sarkarnii warlord. I am her Sarkarnii warlord.
“Gillian.”
I put more power into my voice. She needs to know I command her.
There is no response. It does not matter who I am, and it cuts me to the quick.
I’d have preferred envenomation.
All I can do, all I have left, is to arrange the flyer to take us to the second continent and to the ship she spotted. I growl into my comm as I exit her quarters, stomping through my sector until I reach the control room.
“What do we have available?” I snarl at my quartermaster.
“We have three functional flyers, none of which will reach the second continent and return with the mapping system without some intervention from our ancestors.”
“Nev,” I growl, smoke escaping and filling the air around us.
“Lord Darax has a ship which would suit our needs,” the warrior says, not looking at me. “Unfortunately all others which would suffice and are held by Lords Driok and Dante are off world.” He raises his eyes from his console. “Unless you wish to wait, my Lord.”
I lift my lips in a snarl. It’s impressive he even asked the question. I do not wait.
“Lord Darax’s ship is in his hangar?”
“It is, my Lord.”
“Fully fueled?”
“Lord Dexx delivered star fuel to all the warlords last nova-week, including Lord Darax, who had some additional supplies to those we received.”
Nev Darax. What is he up to?
“We believe the additional supplies are because one of his patrols captured a swift flyer from a rogue pirate group and are presently towing it back to Vorostor,” the warrior adds.
Darax is adding to his wealth and influence. Of course he is.
“Then he’s not going to miss the flyer we need, is he?” I grin at the quartermaster.
I’m well aware my grin is almost as welcome as my snarl to my warriors.
“No, my Lord.”
Which is the correct answer.
“Send the details of the vessel to my comm.” I pat him on the shoulder. He sags. “And get me some higher res scans of the area around sector delta-four-two on the second continent. I give the control room the benefit of my pleasure. “I will be back shortly.”
I may not have pleased my female with my breeding, but I can at least give her what she says she wants.
The possibility of getting back to her planet. And if she thinks I’m leaving her there, she is incorrect. Now I have found my mate, now I rut for her, I will give her what she craves, and I will stay by her side.
I return to my quarters and extract the weaponry I wish to take with me from my personal armory. I can hear sounds of movement in the quarters my mate inhabits, which at least means she is no longer in her small aquium.
Given it is not in the middle of her sleep cycle and the sounds I hear are not those of distress, I do not enter immediately. Instead I press the chimer, to let her know I wish to enter. Then I wait.
There is no response.
I press it again.
My blood spins in my veins, the mating mix pumping through me. Is my mate okay, even if I cannot hear her distress? My claws extend, reaching for the door, intending to break the agreement I made with my mate about leaving her alone when the door snaps open and she glares at me.
“What do you want?”
Her cheeks are flushed and her breath is short. I peer into the room, expecting an assailant.
She is alone.
“I wished to check on your wellbeing.”
“I’m fine.” She huffs a breath, and it blows little strands of her hair from around her face. The rest of the silky strands are tied up behind her head in a similar manner to a Sarkarnii female.
“You are fine?”
“I’m fine, Dalox.” She turns away and walks back to the central pit and sits down in it with her back to me, reaching for a canister of water.
I follow, but I don’t sit. She still has not looked at me, and I can almost feel the sharpness of fangs against my skin.
“I have secured a ship to take us to the second continent,” I hear myself say. “We can obtain the mapping system, and once it is installed on my long-range ship, we can leave for your Urth.”
Gillian’s shoulders rise and fall, but she does not turn. A silence stretches out between us.
“We can leave any time you want,” I say, eventually.
“Then we leave now,” she says, getting to her feet. “The sooner I get out of here, the better.”