Rosalie
Dante either has a standing order for food or he has somehow arranged for it to already be in his quarters when we arrive.
If I was expecting a mess, I am pleasantly surprised.
His quarters are similar to mine, with a depression in the floor where he will sleep.
A few functional pieces of furniture. Not the chaos I would have imagined he would live in.
In fact, when I think on it, none of Dante’s ship is cluttered or filled with anything less than function. There are plants everywhere, in every atrium and every abandoned corner. All of them have a use, all of them are carefully cultivated in a way no one would expect from Dante or his warriors.
It’s like Dante is trying to make things as good as he can for his crew, but from what I’ve seen, they’re at their absolute best when they know what they should be doing.
I take a platter from Dante and fill it up as he does the same alongside me before gesturing for me to join him in the comfortable seating area. I eat slowly, contemplating the insanity of this morning, and it takes a while before I notice Dante’s eyes on me.
“What do you think?” he asks.
“About what?”
“About whether you want to stay or not.” He blinks slowly at me, and I notice his food is untouched, which is very much unlike any Sarkarnii I’ve met so far.
“If this is about the ultimatum Dalox gave you, then…”
Dante puts his platter to one side and is next to me in what seems like a single movement.
“It has nothing to do with Dalox. You are mine, Rosalie, my little flame. You were mine from the moment I set eyes on you. I wanted you, so I bit you.”
“That isn’t really how things are supposed to work,” I say, but I don’t move away from him.
“I know.” Dante dips his head, and I lose sight of his stunning eyes for a moment before he brings them back to me. “But it wouldn’t have mattered what Dalox said. I would have still wanted you. Please say you’ll stay.”
His heartfelt plea catches me by surprise.
“I…”
Dante wraps one hand around mine and puts the other on the side of my face.
“When I thought my warriors had hurt you, little flame, I was ready to tear them to pieces, but it was only because of you, because I wanted you to want to be here, I didn’t do it,” he says, desperation panting through his voice.
“I’ve never been good at controlling myself and with the mutation…
” He tails off before rallying. “But having you here, near me, makes things…easier.”
He stares at me, unblinking, for what seems like a long time.
I want to say I haven’t anywhere else to go. I can be in his sector as much as I could be in any of the warlords’ sectors.
Only it’s not like that. It hasn’t been from the moment he bit me. Not because of any venom or anything he’s done to me. The thought that he might have accidentally claimed me, or somehow made a mistake, made my heart turn over in my chest.
Dante stares down into my eyes, his handsome face a crease of worry and concern. No one has said what happens if a Sarkarnii is rejected by a mate, but I can’t imagine it would be pleasant.
I have no desire to reject Dante. It would seem my heart wants him far more than my head understood.
“I want to stay,” I say, my voice cracking. “At least until the end of the month.”
Which is when his lips brush over mine, a soft, hot touch which sends an almost electric shock through every hair on my body. Like the time we were in the atrium, all humidity, all closeness, it is as if this is the very moment…
I lift my face into his, kissing him back. For a second, Dante hesitates, but then he curls his hand around the back of my head and presses his lips into mine. I let my tongue sweep his mouth, and a deep purr comes from him, making both of us vibrate.
He mirrors my action and slips his tongue between my lips. For a moment, I think I lose all track of time. Kissing Dante is heavenly, what with the subtle spice of his scales, his hand in my hair, and the way his lips touch mine. Our tongues tangle and I gasp for air.
“Dante! Your tongue! You have two!”
He grins at me, poking the forked tongue out from between his lips where he twists the ends together and then unravels them.
“Two is better than one,” he rasps. “Now I want to mate your mouth more.”
Before I can respond, his lips are back on mine, and I’m taken away in another pleasurable kiss where his double tongue wraps around mine, caressing and gently exploring the rest of my mouth until he finally releases me to come up for air.
“You are a great kisser.”
“Kizz-er?” Dante cocks his head on one side. “You mean the mouth mating? I saw Darax do it to his mate.”
“You learnt all that from seeing Darax kiss Kerra?”
“He tried to hide it, but I saw what he did.” Dante gives me a brief, sweet smile. “And now I know why he hid it. It is extremely good.”
“So, you haven’t kissed before?”
Dante shakes his head slowly from side to side. “I did not get the lessons the others did, but I do not recall seeing mated pairs doing this kizz.”
“And I’m the first female you have kissed?”
Dante pulls me against him. “If you’ll have me, you’ll be the first female I have mated with.”