Rosalie
“She’s awake!”
My head is pounding, and I groan, thinking there’s a good chance I’m going to throw up. Opening my eyes only makes things worse, the light way too bright.
Which is when it all comes back to me, and I sit bolt upright.
“Dante!”
“Hey.” Scarlett is sitting next to me on one side. “Don’t move around too much. You’ve been out for a long time.”
I grab at her, but I’m super weak. “How long?”
“Three days.”
“I’m on Vorostor?”
“Yes.”
“In whose sector?” I finally manage to catch hold of her clothing, but Scarlett easily removes it, and putting her hand on me, she pushes me back down on the bed.
“Dante’s.”
A chill runs through me. There’s no way Dexx would let Scarlett come to Dante’s sector if he was here.
“I need to be with him.” I shove myself into a sitting position.
“You can’t.”
“I’ll take a ship. I’ll go after him, whatever needs to be done,” I growl.
“He’s in the clan chamber with the other warlords.” Scarlett sighs. “They’re debating what to do, since he lost half his crew.”
“He didn’t lose them, they were taken.”
“That’s not what Driok is saying.”
“He wasn’t there! I was.”
Scarlett looks over her shoulder, and I see Kerra come through the door, along with a gaggle of sarkarnlings.
Della pushes past her and runs as fast as she can before landing on me, arms around my neck.
“There are Sarkarnii children here,” Kerra says, her hand over her stomach.
“How?” Scarlett asks.
“It’s a long story,” I say as I cradle Della and the rest surround my bed quietly.
I do not like their silence.
“Someone needs to tell the warlords Dante’s crew was taken. It was a trap.”
Kerra shakes her head. “I don’t think that will help.”
“Dante has done as Dalox asked. We’ve been together for a month. We’re mates, and I want to be with him. The warlords have to help him get his crew back.”
Kerra looks at Scarlett. “I don’t know how possible it’s going to be, Rosie,” she says quietly. “They think he did this on purpose. He was completely feral when he returned.”
“I know. It’s part of his mutation. Ask any of his crew,” I say, attempting to keep my voice low and even, not wanting to scare the little sarkarnlings around me.
“Dante should have someone speak for him,” Scarlett says to Kerra.
“Get Dart. He’s the warrior who is his second in command. He can tell them.”
“It’s a closed session,” Kerra says.
“Do I look like I care?” I swing my legs off the bed, hating the fact the room swims horribly. “Della, where are all the warriors?”
“The big Sarkarnii made them all go to the dining hall,” Della says. “There are other warriors now, and they don’t want to play.”
I suppress a wince because it has to be so confusing for the little ones.
“Can one of you go get Dart?” I ask Kerra. “I want the children here with me.”
“I’ll go,” Scarlett says. “The other warriors are Dexx’s, so they’ll stand down for me.”
She rises from her position beside my bed, and Kerra takes her place.
“So,” she says looking over my bed covered in sarkarnlings.
“So?”
Kerra tips her head on one side. We spent long enough together after her abduction to know words don’t need to be spoken.
“Dante’s ship contained stasis pods. They were transferring the children to a new planet where the Sarkarnii had set up a colony.”
“I meant Dante and his mutation,” Kerra says. “I love the fact you’ve become a mother. That needs no explanation.”
“His crew regresses into a form of Sarkarnii known as Kursarkarnii. It’s what the Sarkarnii were before they, well, evolved.”
“Given how Darax and his crew behave on occasion and how much they all seem to like a good explosion, I don’t think they’ve evolved much.”
Despite my concern for Dante, I can’t help a smile quirking the corners of my mouth.
“It’s the reason the other Sarkarnii think they’re all on drugs most of the time, because they are. Using narcotics seems to turn off the parts of their mutation which make them particularly chaotic.”
“So, they are moderately chaotic.”
“If you will.”
“Are you having a sarkarnling?” Della cuts into our conversation, staring at Kerra’s baby bump.
She smooths her hand over it.
“I am,” she says.
Della’s face beams. “Good. I hope Rosie has a sarkarnling with Dante. We need more brothers and sisters.”
“I completely agree.” Kerra smiles at her. “More sarkarnlings are needed.”
“I think what is most likely needed is snacks.” I look around at my little ones’ sad faces. “Is that right?”
I get a couple of wan smiles and a sniffle.
“They can’t stay here,” Kerra says.
“This is their home,” I say fiercely. “And they are staying. With snacks.”
“Did someone say snacks?” A growl comes from the doorway.
There is an instant exodus from my bed, a swarm of sarkarnlings who hit Dante with audible thumps. My big bad Sarkarnii looks a little worse for wear, but he’s standing and he’s alive, which is all I want.
The sarkarnlings are obviously followed by me, only a little slower because my head still hurts, and I am much more wobbly than I expected.
Dante meets me halfway, strong arms holding me up as we are almost consumed by sarkarnlings.
“My mate,” he murmurs into my hair, pressing kisses to the top of my head. “I came for you.”
“I know.” I shove my face against his skin, inhaling his spicy scent. “And it seems you forgot your pants.”
“Pants are optional,” Dante says.
“I know that too.”
“I have been struggling to contain my Sarkarnii,” he says quietly. “Since I got back.”
I lift my head to look up at him.
“It would seem, once the Kursarkarnii has taken hold, it is difficult to shake off,” Dante says apologetically.
“Which is why you need all the nevving help you can get,” Darax rumbles as he strides into the room.
And stops dead.
“My mate said…” He stares at the Sarkarnii. “She said there were…sarkarnlings, but I didn’t dare to believe it. How do you have sarkarnlings?”
“There is far more to coming through the wormhole than we know, Darax,” Dante says. “There are things we don’t remember.”
“What things?”
“The Gonoz,” Dante says. “They’ve come for us, and they won’t stop until we belong to them.”