Drasus

Ido not like this. I don't like the thought of meeting other males, no matter whether they are the same as me or not. My rut is wild, desperate, and the need to mate is overwhelming. I want to spend my time buried in Coral, listening to the delicious sounds she makes as I pleasure her with my cock…and other parts.

The form I take also likes this very much, and I'm wondering how it might be possible to persuade her to stay here instead of going looking for what she calls a "control room."

Unfortunately, there is something prickling at the back of my brain, something I dislike very much. It's a memory of others like me, with wings and tails. I am supposed to help them, I think. But I don't think I have to let them get close to my mate.

With a reluctant look back at the remains of the melabuk carcass (now mostly bone as mating is a hungry business), I walk alongside Coral, who is holding up a glowing stick as we enter the passage leading away from the pool. She still limps, but it looks like our bathing and mating has helped her recover somewhat.

"What does the control center look like?" I ask as I tune in my senses to the darkness and the light.

"I don't know," Coral admits. "And the map thing you had got smashed when you had a fight with the Rak."

At the mention of a Rak, my scales lift and my tail thrashes. I feel my claws lengthen.

"You remember?" Coral turns to look at me.

"No?"

"You were growling."

"I was? I don't think so," I say as the growl echoes away down the passage.

I do not like the idea of a Rak at all, although I don't know why. For the first time, my lack of memory irks me. I need to know what these things are in order to protect Coral. If I was fighting a Rak, then it has to be a threat.

"You're growling again, Drasus," Coral says. "What's wrong?"

"What does a Rak look like?"

I smell her fear, and both the rut and my need to keep my mate happy rise like fire within me.

"Big, blue, six legs, two pincers, too many tentacles." I feel her shudder rather than see it. "Smells like rotting fish."

I wonder if I should know what a fi-ss is. I decide the physical description is probably enough to go on should one appear.

It will die for frightening my mate.

"Still growling, Drasus."

"I'm thinking," I reply.

Coral coughs and laughs at the same time. "Is that what you call it?"

Her scent of fear is gone, replaced by simply her, mixed with our mating, and I inhale deeply. It calms everything.

"I didn't used to growl when I was thinking?"

"You used to growl. Whether you were thinking or not is a separate matter," Coral says, her voice bright in the gloom.

"I must have been thinking about you," I say as we reach the end of the passage and it opens up into a larger cavern with a number of exits. "Because you are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen."

Coral's skin flushes a darker pink. She averts her gaze from me, although I don't know why, and looks around.

"This place is…different." I narrow my eyes, tail lashing. "Not natural."

"It isn't?" Coral asks.

"There is metal here." I run my hand over the surface where I can taste the structure. "It is made to seem like part of the caves, but it is not."

Coral gives me a strange look. "Ok-ay." She elongates the word. "That could mean we're near the control room. I mean, these caverns can't go on forever I suppose."

She's hiding the hope in her voice, and it makes my stomach squirm. Does she want to get back to the other males?

"Growling?" Coral moves next to me and puts a hand on my chest.

"Males." I snort.

"Only you, Drasus." She smiles, and my entire world lights up at the sight of it.

Of her.

She raises herself up and presses a kiss to my lips.

"Let's find this bloody place and get the hell out of here."

I would do anything, anything for her. Even if it means we might encounter more males.

"Can you tell anything else about this place? Is there any power?" she asks.

"There is power," I reply. "I can hear it."

The low buzzing is coming from one of the passages. I tuck Coral behind me as we advance into it. Every part of me is on alert, especially as the hum becomes a crackle. I check on her, but I don't think she can hear the noise. It's a sound I dislike a lot.

I am growling now. Whatever this is, it cannot possibly be what Coral is looking for. It makes my head hurt and my body want to grow and change.

"What's wrong?" Coral has her hand on my arm, and I attempt to concentrate on her touch, to drive the sound out of my brain.

"It…isn't…right," I grind out.

I feel feral, as if I have to fight. My scales are prickling and voices haunt me. Voices I should know but I can't remember.

A bright light hits both of us, and Coral gasps. I immediately draw her into me, making sure whatever it is has to go through me to get to my mate.

"Wait! Drasus, this is it. This is the control room, it has to be!" Coral pulls free of my grip, and she steps into the light.

I grasp for her, falling forward as my head fills with static and my vision dims.

"Welcome, Drasus of the Sarkarnii."A voice comes out of nowhere and before I know it, I'm lashing out with my claws, firing out flame, doing whatever I can in order to get to my mate.

No one takes my Coral. No one.