Coral

"Stop it!" I yell out at the control room. "Whatever you're doing to him, stop. Now."

Drasus lets rip with another burst of fire, and I tuck myself behind a console. I can feel the air is almost ionized, and it's clearly sending my poor, confused Drasus crazy.

"As you wish, Coral of Earth," the disembodied voice intones and Drasus stops roaring.

Instead his breath rasps as I run from my hiding place back to him. He's covered in sweat, eyes blinking and rolling.

"Are you okay?" I grip his upper arms. "Drasus? Speak to me!"

"Can we mate now?" he huffs out.

I roll my eyes. He is absolutely fine.

"No." I release him and fold my arms.

"Nev," he grumbles under his ragged breath. But he flashes me a naughty smile. "Is this place what you were looking for?"

"I wasn't expecting it to greet us by trying to drive you mad," I say, pursing my lips as I look around.

It has smooth metal walls, unlike anything I've seen on the Kirakos other than the labs I was kept in when I first arrived. It makes me shiver. If it wasn't for the fact the technology contained here seemed to respond to my command, I'd have a very bad feeling about the place.

"I…think I remember," Drasus says. "Draco?" he asks, as if it's something he's heard and is repeating.

"Draco is your leader, your captain on the Golden Orion," I say, giving him an encouraging smile.

Drasus grunts as he looks around. "Leader…" he adds, as if he doesn't believe in the concept.

"Sarkarnii and human,"the control room announces.

Drasus has recovered his composure, and he immediately grabs hold of me, one arm across my chest protectively as he gazes around for the source of the voice.

"What do you want?" I call out, feeling his grip tighten.

"You should not engage with it, mate," he hisses.

"If it's what we came for, then we've no choice," I reply.

I feel the growl rather than hear it.

"I am programmed only to respond to a mated pair, a Sarkarnii and a human,"the machine says. "You are a mated pair."

"Yes," I say, my inner thigh workout a testament to the fact Drasus and I have most definitely "mated."

"Coral is my mate," Drasus snarls at the same time. "You will give her access to the star map."

"You wish access to the Obsaphir?"

I twist to look up at Drasus, for all the good it does. His face is set into hard lines, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

"If that's a map which shows all the species in the universe, yes, I wish access to the Obsaphir," I reply.

There is silence. A long silence which, the more it goes on, the more I can hear the growl rising within Drasus.

"We should go," he says.

"We need to find our way back to the others, or at least get them to come here," I whisper. "We can't leave, not yet."

"Access to the Obsaphir is granted to you, Coral of Earth, and to you Drasus of the Sarkarnii," the voice confirms.

My knees go a little weak, and I slump against Drasus for a second.

"It was us?" My voice is hoarse as I take in what's just happened. "We were the ones?"

"Of course we are the ones," Drasus says with a confidence I can't quite fathom. "You are my heartsfire, and you get whatever you wish for. I will see to it."

"I'm not sure this technology works like that." I stay leaning against him because I like his comforting warmth, even if he does want to kill everything. "But given none of the other couples have been able to unlock it, I wasn't expecting it to be us."

My heart is thumping hard in my chest as Drasus stares down at me.

"The universe turns around us both, little flame," he rumbles, running a hand down my back and making all the hairs on my skin stand on end. "If it didn't, I never would have had you."

How can he have lost his memory and yet feel this way about me? As warm as my heart is as Drasus dips his head to kiss me, my stomach has a film of ice.

What is going to happen to him when we get back to the Sarkarnii quarter? I saw how they all reacted to Daeos, a warrior with many, many problems, including being almost as feral as Drasus, and the result was a Sarkarnii who was always in trouble.

Drasus, without his memory and reacting to being surrounded by males he doesn't recognize, could pose a problem. Even if that problem is as minor as Draxx punching him in the head. The Sarkarnii do not believe in subtlety.

Worst case scenario, Drasus rejects them entirely, and given we are the chosen couple, such a rejection does not bode well. If there's one thing I do know, Draco and his brothers will have the star map at any cost.

Even if that cost involves one of their own.

"Drasus?" A familiar to me voice booms out of the hidden sound system.

"Drega," Drasus immediately responds, although his furrowed brow suggests he doesn't know why he responded.

"You've found the control room?" the voice continues. "I got a notification at this end. Is the star map activated?"

Drasus snarls, spins on the spot, and slams his tail into a nearby console. The communication crackles. I hear Drega shouting but then it goes off.

"Another male," Drasus says with a snarl.

"He's both your healer and your friend," I scold. "You shouldn't behave like that towards him. He's a mated male too, and his mate is my friend."

The snarl leaves Drasus's face instantly. "Then we need to get back to them with our newfound map," he says unconvincingly. "If he is mated too…"

I roll my eyes. Drasus being mated is going to take some adjustment and that is just me.

As for the other Sarkarnii? I don't think they've got any idea what's coming their way.