Drasus

These Sarkarnii are familiar, but they are male, and I have a female I am protecting. She requires a den and my cock, not necessarily in that order, but I'm not letting any other males get in the way.

Even if I have a creeping suspicion at least some of them I should not be fighting. The red one, however, requires punching in the head, but the nevving warrior is adept at keeping himself out of any direct firing line.

Then two of them are gone, and I'm left with a green male a head taller than me. He isn't even out of breath as he watches me intently for my next move.

Until my beautiful mate steps into my sightline. I cannot get to the green one without Coral potentially being injured between us. I cannot trust him not to hurt my mate.

And I really want to flame this male. I want to flame all of them.

"Coral, get out of the way." I grit my teeth.

She moves, but she doesn't move away. Instead, she moves towards me until she's at my chest, under my chin, and her scent invades my senses. My desire to fight dims somewhat.

"These are your friends, your fellow warriors. They are mated too, don't you remember?" Her voice is a balm to my soul.

I can feel my brow pull down as I actually try to remember. It's not that they are all unfamiliar, but as to who they are, over and above a threat to my Coral, I don't recall.

"Even the red one? He's mated?"

I glare at the grinning nevver, his tail bearing the impression of my teeth. He looks extremely pleased with himself.

"You helped him get mated." Coral laughs.

"I did?" I shake my head. "Why would anyone want that male mated?"

She bursts out laughing, and as she does, a number of figures emerge from various underground dens, the scent coming from them meaning only one thing.

"Coral!" A scream rends the air, so loud I very nearly cover my ears.

Females run at mine, and she turns to meet them as they pile in on her one after another.

"Where did you go?"

"You were gone so long!"

"I was so worried."

They chatter and inspect her as if she hasn't seen them for eons, but from what she has said, it is only a few evs.

A heavy golden hand hits my shoulder. I haven't been paying attention to the other males, and I am surrounded.

"Drasus? You do not remember your fellow warriors?" the big dark Sarkarnii asks.

"Some," I reply insolently. "And if you wish, I will fight you all again, whether I remember you or not," I snap.

The green one barks out a deep laugh. "Drasus is still here. And he is a proper Sarkarnii."

"If you mean the lack of pants, that does not make you a proper Sarkarnii, Draxx," the blue one says with a sigh. "And please don't give Daeos ideas. Our brother is feral enough as it is."

"His mate has tamed him," Draxx says, looking somewhat fondly at the red one, Daeos, who looks like he's about to start drooling.

"Would you like to fight again, Drasus?" he asks me.

I'm about to launch for him when a female with golden hair wraps her arms around his waist, and I immediately stop. He is mated.

"Daeos…" she says with a warning tone in her voice which I hardly think is likely to stop this feral creature. "Drasus is Coral's mate now. You need to leave him alone."

My jaw drops as his entire being changes, wrapping himself around her and becoming oblivious to me.

"Yes, mate. Drasus is fun though."

"You get to have fun later, when we're on the ship," she says with a smile I'd consider wicked if it wasn't on such an innocent face.

Daeos growls under his breath, and the pair of them slowly walk away from my position. Coral was right, they are all mated. They are not a threat.

All of them are now with a female. Draco even has a soft look on his face as he gazes down at his, one with flaming hair. Coral chats with a spare female, one with long hair the color of a Sarkarnii claw. Some of the knot in my stomach is released, and a familiarity I can't quite put a finger on slides into place.

Maybe I do remember something…

I release a much louder snarl than is necessary when I am grabbed from behind and the blue Sarkarnii is peering in my eye, holding it open with a thumb and forefinger.

"You were injured…again?" he says as I shake myself free of his grasp and Coral rushes to my side. "Were you able to shift?"

"He was, but the memory loss remains." Coral growls at him. "I'm sure being around familiar people and places will help. But we were stuck in those caverns for longer than intended due to the rock fall."

The blue one looks like he wants to grab hold of me again, but I extend my claws. Instead he scents the air around me.

"Your rut…" he says, still inhaling hard. "It is different than it was."

"Drega, you are not telling me you can smell a rut?" Coral asks, incredulous.

"Our senses are better than yours," he says to her.

"Your head is bigger than everyone else's, you mean." A female, the same height as Coral but with hair like flame, a pulsar pistol on her hip and a swollen belly meaning only one thing.

She is with sarkarnling.

They are all with sarkarnlings.

Drega presses his lips to hers. "You love my head."

"I'd love it more if you left Coral and Drasus alone," she says to him, gently stroking over his shoulder.

He huffs out a wreath of smoke.

"We need to ready the Golden Orion for departure, now we have the star map. Our comms are limited while we're inside the Kirakos, but there is some chatter we've picked up which suggests we don't want to remain here for much longer."

"Why wait?" I growl. "If there is a threat to my mate, we should leave immediately."

"He really doesn't remember, does he?" Drega addresses Coral. If he wasn't a mated male, I would be spilling his guts on the floor for even looking at her. "Access to the star map also means we get access to the launch codes, the ones which will release us from the Kirakos."

"And?"

"And the second we launch, we are a target. We have to be one hundred percent ready, warrior, and that is what we are going to be."