I Married A Dragon (Prime Mating Agency)(54)
It was the third time Cedros had referred to me as his mate. The first time had been before I fell asleep last night. The second time was this morning while we made love again, and the third time now. I didn’t know what to do about it or if I should even bring it up. There was no doubt in my mind that those were unintentional slips of the tongue. But they also reflected his avowed deeper desire, and likely the way he already considered me.
It was a dangerous thing. And yet, it didn’t actually bother me. Quite the opposite, in fact. I was falling hard for my dragon. As ridiculously massive as his cock was, it had made my pussy sing arias all night long. I didn’t doubt for a second that Cedros had ruined me for any other male. That he wanted me to be his first and only was playing a crazy game with my mind. I wasn’t in love with Cedros—at least not yet—but the thought of some Derakeen bitch rubbing all over him, writhing beneath him in the hopes of bearing him a child, had me seeing red.
No freaking wonder Trinit decided to marry Rovain instead.
If I had to play babysitter to allow Cedros to fuck some other chick, I’d commit murder. We were still way too early in this relationship for me to make any type of commitment about the future, but I could already see the writing on the wall.
Kayog said I’d never want to leave him.
Damn Temerns and their accurate assessments…
“I will return soon, my Kaida. Don’t be frightened when Nero shows up. He will probably just spend some time with you during your training with Trinit so that you can get to know each other better.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll see you later.”
He gave me one last passionate kiss before taking flight, the glass dome of the hygiene room opening to let him out. I gazed wistfully at him while he circled around the shimmering, opalescent sky, no doubt drying his body, before summoning a portal and vanishing through it.
With a sigh, I went into the bedroom to put on some basic clothes for my training with Trinit and ate a quick breakfast. I then settled at my computer desk to continue cross-referencing the incidents Tedrick had sent me against the events Cedros and his Shadow Lord brothers had provided me with reports on.
It didn’t take long to realize that every incident matched one from Dramnac. But the UPO had not detected all of Dramnac’s events. Based on the destinations of the undetected random portals reported by the Shadow Lords, the anomaly opened in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, which explained why no one in the galactic alliance had noticed it—or at least mentioned it.
In half the incidents recorded by the UPO, they found absolutely nothing. All of them corresponded to those isolated places or areas where the Shadow Lords had cleaned out the roaming beasts before they could make any victims. In a quarter of the other incidents, they found mangled corpses of the poor sobs that happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time. They belonged to random people of various species, with nothing in their history or known connections that could hint at any type of shady involvement or activity.
The last segment of incidents led to locations that presented visible signs of battle, from scorched spots where blaster shots had hit, to vicious claw marks on the walls and floor, clearly belonging to aqrats. Those scenes implied an undeniable level of military preparedness. Even a thorough forensic examination of those areas failed to provide any type of DNA or fiber that could have given us a trail to track down those who had fought there.
Whoever was behind this was no low-level mercenary trying to make a quick buck. We were dealing with a very organized and professional group of individuals. Sadly, I could think of quite a few galactic criminal cartels with the capability and desire to pursue such an ‘opportunity.’
The most frustrating part was that the origins of the portals on the galactic side and their destinations into the void were completely random. But why? Were the summoners chasing something which led them to these varied locations before they opened their portal? Were they deliberately moving around to hide their trail and send people like me who were tracking them on a wild goose chase? Could it be that their portals were unstable and, therefore leading to the oddest places?
I shook my head, annoyed. Cedros had said the shadow obsidian stones opened safe and stable portals. Could the off-worlder summoners be using them the wrong way? One thing was certain, they weren’t accidental. Proof of combat indicated those people came prepared. It just sucked I had so little to work with.
A cool draft and a tingling sensation startled me out of my deep thoughts. I jerked my head towards the door, to see a now familiar blur. This time, instead of messing with my head and stalking me, Nero came right out of stealth—although I suspected it was merely him materializing into the real world from crossing the veil.
With his mouth closed into a barely visible line and his big, glowing purple eyes, he could have almost passed for cute—Chibi face kind of cute. That is, assuming you didn’t have a tentacle phobia. But the minute he saw me, Nero’s mouth split into that massively toothy grin that took up half of his face. My survival instincts were screaming for me to haul ass, but I kept my butt on my chair and smiled.
“Hello, Nero,” I said in a gentle voice.
Deeming that an invitation, his creepy smile broadened as he flew towards me. I braced for impact, but once more he gently wrapped his tentacles all around my neck, shoulders, and waist, but not in a restraining fashion. He rubbed his cheek against mine, and I found myself melting for the odd creature.