by Jayne Ripley
He’d made the right decision. She would never have forgiven him if he’d let himself get eaten for her sake. But the thought of being ripped away from Darkon and Nahkar filled her with so much dread and sorrow that she couldn’t even form the words to talk about it.
Even though he was furious and worried himself, Darkon still seemed to read her distress. He pulled her tightly against him again, holding her close. She closed her eyes and let him comfort her. When she was in his arms like this, she could believe things would turn out okay.
But a few minutes later, they had their answer to Bevelle’s cryptic threats. The main announcer began to speak to the crowd.
“We have a last-minute change, ladies, gentleman, and gender-fluid individuals. Nahkar will not be fighting a kill-tail tonight. I’m excited to tell you he will be fighting a newly discovered predator on Inonzur Six. No one has ever faced one of these killers on a live holo-broadcast! Tonight, you are witnessing history in the making!”
Darkon cursed low and savagely. Then he looked her right in the eye. “You don’t have to watch.”
She didn’t drop her gaze. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “No, I do have to. He’s out there alone, fighting for his life. I need to be there in spirit for him.”
Darkon smiled, a fierce pride and admiration in his eyes. “Like you were for me?”
She bit her lip and nodded. She didn’t trust her words right now, and she certainly didn’t deserve his admiration. If she kept talking, she’d only tell him how terrified she’d been that he would be hurt or killed. And she’d admit how terrified she was right now that Nahkar would face the same.
“You are a good person, Jennifer Smith,” he said, hugging her tightly again. “I want to kiss you so badly right now that it’s painful for me to keep myself under control.”
That actually startled her. For a moment, it even made her forget all her fears. She blinked up at him, her lips parted. He wanted to kiss her…?
Her body reacted on its own, her heart beating faster. Her nipples tightened. The muscles in her core did the same as if eager for kisses…and far more. She licked her lips in anticipation, even as her mind reeled from the whiplash of emotions and hormones pulling her in so many directions at once.
Darkon groaned. “Don’t do that. Don’t lick your lips like that. It drives me crazy.”
She blinked, caught in the tangle of her emotions. Most of her wanted him to claim her lips and kiss her soundly. She wanted to lose herself in pure physical bliss, if only for a few moments. But part of her knew it wasn’t right. Not now. Not with Nahkar in danger. Because she had just as powerful feelings—just as powerful desires—for Nahkar too. She couldn’t do this behind his back, no matter how much she might need it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice escaping in a breathy sigh that she hadn’t intended.
“You’re not making this easy,” Darkon growled. She could feel how hard he was. His cock was like steel, throbbing against her midsection. It might be polite decorum to pull away, but she didn’t. The evidence of his desire made her feel good for the first time tonight. It distracted her from all the dangers. Emboldened, she pressed herself against him, desperate for the comfort he was offering. She wanted him to know how much she appreciated him.
Gently but firmly, he took her by the arms and moved her away from him as he stepped back. The muscles in his neck and body were rigid with tension. It seemed to take him more effort to move away from her than it had for him to kill that terrifying monster.
“If I keep touching you like that, I won’t be able to control myself,” he said in a voice ragged with strain. “But gods, you feel so good.”
“No, you’re right,” she managed to reply. “This is for…later. Nahkar needs us right now.”
Darkon nodded. They both turned their attention to the battle arena. She couldn’t resist one thing, though. She reached out and took his hand in hers.
His hand enfolded hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze as they stood there together and waited for their friend to fight another nightmare.
Darkon might be safe—for now—but Nahkar was up next. He was facing a new and more dangerous kind of monster. She wanted to believe his victory would be as easy as Darkon’s had been. But when had luck and fortune ever gone her way?
After being abducted from her home and enslaved, she struggled to keep believing that everything would turn out okay…
CHAPTER TEN
Nahkar
Nahkar Ka-Razal gripped his sword in his right hand as he strode down the tunnel leading from the prep room to the main arena floor. His boots thudded ominously on the ground and echoed off the walls. Robots, technicians, handlers, maintenance personnel—everyone kept well out of his path. He was on the way to the challenge of his life. Everyone knew it. They lined up along the smooth tunnel walls and watched him pass without a word.
Usually, his mind was a wonderful blank as he readied himself for combat. He would give himself over to his reactions, to the religion of battle. He would become a perfect physical being, at one with his weapon, untouchable by his enemies, loved by the crowds.
Tonight felt different. The cyborg who seemed to do the bidding for his new owner had told him they’d decided to change the predator he was going to fight after Darkon’s battle. Instead of a kill-tail, he’d be fighting something entirely new and deadly.
It was a creature they called a zarankost.
He wasn’t afraid for himself. He didn’t care. He would kill anything they sent his way.
No, his thoughts weren’t on his own safety. They were on Jennifer. The black-eyed cyborg had told him that Jennifer would be watching from a viewing box normally reserved for the wealthy and powerful. It had been rented by their owner so she could watch the arena games.
Nahkar had been furious when he’d found out. When he’d first thought of Jennifer seeing him in action, he had desired it. He was strong and fast and powerful. She would see his fighting ability and his unequaled skill and her heart would melt for him. Of course he wanted that. He desired nothing more than to impress her.
But over the days of getting to know her, he had come to a very different conclusion. He was proud of his strength, but he didn’t want his warm-hearted little human seeing all this death and suffering. Most of all, he didn’t want her sick with worry over him. His sweet little Terran was not the kind to enjoy this brutal show, especially when his life was at risk. At first, that had confused and disappointed him. After all, he was a warrior. Now, he had come to understand.
She cared for him.
Besides, it was his duty to protect her, to set her fears to rest, not to stoke them even higher. So as the date of the show had approached, he and Darkon had talked about it. He’d expected a fight, but they had both quickly agreed that Jennifer should stay behind instead of coming to Aiken Arena.
Too bad their owner had different plans, damn him.
He clenched his jaw, wishing the mysterious, faceless owner was in front of him now. One slash from Blood Eater and that problem would be over. Then he could escape with Jennifer somewhere far from the imperial court and the Grand Daxai Empire.
Only he needed to learn how to fly a starship first.
Problems. Always problems. He wished the rest of his life came as easily to him as fighting in the arena did.
The gates opened for him. The tunnel was minimally lit, but the arena as lit up so brilliantly it was like standing ten meters from the sun.
He strode out into the blazing arena lights. The air stank of alien blood and sweat. It was warm and humid down here on the sand, even with all the station’s advanced air control systems. His bare torso began to sweat, but he ignored any discomfort. Beyond the force field-reinforced walls, he could barely make out the shape of the crowd. The lights on him were so bright that everything beyond them was dark and indistinct. He shifted his gaze higher, scanning the luxury boxes nearer to the arena’s dome, trying to see past the glare.
; Jennifer was somewhere inside one of those.
The crowd chanted his name. The announcers filled the air with their excited commentary. Nahkar moved to his position and stopped. He spun his sword and drove the tip down into the ground. He stood with the tip of his great sword buried in the sand, his hands folded over the cross guard as he waited, barely paying attention to all the commotion around him.
His mind was on Jennifer.
He had always felt alive when doing this. It was something in his blood. The fight, the challenge, the thrill of victory, all of it excited him. Until he had met Jennifer, he’d believed battle and danger made him feel the most alive. The roar of the crowd, the adoration of fans, all of it made him feel like a god. He was the best they had ever seen. That had always made him feel powerful and in control, even if he did not have his freedom.
But he had changed.
No, that wasn’t exactly right. Jennifer’s sudden appearance in his life had changed him. The strength of the link between them was undeniable, like a planet’s gravity that had him helplessly caught in her orbit and loving every second of it.
Thinking of her turned the blood inside him to fire. He should be calm right now and focused on the challenge, but simply imagining her face, her eyes, and her smile stirred him deep inside. She made him feel as if he were burning up from his heart outward. She made him feel alive. More than any fight, she brought out the colors, the pleasures, and the raw thrill of being alive. His hands felt even better when they were on her body than when they held his sword.
That said everything.
He hadn’t had enough of a chance to touch her, despite how much he craved it. Tonight that would change.
A smile played on his lips. He felt as if his blood boiled with need for her. He was going to show her exactly how much Ikestran passion could change a female’s life, open her to heights of pleasure and tenderness and care that she had never before experienced.
That challenge was the only one that interested him now. Not these pointless fights for the entertainment of the crowd. These arena battles were only a flashlight to Jennifer’s star. They did not compare.
The holo-cameras caught the smile on his face and displayed it on the big viewscreens. The crowd misunderstood it, assuming he was smiling about the coming fight.
Let them think what they wanted. He knew the truth.
The big doors at the far end of the arena finally began to rumble open. His eyes narrowed as he stared into the blackness there. Before he could see his mate again and claim her once and for all, he needed to finish this distraction.
His heart began to pump his blood faster, the battle-lust stirring to life inside him. He would kill this monster, but not because he wanted the glory anymore. He would kill it because that was the only way for him to see Jennifer again.
And he could not live without seeing those kind blue eyes of his sweet little Terran.
“This is the first time a zarankost has ever been set loose in galactic civilization!” one of the announcers was shouting into his microphone. “It’s the most vicious predator we’ve ever seen! It ripped apart three hunters when the gamemasters were capturing it for you tonight! Now, for the first time ever, the champion will face his greatest test!”
The zarankost did not roar or screech when it burst out of the three-story-high gates. It was eerily silent. The beast was gigantic, steel-gray, and covered in thick slime. Feelers and tentacles waved from its hairless body or slammed into the ground, propelling it forward. He could feel the impact of the huge tentacles vibrating up through his boots.
The creature charged toward him across the arena. It looked like a churning mass of lashing whips and ropes with a long, thick neck thrusting out of its core. Its head was blunt and filled with merciless orange-yellow eyes as wide and round as the shields some fighters used.
It also had a lot of teeth. It had jaws as big as a double-doorway. It stank like ammonia, the reek so strong that it pushed in front of the zarankost in an invisible cloud of stink as it moved.
The crowd gasped and screamed and cheered at the sight of the hideous thing.
He ignored the crowd and the announcer, finding his focus. Usually when he fought, his focus and precision were already laser-tight. But as he raised his big sword, he realized something was off. He couldn’t seem to focus as well. His thoughts kept shifting away from the hungry monster that wanted to rip him apart.
His thoughts kept jumping back to Jennifer. To his eagerness to see her again. To touch her. Was she afraid for his life right now as she watched? Was she confident he could win? Did the sight of his muscles gleaming with sweat turn her on—?
A bunch of thick, slime-drenched tentacles shot toward him all at once. He snarled a curse, throwing himself to the side. He barely escaped.
He cursed again as he rolled to his feet and raised his sword. He’d allowed himself to get distracted by thoughts of his little Terran. If he didn’t get his head focused, he was not going to see her again at all. Confidence was one thing. Sloppy arrogance would get him killed.
Would she cry for him, though? Would she mourn him? But that bastard Darkon would be there to comfort her. And that would mean Darkon would win her. He couldn’t have that. He couldn’t—
Something slammed him hard, sending him sprawling. He hit the ground with a grunt, his sword flying from his hand.
He thought he’d dodged out of range of the tentacles, but there were so many of them. The zarankost surged forward, trying to envelop him in a mass of writhing tentacles. Some of those snake-like appendages were as thick as columns, others as thin as whips. The vast differences made fighting it difficult.
Nahkar scrambled back to his feet and leaped for his sword. A thick tentacle whooshed through the air where he’d been only a blink ago. He felt the air push against him. That was too close.
In one smooth motion, he somersaulted, snatched up his sword from the sand, and rolled back to his feet. His blade became a blur as he sliced his way through the tentacles closing in on him.
The zarankost screeched in pain. The sound was so high, loud, and piercing that it momentarily disoriented him. He staggered for a second. Dizziness had him reeling.
The crowd went silent at the sound of the screech except for a few gasps and groans. The sheer volume and pitch of the monster’s cry had stunned the audience as well.
Another tentacle smashed into him, sending him flying. This time he managed to hold onto his sword. His ears were ringing from the shriek and the blow. His thoughts were fuzzy. Attacks kept coming from all sides. The zarankost’s deafening screech was a danger he hadn’t expected. He wasn’t prepared for a sonic attack. Now he was on the defensive.
He hit the ground hard. His breath was knocked out of him.
Not giving my mate a very good show right now. The thought made him grunt out a laugh. He tasted blood and sand in his mouth.
The holo-cameras were locked on him. The crowd hovered on the edge of their seats. He knew it. It was the same as always. It was the excitement of the coming kill.
What wasn’t the same as always was that this time Nahkar was losing.
For the first time ever, he was losing.
He was going to lose his chance at Jennifer. His whole life, he had been waiting for someone like her, and he hadn’t even realized it. But now that he’d found her, he was about to lose the thing he wanted most.
Raw determination exploded inside him. With a roar, he shoved himself to his feet for the third time. He jumped over the whipping-snap of a thick tentacle. It missed him by millimeters. With Blood Eater in hand, he began to hack his way through the writhing tentacles toward the zarankost’s head. He needed to attack the head. It was his only hope.
Slime flew off the creature’s body in cold, disgusting droplets. Blood sprayed from the limbs he severed. The blood was icy cold as it splattered across his body. The creature reeked of ammonia in a suffocating cloud. He didn’t have time to feel disgust or revulsion. He was utterly focu
sed on his attack.
It shrieked again, louder than ever. He flinched as sound waves pummeled him, his ears ringing so badly that he could hear nothing else.
But he didn’t stop his attack.
He had almost cut his way to its huge head when a tentacle thicker than his thigh wrapped around him. The tentacle pinned his arms to his sides so he couldn’t use his sword.
Groxxing hell, this was bad. This was really bad.
Before he could do anything to free himself, the tentacle tossed him high into the air. He gripped his sword tightly, trying to twist so that he could cut at the monster as he fell toward the ground again.
The zarankost darted its huge head forward and swallowed him whole. The jaws snapped shut, blocking out all the bright arena lights. The teeth clamped together millimeters above his head. Those teeth had almost taken his head off completely.
It swallowed him.
Hot, wet, reeking flesh and mouth muscles squished against him, covering him with slime. It had a thick tongue that rasped against his bare chest. It was disgusting beyond words.
He fought back his revulsion. He needed to do something now. He was being eaten. An Ikestran warrior, the champion of Aixen, had been swallowed whole like a child with a piece of ryi-ryi candy. By the gods, this was a shameful way to die.
He would not die. He could not die. Jennifer needed him. He was more certain of it than anything else in his entire life. He was not going to die without having made love to her at least once but preferably thousands of times.
That realization forged his willpower into unbreakable steel.
With a scream of rage, he thrust his sword into the side of the creature’s throat, holding on with both hands. The blade pierced its flesh and stopped him from being swallowed the rest of the way down the dark tunnel of its throat. Its tongue tried to wrap around him and force him down, but he grabbed it with one hand and used it to heave himself back into its mouth. With a roar of battle fury, he pulled his sword free and shoved it upward through the creature’s head into its brain.