by Merel Pierce
Her eyes shot to his expanding pupils as they tracked the droplets of slick rolling down her thighs. He reached out and captured the fluid on his fingers before bringing it to his mouth.
His hungry growl made another cramp ripple from her spine to her sex, and his shaft again captured her attention as a pearly drop of fluid leaked from the tip. Shakily Kasi reached for his flexing tip, instinctively wanting to taste what he offered, but Ander’s hand closed around her wrist.
“Not now, little Omega,” he rasped. “If you touch me, I won’t be able to stop.” He tightened his fingers around her wrist before handing her the fabric that had fallen to the floor.
Ander made short work of donning the leather pants. The tight fabric didn't disguise his form, but it broke her stupor and sent her fumbling for the cloth he’d handed her. Kasi had just finished settling the nearly see-through gown around her hips when Lucius reappeared.
This time he had a leash in his hands. He didn’t approach her, but he handed it off to Ander with a cursory, “We leave in five minutes. If she’s not wearing the leash, she stays here.”
Giving them a flat stare and before walking away again, he added, “Just in case it needs to be said—I don’t see the point of mating, but my trainers tell me it’s the perfect outlet after a fight. If you fall during the match, she’ll be added to the stable of females I keep for the rest of the fighters. More incentive for you to win.”
Chapter Seven
Ander
The deafening roar of the crowd made Ander want to wince, but surrounded by other fighters, he didn’t dare risk showing any sign of weakness. The quiet, peaceful evenings in his village seemed further and further away, but he’d give up his village and his freedom to keep Kasi safe.
He’d briefly thought that the fight would be a perfect time to escape. In a stroke of luck, they’d not yet had their slave collars put on, but with Kasi leashed to their master, disappearing into the crowd would be next to impossible. Even if Ander got away, he couldn’t take the chance that Lucius would hurt Kasi in retribution.
Lucius’ parting warning about Kasi joining the women kept for the fighters’ use had done its job. Ander had trained as a warrior with both the men from his village and during a stint in the Rathsimian military. He focused on details, and before each mission visualized each step and outcome. Now his mind supplied in dazzling detail Kasi’s terrified face as some nameless male ripped her clothes and pawed at her creamy skin.
His sight tinged red and a growl worked its way up from his chest. He started when another male—an Alpha, judging by his scent—knocked into his shoulder. Turning with bared teeth, Ander’s growl died in his throat when all he could see of the other man was his back as he walked away.
The familiar swagger and shaggy head of black hair made him hold his breath for a second, but before he could move to follow, the mass of preparing fighters blocked his vision. Scenting the air and catching a fragrance he knew as well as his own, Ander’s vision sharpened, and his brain began to prepare for their escape with a new intensity.
He and his mate weren’t alone anymore.
Fighters milled around the dimly lit room. They were collared, and Ander assumed they were all slaves. Some of them had handlers by their sides, but others were left to their own devices.
He snorted in disgust. He’d always hated slavers. Once he got Kasi safe, the slave trader route through his village’s territory was going to be too dangerous to traverse – for the slavers.
The amphitheater, all peeling paint and outdated tech, had seen more profitable days. The only updated thing Ander saw was a perimeter railing around the arena made of some kind of translucent material. It gave the owners in the first row an unobstructed view of the action. Lucius had taken one look at the arena and the accommodations and had muttered something about “amateurs” before leading Kasi to where he’d indicated they’d sit.
Ander stood when a haggard-looking Beta male tried to call out above the din. The fighters ignored him until someone let out a piercing whistle.
“I’m going to post the fight assignments. Line up and be ready to go when called,” the Beta shouted before sticking a handwritten paper on the door and leaving.
Some of the fighters sought out their match, but Ander braced his legs apart and stood against the wall. Closing his eyes, he let his head drop backwards. It didn’t matter who his opponent was or who else might be here. His end goal—always—was Kasi.
He pictured her dark honey-blonde hair flowing over his arms as he’d held her close to his chest. Her eyes were so richly brown it was a challenge to see where her pupils began and her irises started. That made him think about how her pupils had been dilated on the ship so that only a thin line of brown remained, and how her scent still lingered on his thighs from where her slick coated his skin.
His name being called caught his attention and focused him back on his purpose. He was here to fight, to show off for his new master, and to protect his mate. He needed to be ready for anything, but above all, he had to remember his end goal.
Stepping into the sunlit arena made him blink furiously, but he forced his vision to clear and took in his surroundings. The arena was large enough to have more than one fight taking place at a time, and four pairs of fighters were ready to enter.
Ander scanned the spectators and found his gaze drawn unerringly to where his precious little Omega sat curled up at Lucius’ feet. In the owner’s row next to the arena’s barrier, Kasi sat on the cool concrete floor, but even at a distance, he could see by her flushed face that she wasn’t shivering from the cold.
A change in the breeze brought her sweet jasmine scent wafting towards where the fighters waited, and the deeper notes of her pheromones confirmed what Ander had suspected: her heat was near.
He noticed a few Alphas in the stands lift their noses to catch that perfume as well. So far no one had tracked the scent to his vulnerable mate, but it wouldn’t take long for them to realize an unmated Omega female sat on the cusp of estrous in their midst. This needed to end before it turned into a bloodbath.
Ander headed towards his mate to claim the piece of ground in front of Lucius. He didn’t need Lucius’ imperious nod to know that was where he’d make his stand. Moving across the sand, he didn’t give his fighting partner any chance to protest.
Still scanning the stands to see if anyone had noticed Kasi, a pair of familiar green eyes caught and held his gaze. He kept his feet moving forward towards Lucius, but as he met his brother Casan’s stare, he confirmed the familiar scent from earlier and knew their chance at escape had arrived.
Casan was an experienced warrior. If there was anyone he would trust with Kasi’s life besides himself, it was his brother. Casan nodded, and in the silent way they’d perfected as children, he sent reassurance that he was here to bring Ander home.
Ander tilted his chin at his brother and slanted his eyes towards where Lucius sat with Kasi. When his brother’s eyes widened and then narrowed in determination, Ander knew he’d understood.
He wasn’t going anywhere without his mate.
With a slight tilt of his head, Casan disappeared into the crowd, and Ander focused on his upcoming fight. Finally reaching the patch of sand in front of Lucius, he didn’t try to meet Lucius’ eyes, but instead focused on the female at his feet.
Ander reined in his lingering anger at finding her on a leash. This close to her warm scent, he couldn’t control the shiver that rolled over him. He clenched his fists and fought the haze of lust that started at the base of his spine. Only the shuffle of feet and the roar of the crowd kept him from hurdling over the barrier and forcing her to present her pink flesh for his cock.
Turning to his opponent, he glared at the smaller Beta. He didn’t know what his brother had planned, but he couldn’t worry about that right now. When the bell sounded to begin the melee, Ander shifted his weight onto the balls of the feet and prepared for battle.
Chapter Eight
Kas
i
Watching Ander and the other male fight in front of her should have horrified her, but instead Kasi found the play of muscles across his broad shoulders captivating. Tracing the bands of flesh down his back to where they disappeared into his leather pants, she shifted her thighs to try to ease the ache between them.
When Lucius had imperiously pointed at the floor by his feet, she had cringed, but sank obediently to the concrete. The cool stone helped to relieve some of the heat that rushed through her system, so she’d hidden her sigh of relief and banished any humiliation the position caused.
She didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed. Since the first cramp rolled through her on the ship, Kasi had been aware of what it heralded. She wasn’t due for her next heat for at least another month but meeting her mate had induced her cycle to start for him. Her biology wanted her mated, bonded, and bred, and it didn’t care whether the circumstances were ideal.
Her cramps had subsided briefly while they’d been separated, but as soon as he stepped into the sandy arena, her lower stomach tightened anew. Her focus narrowed to the tanned flesh in front of her, and while she was aware of the blows he inflicted on his opponent, the droplets of sweat rolling down his flesh were what mesmerized her. She wanted to trace those droplets with her tongue to where they disappeared beneath his waistband.
Some minute part of her brain tried to reason with her. This was madness; beyond the fact she’d only met him a few hours ago, her mate was fighting not only to win, but to keep her from becoming some kind of plaything for the others. She should have been horrified, but with her heat rapidly approaching, that reasonable part of her brain was subsumed by an insidious voice tempting her with an endless stream of lust.
Alpha is so strong. So protective. He’ll take good care of us. Give us his knot. Give us his babies. Need him. Taste him.
A tug on the leash around her neck barely registered, but it was enough for her to notice she’d leaned closer to the transparent barrier. She glanced back at Lucius to see if he’d noticed too, but he was focused on the fight in front of them.
She jumped when a body slammed against the railing.
Ander had knocked his opponent into the boundary, and now without the barrier, she could have reached out and touched him. With his left forearm pressed to the Beta’s neck, Ander easily held him there while capturing Kasi’s gaze. His nostrils flared and the way his eyes darkened with desire fascinated her.
Another cramp across her middle had her drawing in a quick breath, but this time instead of pain, pleasure slid like fire down her legs and up her spine, causing another surge of slick to coat her thighs. She shifted from her kneeling position onto her hands and knees, and again she tried to move closer to where her Alpha’s scent and heat called to her. She needed to touch him.
Another sharp tug on the leash brought her up short, and when she whined at being kept from her Alpha, a growl rippled from Ander’s throat. The low sound sent another shaft of heat through her core, and only the pressure of the collar kept her from crawling to her mate.
“Focus, Alpha!” Lucius snapped from above her head. “Finish it.”
His eyes shifted to the male above her, and with a vicious snarl that perversely sent another shaft of heat through her middle, he used his right arm to deliver a quick fist to the Beta’s face. Keeping his eyes on Lucius, Ander took his arm from the Beta’s throat and let the male’s body sag to the ground.
Groans and cheers from the spectators rose up around them, but Lucius’ cold voice came from over her shoulder. “Good. Time to go.”
He tugged on the leash sharply, causing Kasi to choke at the sudden restriction. Eyes watering, she tried to scramble to her feet, but another vicious pull sent her stumbling into the partition with a pained cry.
A roar from Ander vibrated the translucent material under her shoulder, and Kasi looked up to see him grasp the railing above her head and heave himself over the top to land lightly beside her. In a single movement, he drew her behind him protectively while ripping the leash from Lucius’ grip.
BOOM.
BOOM.
The arena went from a deafening din to complete silence so quickly Kasi felt like all the air had been sucked from the space, but within the next heartbeat, panicked spectators started to rush from their seats. Dust rose from the arena floor as people near the edge tumbled over the barrier to land on the sand. Plumes of smoke rose into the sky behind the upper rim of the amphitheater. The reserved row of seating where Lucius had sat in comfort was quickly overrun with all manner of species fleeing the attack.
Kasi found herself surrounded by the barrier on one side and protected by Ander on the other. He’d turned and curled around her to use the mass of his body to shield her from the stampede. Kasi pulled herself into as small a ball as possible and put her hands over her ears to block out the noise and screams.
His chest against her back, Ander began a lighter version of the throaty purr that had calmed her at the marketplace. It wasn’t a steady sound like before, and with a jolt of fear, Kasi realized it was because Ander was being buffeted by the crowd. His body was taking the blows that would have crushed her to a pulp.
“Alpha!” She tried to uncurl from her protective crouch, but he only pressed her tighter to the railing. “Ander?”
She wasn’t sure what she was asking, but when a small smile curved his full lips, she knew she was safe. Nothing would get past her mate.
“Kiss me, female,” Ander ordered with a grunt.
Pushed against the barrier by the weight of his body, Kasi could only lift her head to meet his lips. A low mewl left her throat when the full softness of his mouth met hers for the first time.
Liquid fire filled her mouth, seeping into her core. The cramps she’d suffered before were nothing compared to the inferno that poured through her from just the taste of him. When his tongue traced the seam of her lips before he took her mouth under his control, a rush of slick flooded her hot center.
Kasi made another noise into his mouth and squirmed to reach for him. Once she was able to get her hand between them, she flattened her palm on his broad pectoral as he continued the assault on her senses. And it was an assault; the arena, the fleeing crowd, her new owner—everything disappeared under the lash of his tongue.
Until a new voice uncomfortably close to her ear bought some clarity.
Kasi tilted her head to rest her forehead against Ander’s cheek. It was just too hard to hold it up, and her neck refused to support it. When the purring stopped, she regained some of her control, but she froze when her eyes shifted over her mate’s shoulder to find another set of green eyes that looked exactly like his.
These verdant eyes didn’t look at her with the want that filled Ander’s gaze. Kasi blinked at the look of amusement in them, and then like someone coming out of a stupor, she raised her head to meet Ander’s eyes before looking back to the stranger peering over her Alpha’s shoulder. A stranger who looked remarkably like her mate.
A deep chuckle coming from Ander drew her attention back to him. His eyes were such a clear, pure green they seemed to glow. The longer Kasi looked at them, the more she wanted to lose herself in their depths.
She leaned in closer to find his lips again, but when he pulled back just a fraction, she whimpered in dismay. She needed to taste those lips like she needed to breathe.
“Not yet, mate. We have to go,” Ander said. His words and tone were calm and controlled, but the desire in his eyes and the heat in his hands seared her.
Ander rolled to his feet and reached to help her stand. Her legs were sore from sitting on the cold concrete for so long and threatened to buckle under her own weight. When he dropped his arms and stepped back slightly, her pre-heat-addled brain saw it as abandonment.
Alpha is unhappy. He’s rejecting us.