by KD Jones
Esan
Galactic Cage Fighter Series
Book 13
KD Jones
Copyright 2018 KD Jones
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14:
Chapter 15:
Chapter 16:
Chapter 17:
Chapter 18:
Chapter 19:
Chapter 20:
Chapter 21:
Chapter 22:
Chapter 23:
Chapter 24:
Chapter 25:
About the Author
BLURB:
Esan should be happy with his life. He has a great career with the Galactic Cage Fighters Association and his sister is happily mated. However, after watching his sister and his friends find their mates and start their families, he feels that maybe it is time for him to find a mate of his own. Unfortunately, he is more interested in the event planner than the females who are supposed to be his potential mates.
Nina Sinclair’s career takes a giant leap forward as she takes a position with the Galactic Cage Fighters Association as their new event planner. Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries are no problem for her. She could plan those things blindfolded. So, when she is asked to plan a matchmaking event for one of the GCFA fighters, she says yes. It should be a piece of cake, except that the person she is planning the event for is nothing like what she thought he would be and she can’t seem to stop thinking about him. She is one event away from soaring to the top or crashing in epic failure.
Chapter 1
Esan stood between his little sister and the two full Reptan boys. “You need to leave ... now!”
The two boys, who were a couple of years older than him, just laughed. “Look at the freaksss. Do you think you fit in here halfsssiesss? You don’t and neither doesss your bitch sssissster. The only way your sssissster will ever be accepted here is if she becomesss a sssex worker.”
He felt the bile rising up in his stomach. The thought of his sister being used or abused made him sick and infuriated. He didn’t care that the boys were older or bigger; he would protect his sister with his life. “Leave usss alone and I won’t report you.”
The teenage males laughed as they circled Esan. He watched them, taking in their height, weight, which fist they punched with first. Lolan, the taller of the two males, hit harder than his friend Sayer. Sayer was shorter and had little power behind his punches but he was faster than the other. It was no wonder that the two boys always fought together. Fighting alone, each boy would be easily defeated. Together they were much better at surviving. It didn’t matter. They were still no match for Esan.
Lolan punched him in the stomach while Sayer attempted to sweep out his feet. Esan lurched back to stay upright, making Sayer lose his balance and fall on his hands and knees. Esan concentrated on Lolan — the stronger fighter of the two. He took two hits to the face but came back to hit him square in the chest. He briefly forgot about the second male, which was a mistake.
“Esssan!” his sister yelled out as Sayer came at him from behind and knocked him to the ground. Both of the males jumped on top of him and laid in one punch after another. Out of the corner of his right eye that hadn’t yet swelled shut, he saw his sister moving forward with a large stick in her hand.
“No, Sssersssan!”
She didn’t listen but instead jumped on the back of Lolan and tried to pull him off of Esan. Fury filled him when Lolan reached up and gripped her hair, then flung her off of him. Esan fought harder, wanting to knock the young males out so that he could get to his sister. They doubled their efforts and continued kicking and punching him.
Finally, an adult came outside of the school and broke up the fight. Esan and Sersan were taken to their foster parents’ home. During the drive home, his sister had remained quiet. Their foster parents were furious with them for getting into trouble. Esan was grounded for a week but Sersan’s punishment was harsher, she had to do all the household cleaning duties for two weeks. Later that evening, he sat with Sersan in the kitchen and held a healing patch to her face. It was developing a bruise on one side.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No, I’m not.”
“We can call for a healer.”
“I don’t need a healer, I need to learn how to fight.”
That surprised him. Sersan was shy and sweet; he couldn’t see her being aggressive. Yet ... she did jump on Lolan. “I should have protected you better.”
“No, you should help me learn how to fight. You won’t alwaysss be there, Esssan. I need to be ready in case othersss try what thessse two did.”
She was right, he knew she was. The two of them were half Reptan and half human, created in a lab. When the Intergalactic Justice Department freed them they had been shipped to the Reptan home world and moved from foster home to foster home. The Reptans were a male-dominated society and put more value on males than females. Finding a home for him was easy, but he refused to be separated from his sister and there had been few willing to foster a half-Reptan female. Esan fought hard to keep them together but as they were now both growing up, he would not always be around.
“We’ll start practicing fighting tomorrow.”
She smiled at him and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek, carefully avoiding his bruises. “You’re the best brother ever.”
*****
Present Day
“Esan, we’re ready for you.”
He was pulled out of his memories and turned toward the female standing in the doorway leading to where his sister was getting ready for her mating ceremony. The female — he couldn’t remember her name — was curvy, had brown hair pulled back into a bun, and always carried a digital clipboard with her. She was attractive but human.
“Esan?”
“I’m coming.”
Sersan would soon be fully mated to another and maybe leaving the GCFA to start a family. What would he do when she did? Would he stay with the GCFA or would he move to be closer to her?
When they had been recruited to the Galactic Cage Fighter Association, it gave them the means to travel and gain financial independence. He made sure to invest part of their pay and they both had done very well. Both of them had more than enough to retire and live comfortably.
Today his sister was mating another GCFA fighter, Ronin. That male would not have been the male he would have picked for his sister, but he begrudgingly had to admit he was the best male for her. Ronin wasn’t a Reptan but Sersan fell in love with him and it was clear to Esan that Ronin felt the same for his sister. She chose Ronin and Esan didn’t want to stand in her way.
He walked over to the door and the brown-haired female—Nina—motioned for him to enter the through the door to the dressing room. As soon as he saw his sister, he felt such joy and love.
Sersan had let her blonde hair grow out a little more so that her scales on her scalp were hidden. She had a pale white silk dress on that flowed to the floor in smooth waves. Her arms were bare and she wore a simple pearl necklace. Her friends had helped her with makeup. She wore a li
ttle bit of lipstick and eyeshadow, but she didn’t need the makeup because she was a natural beauty. He realzied that he had never told her that before. It was time to correct that.
“You are beautiful Ssserssan.”
Sersan turned to face him and smiled brightly. “Do you think ssso?”
“I know ssso and Ronin will be very pleasssed.”
“I’m ssso lucky.”
“Ronin isss the lucky one.”
“I’ll leave you two,” the female—Nina— said.
Esan couldn’t take his eyes off his sister as he felt emotions rising up in him and he had to clear his throat to speak again. “You are glowing with happinesss.”
“I am happy. Ronin makesss me happy.””
“Then I am glad to give him permission to mate you.”
She laughed as she came over to hug him. “I would have mated him without your permission.”
“Don’t tell him that. I plan to ssstall taking you down the aisle. I want to make him sssweat it out a little.”
Sersan punched his arm, but there was no anger behind her eyes — only humor. “You are ssso bad. Wait until you fall in love. I will tell your mate all the embarrasssing ssstoriess of our childhood.”
“The joke’sss on you becaussse I don’t plan on falling in love — ever.”
She looked up at him with concern. “Don’t sssay that. You jussst need to find the right female.”
“I am not looking for a relationship. Now that I am about to hand you off to your mate, I can go on a parade of meaninglesss datesss and purely sssexual encountersss.”
“Please stop talking. I don’t want to hear about your essscapadesss.”
A knock on the door had them both turning just as it opened. Nina motioned for them to follow her. “It’s time.”
Esan offered Sersan his arm and she took it with a shaky hand. “Are you nervousss?”
Sersan shook her head. “No, I’m excited. I get to ssspend the ressst of my life with the male I love more than anything. I’m ready to get through the vowsss ssso that it can begin.”
Nina had them wait until a specific song started, then she opened the double doors and motioned for them to walk inside a ballroom. Esan wanted to rip the tie off his neck; the outfit was not something he was used to. There were a lot of people there; he didn’t even know some of their names.
She leaned over and whispered to him. “By the way, you look very handsssome.”
He rolled his eyes. “Zen made me comb down my mohawk and put on thisss monkey sssuit.”
“Well, I owe him big time. You look amazing.”
Esan was about to ask her something, but Sersan’s attention was fully focused on the male waiting for her at the end of the aisle — Ronin. The male was also in a suit and the look on his face when he saw Sersan was one of a male who had just seen the sun. The love he had for Sersan was pure and evident on his face and he never took his eyes off of her as they made their way to him.
Ronin was not what Esan had in mind for his little sister, but after seeing how the male treated Sersan, Esan softened toward him. Esan always thought that he could find Sersan a full Reptan to mate. It would give her prestige and respect — two things they didn’t have much of growing up. Sersan refused and chose love instead. She made the right decision.
When they got to the end of the aisle, Ronin nodded at Esan but kept his attention on Sersan as she took his hand. Esan had to say one last thing.
“Take care of her.”
Ronin put his other hand over his heart. “I will love and care for her the rest of our lives.”
Good enough. Esan turned and walked to the empty seat at the front. He almost groaned out loud when he saw that Zen was sitting next to him. Who assigned the seating? He would have to have a talk with that Nina person. It was bad enough having to endure Zen’s orders on how he should dress, how he should do his hair and how he should dance. The male had insisted that Esan learn a few simple steps so that he could dance with Sersan at the reception. This whole thing was a big fiasco.
On planet Reptan, Sersan and Ronin would have simply gone to the ocean, taken off their clothes, and entered the water without holding hands to symbolize they were separate. When they came out of the water, they would have emerged holding hands to represent their new union. Only family members and an officiate witness mating ceremonies on Reptan.
“Don’t loosen that tie,” Zen warned him.
Esan glared over at the interfering male. “I’ll ssstrangle you with it if you keep it up.”
Zen just shrugged. Nothing seemed to phase the easygoing male. He was annoying but had proven to be helpful and, as much as Esan hated to say it, a good friend.
“Thanksss,” he said without looking at Zen.
“No problem,” Zen responded.
Nina gave both of them a look and shushed them before stalking off to the corner. Who the hell did that female think she was? He didn’t care how cute she was, no one shushed him.
Chapter 2
Nina Marjorie Sinclair, GCFA Event Coordinator, tucked a loose strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. She stood in the corner of the banquet room with a sigh of relief. Another wedding planned, and once more it wasn’t hers. Normally her single status didn’t bother her, but lately she was feeling lonelier and lonelier.
Most of her friends were married with children. Her mother recently called with the name of another man she thought would be just perfect for Nina. And now, she had three weddings she had to plan after this one — all on board the GCFA ship.
This gig was the pinnacle of her event coordinating career. If she did these three events right, she would be able to write her own ticket with the GCFA. She was one-third of the way there already. The first wedding ceremony for the GCFA fighters Sersan and Ronin went off with hardly any problems. Sure, the flowers had to be dipped with the correct color the night before and she had to express order the special meal for the couple to accommodate both their exotic tastes, but those were just normal issues that come up during events like this one.
Normally she would have to worry that a family member or friend would drink too much and try to do something that would cause embarrassment to the couple. She was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the guests at this wedding were on their best behavior. The only one she kept her eye on was the brother — Esan. She had noticed a few times that Esan would hesitate or take a little longer than necessary to be where he was supposed to be. She chalked it up to him being a male and not caring about being on time for things, but there was darkness in his eyes that bothered her, like he was on the verge of an emotional outburst—or possibly about to commit murder. He had a dangerous vibe. Maybe she it was due to his species and her unfamiliarity with it. Reptans were not usually known for their emotional sides, yet he was only half Reptan, the other half the human.
Sersan and her brother Esan were the first Reptans or Reptan halfsies she had ever met. She expected them to have cold skin and scales all over their bodies. They did have scales on the sides of their scalps but they were mostly hidden when they brushed their hair down. No one would suspect they weren’t fully human just by looking at them, but when they spoke they exaggerated each s sound, making it almost sound like a hiss. That was because their tongues were slightly forked. As a full human, Nina couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a forked tongue or to kiss someone with a forked tongue, but Sersan’s mate Ronin didn’t seem to have any issues kissing her. Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the directors for the GCFA, Nigel.
“Excuse me, Nina, I wanted to tell you that you did an amazing job.”
“Thank you, Nigel. One down and two to go,” she said, smiling up at the very attractive male. His pregnant wife came over with a plate full of sweets. “Amelia, nice to see you.”
“Nina, you have done an amazing job with the wedding. Nigel, did you tell her what a good job she did?”
“Yes, I was just telling her that.”
“I can’t wait
to see the next two.”
“You’re excited to enjoy the delicious food,” Nigel teased her as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
Amelia nudged him in the side with her elbow. “After being sick for the first few months of my pregnancy, I’m finally able to eat whatever I want without having to make a dash to the bathroom.”
Nigel chuckled then turned serious as he nuzzled her neck. “I’m relieved to see you eating without getting sick as well. I never want you in that position again. I felt so helpless.”
Amelia smiled as she winked at Nina. “That’s why women are the ones to carry babies instead of men. They can’t handle it.”
Nina laughed as she watched the couple tease each other. The two were obviously in love and happy about expanding their family. Another twinge of loneliness hit her. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go check on a few last-minute details for the honeymoon suite.”
She quickly moved away, heading toward the door of the ballroom. She stopped at the door and glanced around the room. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. Her staff would take care of the cleanup after the last guest left. She had one more thing to do, then she would be able to head to her own suite to get some rest.
After she got on the lift, she scanned her security ID and pressed the button for the floor where the honeymoon suite was located. The GCFA ship had multiple levels with restaurants, bars, a large gym for the GCFA players to practice, suites where many of the players lived, and suites in which visitors stayed. It also had offices and conference rooms and catered to many venues. Sersan and Ronin lived in a suite on the reserved GCFA floors but they would be spending their first night as a married couple in the honeymoon suite.
As the event coordinator she had access to the honeymoon suite so that she could come in and give a final look before the couple came up. She scanned her ID over the keypass unlocking the door. The room was dark but once the computerized environmental settings recognized her presence the room lit up, becoming very bright.