Zara

by KD Jones

  “Yeah, that will be a problem. But you can’t get around the fire marshal’s requirements.” There was a small pause as they walked back to the security room.

  “So, are you meeting up with Zara later?” Rachel asked casually. She could swear her friend was blushing. It was hard to tell with his beautiful dark skin.

  “I am doing a job.”

  She snorted. “Looked like you were doing her.”

  “Shut it.”

  “Whatever.”

  Chapter Four

  “Hey,” Trig greeted Zara when they met up at the small restaurant on the ship. Normally there were banquet halls used when they reached spaceports. The restaurants were normally for the non-GCFA passengers. But while traveling region to region, the fighters liked to dine at the restaurant for a change of venue.

  Trig had changed into a dark blue button up shirt, which tucked into the waistband of his dark jeans. He looked even hotter dressed up like this. Zara had a hard time keeping her eyes from traveling up and down his body. Those jeans were made for him.

  “Did you already pick out a table?” Zara asked as he allowed her to go inside ahead of him.

  Trig could not stop staring at Zara’s ass in her jeans. She had long legs and he wanted them wrapped around him as he drove his cock deep inside of her. What the hell was wrong with him. He could not get involved with her. No matter how hot she was. No matter how the short sleeved sweater hugged her breasts. She stared at him waiting for an answer.

  “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “I asked if you already reserved a table.”

  “Oh, yes. I came early, put our names down, and requested one that was the most secluded. So we can talk freely.” There was no way he could go back to her suite again. He would not be able to control himself.

  They stopped just inside and the host came to greet them. He then escorted them to their booth.

  Zara was very pleased they had been seated in a booth with high backs that would keep people from seeing them. The whole place had mood lighting, which was darkened for a romantic atmosphere. Not what she was going for, but it would give her the privacy they both sought.

  “What can I get you two to drink?” the pretty blond waitress asked.

  “What’s good, sweetheart?” Trig asked with a sexy smile.

  The waitress leaned down to point out some suggestions from the menu. “If you like a dark beer, the Mars Brew is the best. But if you want hard liquor, nothing beats a shot of Jack.” She leaned a little too close to Trig, winking at him.

  Zara growled and tried to cover it up with a cough. What the hell is wrong with me? This was not the male for her. It shouldn’t bother her if he flirted with another female.

  “What about you?” The female finally turned her way.

  Zara stared the halfsie in the eyes until she shuffled uncomfortably. She smiled at seeing the female turn away showing she was no challenge to her. “I’ll take the dark beer you were talking about.” The female practically tripped over her own feet to get away from their booth.

  Trig chuckled, catching Zara’s attention. Even his laugh was sexy. “What are you laughing at?”

  “Even out of the cage, you are intimidating.”

  “Do I intimidate you, pure human?”

  He nodded his head and smiled. “You do. But you see, I like that.” Unfortunately he liked it way too much. He had jacked off thinking about her.

  “Have you found out anything?” She knew it was a long shot, but Rachel had gone on and on about how good an investigator Trig was. He helped locate Maya and Taurus’s adopted son, Luke.

  “I was able to get clearance to view the IDJ’s report on the raids for the breeding facilities eight years ago. There were twenty facilities in the same region.”

  “But the photo I have had part of the name of the facility on it.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean she couldn't have been moved to another facility without you knowing about it.”

  She paused as she thought about it. “You’re right. I never thought about it. I could scent her while I was there. But my memory of whether I scented her in the facility the day we were released by the IDJ, it is fuzzy.” She frowned. Twenty facilities she could have been at. This was an impossible task.

  “We’ll find her. I’ll do everything I can.” He wanted to reach out to touch her hand and comfort her, but the waitress showed up with their drinks.

  “What do you want to eat?” the waitress asked Trig, looking cautiously at Zara out of the corner of her eye.

  “Steak, medium rare with a baked potato loaded,” Trig ordered his food.

  The waitress slowly faced Zara. She smiled at the little female. “The same. Thanks,” Zara replied. The waitress hurried away with their order.

  “I need some more information on who the father is. Do you know who it was or…” He didn’t want to bring up the rapes she had been through.

  “I know. I didn’t before I had Angel. They would send multiple males in hoping one of them would be successful. But when I held my baby I scented her and knew.” She grew pensive at remembering how Angel was conceived. She had to smile. She was grateful her father had been so kind to her. “His name was Tiger.”

  “What kind of halfsie was he?”

  “He was a full Beastial. He was the only male who was kind to me. I was relieved that he was the father because he never raped me, not once. Even with the drugs, he fought it so he could give me pleasure instead of pain. Besides Angel, he had been the only bright spot in my life.” She had a glazed look on her face remembering pleasant things.

  For some reason he could not understand, he wanted to kill this guy. That she spoke of him with awe and appreciation made him see red. He had touched her, pleasured her, given her a child, and it made him feel possessive. What the fuck is this about?

  “Did this…Tiger know he had fathered a child? Is it possible he took her from the facility and has her?”

  Zara shook her head. “No. I was told he had been shipped to another facility before I found out I was pregnant. I never got the chance to tell him. If he had known about it he would have sought me out.”

  “You haven’t seen him since that time? You didn’t seek him out?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t know how I would have faced him. I let our daughter be taken from me.”

  “That was not your fault.”

  “I am her mother, she screamed for me. I couldn’t stop them, I was helpless.”

  “They drugged you. Even if…Tiger had been there, they would have still took her.”

  The food came and they stopped talking for a few while they each enjoyed their steak. Zara had a healthy appetite. He liked that. Most of the women he dated were way too skinny models or actresses. They picked at their food or stuck to salads. Zara was different and he couldn’t be happier about it. Not that he was dating her or anything. She was his client. That’s all.

  They waited for their dessert to be delivered. “What do we do now?”

  “When we get to the next spaceport tomorrow morning, I need to travel to the local IDJ office. I have a few of the children that I had recently rescued and their new guardians coming to answer some questions for me. I have a suspicion of where your daughter may be, but I don’t want to say anything until I have a chance to question these children.”

  “What time do we leave?”

  “I was going to leave first thing. But you don’t have to come, I know you are busy training.”

  “I need to go with you. I would like to be present while you question the children. I promise to remain quiet. You won’t even know I am there.”

  That would be impossible. She stood out in a room without saying anything. Her height, her well-built tight body, her exotic beauty. No one would miss seeing her. Add her celebrity to the mix. There was nowhere she could hide. But maybe she might hear something that could ring a bell for her.

  “Okay. But I do all the questioning.”

  She nod
ded her head. Dessert arrived and Zara took a deep sniff of the chocolate cheesecake she had ordered. This was an indulgence, but she was craving something sweet. Trig ordered a simple apple pie. It smelled good too.

  Zara took a fork, carved a bite out, and lifted it to her mouth. The rich chocolate flavor hit her taste buds. She closed her eyes and moaned with satisfaction. “Mmmm.” She opened her eyes and found Trig staring at her mouth with desire in his eyes. She could smell his arousal. Uh oh.

  “You have an amazing mouth,” Trig told her without thinking. All he knew was his dick was going to be knocking the table pretty soon, he was so hard.

  She blushed. She never blushed. What the hell? She needed to set him straight. “Special Agent Roberts, I should apologize for what happened between us earlier today, after my training. It was a mistake. Sometimes when I fight, I get…aroused. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Trig stared at her as if she had grown horns. What was she talking about. It wasn’t a damn mistake. It was the hottest kiss he had ever had. But she was reducing it to a side effect of her fighting. She made it sound as if she would have done that with anyone, he just happened to be there. Never mind the fact he was going to tell her something similar to that because he needed to keep a professional relationship with her, but hearing her say it to him made him pissed off.

  “Do you get aroused after every practice or match?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “So you would have done that with any man, I just happened to be there?”

  She looked away. If she said yes, it made her sound like a slut. She was no damn slut. If she said no, she would be admitting to wanting him. She didn’t want to do that either. Thank God the check came.

  “Will there be anything else?” the perky blond asked Trig.

  The pasty blond pushed not only the bill toward him, but under that was another piece of paper Zara knew would have her room number and phone number. Talk about a slut.

  Trig paid the bill and left a hefty tip. “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah.” She needed to put some distance between them.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning Zara met Trig in the lobby of the ship. The GCFA ship had docked at the spaceport a couple of hours ago. She agreed to meet him there after breakfast.

  “Good morning. How are you doing?” Trig smiled at her with his white teeth a contrast to his beautiful mocha skin.

  Great, he is a morning person. Ugh. “Fine.” He handed her a cup of coffee. She took it and sipped it. It was black, no sugar or cream. Just the way she liked her male. Not her male—her coffee! “Thanks.”

  “I have a shuttle waiting to take us to the IDJ office.” Trig led her out of the loading ramp down to the awaiting platform.

  A shuttle was there and an IDJ officer stood by at the door. The man’s mouth dropped open when he saw who one of his passengers was. He rushed up to greet them. No, not greet them—greet Zara.

  “Zara…you are my favorite fighter. I have been following you for years. I am thrilled to get to meet you.” He reached out to take her hand to help her into the shuttle but Trig blocked him. He took Zara’s hand himself and helped her. He didn’t even question his possessive behavior.

  The IDJ officer looked at Trig with resentment. Trig stared back at him. “Officer, you need to focus on your job, which is to get us to the IDJ headquarters.”

  “Yes, sir.” The officer glanced one last time inside the shuttle with longing.

  Trig wanted to punch the officer for drooling all over Zara. He didn’t want to feel this way about her, but he wasn't happy with another man touching her. He needed to control his emotions better than this, but that had always been his problem. It was also the reason why his supervisor hated for Rachel and him to work together. They both had tendencies to lose their tempers.

  He climbed in after Zara and sat beside her. She was wearing another pair of tight, low riding jeans and a black, sleeveless muscle t-shirt. Her muscles were pronounced and her golden tanned skin shown right below her belly button. He understood why the officer stared over her—she was breathtaking.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, we should be there in about ten minutes.”

  They sat quietly beside each other. He would have continued to do that but he needed to ask her more questions. “Do you remember what this Tiger looked like?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “I was thinking, he might know something, a name, other facility locations. Would you be able to describe him in detail if I can get a sketch artist at the IDJ to draw him?”

  “Yes”

  “Okay then. We’ll do that. Then we’ll send out his picture in the database to try to locate him.”

  Zara looked out the window at the other shuttles that passed by. She felt guilty. Maybe if she had tried to locate Tiger years ago, they could have been looking for their daughter together. Tiger had a right to know about their child. He was the only male she had ever come close to loving. Not even Rage had held a spot in her heart except as a friend and she had been with him off and on for almost two years. Tiger had been different. Maybe because he was the first male to make love to her instead of just having sex or raping her. He would probably always be special to her in that way.

  “Does it bother you that I plan to contact this…Tiger?”

  She looked at Trig then and shook her head. “No, it’s something I should have done a long time ago.”

  Neither spoke the rest of the way. The IDJ headquarters was located in the center of the spaceport city. The officer that drove them also escorted them inside the round silver building. Zara put on sunglasses but that didn't stop people from recognizing her. She walked quickly trying to avoid any fans from approaching. It was a hassle but it came with the job.

  Once inside the building, Trig checked in with the chief officer. Zara waited until he came back to get her. Then he showed her to a conference room they would use instead of an interrogation room. Trig explained the use of a different room. “I asked for a conference room because I don’t want the children to feel threatened or scared. Scared kids tend to clam up.”

  “Why not go to their homes to question them?” Zara sat down in a chair he pulled out for her. She had to admit it that he had great manners.

  “We will be interviewing ten kids, that’s ten different homes. It is easier to have all of them come here than to have to go to each and every one of their homes. Plus, we have resources here, like a sketch artist, we wouldn't have immediately available when we travel to their homes.”

  She nodded her head. It made sense. As her first trainer, Stanley, had told her once, “Work smarter not harder.” He said it was an old Earth saying but couldn't remember where it first came from. Stanley had been a human trainer, one she actually had liked. But as the GCFA acquired more halfsie fighters, they needed trainers who could keep up physically with the fighters they trained.

  “When is the first family due to arrive?” Zara felt a little nervous. She would have preferred to sit further back in the corner, but Trig had placed her chair right next to his.

  “They are already here. They arrived ten minutes before us and the officers took them to a lounge area to wait for our arrival.” Trig had no sooner relayed that just as the door was slowly opened.

  An IDJ officer stood to the side to allow a tall thin human male and a short chubby human female walk in. The chubby female held the hand of a six-year-old little girl with dark brunette pigtails. For a moment, Zara’s heart raced at seeing the little girl. Her mind knew it wasn’t her daughter. She was too young. Her daughter would be about ten years old. Also her scent was different. Zara still remembered her child’s scent. It was a mixture of hers and of Tigers.

  Trig rose to greet the male and female reaching out a hand to shake theirs. “Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Thank you so much for coming.” He lowered himself down to his haunches so he could look the little girl in the eye. “Hi, Caro. Do
you remember me?”

  The little girl looked up at him with big brown eyes. Her whole face lit up and she threw herself into Trig’s arms. “Trig!”

  He caught her easily, chuckling. “Hi there, Caro. How are things going with your new living arrangements?”

  “Great! The Andersons want to adopt me.”

  Zara watched Trig interact with the little girl. Something pulled at her heart seeing him hold the child. She knew he would make an excellent father one day. Where the hell did that thought come from?

  Trig set the little girl back down and looked at the Andersons. “I am thrilled it worked out for all of you.”

  Mrs. Anderson hugged Trig. “It’s all thanks to you, Special Agent Roberts. We can never thank you enough for encouraging us to request to foster Caro. She is an absolute angel.”

  Trig looked at Zara when she flinched at the endearment of ‘angel’. He didn’t say anything to her though. “It was my pleasure.” He turned to introduce Zara. “Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, Caro, I would like to introduce you to Zara.”

  Zara stood to shake the hands of the human couple. The male turned a bright red having recognized her immediately but didn’t say anything. She appreciated his restraint. But restraint wasn’t part of a six-year-old’s vocabulary.

  “Zara the Amazon! Oh my gosh! It’s Zara the Amazon, from the cage fighting show!” The little girl pointed at her, jumping up and down in place.

  Zara walked over to the little girl and bent down as Trig had done earlier. “It is nice to meet you, Caro.” She shook the little girl’s hand.

  “Can I have your autograph?”

  “Caro, don’t bother Miss….Zara.” Mrs. Anderson tried to wrangle her foster daughter in.

  Zara smiled. “It’s no problem. I’ll sign something for you after the interview, okay?”

  The little girl bobbed her head excitedly. “What’s an interview?” she turned to ask her foster mother.

  Trig answered her helping Zara stand back up. “I’m going to ask you a few questions about the time before I rescued you.”