by K. D. Jones
“She made up some excuse to her fiancé that she was going on a retreat for a few months in preparation for their wedding. She went away and gave birth to me, then dumped me with my father. My father didn’t take to me. Every time he looked at me, he saw only what he would never have with his long dead mate. I was with him for five years. He was a fighter for a circuit, too, but he never made it big. He was too heavy into drugs and drinking to get very far.”
“When he was killed in a fight, I was on my own for a few months, until someone who knew my father remembered he had a child. They called my grandfather, who came and got me. Things were better after that. My grandfather taught me what it meant to be a Bestial. My human mother was never mentioned again. I had never met her until I decided at the age of eighteen that I would search her out. She had married the senator and had a daughter, a sister I had never met before she answered the door. She was so little, maybe six at the time. When my mother saw me, she knew immediately who I was. She grabbed my sister and pushed her behind her as if I would attack them and called security. I was arrested but released when I agreed to never approach them again.”
Rachel was crying for him silently. She couldn’t hold back anymore. She threw herself at him, wrapping him in her arms. At first he tried to struggle out of her embrace, but soon he relented, letting her hold him.
“I’m so sorry. Some people just don’t know how precious children are. You were innocent and deserved so much better than that.”
Rage wanted to forget. Forget his childhood pain of not being wanted. He turned into Rachel and kissed her. He would bury himself in her, console himself in her. He loved her kindness, her determination to protect others. He loved how she wanted to comfort him. He loved being with her, loved holding her, loved her. The emotion was so strong that he felt a little overwhelmed. He made love to her, showing her with his body what he couldn’t say with his words.
Sersan had kicked Rage out of the suite when she returned three hours later. He growled his displeasure, but Rachel laughed it off. The next day they walked together towards the holding area to wait for their matches to be called.
“Have you heard from Talon?” Rachel asked.
“No. I’m worried that he is going to get into trouble.” Rage admitted. Talon had informed the GCFA prior to Rachel’s kidnapping that he had personal matters he needed to attend to and requested a leave of absence. Since he had not taken one in all the years he had been with the GCFA, they easily granted his request.
The local authorities released a statement to the public that several fighters from the GCFA had been kidnapped. One was recovered with only minor injuries, which was Rachel. One was found dead, which was Resa, and one was still missing, which was Tipin. The authorities implied that once Rachel Starr had given a full report with descriptions of all the culprits once she had recovered from her minor injuries. They further insinuated that Rachel had given them vital information that would lead to the arrest of all parties involved. All of this was done to set Rachel up as a target, to drag those responsible out from their hidden places.
They found the rest of the fighters already in the holding room. Rage stayed by her side. Sersan and Alana approached, looking worried.
“I just can’t believe the GCFA is going on with the fights tonight after what happened. Poor Tipin. I didn’t care for him personally, but to have your wife killed must be devastating. Has anyone heard whether the authorities have located him?” Alana asked with tears in her eyes. She was the most sensitive of the group.
Rachel shook her head. “No. I’m just grateful I was found in time, before something worse happened to me.”
Sersan reached over and patted Rachel on her back. She felt really bad for keeping things from these two women. They had become her friends in such a short time. But she had a job to do and other women’s lives were at stake. They all grew quiet.
“Hey, did you guys know about this?” Zen asked, staring at the monitor. He turned up the volume so the others could hear.
“Know about what?” Rage asked as he moved forward to look at the monitor. The two commentators were going on about something.
“This is so exciting. Johann, have you ever heard of a venue changing in such a short time? This new event usually only happens when we get closer to the Championship Finals, not this early in the circuit!”
“No, Poland, this is the first I’ve heard of it. I’m very excited.”
“Do you think this is just a publicity stunt by the GCFA to sweep the latest news reports under the rug?”
“Well, if it is, then it’s working. Since the announcement was made ten minutes ago, it’s all people are talking about.”
Rage looked at Zen confused. “What are they talking about?”
Zen faced everyone in the room. “Less than ten minutes ago a representative for the GCFA announced that they were cancelling all the individual matches. They announced this evening’s event would be a triple cage match.”
“What’s a triple cage match?” Rachel asked.
“There are going to be three cages stacked on top of each other. All the fighters start on the bottom cage and work their way to the top. Usually the one to reach the top first wins a reward or prize.” Alana answered her. Then she asked, “Hey Zen, what’s the reward?”
“Half a million credits,” Zen answered.
“Half a million creditsss?” Sersan asked in disbelief.
Rage looked at Rachel. Whoever ordered this special match was more than likely setting it up as a way to kill off Rachel. All the fighters would be present, males and females, and they were going to be trying to kill each other to get that reward. “You can’t fight in this.”
“I don’t think I have a choice, Rage. Trig is watching closely. If the person or persons in charge show, he’ll be there to catch them.
Rage didn’t like it at all, and he was going to protest more but security came to escort them down to the cages. He pulled Zara up next to him and whispered to her, “Protect Rachel at all costs.”
“Look, Rage, I know you want to protect your human, but I want that 500,000 for myself. I don’t have time to babysit.”
Rage grabbed her arm to stop her and leaned closer so no one could hear. “She’s an undercover IDJ agent trying to locate some missing women, including Lindy. The ones that took Lindy tried to take her last night. Now they have ordered this match. It’s a set-up to take Rachel out of the picture.”
“A set-up? Only someone high up in the GCFA would have the authority to change the venue.”
Rage nodded as a security guard pushed them to keep moving. Zara wondered how she could have not noticed the missing women. She bet that Tipin and Resa had been involved. That’s probably why Resa had ended up dead. Who knew what had happened to Tipin?
“I’ll do what I can,” Zara told him.
Chapter 17
The fighters were brought into the arena where the triple cages were already stacked. Rachel could see the opposing team on the other side of the cage. There were two doors. She was told that all the fighters would be led into the cage. The two cage doors would be locked. Once the bell rang, it would be every fighter for himself. The only way out of the cage was if someone was seriously injured and unconscious. A five-second halt would be called to give the healers time to get in and out. Then the fighting would resume.
Rachel looked at the opposing team and felt goose bumps form all over her arms. The whole team was composed of the worst of the species mixes. There were male and female pairings of Cyclops, Martians, Sirens, Artarians, Slurchans, Leptans, and Voltans. They were seriously outnumbered. This was going to be a slaughter.
“Stay close to me, human,” Zara said as she stepped up beside her. Rage stood on her other side.
“Do you see your partner?” Rage asked.
Rachel shook her head. “If I can see him then he’s not doing his job right.”
“Keep your eyes open. Know what species you’re fighting. There won’t be any wa
rning and you could end up fighting men as well.” Rage told her.
The bell rang out, signaling the start of the fight. It was more like the start of a battle in hell. The opposing team members seemed to produce weapons out of thin air. There were several kendo sticks, a ladder, a steel chair, and a chain.
“Weapons?” Rachel squeaked.
“Forgot to tell you about that. This match is anything goes, which includes weapons,” Zara told her nonchalantly.
“Remind me to kick your ass later,” Rachel growled out.
Zara smirked at her, but there was no time for a snappy comeback. One of the female Voltans came at Zara, hitting her across the face. Damn! That had to hurt.
Zara responded by punching the Voltan right back.
Rage tried to stay close to Rachel. He pushed her back a couple of times, taking on full frontal attacks in her stead. Rachel spent a good deal of time against the bars with Rage in front of her. The commentators were loving it.
“Are you seeing this, Poland? Rage The Animal is protecting the pure human, Rachel Starr.”
“I had heard rumors that they had a thing going on. But it looks like The Animal is trying protect her like they are mated.”
“She is so much smaller than him, how do they even have sex without him breaking her in half?”
“I don’t know, Johann, but they seem to have found a way.”
A Cyclops and an Artarian charged Rage at the same time. Rachel knew the only reason they were coming at them was because of her. These fighters must have been ordered to take Rachel out. In fact, no one on the opposing team was making an attempt to reach the next cage up. They were all trying to make their way toward her and Rage.
Zara came over to grab one of the three arms of the Artarian and pulled it backwards at a painful angle, forcing him to step away from Rage. He took advantage and pushed the Cyclops out of the way. Rage took one step forward and found himself jumped on by three more opponents. The Artarian threw Zara across the cage.
Rachel was forced to leave the side of the cage and move forward. The instant she was out in the open, she became the focus of the opposing team. Shit! Rachel didn’t have a choice. She knew there was no way she could defend herself where she stood, so she ran to the ladder leading up to the second cage.
If she could get to the top cage she would win the match and end it. Sersan, Alana, and Zen had just reached the second cage and were fighting a few of the opposing team that had also made it up.
Rachel never made it to the third cage. She was immediately taken down by a female Martian. Martians were large and red in coloring. They weren’t fast but they were strong. This one was using every bit of her strength to subdue Rachel.
“You’re going to die, pure human!” the Martian yelled in her ear as she pushed Rachel to the floor of the cage and straddled her.
“Not today, red bitch!” Rachel yelled back.
She used her elbows to move the Martian lower on her body, away from her chest. Rachel grabbed the red girl’s right arm with her hands. She brought her feet up to her ass and put her right foot on the outside of the Martian’s left foot, trapping it. Next she thrust upwards with her hips and rolled to the right.
Rachel took advantage of her new position and used her other hand to slam the Martian’s head over and over on the floor of the cage. It took a few seconds but the Martian’s eyes rolled up, signaling that she was unconscious.
Rachel had no sooner stood up from one battle to end up right back down. She had been tackled by the female Artarian. The Artarian used two of her arms to hold Rachel’s arms down while she used her third arm to punch Rachel in the face.
Rachel felt something wet running down the side of her face. The realization slowly seeped through that the wetness was blood, her blood. She wasn’t going to be conscious much longer.
Suddenly the Artarian was gone. Rachel looked over and saw that Zara had come to her rescue. She had tackled the other woman knocking her to the floor of the second cage. Rachel slowly rose to a sitting position and watched Zara in amazement.
The Amazon quickly broke the Artarian’s middle, arm causing her to scream in pain. She then proceeded to punch her in the face with her bare hands until the other woman stopped moving around. She was still breathing but unconscious.
By the time Rachel managed to get to her feet, more fighters had climbed up to the second cage. Rage was one of them. He spared her a glance to make sure she was okay. She nodded to him. There was no way Rachel would make it to the top cage and end this fiasco early; too many people blocked her way.
She also could not go back down to the bottom level for the same reason. She turned as someone yelled out her name. Sersan ran straight at her, then shoved her down. Stunned and confused, Rachel looked up at her roommate only to find that male Leptan colliding with her. Evidently Rachel was the intended victim but her friend knocked her out of the way.
This reptile species was much more aggressive than a Reptan. He was too strong for Sersan. Rachel jumped on his back and started pounding his head. Sersan pounding his chest. There was a snapping sound and the lizard man fell on top of Sersan. They both pushed him off.
“Is he dead?” Rachel asked out of breath.
Sersan shook her head. “Nearly, but no. His body shut down his system to repair the internal damage.”
Right, kind of like a tail that had been cut off growing back on a lizard. Rachel shivered from the thought of how much pain he would have been in if he remained conscious during the repair process. She stood up and helped Sersan get to her feet. “Thanks for helping me.”
“Incoming at ten and two!” Sersan yelled, looking at something behind Rachel. Four somethings, actually. Rachel and Sersan turned back-to-back to protect themselves from the incoming attackers.
Hammer threw a Voltan down from the second cage to the bottom cage. He yelled over at Rage, who had two fighters going at him. “Why does it seem like everyone is going for your human?”
“Because they are!” Rage yelled back.
Sersan’s brother Esan tried to make his way over to Rachel and Sersan but he was blocked off by another fighter. “Thisss isss bullssshit! None of thessse guysss are trying to get to the top cage.”
“Help protect Rachel if you can. They want her dead.” Rage told them as he put one opponent down while the other one came at him with a punch.
Sersan was grabbed by two of the attacking males and pulled away leaving Rachel exposed. The other attackers were female. One was a Siren. She opened her mouth and the sound that came out did something weird to Rachel’s system. She found her herself slowing down. The other attacker took advantage of the near paralysis that Rachel had and sideswiped her feet, knocking her to the floor of the cage. Both fighters started kicking Rachel in the face and her sides. One more kick to the face, and she heard her name being screamed by Rage. Then everything went dark.
Most of the seriously wounded were put in the bottom cage for the healers to come and get. Hammer, Zen, and Esan were able to make way for Rage to carry Rachel down to the lower level. He wanted to go with Rachel to the healing facility but the security wouldn’t let him out of the cage.
“I’ll take her,” Zara said as she took Rachel in her arms muscular. She then turned to the security and told them that she withdrew from the match. It sucked that the GCFA only allowed the females the ability to withdraw. The security opened the cage door and allowed Zara to carry Rachel out. When one of the security reached for Rachel, Zara shook him off.
Rage went back to the second cage to help Hammer and the others. He wanted this match over with. “I don’t care who gets to the top, but someone get the hell up there now!”
The rest of their team worked together, looking out for one another and helping one another with opponents. It should have been over by now if their purpose was to take out Rachel. She was no longer there. It worried Rage that the match was being drawn out longer than necessary. He hoped that Zara was keeping close to Rachel.
The lights were dimmed in the healing facility. The healers did everything they could and left Rachel to heal while she slept. The door to the room opened and Rage walked in. He looked around the room to see that no one else was there. He then glanced at the barely conscious Rachel in the bed. He opened the door again and let another man in a dark suit enter.
“Human, you have been more trouble than you are worth,” the man in the suit said. He had short blond hair.
Rachel opened the one eye that was not swollen shut and whispered, “Mr. Talis, I presume?”
The man smirked. “Not my real name, but one I use to do my side business.”
Rachel looked at Rage with confusion. “Rage?”
Rage’s eyes glowed. Then his image shimmered, bones popping and cracking. His whole body folded and then unfolded to reveal not Rage, but Tipin. “It’s going to be my pleasure to squeeze the very life from your scrawny body. The best part will be that your lover Rage will be blamed.”
“I will leave you to it. You have ten minutes before the staff comes back,” Suit Guy said as he walked to the door. He opened it to find the real Rage standing on the other side.
“Donner,” Rage greeted him. Donner was one of the board members for the GCFA.
“How did you get here so quick?” Donner asked.
“Zen won the match by reaching the top cage. As soon as security opened the doors, I came here to check on my woman.” He peeked inside at the fully awake bruised woman on the bed. “You doing okay in there?”