by Stacy Jones
Giving her barbarian an impatient look, she bent and helped him to his feet then moved so she could see them both.
“Have you two lost your damn minds? I’m not going to mate everyone down here! I meant I’m considering all of them for our little army! Jesus Christ! You honestly thought I was, what? Shopping for husbands?” she scoffed.
In perfect sync, they both blew out relieved breaths and relaxed, but Kix’s expression very quickly changed to confusion.
“So you do not want to mate Rellik?”
Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly stammered, “What? No! No. Definitely not. Nope. Three—”
She cut short. It stung like a sonofabitch, but the dragon obviously wasn’t nearly as interested in her as she was in him so he wasn’t her’s, not really. She hadn’t seen him once since they left his cave. Nor had she found any evidence that he’d been following them covertly. And she’d looked.
Swallowing hard, she corrected, “Two mates is plenty. Besides, if I was planning to, er, consider him, wouldn’t you be able to pick that up?”
He got a dry look on his face. “Not if you do not know.”
“I know!” she insisted.
“Uh-uh,” he voiced, shaking his head. “You are confused. I feel interest, concern, denial, fascination,” he ticked off, eyeing her challengingly.
“Pfft, that’s just because he’s pretty. And interesting. And… you know what? Never mind. We have a hostile alien to recruit.”
“Mmm,” he hummed skeptically.
Tirox cut in, “Hush, fool. You will talk her into choosing him when she might not otherwise!”
“Hey!” she sputtered.
Turning to her, he gave her a pacifying smile, pulled her into him with an arm around her waist, and coaxed gently, “My tiny, caring, sweet-hearted, deadly little female. Perhaps, in the coming times, unless you truly wish to consider one of them, you might… resist the temptation to flash your teeth at and then nuzzle any more of the warriors, hmm?”
“Flash my… wait, I didn’t nuzzle—”
“Of course,” he interrupted, nodding agreeably. “You did not mean to flash your teeth in a clear invitation and then nuzzle him, bared, in what no male anywhere could resist. But, these are love-starved beings, my rwy’n la. And, we cannot know their ways. We must be cautious.”
Aria tipped her head back to give him a cross look, but relented after a second and sighed.
He wasn’t wrong.
Hugging Rellik had been impulsive and probably wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done. And Tirox made a good point. She’d lost some of her caution when it came to aliens and what unknown customs they might have after spending so much time around her men. Hell, she remembered thinking something as simple as a handshake could be a marriage proposal when she met them.
“I’ll be more careful. And I’ll try not to… flash my teeth or hug anybody else.”
“That is all I ask,” he purred happily.
They hadn’t gone another fifty feet down the shaft before Aria spotted an honest-to-goodness booby trap. She caught something shimmering faintly from the corner of her eye and hurriedly pulled her men to a stop, then crouched to inspect it further.
It was a well-hidden and brilliantly made trap, considering what little resources were available down there. A line of what looked like spider webbing stretched from one wall to the other like a tripwire, then continued up to a precariously balanced pile of rocks. If they’d triggered the webbing, those rocks would’ve crushed them, probably to death.
“Rellik wasn’t kidding. This guy really doesn’t like company. Alright, step over. Carefully. And keep your eyes peeled for any other traps.”
“Moons above! What purpose could peeling my eyes possibly serve? I cannot imagine that would improve my already perfect vision,” Tirox scoffed as he stepped exaggeratedly over the line.
Aria snorted a laugh. “It’s just a saying. It means keep a lookout.”
“I am always looking out. Does no good to look in. I am not hiding snares in my stomach,” he muttered under his breath.
“You’re so damn literal sometimes,” she chuckled.
“And you speak in riddles,” he fired back, giving her a provoking grin.
Five more traps and a blockade later, they finally made it to an area of the tunnel that looked lived in. They hadn’t encountered any caves or hidey holes in this shaft, unlike the others they’d traveled. The steps this guy had taken to secure his dwelling made more sense now that she knew he was forced to sleep out in the open instead of in the natural security of a cave.
What had her feeling on edge was the spider webs lining the walls and ceiling.
“Hey Kix? You remember that giant, mutant spider in the arena? This guy doesn’t feel like that, does he?”
He shook his head, but his expression wasn’t nearly as reassuring as she’d hoped it would be.
“What’s wrong?”
He never got a chance to answer.
Chapter 35
Aria’s little passenger sent her a sharp zing a split second before a thud hit the ground behind her and hard arms wrapped tightly around her stomach. She was yanked backwards with such force, she folded in half.
Before she had time to react, she found herself fifteen feet away from her men, pinned to a hard chest, with claws wrapped threateningly around her throat.
A low, hissing voice snarled, “Leave, or I kill her.”
Staying very still, Aria peered at her men through the tangle of hair over her face and almost imperceptibly shook her head.
Calm mixed with adrenaline, slowing everything down to a crawl.
Letting her body relax against him, she forced him to take more of her weight and used the shift to hide the movement of her arm as she covertly unsheathed one of her knives. Then, quicker than a snake, she slipped the blade between his wrist and her neck, pushing it away and flaying his skin open at the same time.
The second his claws were gone from her neck, she dropped to a crouch and spun, sweeping his legs out from under him.
Mid-fall, she sprang.
Landing on his chest, she pinned his arms with her lower legs, forced his mouth shut with her left hand on his chin—in case he tried to bite or had the ability to spit venom like her firefly—then pressed her knife to his throat.
“Don’t struggle. We’re here to help,” she breathed, meeting his angry glare calmly before realization had her eyes widening. “Holy fuck! You’re human!”
Something passed through his dark, shimmering eyes, but he ignored her shock and spat back through gritted teeth, “I don’t need your help.”
Reeling in her astonishment at seeing another human, she frowned. “Sure you do. Unless you want to stay down here?” she added challengingly. At the distaste that flickered across his features, she nodded once. “Didn’t think so. If I let you up, will you behave? I’m inclined to forgive the whole claws to the neck thing, but one more dick move like that and they’ll kill you,” she warned, tipping her head back to indicate her men.
His deep purple eyes didn’t so much as flick to the men now hovering over them with weapons drawn, as though the threat of death didn’t faze him. Or maybe he was more focused on the present threat seeing as she was the one holding a knife to his throat.
“Back up, guys. I think he’s going to play nice.”
When she heard the reluctant scuff of their steps giving her some room, Aria launched herself into a backflip instead of just standing, in case he changed his mind and decided to attack, landing a few feet away.
He got to his feet cautiously, keeping a wary eye on the three of them, but didn’t make any more threatening moves.
They stood tense for a long couple of seconds, checking each other out.
Aria both was and wasn’t surprised to find that, under the scowl, suspicion, and myriad of battle scars, he was handsome. She was beginning to pick up on a trend with the gladiators. Zhrovni obviously chose them for their natural ability to
fight, which he then enhanced, but she was coming to understand that wasn’t the only trait he looked for when picking slaves. Everyone she’d come across was either attractive or hideous. There was no in between.
Gotta make sure we’re appealing to the viewers, she thought with a sneer.
He stood at roughly six foot, maybe six one, and was built like a linebacker, but, now that there was a bit of distance between them, she realized he didn’t look quite as human as she’d thought.
He had long, shaggy, honey-brown hair in dire need of a cut. And a hairbrush. But, oddly, he wasn’t sporting a beard. In fact, he didn’t have any body hair that she could see other than what was on his head, brows, and lashes. Even his groin was hairless. His skin was pale, for the most part, but over his shoulders, arms, and chest it changed to a beautiful, but definitely not human, vibrant, mottled orange.
Aside from the obvious color changes on his skin, he had more subtle differences. His fingertips were thicker, and tipped with slits instead of nails. Just the tips of the claws he’d had at her throat were peeking out from those slits.
What the fuck? Retractable claws?
His eyes, instead of being a normal color, were a deep purple and shimmered in the light of Kix’s glow. Squinting, she realized his neck was different, as well. He had a vertical seam going from the hollow of his throat to under his jaw, and now that she was looking, she spotted subtle differences to his musculature and bone structure.
Cocking her head, she met his gaze and asked, “Are you human?”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “At one point, I was. Now? I don’t know what the fuck I am.”
Zhrovni and his fucking enhancements.
“What happened?”
“That sick motherfucker up there did something to me. Added some shit into my DNA. Now, I’m this,” he sneered, waving at his body.
Aria followed the motion, again taking in the differences.
“What’s your name?”
He gave her a twisted smirk. “Hard to tell some days. It’s either Braxton Sage or Ti’vek, depending on which one of us is driving.”
“Wait, what?”
He sighed and waved for them to sit. “Might as well get comfortable.”
Neither of her men moved an inch. Seeing that, Braxton or Ti’vek, whatever his name was, grimaced.
“I’m sorry about,” he motioned to his neck, making eye contact with her, then each of her men, extending the apology to all of them. “I won’t hurt you now that we—I know you’re not here to fight.”
“It’s alright. We’ve all lived through some shit here. Makes it hard to know who to trust.”
“Understatement of the fucking year,” he grunted.
Kix finally relaxed, a little, and patted Tirox on the shoulder. “Come, brother. He is genuine in his remorse.”
“I know. I still want to kill him,” her barbarian grumbled, but followed Kix’s lead and sat down with her.
“Red,” she chastised mildly, but Kix, the devil, just chuckled and nodded in agreement.
Rolling her eyes, she bit back a smile. She really shouldn’t find their homicidal tendencies endearing, but she did. She really did.
Chapter 36
Looking back at Braxton, Aria raised her brows expectantly. “Alright. Explain.”
He sighed heavily but nodded. “So, fuckface up there did some shit to me. Spliced my DNA. It was fine, at first. Everything still felt like a dream, but I remember getting some superhero powers. I had claws, could climb like a damn monkey, grew this—” He motioned to a slit under his jaw. “It’s where all this webbing comes from. Anyway, I started to… wake up and that’s when shit got weird.”
“Weirder than waking up to find yourself no longer on Earth, fighting aliens in intergalactic gladiator games?” she interjected with a wry smile.
Braxton didn’t return her smile. “Yeah. A lot weirder. I found out I wasn’t the only one livin’ in this body.”
“Oh. Oh, shit,” she faltered.
He nodded. “Whatever Zhrovni did, it had… side effects. When I woke up, so did Ti’vek.”
Kix made an understanding noise and cut in, “When his genetic material got added to yours, so did he—his consciousness.”
Braxton nodded again. “Exactly.”
“Fascinating.”
Elbowing Kix in the side, she sent him a reproachful look.
“Hm? It is fascinating,” he protested.
Shaking her head, she waved for Braxton to continue.
“The changes from before? They didn’t stop at claws and webs. I can speak his language. I remember his life, his world, hell, even his parents like they’re my own. His instincts have mixed with mine until I can’t tell them apart. And now I can feel my bones, muscles, even my skin… changing.”
“Well. Fuck,” she muttered.
Braxton chuckled low in his throat. “Yeah. Fuck.”
They fell into a moment of silence as Aria absorbed everything he’d just said. Apparently, Zhrovni could be a hell of a lot heavier handed when it came to enhancements than she thought. What he’d done to this guy and her dragon was more like science experiments than just tweaking their clone bodies so they were faster, stronger, harder to hurt, could breathe the air, and live without much food and water.
How many other people was she going to find that had been changed almost beyond recognition? Was there any way to reverse what was done to them?
Who fucking knows, but I’m damn sure going to try.
Deciding now was as good a time as any to commence with the recruitment, she clapped her hands and smiled. “So. Want to join our army?”
His eyes widened at the abrupt subject change. “Uhh… ”
“We’ve got an ally on the outside and a secondary plan if she takes too long. Also, I may have already killed Zhrovni. Can’t know for sure, but I definitely blew him up at least a little.”
She didn’t think his expression could grow any more shocked, but it did.
“That was you? When the little, flying, tentacle thing sang to us to come kill?”
“Sang?”
“Yeah. Ti’vek can understand it. Thinks of it as singing.”
“Huh. Yeah, that was us. Anyway, the plan is to free all the slaves who aren’t too dangerous, try to fix the ones that are, then take over the world. I can’t make any promises, but we could try to fix you, too. Zhrovni keeps the original bodies. We may be able to find Ti’vek’s and put him back, then maybe even grow him a clone so he isn’t trapped in the old, emaciated one. But, again, no promises.”
For the first time, she could see hope bloom on his face before suspicion overtook it.
“What’s the catch?”
Aria frowned in disapproval. “There’s no catch. We’d love your help, but we’ll do what we can to help you even if you don’t want to fight with us.”
He searched her face warily. When he apparently decided she was serious, he swallowed hard. His gaze went distant, like he was listening to something. After a couple seconds, he focused back on her, his jaw set and determination shining in his eyes.
“Yeah. Yeah, we’re in. We’ll join your army.”
“Good,” she hummed, smiling widely. “So, what did you do back on Earth, Braxton? And how long ago do you think you were taken?”
“I was a soldier. Was about to be deployed to Kuwait.”
“Kuwait?” she echoed, confused.
“Yeah. The Gulf War. I was taking my nephews to a big cat refuge before I left.” A little smile curled his lips. “They’d been beggin’ to go for months. Anyway, we stayed in one of the little cabins there. All I remember is hearing the cats yowling and a bright ass light—”
“That’s impossible,” she interrupted.
His gaze sharpened and a frown creased the skin between his brows. “Why is that impossible?”
“Because that was like thirty years ago… when I was taken. And I was taken at least ten years ago, judging from how my original body has aged. You loo
k, what, thirty? Maybe thirty-two at most?”
“Twenty-nine,” he corrected absently.
Aria frowned, thinking. “Okay, maybe… maybe when we die in the arena and Zhrovni grows us a new clone, it comes out at the age we were when he got us. I won’t pretend to understand the science but, practically speaking, it makes sense. He obviously wouldn’t want a bunch of geriatrics fighting in his tournaments.” Scoffing, she shook her head. “Jesus, talk about the fountain of youth.”
A prickle of uneasiness from Kix had her darting a look up at him. The expression on his face immediately had worry spiraling through her.
“What? What is it?”
He glanced down at her, but didn’t respond right away. He’d thought of something, something he was reluctant to share.
“Tell me,” she demanded.
He grimaced but sighed. “What happens when our native bodies die? We speculated as to why Zhrovni kept them. Perhaps, it is for more than just a place to store our consciousness between tournaments. What if they are needed as a data bank of sorts?”
Her stomach sank as she followed his line of thinking and added, “They’re updated with new information—new memories—at the end of each battle. If we die in these bodies, growing another clone is only worthwhile if there is a mind with which to fill it. If the original body is dead, there’s no back-up.”
“Just so.”
“Fuck me.”
Meeting Braxton’s gaze, she clenched her jaw. If he’d been here, or at least away from Earth, for as long as she suspected, his original body was somewhere around seventy.
Absently rubbing the hilt of her knife, she thought out loud. “Okay, what if… what if we replace the original with a clone? Upload everything to it, put it in one of the tubes, and use it as the back-up? I don’t know that I necessarily want to live forever, but we’re planning on doing some dangerous shit. I’d like to know we’re going to live through this so we can have the chance to grow old together.”