Challenging the Arena

by Lily Thomas

  A large grey skinned alien was stomping around the arena chopping down anyone who got in his way. Every once in a while, his dull eyes would glance over at her.

  He wanted the prize.

  Shivers spread out over her skin. She didn’t want him, that was for sure. Unfortunately, it was looking like she might end up becoming a prize, because he was slaughtering everyone.

  As the grey skinned alien zeroed in on his last opponent, she made her move. It was now or never. She got ready to pull out the dagger, but didn’t yet, because she would need it to be a last moment surprise.

  Just as she got close and her hand went to her hidden dagger, the hulking alien killed the last opponent and then turned as the crowd roared into life. It startled her and her hand failed to find the dagger under the folds of her shirt.

  The alien seized her arm and jerked her towards him, and Evelyn was still unable to grasp her dagger, her frantic hands too jittery to work right.

  Glancing up at the alien who had a firm hold on her she saw the hilt of his sword come down, knocking her out cold.

  Evelyn cracked her eyes open. She had a nasty headache that pounded right behind her eyes, but she still remembered what had happened clearly. Turning her head ever so slightly she surveyed the room she was now in and found the grey alien sitting in a chair sharpening his weapons.

  She wasn’t sure what she should do. She was clearly in his room, and she could still feel her dagger in her pants. At least he hadn’t frisked her and she was still armed.

  Just moving her eyes, she spotted the door to the room. Now she just needed to get out the door before the alien knew she was awake.

  Ever so slowly, she slipped a leg off the bed, and then eased her weight onto that foot. She just hoped the bed wasn’t a squeaky one that would give her away before she got anywhere.

  Once her foot was flat on the ground, she launched herself across the room, but the alien was quicker than she’d expected. He grabbed onto her arm and threw her back on the bed. She bounced several times, almost cracking her head against the wall behind it.

  Then the alien was on her and boy did he smell!

  “You will take me, my prize.”

  “Take you?” She fought off his hands which tried to grope her, but she wasn’t about to roll over and play game with him.

  “You will please me.”

  “Fuck you!” She threw her head forward and smashed her head into his nose, which gave a satisfying crack.

  The alien stumbled back off the bed. “I will kill you!” He roared.

  Evelyn jumped off the bed and flew to the door. She wasn’t going to stick around and see if the threat would come true.

  Flying down the halls she tried to find a room that would provide some sort of hiding spot or shelter from the alien who was now plowing through the corridor after her, knocking alien bystanders off their feet in his haste to reach her. She ducked into the cafeteria hoping she could blend in with the crowd, but then decided to slide under an occupied table.

  Better to get out of sight by using everyone’s legs as cover.

  “Where the hell is the human woman?” She heard the alien holler as he entered the cafeteria.

  At first no one spoke, but then she heard, “There’s a human woman hiding under this table.”

  Bastards. They’d given her away. Couldn’t people mind their own business? Really… how hard was it just to keep one’s mouth firmly shut.

  Rolling out from under the table she took out her dagger and pointed it at the alien who was baring down on her.

  “I’ll kill you.”

  He snorted and kept marching towards her his long legs eating up the ground between them.

  “I’ll kill myself.” Evelyn changed tactics, pointing the tip of the dagger at her heart. That stopped the alien in his tracks.

  “You wouldn’t.” His eyes narrowed into thin slits.

  “I would. I’d rather be dead then be used by you.” She cringed as looked at his grotesque gray skin. She had absolutely no interest in being his plaything and letting him touch her.

  “I’m not that bad.” He eased closer and she pressed the tip against her chest, and he stopped again.

  “What is going on in here?” A deep timbre rushed over her causing her flesh to prickle in delight at the sound.

  Evelyn glanced over the gray alien’s shoulder to see an azure-skinned Vrak’rir standing in the cafeteria doorway. Their eyes connected and electricity flowed through her and her body shuddered in reaction. The Vrak’rir’s nostrils flared out as his onyx eyes zeroed in on her.

  “You are mine.” He announced calmly and clearly.

  “Get in line. I won her, she is mine.” The hulking gray alien turned around to confront the Vrak’rir. At least he wasn’t focused on her anymore.

  The Vrak’rir growled low in his throat as he caught sight of her holding a dagger to her chest. “You’d better not.” He warned her as he pointed a black claw at her.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Depends on what happens in here.”

  The Vrak’rir launched himself at the hulking alien, and they went down in a pile of flying punches.

  Evelyn got herself into gear. She wasn’t about to stick around to see who won. It was time to hide herself from these damn crazy aliens. What she needed was a way out of the arena, but she didn’t think she’d ever get that lucky.

  Chapter 5

  Raever couldn’t believe it. He’d found his mate. His cock was hard, but instead of showering her with affection and intense pleasure he was in a damn fight with the smelliest alien in the damn arena.

  The alien nailed him in the gut with an elbow and he bent over. Then the alien slammed a fist into his face.

  Letting out a growl, he slammed a shoulder into the alien, knocking the man off his feet and followed him down. Without letting the alien recover, he began slamming his fists into the alien’s face. All those days of play fighting Demard were coming in handy.

  “Stay away from her and you can live.” Raever grunted between each word as he continued his onslaught on the alien’s face.

  “I won her!”

  “She’s my mate. I will defend her and if that means killing you outside of the arena I will do it.” He wasn’t about to let this alien live if he was just going to keep coming after the human woman.

  The alien landed another blow, but Raever wouldn’t relent or get off the other man. He didn’t want to kill the alien, but he had the woman to think about. His mate to think about.

  “Never.” The alien tried to shove him off.

  Raever was done with the alien’s stubbornness. He pulled out a dagger and slit the man’s throat easily, and barely managed to dodge the spurting blood that smelled just as rank as the alien himself.

  He left the body lying there. The Frirens would take care of it. They didn’t like the contestants killing each other outside of the arena, but it would be overlooked if it was just once or twice. Raever wasn’t into pushing the Friren buttons since they owned him, but eventually he’d win his freedom and then kill these damn Frirens for trapping him.

  The Frirens were making a lot of money in taking aliens and dropping them in the arena. Sometimes he felt bad about killing others, because some aliens that were dropped in the arena were useless creatures, like the humans.

  But he didn’t have time to think about that, right now he had to find his mate, who was a human woman. He wanted to feel revulsion about her species, but he still couldn’t wait to claim her as his. She might be human, but she was his mate and now he needed to make sure she didn’t harm herself with that dagger she’d been pressing against her chest.

  “Human, where are you?” A deep silky voice called down the corridor.

  It wasn’t the voice of the nasty hulking alien, it was the voice of that damn sexy Vrak’rir. Which was a problem for her because she’d always loved Vrak’rir men, but they were never interested unless you were their mate.

  And now she might just be his mate, which she
had mixed feelings about. He was so well built and intimidating, from the brief second, she’d seen him. He also just happened to be her dream species. She couldn’t count the number of times she went to bed dreaming of being a Vrak’rir’s mate.

  “There is nowhere to hide, human.” He sing-songed.

  Evelyn stepped out and sized up the Vrak’rir standing in front of her.

  His onyx eyes skimmed over her and she could see a fire light in those black depths. He liked what he saw, and there was a sizeable bulge in his pants to prove she was right.

  She surveyed him in return. He was tall, muscular, shoulder length black hair with a braid on each side of his face, and tattoos covered every inch of exposed skin. She licked her lips. He was just her type. Tall, dark, and absolutely dangerous.

  “Come here.”

  Yes, baby!

  She reined in her eagerness and slowly, she walked towards him, but she guessed she wasn’t moving fast enough for him, because he strode towards her and pushed her up against a wall.

  His lips captured hers and demanded she surrender. Instead she licked the crease of his lips with the tip of her tongue, asking for entrance. He opened his mouth and their tongues danced, each trying to get around the other.

  He broke away. “I need you.”

  Her stomach fluttered. “Oh yeah.” She panted. “I need you as well.”

  She wasn’t lying. She was wet and ready for him. She wasn’t sure who could resist a Vrak’rir, they were so sexy.

  “Good mate.” He purred as he began to kiss her neck, sucking the flesh into his mouth. He might give her a hickey, but she wasn’t about to complain. She was more than happy to let him mark her.

  His black clawed fingers dipped under her shirt and stroke her trembling side gently. Evelyn let her head roll to the side and that was when she noticed a crowd had started to gather in the hall.

  Gently, she pushed against the Vrak’rir’s shoulders.

  “Don’t interrupt me.” He warned with a growl.

  “I’d love to continue, but we have, umm, attracted some unwanted attention and I’m not a fan of having sex with a crowd watching.”

  The Vrak’rir pulled away and turned an annoyed glance at the assortment of aliens gathering around them.

  “Be gone!” He barked at them.

  People shuffled a little, but still watched hoping for more. They probably didn’t get much sex here and everything they could get was worth the risk.

  “Leave or I will start killing you.” The Vrak’rir removed a dagger from a sheath at his waist and advanced on the people lingering. Quickly, the hall cleared as everyone darted in any direction the pissed off Vrak’rir wasn’t in.

  “Maybe we could find a room?” Evelyn wanted him and before she backed out, because doing a Vrak’rir wasn’t for the faint of heart. These guys were born soldiers and she knew he could easily kill her. Thank goodness she was his mate.

  “I have a room, but we will have to kick out Demard.”

  “Who is Demard?” She cocked her head to the side.

  He smiled. “A fellow Vrak’rir and my friend.”

  She frowned. “I would think it’d be hard to make friends in the arena. Don’t you worry about being pitted against him?”

  The Vrak’rir shrugged. “It might happen, but until then we share a room. Who knows, maybe we’ll refuse to kill each other and see what the Frirens do about it.”

  “Good luck with that.” They’d probably just shoot them down for refusing to fight, although the crowd might like it if they were allowed to live. They would be an undefeatable arena pair.

  “Come, mate.” He snatched her hand and guided her through the hall. “I need to be inside you and I’m not sure how long I want to wait.”

  She wasn’t sure how long he could wait, but she thought she could feel her ovaries quaking with their need to have him inside her. Every fiber of her being was so excited to be the mate of a Vrak’rir.

  She glanced down at the azure hand that was folded around her own. Her heart sputtered in her chest. This was moving really fast, but they were in an arena where they could die any day, so she might not have much of a future.

  They entered a room where there was another Vrak’rir sitting by a fireplace.

  “They give you fireplaces?” She asked as her eyes widened. That was an unexpected luxury. There weren’t many wood burning fireplaces nowadays. They were deemed to unsafe for modern safety standards.

  The other Vrak’rir glanced up, and she assumed he was Demard.

  “Who’s the human woman?” Demard’s eyebrows knitted together.

  “Out.” Her Vrak’rir growled.

  Demard raised his eyebrows but got up and made his way to the door. “Should I just wait until you get me before I come back, or should I…”

  Her Vrak’rir slammed the door in Demard’s face.

  “Now that he’s gone.” He grabbed her and pulled her against his chest. She tilted her head back and gazed up into his onyx eyes. She could get lost in those deep depths and it alarmed her a bit.

  He leaned down to begin kissing her, but she raised her hand to his mouth to stop him. “Before we go any further, what’s your name?” He might make her quake in need, but she wasn’t about to do a guy when she didn’t even know his name. Call it a rule.

  “Raever.”

  A shiver spread out over her. “Scary name.”

  He smiled. “Good.” His head descended again and this time he nibbled on her delicate ear tracing the edge with his teeth. “I want people to fear me, though I can reassure you there is no need for you to be afraid of me.”

  “My name’s Evelyn, but some people call be Eve for short.”

  “Evelyn.” She felt him smile against her skin. “I like it.”

  “Thanks. You have a last name?”

  “Vraab.”

  Evelyn Vraab. Call her old fashioned, but she wouldn’t mind taking his last name. It sounded really good… assuming Vrak’rir even did that sort of thing. She may have dreamed of being his mate, but that didn’t mean she’d really thought of anything when it came to their culture.

  One of his wandering hands found her breast under her shirt and he growled in annoyance completely distracting her from her racing thoughts. “How many layers do you have on woman?”

  “My bra?”

  “What need do you have of this?”

  “I need one to keep my boobs from smacking me in the face when I run, which is kind of important here in the arena where I’m sure I will do a lot of running.”

  “I’d love to see your breasts bounce.”

  “What man wouldn’t?” She laughed. Good to know he was a breast man because she had plenty for him.

  His hands found the hem of her shirt and she raised her hands to the sky, allowing him to slip it off in one fluid movement.

  “I will admit I do like how they display your cleavage.” His onyx eyes took in their fill of her breasts. Then his eyes dropped a little lower. “A dagger.”

  She glanced down having forgotten she had put it back in her pants. “Yeah.”

  “Must I take it away from you or will you stop holding the blade to your chest?” He frowned at her.

  “I won’t do that again. Promise.” She smiled at him. “It was more for show than anything else. I wouldn’t have been able to plunge it into my chest.”

  He grabbed the hilt and carefully slipped the dagger out of the waistband of her pants and placed it on the ground.

  “Wait until you go to a lingerie store.” She turned the conversation back to her bra and away from the dagger. “You’ll have a permeant boner thinking about me in all those clothes.”

  The smile that spread across his face was charming, and she knew he was imagining her in all sorts of skimpy clothing.

  “Take it off.” He commanded her as he backed up to get a good look.

  Reaching behind her back she undid the clasps, and let the bra fall to the ground. She placed her hands on her hips. “Like what y
ou see?” She wasn’t normally this forward. She tended towards the shy side, but knowing she was his mate gave her a lot more confidence. It wasn’t like he was about to reject her.

  “I do.”

  Her heart felt like it might burst. She was about to sleep with a sexy Vrak’rir, correction, she was about to sleep with her sexy Vrak’rir and she was more than ready.

  “Now you take off your shirt.” She commanded him.

  “Whatever you wish mate.” He shed his shirt before she could blink.

  She nearly melted where she stood. Those muscles were nail-scraping worthy. “I love the tattoos.” She sashayed over to him and ran her hands over his pecs. “Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.”

  “No need to apologize. I’m glad I please you as well as you please me.”

  She backed up and pointed to his pants. “Now take those off.”

  Grinning, Raever undid his buckle, and then unzipped his pants, and shoved them down to his feet. When he straightened again, she sucked in a breath as she felt her cheeks begin to color.

  Her eyes were glued to the sight in front of her.

  “Enjoy what you see?” The corner of his mouth twitched up.

  “Yes.” She purred. “I can’t wait to have it inside me.” She bit her bottom lip in anticipation as she took in his cock’s length. The blue tip rose proudly from his patch of black hair.

  “Now your turn.”

  Evelyn took another moment to take him in. His cock was so long, straining nearly to his belly button. It was going to fill her completely and leave absolutely no room. She trembled a bit.

  Reaching for her own zipper, she undid it slowly, and then took off her pants while swaying her hips, taking her underwear down with it. Kicking them away she straightened to see Raever skimming her from toe to head with his dark eyes.

  “You couldn’t have been built any better.”

  She flushed feeling a bit uncomfortable with such a flattering praise.

  “You do realize how beautiful you are, don’t you?” His brows drew down in a frown.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose.”