Claimed by the Alien Gladiator, page 15
I still find that highly doubtful. “Help me organize the Akarpo fruit.” As everything else is unfair in this world, the fruit is ranked by the age and skill of the fighters – Viktor gets the biggest, juiciest fruit, while Gerakos gets the smallest, mealiest ones.
Leaning into the box, Suriat continues. “A bite stick prevents a Ditakian bonding with a sex partner, becoming mates. It also prevents pregnancy among their kind. I wonder if he’s afraid he’ll lose control and bite through the stick. Even if he was fitted up in serious headgear, he might just tear it off.”
“What if I tied him down? Really well?”
“Kinky, I like it. But they wouldn’t give you anything strong enough to hold him.”
D’jhago is calling to Suriat, telling him to get off his tail and come back to training.
“And remember, if he bites you, you need to bite him back,” he says while pretending to reach for one last fruit.
Damn. Why does alien reproductive biology have to be so complicated? Why can’t I just hop on him for a ride, we both get our fun, and be done? Why does it have to be a married-forever-until-you-die thing?
And what if I did have a baby?
A little voice in me says, you wanted to be married to Bryan and have his kids. Viktor is a much better man.
Well yeah. When Viktor isn’t going nuts or otherwise exercising his gladiatorial arts, he’s actually a nice guy. And he’s hot and getting hotter by the minute. Not to mention, he looks at me with burning intensity, like I’m the most beautiful woman in the entire universe. And what we’ve done so far in bed has been amazing.
I really want to get on that cock.
I really, really want to ride him. In a big-enough bed, in a private space with nobody watching or trying to record. And I want to suck him off, too.
I’m going to find out what Tasiman can get us. Handcuffs and headgear maybe?
Suriat has wandered off, and now Viktor is standing behind me. I can tell just by the heat coming off him.
“No, I’m not into Suriat,” I say with excessive sarcasm, without looking at him. “I was thinking about you.”
“I know, I could smell it.” Strong hands grab my shoulders and whirl me around, and before I know it, he’s leaning down and kissing me fiercely. His body presses up against mine, and his unseen erection throbs against my belly. My brain completely melts into mush, I’m guessing because my blood flow is being redirected downward.
Eventually I register the hoots and hollers from the groupies, who are making obscene comments about his tail. Yeah, I’m not even going to think about that.
When a couple coins plink off of Viktor’s crest and roll onto the sand, I break away, frustration returning to my brain. We have got to do something about this and soon. Our mutual horniness, his lack of control, and also whether we can escape. Fans throwing crap at us while we make out is anything but romantic
* * *
Training over for the day, we go back to our cell where he captures me again for more kisses before he even takes off his shoulder armor and kilt. His strong muscular arms wrap around me, his heat surrounds me in a warm glow. My body hasn’t enjoyed the temperature swings between the sun outdoors and the underground environment, and I’m more than willing to use him like a radiator.
We break off only long enough to eat a little food. He eats all the meat, while I nibble on fruit and some of the dry bread-like stuff. Today we actually have a jug of water set out for us. Viktor drinks it first and says it seems clean.
He holds it up and tilts it so I can take a sip. It has a little mineral flavor to it, but otherwise it seems fine, and I go in for a deep drink. The cool water feels so good in my mouth and throat. It’s still hard for me to believe that potable water is a valuable commodity here, more expensive than fruit juice. How hard is it to boil water, anyway?
Viktor sets the jug down and looks at my mouth with lust. I rub a few drops away with self-consciousness. He grabs my hand and licks the moisture, then attacks my mouth with his, almost cutting me with his fangs. One of his huge hands cups and squeezes my ass, while the other wraps the back of my head. I return the favor, grabbing his meaty ass. He grunts and thrusts his pelvis into my belly.
“Hello?” someone says, and the cell bars clang a few times. We were so involved, we didn’t even notice that Tasiman had arrived. A guard is hitting the bar with his baton to get our attention. I try to adjust my dress, but Viktor doesn’t seem to want to stop.
“So sorry to interrupt,” Tasiman says, lowering his head and looking demurely at the floor. As if he didn’t just see us passionately making out like a couple of teenagers.
Viktor pulls away from kissing long enough to nuzzle my neck. “What?”
“I have been asked to address a delicate subject.” Tasiman says. “Can you let me into their cell and then run along?” he asks the guard, and hands him a few coins. The guard holds his palm out, to which Tasiman sighs and adds a few more. Tasiman is admitted to the cell, his usual big sacks over his shoulder. He’s locked in with us, and the three of us are left alone. As much as we can be alone in this place, anyway.
“I have a delicate subject for you, which is Emlee.” Viktor says in return. “Is the guard gone?”
“Yes, and I have an audio jammer for privacy, just in case.” Tasiman briefly pulls up a chain on his neck, where there’s a device hanging like a pendant.
“Good.” Viktor holds my hand and gently squeezes it. Then he hiss-whispers at Tasiman. “I want you to get Emlee out of here.”
“Without me?” I shake his hand since he won’t let go of me. “Get us both out of here, Tasiman.”
“They’ll never let me go, not with the control chip. You don’t have one. You can leave.”
“But I –”
Tasiman interrupts in a loud whisper. “Alien cargo. What makes you think I’m willing or able to smuggle this female? Where would I take her? Doesn’t she have a tracking chip?”
“You must know someone who can cut it out. There has to be somewhere she can go, and a way to get her there. If you don’t know, I’ll ask Leefa. I’ll even ask Arvassa.”
This time I wrench my hand out of his. “Oh no, you’re not selling me to that bitch.”
Tasiman shakes his head. “And even if I could, say, get Emlee on the road to Eletheria, how could you stand to be left behind? You have bare necks, but even I can see how close to you are to mating.”
Viktor wraps his hands around the back of his neck. “The chip cannot be touched without Pylus knowing and killing me. I’m already dead. Tell me you’ll take her somewhere safe.” He puts a finger on my lip when I start to say something in outrage. Already dead? What does he mean?
The merchant looks down at the floor. “How can you pay for this … service? After your behavior in the last match?”
Viktor crosses over to the bed and effortlessly lifts it up. He unscrews a leg and tips it upside down, and a small cylinder falls into his hands. From that cylinder he pulls out a few coins, gold ones.
“Oh, you’ve been holding out on me,” Tasiman says with widened eyes.
“Can’t somebody take the chip out?” I ask the merchant. “I’m sure we could both get out of here if we had them removed.”
Viktor rests his head against a wall. “If someone tries to remove the chip, Pylus will receive a notification. If I leave the confines of Broken Stone, he’ll know. He can torture or even kill me before I can get far enough for the signal to fail. The chip transfers my location and health status to his control device. I’ll only leave his service when I’m dead.”
Tasiman sighs. “It’s all true.”
“Besides, I’m carrying this team right now,” Viktor continues. “Pylus has committed us to the Beast Match. How can I leave them to die?”
“Suriat and Slaga are pretty decent fighters, aren’t they?” Of course, I don’t know what the standards are for gladiators, but they both seem capable: Suriat by skill, and Slaga just by being a big mean oaf.
“We don’t know yet what types of animals they will bring in for the match. There might be something large enough to swallow a Ditakian male in one bite.” Viktor sees my look of horror and rubs my back. “Slaga’s tough enough to survive being eaten and shat out, but Suriat would be turned into monster dung.”
“Okay, so you survive the Beast Match, then we escape. Does that sound like a plan?”
“No. The plan is for me to die or be so badly injured that the team cannot proceed to the Death Match.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me?” I stand back and look him directly in the eye, daring him to try and shut me up now. I cannot believe that Viktor is planning to kill himself. We start to argue, but Tasiman breaks in.
“I cannot support a suicidal gesture. However, I can provide a good way to spend the time.” The merchant sets his bag down and rummages through it. He pulls out a contraption with leather buckles and a bar –
“No.” Viktor draws himself up.
“What is it?” I already have my suspicions.
“It’s a bite harness. One made for a large and … forceful … Ditakian,” Tasiman answers. “I have a good eye for measurement, and I think this will fit even you.”
Viktor takes a menacing step toward the merchant. I snatch the harness from Tasiman and dance away with it. “I think we should try it,” I laugh and wave the thing in one hand. It’s surprisingly heavy.
“Emlee,” my gladiator says, and braces himself with his hand against the wall. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Well, I should be going. Keep that, and we shall see what we can do about certain removals,” Tasiman says with a rather human-like wink.
The guard comes back and lets Tasiman out of the cell, and I’m left standing with Viktor, holding the bite harness between us. Now I wonder why Tasiman didn’t demand payment, when this thing was obviously expensive.
“No,” he says, and tries to take it from me.
“Oh no, you’re not throwing this outside!” I get my arm in it so he can’t just rip it from my grasp.
Viktor looks genuinely angry, but I don’t care. “Why don’t you want to use this? Don’t you want to have sex with me?”
He palms his face with one huge hand. “You know I do.”
“Then why?”
He drops his heavy frame on to the bed with a thud. “Because I can’t control myself. I want to claim you. I want to be with you for the rest of my life and make children with you.” He looks up at me with smoldering eyes. “I’m afraid I’ll bite you. Too hard.” He closes his eyes and swallows. “And I am probably going to die soon. I don’t want to leave you a widow like Leefa, or leave behind fatherless children.”
This fatalistic crap again? I refuse to back down. “You’re not going to die!” I stand in front of him and give him my best hands-on-hips, lifted chin pose. “You and me, we’re going to live forever. Hmm … What if we tied your arms down somehow?”
“With what? The blanket?”
“What about your armor?”
He gazes thoughtfully at the kilt and shoulder armor hanging on the wall. I don’t know if we could use those things to tie him to the bed, but he at least considers the possibility.
Then he grabs me and drags me to the bed, hurls the harness to the floor, and throws the blanket over us. “No. This way is best.”
I’m frustrated but let Viktor pull up my gown while the guard complains that he can’t get anything good. Viktor is so into working his tongue into my pussy that he doesn’t bother to threaten the guard.
Then a feminine laugh peals out. “What are you doing under there, V’kator? Did you like the gift I sent your silly little mammal?”
Gift?
Oh shit. It’s Arvassa.
The cell door squeaks on its hinges. Viktor backs out of the bed while I lift the blanket off my face. Yeah, it’s that bitch. She’s bribed the guard, who is nowhere to be seen. These fucking assholes will let anybody in for the right price.
Her expensive gown is patterned very much like the parasol I was given at the Blood Match. And she’s got even more jewelry on her smooth head, elaborate golden chains. Is she pretending she’s got hair? Why is this chick interrupting our sexy time?
“Arvassa,” Viktor says awkwardly. I can see his beautiful ass where his tail-in-progress is twitching.
She looks down at the harness. “What a lovely piece!”
“Someone gave that to us. I won’t be using it.”
“Interesting, I wonder who your secret benefactor is.” She purses her thin lips and taps her chin. “But why don’t you want to use it? It looks very high quality.”
He clears his throat. “I will give you everything I have, if you will take Emlee.”
“What?” I squeak out. I don’t want this nasty lady to own me. I don’t want anybody to own me, but going from Pylus to Arvassa would be like going from the frying pan to the fire.
“Oh? I don’t want to buy this hairy little beast, and I don’t think Pylus wants to sell her,” she says, pretending to fuss with her gown.
“Don’t take her as a slave. Get her out of here, to freedom. I’m begging you.” And then Viktor literally kneels down before her fancy-sandaled feet. He bows his magnificent head all the way to the floor. It hurts me to see him like that, my magnificent warrior so submissive. It hurts me to hear him trying to send me away.
“Stop it, Viktor!” I try to pull him up off his knees. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
He lifts his head up and meets my eyes. “If I don’t fall in the Beast Match, the entire team will die in the Death Match. If you’re still here in this cursed city after I die, you won’t have any protection.”
“You two are so excessively romantic, I can’t stand it,” she says, and taps her foot. Even her toes have rings on them, and the dainty little nails are coated in pink nail polish with sparkly bits swirled around. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sparkles were bits of diamonds.
“Viktor, you’re a noble fool. I’ll think about your request. Goodbye for now,” Arvassa says, and sails out of the cell on her graceful long legs. Apparently, the guard didn’t even bother locking the door, knowing we were unlikely to try anything with a high-ranking lady around. She closes the door behind her and half turns. “Because I like you so much, I’ll tell you what I’ve heard in the salons. The Lord of Eremipo is bringing a Myrmidon warrior to the Beast Match.” Then she’s gone.
Viktor sits on the floor, staring into space.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“That will be a perfect way to die. Myrmidons carry deadly venom. I merely have to ensure it stings me, but then I’ll kill him before he can hurt anybody else on the team.”
Viktor is really starting to worry me with his death wish. And I can’t believe he’d beg Arvassa on his knees to take me away from him. I know I have to get out of here, but I’m not going to let him die, and I’m not going to go with that bitch either.
21
Chapter 19
Viktor
We have trained hard for a handful of days, with Pylus visiting constantly, and ever-growing numbers of pit followers up on the walls. The other fighters are less annoyed with me and Emlee, because coin has been showering constantly from the audience. All that coin is meant for me, but most of it goes to Pylus, and some of it goes to the other males.
The others have been able to bribe guards and receive visits from females, as evidenced from loud noises of pleasure that echo down the corridor at random intervals. It gets so bad that D’jhago has to shout down the hall to keep quiet so that others may sleep.
Emlee is displeased that I refuse to try the harness. In turn, she refuses to let me pleasure her with my mouth, or do anything but allow my kisses and less private caresses. I have had to relieve myself in the toilet twice a day, my lust has been so great. At least now I can maintain enough control to get my seed in the toilet. Most of it, anyway.
The harness stays under the bed. It’s too expensive enough to just throw away. I might give it to Leefa to sell. I’m sure some rich, perverted Ditakian would be happy to wear it at a high-class brothel. As much as my people are supposed to be honorable, there are always a few that would enjoy the same lifestyle as the Serontian slave masters.
D’jhago has heard the same rumors that there will be a Myrmidon warrior in the next match among other dangerous beasts. I have continued to grow, I’m eating a prodigious amount, and my tail is now half the length of Suriat’s. I don’t think any beast can take me. I no longer need a shield or sword, or even my shoulder armor and kilt. My body has all the armor and weapons I need.
So, I will do as I have promised: kill everything except the Myrmidon, let that one sting me, and then kill it too. House Oloran is certain to win a big purse, but Pylus will surely drop out of the Death Match with me dead or dying. The fight judges wouldn’t allow such a weak team to participate, surely. Let Okros slay condemned criminals and gladiators on other teams.
I only hope the Great Ancestors are watching me and that they will guide my hand. I still don’t know if I believe in the traditional Ditakian religion, but I pray silently to the Ancestors, asking them to protect Emlee when I’m gone.
After I pass from this world, I might be deemed worthy enough for my soul to pass to Paradise, where Ditakians go after death. Or I’ll be considered dishonorable, and my soul will linger in the cold dust of outer space, suffering a slow dissipation. Though just as likely, none of it is true, and I’ll be thoroughly dead and gone.
My heart clenches when I think of Emlee alone. I can only hope that somebody will take her away from Eremipo and the rest of the slaving city-states. I doubt she can ever return to the colony she was taken from, much less her home world, but she can find freedom somewhere on Barya. I have to believe all this, just to keep on going, putting one foot in front of the other, until the end.
* * *
Leefa and her children come to visit, and I welcome the interruption, as Emlee seems determined not to speak to me more than is necessary. It is very awkward laying in the bed with her and not being able to speak with her or caress her soft skin.
