The Gladiator's Prize (3 page)

“
Did you need
me?”

Logan shook his head. “I am
well.”

A’rees nodded slowly. “I might take a
walk into the marketplace then. See about a new room. I cannot stay
here much longer, not with your trip imminent.”

“
You are welcome to stay
longer,” Logan said, though in truth he was anxious for A’rees to
leave. Three days had pretty much bored him of the other man,
though Logan was far too polite to say so. He invited almost all of
his conquests to spend a few days in his home following a battle.
He had staff to tend them. Good food. Fine wine. To his mind it was
the least he could do after claiming them in front of tens of
thousands. More often than not he also wanted to sample the men
again, and they were
always
desperate to feel his thick cock inside them once
more. Yes, he mused, A’rees had been fun, a fitting final male, but
he was tired.

He tired of them all in the
end.

“
I appreciate that,”
A’rees said, placing his book on the side table. Logan noticed it
was a history of A’rees’ own star system,
Prima
. “But we both know that our
time is over,” he added. “You have been good to me,
Logan.”

Logan halted and shot the other man a
look. There was no doubt that A’rees was a sexy as hell male and
with no other fucks in sight Logan had been tempted to keep him for
a few more days at least, but the lone man was too much on his
thoughts. In fact, several times as Logan had been pounding into
A’rees ass it was that mysterious figure who had stayed in his
mind, and it was driving Logan crazy! He hadn’t needed to chase a
male in years! They’d always come to him!

“
You have been gracious,”
Logan finally said. “I have enjoyed your company.”

A’rees stood up, stretching his
muscular body out. Logan couldn’t help but note that the alien was
hard, his dick hanging low against his thigh. For one moment he was
tempted to release it from A’rees pants, palm it and harden it
further before turning him around and fucking him once more. But it
wasn’t A’rees he wanted and so Logan stilled his hand.

“
I will return this
evening for my things,” A’rees said. “Say goodbye properly.” He
shot Logan one last grin before disappearing through the front
door.

Once he was gone Logan
took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. His flight plan
had him down to leave
A’lton
no later than four days time. He needed to get
himself in order. Finish packing. Arrange for the care of the
house. Not to mention all the little jobs he’d put off over the
last few months. And the lone man…

“
Decision time,” he
muttered to himself. “What will you do, Logan? Search him out or
leave it be?”

He picked up the book A’rees had been
reading, placed it with all the others, gathered a few things and
then wandered through to the eating area. His cook, a fearsome
female named B’leeth, was simmering something on the stove, and she
scowled at him as he passed.

“
What time are you
leaving?”

“
The planet?”

“
Yes.”

“
Everyone is so eager for
me to depart,” Logan grumbled. “I would have thought—”

The front door opened with a thud.
Logan turned to see A’rees racing back into the room.
“Logan!”

Logan shot him a frown. “I thought you
were heading to the marketplace?”

“
That was my intention,”
A’rees said, and Logan noticed he was out of breath. “But I heard
the news and raced straight back here to tell you. I knew this was
something you would want to hear immediately.”

“
News?” Logan asked. “What
news?”

A’rees grinned. “A new
opponent is entering the
A’lton
arena.”

Logan waved a hand, an odd
disappointment settling in his gut. He wasn’t sure what he’d
expected, but it was not something as mundane as that. “Of course
they are,” he said. “I am no longer available. They must replace
me.”

“
But the battle is set for
tomorrow.”

“
Tomorrow?” Logan started.
“You are mistaken. There is always a month between matches in that
arena.”

A’rees nodded, excitement making him
flush. “I know, but they are bringing it forward because of how
special it will be. Everyone is talking of it. I barely got out of
the door before I heard the news.”

“
Special?” Logan asked,
his interest now stirred. “What makes it special?”

“
You will not
believe—”

Logan waved a hand and shot A’rees a
glare. He hated to be kept waiting. “A’rees! Enough!
Speak!”

“
Well,” A’rees said, and
he was practically quivering with excitement. “The new opponent…he
is human.”

Chapter Four

Matt could not believe the position he
now found himself in. Sure, he’d been in some dicey situations and
tight corners over the years, but this? This was the worst of them
all. No question. And it was all his own fault! He had been so
stupid! Such a tiny lapse in concentration! And now…

“
And now you’re screwed,”
he muttered. “Well and truly screwed!”

He paced back and forth in
his cell, yes
cell
, he wasn’t calling it a ‘guest suite’ no matter how many
times his captors insisted that was what it was, and tried to work
out what the hell he was going to do, what options might be
available.

Good fucking luck
there.

He frowned and placed his hands either
side of the door. It was the only way into the room, and it was
made of several inches of thick metal. Matt had slammed against it
time and time again. He’d tried finding a control panel, a latching
mechanism, anything. But the damn thing was flush to the wall and
wasn’t going to be moving any time soon.

The room was also bare of windows,
another point in favor of the ‘cell’ idea, and apart from a small
bathroom off to the side was a fairly small space. Matt had checked
it from top to bottom in the first hour of his captivity and found
nothing useful. No sharp implements, no possible weapons, just a
bed and a table.

He was well and truly
fucked!

He sat down on the edge of the bed and
took a deep breath. There had to be a way out and he just hadn’t
seen it yet. Because if there wasn’t…

He buried his head in his
hands wishing to the Gods that he’d never gone to the south docking
port. His contact had said to meet there, but in truth it was one
of the worst possible places for any female or male travelling
alone. Groups of space pirates roamed there, looking for any likely
prize, not to mention the slavers. Of course none of that would
have mattered for a damn if he hadn’t made
the mistake
. Matt was tall, muscular
and could easily pass for a native of
Prima
or
Jargal
if he held himself properly
and made sure his skin was painted. No one would mess with males
from those planets. But no, he’d had to get his s’heeba caught in
the awnings over one of the ships. It had started to unravel before
he could stop it, and it had only taken just one lock of hair to
fall over his brow…

Matt deeply regretted not dyeing his
hair now, or even just shaving it all off, but it had been his last
link to his people, the few of them that were left. It had
comforted him to be able to look in the mirror and see an echo of
times long past. He’d heard that once there had been millions of
people with golden hair, males with thick, yellow beards, females
with braids reaching down their backs. But blonde hair was native
only to Earth. No other species that Matt knew of had evolved with
it, and so the moment someone had spotted it...well, that had been
it for him. The wolves had descended before he could make a dash
for it.

Matt had struggled and
fought but they’d injected him with something and the next thing he
knew he was waking up in his ‘guest suite’. Three aliens had come
to bring him food and water since then, but none had spoken beyond
to say he was ‘their guest’, and Matt hadn’t been able to rush them
because they’d come together, filling the doorway, and they were
from
Severo Six
,
meaning they were almost a foot taller than him and twice his
weight.

So what the fuck are you
going to do?

The door opened, almost as if
answering his unspoken question. Matt jumped up and would have
rushed straight for it without thinking, but he stopped himself
just in time, because the door might be open but pulsing bars
filled the space where it had been.

Matt narrowed his eyes and tried to
work out where the bars had come from. When they wavered slightly
he realized they were electric bars. Meaning they’d give him a hell
of a shock if he dared try to cross them.

Scowl splitting his face
Matt got as close to the bars as he dared. The alien who came over
had to be, in Matt’s opinion, one of the most disgusting creatures
he had ever seen. Five foot tall if that, and at least as wide, his
skin was a sickly yellow color, meaning he was from the
Marcan
system. He held
some sort of staff in his hands and every now and then he flicked
his ridiculously long tongue out to the lick the top of it. Matt
watched him feeling both grossed out and intrigued in equal
measure. What was on top of the staff? Why the fuck was he licking
it?

“
Hello, human,” the male
said. He spoke in the common tongue, a mixture of a dozen different
alien languages that had grown naturally over the last thousand
years or so, ever since the different races had begun to
intermingle. It was Matt’s mother tongue too, though he was able to
speak Earth English.

“
Who the hell are you?”
Matt spat. It occurred to him as he did so that perhaps he should
have been a bit politer, but civility had never been his strong
point. Making nice with those that had enslaved his people was
always going to be something he struggled with.

“
I am, Jarv,” the alien
said, and he sounded, in Matt’s opinion, far too self satisfied
with that fact. “I am pleased to meet you, human.”

“
Really?” Matt asked.
“Wouldn’t have guessed it from the drugging and the fucking
captivity!”

The alien flicked his tongue out
again, and this time it came through the bars and hit Matt on the
side of his face. He jumped back, surprised by how much it stung.
“You bas—”

“
Quiet, human,” Jarv said,
once his tongue was back in his mouth. “Speak only when I give
permission.”

“
Quiet?” Matt rubbed the
side of his face and shot the alien the filthiest glare he could
muster. “Fuck you!”

The alien let out a low
sort of rumble that shook his big body. It took Matt a moment to
realize he was laughing. “You have some balls,” he said. “Some
spunk!
Kiljab brok
! We like that in the arena.”

“
The arena?”

The alien nodded and took
a lick of his staff. “I run the finest one on
A’lton
. Perhaps you have visited it?
We held a battle not three days past.” He gave a sly sort of smile.
“Ah, it was a spectacular event. Thousands came to watch the final
claiming.”

Matt only just stopped the surprise
showing on his face, because suddenly his mind was filled with of
images of that very arena. The heaving crowd, the smell of arousal,
the dusty earth…and then…

He took a step back and clenched his
fists as Logan and the other alien practically burned his memory.
Their thick cocks, the battle they’d fought, and then the
submission…

“
I need a new draw,” Jarv
continued, his beady little eyes fixed on Matt’s now panicked ones.
“Sadly, my most popular gladiator has recently retired. I was
considering importing a male from
Rijal
Three
, but you know what they’re like.
Costly is what and they never suck cock. You can tell them time and
time again but they refuse. Once had one bite off his masters.”
Jarv shook his head. “A messy situation if ever there was one. But
no matter,” he added. “You have saved me the trouble.”

“
I have…” Matt shook his
head, his heart thudding. “I don’t know what you think is happening
here, but—”

“
I know exactly what is
happening,” Jarv snapped. “You, human, are my new draw.”

Matt spoke before even thinking to
moderate his tone, which probably wouldn’t have done him much good
anyway, but still, his response was immediate and unequivocal. “I
don’t fucking think so.”

Jarv grinned and brandished his staff
in Matt’s direction. “Ah, but you will be. And imagine the crowds
you will bring! I will be packed out every single week. A human.
One of the last remaining. And your hair!” He reached forward as if
to touch it. Matt silently begged him to do so…if he got close
enough to the bars…

“
Golden like the suns,”
the alien added, dropping his meaty hand. “It could not be more
perfect. You will not even need to fight. They will come simply to
see you fucked.”