Torch (10 page)

“Isis,” he breathed her name.

She sucked him harder until he came in her mouth. All thoughts of her marking were forgotten. She would find a way to tell him about it later, much later.

*****

They finally made it to the table to eat a now cold lunch. Isis’s phone rang. She was still rocked by the discovery of her Mating mark that she didn’t look at the number before she answered it.

“Hello?”

“Did you think you could hide from me forever, Isistania?” an angry male’s voice came across the line.

She dropped her silverware and knew the color had left her face. Her hands were trembling. It was him.

“Isis is everything okay?” Torch asked. He had never seen her so shaken. Who the hell was on the phone?

Isis spoke into the phone without looking at Torch. “How did you get my number?”

The male on the phone laughed. “I can find you anywhere. I knew where you were six months ago.”

“How?” Isis couldn’t seem to stop shaking. She thought she had covered her tracks well.

“I put out a reward for any sightings of you. Six months ago someone saw you practicing for the GCFA. I thought it couldn’t be right, so I didn’t act on the tip. It took another two months and I asked for proof. I got it from a video recording of you fighting. I must say, I am disappointed in you, Isistania. That is no profession for a princess.”

Isis got up and moved away from the table. “What do you want?”

“You of course,” Ishop told her.

“I don’t want to come back.” She wondered if he was on the ship.

“It does not matter what you want, you are mine as declared by the Council, and it is time I claim what was promised to me.”

“I make my own decisions. It’s not happening!” With that, Isis hung up her phone then immediately blocked it. Two more mysterious numbers showed up trying to call her. She didn’t answer knowing who it would be.

“Who was that?” Torch demanded, coming to stand before her.

She shook her head. “No one.”

He squinted his eyes. “It didn’t sound like no one to me.”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about this right now.” Isis was trying not to cry. She had worked so hard to make a life for herself. She wasn’t going to let Ishop take it from her.

Torch grabbed Isis’s arm. He had heard the male voice over the line though he didn’t hear the conversation. He felt an overwhelming jolt of jealousy going through him. “I don’t share well, Isis. I keep what’s mine.”

Isn’t that what Ishop just said to her too. That she belonged to them like a piece of property. She was getting damn tired of males who thinking they owned her. “Back off!” To prove her point she iced up her skin where he touched her. He immediately released her.

“Fine, I’ll leave it alone for now. But know this, Isis, I want answers from you!” He stormed out, leaving her alone with a sense of dread.

What was she going to do? Ishop knew where she was. He was probably watching her every move.
Damn it!
She liked her life. She had a good job, friends, and she was falling in love for the first time. She didn’t want to lose all of that. She was determined not to lose Torch. If she hadn’t already pushed him away. She fell to her knees and cried.

Chapter Thirteen

Torch wasn’t answering his phone. Isis was worried, scared, and nervous. She owed Torch an explanation and an apology. But the male was not making this easy on her.

She walked into the training facility and searched for him. He was there practicing with Hammer. This was clearly not an evenly matched pairing. Hammer was much too big but Torch seemed to want to fight someone.

She squared her shoulders and walked over to stand by the mat. Zen was there and he pulled her further away.

“Careful, honey. Torch is in a fit of a temper this evening. I’m not sure what his problem is. Don’t get too close or you could get hurt.”

“Too late,” she whispered.

“What was that?” Zen asked, having barely heard her.

“Nothing,” she replied, turning her worried eyes on Torch.

She knew exactly what the problem was. It was her and her secrets. She knew this was bound to blow up in her face eventually. Her face was plastered all over the GCFA advertising posters and commercials. She wasn’t sure why it took Ishop so long to act, but there had to be a reason he waited until now.

She gasped as Torch lunged for Hammer full of fury but the big guy lifted him up and slammed him down with one hand. Hammer glared at him. “Stay down, Torch, and cool off!”

Torch lay there unmoving for a few minutes. He was stunned. Everyone else walked away but Isis remained. She watched him slowly get to his feet. He saw her and didn’t say a word as he walked past her.

“Torch, wait!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Please.”

“Are you ready to talk?” he asked.

“I…yes but not here.” Isis looked around and saw most of the fighters turn their heads in a different direction.

“Then come.” He took her hand and led her out of the training facility. They went down to the elevators and up to the floor her suite was on.

As she entered her suite, she couldn’t help but think this was where it all started, their disagreement. She hoped it would turn out differently than the last time.

“Talk.” Torch folded his arms across his chest.

She rubbed the spot over her heart where her Mating mark was now. If she hoped to have a future with Torch, she had to tell him the truth. “When I Ieft my home world, it was not on good terms. In fact, it was the worst terms imaginable.”

He frowned. “What are you saying?”

“I’m…” Her doorbell went off interrupting her. “Let me get rid of whoever this is.” She walked over to the door, opened it, and froze in place.

“Disa? Crep?” Oh God no. She watched in silent horror as her mother’s cousins pushed their way into her suite. “What are you doing here?

“We have come to bring you home!” Disa said.

Torch looked at the two strangers. They were tall and thin with light brown hair and blonde strands streaking throughout. They spoke of taking Isis away.

“What is going on here? Who are these people?” Torch demanded.

Isis was panicking. “Torch, could you come back later?”

“Hell no! I want to know what is going on. You promised answers and I am going nowhere until I get them.” Torch glared at the intruders.

The male looked down his scrawny nose at Torch. “A Voltan halfsie? Really, Isis, that is so beneath you.”

Never mind introductions. The male was about to have his head knocked off his damn shoulders. Isis stepped in between them. She looked at Torch. “These are my mother’s cousins, Disa and Crep.”

“Her official guardians as granted by the Royal Council of the Isle of Isia,” Disa said, looking at the suite with disgust.

Torch frowned. “Royal Council?”

“Yes, royal. Princess Isistania is to be returned to the Isle of Isia where her marriage to Prince Ishop will proceed.”

“You’re engaged?” Torch felt like someone had sucker punched him.

Isis shook her head. “No.”

“Yes, she is,” a new voice said from the still open doorway.

Isis cringed as she turned to face Ishop.
Oh hell.
“Why are you here?”

“To bring you back home, my love. It has been far too long.” Ishop walked into the suite glaring at Torch. “Have you gotten this rebellion out of your system yet?”

“This is my life, not some rebellion!” She looked at Torch but he was fuming, smoke was literally coming out from his ears. This could turn bad if she didn’t do something quickly. She pointed at the door.

“Everyone leave!” Isis yelled.

Disa and Crep looked at Ishop who nodded for them to go. “We’ll leave for now, but we won’t be leaving this ship unless you are with us.” Ishop left and was followed by Disa and Crep.

Isis turned to look a still raging Voltan. “Torch…”

“When were you going to tell me you were engaged?” he demanded. He felt betrayed. Like everything between them had been a lie.

“I’m not engaged.” She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

“The three people who left would disagree with you. Probably the Royal Council and all of the Isle of Isia would disagree with you!” Torch yelled. “I don’t understand, then explain it!”

She cringed at his raised voice. “It was an arranged marriage agreement made by my guardians, Disa and Crep, with the Isian Royal Council while I was still a minor. As soon as I was old enough, I left Isia before the marriage could take place.”

“He’s a prince?” He paced.

“Yes.” She stood still, watching him.

“You’re a princess?” He lifted his brow at her.

She nodded her head. “None of that matters to me. I just wanted to live a normal life. Where I could fit in with everyone else. One where I could...fall in love with whomever I wanted.”

Torch paced back and forth. His thoughts were running rampant. “I knew you didn’t belong here with the GCFA. You were too soft. It figures that you’re a princess. Destined to be with a prince to lead your home world. Not with someone who can’t barely take care of himself. You don’t need me.”

“The marriage isn’t about ruling or love, it's about pure blood lines. I have just enough full Isian in me that they consider me a full species, not a halfsie. They want me as a breeding mare not as a princess. I have no voice there.”

Torch walked to the door. He needed time to think. She grabbed his arm in desperation. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I need to think. There is so much to filter through. You have a match tonight and need time to prepare for it. I will see you afterwards and we will talk then.”

“Please, Torch, I…” She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. But the new realization hit her and she was overwhelmed by it. He pulled loose from her grip and walked out of the suite.
God, please don’t let me lose him. Not now.
She rubbed her Mate mark. She would never recover from his loss.

*****

Ishop stood watching as the Voltan filth left Isistania’s room. What did she see in the halfsie? Why would she chose him over Ishop?

“She will come to her senses. I will talk to her about it,” Disa said, standing with Crep behind him.

“That’s not necessary. I think I know of a way to get Isistania to come back willingly.” He smiled cruelly.

“We still get our money right? We helped locate her and everything,” Crep said with a nasally voice.

“Yes, you will get your just rewards soon,” Ishop said levelly before walking away. He had no plans to pay them money. As soon as the union ceremony was over, he would have them eliminated.

*****

Later that night…

“Give me another!” Torch ordered another whiskey sitting at the ship’s bar.

“Don’t you think you have had enough?” the bartender asked.

“No.” Torch drank his whiskey and watched the GCFA fight that was going on. Isis was next. He should leave but he felt he needed to torture himself a little while longer by watching her. She looked so beautiful walking in the arena wearing her GCFA fight clothes. Her perfectly toned figure shown easily with the skintight two-piece outfit. Her silvery blonde braids hung down her back hitting her ass with each step she took. Her face was exquisite and delicate. She held herself with such poise and grace. How could he have not known she was a princess?

“Mind if I sit here?” a blonde female asked.

Torch looked at her and knew right away she was an Isian. “Not my barstool.”

The female sat down and ordered a vodka on the rocks. She took a sip as she watched the announcers discussing Torch and Isis’s relationship.

*****

“Did you hear the latest about Isis and Torch?”

“Yes, I heard there is trouble in paradise. A male was seen leaving Isis’s suite and it was not Torch.”

“I bet the Voltan was fuming over that, literally.”

“It was just a matter of time. Mixing a Voltan and an Isian can only lead to a meltdown.”

“I agree. Let’s see if this is going to affect the way Isis fights tonight.”

“Should be interesting.”

*****

“So are you the Voltan halfsie the little princess got involved with?” the female asked.

Torch turned to glare at the irritating female. “Who are you?”

“I am Clovis. Courtesan to Prince Ishop from the Isle of Isia.” She didn’t offer her hand to shake.

“Courtesan? As in lover?” Torch raised an eyebrow at her.

She smiled. “I am a highly trained, highly sought after, Royal Courtesan. I usually only service Kings, but since Isia has been without a king for a long long time, I have been in the service of the Princeship of Isia. Specifically with Prince Ishop for over five years.”

“So he was with you after the Council arranged the union between Ishop and Isis?” Torch’s mind was a little fuzzy but it was starting to clear up little by little.

“Yes, of course. I will also still be in service of him after his union,” she said it like it was a well-known fact.

“Does that not bother you, that he will be in a union with another female?” He couldn’t understand this. Why would Isis want that?

“Not really. Most arranged unions, the couples are only together until the female is breeding, then she is shipped off somewhere else and barely heard of until she has to present the child to the Council. Isistania is too timid to please Ishop as he demands to be pleased. He only needs to get a child with her to uphold the Council’s will. But he does seem to enjoy seeing her suffer. So I suppose he will keep her around for a while.” She shrugged her shoulders like it didn’t matter. But he wasn’t fooled. The female did not want to share the power she had with another female.

“That seems cold and cruel,” Torch commented.

“That is how it is on Isia.” She studied him. Licking her lips. “I get why she chose you. You are big, and strong, and I can feel the heat coming off you, which has me panting for more. I would consider sharing a night with you.”

He shook his head. “No.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “If you change your mind, I’ll be in room 512.” She stood and walked out.