I sat next to Rachel, her mate on her opposite side. All around us, males from all the various planets shouted, stomped and roared their encouragement. There were a handful of Atlans, some others who looked human but Rachel told me were Everian Hunters, fighters from Viken, Alera, Trion, Earth and a few other places I’d never heard of. Mostly, they were Prillon warriors of every color from pale, pastel yellow, to copper, to dark brown.
The two Prillons who just walked into the center of the pit were clearly crowd favorites as every Prillon in the stands jumped to their feet.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“The darker one is Captain Trax. His fighting partner is Captain Marz.”
I leaned forward to get a better look. Fascinating. Trax’s eyes were a brilliant amber in stark contrast to his dark brown complexion. Marz, however, was closer to Ryston’s golden coloring. I wondered if all Prillon duos were such a contrast. Was that instinct? To choose a second so different from oneself? Or were there Prillon pairs out there with two golden, or two dark warriors, sharing a mate? I filed that away to ask later as their opponent walked out onto the sand.
“Oh, god. He has to fight two of them? How is that fair?” I leaped to my feet. My heart pounded as the crowd roared their approval, at least two hundred male voices shouting as loudly as they could manage. “They’re going to kill him.”
My mate raised his arms in the air to encourage the spectators. They responded in kind and raised the volume. Hand splayed over my chest, I couldn’t tear my attention away from the warlord whose gaze locked on me. Tazo placed a fist over his heart and bowed to me.
His action must have shocked them all. The crowd went silent. I heard rumblings, the word ‘mate’. I turned my head left, then right. Every male in the crowd stared at me.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I lifted a hand and gave a little wave. “Hi? I’m Lavender. Nice to meet you all.”
Every single male in the arena, including Trax and Marz, down in the fighting pit, clasped a hand over their heart and gave me a little bow. It was like they’d rehearsed it, their movements in perfect unison.
Shocked, I sought out my mate and found him staring up at me, pride obvious in his gaze. He raised his voice so everyone would hear him. “If you are all finished ogling my beautiful mate, I’d like to finish this fight and take her back to our quarters to celebrate.”
The cacophony resumed and I sank back into my seat. I had to be bright pink. Did Tazo just tell everyone here he couldn’t wait to take me back to our quarters and have sex with me? “Oh, my god. How embarrassing.”
Next to me, Rachel laughed. “You’ll get used to it. They know what they want and they show us off every chance they get.”
I grinned at her. “I guess boys will be boys no matter what planet they’re on.” Still. Two against one? Not fair. Sure, Atlans were big, but so were those damn Prillons. “Why does Tazo have to fight two of them?” I’d watched two previous matches. Both had been two against two, four Prillons in the pit.
Governor Maxim leaned around his mate to answer me. “You have never seen a beast in battle.”
“Yes, I have. Kai killed three of those Hive things in my living room, right in front of me.”
“And the Hive? What species were they, prior to their integration?” he asked.
“Prillon.” Big warriors, too.
“And there were three?”
“Yes.”
“And what happened to those three, fully integrated, Prillon warriors?”
“They’re dead.”
Maxim turned to look down on the three combatants. “Hive integrations make us stronger, faster. Sometimes they enhance our vision or other senses. Everyone on The Colony was captured and integrated with Hive technology. Everyone, including your beast. As powerful as the warlords were on the battlefield prior to their capture by the Hive, they are more terrifying now. Your mate, my lady, has only ever been bested by one male on this planet, and his integrations are so complete, every cell in his body was enhanced, every part of him, blood, flesh and bone.”
“Tyran?” I asked. “Is that who you were talking about?” (I don’t remember, but has she met Tyran?)
Tazo and the two Prillon warriors began to circle one another. I focused on my mate as Rachel answered. “Yes.”
“Why doesn’t he fight anymore?” If he was the champion, I wondered why he quit.
Ryston, Rachel’s golden haired second mate, appeared out of nowhere and sat down on my right. Tazo glanced up immediately and gave the Prillon a slight nod. Ryston inclined his head to my mate even as he spoke to me. “Tyran has two small children and a third on the way. He goes half mad when his mate, Kristin, is pregnant. Can’t tolerate being away from her.”
Rachel snorted. “Like you can talk, love. You two were almost as bad.”
Ryston grinned at me, completely unrepentant. “Someone had to stand at attention next to the S-Gen machine for her ice-cream emergencies.”
I laughed. “Ice cream is its own food group. Didn’t you know that?”
