She dwelt on those morbid thoughts for a while, trying to decide if she could make herself accept—whichever weird freak alien ended up with her.
While she was struggling to keep from descending into blubbering moron with the fear she could barely keep contained, her gaze was finally snagged by an alien who’d been slowly but surely making his way toward her end of the field.
Surprised pleasure flickered through her when she realized he was staring at her.
Partly because she recognized the look—thought she did—as male sexual interest.
The real pleasure, however, arose from the fact that he looked very human-like. He was unquestionably alien. No human she’d ever seen had skin that color—or hair that particular shade. He was tall—upwards of seven feet, she thought—which would have made him a giant among men.
And he was covered in what appeared to be elaborate tattoos.
He looked primitive.
She wasn’t certain where she could have gotten such an impression when he was alien and virtually naked and humans were fond of elaborate and extensive tattooing—unless it was the fact that he seemed completely at home with the giant sword and hammer he was carrying in either hand.
She was instantly certain that she wanted him to win her.
He was frightening, yes, with his strange yellow skin and long, blue-green hair. He looked fierce and primitive.
But his features were the most human-like of any of the aliens she’d seen and she thought, if she closed her eyes, she could pretend ….
Another alien, very similar and obviously from the same world, appeared next to him and stared at her hungrily.
Elly swallowed with an effort, felt a wave of heat then cold that lifted a sweat from her pores.
Please let that hungry look be sex on his mind!
And then the moment passed and the two waded through the tangled mass of heaving bodies, laying about them with swords and bludgeons.
Disappointment deluged Eleanor. “Please don’t go! Please! Help me!” she whispered, too frightened to lift her voice for fear it would draw more unwanted attention.
Oddly, both of the males whipped a sharp look in her direction … as if they’d heard and understood.
But they were almost immediately distracted by attacks from both sides as the other fighters sought to take advantage of their inattention.
Elly sucked in a sharp breath when it looked like one or both might be decapitated just for glancing in her direction.
Thankfully that wasn’t the case.
Well, she was thankful in that moment because she was hopeful that her situation might be improved if either of them won her.
She didn’t know if her hope and thankfulness were misplaced.
Or if she would ever find out.
It was something to cling to, though, as she watched the contestants slowly whittled down by contest of might until there was only a handful still standing that seemed relatively unscathed by the contest of war skills.
The warriors withdrew.
The field was cleared of bodies and parts and the injured hobbled away, or crawled, without any help whatsoever.
The two yellow warriors she’d set her sights on were among the victors who managed to walk off the field.
She would’ve chewed her nails down to the quick if she could’ve gotten to them and her hands and arms weren’t too numb to find them.
“In dis final round, de winner will hab the female alien as prize to do wid as he pleases!”
It took a few minutes for the words, bellowed, or transmitted over speakers, to sink in. Elly wasn’t convinced for several moments that she’d actually heard what she thought she had.
