Page 37 of Soliv Four
“I know what you are doing,” Tomak growled. He reached across the table and caught her nipples between his thumbs and fingers. She closed her eyes and moaned, leaning closer as he tugged them gently.
He played with her nipples for a mini span or two, then took his hands away. “Finish eating. It looks like I will just have to fuck you again, and you knew I would see it your way.” He chuckled. And she gave him an innocent smile.
Tomak so enjoyed having Angie in his life. She was so beautiful and so sexy… And fun. Sometimes, he felt like he could accept his life here, partly because there might not be a choice. That was before that horrible holovid they showed to scare them into toeing the line.
He couldn’t help but wonder what it would cost him to keep her and keep her safe. There were so many rumors flying around after the holovid. Any one of them would be reason enough to attempt an escape. Even if they couldn’t get the evac vehicle space worthy, maybe they could get to one of the wilderness continents where it would be more trouble to find them than let them be.
It would be another half a rotation span until his next fight in the arena. He and Angie wouldn’t be able to get back to the jungle site until the day after that. But Emon could. He was their best mechanic, anyhow.
This night, he wasn’t going to worry about anything but losing himself in Angie’s arms.
TWENTY-TWO
Tomak was lying on a weight bench, pressing a heavy bar weight, and Angie was close by doing reps with a dumbbell when Emon approached them on the training field.
“We got the hydraulics fixed and raised the evac off the rock piercing the hull,” said Emon in a low tone so only Tomak could hear. “I patched the hull and sealed it. On viewing the virtual repair manual, I discovered that I could system.”
“So, what does that mean?” Tomak asked tightly as he lifted the heavy weight again.
“We can get it off the ground, but we’d never make FTL in space without a new crystal. I have the specs, but we don’t have the means to cut crystals with the precision required for the drive to work properly.”
“But will it fly us away from here?” Tomak groaned the question as he lifted his bar weights again.”
“Yes, I think so. We don’t dare to test it before we try. We could end up in the ocean, or crash land on one of the mob rule continents.”
“That could be an even more dangerous place for our mates. Most of those places have a shortage of females.”
“That’s another thing, sir. Only three of us have females, and we have hunts scheduled. Once we leave, the chances we will ever have mates are null.”
Tomak set the weight bar on the stand and sat up, glancing at Angie with a slight smile. “That’s a real concern. But there is no guarantee; you will get a soul mate.”
“It doesn’t mean I can’t love her. Our people don’t always get genetic mates like you and Angie. My parents weren’t, but I always knew they loved each other,” Emon said, changing his dumbbell to his other hand.
“Of course,” Tomak said. “If the others agree, then we’ll wait as long as we can. Meanwhile, pull as many supplies as the evac can carry from the drone wreck and any other shipwreck you find.”
“We’ve already started that. I’m hoping one of those wrecks will have a set of good crystals. So far, we haven’t found any,” said Emon.
“Angie and I will be going out in two more rotations. We’ll scout a couple you haven’t reached yet.”
“Sounds good, boss.” With that, Emon wandered off. He knew not to hang too closed to Tomak because they were always on a live feed. Even though their conversation could not be heard against the noise in the workout field, spending too much time together would raise suspicions that they were plotting something.
They sat together for the gladiator matches and the cage fighting to protect the females. The women worked hard at training and learning to fight, but only Coraz’s mate Ri’atee was skilled in the martial arts of her tribe. She and the other two females in their team often practiced together while the men worked out.
The women also ran the track together sometimes, but always with one of the males from the team. Although always in sight, a rival male could grab a female from the far side before anyone could stop him. They had all seen it happen to another woman who used the track without an escort.
Her mate got her back only after she had been raped several times. Most of the males involved were later found dead with their amputated cocks stuck in their mouths. A couple had escaped because the female passed out at some point, so she couldn’t identify them. The killings served as a warning to the other males that raping someone’s mate could be bad for their health.
Angie continued to train daily with Tomak and the other women. They went to the arena to watch the matches of his team members nearly every time. One of Tomak’s team always stayed in the arena seating with the women. There were still too many males without mates to trust their safety unescorted.
It was hard enough to watch Tomak’s team in the gladiator arena because they always ended up bloody, whether they won or lost. Apparently, they had made a pact with the other gladiators to make it look good for the viewers, hoping they could avoid kill orders.
Angie had heard the backlash after Tomak and others had been ordered to kill their vanquished. That terrified her more than anything, even though there were few gladiators of Tomak’s skill. Coraz and D’aktan were the only other members of his team who competed in the arena. The other four competed in the cage fighting in mixed martial arts.
“You shouldn’t worry, me’ara. We have moon spans to go before I must defend the championship,” Tomak said during one of their late-night conversations. “The rest of my team is scheduled for their female hunts well before that.”
“What if they don’t catch them?”
