Page 10 of Soliv Four
They moved toward him as Tomak took a stance ready to thwart any attack they made. Havel looked at Gren, signaling him to flank Tomak if he got a chance. He figured they would do that, thinking maybe Gren could distract him while Havel moved in for the kill.
Before Gren could get behind him, Tomak went into action.
SIX
Angie gasped as they made their move. She didn’t want to be with either of them. She forgot to breathe for a moment, watching Tomak punch, kick and stab, whirling from one to the next. It was almost a dance, the way he moved between them with confident grace, as he dodged and parried their attempts to best him.
She was stunned at how quickly Tomak dispatched them in his deadly dance. She stood staring until he came and hustled her away from the scene. He walked her down the rest of the path with his arm around her shoulders drawn against his side.
One of their knives had made a shallow cut on his left forearm, and it dripped blood as they walked. He held that arm bent upward to slow the bleeding until they got back to the winner’s circle. There a med droid waited to attend minor injuries of the competitors.
Cleanup droids came down the path with push trams for the bodies Tomak had left behind. There were more hunts to follow. They liked to remove the bodies as soon as possible because their viewers didn’t want to see those remains. They also rotted at a high rate of speed in the jungle heat.
As they approached the winner’s circle to be badgered by the host about their experience for the viewers, Tomak didn’t regret killing Havel and his thugs at all. His gang would be trouble when they learned of it, though.
They had no respect for ancient Drapan tribal beliefs in fated mates. His scent on Angie from mating with her would have repelled many males from trying to claim her, but not these barbarians.
Tomak could have waited to mate her in his room, but she was so needy from the sex drug. Judging by how her erect nipples were outlined by her thin shirt, it hadn’t worn off yet. Although he doubted, they would have complete privacy anywhere in this complex, he wouldn’t let that stop him from giving her what she needed.
Taking her that first time was exhilarating, and she left him no doubt that he pleased her. It was a helluva place to find one’s, fated mate. Here he had little more to offer her than himself and his protection.
“This wasn’t what I signed up for,” Angie muttered as they walked down the path toward the start point.
“I don’t think any of us signed up for this,” Tomak agreed dryly.
“No, I mean that literally. I signed up with an agency back on Earth to get an alien mate, and they sent me to a damn prison planet!”
“I am sorry,me’ara,my men and I were sent on a fake rescue mission. Our target was dead when we got there. We were branded traitors for killing him and landed here,” he said. “The new regime saw us as a liability and got rid of us. Soliv Prison corporation pays well for assets that can staff their enterprises. We were fresh meat for the pits almost three-star orbits ago.”
“And I am your prize?”
“Yes. I am your mate, just as your contract promised.” Tomak gave her a rueful smile. “Didn’t you know they were sending you to a prison planet?”
“Well, yeah, but I thought it was to be matched with an employee, not a prisoner. So, now I am in prison, and I did nothing wrong.”
“We didn’t either, but here we are.”
Momentarily, they emerged from the jungle path into the arena amid cheers from the live audience that included Tomak’s men and other inmate fighters. Tomak grinned and raised their joined hands high, turning them in a circle together for the audience and the hovering cameras.
They were still cheering when the med droid came to clean his arm and apply coag gel to his knife wound.
Then the three droids pushed trams containing three body bags containing the males Tomak had killed. The inmate feed only followed the female, so they didn’t know the others were dead until then. Tomak didn’t go into the hunt intending to kill any of them, but Stegnon put hands on Tomak’s fated mate
Austyn Frost, the new leader of Havel’s gang, stopped in front of Tomak with a smile that didn’t match his eyes. “You better protect that female well, or someone might borrow her for some fun.”
Tomak wanted to deck him so badly that he was trembling. Instead, he smiled back. “I’ll kill anyone who tries it.”
“You can try,” Frost murmured, still smiling as he walked away.
Bastards! They were walking dead to him. They wanted revenge for their men. He would have to kill them sooner or later, but not today. He only had until the hunts were finished to get acquainted with his mate. Three hunts were scheduled every rotation until all the newly arrived females had been claimed. Twenty new females meant twenty hunts. That left six rotations until his next competition. He would still have to train, but the rest of his time was for her.
“Ow,” Angie said, trying to tug her hand from Tomak’s tightening grip.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t realize.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.
Before he could say more, the hunt host confronted them with a camera drone on his shoulder. “Can you tell our audience how it feels to win a mate on your third try, First Champion Bah’rin?”
“Good, of course,” Tomak said, and this time his cocky grin was genuine. “Look at her. She is just beautiful.”
