Gladiator: A Scifi Alien Romance (Galactic Gladiators Book 1) Page 5

  “We’ll assess the recruits in the morning,” Galen said. “We’ll take the best of them and put them in the beast fight to test them out.”

  Raiden felt Galen’s gaze on him.

  “You going to keep your cool?” his friend asked.

  “Always do, G,” Raiden answered.

  “I know that you and the House of Thrax does not equal cool. But it does seem that you like your vengeance icy cold.”

  Raiden felt a muscle tick in his jaw. “Don’t you want vengeance, too?” He swung around to face Galen. “They destroyed our world, G. They took everything and everyone from us.”

  Galen’s scar whitened. “Making the Thraxians pay won’t bring Aurelia back.”

  Raiden felt that horrible, boiling anger rise. Just hearing the name of their homeworld did that. He pictured that bastard Thraxian commander who’d ordered his family to be executed. Ruthlessly, he suppressed the memories.

  “Sometimes I think you hate me as much for saving you, as you hate them for destroying the planet.”

  Too many confusing emotions threatened. “Don’t want to talk about it.”

  Galen let out a long breath. “No, you never do.”

  Raiden’s gaze snagged on the tattoo covering his forearm. It was the language of Aurelia. An oath, a promise, etched on his very skin the day of his sixteenth birthday. Even now, even though so many years had passed since he’d said it, he could still read the words and recite them in his head.

  It was the pledge that he accepted the honor of being his father’s heir.

  And now it was just a lie.

  Raiden turned his head, searching for a distraction. “Who is the female?”

  When the damned Thraxians had shuffled in that line of pitiful slaves, at first he’d thought she’d looked small and weak. She was tiny. Next, he’d noticed her smooth curves and even smoother skin.

  That was until she’d taken down the guard with a few skilled moves. A Thraxian guard far bigger and stronger than she was. And it was then he’d sensed her essence: pure, clean, and white-hot, threaded with bands of steel.

  Thorin’s head lifted. “Female?”

  Galen shrugged. “I’ve never seen her exact species before. The Thraxians said one of their ships took a transient wormhole and ended up in uncharted space. On the opposite side of the galaxy.”

  Someone whistled.

  “They found her there,” Galen finished.

  “Transient wormhole.” Kace appeared beside them, his own drink in his hand, and shook his head. “They were lucky to make it back before the wormhole disappeared.”

  “The Thraxians wouldn’t care about losing the odd ship here or there, as long as they find slaves and make their profits,” Galen said, an edge in his voice.

  “The female is small,” Raiden said.

  “But she certainly showed some spirit,” Galen replied. “I doubt she’ll make it through the arena. The initiation fight is in the morning.”

  The conversation turned back to a recap of the evening’s fight. Raiden set his glass down on a side table, and while the others continued to drink and celebrate, he slipped out.

  Raiden moved through the now-silent House of Galen. The mid-level ranked gladiators would be in the main dormitory. The lowest ranked gladiators would be in their cells.

  Everyone had to prove themselves and their loyalty in the arena before they were awarded the privilege of freedom and more pleasures.

  When he moved into the area where the temporary cells for untested new recruits were located, he realized he was looking for the small, fierce female fighter.

  He nodded at the guard on duty, then moved quietly along the cells. All the occupants appeared to be sleeping. When he reached the cell where he’d seen her, he stared through the bars. He could see a blanket-covered lump on one bunk, but the second bunk was empty. He frowned, leaning forward. The person on the bunk was too large to be her.

  “Darium.” He looked over at the guard. “Where is the small woman?”

  The guard moved toward him, frowning. “In her cell.”

  “Open it,” Raiden demanded. For some reason, his pulse was hammering through his veins.

  Darium took a moment to open the lock. Raiden strode inside, seeing a large Taurean woman looking up at him. There was no one else in the cell.

  “She’s gone.” Raiden strode out, noting Darium’s face turning a shocked shade of gray. Galen didn’t tolerate screw ups.

  “How did she get out of her cell?” Darium scraped a hand through his hair.

  The better question was where the hell had she gone. Suddenly, a figure in the next cell shifted close to the bars. It only took Raiden a second to know this slight, delicate-looking alien was unsuited to the arena. He didn’t even need to feel the man’s soft, insubstantial essence to confirm it.

  “You’re looking for Harper?”

  Harper. Raiden rolled the name around in his head. It had a strength to it he liked and that suited the woman. “Yes. You know where she went?”

  The man nodded, looking torn. “She picked the lock and escaped.” He drew in an unsteady breath. “I shouldn’t tell you…but I’m afraid for her.”

  Raiden strode closer and grabbed the bars, watching as the man flinched. “Why? Where did she go?”

  The man swallowed. “She said she was going back to the spaceport to find a way back to her planet.”

  Raiden’s eyes widened. “She knows she has an explosive band on her wrist.”

  “Yes. She said she didn’t care. She was no one’s slave.”

  Drak. The little fool.

  Darium straightened. “I’ll call Galen—”

  “Don’t bother.” Raiden spun, his cloak flaring behind him. “I’ll find her.”

  Moments later, he was out of the House of Galen, striding through the tunnels. He breathed deep, trying to pick up her essence. For him, it was almost like tracking a scent…except he could feel it, not smell it.

  There. That clean, hot steel that belonged to Harper.

  Raiden broke into a run. She was moving fast. He jogged through the tunnels, cursing when he took a few wrong turns.

  The thought of her getting blown to pieces fueled him.

  He followed her essence upward. She’d left the tunnels and gone up to the areas where the arena’s spectators gathered before they took their seats before a fight. The long passageway ringed the entire arena and was flanked by open arches. On one side, you could look down on the arena. On the other, you looked out over the city of Kor Magna and the bright lights of the District not far away.

  He strode along, her essence getting stronger. If she managed to get out of the arena, the sensors would trigger the explosive…

  Then he spotted a small figure in the center of one of the external arches. She gripped the stone in one hand, her gaze fixed downward, her muscles tensing.

  Drak! She was going to jump.

  Raiden put on a burst of speed. She leaped out…just as he wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her back.

  “Goddammit!” She twisted, fighting him.

  They slammed onto the stone floor. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

  He managed to get her under him but a second later, she slammed her knee up, aiming between his legs.

  With a vicious curse, he rolled them across the floor. She was fast and driven, fighting to get free of him. Raiden had to use his superior weight and strength to pin her down.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he growled.

  Finally, he immobilized her beneath him and slammed her arms above her head. She gave another fierce buck, trying to knock him off her and pry her hands loose.

  Then she slumped down, her eyes glaring at him in the shadows.

  “So, you wish to die?” The thought of her dead made him angry. Why, he didn’t know.

  “No. I’m leaving. I am not a slave.” She spat each word at him like projectiles.

  He moved a hand, touching the explosive band. “This is very real
, Harper. If you pass the sensors embedded in the outer arena walls, this will blow.”

  She stilled and swallowed. “You know my name.”

  “Yes.” He tilted his head. “Part of it. Tell me the rest of it.”

  She turned her head to the side.

  His hands tightened on her. “Harper, I am not used to being denied.”

  “Adams. Harper Adams.” She looked up, her eyes defiant.

  “My name is Raiden.”

  “Well, Raiden, I will not be owned by anybody.”

  There were things he wanted to tell her, but like all recruits, she had to be eased into it. “There is more here if you are smart enough to look for it.”

  “Fuck you,” she snapped. “You might enjoy being a slave, but I don’t.”

  There was such a fierce, quiet fire inside her. Raiden stood and yanked her up. He kept her wrists in his hand. “Save your anger for the arena.”

  She lifted her chin and stayed silent.

  “Do you really want to die?” He nodded to the arch and the city lights beyond.

  “No. But I’m getting out of here.”

  “And going where?” he asked quietly.

  “Home. I’ll find a way back to my planet. Earth.”

  Earth. Raiden had never heard of it and wasn’t surprised knowing how the Thraxians had found her. He lowered his voice and he stroked a thumb over the pulse he felt racing in her wrist. “You can’t go home, Harper.”

  Her lips firmed into a hard line. “I am not a slave.”

  “That’s not it. You can gain your freedom, but you’ll never be able to go back to Earth.”

  Her gaze turned sharp as a laser. “What do you mean?”

  Damn, he didn’t want to be the one to tell her this. “The Thraxian ship that snatched you…it took a wormhole to reach your planet. Earth is on the other side of the galaxy from Carthago and the occupied worlds.”

  He felt the tension pumping off her. “So? I’ll take the wormhole back there.”

  Raiden dragged in a breath, staring at their joined hands. “It was a transient wormhole, Harper. Completely random. It’s closed now.”

  He felt her go still. So impossibly still. Almost as though she wasn’t even breathing.

  “I’ll…I’ll travel the regular way then.”

  He faced her now, moving closer. “Even in the fastest ship available, it would take you two hundred years.”

  Her eyes went wide and she shook her head.

  Raiden threaded their fingers together, liking when she gripped his. “I’m sorry. I understand what it’s like to not be able to go home.”

  He saw the shock, pain and sadness on her face. She was fighting to control it and comprehend it all. Then her chest heaved. “I’m…alone.”

  He couldn’t stop himself. He pulled her in tight to his chest, their joined hands trapped between their bodies. “No.” He felt her shudder against him but she didn’t make a sound as she grieved. “You are not alone, Harper Adams of Earth.”

  Chapter Six

  Harper was tired.

  After Raiden had escorted her back to her cell, she hadn’t been able to sleep. She’d felt…empty inside.

  There was no way back to Earth.

  That thought kept reverberating around her head. Added to that, after so long in her cell on the Thraxian ship, the change of scenery had been unsettling. Whenever she’d managed to drift into a fitful sleep, every sound had woken her. She’d also spent far too much time wondering if Raiden had gone back to the women she’d seen him with earlier in the evening.

  Right now, she finished picking at the simple meal that had been delivered to their cells. Everyone was tense, waiting for news of their initiation fight.

  “Good morning.” Galen appeared. “I hope you slept well.”

  Harper stared at the imperator and wondered if Raiden had told him of her little escape attempt. She fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist. When the imperator’s piercing gaze met hers, she figured he had. She lifted her chin. She didn’t care. There was nothing Galen could do to her that could be worse than the Thraxians.

  “Today is your initiation fight. It will determine if you join the House of Galen…or not.”

  Harper wondered what happened if they failed. She glanced around the other cells. Everyone looked nervous, except for a couple of huge men in the last cell. They looked eager.

  Then she noticed Pax was missing from his cell. She arched her head, trying to see if he was sitting down.

  “Those of you who pass the initiation will be given a medical check and then shown to your quarters. And now you have the honor of meeting two of my best gladiators.”

  She turned her head and then she saw him.

  Raiden strode toward them, his giant, muscled legs eating up the ground as he moved. Beside him was a female gladiator. They made a hell of a pair. The big, rugged man with the bronze skin, tattoos, and muscles, and the tall, toned female gladiator with the gorgeous dark skin. Her long black hair reached her waist and was a mass of small braids.

  Galen waved a hand at the pair. “I give you Saff Essikani, the best net fighter in the arena.”

  The woman gave them a nod.

  “And you also have the honor of meeting the champion of the Kor Magna Arena,” Galen announced.

  Harper saw a muscle tick in Raiden’s jaw.

  “A gladiator with more wins than any other fighter in the history of the arena.”

  Harper felt a cool chill slip down her spine, while the other recruits all murmured excitedly. Raiden crossed his arms, his green gaze moving over them all until it reached her. He stared at her.

  “I give you Raiden Tiago,” Galen said. “The greatest gladiator of Kor Magna and the planet of Carthago.”

  Saff was grinning at Raiden as he stepped forward. His arms flexed, drawing Harper’s gaze to his tattoos.

  “You are now taking the first steps to becoming House of Galen.”

  All the recruits went quiet.

  “As Galen said, I am Raiden. One of the best gladiators in the arena.”

  Harper didn’t get the idea that he was trying to impress them or puff up his own ego. He was just telling them a fact.

  “I don’t know your backgrounds. I don’t know where you came from or what choices you had or didn’t have…but none of it matters.” His green gaze bored into Harper. “You are now gladiators, and you are here to fight in the arena. That is now your life.”

  Harper took a half step forward. “So we just go out there and die on the sand for the gory entertainment of a bloodthirsty crowd.”

  Something flickered in his eyes. “You go out there to win. For freedom and honor.”

  “For money,” she countered. “No better than animals to the slaughter.”

  “Fights to the death are rare.”

  Harper glanced over at Saff. “They are?”

  “Gladiators are a big investment. The house owners have to buy them, train them, feed them.” Saff glanced at Galen. “Isn’t that right, boss?”

  Galen’s face was impassive but he nodded. “Each house makes a great deal of money from their gladiators winning fights. Not to mention corporate sponsorship. There’s a lot going on in the arena, and a lot of people are here for different reasons, but I can tell you that killing gladiators isn’t one of them.”

  Harper remembered the blood covering Raiden and the others when they’d returned the evening before. “But people must get hurt.”

  A small smile flirted on Saff’s lips. “Yes, often. And gruesomely. But only the worst fighters, and thankfully, the houses all invest heavily in the best medical tech.”

  Harper nodded. “So the gladiators just get patched up and sent back out again.”

  Raiden stepped forward. “The better you fight, the easier it is to earn your freedom.” He looked at them all. “Galen calculates the number of fights and wins required for all indentured fighters. After you achieve that, you are granted your freedom.”

  Freedom. Harper’s h
eart clenched. Even if she was free, where the hell would she go?

  She looked back at Raiden. The champion of the arena was still here, so Galen would probably make them fight until they were old and gray. “You’re still a slave.”

  A grim smile touched his lips. “First rule of the arena, nothing is ever what it seems.”

  Saff slapped Raiden’s arm. “The crowd loves him too much for him to leave the arena.”

  So was that what drove this man? Fame and fortune. She felt a bitter stab of disappointment.

  He gave her one last hard stare, then looked at the rest of the group. “All of you, line up.”

  A guard moved down the row of cells, unlocking them.

  “We are now going to the training arena for your initiation fight.”

  As they moved into a line, Harper searched again for Pax. She moved closer to Ram.

  “Ram, have you seen Pax?”

  The big alien shook his head, his face solemn. “They took him.”

  “Took him?”

  “Get moving.” The female gladiator, Saff, waved them on.

  As they stepped out into the sunlight, Harper blinked. She felt the warm breeze on her skin and she instantly pictured herself in a pool, body cutting through the water as she swam laps. She snorted mentally. Yeah, like that was going to happen any time soon.

  “The rules are simple.” Raiden’s deep voice rumbled across them. He pointed to the center of the small training arena. A small mound of weapons lay on the sand. “You are to get to that pile of weapons…and fight.”

  Energy charged through Harper’s veins. She saw her fellow prisoners all straighten, some shifting on their feet.

  “You do not kill,” Raiden said. “You incapacitate. Galen, Saff, and I will be watching. Only the best will become House of Galen.” His green gaze met Harper’s. “Go!”

  ***

  Raiden watched from the stands as the recruits sprinted across the sand.

  There were fifteen of them in total, a mix of species. Every single one of them towered over Harper.

  He told himself to stop watching her, but he couldn’t drag his eyes away. Her dark hair gleamed with shots of red in the sunlight. As a giant Frystani, one of the first to reach the weapons, swung a giant longsword at her, Raiden fought to stay sitting.