Gladiator's Prize (3 page)

“We’re going straight to the
Glory
,” Darius said without pausing. “Arm yourselves, they might try to stop us.”

“Yes, sir,” said one of the men, slapping his palm against the ship’s portal. It quickly opened and the ships exterior lights flared bright. The true enormity of her situation finally hit K’rilla.
He planned to take her off-planet.

“You can’t do this,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and cool. Not an easy task. “This isn’t some kind of game, Admiral, they won’t let you get away with it. Just let me go now and we’ll pretend it didn’t happen.”

Darius walked up the ramp and into the ship, then he swung her down. She swayed and he grabbed her shoulders, holding her steady as he spoke. His eyes bore into hers, dark and filled with a smoldering passion she’d never seen in anyone. K’rilla shivered and he smiled at her. Unfortunately it looked more like a snarl, and for an instant she knew exactly what it felt like to be prey.

“It damn well did happen,” Darius said, his voice low and rough. “I’ve never felt anything like I did when I touched you and I’ll be damned if I’m letting you go now.

And they can’t stop us now. The greatest danger was in the arena underground. It’s too late to do anything more.”

“My family—”

“Will be thrilled to have an alliance with the commander of the invasion fleet,”

Darius said, his voice harsh. “And even if they aren’t, they’ll keep their mouths shut.

You know as well as I do that we can’t afford any kind of scandal right now.”

16

Gladiator’s Prize

“And you think this won’t cause a scandal?”

“Of course it will,” Darius replied. “But they’ll spin it as true love, some shit like that, and none of the people will ever know what really happened back there.”

“Not even I know what really happened and I was there,” she muttered. “You’re insane, you do realize that?”

“It’s been mentioned,” Darius said, giving her a grin that sent molten heat running down her spine.
How did he do that?
He pulled her forward into the main cabin, a sleek and streamlined compartment holding a row of acceleration couches and nothing else.

Built for speed, not comfort. Darius guided her toward an acceleration couch forcefully, strapping her into the soft webbing with quick, well-practiced motions. K’rilla’s mind raced.

She had to find a way to stall him. Surely her father wouldn’t allow this, he’d be coming with the arena’s guards…

“Stay here, I’m going up to the cockpit,” Darius said. “We’ll be leaving in a hurry, so keep your straps on if you know what’s good for you.”

He turned to walk away, then abruptly came back, leaning over her. He ran his fingers through her hair. Then he kissed her again, his lips soft and tender. Her fears melted as desire surged through her. He nibbled at her mouth, giving her just enough of a taste to make her long for more. By the time he finished, she’d forgotten to protest.

Whatever else the man was, he was gorgeous. She wanted him.
Really
wanted him. And not to talk to—she wanted to know what his cock felt like inside her body, how his seed tasted. She imagined taking him into her mouth—what would the texture of him feel like? Would the skin of his shaft be hard like the rest of him, or oh so soft to her tongue?

K’rilla wanted to go up to his ship with him and go to his cabin and see whether a man like he could make a woman scream.

He pulled away and K’rilla blushed fiercely, feeling suddenly dirty. A virtuous Saurellian maiden like her didn’t entertain thoughts like this. Not even old ones, like 17

Joanna Wylde

her. And even if she was foolish enough to fall for someone like him, she was a woman of reason. A professional with a career and the respect of her peers.

She would think her way out of this, K’rilla told herself with resolve.

She looked around, catching the eye of one of the soldiers who’d followed them on board. Like all Saurellians, he had fair skin with the dark hair and eyes of their race. He also had the half-wild look of an unmated man, predatory and more than a little frightening. He took the couch next to hers, fastening his own straps with the efficiency of long practice.

“Will any of you help me?” she whispered, not sure what she wanted the answer to be.

He offered her a feral smile.

“I do what the admiral says.”

18

Gladiator’s Prize

Saul turned off the ‘com after the first round of transmissions. Her family was lodging complaints, the priestesses were enraged, the Council’s First Advocate wanted to know if he’d lost his mind. He supposed it wasn’t too late for them to try intercepting him, although he wouldn’t surrender his ship for anything and he knew damn well they wouldn’t shoot him down. They might consider ordering the men on
Tessa’s Glory
to take him into custody, for what it was worth. Goddess help them if they tried.

Not that he wanted to start a civil war… But if it came to that, Saul knew he would.

He needed her that badly. The realization stunned him.

But the Saurellian powers-that-be would decide quickly enough to treat this as a romantic escapade. To be fair, it was. More than one Saurellian male had kidnapped his own lifemate away from her family, it wasn’t without precedent. He smiled at the thought. Lifemate. That beautiful, confused woman he’d left in the acceleration couch was all his, more stunning and perfect than his wildest fantasies. He wasn’t sure where or how they’d live or what the coming invasion meant for them, but he knew one thing.

Now that he’d found her, he’d die before giving her up.

Saul smiled and felt his already-heated loins pulse painfully, every heartbeat throbbing through his engorged cock. He couldn’t wait to slide it into her pussy. He leaned back in the seat, trying to ease his discomfort, monitoring the pilot as they approached the bulk if his flagship,
Tessa’s Glory.

Lifemate.

Saul licked his lips, wondering what she’d taste like.

K’rilla knew
Tessa’s Glory
inside and out. She’d spent most of her professional life studying battle cruisers, and when she’d been appointed to oversee the refit of the 19

Joanna Wylde

flagship’s new weapons systems, it was the proudest day of her life. But after months of work on those very systems, she knew all too well just how invulnerable the great cruiser was. K’rilla understood that the moment she set foot on the deck she could give up any hope of rescue.
Tessa’s Glory
had more firepower than any other ship in the fleet, and she had no doubt that the men commanding those ships would follow Saul Darius to the death.

So as they flew upward through the atmosphere, the same brilliant mind that made her one of the foremost thinkers of the engineering corps forced her to face reality. She wouldn’t get out of this unless Darius decided to let her go. Neither the Council nor her family could fight him, he had more power than all of them combined. And he’d been dead right about one thing.

They couldn’t afford a scandal on the eve of the invasion.

Her situation was hopeless. If he wanted to take her body, he would. She shivered, and to her shame it wasn’t from fear. K’rilla thought about the sweat on his body as he’d fought his opponents, the way his muscles played and twisted beneath his skin in the sunlight. Among a race of men known for their beauty and strength, he stood out like a god. She’d have to be dead not to want him.

What’s happening to me? Could he really be my lifemate?

She’d long ago accepted that she didn’t have a mate, and hadn’t always been entirely unhappy about that fact. Most women spent their lives having children—

something critical to maintaining the declining Saurellian population. Of course they were educated and many had careers, but those were hard to maintain while still raising a family. K’rilla had enjoyed her status as one of the foremost engineers on the planet, a specialist respected for her professional skills, not just her reproductive ability.

Still…sometimes when she saw a baby she wondered what it would be like to hold her own child.

And she’d certainly spent more than one night wishing for the comfort of a man’s arms. Not that she hadn’t tried a few out for fun, but no one had ever quickened her 20

Gladiator’s Prize

pulse like Saul Darius did. She’d never heard of him kidnapping a woman before, so this must be new to him too. He was a high-profile admiral, a man all the newsvids followed breathlessly. She would have heard about it if he did crazy things like this, wouldn’t she?

K’rilla tried to still her racing thoughts, but the longer she lay strapped into the acceleration couch the more frenzied she felt. And it didn’t help to know that after a lifetime studying battle cruisers, she was about to visit one for the first time. Everything was happening so quickly—she couldn’t help but feel excited. Just yesterday she’d told her father how much she wanted to see the fruits of her efforts. He’d laughed, and warned her that an unmated woman would be a dangerous distraction on a Saurellian warship. She needed to stay planetside, where it was safe.

Dad was wrong about me being safe.
He’d never met Admiral Saul Darius, a man who moved the world around him by simple force of will. Her family couldn’t begin to protect her. Yet when he floated out of the cockpit to check on her after they lost gravity, it wasn’t fear he inspired. She felt lust. The man oozed sex and his near nudity wasn’t lost on her. Neither was the hungry smile he gave when he saw her or the erection no loincloth could hide.

“You all right?” he asked, reaching down and touching her cheek. She nodded her head, noticing how every one of his soldiers suddenly found themselves fascinated by the walls or ceiling.

“How much longer before we get there?”

“About half an hour, depending on whether they try to intercept us.”

“Do you think they will?”

“Nope,” he replied. “You’re mine now.”

His words sent a little thrill through her, although she’d never acknowledge it. An alarm sounded and he looked up quickly toward the cockpit.

“Message coming in, sir,” someone said and he floated away from her, pulling himself back through the hatch. An eternity passed before she felt the slight bumping of 21

Joanna Wylde

the transport as the ship docked with the
Glory
. Then the gravity kicked in and her stomach dropped. Darius left the cockpit, released her from the acceleration couch and pulled her to her feet. He kept tight hold of her hand as they left the ship, acknowledging the salutes of the men who greeted them, oblivious of his arena garb.

He marched her past his lieutenants without a word of explanation, drawing her to one side of the hangar where a transit pod waited. Even in those few seconds of exposure, she felt eyes following her. And as the pod doors shut, she heard the quick murmur of voices. Male voices. Hungry voices.

Her father had been right—a battle cruiser was no place for a Saurellian maiden.

“What are you going to tell them?” she asked Darius as they settled into the pod’s seats. “You can’t bring a woman onto a warship. Everyone knows that.”

“Admirals have been known to bring their lifemates with them,” he said.

Her head snapped toward him and she gave a nervous laugh.

“That’s ridiculous, you aren’t my lifemate. I don’t have one.”

In an instant K’rilla found herself sprawled across his lap. She gasped, and he took advantage of the moment to kiss her, his tongue plunging deep as she forgot what she’d meant to tell him. His body was hard and unforgiving, from the pillar of his erection to the sleek bulk of his muscles. Everything about him contrasted with her. Delicious.

K’rilla smelled him too—male, sweaty and heady, and she felt a sudden desire to lick his chest. Darius released his grasp as she reached up, twining her fingers into his hair and pulling him back down toward her. He slid his hands down her back, reaching between the cleft of her bottom, pulling her legs apart until she straddled him. His cock pressed against her cleft, offering a taste of things to come. His fingers played along the tops of the backs of her thighs. Sweet fire teased her and she gave a small moan of desire.

“I need you,” Darius muttered. “I need you more than I need to be alive. I’ve fucked a lot of women, but it’s never been like this. I just can’t believe it took me so long to find you. If you aren’t my lifemate, then you’re close enough. I won’t let you go.”

22

Gladiator’s Prize

The intensity of his voice caught her, forcing her to focus on his expression. If anything, the man looked almost vulnerable. She felt a compelling urge to comfort him, to keep him from hurting or ever being alone again. That, combined with her desire, almost won her over. K’rilla shifted, feeling the length of his penis against her body, wondering what it would feel like to have that hard length slide up inside her opening, planting his seed. His face grew strained and he rocked against her. K’rilla felt sudden, heady power. This mighty warrior—the greatest their people had to offer—needed her profoundly. There could be no doubt.

“Are you sure it’s a lifemating?” she asked, wishing her voice had more self-assurance. “I’ve heard that males lose perspective, and that as they get older things grow…difficult…”

He laughed.

“I lost perspective a long time ago,” he said. “I know how that feels. You want to kill people, smash things until the rage and frustration burns itself out. But it
never
burns out. Touching you is like drinking cool fire and I want to guzzle until I’m quenched. You’re my lifemate, I’d stake everything on it. Have, probably. They’ll catch me and punish me sooner or later if we don’t make a mating of it.”

She thought about that, sliding herself back and forth across his stiffened length. Oh yes. She wanted him inside her body and she wanted it now. And it wasn’t like she had a lot of choice. She’d always been fairly ambivalent about sex, but not now.

“I’ve been attracted to men before,” she said hesitantly.