Taurus (Galactic Cage Fighters (Book Three)) (10 page)

“Are you okay?” Taurus asked with concern.

She gave him a reassuring smile. “The pain is almost faded, it just feels a little awkward.”

Awkward?
That’s not what he wanted her to be feeling.
Damn it! He was messing this up.
“I’ll try to make it less…
awkward.
”

He kissed her lips again using his tongue to make in and outward strokes. Then he moved his lower body to mimic his kissing. He slid in and out of her body. She was so tight, he had to work not to come so soon. He needed her to orgasm again before he took his pleasure.

He trailed kisses down her neck and stopped at the juncture of her shoulder and neck. He gently bit down there growling with intensity.

Her nails dug into his back as she felt the pressure building up within her again. The uncomfortable feeling was gone. Replaced by an increasing tightness. She lifted her hips seeking what her body needed, matching his rhythm.

Taurus lifted her legs up higher on his waist allowing him deeper penetration. She was so tight. It was hell and heaven all in one small female. Things became more frantic when she started moving with him. He pumped harder—faster. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. He reached down between their bodies and tweaked her clit.

“Taurus!” Stars burst behind her eyes as the pressure that was building inside her finally burst out from her body.

Mine!
Taurus screamed silently in his head as he pumped his seed deep inside of her womb. He was still partially hard and didn’t want to leave her body yet. He held onto her as he rolled to his side. He continued to slowly move in and out of her. He looked at her face, which was relaxed and sated. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“Mmm…you’re still hard,” she commented.

“I’m not done with you—not nearly done.”

*****

He wasn’t done with her for a long time. She woke up sore in the strangest places but with a big smile on her face.
Not bad for her first time.  Not bad at all.
She reached a hand to search for him, but he wasn’t there.

“Taurus?” she called out but got no answer. Maybe he was in the bathroom. She got up and wrapped a sheet around her body.  She wasn’t comfortable walking around naked. She was worried when she didn’t find him in the bathroom. Where could he be? As she approached the main living space of the suite, she heard voices. One of them was a female’s voice.

Maya couldn’t help herself. She had to take a look at the female that had come unannounced to Taurus’s suite. The female was tall and voluptuous with long dark hair pulled to one side exposing a bare shoulder. She was beautiful and very familiar.

“After the last night that we were together, I just wanted to check on you, Taurus. You disappeared early from the banquet. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Gypsy. I appreciate the concern,” Taurus said to her gently. He was wearing a pair of jeans unbuttoned and no shirt.

“I am free this evening if you need me.” She stepped forward to rub her hand over his chest.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m…not alone right now.”

“Oh, you finally claimed your mate?”

“No! She’s not my mate. We’re not together that way.”

Ouch. That hurt deeply
. Maya wanted to turn away, but she was still rooted to the spot. She recognized the female as the one that Taurus was with the previous night. The Venetian.  How could he be with her one night and then with Maya the next? She didn’t understand it.  She kept watching against her will.

“I’m glad things are working for you again. Let me know if you want me.” Then she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Maya had had enough. She was finally able to get her feet to move. She turned and stormed back toward the bedroom. She grabbed her dress from the floor where Taurus had thrown it and pulled it on quickly. She tried to locate her underwear but could not find it.
Fuck it!
She didn’t need them anyway.

“Where are you going?”

She jumped at his sudden appearance.  Her heart rate was beating so fast, she could feel it all the way to her toes. “Back to my suite.”

“Why?” He walked closer to her, but she moved a step away not looking at him.

“We had our fun. It’s time to leave.”

“Fun? Is that all I am to you? A night of fun?” Taurus was hurt that she would turn out like all the other females that came to watch the fighters.

“It’s not like you don’t have females showing up at all hours of the night begging to be in your bed. You’ll be fine,” Maya couldn’t keep the bitterness from sounding in her voice.

Taurus was shocked. Little Maya had some fire in her. He liked it. “Gypsy is a friend.”

“Right. A Venetian hired by the GCFA to service the fighters while on circuit. Sounds real friendly to me.” Maya slipped her shoes on and walked past him into the main room of the suite.

“Stop!” Something inside him tightened when he saw her walking away from him.

She did stop. She couldn’t help it. But she didn’t turn back around.

“Gypsy is a friend of mine.”

“Were you with her the other night?”

There was a long silence. “We spent time together.”

“Naked?”

He didn’t answer. There was no correct way to answer that. “I don’t want you to leave yet.”

“It’s like you told your
friend
, we’re not together that way.” She walked out of the door. She hoped she would at least make it to her suite before she broke down into tears.

*****

She entered her suite. It was dark and very quiet. Coco’s bedroom door was closed. Her friend must have come back and gone to bed. She jumped when a noise to her left startled her.

“It’s just me. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Zen called out from the dark.

A light turned on and she blinked her eyes to adjust. “Oh, hi, Zen.”

“Would you like something to drink?” He held up a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.

“Sure.” She wanted to drown in the whole bottle. Maybe this would help relax her so she could fall to sleep immediately. She sat down on the sofa and waited as Zen poured a glass of wine for her.

“Here you go.” Zen handed the glass to her.

“Thanks.”

He poured himself a glass and then sat in the chair opposite of the sofa. “You want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“Why you are here alone right now, instead of in Taurus’s bed. Don’t deny you were with him, I can smell him all over you.”

Maya blushed and look away from him. “No offense, but it’s none of your business.”

Zen held up his hands. “Okay. I get it. I was only trying to offer you help if you needed it.” He made like he was going to stand.

“Wait, what kind of help?” She sat her wine glass down on the coffee table.

Zen smiled a devilish smile as he resumed his seat. “Whatever kind of help you need, beautiful.”

“Would you answer some questions about Taurus for me? I just don’t understand him.”

“I will to a certain point. However, there are things that only he can and should answer.”

“Okay,” she nodded her head in agreement.

“What do you want to know first?”

“Does he sleep around with a lot of women? Especially with…the Venetians.”

“Taurus is a healthy male in his prime with no mate, girlfriend, or wife. He can have sex with anyone he chooses to.”

“I understand all that. But does he sleep around like you do?” she regretted immediately the way that came out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to…”

“No, it’s okay. I know my reputation proceeds me wherever I go.  Don’t believe the worse so easily. But to stay on track, no, Taurus does not sleep around like I do. He is very picky about the women he is with. All of the male fighters and some of the female fighters have spent time with a Venetian while on circuit. Taurus is friendly with one Venetian and has spent time with her over the years.”

“Gypsy.”

“You met her I see.”

“Yeah, she just showed up without calling and wanted to share Taurus’s bed with him.”

“You know all this how?”

“Because I was in his bed when she showed up!” she yelled out. Then winced when she realized how loud she had gotten. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay to be upset. But unlike some of the rest of us, Taurus has only shared his bed with a single female at a time. What did he tell Gypsy?”

“That he was busy with someone else.”

“You see.”

“Then he told her that I wasn’t his mate and that we were not together in that way.”

“Oh,” Zen frowned.

She looked down at her lap. This was so uncomfortable. Maybe she should excuse herself to her room. She took a sip of wine.

“He’s an idiot.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “I thought you were friends with Taurus.”

“I am his friend. So as his friend, I have the right to say freely when I think my friend is acting like a fool.”

She shook her head. “He’s entitled to feel the way he does.”

“Honey, it was a lie. I’m sure Gypsy knew that as well. But you being mostly human, you wouldn’t have the senses to tell a lie so easily.”

She let the remark about her being mostly human go. She heard it plenty of times through the years.  “Why would he lie?”

Zen snorted. “He’s scared.”

“Of me?”

“Yes, in a way. He’s kept people at a distance for years, even his friends. Letting someone close enough to hurt him is scary.”

“But why?”

Zen looked at the closed door to Coco’s bedroom. “I will tell you some of Taurus’s history, but not all of it. It’s his story to tell. But I know he won’t open up easily. Maybe if you know some of it, you’ll keep him from pushing you away.”

“Tell me. I want to understand.”

“You were born in a relatively loving mixed family.”

“Relatively is an understatement.”

“Still, you have never been exposed to the perils many of us less fortunate have had to deal with.”

“I heard some stories but…I guess I was protected from most of it.”

He nodded his head. “I figured that. Are you familiar with the history of how a huge number of halfsies were created by splicing DNA?”

“Yes, my grandparents told me a little bit about it.”

“Many of the splicing was done by corporations who wanted to special order crossbreeds that they could use for numerous reasons including slavery and to build a strong army. This went on for years, until the Intergalactic Department of Justice uncovered the truth and sought to make DNA splicing illegal.”

“That’s what I heard.”

“What many don’t know, is what became of the halfsie children that had been created. The IDJ spent years cracking down the splicing. The children that had been created were placed in orphanages and foster homes.”

“Was Taurus placed in any orphanage? Is that why he’s off-setting?”

“The orphanages were not the worst places that halfsies could end up in. However, the IDJ handed over the halfsies to the orphanages without establishing any kind of regulations. Many orphanages fostered out children to the very same corporations that were responsible for the splicing.”

“What? That’s crazy. I never heard anything about that.”

“The IDJ isn’t going to want people to know they failed to secure the safety of innocent halfsie children. They have kept everything under wraps.”

“So, are you saying the IDJ sent Taurus and others like him to an orphanage only to be fostered out to the same corporations that spliced his DNA?”

“Yes.”

“What did they do to him?”

“What didn’t they do to us?”

Chapter Twelve

Zen frowned remembering the orphanage he had been in. The director of the orphanage had separated the halfsie children from all the other
normal
human children. They resided in the run down wing that was infected with rats. Thinking back on it, he would rather have stayed at the orphanage with the rats than be taken where he had ended up.

She reached out a comforting hand on his knee. “You, too?”

He nodded. “It was a long time ago.”

“What happened?”

“I know the corporations set up new facilities for the halfsies. Some facilities were for breeding, some were for the military training, and some were purely for scientific testing. Most halfsie children were sent to the breeding facilities.”

“Breeding facilities? But they were just children.”

There was a notable silence. Maya thought she was going to be sick. She sat her wine glass back down on the coffee table. Taurus had been abused sexually as a child. She couldn’t think of anything worse. Though her own parents abandoned her, she had always been surrounded by her grandparents’ love. They would have killed anyone who tried to harm her in that way. It hurt to know that Taurus and many others like him had no one to stand up for them.

“Each halfsie’s experience in the facilities will differ somewhat. To survive, they had to adapt quickly. Many become reserved and keep people at a distance. It’s is a protective mechanism. The closer someone gets, the more it could hurt if they are suddenly removed.”

“His behavior makes a little more sense to me.”

“So you’ll go back to his suite and make amends?” Zen sounded hopeful.

“No. It still doesn’t excuse his behavior with Gypsy.”

“Come on, Maya, give the male a break. He is used to denying his feelings. For him to be vehement about it only tells me how much he really does care.”

“It doesn’t excuse him being with Gypsy. It was the same day that we kissed at the photo shoot. I thought…”
Damn it.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Zen moved to sit beside Maya putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. He hated to see females cry. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I thought…the kiss was so real. I thought maybe it meant something. Then tonight we…did more. He doesn’t want more than a one night stand.”

“Trust me, Maya, he wants more than one night. Taurus has to push through his self-preservation instincts though. It may take a while. Give him some time.”

“I don’t know …”

“Don’t decide anything tonight. You are upset and you might regret your decision in the morning. Go to bed and sleep on it.”