Torch (2 page)

“What can I do for you, Princess?”

“What ship is that?" She pointed out the window.

“Oh, that’s the Galactic Cage Fighter Association ship. They are only stopping briefly between flights and will be leaving in a few hours. I hear they are hiring new fighters for the next season.”

“They are having tryouts here on the Isle of Isia?”

The servant shook her head. “No, they are only stopping here to refuel before leaving to head for the Beta Region where the tryouts will be.”

“Thank you." She dismissed the servant. She looked at the ship with longing. A thought so ridiculous crossed her mind. Could she do that? Did she have any other options? She had none. This was it. Her one chance at freedom. She had to take it.

Chapter One

Six Months Later…

“You need to knock her out!" Zara yelled out from outside the cage.

“I am trying to knock her out!" Isis yelled back. Damn practice was kicking her ass. She was going one on one with Gana.
Big mistake.
Gana was one of the strongest female fighters besides Zara the Amazon. Not to mention Gana was a Priman halfsie and could hang upside down out of her reach.

“Come on down here, monkey girl!" Isis taunted her. That was another big mistake, to taunt a pissed off Priman.

Gana growled and let go of the bars she was gripping with her feet and landed right on top of Isis. It happened so fast she didn’t have time to move out of the way. They both landed hard on the floor.

Isis tried to catch her breath and focus. But Gana was more experienced and recovered from the fall they took. She punched Isis over and over. Isis couldn’t move her arms because Gana was sitting on them with her knees.

If her hands were free, she could touch Gana and freeze her. But that was not doable in her position. Her only other option was to freeze her own body but Isians were taught at an early age to never freeze themselves, it could stop their heart rate and they might not ever recover.

“Tap-out, Isis, you’re done!" Zara yelled at her.

No...she…wasn’t. Isis lifted her legs up and wrapped them around the front of Gana’s chest. She used her legs to pull the woman backwards. She just needed a little space to free her arms.

She didn’t get all the way loose but was free enough to reach out and touch Gana with her fingertips. Gana’s movements slowed down and Isis shoved her off her and stood. She glanced over at Zara with a smile. “I win.”

Zara grunted. “Everyone, go to lunch. We’ll meet back here for afternoon practice." When Isis was about to get out of the training cage, Zara stopped her. “Not you. You will stay.”

They watched as Gana rose slowly to her feet and limped out. She grumbled the whole time and glared at Isis. Gana was not the most friendliest female fighter on their team.

Isis looked at Zara questioningly. “What? I won, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you won a practice match. Barely. It’s not good enough. You can’t rely completely on your Isian abilities. It has become a crutch for you. From now on, you will not use your Isian abilities during practice matches.”

“What? You can’t do that!”

“Oh I can. The GCFA has given me complete control over the training for the female halfsie fighters. They didn’t want to have another incident like the last time.”

“But that’s not fair, everyone else uses their abilities!” Isis frowned.

“Yes, but they don’t rely on them like you do. You can use your abilities during live fights, but not during practice. We need to build up your real fighting skills and strength. You will do ten laps around the training facility before you go to lunch." Zara walked off.

“Shit." Isis climbed out of the cage and jumped down to the floor. She thought she had been doing better with her fighting.
Obviously not.
She stretched before she started her laps.

“Don’t let her get to you," a male voice said from behind her.

Isis jumped forward startled. She hadn’t heard anyone sneak up on her. She turned around and frowned. “Torch, don’t sneak up on me.”

He gave her a half smile. “I wasn’t sneaking up, you just weren’t paying attention.”

She continued to stretch, raising her arms over her head. It brought the sports bra she was wearing tighter against her chest. She lowered her hands when she saw Torch eyeing her body. “Was there something you wanted?"

Oh yeah
. But he didn’t think she would want to hear what he really wanted. “I just wanted to tell you not to let Zara get to you. She’s bossy and all, but tell her to back the hell off if she keeps it up.”

“Look, I don’t have a problem with Zara. She has stepped in to help train us and some of her pointers are really helpful.”

“Like not using your abilities at practice?" He moved closer to her.

Isis looked around the training facility and realized they were the only two left there. Everyone else had gone to lunch. She needed to hurry up and get away from him. She didn’t like the way he made her feel. Her body got all hot and...wet. When he was up close to her like he was now, his height seemed to tower over her short stature. She knew she was the shortest fighter in the GCFA but she didn’t want the constant, uncomfortable reminder. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn’t realize he was still talking to her until he touched her arm.

Isis jumped back out of his reach. “What are you doing?”

He held up his hands to show her he was no threat. “Easy. I was just asking how you felt about Zara banning you from using your abilities in practice. Seems kind of harsh to me.”

“I understand why. She is making me improve my fighting skills,” she told him.

Torch looked her up and down. “Your abilities are your fighting skills.”

She frowned at him. “I can fight without freezing people.”

“Sure you can," he snorted and gave her another look like he didn’t believe her.

She was angry now and narrowed her eyes at him. “Come on then, I’ll show you skills." She walked to the fighting mat on the floor. She turned and motioned him forward with her hand.

“I don’t think this is a good idea, honey. You might get hurt." He stepped closer to the mat warily.

She quirked up her eyebrow. “Are you scared?”

He smiled at her clear challenge. “Oh it’s on.”

They circled each other. Torch swung out but she was short and easily dodged underneath his arm. Then she stepped forward at the same time she kicked back with her foot hitting his leg hard almost, but he didn’t go down like she wanted him to.

“Sneaky little thing aren’t you?" He turned around watching her, tracking her with his eyes.

She had her silvery blonde hair braided and pulled up in a ponytail. What he wouldn’t give to spread her hair across his pillow. She had the cutest little nose, it drove him crazy just thinking about it.

Torch had been attracted to Zara when he first met her and then joined the GCFA, but the attraction to Zara seemed to have been one way. Every time he had attempted to flirt with Zara, she would turn away from him. If she had been any other female, he would have simply moved on and focused his attentions elsewhere, in the end that is what he had done when she chose Trig.

The first time he saw Isis when he came to GCFA, he wanted her but he did try with other females to forget the pretty Isian. But he found himself time and time again being drawn to this short, pale beauty. He didn’t understand the pull he felt for her. Sure she was beautiful. However, normally he liked tall, strong halfsie females with a darker coloring—like Zara. Isis was as different from Zara as night was from day. He appreciated those differences.

“Umph!" he grunted as she punched him in the stomach. Damn, she was stronger than he thought.

“You’re kind of slow. You must be tired already," Isis teased him. Playing mind games with the opponent was all part of the GCF world.

Isis tried to kick him on the side of his knee. But Torch reached out and caught her leg making her lose her balance. She fell to the mat. The wind knocked out of her lungs.

Torch took advantage and leapt on top of her, pinning her arms up and behind her head. He gave her a smirk. “Well, well, looks like I win this match, blue eyes.”

“That’s what you think." Isis gripped him around the waist and somehow managed to roll them until their positions were reversed. She now sat astride him and had his hands pinned over his head.

“What do you have to say for yourself now,
brown eyes
?” she asked with a satisfied look.

“Please roll those hips a little to the left,” Torch groaned, his cock fully aroused and pressing against her.

Isis’s eyes widened in surprise. Then she touched his hands with her fingertips and let her abilities go to Torch’s skin. “You ass!”

Torch felt a freezing burn at his hands that quickly traveled down his body. “Ouch! That’s not fair. You’re not supposed to be using your abilities,” Torch complained as Isis got up from her position on him to stand.

“Who said anything about being fair." She walked off, letting her hips sway and trying to hide her heavy breathing.

Chapter Two

Isis finished the laps and headed back to her suite. She needed to take a shower, eat lunch, and clear her head of all thoughts of the irritating Voltan.
How dare he touch her with his...bits!
Worse, how could she have let him? The male drove her crazy.

If she were back on her home world of Isia, the male would have been beaten by the royal guards for daring to touch her. She sighed. It felt nice though to be touched. It had been so long since anyone dared it. Being a princess could be quite lonely. Even now, free from her home world, she didn’t allow people close to her.

Well, with humans she had to constantly fight her nature just to touch them. Her body temperature was naturally cool and most humans when she shook hands with them pulled away from her quickly. Even other alien species found her abilities too risky to get involved in a physical relationship. The men she had tried to date before feared she would lose control of her abilities in the moment of passion and they would freeze or die. Hence, why she had never gotten past second base with anyone.

She tried to explain that her abilities were not on twenty-four/seven. Sure her body temperature ran on the cool side. But she was in complete control of her abilities and never touched anyone or froze anyone accidently.

She entered her suite and went straight to the bathroom. She turned on the cold water and removed her training clothes. It was pointless to shower, she had an afternoon training session and she knew Zara would be working her hard. She groaned just thinking about the torture Zara was going to put her through. Her body was overheated from training and she needed to cool herself off. Isians could overheat, making themselves sick if they didn’t cool themselves off after they reached a certain level. Practice always got her temperature above the mid-level so she had to cool down before continuing.

This had never been a problem for her when she was on the Isle of Isia. But ever since she left, she found she had to constantly monitor her body temperature. She learned the hard way what happened when she didn’t. She had to learn a lot of things since then. She thought back to six months before.

*****

Isistania walked down the glass tunnel walkway. It was the only way to and from the docking port. She wore a hood over her head and clothes that were borrowed from one of the servants. She didn’t want to take the chance someone would recognize her.
She walked into the entrance of the docking port station up to the ticket counter. “I would like to get a ticket to travel on the GCFA ship please.”

“Those tickets are quite expensive. Perhaps another ship would do?" the counter person said, looking at Isistania’s dark cloak with disdain.

“No, I want the GCFA ship. I have the money. Is this enough?"
She pulled out her purse that had all her money inside.

“Very well. They will be done boarding in twenty minutes so you need to hurry to process your bags through security.”

Isistania lifted her carry-on bag. “This is all I have with me."
She didn’t want to be overloaded with things while traveling. She had the money to buy anything she needed.

“Proceed to boarding then.”

Isistania grabbed her bag and turned toward the boarding panels. She handed the checker her ticket and he motioned for her to proceed. Once inside the ship, she found her seat and waited for takeoff. That was when she felt the heat, and it was stifling. She got up twice before takeoff and five times while on the flight to go to the bathing area and splash cold water on herself. She had never been more thankful to reach the spaceport where the GCFA was conducting tryouts.

She didn’t have to work for money, she had enough with her and she brought some of her family heirlooms to sell. But she wanted to earn her way, experience what everyone else who wasn’t royal experienced. She also had a fear that her money would be tracked. She didn’t want that. So she needed a job. She wasn’t experienced in anything. Her guardians had taken her out of school and hired a tutor for her. She wasn’t qualified to do anything really. She also needed a job that would give a type of anonymity so no one from Isia would find her there.

What one thing would no one ever expect of her? The answer was so absurd. She could work as a fighter for the GCFA. Her father had trained her for years on self-defense. She was good. She still practiced what he taught her every day so she could stay fit. So she went to tryouts, and then got her ass kicked, but somehow she landed a job as a fill in. She began training immediately.

It was after her first training session she learned that if she didn’t moderate her body temperature, she would suffer dire consequences. She had to be taken to medical in the middle of a practice fight. They iced her body to cool her down for at least twelve hours. After that nightmare, she learned to take frequent cold showers, drink cold water every two hours, and go to medical to be iced after each fight.