by Stone, Layla
“Who’s in our house?” Cara said, not sure why he was acting as if he didn’t see them or care that they were inside. “They’d better not be your other breeders. You promised me!” she hissed.
Jarr-o had not put on a shirt before he left to go and fight, and the pants he wore were ripped and filthy. Cara thought she could ignore him when he removed his boots and then slid down his pants. His engorged staff sprang to attention, and she felt her body immediately respond. Her lower belly clenched, and her body shivered. She needed to touch him so badly, she practically shook with it. Jarr-o’s eyes were black and dark with yearning, and that look alone reduced her body to a whirlwind of arousal.
He turned on the water, leaving his hand under the stream. “Those females were abused by the same Angny who kidnapped my sister.”
Okay, Cara thought, so the other females weren’t here to breed with Jarr-o, but still, what did he plan to do with them? “I’m sorry about your sister. I can understand why you would save the others.”
“I didn’t save them, according to Garr-n, she did.” Jarr-o stepped into the shower and left the door open so she could watch him wash off the blood and grime. Watching his rough hands move over his grey skin made her want to join him.
Realizing what he’d said about his sister, Cara responded, “Wait, I don’t understand. You saved them, but then you didn’t?”
Eyes closed as he rinsed the soap out of his hair, he said, “She’s alive, my sister. I will introduce you when we get out, but right now, I want you near me.”
His sister was alive. “Your sister’s alive? I thought she had been killed?”
Jarr-o wiped his eyes and turned off the water. There were no sheets to dry off with.
Cara noted, “I think the other females are wearing the sheet-towels.”
Jarr-o shook his hands and hair as he stepped out of the shower. Cara instantly wanted to jump him, but Jarr-o caught her eyes. “I want you to meet my sister, and then I am going to take care of that look in your eyes.”
She blushed, feeling awkward that he was so easily able to read her.
“I need some pants,” Jarr-o said, and that jarred her from her musings of what she wanted to do to him.
“I’ll get them.” She refused to allow another female to see Jarr-o’s naked body. She didn’t want anyone else to see what belonged to her. She exited the bathroom and opened Jarr-o’s door. Two females were sitting on the bed.
They both turned to her. One was a species Cara did not recognize, and the other was Angny, but she didn’t have tusks. Cara assumed that the Angny female in front of her was Garr-n. She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing in my house, Terran?”
Rude. Garr-n was talking like Jarr-o had when she’d first met him, degrading and arrogant. When Garr-n stood up, Cara thought she would be the better person. “I’m with Jarr-o. I came to get him a pair of pants.”
Garr-n looked at the other female on the bed, and then back at Cara. “I’ve moved his things to the infirmary. You can find them there.”
Oh, did she now? Which was why Cara blurted out, “How very unthoughtful of you, to move his things without asking.”
Garr-n’s lip curled up. “I’d watch your tone, little Terran. You’re in my house, not Jarr-o’s. Mine. He lives in the city. I live here. That’s how it’s always been.”
Cara forced herself not to argue back. This girl had been abused. And she was probably still in shock, so it might be best to leave it alone. Backing out, she ignored Garr-n’s comment about next time showing respect, and retrieved the pants for Jarr-o.
Inside the bathroom, Jarr-o pulled on his clothes and then grabbed her, pulling Cara in for a crushing kiss. Surprised, she didn’t move. Then, taking him into her arms, she felt him shaking. She noticed his warm, rough skin against hers. It felt familiar and right. She smelled him—the scent she had longed to smell again.
Cara gave back everything he gave her, moving her head to work with his tusks. She wasn’t going to let any differences—biological or otherwise—stop her. She poured all her fears and worries into the kiss, needing him. Desiring his closeness to prove to herself that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Hoping that this time, he wouldn’t let her go.
“We have to stop before I forget to introduce you to Garr-n and take you straight to bed,” he said before kissing her again.
Maybe if she told him that she’d already met Garr-n, he would take her straight to bed—wherever that would be now that his sister was acting like the commander-in-chief of his home. “I just met her. She reminds me of when I first met you.”
Jarr-o leaned back and looked at her face. “What did she say to you?”
Cara didn’t want to go into it. She attempted to kiss him again, but he wouldn’t let her move forward. In a huff, she said, “She said that she moved your stuff to the infirmary and that you live in the city and she lives here. That this is her house.”
Jarr-o’s eyes closed, and he pulled her forehead to his. He breathed deeply several times and then said, “New plans.” He didn’t expand on that, he just pulled her out of the bathroom and stopped when he saw Garr-n waiting for him, her arms crossed.
***
Jarr-o saw Garr-n’s defensive stance and wondered what had triggered it? He quickly remembered that his sister was always that way. Little things upset her, and now, her eyes drilled into Cara. He didn’t like that, and he wouldn’t allow it.
“Garr-n, this is Cara, my life breeder.”
Garr-n’s eyes widened for barely a second, then she scowled. “Her? A Terran?” Shaking her head, she finally looked up at her brother. “Why?”
Jarr-o didn’t answer right away. He felt Cara’s hand relax in his hand, as if she were trying to squirm out of his hold. Cara’s face turned away, and he remembered when she’d turned away from him inside the Federation transporter. Seeing her do it again brought back his anger.
Before Jarr-o could rectify his sister’s impoliteness, Garr-n looked down at his pants and rolled her eyes. “Ah. You need to have sex.” Cara’s jaw dropped. Apparently, his sister wasn’t finished. “When you’re done, you can take the couch. I gave the rooms to the others.”
Oh, did she? Jarr-o thought.
Garr-n looked him up and down. “After what they went through, they deserve a soft bed. They don’t need to be reminded of the sounds of sex, so keep it down.” After she’d stated her piece, she walked away, pushing the few females in the halls back into the bedrooms she’d assigned to them.
Jarr-o pulled Cara into the infirmary and looked around. He pulled down the box where he kept his keleps and opened the box. It was empty.
Garr-n had taken the money. His sister had not changed much. She still ran her life her way and took his money. It was too soon to bring it up, but if she were going to run her life, she would have to find a way to support herself, too.
In a whisper, Cara said, “I am not going to ask what happened to your sister. I can only assume that it was horrible, but I notice you’re not fighting her.”
He put the box back and began pulling vessels, rags, and other items off the cupboard shelves and putting them into a travel sack. “I used to argue with her—a lot—before she was kidnapped. But I know that the female she has hardened into is because of what she went through. I don’t think that arguing with her now will change anything. It would only be a useless battle.”
After he’d finished securing the travel sack, he grabbed a few large blankets and led Cara back to the kitchen. Garr-n was eating with the others when she peered up. “Leaving already? Couldn’t stand to see your sister more than a few seconds? Or maybe I’ll see you in the morning after you rut on your human for a while.”
He’d planned to leave it. Cara, apparently, didn’t. “I get you. I get your attitude and I get why you’re pissed.”
“You don’t know me, Terran.”
“Oh, but I do know you. I know what it’s like to be a female slave.
I know what it’s like to be threatened, hurt, and used. And that was just the crap I dealt with as a kid. When I got older, my life got worse. I built up a shield, too. Made sure it was strong so that no one could get inside my head or my heart. And that’s why you’re being ruthless towards your brother, who has been mourning your death. But you’re not cutting him any slack. You’re still pissed, and somehow, you blame him.”
Garr-n stood up from the table, an aggressive move Jarr-o didn’t like. But he didn’t stop Cara from continuing. “In a couple of days, maybe you’ll be able to sleep at night, but what I’m looking at,”—Cara pointed at Garr-n’s chest—“I doubt you’re going to sleep peacefully ever again with that chip you have on your shoulder. Until you can let go of your misplaced anger, you’re never going to sleep, and you’ll never find peace.”
Garr-n’s cold, calculating eyes pierced Cara as she stalked closer. “You think because you’ve been passed around the galaxies that you know me? That you understand what I’ve been through? How many times I begged to die and then woke up the next day knowing I had to go through another day of torture? No. You don’t know what I’ve lived with. I think it’s time you leave. And never come back.” Looking at Jarr-o, she said, “You should have known I was alive. You should have demanded to see a body, and you should have figured out that Karr-o was behind it all. I had faith in you once. But never again.”
Jarr-o pulled Cara towards the door. He could feel her shaking, and he hated it. Garr-n hated him. He couldn’t blame her; he was pissed at himself for not looking for her. He should have continued to look for her until he saw her body. He should have. But he’d foolishly let his father’s words sink in all that time ago…that she was gone.
His father. Jarr-o couldn’t think about him at the moment, or he would walk all the way to the city tonight to find Karr-o. But that was something he would take care of tomorrow. Tonight, he needed to set up a safe and private place for Cara and him to rest.
Finding a secluded, flattened boulder, he laid out the blankets and waited for Cara to lay down before he followed her. He didn’t want his sister’s words to taint this night or the time they had together, so he told Cara, “Don’t let Garr-n’s words stay with you. She’s always been angry.”
Cara rolled over onto her side to look down at him. “I hate what she said to you. You didn’t deserve that. You didn’t know. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know.”
She was silent for a moment. “I understand it will take her a long time to move past what happened to her, but she won’t ever forget it. I know I won’t forget what happened to me. But I’m also the kind of person who hates to dwell on things.”
“Garr-n likes to hold grudges. That’s her way of dealing with life. But I wish I could kill Gus-ng again for what he did to her.” And he wished he could reach out with an invisible hand and kill his father for what he did, too. It was unspeakable, and Jarr-o was still having a hard time grasping the depth of his father’s treachery.
“Grudges never solve anything.” Cara leaned down and kissed him, nipping his lower lip. “To be honest, I don’t know if I can forgive some people for what they did, but I don’t give them any of my mental time. I refuse to think about them.”
“Your parents?” He brushed his hand against her cheek, worried about her past haunting her.
“No, the mob boss who manipulated my parents into giving me up to settle their debt. That guy does not get my time.”
Jarr-o rolled them, so he was the one leaning over her. “No other man will ever get your time.”
“You know what I meant.” She smiled.
Jarr-o was still for a moment. “I like that smile. It tells me you want me.” She sucked in her bottom lip and nodded. Jarr-o lowered himself to skim his nose over the crook of her neck like he’d been aching to do since he watched her watching him take a shower. Intensity and heat demanded that he take what he wanted. And he did, by taking his time reacquainting himself with every inch of her soft, beautiful skin.
Chapter Eighteen
Reckoning
Jarr-o brought Cara into the city and stopped at an old trainer’s house to ask if he would watch over her while Jarr-o took care of some things. The old trainer agreed, but there were questions in his eyes. He’d had a life breeder of his own, but she had died several years back. He had stopped training then and lived by himself. Jarr-o trusted that the male would understand how important it was to keep Cara safe.
At the arena, Jarr-o walked down the familiar paths to the Chancellor’s office. He didn’t knock when he arrived. As he entered, he saw an Angny at the door with his arms crossed. “He said you’d come.”
“Where is he?”
The male gave him a look that said: “as if I’d tell you.”
“I know you, I’ve seen you fight. You can’t win against me.”
The male chuffed. “I’m not challenging you, Jarr-o. You’re the one talking about fights.”
Odd thing for him to say. It was also true. Jarr-o said, “He’s around here somewhere. I will find him.”
“As you can see, he’s not in here.” The male fanned his hand out. “Enjoy the search, it may take a while.”
“Or,” Jarr-o said as he threw a right cross, knocking the male to the ground, “you could make this easy and go tell him I’m here to see him.”
“I could be wrong, but it looks like you want to do more than see me,” the Chancellor’s voice carried from behind Jarr-o.
Jarr-o stood. He had one objective. “You sold Cara back to the Federation after you filled her head with lies.”
“Where did you leave her?” the Chancellor asked, his tone casual.
“None of your business. I want to know why you bothered to give me Diari when you didn’t think I would survive the underground fight. And why you lied to Cara about living in the city.”
Walking past Jarr-o and the other male, the Chancellor headed straight for his desk, picked up a small vial, and poured out what Jarr-o recognized as cinder oil all over his cut-up knuckles.
Confused, Jarr-o squinted. He didn’t think the old male fought anymore.
The Chancellor sat on the edge of the desk and waited until the wounds had healed before he spoke to Jarr-o. “You came to talk this out?” A humorous laugh. “You’re more like your father than I expected.” The Chancellor looked at the other male with an arrogant grin. “He came to talk.”
Jarr-o snapped. He was not anything like his father. Karr-o was the reason his sister had suffered for the past year. And Jarr-o planned to punish the male when he saw him next.
Jarr-o launched at the Chancellor, going for his throat.
The Chancellor moved just as fast, blocking the punch and using his body to knock Jarr-o off balance. With swiftness, the Chancellor reached out and grabbed Jarr-o’s leg, twisting it and dislocating Jarr-o’s knee.
Striking pain soared. Jarr-o roared. The Chancellor had the gall to chuckle. “You deserved that, and you know it. For the cheap shot when you walked out of my arena, and for being an idiot.” The old male wiped off his hand with a rag that was balled on the desk. “Now, we’re even.” He held out his hand for Jarr-o and grinned. Something only older gladiators did to the younger ones in training. It was strange that the old male would show such kindness. “I have something to show you.” His tone was ominous.
Jarr-o rolled to his side, pushing himself up slowly. Standing on his good leg, he held up his head. “If this is where you offer me a job, don’t bother.”
The old male snickered and said smugly, “I would look like a fool if I offered you a job. No, this has nothing to do with work, it has to do with your father.”
Jarr-o reached out like a shot and caught the Chancellor’s throat. “His fate belongs to me. He will die at my hands.”
The Chancellor got out of the hold and punched Jarr-o in the face, then chest, then used a roll maneuver to dislocate Jarro’s arm. The old male quickly bounded bac
k up, but was immediately knocked back down by a blow from Jarr-o’s good arm.
“You’re a good fighter, Jarr-o, but with the last of the Diari inside me, I could keep breaking your bones until you can’t move. But I really don’t have any room to spare while you recover. Not since your father is currently healing from our last talk.”
The old male immediately moved to pin Jarr-o to the ground. “You are as good as they say. Honestly, I didn’t think you would make it out of the underground arena. No one I know has ever done that.”
Jarr-o didn’t acknowledge the compliment.
The Chancellor called out Nar-sh’s name. The Angny who had been standing by the door left, returning a short while later with Karr-o’s bloodied and limp body. “He’s not dead. Unconscious, and will be for some time I’d imagine. He has made many enemies by making promises he can’t keep. After our chat, he confessed to the other males he owes debts to. In case you’re thinking of letting him live, know this,”—the Chancellor let go of Jarr-o and stood up, towering over him—“he not only promised fights between you and other males, but he promised they could have your life breeder, as well.”
Jarr-o’s wrath flooded his blood, giving him the strength to push off the ground and make his way to his father, limping as he went.
Reaching down, he touched his father’s forehead. “I was wrong about you, and now I will have that hanging over my head for the rest of my life.”
Karr-o was still unconscious, but Jarr-o had said the words he wanted to say. Now confronted by the heavy weight of what had to be done, he didn’t want another death on his hands.
Jarr-o righted himself and made his way to the door. There, he stopped and uttered, “Do it when he’s awake. He deserves to know what’s happening to him.”
The Chancellor looked him over as if he weren’t sure if he agreed with Jarr-o’s decision. But then, the old male nodded.
Limping, Jarr-o made his way back to the trainer’s home where he was taken care of and fed. Cara sat next to him, holding his good hand as the trainer sat on the opposite side of the couch in a single chair.
