Talon (Galactic Cage Fighters Book Two)

by K. D. Jones

  When the blaring music stopped, Lindy let out a sigh of relief. Then her heart rate sped up as the other opponent entered the ring. His music was different. It was an older Earth song called Angels by Within Temptation. It was symphonic metal rock music. It started out soft and haunting, then built up. It brought emotion into the arena.

  Lindy kept her eyes on the man with the beautiful brown hair and golden tanned skin. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and every toned muscle shined and gleamed. There wasn’t a scratch or mark on his body. He was absolute perfection. She wondered what it would be like to rub her hands all over his thick, hard chest. Her mouth went dry at the image of her licking him, too. The wayward thoughts made her shift in her seat uncomfortably.

  Lindy’s wicked thoughts were interrupted by a jabbing elbow in her side. She glared at her friend, Christy. “What was that for?”

  “Is he everything you thought he would be?” she asked with that same gleam she had earlier.

  Lindy blushed bright red. “More,” she whispered back. He was so much more.

  Lindy couldn’t deny being a fan of Talon. Every time he had a fight she would make her friends watch with her. She probably wouldn’t have insisted on coming to the spaceport this evening if he had not been listed on the fighting program. She watched in awe as he went inside the cage, walking around with his arms spread out as if he was spreading his wings and preparing to take flight. He was amazing. Then his eyes snapped her way and locked onto hers. She was instantly turned on.

  *****

  The master pulled his black hood over his head and blended into the shadows. The female with the dark-brown eyes and brown hair had drew his attention the moment he saw her and her friends being led to the VIP section.

  He followed her as she went to refresh herself. He tried to get into her mind, but there was interference and she also had a naturally strong mental resistance to him. He would have to catch her unawares to be able to breach her mental defenses. He saw one of her friends standing alone by the drink stand. He walked up behind her.

  “Do you have the time?” he asked the woman.

  She turned and gave him a smile. The moment her eyes locked onto his, she was his to control. “Your friend with the dark-brown hair, what is her name?”

  “Lindy.”

  “Her full name?”

  “Lucinda May Stamos.”

  He wanted to ask more questions, but the other two women were making their way over. “You will forget that you saw or spoke with me. Turn around and order your drinks.”

  She did as he asked. As he backed away into the crowd, he watched the woman that somehow got under his skin in just mere seconds. He was determined not to let her slip through his fingers.

  Chapter Two

  Talon was bombarded with smells and sounds. He had to concentrate to block them all out. It usually helped to focus on one sound or smell, even on one individual person. He looked around trying to find his focal point. That was when he scented her, the woman in the VIP section with the long, dark-brown hair and naturally golden skin. She smelled like strawberries and cream. Her scent was so sweet and pure. His light-blue eyes locked onto her dark-chocolate brown ones. Those eyes could drown a man in their warm depths. As he focused his senses on her, he could hear her heart beat faster and her breathing catch. He wanted her and knew he would do everything in his power to have her. He turned in her direction taking in everything about her. It pleased him that she had not taken her eyes off him since the moment he stepped into the cage. He looked into her eyes and gave her a sexy-as-sin smile—one that even Zen would have approved of.

  Oh, shit! Did he just look at her? Lindy felt her hands grow sweaty and she wiped them on her jean skirt. She felt something else growing wet between her legs. Her nipples hardened beneath her tight blue t-shirt and she shifted again in her seat.

  “Hey, Lindy, I think you’ve got an admirer,” Christy leaned close and whispered to her.

  Lindy tried to break eye contact with Talon, but she just couldn’t take her eyes off him. He had the most alluring blue eyes. They drew her in. They were bluer than the sky back home. She tried denying it. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Okay, Miss Queen of Denial, but we both know the truth,” Christy teased her.

  “Shut up you two, the match is starting!” Carol yelled at the two of them just as the crowd started chanting Talon’s name. With each shout of his name, Lindy felt like she was being caressed. What the hell was happening to her?

  Lindy made herself focus on the fight that was taking place inside the cage. She was amazed by Talon. He really was a thing of beauty. His movements were graceful and purposeful. The way that he moved, was almost as if he were flying. He was like an angel without wings.

  Lindy majored in sports journalism. That was what she received her degree in, so she already knew a lot about this sport and about the fighting techniques he used. The GCFA was one of the largest sport fighting promotion companies in the universe. They produced events in different regions across the many galaxies, dividing them into eight divisions. GCFA promoted full-contact sports involving mixed fighting disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, and martial arts. If she could pick her dream job, it would be covering the GCFA circuit as a full-time journalist. Unfortunately, as a newly graduated student, she would have to start out at the bottom and work her way up.

  She watched Talon perform a flying kick to the Voltan’s head. Smoke came out of the full alien’s ears. When he shook his head to clear the dizziness, flames erupted on the top where the guy’s hair was. Clearly he was pissed. She caught her breath worrying for Talon’s safety. Lindy couldn’t hold back yelling her support.

  “Kick his ass, Talon!” Her friends gave her a strange look because she rarely cussed and was never aggressive. However, seeing Talon getting punched made something inside her snap and react. She wanted the Voltan to hurt.

  The Voltan lifted Talon and threw him across the cage making him hit the bars right in front of Lindy. His blood flew out and hit her in the face. She forgot to hold up her towel as everyone else had. Lindy didn’t duck from the blood that flew her way and she didn’t wipe his blood from her face for some unknown reason. She left it there and wore it with pride. When Talon slowly stood back up, he looked her directly in the eyes and smiled another sexy smile. It made her breath catch.

  Carol pushed something in her hand, which distracted her. She looked down and found a towel in her hand. She looked up at her friend in question. “What?”

  “You’ve got his blood on the side of your face,” she did a hand gesture indicating that Lindy should wipe it off.

  Lindy reluctantly wiped the blood off. When she had been staring into Talon’s eyes, she didn’t care that she wore his blood. It was strange, but she hated to remove the only part of him she had on her. It was both sad and slightly disturbing. She wasn’t a stalker at all, but she now understood how someone could become enthralled with Talon. This wasn’t anything like her—to get caught up in a guy like this. She never felt that way about anyone she had ever dated. Then again, she had only dated men her parents’ handpicked that held no romantic interest for her at all. Talon was different. He fascinated her.

  “Oh my gosh, Lindy! He’s totally grooving on you,” Christy yelled at her.

  Lindy looked up and was speechless. Talon was smashing the Voltan’s face into the floor while looking in her direction. Her body instantly heated from being the center of his attention.

  “You’re admirer is beating the crap out of that Voltan and dedicating every punch to you!” Christy yelled at her with envy in her eyes.

  What could Lindy say? It did seem like that was what he was doing. While some guys wrote poetry or sent flowers, Talon beat the shit out of his opponent, drawing his blood as a sonnet to her. She should be sickened by it, but strangely, found herself cheering him on.

  “Knock him out!”

  As if he had
been waiting for her to say the words, Talon reached back and threw the final punch that knocked out the Voltan. Lindy joined in with the crowd as they all counted down, “Five—four—three—two—one!”

  Then the bell rang announcing the end of the fight and the announcer claimed Talon as the winner. Lindy could barely tear her eyes off the male. Her friends had to drag her along behind them as they made their way to the back hallways. Only when Talon was completely out of sight did she regain her focus.

  “Hey, where are we going?”

  “To the after party. All the fighters are supposed to put in an appearance. Maybe Talon will show,” Christy told her with a wicked smile.

  Lindy blushed. Maybe she should convince her friends to leave. She wasn’t sure what she would say if she came face to face with Talon. “Maybe we should—”

  “Don’t even think it, Lucinda May Stamos! We came here because you begged us to and we sat through all those disgusting, bloody fights. Now it’s our time to let loose and have some fun. So suck it up!” Christy pulled on her arm even harder to get her to keep moving.

  Carol gave her the look that told her there would be trouble if she tried to sneak off. She loved her friends, but there were times when they really pissed her off. Especially when they wouldn’t let her hide behind her sheltered bubble like she wanted to.

  Lindy would go to the after party, but she wasn’t going for him. She just wanted to hang out and maybe dance. Yeah right. She shivered with anticipation.

  *****

  Talon was nervous. He saw the brown-haired girl being led off with the other females in the VIP section. It meant they were being taken to the after party. He practically ran out of the Healing Facility once they treated him. He needed to take a quick shower and change. No way would he show up to meet the beautiful girl who wore his blood in pride, looking like shit and smelling like it. That would not impress any woman.

  He hurried in the shower. His thoughts were consumed with the brown-haired woman. Seeing her standing there with his blood on her cheek, made him hard for some reason. He wasn’t sure why, but he became consumed with a need to claim and protect her. His cock was so hard he could barely walk with it. He quickly pumped for release in the shower and washed himself down. He was in such a hurry he almost tripped and fell while putting on his pants. Damn it! The female had him acting like a schoolboy going to the dance with the cheerleader. He needed to get a grip on his emotions or he would unintentionally scare the female away. He opened his suite door and almost mowed down his best friend.

  “Whoa, Talon. Where you off to?” Rage stood there with his shirt hanging open.

  “After party.” Talon didn’t elaborate. He made his way to the elevators.

  “I was coming over to see if you wanted to join in. I have our favorite girls over.” Rage looked at the door to his suite and licked his lips in anticipation.

  Talon shook his head. “I have to go to the after party. Maybe next time.”

  “She must be hot if you’re turning down our favorite bed partners.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” Talon felt himself blush for the first time ever. He was grateful when the elevators closed. He hoped no one else snagged up the brown-haired beauty before he got there. Zen was a major concern; the man was a walking boner. He’d just about screw anything that was bent in the right direction. The females always fell for his cheesy pickup lines, too. The idea of Zen putting his hands on the beautiful girl made his skin crawl. He’d kill Zen if he laid one slimy hand on her.

  *****

  “So what’s your name, my beauty?” a male voice asked from behind Lindy.

  She turned around in hopes that it would be Talon, but her face fell at seeing one of the other fighters standing there. She knew him from watching the fights. He was Zen the Sin. He didn’t look like a fighter in the face; he looked more like a male supermodel. He was totally GQ quality too. Damn, he was hot! But not the one she was looking for. She was going to ignore him, but Christy had other ideas.

  “She’s Lindy, I’m Christy, and this is our friend, Carol.” Christy gave him her most flirtatious smile.

  He reached out to take Christy’s hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on her knuckles. “I am Zen.” He did the same thing to Carol’s hand and had her giggling. As he reached for Lindy’s hand, he was cut off by a tall figure stepping between the two of them.

  “That will be enough, Zen,” a deep, sexy male’s voice rumbled.

  Lindy looked up at the new man. Her breath caught at seeing that it was Talon. He was here! When he turned his full gaze on her, she felt the whole room shift beneath her feet. She would have fallen backwards if his strong arms hadn’t reached out and caught her just in time. She couldn’t take her eyes off his deep-blue ones. They were so beautiful, so heavenly.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her, lifting her in his arms and carrying her to a nearby chair.

  Lindy blushed. How embarrassing. She almost passed out just gazing at the man. How was she going to explain it without sounding like an idiot? Christy helped her out though.

  “She didn’t eat dinner. When she doesn’t eat, her blood sugar level goes down. Thanks for catching her before she hit the floor. You move really fast.”

  No duh. He’s an Arian for goodness sake. Lindy frowned briefly at her friend before she turned back to Talon. “Thanks, I feel so foolish.”

  “Don’t. It could happen to anyone—human.” Talon looked at Zen who was hovering behind him. “Get her something to eat and something sweet to drink.” Zen, no longer donning his playboy act, nodded and ran off to get what Talon asked him for. It took only a few minutes for him to return with a beef sandwich and an orange soda.

  Talon kneeled beside Lindy and handed her the food. “I am Talon.”

  Lindy took a sip of the orange soda. She could feel his eyes on her the whole time. She smiled at him shyly as she reached out her hand to him. “I’m Lindy.”

  Chapter Three

  Lindy. It was a beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Talon was trying to keep his instincts in check. Everything in him demanding that he take her to his suite and claim her for his own. He was melting in those warm brown eyes of hers. He was going to scare her away if he didn’t get control of himself.

  “Nice to meet you, Lindy.” Talon straightened up and introduced his friends who were standing close, too close for his liking. “This is Taurus, Hammer, and Zen.”

  “Nice to meet all of you. These are my friends, Christy and Carol.” She pointed at her friends who were ogling Taurus and Hammer. She willed her friends to please not embarrass her with their outrageous flirting. That was hopeless, there was no way her friends would reign themselves in.

  “You guys are really well built,” Christy commented, winking at Hammer.

  Lindy groaned inwardly at her friend. She should have come by herself or made them leave with her right after the fight. She worried that Talon would think she and her friends were groupies. It also didn’t help that she made a fool of herself, almost fainting from him just saying hello.

  Talon noticed that Lindy seemed nervous. It was obvious that she wasn’t used to being the center of the attention. “Hey, everyone, get back to the party. Nothing here to see.” Talon was pushing the crowd to move along.

  Lindy let out a sigh of relief when the music started playing and everyone went back to dancing and having fun. Her friends went to dance with Taurus and Zen. She watched curiously as the huge fighter, Hammer, went to the corner and called someone on his phone.

  “What has your attention, Lindy?” Talon had pulled up a chair to sit beside her. He followed the direction of her gaze and frowned. Was she interested in Hammer? The thought had him feeling possessive. He would hate to have to fight a friend for a woman, but this woman had him thinking all kinds of strange thoughts.

  Lindy looked at Talon, once again caught in his blue gaze. She shook her head to clear it and answered him, “Your friend, Hammer, he doesn’t seem to be
into the party.”

  Talon watched Hammer hang up the phone and leave the room. “He’s got family issues.”

  “Don’t we all?”

  Talon laughed a deep throaty laugh. It sent shivers down Lindy’s spine. She wanted to make him laugh like that again. It lit up his whole face and his eyes sparkled like jewels.

  “I guess you’re right. What issues do you have with your family?”

  Lindy shrugged, “For starters, they dictate every single thing that I do.”

  “Ah, and you do everything that they dictate?”

  Lindy frowned. “No, not everything.” She paused when he gave her a questioning look. “Okay, most everything. It’s just easier than having to argue with them. They gang up on me with my uncle and I just—give in. I’m a wimp, right?”

  “It depends. Do you follow their orders when they’re not around?”

  Lindy laughed. “No, I usually do the exact opposite as soon as their backs are turned. Which is why I am here, instead of vacationing with my family.” Why was she telling him all of this? Way to make an impression, Lindy.

  “Sometimes it’s easier to tell a stranger things.”

  Had she said that out loud? She shrugged. “You’re right, sometimes it is easier.”

  Talon leaned forward to speak to her so no one else could hear. “I am a stranger to you now, but I would like to change that if you would let me. I want to spend time with you and get to know you better.”

  Lindy’s pulse beat faster with him being so close to her. She could feel the heat radiating from his body. She looked into his blue eyes that darkened slightly while watching her. He leaned in toward her neck. She thought he was going to kiss her there, but he just breathed in her scent. Right, he had a heightened sense of smell, which meant that he could smell her arousal. She blushed all over.