Talon (Galactic Cage Fighters Book Two)

by K. D. Jones

  Nearly 12.3 to 27 million people are trapped in slavery

  8.4 million Children work as slave laborers, prostitutes, or soldiers worldwide

  80% of those trafficked are women and nearly 50% are children

  Find out more about charities helping to rescue these victims.

  www.globalangels.org/trafficked-kids

  Excerpt from Katieran Prime

  Katieran Prime Book One

  By KD Jones

  Prologue

  A man yelled out, “Cassandra Tomlin!” Turning her head, she gave herself away. It was a knee jerk reaction to hearing her name. The next thing she knew, two men started chasing her. Dropping the takeout food she had bought from the local diner she took off, weaving in and out of the busy foot traffic on the sidewalk. Ducking in between two buildings in a dark alley, hoping to hide in the shadows.

  Cassie saw and could hear the two men stop at the entrance of the alley. One man was tall and thin, wearing a blue baseball cap. The other guy was average height with a big beer belly and short, brown hair.

  The beer belly guy was trying to catch his breath as he said to the other guy, “Did … you … see … where she … went?”

  Thin Man looked frustrated. “No, but I think she ran into one of these two buildings.”

  The beer belly guy nodded his head. “You go check one of them out and I’ll check out the alley.”

  “I don’t know about splitting up. Mr. McCormick refused to pay any more of our expenses if we don’t bring the bitch in soon,” thin Man said.

  “I know, my ears still hurt from him yelling at us over the phone. Go … check the building and I’ll get the alley. If I don’t find anything, I’ll come and help you search,” the beer belly guy told him.

  Thin Man nodded and headed into the nearest building. Beer Belly Guy headed into the alley where Cassie was hidden.

  Cassie crouched behind a dumpster, trying to get her racing heart to slow down. She prayed to God that the guy would pass her by. The man shuffled around the alley, looking into almost every corner. He was turning to head back out of the alley when Cassie lost her footing and fell back onto her butt. Shit!

  She got to her feet and checked to see where beer belly guy was.

  A chunky, male hand grabbed her arm and dragged her out from behind the dumpster. She struggled to pull free, but he was much stronger.

  “I’ve got you now, bitch!” he yelled at her and started dragging her towards the entrance of the alley.

  “Let me go, asshole!” she yelled back as she dug her feet down on the hard concrete to slow him down.

  He stopped, grabbed her by both arms, and shook her. “Do you know how many states I had to chase you through? I should just turn you over to the Earth World Government; let them deal with you and your illegal pregnancy. Can’t do that, though, or I won’t get paid by your boyfriend.”

  “EX-boyfriend!” Cassie yelled back at him. She needed to get away before he called the thin guy for back up. Think, what would Jaxon do? She would …

  Cassie kneed the guy in the nuts, while he was bent over howling in pain, she balled her hand into a fist and swung as hard as she could.

  Chapter One

  The little diner in Oklahoma City was overcrowded with people. They weren’t eating. They were all staring at the TV, watching the latest news report.

  “This is the video we have of the aliens who call themselves Katierans,” the newswoman explained as they showed a video clip of two good-looking men wearing sunglasses walking into the Capitol building. The newswoman continued with her story, “It is rumored that these aliens plan to help Earth with its overpopulation problem. Negotiations with the EWG have been going on for over a year. My sources with the EWG say that an agreement has been reached. Further details are expected to be released within the next few days.”

  “There you are.” A young, attractive woman, with brunette hair braided and hanging halfway down her back plopped onto a stool at the bar beside a smaller woman wearing a coat with a hood over her head.

  “We shouldn’t be here, Jax. I don’t want you to get in to trouble, too,” the smaller woman told her.

  “Cassie, you can’t keep going on like this. You need medical care, food, and a safe place to live,” Jaxon said with concern in her voice.

  “I’m doing okay.” Cassie tried to sound convincing.

  “They almost caught you! You still have bruises on your arms,” Jaxon stated angrily.

  Cassie thought back to five months ago. She and her then boyfriend, Senator-in-Training Scott McCormick, had a little accident that resulted in an unauthorized pregnancy. She’d grown up an only child, and wanted a family of her own. She had been excited. She’d hoped Scott would also be happy about the situation and would have agreed to apply for a special license from the EWG, the Earth World Government.

  Instead, Scott had been obsessed the pregnancy would ruin his political career. He had dropped her off in front of an abortion clinic and threatened to turn her over to the authorities if she didn’t go through with it.

  She had stood there alone in front of the imposing building and tried to decide what to do. She’d missed her parents and her grandparents, who had raised her when her parents died. The only other family she had left was her best friend, Jaxon Malone. She’d made the decision to keep her child. She’d then taken all the money she had saved from her bank account and went on the run.

  Unfortunately, Scott hadn’t given up easily. He’d hired several detectives to track her down. They had found her at almost every location she tried to hide. She had escaped each time, but the last time was a close call.

  “I still think this is a bad idea.” Cassie looked around the diner to make sure no one was looking or listening.

  “Trust me. I think this is the best solution to your problem.”

  Cassie caught sight of her reflection in the mirror on the wall and didn’t recognize herself. She used to have a nice, curvy figure. She had big breasts that always caught the attention of men. Clear, ivory skin, because redheads typically didn’t tan well. She had full, pouty lips and bright, green eyes. Now, she was too thin, too pale, with cracked lips, and her eyes were a little bit dull. She looked sickly.

  “I don’t like this, but I’ll go with you,” Cassie finally agreed.

  *****

  Prime Leader RendEL of the Katieran Nation, Ren to his family and close friends, sat alone in the back of the black limousine feeling the weight of the night pressing in on him. He had just finished dinner with the leaders of EWG, short for the Earth World Government. It seemed as though every leader that had attended the dinner presented him with an unmated sister, daughter, cousin, friend, even an ex-wife. There had been so many females there, all of them vying for his attention. Some boldly grabbed personal parts of his body. It was extremely overwhelming.

  Ren saw himself as an average Katieran male. He was six foot seven and weighed two hundred forty pounds, of all muscle. He had black hair that just reached his shoulders, which he usually wore pulled back and tied. He was broad shouldered with skin that was a golden bronze, similar to Earth’s Native Americans.

  His eyes were a deep, dark blue, with gold pupils that all Katierans shared. His looks were typical of the males of Katiera, but on Earth he was considered exotic and his status as Prime was looked upon as equivalent to royalty. He didn’t feel that way at all. He was just a warrior at heart, intent on keeping his people from becoming extinct.

  The Katieran Nation needed things to go well with this trade agreement. When his people had received the SOS over a year ago from the EWG, hope surged through his home world. Ren would deal with being in the uncomfortable spotlight for his people’s sake.

  Earth’s people struggled with an overpopulation problem and the continued depletion of their natural resources. The earth had reached Situation Critical and the planet would be uninhabitable in fifteen years’ time if something weren’t done immediately.

  The Katieran Nation s
uffered from the exact opposite problem. They had an abundance of natural resources, but they were no longer breeding children. In fact, only a handful of children had been born in the last twenty years. The males outnumbered the females seven to one. His youngest brother, Prime Medic SydEL, was recently appointed the task of heading the research team trying to resolve this problem. Until then, it was up to Ren to find a way to bring compatible females to his planet for repopulation.

  Human females seemed to be compatible. The medical records and DNA samples that SydEL reviewed indicated there would be no problems with human and Katieran breeding compatibility. Also, Ren with both his brothers and members of the Katieran High Council had viewed previously recorded couplings between human males and human females. The anatomy and physiology of the two species were very similar.

  Katierans had highly developed eyesight, hearing, taste, and an even greater sense of smell. They typically relied on their senses to help them find their mates.

  Ren’s thoughts returned to tonight’s dinner and the many females that had tried to get him to lay with them. They were so strange with their dark pupils and their delicate skin. None of the women had appealed to him. Unfortunately, some of those women were planning to relocate to Katiera. He was going to make every effort to keep his distance from those females.

  The limousine stopped right outside of the Skilton Hotel in Oklahoma City, where his people were interviewing applicants for relocation. Those applicants chosen to relocate were called refugees. Ren hoped that his older brother, Prime Commander KydEL, had a better evening than he’d had.

  *****

  Prime Commander KydEL stood at six foot eight, with broad shoulders, well-muscled arms that were tight against his dark blue uniform, which wrapped around his upper body like a kimono, molding to his muscular physique. He had black hair that was cut very short and dark brown eyes with the gold pupils. He was waiting for Ren at the front door of the hotel.

  “Greetings Kyd, how are the interviews going?” Ren asked him as he continued through the double doors of the hotel. Females turned to watch the two men walk past. They were a striking pair. Many of the females were scented with arousal.

  “The interviews are almost done. How did it go with the EWG state dinner?” Commander KydEL looked at the pained expression that came across his brother’s face and saw the answer. “That good, huh?”

  “I hope I never have to do that again. Those females…” Ren left the rest unsaid. He shook his head, hoping to wipe the memory of the evening from his mind.

  Beep … Beep … Beep. The commander’s comm link went off, letting him know one of his lieutenants was trying to reach him. “Go, lieutenant.”

  “We have a security breach in the interview room!” the lieutenant sounded out of breath.

  “I’m on my way!” He looked at Ren and knew he had heard about the breach. Ren nodded that he was coming too.

  The two men turned to run at full speed toward the hotel ballroom that was being used to conduct the interviews. As soon as they burst through the double doors, they both came to a screeching halt. They were unprepared for what met their eyes.

  About fifteen Earth females stood cowering against the walls of the interview room. That wasn’t what caught their immediate attention. Near the center of the room were six Earth females standing in a tight circle, with one lone female standing in the center of the protective circle. The female seemed to be swaying slightly.

  Katieran warriors surrounded the circle of Earth females, giving commands to the females to calm themselves, to which the Earth females responded by shouting back at the warriors to shove something up… Ren wasn’t exactly up on Earth vernacular. One female, with a brunette braid falling midway down her back and dressed in Earth’s warrior attire, seemed more aggressive. As two Katieran warriors advanced towards her, the female warrior took them both down to the floor.

  Ren looked at his brother, who seemed just as shocked as he was.

  “By the fiery flames of Kitana, what is happening here?” The commander looked at the nearest lieutenant who was sweating fiercely. “Why are the females acting this way?”

  The lieutenant looked at both the Prime Leader and the Prime Commander and hated that he was the one having to explain the situation. “Prime Commander, those seven females came in right at the end of the interview session. The medics had been dismissed, so the females were not given the translators. We tried to explain the interviews were over, but they did not understand without the translators.”

  The lieutenant continued, “We noticed right away the female in the middle of the circle was breeding and seemed very sick. We tried to get her to come with us to have the medics check her out. She did not understand and feared us. The female warrior took a protective stance and the other five females joined her and formed a protective circle. The female breeding looks to be in very bad shape.”

  Ren could barely make out the female in the circle’s center. She was wearing a large jacket and had covered her head with a hood. But he could smell her. She had the extra hormones associated with breeding. She smelled like the sweetest flowers grown in Katiera’s well-groomed gardens. He liked the way she smelled.

  “Warriors, report!” Commander KydEL yelled. All the warriors presented themselves before the Prime Commander. Kyd stared into the light brown eyes of the female warrior before he turned his attention to his warriors. He touched the comm link attached to his ear to call the medics back to the interview room immediately with seven translators.

  He assigned each warrior the responsibility of carefully subduing a female while the medics administered the translators. Kyd planned to subdue the female warrior himself, since none of his lieutenants wanted the task. Ren would be responsible for reaching the female breeding and ensure her safety.

  All Katierans held the health and safety of females and children to be of the highest importance.

  As the medics arrived with the translators, each warrior took a spot in front of a female. Kyd stood in front of the female warrior. His six foot eight towered over her five foot five height. He liked that she was much smaller than he was. He gave her an arrogant smile that made her respond by sticking out her tongue at him. His sex instantly hardened. Damn female.

  Ren stood back behind the warriors but kept himself at a slight angle so he could keep his eyes on the female in the center of the circle. The other females were yelling words that didn’t quite translate to Katieran. Ren wasn’t sure that was a good sign.

  The Commander let out a loud shrill whistle, which was the signal for the warriors to move. As one, the warriors surged forward, each one grabbing hold of a female and dragging her away from the circle. The warriors wrapped their arms carefully, but tightly, around each female, holding their arms down by their sides.

  Ren held his hands up non-threateningly as he approached the frail female. He could smell her panic. She only stood about five foot three. She shivered and looked very pale. She looked up at him as he neared and turned in an attempt to run, but she lost her footing. She started to fall.

  Ren acted quickly as he rushed forward to catch the female in his arms. The hood fell off her head to reveal long, red hair. It was as flaming red as Katiera’s second sun. Beautiful hair. He lifted her easily into his arms and pulled her gently against his chest. She looked into his eyes and his breath caught. She had light green eyes. They were a shade lighter than the Waters of Katiera, and just as beautiful.

  The female struggled to get free, which was pointless, he was too strong. It was all too much for the weakened female. She soon fell unconscious in his arms. Worry for the female’s well-being consumed him. He yelled for the medics.

  He carried the unconscious female down the hallway, following the medics. They led him to the room that they were using as a temporary Medic Room to conduct medical exams on the refugees.

  The female’s intoxicating scent was playing havoc with Ren’s body. He pressed his nose against her neck for a deeper smell. She sm
elled so good to him. He growled when one of the medics attempted to take the female from him. What was wrong with him? He had never been possessive over a female before. He barely knew this female, yet her scent was bringing out protective instincts Ren didn’t know he had. He knew he had to put some space between them immediately, for everyone’s safety. Nothing was more dangerous than a Katieran male going into protective mode over his mate.

  Ren reluctantly left the weakened female in the temporary medic room. He instructed the lead medic to inform him when the female had recovered. He then went up to his hotel suite to shower and change. He hoped that by washing his body of the female’s scent and putting distance between them, the urges he felt would fade away. It didn’t work. Ren still found himself obsessing over the human female with the lovely red hair and green eyes.

  Dressed now in casual Katieran robes, Ren walked into the sitting area of the suite. He found his brother Kyd, still dressed in his military attire, sprawled out on his small couch. He frowned at his brother as he took the chair opposite him. He was irritated about his attraction to the human female and did not want to have to deal with company right now.

  “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be questioning the human females about what happened in the interview room?” Ren asked his brother.

  Kyd closed his eyes. “I got kicked out of the room by Lindsey.”

  Lindsey Carreli was the Katieran Legal Advisor for Earth Relations. Ren had hired the Earth female a year ago when they started trade negotiations with the EWG. She had seven years of Earth law experience and two years of working directly with the EWG. She was also a beautiful female.

  Ren laughed as he imagined the tall, slim, brown-haired female tossing his brother out of the room. “Lindsey is a good female. You should consider her for your mate.”

  “I would, except for the fact she has her sights set on you. I question her taste,” Kyd responded with his eyes still closed.