Page 5 of Bound to the Alien Gladiator (Hope Runs Deep #10)

“Why’d it have to be fucking water?”

“For the show,” Tezakk said as he swung his metal shaft, deflecting a blow from the thickly furred lion-like alien trying to eat his face. “It’s always for the show.”

Salty and cold, the water hit my chest in waves, stinging every wound I’d gotten prior to them flooding the Gladiator pit.

The water plastered my hastily repaired shirt to my chest, and my shorts fought my progress toward safety.

My boots sunk into the sand, weighing my every step.

The water was so deep in places I couldn’t touch the bottom, but Tezakk waded through it like a brick through air and just as dense.

He’d been forced to stay in the shallows or on the sandy hill in the middle of the field as we waited for our opponent.

A handful of chained platforms, their wooden frames digging into the sand, were stationed around the field.

They’d been a trip hazard in the dry pit when we were fighting the two-legged furred beast, but a few minutes into the battle when things were going our way, they’d flooded the pit.

I’d waded out to search for better weapons and to keep my softer flesh from sharp claws.

Two platforms floated so deep in waters I’d have to swim to reach them.

The rest were completely submerged. You’d have thought they would be safer territory, except Atroba had just unleashed a reptilian monster into the water.

It roared as it hit one platform and splashed into the deep, disappearing from sight.

“Tezakk.” I backed toward him and the marginal safety of shallower water.

“I saw it.” He grunted as he dodged the feral beast. “They’re a bitch to take out.”

I kicked up water as I ran to shore, tasting salt in the air. “Where the hell are the weapons? We’re going to need something bigger than a stick to kill that huge fucking crocodile. Personally, I’d prefer a gun, but they don’t seem to hand those things out.”

Staying out of reach of the lion, I scanned the arena, ignoring the screaming crowd and the useless scraps of clothing they tossed into the water. The weapons had been on land before they flooded it, but I had some slim hope that maybe they’d left a few on the platforms to make things easier.

“They’re back by the entrance.”

“Of course they are.” I waded back into the flooded reservoir behind Tezakk. The island wasn’t large, and considering how much room the razor-clawed beast took up, I had little room to avoid being hit by Tezakk’s swinging weapon.

Cold seeped up my bare legs again. The murky water filled with kicked up sand, and the blood and dirt from the earlier games made it difficult to see. I desperately wanted to keep an eye on the reptile with a mouth full of teeth.

Something touched my leg. Fear spiked, and I pulled my knife out. Water rippled to my right, and I pivoted to keep it in view. Its green-scaled body broke the surface; its length was three times Tezakk’s. Black eyes found mine as it slipped back under the water.

“I’m going to need a bigger knife.”

“Here.” Tezakk danced back from the swiping lion and snapped off the end of his rod. He tossed me the longer end.

I caught it, the metal still warm from his grip. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

“Stop playing around and kill that thing.” He faced the furred monster with a stake no longer than my forearm and lunged.

I laughed as panic set in. “How about you talk to me once you’ve taken care of your monster?”

I’d killed to survive, but fighting a twenty-foot monster that wanted to eat me hadn’t been high on my list of possible opponents. I regretted never having fished before. Flipping the spear, I pointed it at the water and hoped I’d see the mouth full of teeth before it found me.

I waded deeper. Salty water rose to my hips, and I sucked in a breath as the shock of cold hit my torso.

I’d seen enough wild animal vids to know I didn’t want to be lunged at and dragged into the deep.

Walking further into the water, I gave myself enough room to maneuver but wasn’t far enough out to tread water.

I stopped when the water reached my waist and planted my feet into the sand. The shifting sands sank me another inch or two before stilling. Hopefully, this predator hunted through motion and not heat signatures, or else I was fucked.

My bicep flexed as I raised my spear over my shoulder. I shivered and flexed my grip on my knife in the other fist, ready to stab this beast. “Where are you, you little shit?”

This monster was a killing machine, hell bent on death and digesting its next meal. In contrast, I was weak and tasty, and the longer I stood in this freezing water, the easier a target I became, but I’d do anything to win, to survive. Help was almost here, and I wanted off this fucking planet.

My heart raced, and my breathing drowned out the crowd.

I shifted my weight. Water exploded, and I stabbed blindly.

Teeth sank into my leg. I cried out, swallowing water as I was dragged under.

I swiped with my knife, the salty resistance weakening its movement.

The mouth shook me, re-gripping its bite.

I got a shallow breath of air before I was pulled back under.

I was closer to its face now with its legs clawing into my sides, and I stabbed at anything and everything. My knife sank into soft flesh, and I floated. I took a moment to realize I was free and swam for the surface, despite my left leg refusing to move.

I broke the surface, gasping for air with no idea where I was. My legs kicked as I treaded water.

I searched the pit. “Tezakk!”

I spotted him on the island fifty yards away, a blur of black still in battle. I wanted to head to him, but the water filled with my blood would lure the monster back. Decision made, I swam toward the closest platform instead.

I blamed the saltwater stinging my eyes for any tears that might have fallen. I would not die here, or now, for the benefit of that bitch, Atroba.

The monster surfaced between me and the raft.

Purple blood ran down every stab wound I’d made, including from one of its eyes, which was still struck through by my knife.

But the bastard had three more to find me with.

They latched onto me, and if this animal could hate, it had its hearts full of it for me.

I changed course.

Swimming had always been a strong suit of mine, but I’d never been under attack and bleeding from enough puncture wounds to render my leg numb. I looked over my shoulder to where the monster had been and found it gone.

My smooth strokes turned erratic.

Sucking in air and choking on water, I flailed toward the island. I needed to get to Tezakk. My foot hit land, and I hop-swam into the shallows. When my wounded leg failed to support me, I used the broken rod Tezakk had flung at me before I lost my knife as a crutch.

My gaze met Tezakk’s, and I swore he paled when he got a good look at me. I glanced down and swayed as the pain hit me all at once. Rows of teeth marks had been gouged into me in a crisscross pattern just above the knee and mid-thigh. My blood flowed crimson down my leg at a worrisome rate.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it,” I said.

Fuck that.

My hand clenched the pole as I scanned the arena. We were getting out of here even if I lost a limb doing so. Metal flashed. Hope sparked deep within. Was there another weapon nearby? A second flash and I zeroed in on the object.

My semi-buoyant knife floated a few feet away.

The shoddy weapon was close enough I could grab it in a few steps, if I didn’t eat sand first. Fear spiked.

I shifted my weight to my good leg and raised the spear just as the monster struck.

Salty water surged as it lunged. I jabbed my spear at the beast. Its bloody teeth snapped inches from my flesh as I slammed the pole into its neck.

Purple blood sprayed out, coating me in its bitter taste.

That seemed only fair seeing as it was coated in mine.

My hand slipped from the pole, and I spit out the vile taste as the reptilian beast crawled back into the reservoir.

Movement drew me back to the sand, and I lost my balance. In a blur of black, Tezakk caught me, softening my fall. His tentacles touched me everywhere they could.

“I’m okay.” I ran my palm down his chest as he set me on my back. The grains of sand were cold and rough against my skin. “I’m going to be fine.”

“You lie.” His tentacles brushed my cheek. “Humans lack the skill to heal quickly.”

Chuckling, I winced at the throbbing pain in my leg. “You got me there.”

His fingers flickered around the wound. “I must stem the bleeding.”

He sat up, and I immediately wished he was closer. He was so warm.

“Did you kill the lion?” I swung my head to the left. “I don’t see it. Please tell me it’s not in the water too.”

“Parts of it are.”

My shirt tightened across my back. Tezakk had fisted the material and lifted me off the sand. Threads parted, the tearing fabric loud to my ears, before he tore my shirt from me, again.

The crowd cheered.

“Hey!” I struggled up to my elbows, the tattered remains of my bra barely keeping my boobs contained. “That’s the second time you’ve done that.”

He gave me a cocky smile, one that despite this situation made me still want to lick it from his lips. His biceps flexed as he tore the shirt into strips. He winked. “Always put on a good show.”

He tied the pieces together into one long piece and wound the strap around my thigh in a rough tourniquet.

I cinched the knot tight two inches above the highest wound, pinching the sensitive flesh with a pressure that was likely too tight, but I would not complain if I got to keep the leg after this.

I kept expecting the blaring note indicating the end of the match to ring through the stadium; however, this call never came. I searched the pit for more adversaries but couldn’t see much past Tezakk’s bulky body or the mound of sand behind us. “Help me stand.”