Page 213 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

213

The New Faction

A ’Dar

Although the weapons worked in the firing range, I still don’t know if there was any lasting damage from the pulse or the length of time they’ve sat dormant. There’s no knowing if the charge will run out before our mission is complete.

Once more, I try to convince Maya to stay in the safety of this little room, but she insists on “having your back.” If we live through this, she’s going to be the best mate a male could have.

While we wait, I make her practice getting her darning into her grip with her finger on the trigger without looking. She’s smart, a quick learner.

When she’s mastered that, I turn her in my arms and hold her from behind. How can the Gods bestow so much heaven and so much hell on one person in such a short period?

To awaken and learn I’d been in stasis for almost two millennia? Hell. To meet Maya? Heaven. To be thrust into machta , even without warning? Heaven. To thrust it on my mate? Hell. To receive news there isn’t a living soul on Xenon? At least no one capable or willing to answer our calls? My mind casts about for a word worse than hell. I feel as if someone has ripped my entrails from my body. But I’ll try to keep that from Maya. She’ll want to fix it, and there’s nothing she can do to make it better.

And now we’re being hunted like vermin. Furious sparks sizzle through my veins. Instead of pushing that away, I embrace it. Welcome it. It will tear my thoughts from the fate of my planet and spur me to fight harder.

“I know you never would have chosen this, Maya. Never wanted to be a warrior. Certainly never wanted your body to morph into something foreign, or have a mate thrust upon you. But I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”

I kiss the fragile column of her neck, then can’t refrain from licking her, tasting the salt on her skin, absorbing… her.

“None of this is your fault,” she says as her hands cover mine where they’re lodged at her waist.

“The machta, the blood, my essence,” I remind her, waiting for her righteous wrath.

“Blame it on biology, big guy. Not your fault. You’ve been nothing but…” She shrugs. “Kind.”

She turns in my arms, places her palms on my chest, and leans against me. Although she’s taller than when we met, she still seems tiny in my arms. Maybe it’s the machta , but all I want to do is make her happy.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome,” Zedd’s voice interrupts from speakers overhead. My gaze flies to the pad Maya propped against the wall so we can watch.

“To my guests from around the galaxy, welcome to day two of Season Four of the Galaxy Games. Down. To. Earth.” She pauses for the exciting music to play the show’s jingle. “And to our new friends in the ship’s brig? Welcome to your galaxy-wide broadcast debut.”

The red Halckon arches a perfect black brow as she displays the least happy smile I’ve ever seen.

“The good news? You’re out of stasis. The bad news? You’ve been in it for 1,873 standard years.”

The cameras pan in, taking their time to show the audience the pirates’ reactions. They linger almost lovingly on the pain on the males’ faces. I imagine they’re similar to my own when the computer informed me of the same fact.

Shock, anger, disbelief. Then curiosity. At this moment, they have to be wondering who the female on the vid screen on the wall of the brig is, and why she’s speaking directly to them.

“You males just happened to wake up in the middle of our little game. The rules are simple. There is a flag on the bridge of the ship. It is on Deck Five fore. You must reach the flag and touch it to live.”

The males’ postures straighten. One strides to the exit nearest us and tries the door, which is locked.

“And one more thing,” Zedd pauses for effect, her mouth stretched in a wide approximation of a smile. “Only one can live. Every other being on the ship must be a confirmed kill.”