Page 45 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

45

Ice Cube’s Chance in a Furnace

T itan

I’ve never been this angry. Not even when I was abducted and forced to fight, not when Hahn punished me when I was following his mate’s orders. Never!

A hover arrives within minutes. When the network decides to marshal their resources, they waste no time.

What I’d like to be doing right now? Holding the female I love in my lap and kissing her beautiful face. What I am doing right now? Hugging the inside of the hover door, keeping as far from her as possible, and refraining from telling her what a terrible choice she just made.

One thing is certain, the network has this hover bugged. I’ll wait to tell her how angry I am until we’re in the suite they promised us.

Little Red scampered onto my shoulder the moment we slid into the hover seat, but has now scurried back to Blaze. Even he can sense how furious I am.

As soon as we’re through the door of our suite, Blaze holds a finger up, looks at me meaningfully, then inspects under every knickknack and in every lampshade. She finds a few listening devices and flushes them down the toilet, then does a second sweep.

Finally, she sits at the little table in the corner and pats the chair next to her.

“You’re pissed. Let me explain.”

I sit across from her and can’t control myself from grabbing her hand. Her little pink hand is so small in mine, it squeezes my heart just to look at it.

“I can’t be mad at you, Blaze. Will you sit in my lap?”

My world rights itself when I feel her weight on my thighs, smell the scent of her hair.

“When you—”

I interrupt her.

“I won’t allow the viewers to decide our fate, Blaze. I’ve made up my mind. I want you to live. You’re smart. The world likes you. You’ll walk away with credits. I’m—”

“You’re a terrible listener, Xzavic, that’s what you are,” she says with the sweetest smile on her face as she brushes her knuckles down my cheek. “If only one of us can live, I want it to be you, Xzavic. I—”

I kiss her to shut her up. I can’t bear to even hear such a thing, much less ponder it. Cupping the back of her head, I dive into the taste of her, her warmth, everything that is Blaze. My Blaze.

“Let me explain,” she says before both of us get carried away.

“Terrible plan,” I say when she’s done. I shake my head. “Terrible plan. Too many things can go wrong.”

“True, but better than your plan. Or my original plan. Were you going to throw yourself on your sword?”

I nod.

She laughs. “Me, too. At least this has a snowball’s chance of succeeding.”

“Snowball?”

“An ice cube’s chance in a furnace,” she translates.

“Ahh.”

“So? You’ll give it a chance?”

“If there’s even an ice cube’s chance in a furnace that we can both escape alive? Yes, my female. Yes.”

“If we both live through this, you want to stay together?” Her voice is small, like a little girl’s. I’ve never heard this tone from her. Never seen her so unsure. She questions my feelings for her? Let me put her mind at ease.

“If it weren’t too bold, I’d ask you to be my mate, Blaze. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know we’ve only known each other a short time, but I want to ask you to be my mate, I—”

“Yes! Yes! Absolutely, no doubt about it. Yes. Mates!” She waggles her eyebrows at me, then bites my earlobe. “Let’s make love with no cameras watching.”

“You’ll get no arguments from me, love. Unfortunately, the shower is too small for both of us. You go first.” She gives me a quick kiss and doesn’t waste a second in stripping out of her dirty clothes and entering the shower.

The shades are all drawn, and the things she calls bugs are all removed. It will be our first time without an audience. Blaze is optimistic, believing we’ll both live. I’m a gladiator. I’ve lived in barracks since I was fifteen. My owners forced me to train and risk my life. I learned long ago I can’t afford optimism.

My lips are sealed, though. I won’t tell her I don’t believe her plan will work. I’ll pretend.

After I shower. I make love to her with all the sweetness I imagine a male and female would have after their mating ceremony. I treat her like the most precious thing in the universe. Because she is.

I bring her to the heights of passion with my mouth so many times her thighs are quivering. Then I spear into her with the intensity of a thirsty male gulping his last drink of water. I savor it. I appreciate it with every ounce of my being because I fully believe I’ll be dead in two hours, having killed myself in front of the entire world.