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Chapter Eleven

D ax

Drack . I know before I open my eyes I’m in a medbay. The uncomfortable table and the distinctive smell give it away. I also know I’m on a moving spaceship. The distant thrum of the engines vibrates up through the metal I’m lying on.

Until I’m fully oriented, I don’t allow myself to move. My brain is fuzzy. I don’t remember how I got here. Yes, it’s coming back. I was… I don’t know. Was it Agfa VI against the Chaldean? Merit II against the Verge?

Not sensing anyone in the room with me, I squint one eye open, scan the room and can’t identify it. There’s a female in here with me. She’s sitting in a nearby hard chair, sleeping uncomfortably. Why is she here?

“Dax? Are you awake?”

I guess it’s no use pretending I’m asleep. I open my eyes and rise, or try to, but a bolt of pain as hot as a metal spike spears through my temple into my eye.

“ Drack .” I lie back down. “Where am I?”

“You’re on the Fool’s Errand . I’m so glad you’re alive.”

I squint in the dim light; even that hurts. She launches and tries to kiss me. I don’t recall where I was, or who I fought, but I must have made a huge spectacle to be gifted with a female slave at my bedside.

I’d wager they paid her a fortune, because this one must have had acting lessons. She’s pretending to like me —this is new.

Her arms surround my shoulders, her mouth attacks mine. This female’s pretending to be on fire for me! I wish I could recall what the drack I did to earn this, I’ll do it again tomorrow. Just as soon as the bucking mronck that’s kicking my head backs the drack away.

“I was so worried about you. You fought so well. My hand was on your trident with you the entire match. I lent you my strength. And my love. I’m certain you didn’t feel it, but I was with you every step of the way.”

Either this female is educated, or someone gave her a fine script to recite. Her words are poetic. If I allow myself to stay in my happy, confused haze for a moment longer, I might even believe she loves me.

“More kisses,” I command. I’m only half surprised when she complies —enthusiastically.

I smell her arousal. Perhaps I’m dead and there is a Heaven. Or maybe this is a dream. Whatever the drack it is, it’s wonderful.

I’ve had sex on a medbay gurney before, it requires skill and agility which I don’t possess at the moment. “Let’s get to my bunk, beautiful.” And she is. I thought she was just wearing good cosmetics in dim light. But she’s barely an ince away, and she’s gorgeous.

She leaves the room. Looks like I dracked this up, but I hear her in the adjoining area, “Dr. Drayke, Dax is awake. Can we get him into his room?”

Oh yes. Let’s do this quickly. My master isn’t a generous male. I doubt he paid for more than a few hoaras of this female’s time. I don’t want to waste one more minima of it.

A blue Dacian in a dark blue jumpsuit enters and performs scans as he talks jovially to me. “You’ve been out for a while. Glad to have you back. I couldn’t quite understand why you were unconscious for so long.”

Interesting, I’ve never had a medic so concerned about my health other than to get me back into the arena.

“The scans look good. Let’s give you a few more hoaras to ensure you’re stable, then —”

“It’s crucial, doc. I need to get this beautiful female into my bunk.” He’d have to be an idiot not to understand my urgency.

“I’d rather follow protocol, Dax, but can I come by in an hoara to check on you?”

Odd. This doctor wants to check on me and I’m not even sick. It looks like I have one hoara with the blazing-haired beauty.

“Knock first,” I tell him seriously.

“Oh.” He seems abashed. “Certainly.”

A couple other males in the waiting room come in and tell me they’ve been worried about me. They don’t look familiar, but they help me walk down the hall; I guess we’re going to my bunk. Instead of the gladiators’ barracks, they take me to a private room. It’s huge, maybe twelve- fiertos square.

I stop wondering why I’m getting treated like a king when the door closes and it’s just me and the beauty locked in this room together.

She throws her arms around me and almost leaps up to straddle me, then seems to think better of it.

“You worried me, Dax. For a moment, I feared you were dead. Come lie with me.” She pats the bed.

“I’m not dead. Even though my head is throbbing, my cock could dent metal. Ride me.”

I have no clothes on. The sheet I was lying under in medbay fell to the floor somewhere between here and there.

The red-haired beauty is a perfect actress, she’s blushing and eager at the same time. She pulls her top off and drags down the tight bottoms that hug her skin.

“Let me look at you.” I stop her before she climbs into bed with me. This little humanoid is gorgeous. Her coloring is so exotic: flaming red hair, eyes blue as the trisson flowers that grew on Thrace, and all that lovely, pale skin. Her breasts are perfect, just a handful. My eyes jump to the triangle of hair at the top of her sex.

She wants me. Her scent is alluring.

“You sure you’re up for it?” she asks.

I grab my cock, which is hard as steel. “Did you really ask if I’m up for it?” I laugh and she joins in.

She tumbles into bed and pelts my face with kisses. They’re soft and happy and filled with promise. She’s grinning and looking at me as if she’s thrilled I’m alive.

“Enough of that, beautiful. Drack me.” Her eyebrows rise; this shocks her. Certainly, the extent of her duties was made clear when her price was paid. I change my mind, perhaps it will be easier if we start with a good cock sucking.

“No. Suck me.”

She hesitates and seems to wind down like a broken toy. Enough of this play, my cock is ready for action.

“Suck me,” I put more command in my voice. My head is pounding, the medic will be knocking on my door in minimas , and my balls have become insistent. She’s been paid good money for this. “Now.”

“Ohhh,” she says, nodding as if she’s understanding a hard concept for the first time. “You want me to suck your cock, Master ?” She puts so much emphasis and bold suggestion into that last word that my cock bobs in appreciation.

Is this beauty initiating a little sex play with me? The pretty, little humanoid wants to be bossed around by the big, bad gladiator? I’ve seen this in vids. I’m ready.

I lean against the wall behind the bed. It takes a moment before the tiny, white stars stop dancing in my eyes. Opening my legs I point. “Crawl from the end of the bed on all fours. Don’t take your eyes from my cock. Take me in your mouth and give me the best sex of my life. When I come, don’t spill a drop.”

A thousand expressions play on her face. From a swift shock of surprise, to dawning comprehension, to pure lust. To punctuate that point, her scent fills the air.

“Yes, Master,” she says, already crawling between my legs as I’d instructed.

She takes me in one swift movement, her lips wrapped tightly around me from their arrival on the head, all the way down the journey toward the base. Drack . Perfect. If that wasn’t good enough, she moans in appreciation.

She’s a mind-reader. The rhythm, the amount of pressure —everything just the way I love it. It’s as if she read the Dax instruction manual.

“That’s right. Suck me. Touch my —.” Before I can finish ordering her, she fondles my balls, they contract and I shoot my release. “Oh, so good,” I tell her as I pull her up next to me on the pillows.

“I’ve never left a girl wanting, but give me a moment.” Gods, my head is killing me.

I must have fallen asleep; the medic’s knocking wakes me up. The nude redhead has crawled under the covers with me, I guess her time isn’t up yet.

The blue doc does a quick medscan, then warns me, “Let people take care of you for the next few days. I’d rather you stay in bed. We’ll keep you fed. And absolutely no time in the ludus . I’ll check back tomorrow.”

No time in the ludus ? I remember a through-and-through stab to my abdomen five annums back and I was ordered to lift weights the next day. There are a lot of things that don’t make sense. Not only was the doctor far too interested in my comfort and recovery, but the female hasn’t been summoned from my bed, nor have they ejected me from this fabulous room.

The redhead straddles me and tosses me a naughty smile.

“Do you still want me to ride you?” She licks her lips.

“Yes, little female. First, ride my mouth,” my voice is low and full of desire. She gasps, her eyes flying open, then slamming shut. “After, if you’re very good, I’ll let you ride my cock.”

Dahlia

This is certainly not what I thought would happen today. A few hours ago I wasn’t certain Dax would wake up. Dr. Drayke told us something was wrong with Dax’s scans, but he couldn’t identify it.

I’ve been worried sick since they rescued us yesterday. We’ve ping ponged across the galaxy to leave no trace for Asher and his minions to find us.

Then Dax’s eyes fluttered open, he acts like he’s fine except for a headache, and now he’s ordered me to sit on his face.

The conversation we had back on Aeon II where he hinted that he might turn the tables on me as his ‘Mistress’ have come true.

I’m next to him in bed, eager for release, I’ve been lying here during his nap squirming in sexual anticipation. But it seems odd we haven’t talked since he woke up in medbay. Also odd he hasn’t asked for food. This is a man who’s known for his prodigious appetite.

“Hungry?”

He lifts his chin towards me and glances at my mound. “For that.” When I don’t hop to it immediately, he growls, “Now.”

I straddle his head, brace my forearms on the cool, metal wall behind his head and can’t stifle the long, low moan he pulls from me when he grabs my hips, yanks me into place, and stabs his tongue into my wet, needy channel.

“That’s right. Oh, my little redhead tastes so good.”

He gets up close and personal, his nose flicking back and forth on my clit, his tongue developing a rhythm in my core.

I’ve needed this. With the terror in that house of horrors, and then watching the male I love come close to dying, I need this physical contact to ground myself.

He moves his mouth onto my needy nub and slips two fingers inside me. I’m already close to the precipice when his fingers swipe forward, pressing on my G-spot. I fly into paradise and ride out wave after wave of physical bliss. His generous tongue doesn’t stop wringing every drop of passion from me until I pull away, slide down his body and lay my cheek on his shoulder.

“I was worried sick about you, Dax. I’m so glad you woke up out of your coma. Dear God, I love you so much.”

I can’t see his face well from this angle, but I can certainly feel every muscle in his body stiffen. His rough hand captures my chin and he pulls my gaze to his as he angles his face toward me.

“They must be paying you a fortune, Gorgeous, but you don’t have to keep up this performance anymore. Sucking my cock was good enough for me.”

I lift on my elbow to look at him, my brows knit in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“The love talk. It’s too much. If you tone it down a bit, it will feel more real.”

“Dax, you don’t believe I love you? Is it because I spent time alone with Asher? Let me assure you nothing happened. He was saving it for after you were dead.”

“Who’s Asher?”

I’m a slow learner, but I finally realize something is terribly wrong.

“You don’t remember Asher?”

He shakes his head.

“The rodents?”

“Not sure what you mean. I know what rodents are.”

“Snakes?”

He gives me a blank stare.

“You don’t remember me?”

He shakes his head, nonchalant, as if it doesn’t matter.

Pain squeezes every inch of my torso. Emotional pain embodied in the physical. The air whooshes out of me in a huff. “You… you don’t know me?”

“I know what you taste like. I know the feel of your mouth on my cock. I’d like to get to know you even better.” He waggles an eyebrow.

My heartache morphs into anger. I sit up and grab my thighs to keep from slapping the leer off his handsome face.

I see it now. The soft, caring look in his eyes, the gaze he’s bestowed on me since we were locked in a cell together and forced to mate —it’s absent.

I’m meeting the old Dax, the coarse gladiator he was the day they threw me into his cell. I’ve only known the new Dax, the caring male who must have fallen for me the moment we met. I don’t think I even like the guy I’m sharing a bed with.

He reaches under the curtain of hair at the back of my neck and pulls me close. “Ride me now. We don’t have to talk.”

Hot anger spikes through me then disappears. This is Dax. My Dax. He’s in there somewhere. I just have to find him. I’m not angry, I’m sad.

He’ll be confused when he finds out he has amnesia. He’s going to need a friend. I’ll be here for him.

“Hi Dax, I’m Dahlia.”

“Hi Doll.”

He looks confused and seems to be waiting for the sex we’ve been promising each other.

His hand glides from my nape to my waist, then below. Clearly, he wants to get the party started.

I straddle his waist to get his attention. My core doesn’t know this isn’t really my Dax. It lubricates at the intimacy of the act, the smell of his pheromones in the air, and the ridge of his granite-hard cock pulsing so near my entrance.

His gaze blazes hotter as his eyelids drop to half-mast. He grabs my hips, trying to get me into position to spear into me.

“Wait a minute, big guy. There are a few things you need to know.”

“Wonderful, right after we drack ,” his voice is so deep and urgent that for one moment I consider taking him up on his proposition.

I scoot down and lodge both knees between his thighs. We’re still both too naked and too close for this to be a good choice, but I launch anyway.

“About four months ago you were being transported to your new owner. I was kidnapped and thrown into your cell and we were forced to mate. We rebelled against our masters and commandeered the ship. You and I have been…” What word do I use? ‘Lovers’ wasn’t the correct word until a few days ago, but I don’t need to get bogged down in specifics. “You and I have been lovers ever since.”

His face is impassive. The real Dax has crawled deep inside, leaving no trace of emotion on his face.

“Those males who escorted you from medbay? Friends. This ship? We bought it outright from money we earned —much of it from your matches. Matches you fought as a free male.”

He doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. I lean forward, grab his hand, and place it on his neck. His eyes widen in disbelief. My words meant nothing to him, but his fingers touching his collarless neck for perhaps the first time in his life? I think he’s a believer.

His eyes glisten as both hands inspect his neck. Then he battens down his tender feelings and they morph into anger.

“What trick is this?” He grabs the back of my neck and pulls me toward him. “Why are you dracking with me?”

“I’m not fucking with you, Dax. I’m telling you the truth. You have amnesia, and as confused and sad and angry as you must feel, let me tell you my heart is breaking. Breaking, Dax.” I grab his hand and place it between my breasts. “This heart is breaking because I love you and you don’t even know my name.”

He’s silent a moment, his pupils dancing back and forth as he inspects my face looking for clues as to my honesty.

“Dahlia,” his voice is deep and earnest and for the first time today exhibits a trace of warmth. “Your name is Dahlia.”

I lunge forward and lie on my side plastered against him, my head on his shoulder. He doesn’t know me from Adam, but Dax is in there. One second of warmth seeped out of him just now. I’ll find the rest.

I have to.

Dax

Everything is so confusing it’s as if I’m walking on the ceiling. I’m disoriented. I don’t know what annum it is. I can’t recall the last several years. The last I remember was my fight on Numa. Dahlia looked it up on the computer and tells me that was over an annum ago.

Every person on this ship has drifted into my room over the last hoara confirming Dahlia’s story. They all seem honest. They all tell me they’re my friends.

I know nothing about these females, they say they’re from planet Earth. What they say doesn’t mean much to me.

But I’d know a fellow gladiator at a thousand paces, and these males have all fought in arenas. Their scars tell the tale. None of them would drack with a fellow gladiator. I believe them. And more important? I believe the naked skin on my neck. I’m not wearing a slave collar.

My head is still splitting in pain, and the idea of going to the mess area to eat with a big group sours my stomach. I’m not ready for that.

So here I am, in what they tell me is my room, with… Dahlia. Dahlia of the flaming red hair and ocean blue eyes who says she loves me.

“You look tired. Do you want me to comm Drayke —the doctor —and have him get you something for pain?”

I shake my head. My entrails were almost pulled out of my body once in a match; I can deal with head pain.

“I understand this has been a lot to absorb. My room is down the hallway. I’ll leave you alone. Do you remember how to use your comm? All you have to do if you need help is —”

“Don’t go,” I cut her off. I don’t know her. I don’t even know if I like her, but part of me wants her to stay. I’m attracted to her —who wouldn’t be? She’s dracking gorgeous. I can’t admit I don’t want to be alone. “Stay with me while I eat. Tell me about… us.”

“Sure. They’re serving your favorite, Abrax Confit. I’ll bring you a huge helping and we can eat together.”

“ Abrax Confit is not my favorite, Dahlia. I’ve never heard of it. When you lie it makes me doubt every word that’s ever come out of your mouth.”

She laughs. “Of course you never heard of it. Our resident chef, Maddie, makes up fancy names for everything she cooks. And you don’t remember any of it. But trust me, you’ll love this dish… unless the Dax I know has had a brain transplant… as well as a tongue transplant.”

She happily sails out of the room, not even affected by my harsh words. Ten minimas later she returns laden with two plates, both heaped with food. For such a little thing she must have a big appetite.

“I could only carry two plates, so I loaded them both. When yours is empty, you can have most of mine.”

She’s smiling, but her happiness doesn’t reach her eyes. She told me I’m breaking her heart. Why would she be so nice to me?

“Mmmm, Gods, you were right. This Abrax dish is amazing,” I tell her after the first bite. “I called you a liar, Dahlia, for no good reason. I’m a dracker. I’ve never been loved. I’m certain it’s because I’m unlovable. You’d be better off leaving right now.”

We’re both sitting on the bed, our backs against the wall. She leans up, shovels most of her food onto my plate, then plays vids as if she didn’t hear me.

“You’re ignoring me?”

“Just ignoring your shit, Dax. You’ve got a lot rolling around in your head right now.” She shrugs.

I eat and inspect her face while she watches vids. I wonder what things were like between her and the other Dax, the Dax who disappeared.

“Computer, stop vids.” I wait for her to look at me. “Tell me about us.”

She steals a blanket off the foot of the bed and lugs the comfortable blue chair nearby so we’re facing each other. After dragging the blanket up to her chin, she rests her heels on the edge of the chair and takes a deep breath.

“I was kind of shitty to you for a while… for a long while, really. The good little girl in me wants to gloss over that. Who doesn’t like to portray themselves in a saintly light? But you like honesty, so honesty you shall get.”

It’s hard to imagine I did some of the things she described. Reciting the Thracian Love Poem ? In front of all those gladiators? I must have endured merciless teasing for weeks afterward. I’m glad she mentioned it, though. Dear Gods, I must have loved this female with all my heart.

“But things changed a week ago. I realize I love you now. Can I show you something? Are you up for a short walk?”

I nod, wincing a bit as I rise. I don’t bother throwing on a loincloth. Certainly this won’t shock her —I can’t imagine I’ve changed that much. We amble to the females’ wing and I follow her into her room.

She opens the drawer to the shrine she told me about. “I wanted you to see it. To understand the reality of it. To know that I did what I needed to do to be open to fully give my heart to you.”

I feel weak in the knees and grab onto her shoulder. She helps me into the chair, a twin of the one she sat on a moment ago in my room.

My mind spins, throwing me a swift patchwork of pictures from my life. Young Dax, a lonely slave. Older Dax, a lonely slave who fought well enough to earn an occasional reward of an hoara with a sex worker.

Then there is a blank part of the jumble, the year I have no memory of. Now I watch the moments I’ve shared with Dahlia today. I couldn’t believe the lusty, loving looks she gave me were real. I attributed them to being the product of good acting.

But I look into her eyes right now. That look is still there. This female loves me. I may not believe it. But I want to. She said she did what was necessary to be open to love me. Maybe I need to follow her lead.

“You’re at the finish line of a race I haven’t started yet, Dahlia.

“You know what was more shocking than being told I have amnesia? You telling me I took you to the slave pens on Aeon II. The Dax sitting before you cannot imagine going there voluntarily, or allowing any living being to go with me, and I certainly can’t imagine opening myself up to have you see my weakness and humiliation.”

To add to my shame, my eyes are watering. It seems I have no control over anything right now.

“But I brought you there, of that I have no doubt. You’ve spoken the truth. There’s no way you could know about the initials unless you witnessed them.

“The other Dax, the one I can’t remember, must have loved you with all his heart. But I don’t. You understand that Dahlia?”

Her face pinches in anguish as she nods. Tears slide down her face.

I may not understand it, but my life has changed. An opportunity has dropped into my lap. I rarely allowed myself the luxury, but sometimes, late at night, I imagined a female who wasn’t paid by the hoara . I pictured a female with soft skin and softer eyes who looked at me the very way Dahlia’s looking at me right now.

I wonder what it would be like to connect with a female in that way. And I decide I’m brave enough to take the risk.

“But I could try.” I pause to make certain she heard me. “I could try to remember. No. No, that’s not right. We could start over. I waited for you to catch up to my feelings once. Now I’m asking you to wait for me.”

She slides onto my lap, sits sideways, and tucks her head under my chin. Her arms snake around my neck and she hugs me for long moments. “I’ll wait for you Dax. I’ll wait as long as you want. And…” she breathes deeply and I feel her chin quivering, “and if you decide you don’t want to catch up with me. If you don’t believe you… want me, just let me know and I won’t bother you anymore.”

I try to lift her up; I want to drag her to my room and keep her in my bed. But I’m weak as a muscillus pup and fall back hard into the chair.

“Is it too forward of me to ask you to sleep in my room?”

She laughs, the first genuine smile I’ve seen on her face since she realized I had no idea who she was. “This? You’re asking this when earlier today you ordered me to suck your cock? You’re funny, Dax. No, it’s not too forward.”

She pulls a pillowcase off a pillow, throws half the stuff in her dresser into it, then dances to the door. “Whatcha waiting for?”

Fun. Dahlia’s fun. What a revelation.