Yagrax Read online

  And I would certainly do my best to protect her because I knew that she might be my mate...but did she know the same?

  Time would tell I suppose.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Melissa

  I had been laying there for...god how long has it been anyways?

  I've laid on this bed roll and stared at the small lantern flickering to my side, it was riveted into the ground and was fed the wiring through there as well I suppose. I was sobbing but now the tears were beginning to run dry after a few minutes. I was so lonely, so afraid, when I left Earth this was not the life that I was imagining for myself.

  Earth was the eternal Eden amongst all the other colonies in the galaxy. It wasn't some decrepit hellhole as it was seen as a cultural artifact of sorts and was preserved. Much of the land that had been used for farming had been converted back into wilderness parks and the cities were contained units at this point, not sprawling messes that had issues with crime and pollution, those days of open sewers and street congestion were left in the 2000s, it was several millennia after now so...it was paradise.

  But paradise rarely crafts greatness, at least that's what I thought.

  I had been born in Reno, a beautiful metropolis with ample opportunities waiting for me all around should I want to pursue them, I had a dream of becoming something of a diplomat, someone that could adventure and go from colony to colony in search of greater things. On Earth a large portion of the schools were now solely dedicated to the sciences so I departed to the outer colonies as that's where most of the diplomatic action was happening. Not once in all of that did I think that leaving might be dangerous, I had just started an internship with the ambassador for god's sake! I had no idea what was waiting for me since I basically left Earth only a couple years ago!

  And I certainly wasn't ready for...this.

  The tears trickled down my cheeks and I find myself quivering, my face was all scrunched up and my lips were pouting as I thought of all the misfortunes that could befall me. What was this police? Was it a prison? What the hell was it? I just needed someone to tell me that I was going to be safe, that I wasn't going to die. This wasn't my place in the world damnit! I was no warrior!

  "Just...please." I pleaded openly to no one really, perhaps to some higher power but no one answered really, at least that's until...

  "Human." he spoke plainly as he stood in front of me. I was laying on my side and gazed at his feet and shins, both were covered in that ash colored skin and I looked up to see him, his red eyes gazed down at me with a sorrowful expression that couldn't be hidden under any amount of bravado or enmity.

  His body was tensed and his arms flexed as I watched every inch of muscle ripple in front of me. His strong jawline was emphasized in the warm light of the lantern and his fangs were peeking through, this bangs hang over his forehead and he sighed as he knelt down and looked me directly in the eye, that vermillion dueling my shades of brown while I gasped. Despite my rather broken state at the moment my thoughts were instantly consumed with a resounding feeling of lust, I wanted him to grab my wrist and hold me down in this bed and show me every inch of that body. I wanted to run my hands across that rock hard muscle and I wanted to feel his strong arms holding me while his hands and tongue probed me. God what was wrong with me? Why was I thinking this way? Especially With a Jorathian! Was that even possible?

  "I'm sorry. Was I disturbing you?" I asked him and he merely keeps quiet for a moment, I took it as a yes. I was unsure if he even understood me since I was unsure if he had a translator in his ear. I still had mine firmly embedded but that was because all diplomats had to have one placed in them.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.." I began but he shakes his head.

  "What's your name?" he asked me, a great deal of curiosity laced his gruff voice and though he did his best to hide it, there was a bit of care lurking under his stoicism.

  "I....Melissa, Melissa Ferr." I muttered and sat up. Only then did I notice the holes on my suit, most of them were marring spots that were away from the more...revealing positions of my body so I was thankful but still. This jumpsuit really emphasized my curves now that I thought about it and the more I looked down the more uneasy I became. I must have looked hideous in this state.

  "Yagrax." he said and pointed to himself.

  "Yes I know, the guards were talking about you." I stated and he nodded, glancing back at the door before returning his gaze to me.

  There was something I the way that his face shifted, the subtle movements that he was making with his body gave me the impression that he wanted to get closer but he was holding himself back. He wanted to reveal something but was unsure, the doubt was ever present and I wondered what sort of man he was. He seemed friendly enough I suppose.

  "What is this place?" I asked him after a brief period of silence and he frowned, his eyes adopted a frightening emptiness that was many times more frightening than the most terrible rage that he could muster. The ceiling above us was about 10 feet above the ground and was painted a dull grey, if all this guy had to look at was this color, I wouldn't blame him if he thought of this place with such...emptiness lurking in his eyes.

  "An arena. Merdin's Arena. We're the combatants." he said and I wanted to scream.

  So that's what they were talking about? It made sense now but it did little to lift my morale from the rock bottom it was in right now.

  "Is there any way out?" I asked him and he shrugged, a sad smile crawled onto his face and I friend as my hope instantly shattered.

  "Technically yes." he said.

  "What do you mean technically?" I asked, there was still a great deal of despair lurking in the pit of my heart since he said that word with such a bitter tone and the despair only increased once he told me of the true magnitude of my hopelessness.

  "You go free by winning. Considering no one has won, ever, I'd say the chances are slim to none." he admitted and I frowned, I didn't want to dwell here forever and a chance was still better than none.

  "How do we win?" I asked.

  "There are 16 matches to the top, we have to survive each one, both of us. Only after that may we go free." he states and I scowled, those weren't good odds for a simple human and a Jorathian. Yet he was still here, he must have been quite the warrior from how the guards talked about him.

  "How close have you gotten?" I asked and he smiles.

  "There's no use, we're doomed to die here girl. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts." he states and stands up, I shake my head with a great deal of vigor.

  "If we can go free I want to know how!" I hollered and he only shot me an amused smile.

  "There's no point in fighting this. You'll die and I will have to go on alone, as is the story for the last few years." he said and turned on his heel but I called out to him.

  "Please you have to try somehow!" I hollered and he only smiled, shaking his head.

  "I will protect you girl, if only because I feel a bit bored and you're a preoccupation of sorts at the moment, but don't expect to last long. Here you keep your expectations low and your hopes even lower. That way you'll never have to feel the pain of real loss ever again." he states and leans against the wall next to my bed.

  "And you experienced it?" I asked and a flicker of pain washed over his eyes.

  "Many times." he admitted.

  I am left to stare at this man with all of that sculpted muscle clenched by that tight grey skin, every inch of him was amazing. He looked like a man that knew combat like he knew himself, it was as a part of his life as drinking and eating was. There seemed to be some lingering hope in his eyes that was only barely alive, a flame that barely flickered anymore, that barely released any embers.

  "How did you end up here?" I asked him, the next logical question I suppose.

  "I was...a soldier. A life that has long since passed, part of a war party sent to investigate the disappearance when. I became the disappearance." he muttered.

 
"Are you the only one that..." I began but immediately realized that it might not be the most appropriate question.

  "Yes, I am." Unfortunately I am." he admitted.

  From what I gathered now my chances of freedom were slim. He was unwilling to even try anymore but would entertain the idea if only for amusement and we were basically locked into some sort of area to entertain...god knows who.

  "Merdin. Who is he?" I asked, I was only slightly familiar since I overheard some chatter but I didn't really know who the man was entirely.

  "A Kasorian kingpin. He owns this colony and runs the arena to entertain...well other criminals I suppose. They could all just sell us as slaves but an arena combat was so much more enticing, especially when sold to the slum lords and other wealthy individuals in order to make a buck. That's why we're there, to die, so our blood can spill and quench their thirst for brutality." he admitted and gazed at the concrete wall with a layer of bitterness still lingering in his eyes.

  "No one knows that you're here? No one knows that we're here at all?" I asked and he shakes his head.

  "If they do they never found us. I don't really know how he hides us but rumors were that...well we're hidden on some moon that no one bothers to visit, under layers or rock and mountains. There's no one here to save us and well...that's something that I just accepted after all of this time." he admitted.

  "So...we're stuck here?" I asked him and he nodded.

  "That is the case for all of us. Yes." he said and I began to cry once more, that pained expression flickers across his face again and I find my heart fluttering as I see the passion light up in his eyes if only for a moment.

  I begin to notice the musculature once more, the figure that he possessed and I nearly cursed myself for letting such lustful thoughts pervade me. My situation was much more dire but yet I kept on thinking back to him and how...captivating all he was. All of that rock solid muscle and those warm red eyes, I knew that it was inappropriate but yet I couldn't control myself. This alien feeling was possessing me, telling me that there was something special about whoever this was.

  But this was no time for fraternizing or obsessing over a guy like some school girl Melissa! Get a hold of yourself!

  "I thought you didn't care about your cell mates. Least that's what they said." I said to him and he shrugged.

  "Normally I wouldn't have cared but...there is something curious about you. I have to admit. It's something to pass the time, to tell newcomers about what is going to happen, it causes a certain light to flicker in their eye that is the only entertainment we get around here, ever. " he stated and I growled.

  "So what this is all a game to you?! They have us under captivity and will kill us if we don't do something?! Don't you care?!" I asked him and he shrugged.

  "No, not really. Here you take whatever joy you can and expect nothing from them. That's all we can do. I'm sorry that you got caught but this is the new reality...we're having our next match soon I reckon so at least it might be quick for you..." he said and I snarled as I stand up, nearly screaming at him.

  "I want to live! I want to make it out of here and I don't care how down you are! We both deserve our freedom so why don't you try?! Why didn't you try to fight against these bastards?! There's a way out of there and you know it just...please." I begged and whimpered before I sat back down and I felt his hand rest on my shoulder.

  "I'll help you...if only to give you some semblance of hope back." he stated reluctantly, as if the words were so alien to him that he didn't really know how to say them. As if something invisible was forcing him to utter what he didn't want to utter, as if he was..beginning to care.

  "W-why? I thought-" I began but he cut me off.

  "If only to avoid such crying from infecting this cell space I will aid you." he said and turned, rather annoyed but I could tell that his grievance wasn't entirely with me but rather it was...it was inward.

  What a jerk.

  How could he give up that easily? He was a warrior, a fighter that kept the pace and could surely make it out of here and yet he had been broken by this prison. He had been shattered and all hope had been extinguished, the light of hope in his eyes snuffed out by the crushing weight of this prison, by its stifling atmosphere.

  How was it possible that this man could give up and I could hope? What hope did I have if a warrior knew this to be impossible?

  #

  Yagrax

  How was I letting myself care at all? I didn't care how much she cried! Right? Then why did the pain in her eyes give me such distress?

  First I had felt lust and then hope and now I was feeling sadness? What the hell was this feeling that was holding such sway over me? Was she really my mate? That was the only explanation for why this was happening! This was the only explanation for why I was beginning to feel this way?

  Had I gone mad in all the years that I had spent here?

  With great reluctance I tried to rationalize it to myself, I tried to think of a reason behind the sudden care in my voice and my eyes. I would reluctantly aid her not because I cared but because for my own amusement, for I was curious about this feeling I would have about her and for no other reason. That was it, that was all this was. I wasn't actually beginning to care for her, I was just amusing myself.

  Right? That had to be the truth if I was to hope to retain any semblance of the wall that I had built up around myself, the shield that I was holding up around me to prevent me from caring at all.

  The way she looked at me, the warmth in those brown eyes could not be seen anywhere else and I haven't seen such warmth in all of my years, not even when I was a free man. That body awoke such strange feelings inside of me, that curvy body and those locks of black hair that gently dashed over her face were so...they were so enrapturing, so alluring. All the signs of the mate that I was destined to have and yet I met her here, where death was assured. I would protect her, but I would expect nothing less than the greatest despair.

  That was all I could do.

  It was a miasma of thoughts and I kept on shifting back and forth from thinking that I was helping her for her own sake or helping her for my own amusement, as if I was teetering on that lie between the facade that I had cultivated over the last few years and the hope that still lingered in such a tiny spark in my eyes.

  But I would stay firmly in the camp that I had built, firmly in the ideal that this was nothing more than something to preoccupy myself with.

  I shut my eyes as I looked to my side to see her watching me, I wanted to go back to my bedside but something was stopping me. This invisible power was holding my feet in place and holding my arms at my side as I turned to look at her and sensed a deep warmth that had been alien for the last few years.

  A hope that I dreaded to feel once more as the blackened sea of despair splashed against the shores of my consciousness.

  "What are you staring at?" I asked her suddenly and turned to face her after a long while but I see that her eyes had shut and she had fallen asleep.

  Good, now I could allow myself to depart. For some reason her gaze was locking me in place, I would not make the same mistake of staying on this side of the cell any longer than I had to again.

  I go back to my side and laid on the bedroll, my eyes are directed upwards and I think to what could occur in the coming days. I had no idea who we would be fighting but the first few matches were pretty easy so she should be safe. It would be a little project of mine I supposed, to see how far she can go and survive, at least that's what I told myself in place of the truth that I knew was present but that I didn't want to grant any attention.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Melissa

  "Food!" I heard shouted out as a tiny slot in the door opened and two thick metal plates were slid in, they each had a tiny cap on them and bounced off the floor before I hauled them up. Cold to the touch unfortunately.

  "Give them to me." I heard and turned to see Yagrax standing, he was leaning
against the wooden divider.

  "You've already taken my hope. Now you want my food?" I asked him in a dry tone and he only scoffed.

  "No you fool, i'm going to heat them." he said and I reluctantly hand him the plates.

  "Whatever you say, not like I can stop you." I admitted.

  I had been thinking over my predicament for the last night, it has been exactly one day since I got here or at least I thought it was since I only slept once. I would try my hardest to escape, I would fight and would refuse to give up. There was still the chance of freedom, it was still there and I would chase it no matter the cost. I resolved to not become the man next to me, I would resolve not to lose myself to the pitch black waters of hopelessness and surrender. What he had said to me hadn't been all that encouraging and he certainly dampened my hopes but I knew that I had to hold on. He was jaded, I was not, as long as I had the fire of belief on my side I could win, I could make it out of here. I would not....what smelt like burnt metal?

  "Chow time." he muttered as I looked over at him to see him holding the plates of food over the lantern.

  ""How the hell is that possible?" I see him and he shrugged.

  "Just remove the bulb, there's a specific way you have to do it but I figured it out after a while. Ta da. Warm food." he said and handed it to me.

  "What cuisine is it?" I asked with great reluctance as I gripped the rim of the plate.

  "Nothing good I’ll tell you that much but at least it's better warm than it is cold." he said as I slide open the lid.