He’d seen an old vid once, the film grainy in black and white. The Tygerians were using old style video camera technology at the time, probably seventy or eighty cycles before, and had filmed one of the Exhibition Games to broadcast to their people. The Alliance had been sent a copy to taunt and humiliate them, since some of their captured prisoners were on the film.
Some fifteen or twenty survivors, crewmen and soldiers from a downed Al
liance ship circled a huge, dusty ring, as a Tygerian crowd jeered and threw things at them from the stands. The prisoners wore loincloths, and looked completely worn out, their bruised and battered bodies showing the results of their ill treatment up to this point.
A loud horn sounded and the gladiators, young Tygerian warriors, emerged from behind gates on all sides of the arena. They towered over the prisoners, wearing animal skin leggings and vests over their naked chests. Each of them carried what looked like chains and maces. A mace, Kyle had since learned, was a type of club with a metal or stone end used to smash in body armor. He could only imagine the kind of damage a weapon like that could do to flesh.
The young warriors played to the crowd, mocking and toying with the prisoners as they dispatched them one by one. It was a cruel and vicious display, and only three of the Alliance prisoners were spared at the end, not because they’d won, but because the crowd thought they’d fought bravely and spared their lives to fight again.
The Exhibitions were fought at night, and this was not such a trial by fire. This was more of a friendly game, wasn’t it? Taz had mentioned a sparring session, so there’d be no jeering crowd of spectators watching them. Kyle didn’t delude himself that he could win this thing easily. Taz would be a formidable opponent. As for Kyle, he would be waging an entirely different kind of attack than Taz’s, because he would have to be careful not to harm his mate. He wasn’t so sure if Taz would be quite as careful. He’d want to humiliate Kyle and teach him a lesson.
Kyle knew he didn’t have the physical prowess to win a fight between them on strength alone. Taz had big advantages of height and weight on him, not to mention the fact he hadn’t gone through the ordeal Kyle had experienced in Tarr’s cage, half-starved and drugged out of his mind. He’d only begun to recover his strength from it.
He thought, though, that he just might have the advantage of speed, coupled with some training in hand to hand combat. If he could gain even a slight advantage, he could count on Taz’s unwillingness to badly hurt him to help him succeed. All he would need was a little luck, and he might be able to gain the upper hand long enough to make Taz lose the wager.
If Taz attacked him with everything he had, there was no way for Kyle to win. There was also no way he’d ever seriously harm his mate, no matter the provocation, so he sent up a few silent prayers to his gods and sat down to prepare himself mentally for what was to come. If he could win this thing, he’d become more of an equal partner in their relationship and he’d be able to at least talk to his family and try to make them understand. The stakes, then, were high for Kyle.
A few hours later, he was waiting quietly for Taz to come for him. The door opened and Taz came in, dressed much like the warriors in the old vid Kyle had watched, with leggings, loin cloth, and a vest. He threw a loin cloth and leggings to Kyle. “Put these on,” he said tersely. “I have a transport waiting for us outside. ”
Kyle pulled on the clothing and tied the cloth around his waist. He’d seen the almost predatory look on Taz’s face as he’d pulled off the thong-like covering, exposing his groin, and it warmed him. Taz’s gaze never left Kyle as he got ready.
He walked past Taz, unable to resist giving his hips an extra twist and out into the corridor. From there he could see the light from the twin suns of Tygeria streaming brightly through the glass door, his first real glimpse of sunlight in days. His window in Taz’s room was heavily shaded by the dense grove of trees growing just outside, even if he’d felt like climbing up on a chair to look out it.
It seemed strange to travel through the streets of the bustling city after being cooped up inside Taz’s home for so long. He glanced over at Taz, who was staring straight ahead, expressionless. Neither of them said a word to each other, and Kyle wondered if he really would be able to defeat him. If not, the ride back home might be entirely different. It made his pulse race faster to think about becoming Taz’s submissive nobyo. Could he do it? He’d given his word he would.
Taz glanced over at him. “You know I won’t be easy on you, just because you’re my nobyo. ”
“I know,” Kyle said softly. “I don’t expect you to be. ”
He seemed to want to say more, but turned his head back to stare straight ahead. “It’s not too late to back out. We don’t have to do this. You can stop all your foolishness and apologize. ”
Kyle looked at him sharply before turning his head to stare out the window. Was he having second thoughts about fighting him? He knew he’d been a disappointment to Taz in a lot of ways, and he wanted to please his mate, but Taz had to listen to him. He had to realize the real danger his attitude was putting them in. No matter that the planet of Tygeria was like an impenetrable fortress. His family would find a way to get to him—Kyle had no doubts about that. It terrified him to think that Taz might get caught in the crossfire when that happened, or that some of his well-loved family members might be injured, all because of Taz’s stubborn refusal to allow him to talk to them.
“No. No, I want this. I have to have the chance to speak to my family. ”
Taz couldn’t resist a huff of breath. “I’m your family. ”
The transport arrived at the arena, and they disembarked. Kyle followed Taz into the building, walking through cavernous halls to get to the dressing rooms, where several Tygerians were in various stages of undress. Several of them gave Kyle a long, slow look, before glancing up at Taz. He glared back at them until they turned around, and then he unlocked and slammed open a large bin containing his weapons. He jerked out a mace, along with a long length of chain.
Kyle was surprised when he turned and held them out to him. He held his hands up in front of him. “No, I don’t want those. What would I do with them?”
“Defend yourself,” Taz growled at him.
Kyle refused to be intimidated and shook his head. “No, I won’t use those. ”
Taz looked at him, nodded and put them back in the bin. “Bare hands, then. ” He motioned toward the arena and Kyle turned to the door, with Taz right behind him. As they exited a side door, a large, sweaty young man came in and stood aside to let them pass. Kyle nodded at him and he smiled suggestively, practically leering at Kyle. The young man teasingly raised Kyle’s loin cloth to pinch his ass as he passed him. Kyle whirled to face him, but before he could make a move, Taz had the man by the throat, pressed up against the wooden door.
“How dare you lay a hand on my nobyo? I’ll kill you!”
“I-I’m sorry—I didn’t know! I thought he was a prisoner!” The young Tygerian stammered out an apology but Taz was in no mood to listen. The young man’s feet weren’t even touching the floor and he was gasping for breath as Taz held him effortlessly up in the air with one hand. Before Taz could do him any further damage, some of the young man’s friends rushed over to help him and calm Taz down. They looked at Kyle curiously, speaking rapidly in Tygerian. Because of his truly limited efforts with the language books, Kyle couldn’t understand a word.
Kyle had taken a few steps back from the altercation, amazed at Taz’s show of strength. He realized again how little chance he really stood against his mate and wondered if he should save himself the bother and the bruises and just concede now before this went any further.
After a few minutes of furious shouting back and forth, Taz pulled himself away from the group of young men and stormed over to where Kyle was standing, taking him by the arm and practically dragging him outside. His grip tight on Kyle’s upper arm, he jerked him forward to the arena, and once there he pulled Kyle around to face him. “Must you always flaunt yourself like that in front of every man you see?”
Kyle’s mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t flaunting anything and I never said a word to that guy! Can I help it if all you people are sex-crazed?”
“I saw you smile at him. Once you lose this challenge, I might take you home and lock you up until you’re too old to attract anyone!” He whirled him back around and gave him a two sharp smacks on his ass.