The Gladiator's Prize (6 page)

Logan started the sequence of kicks
and flicks that would stretch out the last of his muscles, thinking
it all through as he did so. The idea of Matt being the lone man
excited him to the point where he almost missed a move. He took a
deep breath, centered himself and started again.

His hands were steady, his
body taut, but it was like a current was running through him. In
fact, he didn’t think it was possible to be so amped up. In the
early days of his career, when he’d arrived on
A’lton
with a few credits and not
much else, Logan had fought simply to make a name for himself. He’d
entered the arena with bucket loads of attitude and a raging
desire, but in those early days there hadn’t been any excitement,
he was simply too focused.

Several months later and where once he
had nothing, all of a sudden he had plenty. Money enough to do
whatever he wanted. Credits and more to buy a big house, and a fast
ship. And the sex! Males and females had begged him to fuck them,
lined up for the pleasure. The excitement had come then. Each time
he entered the arena and subdued another male it had built and
built. But then about a year ago it had started to dim and Logan
hadn’t known why. He’d thought it must be boredom or perhaps he had
just had enough.

He knew the truth now.

He had been waiting.

For
Matt
.

As the human filled his mind Logan
stilled his movements and took a deep breath. He knew that Jarv
would never let Matt go; he’d known that the moment he’d seen him.
The human was just too perfect with his smooth body and his golden
hair. Golden hair! Logan shook his head, disbelieving again that it
could be so.

Matt would fill the arena for months,
if not years. They would come from far and wide to see the human on
his hands and knees being fucked over and over. He was just too
much of a draw, because most aliens would never get to see a human
up close. There were so few left and could be seen only from a
distance when they accompanied their owners. Some said it was their
own fault. They had come from their own system and brought with
them both a technology and a culture that clashed with the others
in the galaxy, others who had been intermingling for hundreds of
years already.

It hadn’t taken long before the fights
started and over time the hundreds of thousands of humans who had
left their home world grew smaller and smaller in number until few
remained, and those few were scattered, living on the fringes of
the galaxy. No planet would give them papers. Instead they would
claim them as their own, so the humans didn’t even dare ask. They
snuck from place to place, always trying to stay hidden.

Legend said that
there
were
more.
Secreted away on the planet they called Earth, a place that no one,
as far as Logan knew, had ever found. Some said millions if not
billions lived there, just waiting to be claimed.

Many had looked.

Many had searched.

No one had been successful.

No wonder Matt James was going to be
in such high demand. No wonder the people of A’lton were already
whipped into a high frenzy, screaming and shouting for the
human…and yet…as Logan picked up a towel and rubbed the sweat from
his face he knew already that he could not bear the thought of
another male touching what he now thought of as ‘his’.

It was primitive, almost visceral, a
hidden aspect of himself that Logan had never realized even
existed, but he wanted Matt. Had wanted him from the moment he’d
stepped into his cell and looked into his perfectly blue
eyes.

He dropped the towel and
made his way into his bedroom, planning to shower away the sweat
and cool himself down. He couldn’t help thinking, as he did so, how
Matt’s body, small and perfectly muscled, would look sluiced in
water. Logan had a powerful urge to lather up the other man and
lick him from head to toe…and that was weird as fuck, because Logan
never licked them—they always licked
him
. But it would be a lie to say,
as he’d grinded his cock against the human’s, that he hadn’t
imagined what it would be like to lick along the length, to bury
his face in those golden curls and suckle the pre-cum from his
slit.

Logan took a deep breath
and dropped his pants. He was naked now, his thick cock jutting out
in front of him. He wrapped a hand around it and pumped it slowly.
As he did so, in his peripheral vision, he spotted a package, just
by the bed.
The robes. The golden
robes.

Almost like he’d known…

He masturbated harder and made a
mental note to have them sent to the arena. Matt would wear them
and Logan would take great joy in stripping him out of them. Gods,
he was going to take great joy in everything. Every touch. Every
kiss. Every sigh and groan.

And it was then, as he
pleasured himself and looked at the golden robes, that Logan
realized he would
have
to have Matt. Not just in the arena, not just for a quick
fuck, but for more. So much more. This was something he did not
have a choice in. Matt James belonged to him now. Logan had to
ensure that he would never be touched by another male for the rest
of his life.

With a sigh he released his cock and
headed for the shower room. It was time to call in some favors and
make some plans…

Chapter Eight

Matt glared as he looked down at the
golden robes that his ‘hosts’ had presented to him earlier in the
day. They had insisted the garments were ceremonial, that all
competitors wore them, but Matt knew for a fact that Logan hadn’t
worn any when he entered the arena for his last fight. He’d worn
pants and boots instead. Matt knew this because from the moment the
big alien had walked on to the dusty floor he hadn’t been able to
take his eyes of him.

You and thousands of
others.

He glared some more and
plucked at the thick material. It covered him from head to toe and
would be easy to remove. A flick or two of Logan’s whip and the
bindings that held it in place would fall as easily as the walls of
fucking
Alpha One
, leaving Matt stark naked. If only he’d been able to keep
his own fucking clothes! But Jarv must have slipped something in
his water last night because Matt had woken up from his too brief
sleep as bare as the day he was born, leaving him absolutely no
choice but to wear the robes.

A bell clanged.

His first warning.

There would be one more
before the door in front of him opened and ushered him into the
arena. Matt gripped the handle of his whip and took a deep breath.
He was ready for it, had spent most of the previous night pacing in
his cell, going through strategies and planning his moves. Because
the way Matt saw it he had two choices. He could refuse to enter
the arena. Refuse to fight. But he knew, had been told in
excruciating detail, that Jarv would force him in if he had to, and
Matt would stand no chance against Logan if he wasn’t willing to
fight. He would lose, then after he would be taken back to his
cell, where Jarv would either let him be or drug and rape him. Even
if he was left alone he would be expected to enter the arena again
and again and sooner or later he
would
lose no matter how hard he
fought. Sooner most likely considering some of the males who would
come to challenge him. Those men would fuck him roughly in front of
thousands, and they’d love every minute of it. Matt would
not.

Option two had come to
Matt last night, as he paced and paced. So far as he could see the
only way that was going to get his freedom was to win and make
Logan
his
prize.
He would be able to barter then. The human who finally took down
their feted gladiator? The male who mastered the man that had
fucked hundreds into submission? Christ, they’d adore him! It would
give him leverage, enough perhaps that they would turn their backs
for just long enough, and he’d make a run for his ship and be off
planet before they realized.

And Logan? Matt shuddered as he
thought of the male who had won against so many others, some of the
strongest men in the galaxy in fact. He was so big, so muscular.
Matt had realized that last night when Logan covered him with his
big body. Hell, it wasn’t going to be easy, not at all. Matt knew
he had his work cut out for him, but it wasn’t impossible. If he
could just get Logan on his hands and knees…or even flat on his
back…Matt could thrust inside before the other man knew what was
happening.

Penetration was enough. Jarv had said
so.

It was a win.

And you won’t have a
problem there.

Matt scowled as he reached
down to palm his cock. He’d been hard from the moment he’d awoken.
His dick knew something was happening and was ready for it. Matt
might not have eleven thick inches to work with but for a human he
was well above average, especially in the girth department, and he
didn’t doubt that he would be able to fuck Logan well. Hell, he’d
been thinking about doing just that since the moment he’d seen him
in the arena, and then again when Logan had pushed him against the
wall and kissed him so furiously. And Matt hated that! Logan might
not be his captor. Might even have had some sympathy for Matt’s
position but he was still one of
them
, and right now Matt was willing
to lump them all into the same category.

Bastards.

Predators.

His enemies.

It was a galling position to be in. To
want Logan despite the circumstances surrounding them. But then
desire was a funny thing, Matt knew that. It could fix on the most
unlikely of people.

The human and the
gladiator.

He scowled and pulled away from his
cock just as the second bell sounded.

It was time.

The door to the arena opened slowly,
almost as if trying to draw out the tension. The first thing Matt
noticed was the smell; thousands of over-perfumed bodies all
competing for space alongside the scent of arousal. He could
practically taste it filtering down the stands and into the arena.
The spectators had come hoping to see their favored gladiator fuck
one of the legendary humans, a species barely seen anymore. And he
was golden-haired too, they’d love that, were already excited. Matt
could feel it.

Next came the noise. Screams and
cheers and chants. The crowd was whipping itself into a frenzy.
Calling for Logan. Calling for the human. They wanted their show
and they wanted it now.

“
I’ll give you a fucking
show,” Matt muttered. “You bastards.”

The doors opened fully and Matt took
several deep breaths. Adrenaline was already flooding his body and
making his heart race. He went over the moves again in his mind,
over and over, and gripped his whip as tightly as possible. In the
cramped space of his ‘room’, insert cell, Matt had practiced with
it until his arm ached. He just needed to get the first flick in,
enough to take the big alien down.

A voice boomed over the speaker
system. It was introducing him.

Matt allowed his face to settle into
the harshest of lines and then, taking one last deep breath, he
walked into the arena.

The crowd shrieked when they saw him,
marveled at the sunlight bouncing off his golden hair, at the
smoothness of his body, the soft pink of his lips. Men tried to
surge forward against the barriers, calling his name. Women ran
hands down their chests, while some began to remove their clothes,
and others were already naked.

They were aroused.

Excited.

They wanted him. Until…

The speaker boomed back in to life and
then a second door directly opposite Matt began to open. A fresh
wave of adrenaline flooded his body and Matt watched, dry mouthed,
as Logan walked into the arena.

He was as spectacular as Matt
remembered. Tall. Muscular. Painfully good looking. His black hair
was cut close to his head, he wore a pair of tight pants leaving
his chest and back completely bare. As he turned to smirk at the
crowd, Matt could see the inkings across his shoulders and spine,
inkings that had not been visible last night when Logan had kissed
him. Matt had heard that each swirl in Logan’s tattoo represented a
male who had fallen to their knees in front on him, and seeing it
only hardened Matt’s resolve. He would not be one of those males!
No matter how much he wanted Logan to fuck him he had to stay
strong! He could not spend the rest of his life practically a
slave. Fucked by any alien with a hard-on and a desire for a
human.

No fucking way!

Logan was his only way out.

The alien in question stepped forward
on to the dusty space and gave his whip a flick. The crowd
screamed. Matt took a step forward too, and then carefully, the two
of them began to circle around one another.

Logan’s eyes were narrowed and that
familiar smirk was playing across his lips. It both aroused and
enraged Matt beyond belief. Likely the alien was already thinking
about how easy he was going to be to subdue, how effortless it was
going to be to fuck him.