25. Lily

The next few days were largely a repeat of the previous one but with one major difference. Druin did not take part in the fighting pit competition and few had seen hide or hair of him since his most recent defeat.

No doubt he couldn't live with the shame.

Good. He deserved it. No, he deserved much worse. But I tried not to dwell on him.

The wounds he'd inflicted on me had already mostly healed. They were nothing but slight red marks barely visible now. I focused on Ohara and his rise to the top to maintain his position as Champion.

No one had yet quite figured out how he managed to get Druin to perform as his own living meat puppet, but it wouldn't take long before they did.

Then they would all wear helmets — and likely glue them into place. But for now, the advantage was a keen one and Ohara used it in the pits every chance he got.

He blew a kiss to me after each victory and I continued writing him my notes on how to defeat his opponents. I didn't know if he received them or not but I kept on writing and sending them anyway.

And each day, he would come up those steps, often sporting new injuries while recovering from old ones, and his eyes would focus on mine, as mine were on his, and the other Prizes never seemed to get tired of seeing us Claim each other, and made soft "Aww"ing noises when he picked me up and carried me out of there.

I liked to imagine us in different surroundings — every bit as real as the ones he often fashioned for us when we were alone together with his unique ability — where I wore a long flowing white dress and he carried us over the threshold to our new home…

And I knew I should have shaken my head of it, dispelling it for the fantasy it was… except it kept on repeating itself to me over and over again…

And the truth was, well, I didn't want to stop those fantasies from coming, just as I didn't want him to stop coming up those steps and Claiming me.

He took me to his cell and made mad passionate love to me, every time, and without fail, and I often marveled at his creativity, how he seemed to always add a little surprise to even the most simple of positions.

Every trip to his room was another exploration into the depths of forbidden ecstasy.

I rode him as hard and as long as I could. My muscles were strengthening and my heart and lungs expanded and made our sessions marathons in duration. And yet, underneath it all, I sensed something was wrong.

It was in his looks at me sometimes, the way he regarded me and held me tight. Sometimes his lips moved as if the words they wanted to say were right there, ready to spill forth…

But never did.

I decided that he would tell me when he thought the time was right, but that time never seemed to come, and so, curiosity getting the better of me, I asked him:

"What is it?"

"Hm? What's what?"

"Whatever it is you're thinking about."

His eyes flicked up at me and dragged a smile behind them. It was real and genuine… but it wasn't related to what he was thinking right then. "I was thinking how beautiful you look tonight."

Normally, I would have melted into his arms and it would spur another furious round of lovemaking, but this time I controlled myself.

"No, it's not that," I said. "It's something else. Something you want to tell me… but haven't yet. Something you've wanted to tell me ever since we first met…"

He blinked in surprise and a smile spread his lips wide. "I'm not the only one with a unique ability."

"Which means I'm right, right?" I pressed.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around me. "I was thinking about how I wanted this moment to last forever, how I wish I'd met you ten years ago. In fact, I wished I'd met you back on my home planet, as far from here as it's possible to get."

There was an undertone to his meaning, and it took me a moment to realize what it could be. I pulled back from him and gauged his expression, watching carefully for how he responded to my next question:

"How long is your sentence?"

The lines of concern at the corners of his golden eyes deepened and I knew I'd struck a chord. He shifted his eyes from mine, took a sitting position on the edge of the bed, and wrung his hands.

"I wanted to tell you the first time we met," he said. "But each time we did, I didn't want to ruin the moment. I wanted to remember our time together as something special. It is special."

"Remember our time together?" Panic hitched into my throat. "Why would you have to remember it? Why can't you be here with me for years to come?"

He looked over at me and away again. He took my hands in his and my heart was fit to bursting. "There's something I need to tell you. I was sent here to serve a sentence… of ten years."

Ohara might have used his ability and spun the room on its axis for all the effect on me.

"But… you've already served ten years…"

"Almost."

"Almost?" I said, my throat hoarse and dry. "How almost? How much longer do you have left to serve?"

"Including today?" he said. "Three days."

I just sat there, stunned. Three days? I shook my head, convinced I mustn't have heard him properly.

"Excuse me?" I said in a voice that did not betray my panic.

"Three days," he repeated.

And still, it didn't sink in. Surely there was some mistake?

I had finally fallen for someone, someone I thought I could love… someone who had fought for me, bled for me… and he was going to be gone in three days?

I wanted to argue. I wanted to spit and rage and tear the walls down.

I'd been abducted and forced to be a Prize for these alien inmates, and now that I had finally found a silver lining, that it didn't have to be as bad as I thought… now I find out that the alien I had lost my heart to — and yes, I freely admitted that I had fallen head over heels in love with him… was going to leave me?

I couldn't just sit there. I began to breathe hard, hyperventilating. I paced up and down.

"I tried to tell you…" Ohara said, hanging his head. "But the right moment never seemed to come."

I could have been mad at him… but the truth was, I wasn't mad at him at all. I was mad at the situation. I hated that we were going to soon be parted, that there was nothing I could do about it, and…

I took a deep breath. I looked at Ohara's hangdog expression, his own despair at our situation. He felt the same way I did. I walked up to him and opened my arms.

He flinched — and I realized he actually thought I was going to strike him! — and wrapped my arms around him, pulling his head in between my breasts that hung on either side of his face.

"You're not mad?" he said.

"I'm mad as hell!" I snapped before softening my tone. "But not at you. Should you have told me sooner? Yes. Would it have changed anything? No, not much. And I don't want to ruin the final few days we have together with something negative like this."

He smiled up at me. "You're amazing. Most other females would have bitten my head off."

I glanced down at his member, resting in his lap. "There will be plenty more time for that later," I said, licking my lips and leaving no mystery as to what I was referring to.

His growl was audible, like a big lion, and might have been scary if I hadn't heard it dozens of times already. As he laid me down and began to sup at me, I was a little distracted.

How could I not be?

What was different about the situation from three days ago when Druin had entered the fighting pits to Claim and harm me?

Nothing.

And this time, I wouldn't have Ohara there to protect me. I would be thrown to the wolves and there would be no going back.