Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Four weeks later…
Samyra knocked on Kyden’s office door five minutes before the appointed time with confidence and entered with a smile on her face when he called for her to come in.
She took the chair beside his desk and leaned back, ready to hear the offer she was plainly expecting.
She hadn’t won the season, which was a disappointment, but she’d come in third overall and amassed a respectable number of points.
Kyden didn’t waste any time. “I can’t offer you a contract—”
Sitting straight up and instantly becoming angry, she launched her inevitable accusation. “Because I won’t sell you Jamirr.”
“Because the medical report my House physician prepared states you have Lajaran’s Syndrome and we both know that’s a debilitating disease which will end your career as a gladiator sooner than later.” He kept his calm.
“So much for medical privacy. I should have known your doctor would betray my confidence.” Her tone was bitter but she also didn’t deny the diagnosis.
“In our contract for this engagement that’s now ending, you agreed to take a comprehensive physical and in the fine print you agreed my doctor had your permission to discuss the full and complete results with me,” Kyden reminded her.
“You and your damn fine print. Fuck you. I don’t need you or your House. I have my own House and I can still fight.”
“If Jamirr protects you. For now. Sooner or later nothing will help and even the Porter-Tevigni circuit will discover you can’t fight any longer.
” Kyden took a deep breath. “The time comes for every gladiator to retire, Samyra. Some manage to do it at the top of their game, to go gracefully, leaving the audience wanting more. Others hang on too long and destroy their own legacy. Take my advice and bow out now. I could offer you a contract to become a member of our exhibition team. Benet can work out a routine for you and your animals to perform, a mock fight to dazzle the crowds. Look at how much they love Dmitri’s horse act. ”
“Act,” she said as if the word was dirty. “I’m a fighter, not an actor.”
“Dmitri earned his retirement and there’s nothing to disdain in his work with the horses.”
“I live for the arena,” she said. “The crowds, vanquishing the opponents, the triumphal rush of taking my victory laps. I can’t give that up—I won’t. Not until there’s no other choice. Buy Harton or don’t buy him, Jamirr and I are going home.”
“Porter Three isn’t his home,” Kyden said softly.
“Neither is this place,” she retorted.
Studying her for a moment, Kyden leaned forward. “I’m going to tell you a story almost no other humans in this part of the galaxy have heard or will ever hear. I’m asking you to keep it to yourself.”
“I can’t promise until I know what it’s about,” she said in a sulky tone.
“Fair enough. Jamirr, Rennyr, Talinn, Demitri and I are genetic brothers from different Generations. We were created in labs by a race of alien scientists on an alien world far away. In fact, no one knows where it is so none of us can return to our actual home. The scientists used humanoid material and mixed it with various types of alien predator DNA. That’s why we have these—” He flashed his heavy black talons, impressed when she didn’t flinch.
“And other attributes. Because of the alien DNA we live in a pack structure, which sustains and nourishes needs deep within us. We have a pack bond. I’m the Alpha of this small pack here and we’re a tight knit, loyal group.
I can’t offer the pack bond to Jamirr because you won’t release him. Nor has he asked, I will admit.”
“But if all that’s true, how did this small group of you end up here in the Hinterlands?” she asked.
“For all but Dmitri, we were sold. His story is his own to tell and I won’t go into it here.
For various reasons, someone at the labs faked our deaths and managed to ship us out to be sold for a profit as future gladiators.
We were created to be warriors, trained to be lethal.
It’s not a big jump from that to the arena and I imagine the guards or techs or maybe even a rogue scientist or two over the centuries made a lot of credits selling the occasional ‘defective’ Badari on the black market. ”
“Over the centuries?” she repeated in a dazed voice.
“We’re all from different Generations. When I managed to earn my freedom here and then buy the gladiatorial House I made a vow to find and rescue any other brother of mine who might have suffered a similar fate as I did.
To be a Badari Warrior on his own in the galaxy is a terrible thing,” he added.
“Jamirr was badly damaged by being subjected to cryosleep, which is a flaw a subset of us suffers. When we came to visit you he didn’t know or remember any of his past. Over time, we’ve managed to help him bring his memories to the fore. ”
Samyra was silent but then her emotions got the better of her. “I need him and he needs me. You said yourself he hadn’t asked to be part of this pack you’ve got going on here. He’ll be returning to Porter Three with me in two days.”
Kyden hadn’t expected nor allowed himself to hope for any other outcome today.
He was trying to plant seeds. Now he said, “I will have two concessions from you, Samyra.” He held up one clawed digit.
“If anything changes, anything at all, you will contact me.” A second finger joined the first. “You will give me first right of refusal if you ever decide to sell him or are put in a position where you feel you must part with him for any reason.”
“I can agree to those stipulations.”
He relaxed. “I’ll accept your word as your bond.”
She rose. “These eight weeks have been very…educational.”
“We were happy to introduce you to the Five Systems. You set a high bar for any other female gladiators we might acquire in the future.” Kyden rose and came around the desk to walk her to the door.
“And Samyra, feel free to contact me directly at any time, for any reason. I consider you a part of the House of Badari and my job as Alpha is to watch over those who fall under my authority, even for such a short time.”
“I’ll remember that but we’ll be fine.” She gave him a cursory nod and walked into the corridor.
Kyden watched her stride away with her easy gladiator’s movements.
He had the sense her future wasn’t going to be as straightforward as she was confidently assuming but he’d done all he could.
His whole purpose in life was to make his brothers free men to chart their own courses in life but in Jamirr’s case, he’d rejected the offered freedom in favor of remaining with the woman who’d just left Kyden’s office.
It wasn’t the decision Kyden wanted but he had to respect his brother’s wishes and be ready to respond if ever the couple requested his help.
He would of course keep tabs on Samyra and Jamirr to some extent.
He had useful contacts through his father-in-law and Prince Pargen to draw upon for intel as needed.
Jamirr might not be in the pack and Kyden might not be his chosen Alpha but Kyden would watch over them as best he could from a distance.
Later that night…
Kyden woke from a dream and realized he’d been summoned by the Great Mother.
Rising, he glanced at his beautiful wife, sleeping soundly and drew the covers up over her bare shoulder.
He got dressed with practiced efficiency and left their apartment in the ancient house, moving through the deserted corridors at a rapid pace.
He exchanged salutes with the guards he passed and emerged into the dark gardens.
The darkness of night was no challenge for his Badari eyesight and he made his way through the public space into the private area where only Badari and claimed mates were allowed to go.
When he entered the circle of trees which marked the Mother’s sanctuary, he found a lone brother standing there, in the exact center, illuminated by the moonlight.
He wasn’t surprised to find it was Jamirr.
The gladiator turned to him slowly, amber eyes gleaming.
“I want this,” he said, gesturing at the peaceful glade around them.
“I want to be close to the Great Mother again, surrounded by my brothers, to feel the pack bond in my heart.” He pounded his fist against his chest. “To swear my allegiance to you as my Alpha. I can hardly give voice to my craving, make no mistake. But Samyra will never stay here and she owns me.”
“Brother, I have a dozen different ways at my command to legally sever her ownership of you, right now. I’ve offered to compensate her—”
Jamirr held up one hand. “If it was only a question of my physical body and outdated human laws, then yes, of course I’d want to be free. But she owns my heart and my soul and I cannot leave her. She needs me.”
“She’s your mate,” Kyden told him with a touch of sorrow. “Unclaimed. Of course you feel the pull.”
Shaking his head, Jamirr said, “She’ll never let me claim her.
She’s as wild as the animals she rescues and protects.
I know she loves me—there’s no doubt in my heart—but she’ll never accept any man’s claim.
She’s fought too hard and too long to get where she is, to be the person she is, to accept the partnership of a mate bond. ”
Kyden put his arm around Jamirr’s slumping shoulders. “We here will always be your brothers. If you need us, just call. If anything changes in your situation or hers, my door is open to any Badari and the Great Mother’s circle here and her heart are the same, I promise. You don’t walk alone.”
Straightening his spine, Jamirr nodded. Voice choked, he said, “The assurance means more to me than you can imagine.”
Kyden debated for a moment as Jamirr stepped away a few paces to gather himself. “She’s…not well, you know. I couldn’t offer her a spot as one of my gladiators knowing she has a serious, progressive condition.”
“She hides it well,” Jamirr agreed. “I can sense it and so can her animals. Darryl sees it but only because he’s known her for so long. It’s another reason I must stay with her.”
“If she ever agrees to the mate bond, then you can give her a transfusion of your blood and she’d acquire Badari immunities,” Kyden said, although this was one of the pack’s deepest secrets and Jamirr stood outside the pack for all he was a Badari.
“Why can’t I do this now then?”
He hated to crush the other’s hopes but Kyden was blunt.
“The Great Mother forbids it. Only a claimed mate of a pack member can have the transfusion and have the magic work. She is adamant we mustn’t let outsiders know of the blessing we carry or it will become our greatest curse.
Imagine what the humans would do if they knew our blood was the secret to the virtual immortality they are always seeking.
The goddess controls the magic of our blood and giving Samyra a transfusion today would avail you nothing. ”
“Harsh.”
Kyden laughed with little amusement. “When have our lives ever been easy, brother? We were created to live in misery, to fight and die. I’ve been blessed to be able to carve out this haven here in the Five Systems for myself, for Rennyr and Talinn and Dmitri and any other Badari I may ever find.
Yes, we have to fight, but on our terms now.
And we can have mates, even families someday.
The Great Mother may be stern but she also gives us hope and a chance at happiness. ”
There was silence, broken only by the chirping of the night insects.
“I’d better go.”
Kyden extended his hand. “I’m glad you were here with us, even if only briefly. Remember my offer of help at any time, no questions asked.”
Jamirr shook his hand. “I will. You—you’re my Alpha in my heart, if not in truth and I count myself fortunate to have met you and the others.”
“May the Great Mother bless you and Samyra.” Kyden stood and watched Jamirr walk away, leaving the grove.
He thought the moonlight dimmed a bit and knew the Great Mother was disappointed as well.
“He’ll come back to us,” he whispered, hoping she would hear and be comforted. “This isn’t the end of the journey.”