The Rings Fighter by JC Andrijeski Read Free Book Online

human sitting there let out an arrogant-sounding laugh.
    “...I suppose you’ll throw both barrels at her next time, eh?” the man smirked, taking a few swallows of Nirreth beer before setting down his mug. “Get her back for making you underestimate our lowly human female?”
    Chloe found herself studying the middle-aged human in curiosity, even as Trazen’s dark eyes appraised the same. The human male was handsome, stocky in build and had a curious streak of gold in his hair and strangely riveting, light-brown eyes.
    He didn’t act like a slave.
    Chloe glanced around the rest of the table then.
    She refocused on the girl sitting there––young woman, really, with straight black hair, darker brown eyes and a narrow face. Her features looked familiar right off, although it took Chloe a few seconds more to put the male human’s words together with her face, and then understanding bloomed in her mind.
    This was her. The Rings fighter.
    Like Trazen, she looked different outside the black sense-suit.
    Looking her over more carefully, Chloe wanted to smile suddenly.
    Trazen’s enthusiasm and his sudden bursts of affection suddenly made a lot more sense.
    She was beautiful. More than that... she was sexy, borderline dangerous-looking.
    She was definitely ex-skag––meaning one of the humans who lived outside the Green Zone in the toxic wastes that made up most of what remained of Earth. She had that wiry, scrappy look, and her muscles were lean and highly-functional looking, not like something sculpted in one of the Nirreth’s many exercise centers.
    She also had that hunted look in her eyes that Chloe recognized from so many of her neighbors growing up in Kabasi.
    So yes, definitely a skag... but she was also beautiful.
    She had a kind of grace to her features and even the way she held herself that had “hunter” written all over her. Long black hair hung down her back and over one shoulder, silky and straight. Her almond-shaped eyes shone with an obvious intelligence despite the faint sheen Chloe could see from Nirreth venom.
    She looked young, but also like she’d seen a lot for her age.
    Chloe glanced at the male Nirreth sitting next to the girl, and realized he must be her lover.
    He looked like a fighter too, although longer of limb than Trazen, and with a more narrow face. He was handsome though. As handsome as Trazen, if in a different way.
    Trazen’s thoughts had been so quiet in those few seconds that Chloe didn’t realize he’d placed his fingers back on her... not until a flush of jealousy hit her, hard enough that she flinched, jumping a little. She glanced over at Trazen’s face but he wouldn’t look at her.
    Focusing back on the table and the girl sitting there, Chloe smiled again.
    He really did like her. A lot.
    Stop it, he growled in her mind.
    Fighting to keep the smile off her face, Chloe glanced back at the girl. The Rings fighter, Jet Tetsuo, hadn’t taken her eyes off Trazen either, but the ex-skag watched him warily, like he was some kind of dangerous animal.
    Even as Chloe thought it, the male Nirreth sitting next to the Rings fighter pulled his girlfriend closer, wrapping his arm around her tighter. He must have said something to her too, because she dropped her eyes, taking on a demure, almost submissive posture as she pressed into the tall Nirreth’s side. Chloe had an absurd desire to laugh; the pretense at submission was so obviously put on it struck her as funny.
    Her Nirreth boyfriend must have warned her to play the pretty plaything in here.
    Trazen glanced at Chloe at that, but scarcely long enough to meet her gaze.
    His tail lashed violently behind him in an arc. He looked back at the table, smiling and relaxing some of the heat in his stance. Even as he did, a more lecherous look rose briefly to his dark eyes, as if he were reappraising Jet as a sex toy.
    Interesting, Chloe thought.
    She could clearly see Trazen’s end of the dance, too.
    He was pretending to be appeased by