Rage (Galactic Cage Fighters) (11 page)

“Yes, by humans.”

“How do you know it was humans?” Splicing was supposed to have been outlawed years ago. She remembered her Uncle Ted talking about some cases with his buddies years ago.

“Humans have the most to gain by splicing the DNA. Full blooded alien species look down on
halfsies and consider us weak because of our human halves.” Talon leaned back against the sofa.

“So a human egg is fertilized and the DNA is spliced to create a mixed species. Who takes care of the babies?” Rachel was horri
fied. She imagined a whole warehouse full of crying babies with no one to take care of them.

“Before it was outlawed
, corporations would pay for their creations and provide caretakers to watch over their investments. A lot of the halfsies first created were used for the military. Others were bred for slavery.”

“What happened when DNA splicing was outlawed
?”

“The military and slavers were required to release the
halfsies. A lot of them ended up homeless before the government agreed to give them a onetime restitution payment.”

“That’s horrible. I can see why
halfsies hate humans now.”

Talon closed his eyes. “Not all
halfsies hate humans.”

Rachel reached over to squeeze his hand. “I know.” This was
it, she needed to press him to talk. “What happened with you and Lindy?”

“She left me.”

“Why?”

“That’s what I want to know. She and her friends came to watch a fight. We met
afterwards at a party for the fighters. There was instant heat between the two of us. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was so beautiful and delicate. We talked, laughed, and danced most of the night. I asked if I could see her the next night and she agreed. We became inseparable. She followed me on the circuit so we could get to know each other better.

“I don’t know what happened. The night before she left, we had a fight over me seeing her flirt with someone else right before a fight. When I confronted her she claimed that I was mistaken, that it had not been her. I left her alone in my suite while I we
nt to get hammered at the local galactic pub. When I woke the next day from having passed out on my sofa, I found a note from her saying that she was leaving me and that she wished me well. I tried to call her phone, tried e-mailing her, and tried contacting her friends and family. They all accused me of doing something to her.”

Rachel was silent as she
absorbed everything that he had told her. “Do you still have the note she left?”

Talon reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to her reluctantly. She
spread open the piece of white paper on the table beside her. It was softened by Talon having opened and read it often.

Talon,

I cannot deal with this anymore. I am leaving. Do not come after me.

I wish you well,

Lindy

“Hey Talon, could you grab me some water from the kitchen?” Rachel asked without looking at him.

“Sure.” He got up and walked into the kitchen area, opening a cabinet to find a cup.

Rachel quickly used her own phone to scan the image of the letter. She then emailed the copy to her co-worker
s in the labs back at headquarters. She asked them to verify the handwriting. She quickly folded the paper and handed it to Talon when he came back with her water.

She took a sip of her water. “I’m sorry about Lindy. I hope she turns up one day and is able to explain
what happened. You are a good man and you deserve to be happy.”

He smiled a sad smile. “Without Lindy, everything has been really hard.”

Rage came back through his suite carrying a large bag of clothes for Rachel. He looked at the two of them suspiciously and growled. “Did he try anything?”
 

Chapter 12

“I don’t think she is who she says she is
,” Talon told Rage after he put Rachel down on his bed in the other room to rest. She was exhausted and fell asleep immediately.

“What do you mean?”

“For starters, her name can’t really be Rachel
Starr,
can it?”

“It is no more unusual than
Talon
or
Rage
.”

“Okay, I give you that. But she is clearly not a fighter. Yes
, she can fight, but we both know she was not experienced with any circuit before coming here.”

Rage nodded his head in agreement. “True.”

“She keeps asking questions about Lindy and some of the other human women who used to be here.”

“Do you think she’s a spy for someone, maybe working for another promotion company?”

“Maybe, I just don’t know. Look, I like her. She seems sweet, she can hold her own in a fight, and she’s damn easy on the eyes. But I know in my gut that she’s hiding something. You’re my friend. I just want you to be careful about not letting your heart get run over.” Talon told him as he walked to the door to leave.

“Thanks
, Talon. I’ll watch my back.” He didn’t want to distrust Rachel, but everything that Talon had said was true. It made him even more determined to figure out all her secrets.

Talon went to his bedroom and found Rachel sleeping soundly. She had kicked the blankets off
, exposing her completely nude body. She was so soft and smooth. He instantly hardened looking at her. He growled with his desire. Damn it! She needed rest, not some horny halfsie climbing all over her. He walked slowly towards the bed, taking his clothes off and leaving a trail on the floor.

Tomorrow
.
He promised himself he would get everything he needed from her tomorrow, when she was recovered. Including the answers to his and Talon’s questions. He climbed onto the bed next to her. She turned, seeking his body heat. She whimpered until he pulled her up against his body. Then she sighed in contentment.

Rachel woke disoriented.
Where was she?
Her eyes focused to take in her surroundings. Ah, Rage’s bedroom. She was in his bed, alone.
Where was Rage?
She turned to her right and found him dressed and sitting up in a chair next to the bed.

“Hi.”

“Hi. How are you feeling this morning?” Rage asked.

“Good, better than good. Why don’t you come back to bed?” She
lifted the sheet to expose one of her breasts, tempting him.

Rage looked at the
gorgeous exposed mound with longing. He could almost taste her sweet nipple in his mouth. He shook his lustful thoughts away. Not now, he needed to get answers first.

“What’s your name?” he asked her
, focusing his dark eyes on her.

“Uh
… I’m Rachel. Did you hit your head or something?” She sat up, pulling the blanket back over her body.

Rage snorted. “I’m fine. I
just want to know what your real name is.”

Rachel looked down at her cl
enched fingers in her lap. He must suspect something was off. But she couldn’t tell him. It might jeopardize her mission. “It’s Rachel. That’s my real name.”

“Starr isn’t your real
last
name, though, is it?”

She shook her head.
“There are some things that I can’t tell you, Rage. I wish that I could, but I can’t.” When she looked back up at him, she saw the pain that crossed his face. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. But eventually, when her investigation was over, he would find out that she had lied to him, and he would hate her then.

“I have to go down for training.”

“I can go with you if you let me get dressed.” She moved to the edge of the bed.

“No, you will need to go to the healing facility first to get
medical clearance before you can start training again.” He stood up and started for the door.

“I’ll see you later
, right?” Rachel knew she sounded pathetic and hated it. No man had ever made her act like this. So needy, so clingy. It was humbling.

He looked back at her and his heart melted. He could not stay away from her
any more than he could stop breathing. He gave her a sexy smile. “Get lots of rest, you’re going to need it.” Then he left quickly before he gave in to his beast’s demands to take her to the floor and make love to her.

Rachel let out a huge sigh of relief before falling back onto the bed. “He still wants me,
” she whispered out loud. At least he still did for now. That might change after he learned the truth. This mission was turning out to be a lot harder on her emotionally than she thought it would be. She was getting attached to people involved in the case, which was one of the biggest mistakes an investigator could make.

She got up reluctantly and dressed. When she got back to her
own suite, she found Sersan was already dressed for training. “Hey, Sersan.”

“
You feeling better today?” Sersan asked.

“Yeah, but I can’t train till I check in at the healing facility first.” Rachel walked over to her closet and frowned.
Where was all her stuff?
Only a few pieces hung there.

Sersan
laughed. “Rage came down and got sssome of your ssstuff. It looked like he planned to keep you for a long while.”

Rachel joined in the laughter. It made her feel good that he wanted her with him. “He’s been very
… thoughtful.”

“He
isss very protective of you. He even yelled at Resssa when he found her here.”

“Why would he yell at
Resa?”

“
It’sss kind of an inssside joke among the halfsssiesss. For sssome reassson, if Resssa becomesss a human’sss friend, they all decccide to leave.” Sersan laughed. “It wasss odd to find her here waiting when I came up from the healing facccility. Ssshe sssaid that ssshe came to check on you, but ssshe had never checked on anyone before.”

Rachel was unusually quiet.
Resa had approached her a couple times before asking if she would like to have dinner with her and her husband. They were the only married couple traveling on the circuit and usually fought as a team. Rachel had declined because the husband, Tipin, gave her odd looks. She suspected that they wanted to have a threesome with her and she was not into that at all. She respectfully turned down each of their offers.

But why would
Resa be seeking her out directly after she had been injured? Resa had never come to her room before. She would have to pull up the report that her boss had provided for her on every member of the GCFA. Alarm bells were going off inside of her regarding the two Rasilians.

“
Ssso, you and Rage, huh?” Sersan winked at her. When Rachel refused to answer, she continued to tease her. “Hasss he made you passs out yet?”

“
Sersan!” She was blushing from head to toe.

“He
hasss I sssee.” She laughed as Rachel punched her arm. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the healing facccility on my way to training.” She pulled Rachel out the door.

Well, the good news was that she got her medical clearance. She could start training that evening. The bad news was
, she couldn’t find Rage anywhere. She had planned to ask him to help her with her training. She had to settle for Zara the Amazon.

“Congratulations on not getting yourself killed
, Starlight.” Zara circled her on their mat.

“It’s Rachel Starr.” Not really Starr
, but Zara was doing this on purpose.

“Whatever you say
, Star bright.”

Rachel gritted her teeth and lunged at Zara. The taller woman easily dodged her. She shook her head at Rachel.
“Not good enough, Stargazer. Your next opponent is a Slurchan.”

Rachel couldn’t help but cringe.
Slurchans were just so … gross. Their bodies were spongy, making it hard to get a good grasp on them. They could suffocate their opponents. And they oozed goo all over. Ugh.

“You have to concentrate on getting a good hold. You might be able to grab their outfit occasionally to hel
p. But to get the count to win the match, you will need to knock them out or put them in a submission hold. Since you’ve been doing Rage, you should know all about submission holds.”

Rachel’s left foot connect
ed with the back of Zara’s knee, making her temporarily fall down. “What’s your problem? Are you upset that a halfsie would want to be with a human? Or are you just pissed that Rage wants me and not you?”

Zara punched Rachel in the face
, making her fall backwards. “First, I could care less if a halfsie is stupid enough to be with a puny human. It’s their bad taste. Second, I’m not jealous. If I had wanted to be with Rage, I would be with Rage. I was the one that ended things with him years ago. Enjoy your time with him, human, because he’ll tire of you soon. He always does with humans.” She walked away, swishing her hips.