An Alien Gladiator for May

He was forced to fight his entire life. Now, he fights for her.

MAY
I was supposed to have an adventure.
A fresh start.
A job on an alien world where I could finally live on my own terms.

Instead, I'm in chains. Stolen. Dragged into the gladiator pits of a ruthless alien planet, where the strongest warriors battle for the right to own me.

They all want a prize. A possession. A plaything.

All of them-except him.
Jaryth.

Scarred. Dangerous. A warrior with shadows in his eyes and blood on his hands.
He doesn't want to fight. But when he does, it's not to claim me.
It's to protect me.

He says no one will touch me. That he'll keep me safe.

But Jaryth is a fighter.
A killer.
And when he looks at me, I see the battle raging inside him-the war between wanting me and knowing he shouldn't.

I don't belong to him. I'm no one's prize.
So why do I feel like I'm already his?

But then I see her. May.
Small. Fragile. Standing in the arena with fear in her wide eyes, knowing she'll be given to the victor.

I should walk away. Let her be someone else's problem.
Instead, I step into the ring.
I fight for her.

But I am not a hero.
Not a good man.
I am the monster she should fear the most.

Because the hardest battle isn't in the arena.
It's the one I'm fighting now.

To resist her.

To keep my hands off her.
To stop myself from wanting her the way I do.

She's soft where I am sharp. Gentle where I am ruthless. She has no place in my world.
And yet, I can't let her go.