Chapter 1
Esan stood between his little sister and the two full Reptan boys. “You need to leave ... now!”
The two boys, who were a couple of years older than him, just laughed. “Look at the freaksss. Do you think you fit in here halfsssiesss? You don’t and neither doesss your bitch sssissster. The only way your sssissster will ever be accepted here is if she becomesss a sssex worker.”
He felt the bile rising up in his stomach. The thought of his sister being used or abused made him sick and infuriated. He didn’t care that the boys were older or bigger; he would protect his sister with his life. “Leave usss alone and I won’t report you.”
The teenage males laughed as they circled Esan. He watched them, taking in their height, weight, which fist they punched with first. Lolan, the taller of the two males, hit harder than his friend Sayer. Sayer was shorter and had little power behind his punches but he was faster than the other. It was no wonder that the two boys always fought together. Fighting alone, each boy would be easily defeated. Together they were much better at surviving. It didn’t matter. They were still no match for Esan.
Lolan punched him in the stomach while Sayer attempted to sweep out his feet. Esan lurched back to stay upright, making Sayer lose his balance and fall on his hands and knees. Esan concentrated on Lolan — the stronger fighter of the two. He took two hits to the face but came back to hit him square in the chest. He briefly forgot about the second male, which was a mistake.
“Esssan!” his sister yelled out as Sayer came at him from behind and knocked him to the ground. Both of the males jumped on top of him and laid in one punch after another. Out of the corner of his right eye that hadn’t yet swelled shut, he saw his sister moving forward with a large stick in her hand.
“No, Sssersssan!”
She didn’t listen but instead jumped on the back of Lolan and tried to pull him off of Esan. Fury filled him when Lolan reached up and gripped her hair, then flung her off of him. Esan fought harder, wanting to knock the young males out so that he could get to his sister. They doubled their efforts and continued kicking and punching him.
Finally, an adult came outside of the school and broke up the fight. Esan and Sersan were taken to their foster parents’ home. During the drive home, his sister had remained quiet. Their foster parents were furious with them for getting into trouble. Esan was grounded for a week but Sersan’s punishment was harsher, she had to do all the household cleaning duties for two weeks. Later that evening, he sat with Sersan in the kitchen and held a healing patch to her face. It was developing a bruise on one side.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No, I’m not.”
“We can call for a healer.”
“I don’t need a healer, I need to learn how to fight.”
That surprised him. Sersan was shy and sweet; he couldn’t see her being aggressive. Yet ... she did jump on Lolan. “I should have protected you better.”
“No, you should help me learn how to fight. You won’t alwaysss be there, Esssan. I need to be ready in case othersss try what thessse two did.”
She was right, he knew she was. The two of them were half Reptan and half human, created in a lab. When the Intergalactic Justice Department freed them they had been shipped to the Reptan home world and moved from foster home to foster home. The Reptans were a male-dominated society and put more value on males than females. Finding a home for him was easy, but he refused to be separated from his sister and there had been few willing to foster a half-Reptan female. Esan fought hard to keep them together but as they were now both growing up, he would not always be around.
“We’ll start practicing fighting tomorrow.”
She smiled at him and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek, carefully avoiding his bruises. “You’re the best brother ever.”
*****
Present Day
“Esan, we’re ready for you.”
He was pulled out of his memories and turned toward the female standing in the doorway leading to where his sister was getting ready for her mating ceremony. The female — he couldn’t remember her name — was curvy, had brown hair pulled back into a bun, and always carried a digital clipboard with her. She was attractive but human.
“Esan?”
“I’m coming.”
Sersan would soon be fully mated to another and maybe leaving the GCFA to start a family. What would he do when she did? Would he stay with the GCFA or would he move to be closer to her?
When they had been recruited to the Galactic Cage Fighter Association, it gave them the means to travel and gain financial independence. He made sure to invest part of their pay and they both had done very well. Both of them had more than enough to retire and live comfortably.
Today his sister was mating another GCFA fighter, Ronin. That male would not have been the male he would have picked for his sister, but he begrudgingly had to admit he was the best male for her. Ronin wasn’t a Reptan but Sersan fell in love with him and it was clear to Esan that Ronin felt the same for his sister. She chose Ronin and Esan didn’t want to stand in her way.
He walked over to the door and the brown-haired female—Nina—motioned for him to enter the through the door to the dressing room. As soon as he saw his sister, he felt such joy and love.
Sersan had let her blonde hair grow out a little more so that her scales on her scalp were hidden. She had a pale white silk dress on that flowed to the floor in smooth waves. Her arms were bare and she wore a simple pearl necklace. Her friends had helped her with makeup. She wore a little bit of lipstick and eyeshadow, but she didn’t need the makeup because she was a natural beauty. He realzied that he had never told her that before. It was time to correct that.
“You are beautiful Ssserssan.”
Sersan turned to face him and smiled brightly. “Do you think ssso?”
“I know ssso and Ronin will be very pleasssed.”
“I’m ssso lucky.”
“Ronin isss the lucky one.”
“I’ll leave you two,” the female—Nina— said.
Esan couldn’t take his eyes off his sister as he felt emotions rising up in him and he had to clear his throat to speak again. “You are glowing with happinesss.”
“I am happy. Ronin makesss me happy.””
“Then I am glad to give him permission to mate you.”
She laughed as she came over to hug him. “I would have mated him without your permission.”
“Don’t tell him that. I plan to ssstall taking you down the aisle. I want to make him sssweat it out a little.”
Sersan punched his arm, but there was no anger behind her eyes — only humor. “You are ssso bad. Wait until you fall in love. I will tell your mate all the embarrasssing ssstoriess of our childhood.”
“The joke’sss on you becaussse I don’t plan on falling in love — ever.”
She looked up at him with concern. “Don’t sssay that. You jussst need to find the right female.”
“I am not looking for a relationship. Now that I am about to hand you off to your mate, I can go on a parade of meaninglesss datesss and purely sssexual encountersss.”
“Please stop talking. I don’t want to hear about your essscapadesss.”
A knock on the door had them both turning just as it opened. Nina motioned for them to follow her. “It’s time.”
Esan offered Sersan his arm and she took it with a shaky hand. “Are you nervousss?”
Sersan shook her head. “No, I’m excited. I get to ssspend the ressst of my life with the male I love more than anything. I’m ready to get through the vowsss ssso that it can begin.”
Nina had them wait until a specific song started, then she opened the double doors and motioned for them to walk inside a ballroom. Esan wanted to rip the tie off his neck; the outfit was not something he was used to. There were a lot of people there; he didn’t even know some of their names.
She leaned over and whispered to him. “By the way, you look very handsssome.”
He rolled his eyes. “Zen made me comb down my mohawk and put on thisss monkey sssuit.”
“Well, I owe him big time. You look amazing.”
Esan was about to ask her something, but Sersan’s attention was fully focused on the male waiting for her at the end of the aisle — Ronin. The male was also in a suit and the look on his face when he saw Sersan was one of a male who had just seen the sun. The love he had for Sersan was pure and evident on his face and he never took his eyes off of her as they made their way to him.
Ronin was not what Esan had in mind for his little sister, but after seeing how the male treated Sersan, Esan softened toward him. Esan always thought that he could find Sersan a full Reptan to mate. It would give her prestige and respect — two things they didn’t have much of growing up. Sersan refused and chose love instead. She made the right decision.
When they got to the end of the aisle, Ronin nodded at Esan but kept his attention on Sersan as she took his hand. Esan had to say one last thing.
“Take care of her.”
Ronin put his other hand over his heart. “I will love and care for her the rest of our lives.”
Good enough. Esan turned and walked to the empty seat at the front. He almost groaned out loud when he saw that Zen was sitting next to him. Who assigned the seating? He would have to have a talk with that Nina person. It was bad enough having to endure Zen’s orders on how he should dress, how he should do his hair and how he should dance. The male had insisted that Esan learn a few simple steps so that he could dance with Sersan at the reception. This whole thing was a big fiasco.
On planet Reptan, Sersan and Ronin would have simply gone to the ocean, taken off their clothes, and entered the water without holding hands to symbolize they were separate. When they came out of the water, they would have emerged holding hands to represent their new union. Only family members and an officiate witness mating ceremonies on Reptan.
“Don’t loosen that tie,” Zen warned him.
Esan glared over at the interfering male. “I’ll ssstrangle you with it if you keep it up.”
Zen just shrugged. Nothing seemed to phase the easygoing male. He was annoying but had proven to be helpful and, as much as Esan hated to say it, a good friend.
“Thanksss,” he said without looking at Zen.
“No problem,” Zen responded.
Nina gave both of them a look and shushed them before stalking off to the corner. Who the hell did that female think she was? He didn’t care how cute she was, no one shushed him.