Kaitlyn O'Connor by Enslaved III: The Gladiators Page B

determined not to spawn a child in captivity as we are—which is a very good thing! She cannot be close or she would not be able to think that rationally.”
    “Well,” Dakaar said a little unhappily, “I suppose it is a good thing that we are not in sync in our reproductive cycles…now.”
    “Only in the sense that we need not worry over a child,” Kael said tightly. “She is not likely to be happy when we go into spawning fever if she is not.”
    “We have not gone into the fever since we have been here,” Balen pointed out. “Mayhap we will not when there are none of our women around?”
    Kael sent him a sardonic look. “You do not believe that. I felt it in my blood before I saw Lau-ren! I cannot say that it is because of her when I knew before that I was nearing my time, but my blood hardly cools since she came. Unfortunately, I do not see that we can do anything beyond hoping the fates protect her from us and the spawning comes upon us when we cannot get to her. There is no stopping it or controlling it. If it comes upon us and we can get to her and she can be bred, we will have far more to worry about than our own fate. We will have a youngling to worry about and a mate in far more danger because of it.”
    “She said that we could not get her pregnant,” Balen said uneasily.
    “But does she know that that is true? Or was it only that she was as appalled as we are at the thought of giving birth to a child here?” Kael prodded grimly. “She did not tell you when her time was?”
    Balen stared at him a long moment and finally shook his head. “She would have said if she was near her time, though. She would have sensed it as we do, would she not?”
    “I do not know. We do not know because she is not Hirachi! We do not know how different she may be from us in ways that we cannot see!”
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Chapter Six
    Loren didn ‟ t believe the sleep period could possibly have been as long as it usually was.
    When the lights came on, the glare against her eyelids dredged her from so deep a sleep that her eyelids felt like sandpaper when she blinked them against her burning eyes and when she struggled from the bed to use the toilet, she staggered and wove as if she was drunk.
    She considered for a few moments when she ‟ d relieved herself if she actually wanted to get out of bed, bathe, and dress and decided she didn ‟ t. Bathing off in the little basin, she headed back to the bed, slinging her hands to dry them along the way. She had nearly reached the bed again when the activity in the basement around her finally managed to penetrate the fog sufficiently to lift it and allow curiosity in.
    Pausing when she ‟ d plopped down on the bed, she stared with burning eyes toward the bars at the door of her cell, listening and trying to figure out what was going on. The men were preparing to go out to practice, she decided finally, and fell back against the mattress, pulling the blanket up over her head to block out the light. She drifted for a while, like a feather on a current of air, falling toward sleep for a few moments and then rising up again.
    Some memory nagged at her, made it impossible to completely relax and go back to sleep.
    She tried to grasp it a while and then tried to ignore it. Finally, the clanging of metal against metal jarred it loose. The gladiator games!
    Her eyes popped open and watered from the burn. Blinking the tears back, she dragged the blanket down and sat up, staring at the bars for a moment. Dismay filled her when she heard the distinctive sounds growing dimmer. They were leaving! And she hadn ‟ t even had a chance to see Kael or Dakaar or Balen! Scrambling out of the bed, she rushed to the bars and strained for a glimpse of them. They were taller than most of the other gladiators and their hair and skin tones distinctive, but she knew there were other Hirachis among the gladiators and she wasn ‟ t sure the one ‟ s she glimpsed were them.
    “Be careful!” she called out to