If Taz attacked him with everything he had, there was no way for Kyle to win. There was also no way he’d ever seriously harm his mate, no matter the provocation, so he sent up a few silent prayers to his gods and sat down to prepare himself mentally for what was to come. If he could win this thing, he’d become more of an equal partner in their relationship and he’d be able to at least talk to his family and try to make them understand. The stakes, then, were high for Kyle.

A few hours later, he was waiting quietly for Taz to come for him. The door opened and Taz came in, dressed much like the warriors in the old vid Kyle had watched, with leggings, loin cloth, and a vest. He threw a loin cloth and leggings to Kyle. “Put these on,” he said tersely. “I have a transport waiting for us outside.”

Kyle pulled on the clothing and tied the cloth around his waist. He’d seen the almost predatory look on Taz’s face as he’d pulled off the thong-like covering, exposing his groin, and it warmed him. Taz’s gaze never left Kyle as he got ready.

He walked past Taz, unable to resist giving his hips an extra twist and out into the corridor. From there he could see the light from the twin suns of Tygeria streaming brightly through the glass door, his first real glimpse of sunlight in days. His window in Taz’s room was heavily shaded by the dense grove of trees growing just outside, even if he’d felt like climbing up on a chair to look out it.

It seemed strange to travel through the streets of the bustling city after being cooped up inside Taz’s home for so long. He glanced over at Taz, who was staring straight ahead, expressionless. Neither of them said a word to each other, and Kyle wondered if he really would be able to defeat him. If not, the ride back home might be entirely different. It made his pulse race faster to think about becoming Taz’s submissive nobyo. Could he do it? He’d given his word he would.

Taz glanced over at him. “You know I won’t be easy on you, just because you’re my nobyo.”

“I know,” Kyle said softly. “I don’t expect you to be.”

He seemed to want to say more, but turned his head back to stare straight ahead. “It’s not too late to back out. We don’t have to do this. You can stop all your foolishness and apologize.”

Kyle looked at him sharply before turning his head to stare out the window. Was he having second thoughts about fighting him? He knew he’d been a disappointment to Taz in a lot of ways, and he wanted to please his mate, but Taz had to listen to him. He had to realize the real danger his attitude was putting them in. No matter that the planet of Tygeria was like an impenetrable fortress. His family would find a way to get to him—Kyle had no doubts about that. It terrified him to think that Taz might get caught in the crossfire when that happened, or that some of his well-loved family members might be injured, all because of Taz’s stubborn refusal to allow him to talk to them.

“No. No, I want this. I have to have the chance to speak to my family.”

Taz couldn’t resist a huff of breath. “I’m your family.”

The transport arrived at the arena, and they disembarked. Kyle followed Taz into the building, walking through cavernous halls to get to the dressing rooms, where several Tygerians were in various stages of undress. Several of them gave Kyle a long, slow look, before glancing up at Taz. He glared back at them until they turned around, and then he unlocked and slammed open a large bin containing his weapons. He jerked out a mace, along with a long length of chain.

Kyle was surprised when he turned and held them out to him. He held his hands up in front of him. “No, I don’t want those. What would I do with them?”

“Defend yourself,” Taz growled at him.

Kyle refused to be intimidated and shook his head. “No, I won’t use those.”

Taz looked at him, nodded and put them back in the bin. “Bare hands, then.” He motioned toward the arena and Kyle turned to the door, with Taz right behind him. As they exited a side door, a large, sweaty young man came in and stood aside to let them pass. Kyle nodded at him and he smiled suggestively, practically leering at Kyle. The young man teasingly raised Kyle’s loin cloth to pinch his ass as he passed him. Kyle whirled to face him, but before he could make a move, Taz had the man by the throat, pressed up against the wooden door.

“How dare you lay a hand on my nobyo? I’ll kill you!”

“I-I’m sorry—I didn’t know! I thought he was a prisoner!” The young Tygerian stammered out an apology but Taz was in no mood to listen. The young man’s feet weren’t even touching the floor and he was gasping for breath as Taz held him effortlessly up in the air with one hand. Before Taz could do him any further damage, some of the young man’s friends rushed over to help him and calm Taz down. They looked at Kyle curiously, speaking rapidly in Tygerian. Because of his truly limited efforts with the language books, Kyle couldn’t understand a word.

Kyle had taken a few steps back from the altercation, amazed at Taz’s show of strength. He realized again how little chance he really stood against his mate and wondered if he should save himself the bother and the bruises and just concede now before this went any further.

After a few minutes of furious shouting back and forth, Taz pulled himself away from the group of young men and stormed over to where Kyle was standing, taking him by the arm and practically dragging him outside. His grip tight on Kyle’s upper arm, he jerked him forward to the arena, and once there he pulled Kyle around to face him. “Must you always flaunt yourself like that in front of every man you see?”

Kyle’s mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t flaunting anything and I never said a word to that guy! Can I help it if all you people are sex-crazed?”

“I saw you smile at him. Once you lose this challenge, I might take you home and lock you up until you’re too old to attract anyone!” He whirled him back around and gave him a two sharp smacks on his ass.

Shocked, Kyle fell away from him and looked up at him in outrage. “Did you just spank my ass?”

Furious, Taz yelled back at him. “That’s nothing compared to what I’ll do when I get you home.”

Leaping forward, Kyle jumped on Taz, bearing him down to the ground. He tried to pin his hands by his head, but Taz quickly recovered and jerked out of his grasp, bucking him off and rolling to his side and back up to his feet. Taz’s entire body language changed as if someone had flipped a switch inside him. He tensed his muscles and a feral gleam came to his eyes. He loomed over Kyle, who was still lying on the ground at his feet and snarled with menace.

“Get up!” he said, but barely gave Kyle a chance to scramble to his feet before he was on him, his volatile temper snapping, he caught Kyle on the chin with a quick left hook. Kyle staggered back, stunned, and Taz came at him again, but this time when he swung, Kyle swung with him and managed to deflect the blow a little, catching some of it on his shoulder. He awkwardly jabbed his elbow into Taz’s midsection and both of them grunted in pain.

They each fell back a little, and Taz began to circle. Kyle still hadn’t had a chance to fully recover from the two stunning blows when Taz charged him again, bending at the waist and plowing into Kyle before he could dance out of his way. It knocked the breath clean out of him and he hit the ground hard, pain slicing through his shoulder where he landed. Instinctively, he rolled and felt Taz land next to him on the ground. He knew he’d had a narrow escape. If Taz had landed on him, this thing would have been over almost before it started. Kyle would have been pinned under his weight and would have had no choice but to surrender.

Kyle jumped back up to his feet and kicked at Taz’s hip, but Taz turned and caught his foot in his hands, twisting it and bringing Kyle crashing back down to the ground. He could feel the pain shooting through his back and knew he’d have plenty of bruises to show for this tomorrow. He knew that he should give up now, but his pride wouldn’t let him. If he gave up meekly, Taz would never have any respect for him. It already looked pretty certain he was going to wind up as Taz’s bitch, but at least he could keep a little of his self-respect intact.

With no warning, Taz lunged for him again, and this time Kyle couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough. He braced for Taz’s weight to crash down on him, but at the last second, Taz caught him in his arms and rolled with him, keeping him on top so he wouldn’t be crushed by his weight. Kyle knew he was going easy on him, trying not to hurt him too much, and the idea made him furious. Taz pushed Kyle’s arms behind his back and held them there. “Do you yield?” he shouted at Kyle, but he stubbornly shook his head and snarled back at him.

“Never!”

With a loud snort, he released Kyle, pushing him to the side and allowing him to roll away as Taz got to his feet, not even out of breath. Kyle rushed toward him and latched onto his wrist, pulling his arm over his shoulder and then jamming his body into the larger man to launch him head over heels to the ground. Kyle was surprised to hear a smattering of applause. He spared a quick glance to the stands and saw a few of the warriors who’d been sparring alongside of them stopping now to watch.

Taz actually laughed, letting out a huge whoosh of air before springing back up to his feet. He smiled at Kyle in surprise and almost pleasure, and Kyle realized he was enjoying this.

Kyle, however, was getting tired. Throwing Taz’s big body over his shoulder had taken up some of his last reserves and when Taz leaped at him, he was barely able to dodge out of the way in time. Taz landed behind him rolling to miss the brunt of the kick Kyle aimed at his ribs. Kyle’s mouth opened in surprise as Taz twisted and grabbed both of Kyle’s ankles, giving them a tug, and spilling Kyle onto the ground. He sat down hard on his ass, biting his tongue and feeling pain shooting up into his lower back. Damn, Taz was going to kill him if this went on much longer.

Taz stood a few feet away, motioning at him to get back up. Kyle got the strong impression he was only toying with him and could end this whenever he wanted. Wearily Kyle got back up to his feet again, raising his fists as he did. He refused to back down. If Taz wanted to end this, he’d have to do it himself. He lunged forward, striking out with his right fist and hitting Taz in the jaw.