Page 58 of Galaxy Gladiators Romance Box Set #11-19

Chapter Ten

M aximus

Sunrise couldn’t come soon enough. I got no sleep at all. Following Octavia’s instructions to stay glued to each other all night was sheer torture.

Life is different here on Addai. Things seem slower, more private. It smells good, fresh, not like the manufactured air on the ship. No one’s watching us. I feel more like myself and can be in touch with my thoughts and emotions.

What are those thoughts and emotions? They all revolve around Raine.

“One day down, two to go,” Raine says cheerily as she meets me outside the cabin. “Ready for our quest?”

Quest, yes that’s what Octavia called it. It should take the better part of the day, which is some consolation. At least we’ll be busy. That will make it easier to keep my hands off Raine.

Today’s quest takes us straight up the mountain. I have my bow and arrows with me, as well as water, food, and the map. The cabin is about halfway to the mountaintop. Octavia made it clear what we’re searching for is at its peak.

I feel sorry for Raine. She was struggling yesterday. Today’s going to be harder.

“I’m glad we’re getting an early start,” she says a few minimas into our climb. It’s hot already.

“Yes.”

We trudge slowly, with her in front of me. Perhaps the head priestess hates males. Why else would she put us through this? Not only is this physically and mentally difficult, but I have to watch Raine’s perfect bottom sway with every step. Pure torture.

An hoara into our hike I offer to carry her.

“I don’t think that’s in the rules. If Octavia didn’t tell us to do it, I’m not chancing it. We both want this to work, right?”

I grunt in agreement, although I’m not so certain I agree. Before I met Raine, my highest aspiration was to drack a four-armed Mordite. With Raine, I’ve discovered there’s so much more to desire. A relationship, companionship, someone to laugh with, to share hopes and dreams. I’ve had all that with her. Would it be so bad to have that forever?

With every passing moment, we move more slowly. Although Raine began the climb with difficulty, she’s struggling more now that it’s steeper and hotter. I learned how to work through pain and weariness when I was young. I don’t think Raine did.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you, Raine? I used to train wearing a heavy vest that weighed far more than you.”

“I’m committed. I’m not going to break any rules.”

I don’t remind her that Octavia didn’t actually prohibit me from carrying her. We walk slower and slower. I’d hoped we’d get to our destination before midday so we could descend the mountain in daylight. I’m not certain that’s going to happen.

“Are we almost there?” she says, her tongue thick from panting.

“Drink more water. Keep hydrated. Yes, we’re almost there,” I say when it must be at least two hoaras after noon.

“Well, at least Octavia wasn’t lying. I half expected this entire quest was a hoax, but there are the fuchsia and chartreuse-colored flowers.” She points to a field of bushes with sky-blue leaves and the blooms we’re looking for.

I set Raine on a boulder and encourage her to eat two nutrition bars and drink some water.

“They smell divine, don’t they?” she asks as she swallows her last bite.

She’s so dracking beautiful. If the Gods are real, they must have a sense of humor. They somehow threw me together with the prettiest female in the galaxy, mate-bonded me to her, and then ensured we couldn’t stay together.

“Yes. Tell me about your race. Your face is red. Does that mean you’re sick?”

Her palms fly to her cheeks as her eyes widen. “Crap. This is what happens when fair-skinned people don’t use sunscreen.”

I’d thought it was from exertion, but the color isn’t fading.

“Can it kill you?” I ask.

“No. It will sting for a few days, then fade.”

When I glance at my comm for the third time, concerned about the time, Raine says, “Just a few more minutes to catch my breath, then we’ll head back.”

I know we agreed not to touch, and Gods know I’ve already got a permanent erection just from being near her, but I ruffle her hair.

“The trip down will be easier. I hate to rush you, but I don’t want us finishing our trek in the dark.”

She nods and slips off the boulder, then reaches on tiptoe to ruffle my hair just as I did with her. She’s smiling.

“You’re pretty when you smile,” I say before I can order myself not to.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

Raine

It’s an odd time to start flirting with the male I’ve been having sex with for months. The whole reason we’re out here is to sever our bond. Why I’m complimenting him is anybody’s guess.

Maybe it has something to do with Octavia’s hoops we’re busy jumping through. Spending half an hour thinking about what a great guy he is was definitely counterproductive to the whole dissolving our connection thing.

She said we needed one perfect cossus flower for tonight’s ritual. There are many perfect flowers here just waiting to be picked. How we’re going to get even one of them down the mountain in the blazing heat is another thing entirely.

I pull the nutrition bars and water bottle from my bag. We finish our quick meal in silence while enjoying the beauty of the scene surrounding us.

“I have an idea,” Max says as he pulls me close. “I’m going to braid flowers into your hair. They won’t get smashed into the pack or clutched tightly in anyone’s hand. Hopefully one of them will survive the trip.”

“You’re going to braid my hair?” My hand reaches to my hair in a girlish pose and desire jolts through me at the thought of those thick, calloused fingers carefully sliding through my tresses.

To cover my embarrassment and arousal, I ask, “Where did a gladiator learn to braid?” He laughs at my astonishment.

“The trainers would bring in large bundles of thin vines and order the youngest members of the ludus spend hoaras braiding them into thick ropes which were sold to local farmers. We were slave labor. It was another source of income for our masters.”

I should be used to the compassion I feel every time he shares another crappy memory of his childhood. It’s amazing that as awful as his history is he can experience any connection to another living person. Yet time and again, he tries to connect with me.

He braids a strand of my hair, then plucks a flower and slides the stem into the braiding. He repeats the process over and over, taking exquisite care. We’re both banking on one of these delicate flowers still being perfect when we arrive back at the cabin.

The flowers are beautiful, reminding me of a big, luscious peony. Only these are chartreuse with fuchsia tips. They smell divine, especially now that they’re so close to my nose.

What captures my attention more than the flowers, though, is the male standing close enough to me that our thighs are brushing. His cock, stiff as usual, grazes my belly or the small of my back as he circles me, leaning close to accomplish his task.

And why does he have to smell so freaking good? Although the flowers’ fragrance is thick and sweet, when he’s this close all I can smell is his fresh male scent. I want to touch him. Actually, I want to throw him to the thick grass and have my way with him even though I have no roofies on board. I can’t imagine how horny his biology is making him right now. He’s been without sex for almost two days.

“I’ve braided ten cossus blooms into your hair. At least one should make it all the way down the mountain,” he says, his voice rough and sexy.

He’s standing in front of me, we’re toe to toe with maybe two inches separating us. Our gazes lock and I lick my lips. I can’t help myself. Granted, it’s hot and I’m still thirsty, but my tongue slowly swiping between my lips has nothing to do with hydration. No, I’m communicating my desire. My need.

He cups my chin in his palm and brushes his thumb across my moist lips. Back and forth. Slowly. His gaze never leaving mine.

As he dips his head closer, telegraphing his intention to kiss me, my whole body lights up like a Christmas tree of desperation. My pelvis tightens, my clit quivers, and I can feel my nipples bead under my clothes.

We can’t have intercourse. Octavia made it clear, crystal clear. She said the dissolution of our bond couldn’t happen if we broke that rule. It doesn’t mean we can’t play with fire, though.

All I can hear is my heart beating and my breath soughing between my lips. It’s as if everything on the planet has stopped and is waiting for the next moment. There may have been birds chirping a moment ago, but they’re silent now.

The smells that had been so sweet and aromatic are forgotten. The only thing in my awareness is Madd Maximus and me. Dear God, I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want his head to keep lowering toward me.

The sheer desperation I felt on Hyperion was just that—desperate. This, right now, is so delightful. It’s so tender, so light, so connected.

I know the moment he realizes we’re in dangerous territory. His golden pupils are blown, his eyes flare wide, and his head tips back in an almost cartoonish gesture.

He grunts, as if his thoughts are in such a primitive state he can’t speak, then he says, “We need to leave,” his voice gruff and brusque.

He’s bold enough to grip my shoulders and turn me so my body faces down the mountain.

“We need to follow the priestess’s instructions,” he adds unnecessarily.

He’s right. A fact which doesn’t reduce my irritation at him for mentioning it.

It takes half an hour, maybe longer, for me to be capable of clear thought. All I could think about for a moment was what I wanted. Now I can think about the long-term goal—permanent separation.

In my efforts to get us home before dark, I hurry. Going downhill is a lot easier than climbing up. I don’t see the tree root crossing the pathway, though, and I sprawl onto the hard-packed dirt. My chin must have hit a rock because it’s spurting blood.

My knight in shining armor is here before I can call for help, tearing off his bow, quiver, and shirt so he can use the fabric to sop my blood.

After he rips off a tiny piece of his shirt and sticks it to the cut to stop the bleeding, he lifts me in his arms in the bridal position.

“Raine,” he’s looking at me so tenderly it would melt a different woman’s heart. “I’m going to carry you down the mountain. I don’t care what the high priestess may say.”

“I don’t want to jinx it, Max. Give me just one moment to collect myself and we can be on our way.”

He bends to kiss my lips, then catches himself and straightens.

There’s a low yowling hiss from a cave to my right.

Max stops in his tracks, his shoulders immediately taller. I know him well enough to realize he’s moving into Addai male protection mode.

“Don’t worry,” he whispers as he eases me to the ground. “You stay here.”

Max’s body is tight, every muscle poised for a fight as he moves toward his discarded weapons, always keeping himself between me and the feline in the cave.

With my attention focused on my right, movement startles me to my left. Another feline must have been crouched in one of the red tulip trees, just waiting for us.

It’s a brown and gold spotted feline that reminds me of a leopard. Behind a cage in a zoo, I’d consider it beautiful. Right now, I’ve never wanted any living creature dead so badly in my life. Even the melty-faced guy I bit at the auction.

The feline leaps at me with precision, three legs landing on the dusty ground, the fourth taking a swipe at my torso and bringing me to the ground with a hard thud.

Its two front paws are on my shoulders as it stands on top of me, pinning me to the ground. When I struggle to escape, the animal’s powerful paws push me even harder against the soil. Just as I realize I’m not going anywhere, its canines lodge on my shoulder.

Every male on the ship keeps a six-inch knife in their boot. Why didn’t I think of that? The fact is I’m defenseless and struggling is bound to make things worse.

I guess it wants to torture its dinner before it eats me because its teeth and claws haven’t broken the skin yet. I’ve watched videos of cats who play with their prey for hours, mauling the unfortunate animal only to let it run away and then capture it again.

“Max?” I say, my voice sounding eerily calm even though I’ve never been this scared in my life.

Max is between me and the cave, his weapons twenty feet away. I hadn’t realized he’d left them so far up the path when he was tending to my chin. I’m frozen in fear, terrified I’m going to be mauled or eaten before Max can take a shot.

Max strides to me, grabs the animal crouched on my chest, and yanks it off me, allowing me a full breath for the first time since the attack began.

Max grunts and the big cat yowls as the two wrestle. Max seems to be trying to get a better grip on the feline. The cat is wriggling and scratching with all its might. Four parallel lines of brilliant scarlet blood bloom on Max’s chest after the cat takes a mighty swipe at him. Max grips the cat in a headlock and twists.

I’m not sure whether it’s the sound of the animal’s neck breaking or the sight of blood running in swift rivulets down Max’s chest that causes bile to rise in my throat.

You’d think I would be out of my mind with fear right now, but the world has slowed, and my thoughts are racing like the galaxy’s fastest computer.

“Don’t forget there’s another one in the cave behind you,” I say as Max pulls a knife from his boot and stabs the animal’s chest to ensure it’s dead.

He jogs to his weapon and has the bow in his grip when, right on cue, another feline leaps from the cave. It takes two prodigious bounds, and in midflight as it’s ready to pounce on me, Max shoots it, the arrow entering near the shoulder and evidently piercing directly to its heart because it stops immediately, falling heavily to the ground an inch away from me.

My heart flutters in terror against my ribcage, I can’t pull my gaze from the carcass, especially the five-inch-long canines still glistening with saliva.

Max hefts the huge feline by the scruff of the neck in one hand and the top of the tail in the other and throws it onto the forest floor.

He keeps his gaze moving, ensuring no other animals are ready to pounce as his hands skim over my arms and legs to feel for broken bones.

“Tell me everything that hurts.” His gaze flicks from my head to my toes, taking in all my wounds.

“Shoulder. Neck,” my voice sounds far away. I lay my head on the hard ground and watch him inspect me.

He runs to retrieve the shirt he removed, then tears strips off of it to bandage me.

“There’s more blood than serious damage,” he says. He’s all business, his focus on his work. “You lost some blood, but you’ll be fine. Males get hurt in the ludus all the time. We learn to patch each other up.”

I pull myself back from the fear-place where my mind has been hiding and put on my doctor’s hat. Craning my neck, I inspect the wound on my shoulder and am relieved to see the blood flowing freely. Nothing major was damaged. Other than worrying about infection, the shoulder wound will heal fine.

“How bad is my neck?”

“Eight puncture wounds. It looks like he didn’t get a good grip the first time, then sunk them in pretty deep on the second pass. He missed your carotid, though.”

Madd Maximus knows what a carotid artery is? Go Max!

“Smarty-pants,” I tease, trying to shake myself out of the hole of terror I escaped to and bring myself back to the land of the living. The attack is over.

“A smarty-pants wouldn’t have brought you up this mountain with no laser pistol.” A muscle leaps in his tight jaw.

“Those were Octavia’s rules. I agreed to them. Let’s blow this pop stand before a third cat decides he wants me for dinner.”

“I’ll tend your wounds more thoroughly at the cabin,” his voice is all business. “If we had time, if I weren’t afraid there were more of those animals lying in wait, I’d hold you, Raine. I’d hug you tight and reassure you and remind you they had to die for you to live. We don’t have time, though.” He glances at the sun which is edging toward the horizon.

“I’m carrying you, Raine. I won’t let you refuse.”

“You didn’t tend your own wounds, Max.”

His gaze flicks to mine, with so much emotion there. Is it our near-death experience? The fact that our mate-bond will be broken tomorrow? Maybe it’s the concern in my voice.

He slings his weapons over his shoulder, then lifts me into his arms. I debate whether to argue, then decide against it. I’m in no shape to jog down this mountain.

A few minutes later, I realize he’s not in shape to do what he’s doing, either. The wounds on his chest have stopped bleeding, but he’s lost some blood and we don’t have enough water for him to adequately hydrate. That just adds to the fact he’s debilitated. Since the mate-bond appeared, we discovered he needed sex more than once a day to keep functioning. It’s been two days since I’ve shared my body with him. He’s breathing heavily and keeps having to rearrange me in his arms.

Finally, he stumbles over something in the path. He doesn’t fall or drop me, but I decide enough is enough.

“I’ll take it from here,” I say as I shift my weight.

“Almost there,” he pants.

“Max! Let me down.”

“There’s the cabin.” He tips his head. “Let me enter first. Stay right here.”

Max wants to be safe rather than sorry? I’m all for that.

A moment later, Max returns, then hustles me across the threshold. As soon as we’re both inside with the door closed and locked, he yanks me against his chest and squeezes me tight. A bit harder and it would hurt, but I have to admit it feels good to be in his strong embrace.

I held it together the whole way down the mountain, but there’s something about his concerned hug that allows me to release all my pent-up terror. My body, so stoic a moment ago, lets go of all pretenses of control. I’m crying. Not silent little tears, but big thick ones accompanied by sobs.

Max sits on the bed, holds me in his arms, and rocks me for long minutes. He croons to me. It’s a quiet, wordless melody. If his gladiator buddies saw this, they’d tease him mercilessly. I doubt he cares.

“I’m going to find medical supplies,” he says.

I circle my arms around his neck, nuzzle my nose against his ear, and breathe him in. He doesn’t smell fresh and clean anymore. He smells like a male who just exerted himself. Killing two huge alien felines with his bare hands and hurrying down the mountain didn’t do this to him. Fear did.

In the ER we’d say he was diaphoretic, which is fancy talk for sweating like a pig, and it’s because he’s concerned for me

He keeps me clutched to his chest with one arm as he pokes around for the medical supplies with the other. When he finds them, he sets me on the chair and examines the punctures.

“Can you . . . can you take me to the bathroom so I can see?” I don’t really want to. It feels so good to be taken care of, but since I’m a doctor and he’s a gladiator I really should take a look for myself.

He was right, they’re deep punctures that don’t need stitches. He lays me on the bed, then cleans, disinfects, and bandages them.

“You could have been hurt much worse.” He lets out a relieved sigh, then tips his head so our foreheads and noses touch. “If they had hurt you worse than this . . .” He doesn’t finish his sentence, just releases a ragged breath.

“Octavia shouldn’t have sent us on this quest. You could have been killed.” His voice is filled with passion as he shutters his eyes for a moment.

“I’m fine, Max. And I’ll have a great story to tell.” I give him a brave smile. He’s having none of it; he just shakes his head.

“If we want to follow Octavia’s instructions, we need to hurry. The moon is already rising,” he says.

“Hold that thought,” I tell him. “I need to take the galaxy’s quickest shower.”

“Let me take the cossus blooms out of your hair. The ones in the back were ruined, but this one will do.” Although he’s talking about the flowers, his face holds the sweetest, most indulgent look as he keeps his gaze on me.

Ten minutes later, we’ve both showered, guzzled several cups of water to rehydrate, and are in the small, enclosed backyard, naked as instructed.

Maximus

As Octavia explained this part of the quest, we have to stand as close together as necessary and hold the cossus flower by the stem. We’re to stand with her right hip to my left. My right hand and her left hand are to hold the stem.

Since Raine’s reach is so much shorter than mine, we’re both smashed against each other. It’s hard to face the same direction while both holding onto the flower stem, so we’re angled toward each other, still trying to look at the moon.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a moon as bright as this. And large. Raine called it a harvest moon, although I don’t know why.

I’ve set my comm to one hoara as instructed. We’re to wordlessly position ourselves so the flower obstructs the moon from our gaze. We smash our cheeks together so our views are as close together as possible. This requires precision teamwork as we follow the trajectory of the moon’s rise.

When I feel Raine’s arm begin to quiver from the effort of holding it up for long minimas , I pull her waist closer to me in a vain attempt to loan her some of my strength.

My stamina is waning too. The mate-bond which had teased me yesterday with its demands has been torturing me today. It has been insistently reminding me of my needs and stealing my strength. Although I’m trying to help Raine stay on her feet, I can barely stand on my own.

Our outer arms are holding the flower. Raine snakes her inner arm around my waist, just as my inner arm is around hers. She’s in tune with me. We’ve shared too much over the recent lunars; she’s got to know how much I’m struggling.

We’re not supposed to speak, so she’s lending me support in the only way she can—physically. Just as we’ve supported each other from the first hoara we were together.

By the time my comm signals the end of the task, both of us are quivering, our arms screaming in pain. The moment we hear the chime, we wordlessly sink to the grass in a spent pile of aching muscles.

Raine cuddles next to me, her head on my pec, her hand on my mate mark.

“It didn’t sound so hard when Octavia gave us the instructions back at the temple,” Raine’s voice is a whisper. “My arm will never be the same.”

“You did well, Raine.”

“That was hard for you too, right? Is it the demands of the mate-bond?”

I nod.

“Max, I’ll . . . ease you if you want. I know you’re hurting.”

“You want this bond dissolved. I can’t make you happy, but this is something I can give you. Octavia was clear about what needed to happen. We go home tomorrow and it will be done.”

Despite the fact we’ve talked about this many times since I contacted my parents, and even though we’re two days into this three-day quest, the reality has never seemed as final as it does at this moment.

Tomorrow we’ll walk down that mountain, hover to the temple, and the separation will be complete. We’ll be able to go our separate ways.

“You have nowhere else to go except for the Playground . I guess that means I’ll stay here.” My parents are wonderful people, but they’re strangers. There’s only one person in the galaxy I feel close to, and that’s the human whose head is lying on my chest. I feel connected to her, but that’s just a delusion. What I feel isn’t real. It’s just a function of the mate-bond. Right?

“I guess that makes sense,” she says, her voice hollow.

I’m shocked when she’s the one who stands up first, and I’m even more surprised when I need her outstretched hand to pull me up. I’m more affected than I’d realized.

Within minimas we’re naked in bed facing each other to complete tonight’s task. Octavia didn’t give us verbal instructions this time, she put the instructions in files on our comms. I listen to mine first.

“Madd Durrun Maximus, tell Raine one thing you learned about her today.”

My mind flips through the day’s events as if they were recorded on a machine. I watch my internal vids with interest, my respect growing with every minima .

Turning on my side to look at her, I catch a worried look on her expression. Is this beautiful female worried I learned something terrible about her? I tuck a stray lock of her shining brown hair behind her ear as I smile, trying to calm her fears.

“I learned things I already knew. They just became clearer.” My cock is hard as stone, as it has been for days. I’ve gotten my urge to break the prohibition under control. There’s no reason not to touch her with affection. I scoot closer and stroke my palm up and down her back from her nape to her waist. Perhaps it will soothe her, give her comfort.

“Raine, I knew you were a strong female from the moment you risked your life to bite that Bahranian at the auction. You’re a female of principles. You take no drack from anyone. You will never know the fear that pierced through me when you were being mauled. That sight will haunt my nightmares for decades, but you were so strong, so brave.

“When you reminded me there was another feline behind me in the cave, your voice as calm as if we were talking about the weather, I was proud of you. Even now, my chest swells with it.”

Raine

I’m going to miss this male. It’s too bad that what feels so real right now is nothing more than a result of the mate-bond. Its chemicals and hormones driving his wide masculine chest to expand in pride at what I did today.

If it were real, I’d be floating on a cloud right now because of the way he’s looking at me. Too bad it’s not.

“Thank you,” I give him my formal tone and no eye contact. A clear message I’m not going to cave to his sweet tone and that lambent look in his eyes.

I press my comm and Octavia’s voice instructs, “Since it’s your final night together, to help him fight through the desires and needs raging through his body, tell him one thing you’ll miss about him.”

I try to keep my features neutral even though I feel gut-punched. There’s something about the way she phrased the question that makes me feel the reality that this is our final night. We’ve shared so many things since he bought me, but this is the end of the line.

His face looks calm, but I don’t think he’s any more stoic than I am.

I decide not to mention the obvious. It’s probably what he’s waiting for, for me to tell him I’ll miss him in bed. Sure, that’s true, and it may have been the most important thing a month or two ago. But that’s not top of the list right now.

“I’m going to miss a lot of things about you, Maximus.” His gaze finds and holds mine. As I sort through my mind, looking for the right words, all the things I like about him hit me like a runaway freight train.

My words spill out in a rush, “I’m going to miss your company, Max. You can be larger than life. The way you laugh and joke with your friends. You’re fearless. You tell it like it is with them whether they want to hear it or not.

“And you’re so solid. Not your body, although, well, that’s a sight to behold, but your character. You’re a male I can count on. Everyone can count on you. That’s why you’re head of security. No one has to worry about your commitment to every male and female on the ship.

“Your heart, though. I guess that’s top of my list. Max, your heart is so big. The way you’ve taken care of me from the first moment, even though I don’t think you wanted to at first, you did and that’s what counts.

“You’re going to make some female a fantastic mate.”

He was lapping up my words. I could see the radiance in his eyes. Even his mate mark was glowing brighter with all my heartfelt praise. When I said that last sentence, his face fell, as if he was struck with a terrible disease and could no longer make his muscles follow simple commands. His head tilts slightly and he gives me such a sad, questioning look my heart aches inside my chest.

He tells the computer to turn off the lights and snugs tight against me, his front to my back as instructed. Tonight, though, he doesn’t sling his arm around me like last night. Every muscle in his body is tight. I hurt his feelings.

Maybe that’s for the best. Once the mate-bond is dissolved he’ll see our feelings were just an illusion. He’ll be glad we followed Octavia’s rules. He’ll be free to find someone to really fall in love with. We need to make a clean break tomorrow.