Page 121 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Surprised, she turned her head my way, which was when I swooped in and covered her mouth with my own, pushing her body back against the nearest wall and dominating that pretty, sassy little mouth.

She fought for a moment, not so much to stop me, but to gain control over the kiss.

Her hands came up to curl against my shoulders, pushing back so she could try to be the one to pin me.

I didn’t let her. She might succeed at leading me by the cock to that damn med bay, but when it came to this, I was the boss, and I was going to make damn sure she knew it too.

She surrendered with a soft sigh, her curvaceous but strong body going slack in my arms. My fist was now tightly wrapped in her long braid, so I could tilt her head this way or that for the best angle.

When I pulled back with a final nibble on her soft bottom lip, I made sure she felt every inch of my body pressed against hers, so that she was aware of my hard cock pressing against her softer belly. “Deal,” I told her with a smirk.

*

Camila

My heart was still pounding, my lips still kiss-swollen and slick.

Holy crap, did this guy know how to kiss, and the sharp, pointy canines were far too much of a turn-on.

As was the braid-pulling, I had not realized I had a kink for that shit, but I loved how he’d taken control.

Of course he had; this guy was all dominance, all danger.

With his tattoos, his leather, and piercings.

I could still feel the press of those lip rings against my bottom lip, the texture another delicious layer to what had been the best damn kiss of my life.

Yeah, I’d considered, all right, and I was absolutely going to screw his brains out as soon as the Doc gave him a clean bill of health.

He was far too potent not to try, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

When we stepped into the med bay, I expected the Doc to immediately look at us and say, “Oh boy, have you two been necking in the hallway like horny teens?” But the male, with the creepy, all-black eyes and an amazing screen of silky hair—looked our way, smiled warmly, and gestured for Thorin to get on the exam table.

“Glad you came, Thorin. I was wondering if I’d have to drag you here.

You’ll be happy to know that Kitan is absolutely fine.

Last I saw him, Chloe was well on her way to convincing him to lie down. ”

I shared a look with Thorin, which had me fighting to keep a laugh from bursting free. Sure, lie down, I bet they were up to something else entirely. From the smirk on Thorin’s face, he was thinking the same thing.

I did my best to keep Thorin occupied while the Doc cleaned his scratches, used the tissue regenerator to fix them, and treated the massive bruising that covered him.

From the way he’d gone from smiling and relaxed since that explosive kiss to tense and pale as a bed sheet…

yeah, I wasn’t wrong in thinking this was another of his triggers. Poor guy.

So I talked about my siblings and my many cousins, and my favorite tía who made the best enchiladas.

Then I had to explain what enchiladas were, which made Thorin’s stomach rumble hungrily.

I liked this, if I were being honest. For the past nine years of my service in the Space Marine Corps, I had barely been home—always on missions.

Since I made sergeant, I was often just a little outside the group—and as a woman, even more so.

I hadn’t realized how lonely I’d been until I was suddenly talking freely, with no concern for rank or protocol.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Thorin said, when I’d fallen silent.

White lines bracketed his mouth, making it obvious how tense he was.

“How did you get out of your room? I could have sworn I locked you in.” The Doc made a tsking sound that I thought indicated he disliked hearing I’d been locked up, but he said nothing.

“The ship AI let me out. Akri was very insistent you needed my help,” I said, pointing upward to the med bay ceiling, as if I were pointing at the AI. “I’m guessing it called for the Captain too.”

“That is correct, Camila,” the ship’s voice responded. If I wasn’t mistaken, its voice aboard the Vagabond was not as ungendered as it had been on the small ship. It had dropped a little in pitch and gained a more masculine edge.

“Huh,” Thorin said, “I hadn’t realized Da’vi and Ziame had integrated the AI core so quickly.” He looked mildly concerned, but the AI was holding his attention, so he didn’t realize the Doc was no longer working on his bruises but was scanning his left leg with a deep frown on his face.

“I am fully integrated. I like this new ship very much,” the AI said, reminding me again of how that small ship had been called Akri. Was it still Akri, now that it inhabited the Vagabond? When I asked, the ship sounded mildly surprised, as if it hadn’t considered this notion yet.

“I do believe that I am Akri, regardless of the vessel I inhabit. I will ask my Captain,” the vessel added as an afterthought, and I had the feeling most of its attention had now shifted away from us so it could converse with Ziame instead.

“You’re not mad, right? That the ship let me out?” I asked Thorin, worried that he still wouldn’t trust me and would rather I be locked up. After that kiss we’d shared, and that extremely profound moment in the gym… I didn’t think I’d be able to hide my hurt.

Thorin’s sharp blue-green eyes went heated as he looked me over, clad only in my form-fitting undersuit.

I knew that each curve and each muscle was on display.

I worked hard to be this fit, to keep up with my peers, so I knew I looked good.

“I’d love to lock you up in my bunk,” he said with a husky drawl, eyes sharp and hot.

He wasn’t joking. “But… I suppose you have proven yourself.” I let out a relieved breath.

Turning more businesslike, he added, “What we need to do is figure out why your own people turned on you. You must have seen something they didn’t want you to know.” I nodded; this had definitely been on my to-do list, but for the life of me, I hadn’t been able to figure it out yet.

“What we need to do,” Luka broke in, “is talk about your leg, Thorin. Why didn’t you come to me sooner?

You must have been in a lot of pain all this time.

” I’d completely forgotten the doc was even there, and it looked to me like Thorin had as well.

Now his face went pale, and his fist lowered to his left thigh, pressing harshly into the flesh.

“What the fuck, Doc? I didn’t tell you to look at my damn leg!

” he exploded, eyes flashing. He was already pushing off the cot, nearly falling to one knee when the left leg didn’t want to hold him up.

Then, he angrily turned on the anthracite male, body bristling and fists clenched, as if he was about to knock the guy out just for mentioning that leg.

“Woah,” I exclaimed, feeling silly, but I grabbed hold of one of his arms and slid myself around his side, between him and the Doc.

To the Doc’s credit, he hadn’t given ground and stood with his chin raised, fathomless pools of black focused on his patient.

It wasn’t so much with bristling testosterone like Thorin as it was with a quiet assurance that he needed to say what had to be said.

“I can see that the bone is damaged, and so are the nerves. How many times did you break that leg? Ten times? Twenty?” the male at my back was asking, voice calm but firm.

I had both my hands on the flat of Thorin’s chest, where I could feel the wild beating of his heart.

He was furious, but I could see panic, too.

When his eyes dropped from the Doc down to my face, he bit his bottom lip with sharp canines, drawing twin punctures of blood.

Deflating with a deep sigh, he sagged back against the cot. “Probably closer to a hundred.” Shit, that sounded horrible! Had those breaks all been from fights? I couldn’t imagine a gladiator ending up with a broken leg each time being worth much.

Indeed, the Doc groaned, “Experiments then? Of some kind? Bone growth promotion?” Crap, well that certainly explained why he disliked the med bay.

Thorin shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.

I do know that they made me move faster, stronger, and heal faster.

I was almost a match for Kitan in his hybrid form, unarmed.

I was meant to look like the underdog.” His eyes flashed to my face, and I saw some of his cocky bravado return.

“Besides, I love to fight. So I was a motivated subject.”

Now that the word was out, and he’d fought and conquered his anger, it seemed he didn’t mind so much when the Doc investigated further.

He patiently let the Doc draw some blood work and blatantly chose to ignore any advice on taking things easy.

Not even when Luka warned that over-taxing his leg could mean damaging the nerves and bones so much that repair became impossible.

For now, the basic treatment and the dose of pain relief seemed to be all that Thorin could handle in here.