Page 13 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Yashan

What Jasmin had just given me—shared with me—I was going to cherish for the rest of my probably short life.

When I’d first seen her on the ramp of her ship, the last thing I had expected was for her to end up having sex with me.

To make the fantasy come true. A willing female who’d chosen this moment in time to find solace with me, to find a moment of pleasure and happiness.

And I was damn lucky it was this female, one I admired as much as I did.

I wished I had more to offer her, that I could be the hero she needed, but with my arm… When she found out, I doubted she’d feel as safe with me as she did now. Or maybe I was indeed being a pessimistic, self-doubting idiot and should give her the chance to make up her own mind about it.

She was still tucked into my lap, naked, sitting on my cock, which was only just starting to soften.

I could feel my spent dripping out from between us, but my tai hadn’t let go of her yet, holding us together longer than I remembered them ever doing before with another female.

I wished I had my arms free right now, even more than while she was riding me, so I could hug her close and stroke the smooth skin of her back.

So I could let her know how much I appreciated this.

When she lifted her head, her dark brown eyes were filled with warmth, but she also seemed lost in thought.

Her hands casually slid over my shoulders and chest, petting me gently.

At last, my tai let go of her, which caused her to shiver and sigh.

I hated that she got to her feet, freeing my cock from her tight channel, but the sight of my seed running down her thighs… was something to behold.

And then she bent over to pick up her still-damp clothes, and I got that view—but from behind—with a perfect peek at her beautiful slit. I groaned, couldn’t help myself. “You are so sexy.” My cock actually twitched where it had stuck to my leg, my tai stirring with interest again.

Casting me a cheeky look over her shoulder made me realize she’d done it on purpose, but I wasn’t about to complain.

She used her panties to wipe herself clean as much as she could, then shrugged into the rest of her clothing with a mildly revolted look.

“It’ll dry more soon,” I reassured her, but it still sucked to put on wet socks and boots, I knew that from personal experience.

Once she had her clothes on, she came to kneel between my legs, gently doing her best to clean me up with her already sticky panties.

I wasn’t going to get the cleanest result this way, but I appreciated the effort, as well as her gentle tucking of me back into my loincloth.

If the Krektar realized what we’d been up to…

I had no doubt they’d punish not just me, but her too.

Afterward, she sat down on my lap again and tucked herself tightly against my chest. Her flight suit was cool and damp against my skin. “I need you to understand something,” she said. My heart started pounding again; this sounded important.

“I’m not the best when it comes to trusting men.

I’ve gotten burned far too often,” she said, dark eyes holding a vulnerable look.

“I always seem to have the worst taste in them.” Her words left a hollow feeling in my chest and a sour taste in my mouth.

The beast in the cell across from us chose that moment to make a snorting sound, and both of us lifted our heads to look his way—though we couldn’t see anything in the darkness there.

“Oh, I’d almost forgotten there’s a creature in there…

” she murmured, her brow furrowed in thought, eyes focused on the dark cell across from us.

I had no patience to spare for what that beast in there was up to; I wanted to know what she was about to tell me.

Was this when she’d point out that this was a mistake?

That she was ranking me along with her other bad choices in the past?

When her eyes came back to my face, I was certain she’d read my trepidation in the color of my spots. They’d probably turned black. Only, she didn’t know the meaning behind each color yet, maybe she didn’t know at all. She still looked thoughtful as she continued talking.

“I ran from the Alpha Quadrant in Beverly, a Long Hauler. She wasn’t mine, but she was the only ship in port that I could fly—and the only one that could make this journey.

See, I was seeing my superior officer in the UAR.

Stupid, I know,” she added, her cheeks beginning to darken with color.

She was embarrassed, that’s what she told me her coloring cheeks meant.

I dipped my head as far as I could, pressing my forehead into the springy crown of black curls atop her head.

“I found out he was also sleeping with a girl in Engineering and another from Medical… so I got angry with him and broke it off. The next thing I knew, we’d landed in a seedy port on the edge of lawless space, and I was being ordered to go off with some rich alien bloke.

Greg sold me to be a sex slave for this ugly bastard, and then thought he could trick me into going with the guy. So I ran.”

My heart went out to her. I couldn’t imagine being betrayed in such a manner by someone you thought you could trust. One you’d shared intimacy with.

My chest was already rumbling with discontent, my cheeks shifting to a dark purple, a sure sign of aggression.

And then to have to run and actually leave everything you knew, your entire quadrant of the universe?

At least I’d been stolen from my home by strangers; there was no betrayal.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you,” I offered, aware that no words I spoke could adequately soothe such pain.

“I was just making a name for myself out here, running trade. Then I ran into Okar, and it was like history repeating itself. He cheated on me and claimed we were never exclusive, so I shouldn’t whine about it.

And then he sold me to Drameil and took my Bev for his own.

” She shook with contained emotion. “Do I have a sign painted on my forehead that says sell-to-highest-bidder?”

Twisting my head, I brushed my lips over that smooth forehead.

My blood boiled in anger at the two males who had so thoroughly used her and then tried to make a profit by selling her.

Realizing that these kinds of people existed had been the most eye-opening experience of my life.

“No, scum is just scum, and that first dickhead put you in a vulnerable position. Running into that Adarian was bad luck, most Adarians have strict moral compasses, as they’re empaths. They don’t like hurting people.”

She let out a long sigh and settled deeper into my chest, her arms curling around my torso beneath both sets of arms. I loved her against me like this, to have this personal contact, this affection between us.

After all my years as a gladiator, I was starved for her nearness.

To have gone from just meeting each other to this—so quickly—made my head spin and my heart pound.

I had to do better; I had to get her free.

“My right upper shoulder… It’s busted. I can’t put more strain on it.” The words rolled off my tongue like acid, but once out, I felt relieved. At least now she knew how my body was starting to fail me. “I can’t win my fights anymore, so my next one will be a death match.”

She sat up so quickly that the top of her head whacked me in the chin.

I flinched back as I watched her stare at me in shock, rubbing the crown of her head with one palm.

“They’re going to get you killed just to get their rocks off?

What the fuck?” Then her eyes widened further.

“No, how soon? We need to get you out of here!”

Touched by her concern, I shook my head.

This wasn’t why I told her. “You misunderstand. I’m telling you because it means I can’t protect you properly!

I’m no good as a fighter anymore.” My chest felt like I’d swallowed rocks, aching with the memory of what had happened the day I had been stolen from Pretor as a new adult, just starting my life, full of confidence in my abilities—how I couldn’t protect my family and friends as the slavers killed and stole us.

Swallowing roughly, I shook away her denials that my shoulder injury made me less.

I forced myself to explain that night when our houses in the trees had burned.

“They hovered their ships over our homes, dropped down in our midst, and killed our elders and young before we could even rally. I watched my family slaughtered before my eyes, and all it took was a single shot to my chest and I was done for. I’m not good at protecting people.

You said it yourself, twenty years stuck in this hole and I didn’t manage to even save myself. ”

It felt good to get all of that off my chest. When I’d spewed out all those words, I felt empty, different.

Then Jasmin shifted to her knees between my legs and curled her arms around my neck, pressing my face into her soft chest. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you, Yashan.

You did not deserve any of that, and neither did your tribe or your family. ”

Then her fingers twisted tightly into my hair, pulling my head back roughly so I was forced to look her in the eye.

“But none of that was because you failed. It sounds to me like that night you were up against impossible odds. Do you honestly think you could have made a difference? The only thing that might have happened was your own death.” I knew she was right about that, I’d told myself that many times over the years.

Rationally, it was obvious. But my feelings about it weren’t, and that didn’t change the fact that my shoulder really was busted now.

I wasn’t going to be able to fight for her as I could have even five years ago.

“Yashan, I see you thinking behind those pretty silver eyes,” she said in an admonishing tone.

“You are amazing, you are good, and you are kind. I couldn’t be luckier, ending up in a cell next to yours.

Regardless of what happens next, I know we are both doing the best we can, and that’s all that matters. That’s all we can do: try.”

I let her words sink into me, tried to make them my own. It was a struggle, but I had to accept that I was all she had right now; trying was the best I could do. I swore that I would, I would try so very hard.

For her.