Page 139 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“Darling,” I started, smiling at him, “didn’t you hear the message I dictated for my family?

” At the confusion in his eyes, my smile widened.

“I told them I found someone worth sticking around for, someone I knew was going to make me happy. I told them I was staying here, in Zeta.” The way his face broke out into the widest grin made my heart light up.

After that recounting of his history, we were kissing and laughing together, briefly forgetting about the dreadful situation we’d landed in and just sharing the moment.

When he moved his leg and groaned, it drove home our desperate situation: we were trapped aboard a vessel with both our worst enemies. Thorin was badly injured, and I’d used our only weapon on Drameil in an act of vengeance. No… not our only weapon.

I reached for the cane and held it up to him, watching his face tighten in distaste as he looked at the damn thing.

I couldn’t blame him, Drameil had just used it to break his leg.

But I started checking the smooth black surface and the golden, sharp point at the end.

The gold was too soft to be of much use as a weapon, or to use the cane as a kind of crowbar, but the rounded, carved knob at the top…

it twisted and unscrewed in my hands, revealing a small compartment inside.

I was only a little disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be a sword in disguise.

Thorin leaned in. “What’s in it? Something useful?

” I didn’t know, but as I tilted the cane and tipped the contents into my palm, we stared in confusion at the collection of small items tucked neatly into a small padded container to keep them from rattling around.

One was clearly a data chip of some kind; the other, a pill—yellow and see-through.

The last item was something tiny with a few buttons to press and a small display.

“That’s a suicide agent,” Thorin murmured as he pointed at the pill.

“Argent, fast-acting and painless.” Of course he’d know what it was, he’d probably learned about it when he trained as a police officer on Elrohira.

Why would Drameil have that? Was he afraid of what would happen if he were captured?

The evil bastard that he was, there were probably plenty of people who’d love to torture him before offing him. They’d have to get in line, naturally.

“That looks to be some kind of transmitter. Do you think we can use it to call for help?” I asked, hopeful as I appraised the small device.

It looked like it could be, but I wasn’t certain.

For one, if Drameil was captured, I doubted he’d be allowed to keep his fancy walking stick.

So why would he have something like this in there?

“I don’t think it’s a transmitter,” Thorin said, shaking his head.

The thick braids that he always carefully and meticulously maintained weren’t looking so crisp at this point.

But it was better than my hair, which was a wavy mess down my shoulders.

My hope dashed, I observed how he picked the small device up and inspected it up close.

“Looks to me like it might be an electronic key of some kind. But of what?”

Then his expression suddenly cleared, and he started grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“You know, I think this might be a lock breaker, of a type I haven’t seen before.

” That sounded extremely hopeful all of a sudden.

If that was what it sounded like, could we use it to get out of this damn cell?

His fingers moved deftly over the keys now, pressing a few combinations until the screen lit up, casting a soft blue glow over our faces.

“Yes, go hold it against the wall near the lock.” He stuffed the small device into my hand, and I hurried to do as he said.

Scrambling to my feet, I checked the corridor through the small window, taking note of the two guards stationed at the end of it.

That was going to be a problem. If this door unlocked, would it open immediately?

If so, they’d see us, and we’d have to have a way to take them out.

I would have to, because there was no way I was going to allow Thorin to try and fight.

Behind me, I heard the tap of the cane as it struck the floor.

The small lock breaker flashed green and red lights as it ran through symbols on its small display that I couldn’t understand.

At the same time, Thorin made a low hissing sound and then a deep groan.

I glanced back only once, forcing down the urge to drop the lock breaker and rush over to help him get to his feet.

He was doing it alone, using the cane for support, sheer determination writ across his face.

He really wanted to do this on his own, stubborn, proud male.

I glanced a second time—he’d made it—but he was pale and slightly clammy, swaying on his one leg and holding his balance with the walking stick.

He saw my look and flashed me a grin, all toothy and feral-looking.

“Look, it worked,” he said, nodding to the lockbreaker I was holding.

It was flashing red, which didn’t exactly shout success to me, but he took a limping, hopping step in my direction.

“Now what? There are two guards at the end of the corridor,” I whispered, aware that, this close to the door, our low voices might draw more attention than we’d like. Not that we’d been speaking loudly before, barely raising our voices above intimate whispers. No sense in taking such a risk.

“Now, I tell you that I love you too, and then we kiss for good luck,” Thorin replied, his head dipping down immediately afterward to brush his lips against my mouth.

If he’d had his hands free, I know he would have dug them into my hair.

As it was, I rose on tiptoe to make it easier and clutched at the soft fabric of his shirt.

The thought struck me that this escape attempt was very likely going to result in one or both of us dying. But what alternative did we have?

Feeling the desperation of the moment, we lingered in that kiss.

There was nothing of the frenzied, rough, domineering presence to Thorin’s touches now.

He was savoring each touch, each stroke, each breath.

And so was I. When we pulled apart, I had tears in my eyes again, and his were fierce and determined.

“We will make it, Camila, you and I. We’ll get our asses to some shuttle and fly off, call Akri and the Vagabond for help.

We’ll get through this, and then I’m going to make damn sure you’re so well-loved you never want to leave my bed ever again. ”

Tightening my grip on his shirt, I tried to match the determination, clearing all thoughts of failure from my mind.

“I’ll take you up on that, big guy.” Then I reached up with one hand and touched the pariah medallion on his cheek.

“I’m taking this off. You’re not wearing it.

” He didn’t stop me when I carefully unhooked the small disk, and when I showed it to him in the palm of my hand, he picked it up and, with a wide smile, tossed it into the cell.

“That can stay here. But I am leaving this damn prison.” His expression tightened as he nodded at the lock breaker. “I’ll open it; you go low and fast. I’ll draw their attention.”

I hated the thought of him drawing their fire, but it did make the most sense. With his broken leg, he couldn’t move fast. Which had to be extra galling when he was used to being the fastest guy in the room. “You damn well make sure you live through this!” I warned him.

He pressed a button on the lock breaker without answering me, making my stomach clench in pain.

Here was the guy of my dreams, the bad boy with the soft heart who’d opened up to me, who’d shown me all his flaws.

He had just pledged his heart to me in so many different ways, and now he and I were about to risk our lives trying to escape a situation that was already close to turning deadly at any moment.

The door slid open with a soft groan, and I was ducking and rolling through the opening on a quick exhale.

I leaped to my feet and rushed the two guards just as they started turning our way, keeping my body low to the ground and as small a target as I could.

At the same time, Thorin—clever male that he was—had propped himself against the doorjamb to keep on his feet and raised the cane as if he were aiming a rifle their way.

In a flash, the long black rod did look enough like a rifle barrel that it wasn’t a surprise both soldiers saw him as the bigger threat.

They raised their own weapons instinctively in his direction and would have squeezed off a round of laser fire if not for the fact that I recognized them from another unit I’d worked with aboard this battleship in training missions.

“Cortez, Jones, about-face!” I yelled the first thing that popped into my head.

Both guys were so startled, and so conditioned to respond to yelled orders, that they both wavered in raising their weapons.

I ducked below the first barrel, right under the guard of the first guy, Jones.

I punched him straight in the solar plexus, so he had to clutch at his chest as he struggled to draw breath.

While Cortez managed to squeeze off a round of laser fire, I stomped on his instep, punched the rifle up into the air, and followed it with a hard kick to the nuts.

After that, it was just the work of a moment to deliver some proper knockout blows that left both big guys unconscious at my feet in seconds.