Page 142 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Camila hadn’t made it out of that altercation unscathed either.

I saw a burn across one bicep, and she appeared to have rolled her ankle, there was now a slight limp that worried me.

She was putting on a brave face, not letting on that she was hurt, but her pace told me she was flagging, just like I was.

We’d made it through another intersection.

Camila’s face told me she was starting to feel hopeful we would make it.

Then we turned down another corridor and were faced directly with Drameil and a contingent of Krektar guards surrounding him, his glowing red eyes glinting at us full of rage and malice.

“End of the line for you two,” he hissed.

His soldiers raised their rifles and grenade launchers, with clear intent to wipe us from existence.

More thuds from boots were coming up on us from behind, trapped again.

I yanked Camila around the corner, where we were out of sight from Drameil.

I was so angry, so sad that it was going down this way.

I didn’t have another fight in me; my leg was buckling with each step, I was sweating again, and my head had started to swim from blood loss.

But if we were going to go out… it should be on our terms, not those of that bastard.

So, while we heard the sound of many approaching boots, I pulled that Argent pill from my pocket and held it up to Camila.

“Strong enough to end both of us,” I said.

Her dark eyes went wide, focusing on that thick yellow pill with the viscous liquid inside.

She looked over her shoulder in the direction of Dramiel, who was laughing and hissing with glee as he approached our location.

Her face pinched as she contemplated the situation, then her eyes lifted to my face.

“Yes, our terms. I mean it, Thorin, I love you. You’re a good man, and you deserved better than all this.

Even if you are a bit of a thief nowadays,” she added with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

We didn’t have much time, they were rapidly closing in, but I dipped down and kissed her sweet, soft mouth.

“And I love you. Thank you for making me whole again,” I told her huskily.

Then I popped the pill into my mouth, curled my hand around the back of her head, and leaned in.

All I needed to do was break the casing on that pill and kiss her, we’d share the damn poison and be beyond Drameil’s reach once and for all in a matter of seconds.

I felt regret at not knowing if my brothers had made it off Yengar Station and escaped from the mercenaries.

I hoped fervently that at least they would get to live their best lives.

At least, staring into Camila’s beautiful eyes, knowing she loved me, was just right.

She pressed her mouth to mine, opening for me, and my throat closed up at what I was about to do.

A sound pulled me back at the last moment. I heard fighting. Surprised, I turned around to see that the soldiers closing in on us from behind had engaged in some kind of battle. Then, there was a roaring sound and a huge blast of fire gushing into the corridor, and I stared in shock.

“Is that—?” Camila asked, sounding as surprised as I did.

Wide-eyed, I spat the damn Argent pill out and let it drop to the floor.

We both stared as Ziame came charging around the corner, bowling two soldiers out of his way.

He was followed by Fierce, grinning like a maniac, and the wild Ferai Beast trotting at their side, his maw painted red.

I felt like I could explode. These guys…

they were my true brothers. They had come for us.

I couldn’t understand how they’d managed to find us, but they were really here.

Ziame squeezed my shoulder in passing, then leaned around the corner to take stock of the situation there.

The Ferai beast didn’t pause; Snarl just skidded around it, Fierce on his heels, and the sounds of more combat exploded.

Ziame jumped in after them, his green eyes flashing at me with a happy grin.

Oh yeah, if I were up for it, I’d be chasing Drameil now too. But I was more than happy to settle for kissing Camila again. Looked like we were going to make it, after all.

*

Camila

The arrival of Ziame and Fierce could not have been better timed.

My heart was still racing from all the extreme emotions and the running.

One moment, I seriously felt we were so screwed that taking the only way out together with Thorin seemed justified.

The next, the cavalry had surrounded us, and they were chasing after Drameil like an eager pack of hounds.

Looked like I might get to live with Thorin and experience that loving he promised after all. He kissed me the moment the other two gladiators disappeared around the corner and even though we were far from safe. I surrendered to that moment and let him kiss me to his heart’s content.

“He got away, coward,” Ziame growled angrily, just before he and Fierce rounded the corner again and caught us necking.

There was a loud, bullish snort when we pulled apart.

“I see our timing was impeccable.” The huge, green-scaled male toed the glittering yellow pill lying on the floor before giving it a hard stomp with one of his bare but thickly scaled feet. “How bad is the leg, Thorin?”

I stared at the yellow liquid smeared on the floor, shocked at how close a call we’d just had.

Clutching one of Thorin’s palms tightly in my hands, unwilling to sever the link between us just yet, I felt him gripping me back just as tightly.

His voice was a tired rumble as he waved the cane at his leg.

“Broken and itching like mad. I don’t suppose I can hitch a ride, Captain?

” He didn’t even sound too upset about having to be carried, and Ziame didn’t even grunt when he dipped to lift Thorin into both arms. I had to let go then, but the sound of screams and running footsteps made me grab for my rifle instead, lifting it into a ready position.

“Akri, lead the way,” Ziame said, and our small group started jogging back the way we’d come, zigzagging through various corridors but steadily heading toward the outer hull of the ship.

I knew there was no hangar bay in that direction, but they seemed to know what they were doing, so I focused on shooting at marines to clear the way.

Not that there was much resistance offered in the first place, at this point, when they spotted us, many just ran the other way.

I was a little glad about that, because it felt intrinsically wrong to fire at men and women that I’d served with.

Some of them were probably only following orders and didn’t know what was happening.

When we reached the hull in a spot that usually saw fairly little traffic, I noticed that there was now a gaping hole in the wall, leading directly to what appeared to be Akri’s airlock. Had they forcefully docked the tiny ship? How?

We didn’t all fit into that airlock in one go, not with a huge Ferai beast, Ziame himself, and Fierce, who was far from a small guy.

Ziame propped Thorin on his feet in the airlock and pushed me in after.

“We’ll be right behind you,” he said in a confident tone.

Then the door sealed behind us, and I was cycling with Thorin through the airlock, hurrying to open the hatch into the tiny interior of the ship beyond.

It was completely empty inside the ship.

For some reason, I’d expected Kitan and Chloe to be there, or maybe the Doc to be waiting for us.

But there was no one, so I helped Thorin to the bed where he could finally lie down and take the weight off his leg.

“How did they even know where to find us?” I wondered out loud, my concerned gaze running over Thorin’s gray skin as I felt the sluggish pulse in his wrist with my fingers.

“I can answer that, Camila,” Akri said in a chirpy tone of voice.

The ship AI had maintained the lower, more masculine pitch it had used aboard the Vagabond.

“We loaded my memory core back into Akri, as it has cloaking capabilities. Then we followed the UAR Battleship from Yengar Station while we formulated a plan to retrieve you.”

Oh… They must have had only a very short time to make that decision and act on it. But I didn’t think they could be responsible for the heavy fire we’d heard the Praetor sustain in combat, which could have come only from one or more larger, better-armed ships.

The sound of the airlock opening preceded the clicking of nails as Snarl leaped inside, followed by Fierce.

The strangely colored male with the sharp white bone ridge-comb running across his skull didn’t say anything as he crossed the small ship in two steps and went to his knees at Thorin’s side.

He yanked a medical kit out from beneath the cot, then stared at it with a slightly helpless expression. “I can’t read,” he mumbled.

“Brother,” Thorin said with a sigh, “I can’t read that shit either.

That’s all in Ziame’s script.” He was flagging; his voice had gone a little thready and weak, nothing like the sharp, heavy bass I was used to hearing from him.

But he waved a hand. “Hey, Akri, help my brother out, yeah?” And then his eyes rolled back, and he passed out.

I swear my heart leaped into my throat. Don’t tell me he was going to die from his injuries now! It had to be the blood loss.

Akri was calm as it instructed Fierce on what to grab and do, running scans to make sure he could safely administer the drugs in that kit.

I was dead weight at this point, my own adrenaline high crashing hard.

When Fierce suddenly lifted me, I almost lashed out at him, but he was only picking me up so I could lie down at Thorin’s side.

That felt like a good, safe spot for me to pass out in, with Thorin’s heart thumping beneath my ear and his heat warming my side.

He was alive, I was alive, and I could trust the gladiators to take us to safety.