Page 163 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Hina

It was a deceptive climb. From below, it had looked pretty high but doable.

Although I’d considered myself in pretty good shape before this, I was winded halfway through, sweat pouring down my back and my legs burning something terrible.

I swear, once I was back on a nice, climate-controlled spaceship, I’d devote some time to the gym.

At least Fierce didn’t comment, and when I started to feel that burn in my legs, he’d sometimes reach up and give me a boost. Fluffy had long since abandoned my shoulder and was scampering agilely up the rocks in front of me.

Her long, slender tail waving in front of my face like a lure, she’d sometimes tilt her head to look at me over a dainty shoulder, tufted ears pointed my way and green eyes bright, as if she were trying to urge me on.

With help like that, I made it to the top in an ungraceful pile, sinking onto my butt in the pink grass that covered this area for a blessed break.

Fierce leaped out of the crevice behind me and promptly disappeared into the underbrush of the thicket that edged this small clearing.

At least Fluffy happily curled up on my lap for some pets, her soft purr keeping me company.

When there was no sign of Snarl, I realized that maybe Fierce had been so casual about having me go first because the hound had gone up that crevice before me.

He’d just done it so fast I hadn’t even seen him make the ascent above me.

A little chagrined at having missed that, I was frowning when Fierce and Snarl prowled out of the woodwork a moment later.

He was smiling hugely, holding out a hand to me with an eager look.

So I struggled back to my feet and took that offered hand, letting him lead me through the small pink and purple trees with their huge fronts.

I eyed the vegetation around me again with interest; it all looked similar to what I’d seen on my first day on this planet.

Though the colors were different from what you’d expect on Earth, so was the quality of the light, everything had a pink or purple hue.

My eyes snagged on a creeping vine with big, drooping clusters of pale pink blooms. If not for the color of the leaves—slate gray—I would have almost thought it was a type of wisteria.

Wisteria was one of my favorite plants from Earth; I loved their smell at night.

I tried to get a better look, hindered by Fierce pulling me back.

“Hina?” he asked, his eyes tracking my line of sight, but he clearly couldn’t figure out what had captured my attention.

“I’m a botanist—xeno-botany, to be exact—so I can’t help but stare at all the new plants to discover out here…

” I shrugged and pointed at the pink and gray wisteria lookalike I’d spotted.

“That one actually resembles a plant from back home that I really love. It would be so interesting to study it and see how similar they are.”

His bright yellow eyes were avidly focused on my face, his head cocked at an angle so that one of his ridged ears poked out from beneath the strands of his almost-alive hair.

Then, they flashed up the tree to look at the clusters of pale pink blooms, and back down the tree to evaluate the root system where the climbing vine came out of the ground.

“I know. There’s no point in taking samples, we need to focus on contacting your ship first.” That reminded me I had the com device.

I would have fished it out on the spot, but Fierce grabbed my hand and urged me farther along through the trees.

His pace increased to a jog, as if eager to show me something.

Though my legs were still a little tired from the climb, it wasn’t difficult to keep up.

Then we broke out of the treeline, and I stumbled to a halt at the sight that greeted me.

Fierce had led me to a small valley tucked between two mountain ranges that spiraled so high they were capped with snow, tinged lavender from the sky.

The valley itself featured a crystal-clear waterfall cascading from some rocks into a shallow pool, a stream winding away across the grassy, flower-filled meadow.

“Wow… Fierce. This place looks like a fairy tale!” I stared, enchanted by the sight of millions of flowers in all kinds of shades waving in the wind, and the tall grasses in many shades of pink and purple.

He responded with a warm chuckle, his hand sliding up my arm to cup the back of my neck again. “Hina safe.”

A shiver shot down my spine at the deep tone of his voice and the heated interest in his eyes.

I felt like a prey animal, trapped in some predator’s gaze for a moment.

Licking my lips, I flicked my head toward the shallow pool of water.

“Safe enough for a swim?” It sounded heavenly to wash up again after that sweaty climb and the fight with the naga.

He didn’t answer, just suddenly dipped and had me up in his arms. He ran for the small pool at such speed that my hair whipped my face.

A laugh burst free; I had missed this kind of fun, this freedom in just being with a man I liked.

When had I given all of that up? Was it hanging out with fellow botanists?

Dealing only with cerebral types? Had I gotten so stuck in my own head I couldn’t even have fun?

Or had it just been the draining relationship with my direct colleague, his jealousy culminating in the false accusations that had landed me here?

I shrieked from the cold and from laughter when Fierce splashed the two of us into the water, submerging us, clothes and all. I came up, spluttering for air, wiping clingy wet strands of hair from my eyes as my feet found purchase on the sandy bottom of the pool.

The water was extremely refreshing, making my skin break out in goosebumps.

Fierce came up for air with a huge, playful grin on his face.

I shrugged my wet top off and flung it onto the shore, undoing the laces on my boots, which, now that they were wet, was a bit more of a struggle.

But it was so worth it when Fierce stripped out of what little clothing he wore as he followed my example.

His chest was a chiseled piece of perfection, lined with a row of impressive abs and thick pectoral muscles.

Water dripping down it in glistening droplets.

As he raised an arm to fling his wet kilt onto the pile of clothing I’d already made, I watched avidly as his bicep bulged, the veins along his forearm standing out. Yum, he was so freaking sexy.

When he turned back to me and caught me looking, he smirked, a low purr rumbling up from his chest. Then he tilted his head and pointed at Snarl and Fluffy, who were lying side by side on the bank nearby.

Some words in his own language flowed from his mouth, and a moment later, Snarl nudged the tiny Fluffy to her feet, and the two scampered off.

I was watching them disappear into the tall grass when Fierce’s arms slid around my middle and yanked me into his body.

Heat was pouring off him, even in the cold water.

The hard bar of his cock pressed into my belly until he lifted me up again, high enough that our heads were level.

I dug my fingers into his shoulders and pressed my mouth to his eagerly for a kiss.

I needed this guy, so badly that my belly ached. I wanted that big cock inside of me.

He waded to shore with me in his arms, then slid me tauntingly down his body until I stood barefoot on the sandy patch of shore that surrounded the crystal-clear pool.

He yanked the blanket from his bag, which he’d left on the beach earlier, and spread it out on a flat stretch of sand.

Then, he curled his finger my way in a universal gesture.

“Want me on there, do you?” I asked with a smirk.

“Maybe you should come and get me, then.” I had no clue what made me say that, but the growl that rumbled from his chest made me laugh.

He leaped my way, and I spun, darting away, only to be caught up in his arms a few steps in.

He was still growling as he threw me over his shoulder, one hand firmly clamping me to him by my bare ass.

I ran my hands down the intriguing planes of his back, noting the almost triangle-shaped shadows beneath his blue skin.

My eyes lingered on the firm curve of his ass and caught the edge of what appeared to be a scar starting on the side of his hip.

What had injured him so badly that he’d scarred?

He’d taken a freaking jagged spear to his shoulder, and I couldn’t even see where the injury had occurred now.

There was no time to think about it and no way to ask, he had me pinned beneath his big, naked body on that blanket in a hurry.

His yellow eyes glowing fiercely, I read the heat and the excitement in them; it was mirrored in my own.

I wanted this guy so badly—who cared that our time was better spent trying to contact his spaceship? It could wait until after we’d had sex.

My entire skin prickled at remembering the way he’d marked me with his seed last time.

I knew it was more than just fooling around, it scared me to think about it, so I didn’t.

I focused all my attention on his lovely body and his feral devotion.

He was rubbing his face all over my chest, licking at my nipples.

Heat spiraled to my core in sharp lances each time I felt a fang gently scrape across my skin.

Curling my legs around his hips, I opened myself up to him, rubbing the neediest part of me against his shaft.

I felt the rougher texture of that scar I’d discovered pressing against the inside of my thigh, and it only heightened my pleasure.

He smelled good, like fresh water, a manly kind of musk, and something that seemed spicy, like cinnamon.