Page 167 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Fierce

With all my brothers staring at me in accusation, I rolled my free shoulder into a half shrug.

“The Riho had crawled into my bag. I didn’t know she was with me until I got down on the planet.

” That was a half-truth, and it was obvious from both Ziame’s and Thorin’s expressions that they knew it.

But though the two males shared a look between them, neither said anything.

“Want to take your kill with you? The meat might be a nice addition to our fresh food stores,” Jakar asked, waving a hand at the downed predator they’d all been looking at a moment ago.

I shrugged; I didn’t care what they did with the meat.

“I’d like the skin. I think it’ll make good armor.

” I was already imagining a set of soft gloves from the skin on its belly for Hina, and a pair of braces from that hard, scaly bit from its back for myself.

“What else did you find?” Ziame asked, the point of his tail waving at the small rodent I was holding to my chest. The creature had let me pick him up, and I’d done a search for its den or any sign of his family.

But it had a broken paw and needed medical attention.

If I left it behind, the next predator to come along would eat it anyway.

It seemed comfortable with me, curling into my neck and settling down.

“New pet,” I told them. “I know… I seem to be collecting them. But this one’s going to die if we leave it behind.” There were some snickers from my brothers, but Thorin was the one to poke me in my scratched-up belly, his eyes dancing with laughter.

“Yeah, you got quite the collection there, my brother,” he drawled.

I drew in a relieved breath; it didn’t sound like he was too mad if he was throwing down a taunt like that.

I could deal with being the animal collector, it was true anyway.

I just hoped Hina wouldn’t mind another addition.

She seemed to like the Riho; would she like this fellow?

I was happy to notice that everyone except the Doc and Sunder were down here to pick us up.

They’d come in full force, as if they had expected they might run into trouble.

My stomach chilled at the thought. Thorin hadn’t taken Camila with him, had he deemed it too dangerous, or had his female gotten hurt?

“Did anything happen at the crash site? Is everything okay?”

I trotted after Ziame into the shuttle, not offering any help to carry my kill into the ship.

Jakar and Da’vi were fine carrying it together, it was big, but not that big.

“We had a run-in with some kind of creature that Camila calls a naga. It’s like half a human, with a long tail instead of legs. Did you run into something like that?”

“Yeah,” I said, tilting my head to search for Hina inside the shuttle.

“I killed a bunch of them down in the canyon.” I waved in the direction of the canyon.

“One of them was carrying a human head, so I didn’t take a moment for negotiations.

” It was the head of one of the two male corpses I’d seen at the crash, so I hadn’t been too worried, but it had meant these ‘naga’ had visited the location my brothers had been at.

“Correct, they came out of the underbrush just as Sunder had recalled everyone so they could do an aerial search for you with the shuttle,” Ziame confirmed.

I’d spotted Hina, huddled together with Abby in the jumpseats directly behind the pilot’s chair.

Fluffy was perched in Hina’s lap, so I knew she was safe, and I was certain Jakar wasn’t going to try to approach her, he’d gotten my message.

“Did it end up in a fight?” I asked as Ziame urged me to the seats across from his mate.

Since that meant I was right next to Hina, I didn’t object in the least. Snarl followed me into the shuttle, grumbling in my direction, which I tried to ignore.

The hound was not looking forward to our flight back to the Vagabond, though he liked the spaceship itself.

“Yeah, and Sunder ended up hurt; he’s still recovering.

That’s the only reason Luka didn’t fly down with us.

Tori insisted he keep watch over Sunder,” Ziame said with a smirk.

His big horns nearly clocked me in the head when he cocked his head to the side.

“She’s been quite protective of him ever since he helped her with the birth of Novalee. ”

I had noticed as well that the two had grown even closer since Tori had given birth to her half-human, half-alien daughter.

Nobody knew exactly what kind of species had been mixed with her genes, but the result was undeniably cute.

Though most of the gladiators didn’t dare hold the tiny baby for fear of hurting the infant, Sunder was Tori’s defacto babysitter. A word I’d learned from Camila.

The infant was cute and bigger than Fluffy, though, so I hadn’t been too worried about holding her either.

Often, when Tori was making food in the kitchen, Snarl and I would join her, and I’d watch the little girl.

My eyes went to Hina, who was bent close to Abby and talking animatedly with Ziame’s mate, her hands never stopping petting Fluffy.

My own hands were busy holding the little fellow I’d rescued, he was in pain and a little in shock.

I hoped the Doc would be able to patch him up quickly.

I liked small things, vulnerable things, and taking care of them.

Like Novalee, or this small rodent, or the Riho I’d hidden because I didn’t want anyone to lock it up.

What would it be like to have a little one with Hina someday?

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the thought.

I was seriously getting ahead of myself.

“Sunder is her safety net, Tori is small and without a mate… She’s been adrift and scared,” I said to Ziame.

The male gave me a nod, his eyes scanning our gladiator brothers as they strapped themselves into various jumpseats.

I curled my lip in a snarl at Jakar when he started to approach Hina, and the younger male turned and plunked himself into a seat near the exit instead.

Kitan was headed for the pilot’s chair, his hands already deftly flicking switches overhead as he checked the many screens.

It boggled my mind that someone could remember what all those buttons did.

When he put this metal bird in the sky, Snarl was going to panic, but truthfully, I didn’t much care for flying either.

I didn’t mind the spaceship, that was steady.

It didn’t seem like flying. But darting through the sky, feeling my body being pressed into the jumpseat?

I might even prefer the sands of the arena beneath my bare feet.

“You are correct. I worry for the small female. I am glad that she is still singing and cooking food. I believe that as long as she does those things, she is alright,” Ziame said, but I could tell his thoughts were already elsewhere.

His green eyes were on my mate, his ears pricked in her direction across the narrow path, and his tail was stretched out so the tip could curl around Abby’s ankle.

“This female you found, you have claimed her as your mate? What is her story?” he said.

I shrugged a shoulder, uncertain how to reply.

Yes, I wanted her as my mate, it felt so right, and Snarl had picked up on that more quickly than I had.

I trusted his instincts. But Hina was her own person.

We hadn’t been able to talk yet. Soon we could, and we’d have to.

I shuddered at the thought. Maybe I should just tell her she was mine.

The feral impulse was hard to curb. Would it be so bad to lock her in my room and make love to her until she didn’t want to consider any other option?

Then her dark eyes flashed to my face, and she gave me a soft smile, her gaze lingering on the little fellow I had tucked to my chest. There was concern on her face for him. She had a soft heart, and she liked animals. No, I couldn’t do that to her, lock her up and take her choices.

“Ready for liftoff? Everyone strapped in?” Kitan demanded, his golden eyes flashing in the semi-darkened interior of the shuttle as he turned around in his seat.

Though we all gave our confirmation, I noted that his eyes slid across each of us, checking the harnesses to make sure we really were.

Then he eyed Snarl, who had pressed his big body against my knees. “You better hold on to him, Fierce.”

I knew that, but how was I going to manage it when I had to hold the little rodent too?

He wasn’t going to like being handed off, and Snarl wasn’t about to trust another of my brothers to hold onto him.

Hina came to my rescue, holding out her arms. “Come on, give the little guy to me. I probably smell like you, it might work.” My skin prickled, wanting to shift colors to display the smugness I felt at that statement, which all my brothers had clearly heard.

I wordlessly shifted the furry bundle in my arm and leaned over to hand him off, watching carefully to make sure he didn’t panic.

To Abby, I quietly explained about the broken front paw, which she dutifully translated for Hina.

Immediately, my female started murmuring to him in soothing tones, calling him a poor little guy and saying that he’d soon feel better.

The little black and white rodent trembled for a moment, a little squeak of pain escaping at the handoff, but then he settled in her lap.

Fluffy snuffled at him, full of interest, and started up a loud purr.

“You’d better hold both of them tightly, too,” Kitan observed.

“We’ll be without gravity for a minute. They might panic. ”