Page 203 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Luka

I stood on the bridge with Noa tucked beneath my arm, my body still glowing from our mind-blowing round of sex.

So was Noa, which fed my sense of languor, of satisfaction.

I’d done that, I’d distracted her so thoroughly with pleasure that she was completely relaxed at last. My prickly flower was finally letting herself lean on me in front of the others.

There was no longer any desire to thoroughly examine the strange pheromone dependency growing between us.

I knew what it was, so I should try to prove its medical existence—to prove it wasn’t just a myth.

I just didn’t want to put Noa in any kind of spotlight, didn’t want other scientists to pore over our data, trying to distill clinically what made her special. I knew that should be enough.

We’d already gone through entering the atmosphere a moment ago and were now carefully piloted into our assigned spot.

The pilot, Taralyn, was confident and adept at piloting the ship, his twin hovering over his shoulder as the two made bets on who was on duty at the port and whether a certain girl they liked would be at the port’s popular pub—normal, calm interactions that gave us no warning at all for what happened next.

As the landing gear touched the ground, Captain Feralan cursed loudly, distress coloring the air.

“There’s a contingent of armed guards who just marched out onto the tarmac,” he said, his hands swiping across his console to pull up footage from the rear of the ship and putting it up on the main viewscreen.

Noa’s body quivered beneath my arm as we watched the group of men in uniform, armed with big laser rifles.

They were mostly Rummicaron or other, more warlike species.

A Kertinal was in the lead, their kind was cunning and trained in strategy and war from an early age.

“Why are they here?” I asked the crew, already knowing it had to be for us.

They would have known this was the vessel we’d used to get off the planet; it was the only one they couldn’t search.

“Those aren’t part of the Marayan Port security.

Looks like the Nerizana symbol on their shoulders,” Romalyn said.

They were all tense, all worried on the bridge, but it was Noa’s fear that pierced me.

I thought we were free, that we’d gotten away.

I should have known my mother would be smarter than this.

In my head, I went over all the options we had, but short of asking Feralan to take off with us or denying the armed guard access to his ship while we holed up in here…

I didn’t know what to do. I pressed Noa closer to my body while she stared at the guards, at the symbol on their uniform, her fear slowly slipping into a kind of numbness I hated even more.

Where was that anger from the Resort? That will to fight?

“Film everything you can,” I declared. “And let me make a statement on camera first.” It pained me to disgrace our family name, but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

We needed to put a stop to my mother’s crimes and to her manipulations of my life.

I didn’t want to let go of Noa, but I had to because it wasn’t fair to put her in the spotlight.

Patrolus eagerly gestured for me to stand in front of the com so I was in full view of the camera.

Then, I tried to calmly and quickly explain my situation and my discoveries, making a plea to anyone who viewed this to demand the release of the slaves on Jihari, the prosecution of my mother, and Noa’s and my immediate release from her grasp.

We weren’t even fully done recording when my mother’s guard down on the tarmac became restless, marched up to the Leaper’s hatches, and started pounding on them.

I thought the noise added great dramatic effect to the footage.

When I finished my last statement, I pulled Noa into my arms. Worry for her safety filled me far more than any fear for myself or the future.

What would happen to Noa? Could we hide her aboard the Leaper while they took only me?

With the pheromone dependency tethering us together, that might very well be a death sentence for her—or both of us.

I had conducted periodic medical scans aboard the Leaper, and despite us having sex, it didn’t appear that a bond had formed yet.

“We’ll hide her,” Feralan offered. “We’ll get her to your friends and the footage out.

You’ll be free in no time at all.” His weathered face was even more cracked and creased with wrinkles than it normally was, and he was already holding out a hand for Noa to take, a fatherly expression on his face that she seemed to respond well to.

Stepping out from under my arm, she reached out to take that hand, her anxiety spiking instead of dropping.

A worried look came my way, her blue eyes sparkling with tears she hadn’t yet shed.

I felt like I was breaking into pieces along with her; she didn’t want to stay behind.

“I can’t just leave you,” she said. “What will they do to you?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. She just wants me under her control. She wants me to marry Koratalin, and I’ve always refused.

This is just about her perfect little merger and control.

She won’t harm me.” But she absolutely would harm Noa if she thought this would get me to behave.

Leaving Noa here was the smart thing to do—if I didn’t worry that our separation might harm Noa even more.

Noa’s eyes were on mine, the pounding and demands on the ship’s hatch supplying a drumbeat to our thoughts.

“I can’t leave Luka. We can’t be apart, right?

You haven’t found a cure yet.” She sounded dubious as she spoke, her emotions showing me her own conflicted feelings on it all.

She was coming around, thinking maybe she and I could work out, but she wasn’t ready to accept it yet.

“This is true,” I admitted. “We’re dependent on each other right now.” I clarified, and much to my relief, Noa never grabbed Feralan’s hand but stepped back into my arms. At the surprise I read among the Aderian crew—at their confusion—I added, “Like in the myths of Pato and Pyra. A true mating.”

Now Noa was the one surprised because she had not yet realized, and I had neglected to tell her, my deepest suspicions about what was happening with us. While from Noa, I felt a spike of panic, a little hurt, Feralan and his crew were only awed, staring at Noa and me with new eyes.

“We’ll get the word out. We’ll see you both freed,” Patrolus declared with enthusiastic youthfulness.

It was enough to shake me out of my frozen state.

I shoved my bag with Pato’s trinkets and the sunstones into Feralan’s hands.

I didn’t want those to fall into my mother’s hands, further lining her pockets.

Pato leaped onto my shoulder, eyeing the bag with some concern, but he didn’t protest when I explained to Feralan that he should take one of the three stones as payment and get the rest of the things to the Vagabond.

I tried briefly to convince the little pinche monkey to go with the bag, but he stubbornly clung to me, determined to stay.

Alright, that made it three again. With leaden shoes, we walked to the hatch while Patrolus assured me he was recording everything.

The Kertinal that led the contingent of my mother’s guards allowed us to step outside, but when I told him I was refusing to come, he waved at the nearest guard, and the butt of a rifle descended toward my face.

Everything went black, but I still heard Noa’s scream.

*

Noa

The guard slammed his rifle into Luka’s head so suddenly that I had to scramble to try to hold him up when he went down like a ton of bricks.

Hands grabbed me, yanking me away, and I fought to reach Luka as they mercilessly let him collapse onto the hard tarmac.

“Let me go!” I yelled, over and over, but while I wasn’t knocked out as Luka had been, they had no trouble piling on me, yanking my arms back, and locking them in maglock handcuffs.

A guard pressed a knee into Luka’s back, yanking his arms behind him, and another did the same to him. Then, two of them grabbed him by an armpit each and dragged him along, his long black hair gathering dirt and dust along the way, his head loosely hanging forward on a limp neck.

I was yanked along, forced to march after Luka with a guard on either side of me.

I feared for Pato, but the little monkey was clinging to the back of Luka’s leg, hissing and glaring at the threats surrounding us but not attacking.

It was making the guards laugh and point, jeering, but they didn’t approach the tiny monkey with his sharp fangs.

Wasn’t anyone but the Leaper’s crew watching this?

How did Luka’s mother think she’d get away with this kind of treatment?

Someone would talk! Wouldn’t they? “You’re not getting away with this.

We’re free people! You have no right to detain us!

” I told the Kertinal male in the lead. He was big, with arching, twisted horns sprouting from his forehead.

His coloring was yellow and black, like a bristling hornet.

His bright yellow eyes reflected the light surrounding us, making them appear to glow.

Malice filled his fang-filled expression as he looked me over, from the top of my blonde hair down to my feet, peeking out from the oversized, rolled-up legs of the Leaper’s uniform that I wore.

“You’re nothing but a slave, and soon you’ll be collared as you should be.

I think I might have a few suggestions for Madam Nerizana as to how to put you to use. Especially that smart mouth of yours.”

We were loaded into a land transport vehicle, mostly a long, rectangular tube with hover capabilities.

It was completely blacked out, and they tossed Luka inside as if he were a sack of potatoes.

I was hoisted in next, my skin crawling and my stomach rebelling, when the Kertinal pushed me forward roughly with a hand on my ass.

Soon, we were speeding away to destinies unknown.

The Kertinal took great pleasure in pulling out a lace necklace.

He dangled it in front of my face, yanking me upright by the lapel of my suit.

“See, I got your pretty collar right here.” As he snapped it closed around my neck, I felt nauseated, sick at the sensation of that thing around my throat.

I vomited all over his shoes, taking satisfaction in his horrified expression.

Then his fist lashed out, and I blacked out, too.

Unlike Luka, I wasn’t out for long, which meant that damn asshole had held back.

If he hadn’t, I probably would have a broken jaw now, but it still hurt like a freaking bitch.

My jaw was pounding, my head was absolutely killing me, and the situation hadn’t improved in any way.

I rather wished I could go back to that moment when Luka and I had just cuddled after we’d had mind-blowing sex.

I was sprawled on my belly, part of my hair stuck to the puddle of vomit right next to my head, the sour smell and the taste of it still coating my tongue.

I could feel the heat of Luka’s big body next to mine on the ground, but I didn’t dare move, or I’d smear even more of the puke all over me.

Around me, the guards were talking crudely about me; I could hear them evaluating my ass and my boobs.

The Kertinal asshole was debating whether or not Luka had claimed all my holes yet.

His boots were nudging my side, and with each bump of the vessel, he seemed to take great pleasure in knocking me in the ribs.

When we were making our next escape, I was going to stomp on this guy’s face.

I was going to make them all pay, they were going to know what it was like to be this helpless.

The familiar anger surging through me was welcome; I could sustain that, use it for strength.

I didn’t need Luka to be strong, hell, maybe I needed to be strong for him. How about that?

We jolted to a halt, my body sliding along the metal floor of the vehicle.

I thumped into Luka’s side, thankfully away from the puddle of sick.

Soon, I was dragged outside by my arms, stumbling along an uneven gravel drive in the direction of a huge, sprawling mansion of some kind.

It was crafted from silvery stone, with great black pillars, and a brief glance showed stark, modern landscaping with little to no color at all.

I caught sight of the guards hauling Luka out of the transport, dragging him along the gravel into a side entrance.

I was shoved after him, forced to stumble and dizzily try to keep up because my pounding head was making it hard to see straight.

I caught a flash of Pato scampering off when someone swatted at him with a broom the moment we were pulled into the building.

He screeched angrily once, then disappeared so quickly that the guards just shrugged.

To my dismay, this is where we were split up.

I was dragged down a dark corridor into the bowels of the huge mansion, while Luka was taken up the stairs, carelessly hitting each step with his limp body.

No, what would happen now? Was it all for nothing?

Should we have gambled that I stay aboard the Leaper?

I was thrown into a tiny room, exactly the same kind as the one I’d shared with a bunkmate on Jihari.

The door slammed shut behind me with a definitive thud, and I just wanted to crumple up and weep.

I stumbled to my feet and located the sink for washing up, determined.

My hands were still tied, and I had a slave collar on my neck once more, but I was not going to take this lying down.

I’d start by washing up, then figure out how I was going to rescue Luka.