Page 236 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Sunder

The fight didn’t show on my face—or at least, I didn’t think it did.

But it was taking its toll on my body and my mood, which had already been black.

I forced myself to make the meaningless small talk, to bluster and bluff along with the other males guarding this extravagant room.

Due to its size, it was unclear what it had been intended for, but right now, it was in use as a private dining place, and we were guarding a giant safe at the back of it.

Each time I circled the room with my assigned partner, a veteran Kertinal who’d left his military in disgrace, I watched Aggy from the corner of my eye.

She was beautiful, her long hair draped around her in shiny locks, her dark eyes emphasized dramatically.

Every exposed part of her skin—which was a lot—shimmered pink.

She looked good enough to eat in the scraps of silver and red that clung to her curves, exposing more than they concealed.

Blood rushed through my body straight to my groin, my mind flashing back to how good she’d tasted as I feasted on her in that planetary defense tower. My frown finally won out, and I made myself scowl at the next guard we passed, which made the male snap upright and nearly fumble his laser rifle.

Mind racing, I tried to figure out a way to end it tonight, to kill Carator without getting myself or Aggy killed.

My Fire looked brave and determined as she sat at the Crimelord’s feet; I was proud of her.

That didn’t mean that I wouldn’t stop this, no matter what.

Nobody was going to lay hands on my female.

I didn’t care how possessive I was getting—Jett liked her, so I was going to make damn sure she’d be sticking around after this. If we managed to get out of here.

I focused on doing what I did best: casually extracting information.

I knew better than anyone how to pretend to be one of them, to joke along, to blend in.

Soon, I had the guards working on the safe complaining about the issues they had with opening it.

That was followed by speculation about what was in it, ranging from an extensive porn collection to files with dirt on each of the Crimelords and their top goons.

I made another pass with my new buddy around the safe.

I eyed it thoughtfully. No wonder Carator was dying to get into this thing.

It also suddenly made a lot of sense why this place was so heavily guarded—this was a goldmine.

Even if what was in it was just regular riches and not data, the fact that everyone speculated it was made this a hot target.

We crossed back into the sitting area, where Carator was barely making an attempt to be a host as he lazily watched the dancing slaves.

There were five females, and I was relieved to see that they bore no signs of injury as they moved.

The slaves had arrived here with Carator, his own personal retinue, a sign that he didn’t enjoy breaking his toys.

I narrowed my eyes, glaring at the pale stone floor.

Those thoughts were not making me feel better.

I had to get Aggy out of there, but how?

There was a fire alarm; I could set it off as they were about to leave.

The ensuing evacuation would delay things, could I sneak Aggy out in the chaos?

Race for the boys and hide us out in the forest until the Vagabond arrived?

My mind shot back to the Jukjuk, who traveled in packs with advance scouts.

I’d read up on them after my previous encounter.

Arakon was not a safe planet to spend a night outside on.

I searched through my memories, pulling up the maps of the palace and outbuildings I’d memorized when I arrived. Was there a spot behind the walls where we could escape detection? I had just compiled a short list of options in my mind when my skin prickled with awareness.

Or’tal strode into the grand chamber like he owned the place, cool confidence in his bearing.

He scanned the room, green eyes sharp and cold.

Each guard caught in that gaze flinched and straightened, rushing to look like they were doing their very best guarding this room and their boss.

I met his stare straight on, not flinching, standing my ground.

With guys like this, it was best to show them you wouldn’t bend or break, that you were made of stronger stuff. They respected nothing else.

I wasn’t sure if I imagined it, but I almost thought he inclined his head my way.

Then he broke our stare-off, his posture gaining a bit more stiffness as he paused in front of Carator’s low table, behind which the Crimelord sprawled in a chair that was almost a throne.

What he said to the male froze the blood in my veins.

Issues with the defense grid? Had he found out about our tampering?

Torn between relief when Carator and his head guard left Aggy forgotten at the table, and fear over what they had discovered, I forced my face to remain blank. Aggy was safe for now; we had a bit of time to figure this out. I could panic, or I could do something about it.

Keeping a sharp eye on my Fire, I circled the room again, with the Kertinal dropout at my side.

At each entrance point, I chatted with the males there, trying to figure out what was going on.

As I was well used to, most guys were old gossips—eager to find out what was going on, to share juicy tidbits.

So again, it didn’t take long for a picture to form.

When I saw Aggy get up and leave, I was struck with the urge to wrap her up in my wings and hide her from view.

I hated how all the males tracked her progress through the room, sharing crude comments as they nudged each other and pointed.

The door shut behind her, and now another fear struck me: Did she know the way back?

And what if she ran into someone in the hallways?

The shift that I’d been put on ran until midnight, with still another twenty minutes to go before I could leave. At this point, would ducking out cause more harm than good? I had to maintain my role here as long as I could. But Aggy… she wasn’t safe, dressed like that, on her own.

*

Agatha

I was lost. I was pretty sure of that, because these darn hallways all looked the same.

That statue of the warrior with the huge ears looked even more familiar—I’d already passed it before.

I remembered it because it had looked so startlingly ridiculous.

The male was mostly human, but his ears were depicted the size of an elephant, nuts.

I comforted myself with the thought that I hadn’t run into anyone yet.

I had been roaming these hallways for at least fifteen minutes.

Shivering, I wrapped my arms around my middle, the uncomfortable shoes dangling from my fingers as I chose a hallway at random and started out again.

This one had windows, so I tried to figure out if I recognized anything outside.

I thought I was heading in the right direction again, so that was good.

My toes were freezing on the cool stone, my nipples stiff peaks beneath the thin fabric of my barely-there dress.

Still, this was far better than what could have been happening right now.

If Or’tal hadn’t arrived when he had… I shivered harder.

If only his news hadn’t been so bad. I was almost expecting to arrive at my chamber and discover an armed guard waiting for me.

I could picture it vividly: Or’tal smirking at me with that disdainful look in his eyes, guards aiming their guns at me while they shackled me.

Then they’d drag me before Carator and execute me on the spot, but not before they dragged Sunder in, too.

I closed my eyes and rubbed hard at them, trying to erase the vivid image my imagination supplied of Sunder being killed in front of me. He’d said one shot would kill him now…

A rustling noise alerted me to a presence.

I spun around, lifting the pointed heel of one of my torturous shoes in my hand as a makeshift weapon.

“Who’s there?” I asked, my mouth dry, my heart pounding in my throat.

The dark shape approaching me from behind was huge and traveling fast. For a brief moment, I thought a monster had come to take me, or that the stress had fractured my mind and I was seeing things.

Large, arching wings, four legs on which it ran, and a crown of glittering black horns on its head.

My breath stalled completely. It was Sunder.

The shortened remains of his tail whipped behind his back as he ran at breakneck speed toward me through the long, cold hallway.

I dropped the shoes I was holding and opened my arms for him, my mind ignoring the fact that he was running on allfours like a lion.

“Sunder!” I exclaimed as he reached me, raising up onto his legs. His arms came around me in a crushing hug, his wings following to cocoon me in warmth and safety. I sighed in relief, my fingers digging into his strong shoulders as I clung to him. “You’re here.”

In a rush, I tried to explain to him what Or’tal had said, panicked at the thought that our plan had been found out.

He just calmly kept holding me, his hands keeping me pressed tightly to his uniform-clad chest. He wasn’t wearing the body armor, but his body still felt hard as a rock, each muscled ridge defined where it pressed against me.

“It’s okay, my Fire. It’s going to be all right,” he crooned to me.

The deep rumble of his voice made me sag against him.

If Mr. Planner said it was all right, it had to be, right?

I tilted my head up to look at him, but wrapped up in his wings, there was barely any light—I couldn’t read his expression.