Page 237 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“I gathered some information,” he said. “It’s something about the response time of the system, and Carator is the only one who can change settings now.

It has nothing to do with us.” I let out a long moan, tucking my face into his firm chest. Tears were pricking at my eyes.

So this was just a lucky break? I’d somehow escaped a terrible fate, and it wasn’t even at the cost of our escape?

“Thank God—that was terrifying. I thought they were going to lock us up. Execute us…” I said, but I managed to get the tears to subside, finding a smile to beam up at Sunder.

“So we’re safe for now?” His hands still held me tight to him, but he flared open his wings, mostly by dropping them lower so they cupped my legs and ass more than my back.

In the now faint light, I saw how he smiled back at me.

I traced my finger over one of the tusks protruding from the bottom of his mouth, then ran it down the side of his strongly defined jaw.

Heat sparked in those gray eyes, and he rumbled a deep growl at me: “You are mine, Aggy.” His lips pressed against mine in a fervent kiss, heat coiling in my belly.

My entire body responded to that claim, desire scorching my veins, my heart feeling full to bursting.

“Nobody should get to see you like this but me,” he added possessively, his hands finally relaxing their tight clasp on my back and sliding over the gaps and strips that covered me.

My cool skin warmed beneath his rough touch.

I arched my back, pressing closer, eagerly feeling the hard bar of his cock pressing against my belly.

“Yes,” I said eagerly. “All yours, Sunder.” I didn’t care how quickly I was willing to give myself to him; this fire in my veins, this sharp desire curling in my belly, was the best thing I’d ever felt.

I wanted more of it. I wanted him to possess me.

After that near miss… I needed to feel like I belonged to a good man—to him.

I half expected him to turn us to the nearest wall, press me into it, and slide some of those well-placed strips of fabric aside.

It wouldn’t be difficult to take me like that, and the thought flooded my core with wetness.

He’d slide right on in, even if he had the biggest cock I’d ever handled.

I’d seen those nodes and bumps along the top and bottom—he was going to feel so good.

“Soon,” he groaned in my ear, one hand cupping my breast beneath the scrap of fabric that had covered it.

I felt the rough texture of his palm against my sensitive skin, twitching from the sensation when he pinched the tight bud.

Pressing my breast more firmly into his palm, I urged him to keep doing that, but he had other plans.

I found myself cradled in his arms, tucked tightly against his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

Reaching up, I tried to pull him down for another kiss, but he growled again, tilting his head away.

Motion caused cold air to brush over my exposed skin, and he carried me straight out a side door and into a walled little garden.

With a few beats of his huge bat wings, we were airborne, soaring over the buildings at a low altitude—so low that I could count the roof tiles that covered each building.

Cold whipped against my flesh, my loose hair tangling around my face, around his neck, and in his horns.

I was sideways in his arms this time, so I couldn’t wrap myself around him, but I still did my very best to get as close to him as I could.

As quickly as we’d been up in the air, we dropped down into the familiar training courtyard—a space pathetically dusty and derelict compared to the rest of the palace.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was walking, clawed feet digging into the earth as he jogged to the door.

I felt the same rush, but I still fought to tuck my boob back behind the scrap of fabric when we entered the hallway outside the boys’ bunk room and my own chambers.

I wasn’t sure what we’d find. Had Uron taken the boys to bed?

Had they been fed? How scared were they?

Sunder paused outside the bunk room, and we shared a sober look.

When I nodded, he set me down on my bare feet and lifted my hand to the scanner.

We froze when a sound alerted us to a presence in the hallway.

A shadow detached itself from the wall between two sconces—tall and wide-shouldered, its eyes glittering at us in the dark.

“You’re back!” a low voice exclaimed. “Whoa, Aggy…” Uron stepped into the pale glow of the nearest sconce, which, in its night setting, barely gave off any light at all. I sighed in relief—just Uron. For a moment there, my mind had flashed to my fantasies of guards arresting me when I arrived here.

Sunder rumbled a warning growl, and I suddenly found myself pinned to the wall by one of his wings.

The thick flight membrane was warm against my skin—a stark contrast to the cold wall at my back.

I could only just see over the thickly muscled bone that edged the top of the wing, watching as Uron raised his palms in surrender and backed away.

“I know, I know, she’s all yours, Sir. I was just surprised…

” the Rummicaron said, his voice tinged with fear and respect.

“I was just waiting for your return. I’m glad you’re both fine.

” He sounded relieved, partially because Sunder seemed to have lost the aggression in his posture.

I tried hard not to feel flattered; that was rather cavewoman of me, to enjoy his possessiveness this much.

“Are the boys all right?” Sunder asked. His wing lowered a little more, so that it only came up to just above my breasts.

The younger guard nodded his head fervently, tugging on his rumpled uniform jacket.

I realized that he’d been curled against the wall, sleeping in his uniform on the cold stone.

Surprised that he’d gone that far, I felt a sudden rush of warmth for him.

Maybe he wasn’t a lost cause after all; maybe Sunder was right in investing energy in the young male.

It was certainly good to know that he’d been there for the kids when we’d been unable to.

“Good, did they eat enough? Are they sleeping?” Sunder asked.

Uron immediately nodded again, shifting from foot to foot as if contemplating what to say next.

I eyed the door to my left. I still wanted to open it so I could check on them, but I also didn’t want to wake them if they were peacefully asleep.

“Jett was worried, but I told them you’d be back tonight.

That all would be well,” Uron said. Then his eyes darted to mine for a moment, and I was struck by the concern in them.

“All is well, right?” he asked, and the uncertainty in his voice made it clear that he’d been worried for us—for me especially.

“We are well,” Sunder said. “Go to bed, kid. We’ll squeeze in training early tomorrow morning, and then you’re solely responsible for the boys again, I suspect.

Don’t screw it up.” Uron nodded his head up and down like one of those bobbleheads for the back of a car.

It was almost comical, the way he was nodding.

“Scoot,” Sunder barked out. He spun on his heel and started trotting away, glancing back over his shoulder several times at us until the darkness swallowed him up.

Sunder’s wing dropped away from my body, a grin splitting his face.

“Well, who’d have thought that he’d step up like that?

” Then his eyes dropped from my face to linger over my body, which was even less constrained by the excuse of a dress than before.

The flight and his attentions had messed up the careful arrangement of strips.

“A quick check to see they’re fine,” I whispered, my hand going to the panel to unlock the door.

He nodded, his eyes going from heated to serious again as we peered into the dark bunk room.

Two heads shared a single pillow in their preferred bunk at the back.

One with bright blue hair, the other a smudge of black.

The sound of two soft snores filled the air, their rhythm slow and steady.

Assured that they were both fine, we closed the door again and backed away.

Sunder’s hand grabbed mine, pulling me along with him to my own door.

I fumbled with the lock, then got even more distracted when I was picked up and pressed against the door, pinned in place by the Tarkan’s solid bulk.

He nibbled along my neck, sucked my earlobe into his mouth, and I just about melted into a puddle in his arms.

My hand fell away from the panel; I’d completely forgotten what I’d meant to do, lost to the sensations he was evoking in me.

There was a husky chuckle right next to my ear.

Then I felt his hand slide along my shoulder and down my wrist, where his thumb rubbed along the sensitive skin.

He raised my hand, pressed my palm to the scanner, and the door at my back suddenly swished open.

We tumbled inside, my body caught up in Sunder’s strong grip.

He had us across the room in two giant steps, and then I found myself sprawled on my back on my bed.

I had my arms around his neck, wanting to pull him closer—I wanted to kiss that sexy mouth of his.

He pulled away, gently extracting himself from my grip and pinning my wrists to the mattress on either side of me.

Desire rocketed through me, shocking me—I hadn’t realized I liked being pinned down like this, but with Sunder, I definitely did.