Page 244 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

He set the hooks that tipped his wings against the sides of the doorframe, his big hands curling around the bars.

With a huge grunt, he heaved, his arms corded with muscle, straining against the weight.

With a snap and a groan, the old, slightly rusted metal gave way, the hinges breaking open.

Sunder tossed aside the broken door with a grunt, which I found incredibly sexy for some bizarre reason—as if my cavewoman instincts were super impressed with his show of brute strength.

I threw myself out of the cell and straight into his arms. “Sunder! I’m so glad you’re here.” Who cared if that was very damsel-in-distress-like? I was currently the damsel in distress, and Sunder was my knight in shining armor, even if his armor was a little dented and cracked these days.

He caught me, his arms and wings curling around me and enveloping me with warmth. In response, my body started trembling, finally warming up again. It told me more than anything just how close I’d come to hypothermia. I wondered how bad off I would have been if he hadn’t arrived when he had.

“My Fire,” he murmured against my hair, “you are freezing.” Yes,I was, but he was making it all better.

I lifted my face from his thick pectoral, my tingling fingers reaching for one of the horns crowning his head.

I yanked his head down, and our lips met in a fiery kiss.

He was often the rational, more level-headed one between the two of us, but not this time.

He dove into that kiss with a kind of desperation that matched my own.

When he pulled away from our kiss, my mouth was a bit bruised, but my blood was pumping again.

Our eyes met in the low glow of his com light, and he was the first to speak, cupping my face with one big palm.

“Aggy, I lo…” His words were interrupted by the retort of a laser pistol going off, and his entire body jolted against mine.

I screamed, frantic, when he stumbled forward and started to collapse.

I was going to end up crushed beneath him if he fell, but that didn’t matter, he’d just been shot!

Over his shoulder, I could see a green-skinned figure and a taller one with the typical silhouette of a Rummicaron.

There was a glint of a pistol barrel in his hand.

Sunder caught himself on one hand, and the clawed tip of his wing joint caught his weight, so he was crouched over me.

I didn’t miss the way he made himself big—a target—and I feared for his life.

One shot, he said one shot could kill him, just like with a human.

Had he been fatally hit? I couldn’t tell; he didn’t seem to be bleeding.

“Hide, Aggy,” he murmured, brave male that he was, and with a push from his free hand, he sent me skidding along the cold, damp floor until my shoulders collided with the back wall.

“So… you’re a traitor then. Pity,” Carator said.

“So much potential wasted between the two of you.” He made a tsking noise with his teeth, shaking his head, while the single guard with him moved to flick on the light inside this darn dungeon.

I flinched, my eyes hurting from the brightness that flooded the space.

It was in the light that I finally saw what had happened to Sunder.

He had turned and was standing in a defensive crouch in front of me, wings flared, his tail lashing the air.

His shoulder bore a blackened, ashy mark with a small ‘crater’ at the center.

No blood was dripping from that spot; it looked more like a scorch mark a stone wall might show after being hit.

Eyes wide, I didn’t dare hope that something had changed, that his illness had somehow been overcome. That was almost too good to be true.

Sunder laughed roughly, his words a taunt.

“No, you Rummicaron just can’t read people worth a damn.

” It made Carator snarl angrily, and his Xurtal companion hissed like an angry cat through her clenched teeth.

“What, truth hurts?” Sunder said. He seemed to be trying to rile them up on purpose, and I hoped he knew what he was doing.

I didn’t think making them angry was a good idea, Carator was still holding a shiny, silver gun.

“Shut your mouth, you insolent asshole,” the Xurtal female demanded, pushing past Carator in her sleek black catsuit. Her hands yanked two short blades free from holsters on her back, an eager glint glowing in her red eyes.

Sunder shook his horned head. “Can’t stand it if I badmouth your owner, can you?

” He shifted on his clawed, lion-like feet, tail suddenly growing deceptively calm behind his back.

He seemed to become a smaller target without having moved much at all.

I blinked my eyes, certain I was seeing some kind of illusion.

The female screamed, “I am not a slave!” While her master tried to order her to stand down, too late realizing what trap the female had fallen into with his calmer head—the Xurtal woman launched herself at Sunder, her silvery blades flashing in the overhead lights.

Sunder seemed to just slide to the side, the move quick and agile, the knife from his belt suddenly in his hand.

He blocked the sweep of both weapons, and his wing swept out beneath their arms, hitting the woman in the stomach.

She flew back, soaring through the air and colliding with the Crimelord, so that both of them skidded across the floor in an undignified heap.

Sunder had no space in this cellblock to spread his wings fully, but he moved with a blast of air, landing on top of them.

The silver laser pistol went spinning across the ground from a well-aimed kick, disappearing between the locked bars of one of the empty cells.

After that, things were a blur as I searched for a way to help, watching the fight anxiously unfold from the corner of my eye.

Sunder was fighting them both, and it was a surprise—at least to me—to realize that Carator was no dummy in a fight; he was holding his own.

One of the woman’s short blades came hurling through the air.

I ducked just in time, a few strands of my hair fluttering down around my face, severed by the sharp knife.

Seeing my chance, I grabbed the still-warm handle of the knife, but it had embedded itself deeply into one of the wooden posts that held up the ceiling.

Struggling to free the weapon, I flinched with each scream, thud, or grunt that echoed through the cells.

With a yelp, I yanked it free from the post, the force sending me sprawling backward onto the ground.

Somehow, I’d landed right behind the Xurtal woman, and with an angry yell, I slashed at her legs with the blade.

The razor-sharp knife cut through her sleek leather pants like they were butter, opening up a large gash in her leg.

Blood sprayed from the wound and into my face, salty and metallic.

I rolled away, clutching the blade and dodging kicking feet.

The distraction was the opening Sunder needed, his clawed wingtips raking across her body when she turned her back. The woman collapsed without making another sound. Her body thudded to the ground, and I scrambled out of the way and climbed to my feet, my back pressed to the nearest cell bars.

I could see the Crimelord in his suit, which was not nearly as neat and crisp as before.

He staggered to his feet from somewhere, his face pulled into a vicious snarl, displaying rows upon rows of sharp, hooked teeth in his mouth.

Launching himself at Sunder just as he whirled to face him, the two males collided, wrestling for dominance.

“Watch out!” I yelled as the shark maw snapped closed around one of Sunder’s thick biceps.

I pushed myself off the bars, intending to circle around the males, seeking an opening to slide my stolen knife into that bastard’s back.

Only I never got the chance. Two clawed hands appeared, two razor-sharp horns arching above the Crimelord, and with a snapping sound, the criminal’s head wrenched to the side at an unnatural angle.

The new arrival helped pry those jaws from Sunder’s arm, and the body dropped to the ground.

It was only then that I realized it was Or’tal.

The Kertinal male stood in front of Sunder with a mild expression on his face, his uniform as neat as always.

“So, about that favor,” he said, directing his words at Sunder, “I’m going to need a ride off this shit hole. ”

Sunder had his hand clasped around the bite site, but he was grinning.

“Don’t tell me, you’re an intelligence officer?

Third class? First?” There was a look of recognition shared between the two of them, as if they’d suddenly become best buddies.

“Sure, you can get a ride. It should be here any minute now.”

I ducked under Sunder’s wing, pulling at his hand to look at his latest injury, and was gratified to see dozens of deep scratch marks but no blood.

Somehow, again, his stone-like skin had protected him from the worst of the injury.

He was getting better somehow, but from the deeper lines bracketing his mouth, I could also tell he was in pain.

So maybe he wasn’t cut open, but maybe he was bruised.

“First, thank you very much,” Or’tal said.

“I didn’t think the Tarkan military had any interest in this corner of the quadrant.

..” Then he tilted his head, his bright green eyes sliding over Sunder and darting to me as if I were part of the equation.

“No. They really don’t, do they? So who’s picking you up? ”

I was about to leave these two to their military talk while I went back to grab some of that moss for Sunder’s pain, but as soon as I turned, Sunder’s arms snatched me around my waist, holding me close.

“Aggy, stay with me, my Fire,” he said, his warm body heating my still-cold skin.

The adrenaline of the fight and the smoking-hot kiss from before had kick-started my system, but I was already coming down from that.

Now that he held me, my body started to shake again.

He started to rub my back vigorously with his hands, trying to warm me up, his wings cupping my lower body against his legs.

“Is she all right?” Or’tal asked, and I was surprised to hear the real concern in his voice this time.

Here I’d been thinking he was the scariest guy around, besides maybe the Crimelord himself, but he’d been a spy all along.

At least, that’s what I thought that conversation had meant.

“My brothers are coming,” Sunder said, just as a light on his com blinked green.

“Correction, they are landing right now. We need to open the gate for them.” I felt a thrill shoot through me—they were here; there was an end to this miserable journey at last.No, it wasn’t so miserable with Sunder at my side.

I also didn’t forget that he’d started to say something really important to me just as we were attacked.

“Leave that to me. I’ll head for the command center and disable what I can,” Or’tal said, though he still looked puzzled. Sunder’s answer hardly explained who was about to arrive on Arakon. He turned around and trotted from the cell block without a backward glance.

Alone again with Sunder, and two dead bodies, which was not the most romantic location, I cupped his face. “I love you,” I said. “And I’m glad you came for me. But where the fuck are the kids?”