Page 262 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

I had to turn off this com channel; I should not invade her privacy like this.

I knew what I should be doing, but I found myself biting my bottom lip, hard, to hold back a groan, my attention completely fixated on her.

The last thing I should be doing was opening my pants and fisting my cock, but I was doing it anyway.

Each of those little shuddering sounds, the soft little pants and moans she was making, it was fire to my blood.

Rubbing my cock to the noises she made, I tried to imagine what she was doing.

Was she touching herself inside? Or just that little button at the top of her folds—the one humans had that gave them so much pleasure?

I was suddenly keenly interested in human physiology.

I didn’t even like humans, or any other species for that matter, but the sounds she was making…

I tugged on my cock a little faster, leaning my forehead against the edge of the panel.

My own breaths were coming faster as pleasure ratcheted up my spine.

My tail swung around to knock the sharpened metal blade from the tip, then curled around the base of my cock, working in tandem with my hand.

It felt so good, and I hadn’t done this in so long.

The cool metal texture of my hand prosthetic made it feel so very different from before.

Arianna drew out a long, soft sigh, falling quiet.

Had she found her release? My own orgasm pumped through me at the thought, seed coating my palm in hot, quick spurts.

I groaned, shuddering from the pleasure, quickly followed by a deep feeling of shame.

I roughly wiped myself clean and closed my pants, then disconnected the com line between Arianna and myself—like I should have that morning, or the moment I heard her sounds.

Sitting on my knees in the engine room, I looked around myself, hearing the steady hum of the engines. What the fuck was wrong with me today? The moment I’d heard the human female’s voice, it was like she’d put a damn spell on me. I was acting completely out of character.

When I spotted Babbit curled up on his pillow on the workbench, I shuddered again, stupidly relieved that the animal was asleep.

Nobody needed to witness my shameful behavior just now.

I climbed to my feet and set about cleaning up the tools I didn’t need.

Then, I got started on the experimental upgrades we’d need to push the ship to the speeds needed to reach Arianna in time.

My entire body jerked when my com went off. Was that her? Did she know? I fumbled to thumb the accept-call number on my own com in a hurry. Only as I pressed “accept” did I realize that Arianna would be calling me through the old, broken device, not my private one.

It felt a little like karmic justice to hear my native language barked at me through the line the moment I answered.

I had known I’d be tracked down once I’d seen the Kertinillian spy back on Arakon, where we’d recently rescued Sunder, his mate, and their children.

I recognized the voice speaking to me as well, and it brought back flashes of my last mission for the military, the disastrous way things had ended, killing the pilot and gravely injuring the navigator.

“Captain Mor’vi Allignon,” I said, talking over the voice that had launched from a greeting directly into a spiel about how I should come back to serve the great Kertinillian Empire.

No thanks. This was the very captain who had run the ship I’d served on for a good handful of years, the ship on which my career had ended.

“It’s General now, Da’vi,” the male said.

“And you’ve got to accept my proposal. A talented male like you shouldn’t waste his skills on a simple cargo ship.

” The derision in his tone was thick, and if not for the shameful way I’d acted only a moment ago, I would have bristled at it, snapped back.

As it was, I snorted. The Vagabond, a cargo ship?

Surely his reports on us told him this was a Star Class Cruiser.

I felt a little hurt pride at hearing her called a cargo ship; Star Class Cruisers were the finest exploration and scout vessels there were—highly prized by any fleet.

“Not going to happen, Sir,” I said, a little miffed that they were now bothering me, trying to recruit me after I’d spent a year stuck in a gladiator stable.

“I am happy where I am,” I added firmly, my finger going to the com device, ready to disconnect the call.

Years of ingrained respect for the chain of command were the only thing that kept me from simply hanging up on a former superior officer.

“Oh, come on, Da’vi, you’ll get a good deal if you reenlist with me.

We need you to work on that engine upgrade you improvised.

Remember that? You’ll get your own lab, and you can cherry-pick your assistants.

Just build me that super engine,” my former captain said in a more cajoling tone, losing the formality he was usually known for.

“No, I am not coming back, Sir. Lose my number. I’m not interested, you didn’t bother to mount a rescue last year, and you can’t tell me you guys didn’t know where I was then.

” That had always bothered me. I was a valuable asset—I knew I was—but the Kertinillian Army had let me rot in that damn gladiator stable, where I’d been forced to risk life and limb fighting for entertainment in the arena.

And now they wanted me back? What had changed?

“Oh, come now, you weren’t ready to come back, and these things take time.

I had to make sure I could secure the funds to staff a lab for you, Da’vi,” General Allignon said.

I heard what he didn’t say, but what had likely happened.

He was a shiny gold star general now. He needed to consolidate his power base before he brought me in, and bringing me in would bring him a lot of power, especially if I succeeded in building that super engine for him.

So I got to suffer while he played his political games. This was exactly why I’d left.

“No, now leave me the fuck alone,” I snapped, angry that I’d been used like a pawn yet again.

I wasn’t going to allow the Kertinillian Army to get their claws in me for another round.

I eyed the work I was doing on the Vagabond’s engines, the very thing my former captain was after.

“It was a fluke; I can’t recreate it anyway. ”

When he laughed, as if he thought I had said something funny, I thumbed off the connection—and then, for good measure, my entire com device.

No, I was not coming back to work for them.

I was not going to give the Kertinal Empire such a powerful engine, just as I had opted not to do that for the neutral shipyard Strewn.

This was just a temporary upgrade to rescue Arianna, and then I’d destroy every part of it, all my notes.