Page 267 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

I didn’t even answer the AI, just spun on my heel and bolted from the engine room.

My booted feet thudded harshly against the metal floor plates as I rushed past Jakar and Eoin, who were headed in the same direction.

I didn’t spare them a single glance, didn’t even wait for them when I reached the airlock.

*

Arianna

I was skidding along the hallway when I saw the airlock door open in the distance.

First came a hand, covered in black metal segments.

Then I saw a pair of horns, spiraling and curved like those of an antelope.

I paused in the hallway, one hand on the wall for support, my eyes fixed on the figure stepping out of the airlock.

He was huge, his horns nearly scraping the ceiling.

Glowing purple eyes stared from a face that might have looked human, if not for black skin veined with amethyst lines, cracked like fine porcelain.

His hair was a wild mane of purple and black, restrained by a bandana tied around his head.

His shoulders were as wide as a linebacker’s, and his thickly muscled body was clad in coveralls, with heavy combat boots encasing his massive feet.

Then a tail lashed out from around his hip, the pointed tip glinting metal—just like his hands.

On his shoulder, a blue-and-black creature perched, its eyes a bright blue and its head shaped much like that of a Maine Coon. A long, fluffy tail was curled around the alien’s thick neck, striped in black and blue.

“Arianna!” the giant rumbled at me, a deep note of concern filling his sub-harmonic voice.

His footsteps thudded on the floor as he started to rush toward me, and my breath faltered a little.

I knew who that was just from the sound of his voice, and he was everything I’d imagined and more—sexy as sin, completely alien but somehow comfortingly human too.

He paused, his footsteps slowing. Then he swung his head around to look over his shoulder at the airlock, which was opening again behind him.

I saw it happen, how his expression went from open relief at seeing me alive and well to an angry frown.

Behind him, two very different aliens stepped out into the hallway, but I had no eyes for them.

My heart was pounding for very different reasons now, and I gave in to the impulse that struck me, even if I heard my father scold me in my head for even entertaining the thought.

Pushing away from the wall, I started running, my bare feet slapping on the cold floor.

In seconds, I reached him, my hero, my gruff mechanic who’d just performed a miracle.

His dark expression morphed into one of astonishment, and then I leaped, wrapping my arms around his chest and pressing my face into the fabric of his clothing.

I was struck by the scent of motor oil—something intrinsically male, something a little sharp and tangy, like metal. “Da’vi, you made it. I’m so glad!”

He was stiff in my embrace for long seconds, and as they ticked by, I worried that I’d crossed a line.

I did that sometimes, misjudging personal boundaries.

I liked to hug, and sometimes I forgot that not everyone felt the same way.

Then he curved his arms around my lower back, pressing me to him just as I was about to move away.

The grip was strong, and it suddenly felt like he didn’t want me to stop at all.

He rumbled something at me in that deep, deep voice, and my insides melted, my belly clenching in desire.

That voice was pure sin, even if I didn’t understand a word he said, since he was speaking in an alien language.

I wasn’t entirely sure why he wasn’t speaking English now, when he had been during our many calls.

It didn’t matter, he was here. I was no longer alone.

He was holding me in big, strong arms, and his face was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen. I felt like I’d just won the lottery.

Standing there, enveloped in his scent and the heat that seemed to pump from his body like he was a furnace, I didn’t even want to leave.

Then a voice called out, distinctly female, and definitely in English.

“Hi! Are you Arianna? I’m Noa,” she said.

She had an accent I couldn’t place, and during my travels, I’d heard many, so that piqued my interest.

Not letting go of Da’vi’s slender waist, I leaned my head to the side just enough to look at the people who had followed him out of the airlock.

Two large alien males, one in striking silvery, shimmering colors; the other completely red, with four arms. In front of them stood a human woman with wavy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a wild array of colorful flower tattoos on her bare arms.

Behind the two giants who matched Da’vi in size and muscles stood a slightly smaller, slender alien with the freakiest black eyes. He offered me a soft smile that instantly put me at ease, while the other two aliens stared at me like I was a freak with two heads.

“Yeah, that’s me, Arianna,” I said to the girl. Then I lifted my chin to look into Da’vi’s vibrant amethyst eyes. “How come I can’t understand what you’re saying?” I really wanted to know what he was thinking, but he hadn’t let go of my waist and wasn’t pushing me away; that had to be a good sign.

Naturally, he just grunted, his expression a little grumpy, with furrows between his brows and his lips thin, as if he were pinching them together.

Noa was the one to pipe up again from behind his shoulder: “That’s because you don’t have translator implants.

We can all understand you, but without implants, you won’t be able to understand Da’vi and the other guys. ”

Huh, that made sense, but then how had I understood him while on the calls?

I really wanted to ask, but it hardly mattered right now anyway.

What mattered was getting off this damn wreck and out of here.

If I didn’t have to, I was not inclined to spend another moment here, where I’d explored every nook and cranny and had far too many skeletons for company.

“Okay, how can I get some?” I asked, but my eyes left Noa to look at Da’vi again, his gaze drawing me in.

He was extremely intense, staring at me avidly, his pet studying me from its perch on his shoulder in almost exactly the same way.

I thought the corner of his mouth almost looked like it was tilting up in a slight smile, and it was just the cutest thing I’d ever seen.

I decided then and there that I’d do my very best to pull a real smile from him at some point, better yet, a full-on belly laugh.

“On our ship. If Da’vi can manage to let you go for a second, you could come to the Vagabond’s medical bay, and my mate, Luka, can help you with that.

” Noa’s words had an interesting effect on Da’vi; his arms dropped from my waist and the beginnings of that smile disappeared.

It was like, before my eyes, he transformed from slightly softened—a little affectionate, even—to this grizzly bear with the sore tooth: the prickly armor that protected his soft, squishy heart.

Stepping back, he kept one hand around my wrist, the metal of his palm cool against my skin.

He said something in his language, which sounded all deep and growly—especially in that deep, sub-harmonic voice—and it made my belly tingle.

Then he gestured with his palm at the two big, warrior-looking aliens, and the two nodded and jogged past us without another word.

Noa had her arms crossed over her chest, frowning at Da’vi as if she thought he was being an ass, but the black-eyed alien behind her was smirking.

“Huh. Da’vi told me to ask you if there’s anything you wish to take with you.

” She turned her head a little to shoot him a glare, making it clear that she didn’t appreciate playing translator for him, or maybe she just thought he was acting out of character.

“No, nothing I want,” I said. I had the only clothes I owned on me, and the food was all gone except for the two bars in my pocket. There was nothing else on the ship worth taking, as far as I was concerned.

Da’vi’s hand around my wrist tightened just a fraction, and then I was being pulled along the hallway, past the open smuggler’s hatch I’d hidden in. Noa and the alien male she was with followed us into the airlock and onto Da’vi’s ship.