Page 271 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Arianna

We weren’t stuck, not exactly. I didn’t fully understand Da’vi’s explanation of what was happening with the engines.

Apparently, we could still fly at cruising speeds, and we’d set a course for the nearest solar system that had a planet with the kind of material we needed to make repairs.

It was uninhabited, like most of the nearest systems, further emphasizing that we were only just exiting the dead zone I’d been stuck in.

FTL jumps were allowed if we kept them shorter than six seconds; he’d been very adamant about that. This meant that Chloe and Kitan, the pilot, had made a short series of jumps over the past few days—brief little leaps with long intervals for the engine to cool down again.

Da’vi was extremely busy, working all day, every day, to fix up the engines, to repair the damage done to them from the extreme speeds.

I’d listened to his grumpy, adorable mutterings about warped metal and stress fragments more than once.

I wished I could have spent more time listening to him, keeping him company, but as soon as he noticed me, he made sure to leave, no matter what he was doing.

The engine was a little crucial, and while we had no indication we’d been followed, there was the fear that the Kertinal Raptor Class Vessel would find us again.

So I’d postponed my plan to break down his walls for the sake of the ship.

It was making me feel extremely lonely and a little insecure.

Da’vi had been my security for weeks; it felt wrong not to have his presence to anchor me.

Sitting in the mess hall, I watched as Aggy patiently taught her two boys how to read through some kind of fun card game she’d clearly hand-drawn.

At one end of the large dining table, Fierce and Thorin were playing a complex alien game that probably most closely resembled chess.

I thought that maybe Fierce was new to it, because sometimes he’d ask his friend if he understood a rule correctly.

That was just the kind of thing I’d normally be all over, I’d try to learn the game and strike up a conversation.

I’d have these people I was suddenly stuck with figured out in no time at all.

I didn’t feel like it this time, like all my drive to explore and meet new people was just gone.

I just wanted to figure out Da’vi, but it was selfish to claim his time, so I couldn’t.

“Hi, can I sit with you?” Abigail asked me, indicating the empty chair across from me at the table. I gave her a bright, friendly smile and a nod as I hurried to make some space for her.

Tori, the young woman with the tiny alien baby, had dug out a whole pile of yarn from the cargo bay, and I was sorting through the stuff, trying to decide what to make next.

I’d already made a top and a skirt with the crochet hooks Jakar had made for me, which I’d given to the other girls.

I probably had enough dark purple and blue yarn to make a cute little romper for Tori’s baby, it would match her lovely skin tones.

“You and Da’vi, I don’t mean to pry, but…

are you, like, attracted to him?” Abigail asked.

She crossed her bare arms over her chest, the leather crop top she wore beautifully accentuating all her curves.

I tried not to stare at her cleavage with envy.

My chest was far flatter, and if I gained any weight, it always went straight to my hips, not my boobs.

Snorting with laughter, I focused on pulling the blue end from a ball of yarn.

“Are you blind? What’s not to like about that man?

He’s sexy as sin.” I grinned up at her, and she smiled back at me, dimples popping in her cheeks.

“Then again, I don’t think there’s a single unattractive guy on this ship, is there?

They’re all so… manly.” As former gladiators, these guys still worked out every day, and it showed.

The gym had become a favorite gathering spot for the women on the ship, who liked to sit on the sidelines and watch them exercise.

Da’vi never missed a workout session; it was one of the only moments I could shamelessly ogle him, so it was not surprising that Abby had picked up on my interest. She picked at some red yarn in front of her, stroking along the soft strands with her fingers.

“Da’vi’s not the social type, he needs someone to shake him up.

But…” Her eyes met mine squarely across the table.

“He’s got a soft heart. I don’t want to see it bruised, you understand me? ”

Ah, interesting, a warning. I liked her more for it.

She cared about the people on this ship.

She wasn’t the Captain, but as the Captain’s mate, she took her role seriously, looking out for them.

That Da’vi, with all his grump and snarl, was worth that kind of protection just showed that she saw through that prickly armor—just like I had.

“I don’t want to hurt him. He saved me. If not for him answering my call and promising to pick me up… I just want to pay him back in any way that I can. If I can teach him a bit about relaxing, about having fun,” I tried to explain.

My answer didn’t seem to satisfy this woman.

She started frowning, and I suddenly felt like a noose was tightening around my neck.

Did this woman want me to promise to be his forever—or stay away?

That was crazy. People didn’t fall in love that fast. I sure didn’t.

I wasn’t even certain that I could. I didn’t love my own flesh-and-blood family; I had left them in the dust the moment I could.

I’d never stayed with a man for longer than a few months; I was just wired differently.

“What do you want? We rescued you from that wreck, and you are certainly welcome to stay here as long as you like… but what do you want from the future? You can’t go home.

Do you want to settle on a planet? We can find you a good place.

” Abigail sounded a bit sterner, more businesslike as she spoke, and her words made me feel cold all along my spine.

There it was, if I wasn’t the mate of one of these guys, I wasn’t welcome, was I? No, that was silly. Tori had no mate.

When I didn’t answer, Abigail softened again, reaching across the table to pat my hand.

“Sorry. I get protective, and I’m not the best at the social stuff.

I tend to be a little rude, even if I don’t mean to.

” The apology made me relax again. She clearly didn’t mean to be harsh, but the fact was, I was another mouth to feed, so I should contribute in a meaningful way if I wanted to stay here.

I didn’t even know if that was what I wanted.

“Hey, look at all those colors!” Camila said, and she plopped her ass down in the seat next to mine, her fingers already digging into the nearest pile of yarn. “This would make such a cute sweater,” she said as she held up a green ball. “Look, Abby, you’d match Ziame.”

I eyed the stack of green available and shrugged.

“I could make that if you’d like. I love working with textiles.

” I’d tried my hand at an art major in college briefly, while working several jobs on the side.

Of course, it had just made me feel claustrophobic—pinned down in one place like that—so I’d bailed.

I still loved working with yarn and a nice hook; I made a lot of my own clothing that way.

Abby made a harrumphing sound, and I had to smother a laugh, she almost sounded like Da’vi when she did that. “While a green sweater would be lovely, we were talking about our grumpy engineer, Camila.”

The ex–space marine was one of only two women on the ship who were from this time.

I’d heard talk that likely all the others were like me, stolen from Earth sometime shortly after the beginning of the second millennium, maybe a little later.

I’d even heard speculation at the dinner table that it was possible all of us had been on that wreck I’d woken up on, at one point.

We all came from the same type of stasis pod.

“Oh, did you know, Ari, that Babbit stole the Doc’s handheld scanner when we were coming to get you?

He made Luka chase him all over the ship to the engine room.

Then the Doc realized the dumbass had some cracked ribs that needed healing.

Da’vi had been working so hard, he hadn’t taken the time to get seen to.

Can you believe that?” Camila said, talking so rapidly that even I had to scramble to keep up.

Woah, when was that? Why had he worked with his ribs injured?

How had they even gotten injured in the first place?

! I thought Da’vi hadn’t fought as a gladiator in months, not since they freed themselves and took over the Vagabond.

When I asked them, Abigail smiled, warmth seeping back into her eyes.

“It must have been a couple of days after we set out to rescue you. My mate whacked him in the chest with his tail because he interrupted us…” She waggled her eyebrows to make it clear just what he’d interrupted, and I covered my mouth with a hand to smother a laugh.

Da’vi had gotten hurt just after we’d met, and, listening to Abigail describe that moment, it became obvious it was because he needed to get his brothers on board with my rescue.

Then he’d worked himself into the ground without seeking medical aid, upgrading the engines to get to me in time.

I hadn’t even told Da’vi just how close that had been, but to remind myself of it, I’d kept the two disgusting leftover ration bars tucked into one of the cabinets in my quarters.

I struggled with the desire to find Da’vi in the engine room, my fingers clenching around the wooden crochet hook and the soft blue yarn.

I was holding them so tightly that my arms shook.

Why did knowing what Da’vi had done for me hit me this hard?

He didn’t know me then, and he still didn’t know me all that well.

I was very good at keeping most of myself at a distance while being friendly and outgoing.

“You okay there, sweetheart?” Abigail asked. She reached across the table to fold her fingers around my shaking hands. As soon as the woman focused attention on my trembling, Camila slung her arm around my shoulders and gave me a good squeeze.

“Sorry, I just thought you ought to know that. I didn’t mean to upset you, chica,” the ex-space marine said.

I was touched by their kindness, and Camila was right, I really did want to know that.

It just showed me how much of a good guy Da’vi was beneath his prickly exterior.

No wonder Abigail was protective of him; he really deserved a girl to draw him out and make him happy, forever.

Could I be that for him? Could I just see where things went?

Try to make it last? Because Abigail had a point: a guy like Da’vi was loyal. I’d break his soft heart if I left him.

I offered the two women a smile that hopefully hid the wild, crazy thoughts churning through my head.

“I’m okay, just surprised. A little shaken up by how close a call it was.

I only had two ration bars left, you know.

It means a lot to me to know how hard he worked to rescue me…

” I felt exposed when I spoke those words.

This was showing more of me than I had ever revealed before.

Maybe being out in space was changing me.

I tried not to let that fill me with the hope that I could finally make lasting relationships.

“Attention, your presence is requested in the ready room,” Akri’s voice suddenly announced over the ship’s intercom system.

“We have arrived at Zosma Y.” The AI didn’t explain further, and for a second, I wondered who exactly it was speaking to.

When everyone except Aggy and the kids started to get up, I figured this was a ship meeting. Was I allowed to join those?

“Come on, Ari,” Camila said. “You can take your knitting with you.” I tried not to feel offended that she’d called my crocheting knitting, gathered the new project, and followed everyone to the bridge.

I was welcome, so what was this about? Was this the place where Akri claimed we could source some metal alloy that Da’vi needed to fix the engines?

Then I spotted Da’vi jogging through the hallway toward us.

The Riho Babbit was perched on his shoulder, its long black-and-blue tail pluming out behind it for balance.

Da’vi’s own tail whipped the air like an agitated cat’s, the sharp metal blade he wore over the pointed tip glinting meanly in the artificial light.

He looked sexy in his slightly oil-stained coveralls, the sleeves rolled up all the way to his thick biceps.

The top opened in a V to show a white shirt beneath it—fabric thin enough that I could see the glowing purple lines crossing his skin shining through.

It also clung to him so lovingly that it defined his pecs and the top portion of his abdominal muscles.

Sexy as hell, I wanted to throw myself into his arms like I’d done that day he’d rescued me.

I wanted to kiss him again, because just that one simple peck on his lips hadn’t been enough.

He wasn’t looking at me, though, pretending I wasn’t there when he passed.

Maybe that would have made some girls feel insecure, made them think that he wasn’t interested…

Not me. I knew what was up. I saw the way the amethyst lines on his skin started to glow. He was not-looking a little too much.

I smirked, feeling like, in this at least, I was on solid ground.

Then I caught Camila grinning back at me, and I felt like at least one of the ladies on this ship thought I should be pursuing him.

Following everyone into the ready room, I impulsively made up my mind: I’d try, no matter how it turned out.

I was not going to regret not doing something, that wasn’t me.