Page 300 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“But if you’re near the Yengar station, we could use a ride to rendezvous with them again.

We had to split up to avoid some trouble,” Eoin said, dropping his voice as he spoke directly into his com.

We were slowing down, our progress hindered on this extremely crowded street.

I could tell he was anxious about it, his arm never left my shoulders, and tension radiated from his frame.

I missed what his parents said in reply, as two Xionians—shaped like raptors but with a wild plumage of feathers—started screeching angrily in front of the shop we were just passing.

I covered my closest ear with my hand, wrapping my other around Novalee’s head to protect her.

She was starting to cry, but her sounds were barely heard in the ruckus around us.

“Okay, I’ll let you know once we’ve got passage.

Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” Eoin was assuring his pilot mother, but he had still noticed Novalee’s distress over the noise and urged us off the main thoroughfare into a narrower side street again.

It was much quieter here, though this area still looked cleaner than much of the rest of the station, at least the parts I’d seen yesterday.

It looked like these were all indoor shops, but their fronts were welllit and cheerful.

“Who is ‘we’ in this case?” I heard Jasmin ask suspiciously, and I could predict what she was thinking. My own mother would always immediately leap to the idea that if I wasn’t alone, I was with a boy. Jasmin was just like that, demanding to know if he was with a girl, and if we were dating.

Eoin didn’t seem flustered like I would have been when put to the question like that.

“You’ll meet her soon enough, don’t worry, Mom.

Bye, Dad.” He disconnected the call and shrugged when he saw that I was staring at him.

I couldn’t help but think that the way he’d said that…

it would definitely make Jasmin think that he was dating someone, that Eoin and I were a thing.

I shot him a suspicious glare. One kiss last night didn’t make us a couple.

“Come on, the nearest elevator to the port isn’t far from here,” he said, ignoring my look with a sly grin.

Oh, he knew what he’d done. Was he seriously that confident that he’d win me over?

Maybe I shouldn’t have kissed him last night, but darn it…

I had deserved to feel good after what we’d gone through that day.

If there was one thing I could count on, it was that Eoin’s kisses set my world on fire.

It took us a few more minutes to reach the promised elevator, a smaller one than the one we’d escaped on yesterday.

This was for passengers only, but it was still big enough to hold several dozen.

It was crowded and smelly inside, and when we stepped off it, I realized this wasn’t near the docking area where the Vagabond had been docked.

No wonder we’d walked through the fancier part of the station.

This was where the rich people got to dock their ships.

Not that this part of the docks was fancy, it just happened to be clean and in better repair.

Instead of cargo vessels loading and unloading, passenger ships were docked along the many arms. Some were silvery and sleek, some a little more worn, and some even looked like warships, bristling with weapons.

The crowd from the elevator immediately thinned, as they rushed off towards their various ships, leaving Eoin and me to walk slowly along the length of the dock, inspecting each vessel.

“Hey, Eoin,” I said, feeling uneasy. “Could this be where those assholes shooting at the Vagabond were docked? What if some of them are still here?” I knew that Eoin had said the people they’d stolen the rescued humans from were chasing them, but what if that wasn’t all of them?

We could be in serious trouble here if they recognized us.

Protectively curling my arm around Novalee’s back, I made sure my cloak was closed around her and hid my face.

If anyone realized what I was, that I held my precious little baby…

Eoin had to be thinking the same thing. His expression turned grim, and he hurriedly pushed us behind some stacked crates, curving his body around me.

“You’re right, I didn’t think of that. Stay still—I’ll check which vessels are here. ”

Pressed between the stacks of metal crates, I was well hidden from most of the people on the dock.

I felt my heartbeat speed up when Eoin ducked away and jogged down the dock, his eyes scanning the ships he passed.

I could track his progress through a crack between two stacks and saw that he didn’t go far before spinning around and rushing back.

Nobody chased him, but that didn’t mean we were in the clear, had he seen some of the guys who had shot at us yesterday?

He wasn’t even breathing hard when he slid back into our improvised hiding spot.

His body crowded me in against the hard metal of the crates at my back.

Heat pumped off him, his mercury eyes intense and gloomy as they focused on my face.

I couldn’t help it, my body responded to that closeness, that intensity, with a sudden rush of desire.

My nipples perked, and I was glad I had Novalee to hold so Eoin couldn’t see that.

“You were right, they are here. I do see some ships my parents have dealt with before, which should be all right to try and book passage on.” He leaned in closer, eyes on my face, his chest expanding as he inhaled deeply.

The smirk that crossed his far-too-handsome features made my stomach drop.

Oh no, he knew! Curse his good sense of smell.

“Don’t worry, Tally, soon we’ll be safely on a ship with a nice, soft bed,” he drawled. My skin flushed with heat at the innuendo, and my mouth went dry. Why was it that I actually found that confidence sexy— as sexy as I found it infuriating?