Page 306 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded, and she said it so intensely that I saw the Asrai realize he’d gotten himself into hot water with her.

A mild panic sparking in his red eyes, he darted a look my way, as if asking for help.

I shrugged and grinned, not my problem, and I liked seeing Tori in her element.

Should have known that would cause trouble.

“Nothing, I just meant… you know… the human ladies are very lovely, like yourself,” Aramon said. “If only I could be so lucky.” He winced when Tori kept glaring at him, her dark brown eyes narrowed in that familiar fashion. I was glad I wasn’t on the receiving end for once.

“The job, tell us,” the other Asrai demanded suddenly, interrupting what would have likely been an epic lecture from my Tally.

He leaned in and opened his mouth to grin at her, displaying that his teeth were not straight and blunt, but filed down to sharp points.

“We are bored. Payment or not, tell us what it is.”

As if the quieter of the two males were a junkie looking for a fix, I saw how his leg was bouncing beneath the table, his fingers clutched tightly around the edge of the metal tabletop.

He was far more intense than his lackadaisical brother, and Tori lost all her steam in an instant, clamming up completely.

Feeling protective immediately, I bared my teeth at him in turn, showing off that my canine teeth were naturally sharper.

“Back the fuck off, dude,” I growled out. “You don’t talk to her like that.”

I caught Tori shooting me a glare from the corner of my eye, but I had the desired effect on the guy.

Solear, as I thought he was called, settled down in his seat, dropping his gaze from my eyes, flicking them to his brother, before he curled his shoulders in and made himself smaller—a submissive posture. Yeah, you got that right.

Then Tori opened her mouth and said, “We have intel on where two humans are who were sold by Drameil to recoup his losses. We need to rescue them as soon as possible before this buyer can move them again.” Damn it, now they were definitely intrigued, and in seconds she’d told them everything we knew, down to the fact that another Crimelord had bought these two.

The only thing she didn’t say was where the two humans had been taken.

“Ah,” Aramon crowed, delighted again. “Is that why Rikon was looking so glum the other night? Not because of my winning streak after all! See, I told you, bro, he didn’t mind paying me my fair share of winnings.

” Solear rolled his eyes in response, grin back in place.

I had to agree, the bartender who’d supplied me the intel was probably much more sore about paying out money than giving me information.

I would have tried to defuse the situation again, but my eyes were drawn to the newcomer entering the mess hall, my skin prickling at the sight of something I thought I’d never see again: a Talac male from the Alpha Quadrant, tall, hairless, and with gray skin that hinted at patterns lying just beneath the surface of his bare arms. Tori wouldn’t recognize his species—she came from a time before the UAR—but I’d had Talac neighbors growing up; I knew his kind well.

Our eyes met almost immediately, surprise written on his face.

Then I saw how something silver flowed over his body, covering him from the chin down in armor.

That looked like something I could do with a lot of practice and concentration—creating a full suit of armor—but only if I was topped up completely on metals and minerals.

Talac, however, did not carry the gene for Metallurgism, which was a mutation uniquely Terafin.

“A Son of Ragnar, what is he doing here?” I asked, shocked, because that was the only option there was.

A theory that only solidified when I saw the hip-height, silvery creature step around from behind him.

It was shaped like a Gracka hound, with sharply pointed ears and a muzzle full of sharp fangs—a creature native only to the Talac homeworld.

But this was no true Gracka. This was his symbiont, and so was the armor that now covered him.

Aramon and Solear darted their eyes from me to the merc with the symbiont, confusion on their faces.

Then the Son of Ragnar spoke in a deep bass, slowly approaching our table, while every male in the mess hall fell silent.

“A Terafin, what are you doing here? You’re a long way from home.

” There was something dark about the way he spoke, something cold, it made my skin crawl.

I shrugged. “I could say the same of you. I thought you all hung out on your big mothership. You’re not telling me the Ragnarok is here.

She’d never leave the Alpha Quadrant.” I had never seen the living ship that the Sons of Ragnar lived on, but I’d seen a real Son of Ragnar once as a child.

I knew that’s what he was without a doubt, even if I had this feeling that they weren’t normally silver in color.

The male curled his lip in derision. “I can go places without Ragnarok if I feel like it. I’m surprised your people let a precious Metallurgist run off.

” He gestured at me, settling his eyes on my hand at last, which is when I realized I’d instinctively formed a blade over my right hand when he’d pulled up his armor.

I’d been expecting a fight and had given the game away; worry skated up my spine immediately.

If these mercs knew that supplying me with raw ores and minerals meant I could make endless amounts of precious stones, they might try to imprison me and force me to create valuables for them to sell. So far, it had been sheer luck that none of my owners from my time as a slave knew what I was.

“He didn’t run off; he was stolen from home, just like I was,” Tori said defensively.

She rose to her feet—small as she was—Novalee perched on her hip, and stared up at the Talac with a glare.

She was blushing, but she wasn’t stuttering, and she wasn’t backing down.

I felt a surge of warmth for her, knowing she’d rise to my defense immediately, even if the thought of her facing off with someone as powerful as a Son of Ragnar terrified me.

The Talac tilted his head to look at her, and I tried to remember what I knew of their kind.

Weren’t they sorely lacking in females? Did that make them more or less respectful of women?

I couldn’t recall, it had been so long ago, and I’d been too young to really pay attention to those kinds of details.

“I see. You must have been very young, unconfirmed, even?” he questioned, his eyes boring into mine. It was the kind of look that just seemed to see right through you, into your deepest, darkest secrets. I shrugged in response, not willing to answer. It wasn’t anything they needed to know.

I got to my feet as well, stepping around Aramon so I could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Tori.

“I don’t see how that’s anyone’s business.

Now, we’re done here, so goodbye.” I started steering her around him, not caring if that came across as rude.

The mess hall was still quiet, all eyes on us, but now someone whistled, and someone else made an “uh-oh” kind of noise.

Tension radiated from the Talac male, his symbiont curling its lips and growling at us as I moved Tori around him.

She was digging in her heels, clearly not ready to finish this conversation like I was.

She didn’t know what kind of danger we were in; a Son of Ragnar was indestructible, far more so than I was.

“Stars, man, you’ve got some balls on you, or maybe you’re just stupid,” Aramon declared.

“If you know what Sin is, you know you can’t win a fight.

Provoke him, and your luck will run out really fast.” The Asrai pilot shuddered to emphasize his own words, while his twin rubbed at a long, narrow scar down his shoulder.

Maybe these two had tried and lost. Wouldn’t surprise me if Aramon had gotten himself in trouble with a Son of Ragnar.

It just didn’t make any sense to me that one would be here.

No one could capture and hold one of them, so why was he here, without any of his brothers?

The Son of Ragnar was still glaring at me, having turned around to keep watching us as we passed.

“Here’s the thing, Aramon,” he drawled, his voice dark and sinister.

“That kid you’re teasing, he might just be the only one on this ship who could prove a challenge.

Isn’t that right, Metallurgist? Easy to be gutsy when you’ve got instant armor and the fastest healing rate in the Alpha Quadrant. ”

I shrugged, a calm settling over me that was familiar, the kind of calm that always preceded a fight.

“I supposed you’d be a little more of a challenge than the rest of you,” I said, nodding and gesturing to encapsulate all the mercs who were avidly watching.

Some of them growled, Aramon guffawed with laughter, and then the Rummicaron with the laser cannon cradled in his arms lurched our way, deeply offended.

He was stopped in his tracks by Sin, the Son of Ragnar, casually stepping into his path. Didn’t look like the guy wanted to take on a Son of Ragnar either. “You need to show respect to your betters, kid,” Sin drawled, a mean note in his voice now. “And I am definitely your better, you understand?”

I met his stare head-on, still calm. This guy was nothing but a schoolyard bully. No wonder he was out here in the Zeta Quadrant instead of being a protector of the Alpha Quadrant, he didn’t make the freaking cut. I bet his brothers kicked him out.