Page 326 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“Jakar, retreat, we’re leaving!” Ziame’s voice ordered from the com strapped to my wrist. I bared my teeth at the remaining soldiers, wanting to knock a few more heads together, but I obeyed the Captain’s order anyway.

I picked up one last male and sent him careening into his comrades to help cover my retreat, then jogged to the airlock, ducking into the protective shielding that Da’vi had brought out.

Inside the airlock, I could hear the voice of Kitan, our pilot, announcing that we had half a minute to board before he took off.

Da’vi was the last to follow me in, a wicked grin on his dark face, horns lowered toward our assailants.

Yeah, he was ready for a fight, just like me.

We wanted to wipe the floor with those pansy soldiers.

The hatch of the ship slammed closed when Da’vi palmed the control panel, followed by the noise of laser fire impacting the hull. A mechanic through and through, Da’vi bared his sharp teeth in a hiss at the noise. “That better not have scratched the paint!”

We were the only ones who’d just ducked into the ship, the last two to make the retreat, and we were still cycling through the airlock when we felt the Vagabond move.

The clamps retracted, and then—nothing. The Vagabond smoothly sailed away in Kitan’s skillful hands.

Deflated by the fact that not only had I not found my mate again, but that the combat had also been disappointing, I headed inside.

Then I perked up. I hadn’t had a proper look at the female Fierce had rescued.

Maybe it was her? Jogging toward the med bay, I started to feel more optimistic again.

Yeah, maybe it was her. I tried to recall what she’d looked like, but I only had a vague recollection of a slender figure and black hair.

I liked that, though, black hair. My own species only had hair in that color; it would be something we shared.

I slowed my jog to a calmer walk when I reached the med bay, not wanting to scare all these new people.

Though the humans now definitely outnumbered the gladiators on this ship, somehow I didn’t think that would make them feel better.

I clasped my lower arms behind my back in preparation, hoping that would make me look a little less threatening.

There wasn’t much I could do about my red skin, but maybe if I hunched a little, I wouldn’t appear so big and scary.

There were many voices coming from inside the med bay, but the loudest one was Abigail’s as she welcomed everyone aboard the ship.

On a private com channel—instead of the ship-wide intercom system—Kitan announced that we were being followed and that some fancy evasive flying was about to happen.

He probably didn’t want to scare the humans with that news, so he was reaching out to each of my brothers this way.

Surely, he’d handle it. Kitan and Chloe were the best pilot-navigator team in the Zeta Quadrant.

Reaching the doorway, I paused just outside and took a moment simply to observe.

Da’vi always said I rushed into everything headfirst, without thinking; I didn’t want to do that this time.

First impressions were important, after all, and that female could be my mate.

I didn’t want to make a fool of myself or scare her.

The Doc and Noa were helping humans, going around to take scans to make sure they were in good health after their long stint in stasis.

Noa had only recently announced that she was expecting a child, but you could already see it.

I’d heard Camila say that the Doc’s mate was five months along, laughingly scolding her for hiding it that long.

I wasn’t sure how long human pregnancy lasted, but five months seemed like a long time to me, and she looked ready to pop, which was a little frightening if I thought too much about it.

The female was wearing a simple black dress that shaped around her gently curving belly.

More than one human asked her about it, and she’d smile and point at Luka on the other side of the room with a graceful, colorfully tattooed arm.

Yeah, that female might have been a little closed off when she first got here, but she was definitely very much in love with her mate.

I rubbed at my chest when I felt something heavy settle there.

What if that black-haired female wasn’t my mate either?

Was there something wrong with me? Was that why I couldn’t find the right female?

I didn’t want to think that, but what if it were true?

Maybe I should discuss it with Luka. He could find out what was wrong; he was a super smart doctor.

Then my eyes snagged on a female with long black hair, her arm curled around a smaller male.

From the black hair that crowned the male’s head, I was fairly certain they were siblings.

All right, a little brother, I could handle that.

Surely, I could convince a young male to like me much easier than a female.

Maybe that would be the way into my mate’s heart.

She was talking in a soft, hesitant voice, gesticulating with one slender hand.

Her words were directed at the handful of men and women who had gathered around her; they were hanging onto her every word.

So she was an excellent speaker, maybe she had leadership qualities. That was good. I liked that!

She never turned around to look my way, and I was starting to deflate a little again.

If she was my mate, wouldn’t she feel my eyes on her?

Wouldn’t she have turned around to look at me by now?

I sensed movement to my left and realized Sunder was standing there, near the wall, his wings tucked tightly against his back.

His tail was twitching wildly in agitation, and the missing tip made the motion look even more frustrated.

What had gotten his temper going? Sunder was the calmest, most patient male I knew.

Then he rolled his shoulders and stepped back, and I noticed a female standing with her back against the wall just beyond him.

She had this intense look in her eyes, and I felt the freckles on my face heat in response, aggression simmering through my body.

That female was scared. I could tell that her entire posture was defensive.

Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, holding closed a far-too-large black coat.

Her legs and feet were completely bare, and they were streaked with dirt and what looked suspiciously like the blue blood of a Rummicaron.

“Please, female, you were clearly in a fight,” Sunder was saying.

“Just let the Doc check you to make sure you’re not hurt.

” Then Sunder made a gentle hand movement in the direction of her neck, and she flinched back into the wall, the back of her head thudding against the panel.

“Let him take off that pain collar. You’ll feel much better once it’s gone. ”

I twitched at the sight of the offensive thing clinging to the delicate column that held up her head.

One of my upper hands reached for my own throat, to reassure myself that my collar was gone.

It was the one thing that could still wake me up in a cold sweat at night, with the phantom sensation of the collar tightening like a noose around my neck.

A growl rumbled from my throat without my say-so, the desire to protect that female overpowering. I forgot all about keeping my lower arms tucked behind my back, my muscles tensing and swelling. There was no target here, but that didn’t take away the desire to kill whoever had tried to hurt her.

At the noise I made, her eyes swung wildly from Sunder’s face to mine. Her dark brown eyes locked with my yellow ones, and electricity jolted down my spine. The freckles on my face had turned purple with anger and aggression, but I could feel the shift in color the moment we connected. My mate!