Page 33 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

The lights came on in the hallway and took me by surprise. Abigail stiffened. “Shit! We’re idiots. We should have worked on your collar, and instead, we were… Well, you know!” Maybe she had a point, but I couldn’t regret a single bit of that—not the conversation, nor the pleasuring.

Nuzzling my nose against the side of her face, I inhaled her precious scent and enjoyed the softness of her curls against my scales. “We need to change our plans. The other female is unprotected right now; we have to make sure she isn’t harmed.”

She sighed and tilted her head so I could nuzzle her throat.

“Oh, okay, I’ll try to talk to her today.

” Then she had to let go of my horn so we could get up and receive our breakfast from the belligerent-looking Thonklad.

I let my hands slide down her back slowly when we got up, wanting to linger in the closeness.

I didn’t release my tail from where it wrapped around her ankle until I was taken from the cell with the other gladiators for another day at the gym.

***

Abigail

Oh my god, I’d slept in Ziame’s arms, and I’d slept like a baby!

And then we’d talked about dating, followed by the best-ever heavy petting session of my life.

I wished I could have returned the favor for him, but every moment of that had been magical and a bit surreal.

That tail… I was never going to look at that tail the same way again.

Even after he’d left, I was still sort of floating where I sat, huddled on the cot in my blanket; it still smelled like him. Waking up on top of his warm, firm body had been far more comfortable than it should have been, considering that he was covered in firm scales.

Never mind the fact that his tail had wrapped around one of my legs, and a single hand of his spanned the entire width of my back.

I had felt coddled, protected, and positively tiny.

I had never, in all my previous relationships, felt like that.

My last ex had broken up with me because I was too manly and independent.

I was still blushing from our activities too.

Had I really decided I wanted to try and date this guy?

This alien, who told me his mouth was too different for kissing but claimed his cock was alright?

It had certainly felt shaped the right way, but I was having a few doubts about whether he would actually fit. That erection felt massive.

Shit, was I willing to go there? Not right now, but at some point?

Have sex with him? The heat curling between my legs told me I absolutely did, only too well remembering the pleasure he’d already brought me.

I had never thought someone so alien would do it for me, but I guessed he did.

Maybe it was because Ziame was so damn nice.

I certainly felt like he deserved to have a good time after all he’d been through and how he’d protected me so far.

Forcing myself to get rid of these thoughts, I tried to focus on what really mattered right now: getting out of here. Getting that other woman to talk to me, hear her story, reassure her somehow. I should be focusing on that and on staying warm, because I was already missing my big guy a lot.

I remembered fondly the way his tail had stayed curled around my leg until the very last moment.

I’d never been one of those clingy girls who wanted to constantly sit next to—or touch—their partner, wherever they went.

But that tail… damn, that was just so pleasant—to feel connected like that.

Sigh. Okay, get your mind on track, girl! I had to help that other lady.

Standing, I curled the blanket tightly around my shoulders for warmth and headed to the bars so I could possibly see the newest arrival. She hadn’t made a peep yet all morning, though I knew the guard had thrown food into her cell just like with everyone else.

“Hey, can we talk? Are you alright?” I asked, feeling a little stupid. Maybe she was sleeping. It was only about thirty feet between us, the other cells were much smaller than Ziame’s cell, after all. Still, it felt a little like I was yelling across a street, hoping an acquaintance heard me.

After a few seconds, there was a shuffling sound, and then a human face pressed up against the bars.

She was similarly tucked into her blanket, but she didn’t seem to be shaking from the cold the way I was, a relief, to be sure.

I had worried she was freezing in there when she didn’t have her own personal space heater during the night.

Her pregnant belly looked terribly misshapen and out of place, but maybe that was because she was so small and thin; it was disproportionate. Most women got that rounded glow to their faces, but this poor girl was sallow and thin—like she hadn’t been eating enough.

“Hi,” she said softly after we’d stared at each other for a moment. Her pale pink face was tear-streaked, her eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot. Her long blonde hair lay limply against her thin shoulders.

“Hi, are you hurt?” I asked, concerned for the poor woman. She was clearly not in any way, shape, or form okay, but I didn’t know where else to start.

She shrugged. “No, just pregnant.” There was a scathing laugh. “Which I didn’t even know until I woke up on a freaking alien spaceship last night!” Then, she clapped her hands over her mouth, looking horrified that she’d spoken, her face turning red.

I was a little horrified myself. “Are you saying you were flat as a pancake one moment and woke up with a beach ball in your belly? Shit, that’s rough.” I was a little horrified about how graphically I’d just described that, but the young woman didn’t seem to mind.

She nodded her blonde head with a pained look on her face. “I’m Tori, by the way… I know you said your name is Abigail?” She clutched her blanket tightly, her eyes darting from my face to my feet, almost as if she was scared to hold eye contact.

“Tori, nice to meet you, I guess,” I said and snorted.

“Under the circumstances, that is. You can call me Abby.” Then I checked to make sure the door to the cell block was still firmly closed before adding, “I know all those guys in the other cells look utterly terrifying, but some of them aren’t so bad.

Ziame is working on a plan to get us out.

It’ll be soon, so you just need to hang on in there a little longer. ”

She sighed and rolled her shoulders in, making herself small, but she bravely nodded her head.

“Okay...” We talked for some time, and I learned she’d just scored her first big role on Broadway, which was awesome—though not so awesome that she was missing all that.

I learned that she was a New Yorker just like me and from a big Italian family, which was probably worried out of their minds right now.

The last realization made her cry and effectively ended the conversation for a while.

I was almost relieved to see Thonklad show up with a haunch of meat for the beast in the cell in the middle.

Sadly for Tori, it was across the hallway, so she had a perfect view of the creature as it lunged for the meat and started noisily devouring it.

I heard her chanting, “Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!”

Then Thonklad approached my cell and told me to get out and follow him, as I had another doctor’s appointment. As we passed the cell, I could see only the huge outline of the big creature and its glowing red eyes in the dark.

Though my Krektar guard wanted to hurry me past Tori’s cell, I halted and met the woman’s tear-stained face.

“What about her? Doesn’t Doc want to see her too?

” I looked at the wart-covered face of my jailer and caught a guilty look just in time.

“Oh, he did want to see her, but you don’t want to.

Is that it? How’s your boss going to react when he finds out you jeopardized the health of the product? ”

At my sharp words, the Krektar growled, but it petered out into a sulky kind of sound while he gestured angrily at Tori in her cell.

“She’s got some kind of disease that could be deadly to my species.

I ain’t touching her!” My wide eyes darted to Tori, who looked pale and frightened, but she gave a little shrug that told me this was news to her too.

“Well, you don’t need to touch her, and if anything, that makes it even more important for Doc to see her, doesn’t it?

The sooner he cures her and all that...” Thonklad looked like he’d swallowed a lemon—or maybe a whole bucket of them—because his textured gray throat worked hard a few times, his tusks quivering.

“Fine!” He threw his hands in the air but then opened Tori’s cell with the click of a button and anxiously scooted back. I, on the other hand, gently wove my arm through hers and guided her with us through the disgusting hallways to the medical bay.

I noticed just how tiny this woman was compared to me, especially since I was still in my favorite pair of stilettos. She came up to my armpit, and that was it, I had forgotten how much I felt like a giant on Earth. It should have felt unpleasant, but it was somehow oddly comforting, too.

“Are you sure about this?” Tori whispered softly to me, and I gave her a firm nod but eyed Thonklad just in front of us. Was he going to be waiting outside like yesterday, or was he going to be watching us the whole time?

I shouldn’t have worried. The moment we stepped out of the dirty hallway and into the immaculate medical room, our guard nodded at the Doc, pointed at the pain controller for our collars, and then turned on his heel. As the door slid closed, I waved. “Hey there, Luka.”

While my casual greeting made the handsome but scary-eyed doctor beam a smile my way, it caused Tori to squeak and then hide behind my back.

Those scary eyes of his made quite the impact—I couldn’t blame her.

I’d caught the Doc’s pained look, though; he didn’t like it when his patients were scared of him.

“Are you both all right? Not too cold?” he asked while gesturing for us to take a seat side by side on the medical cot. The two of us had to help Tori up onto it, and once she was sitting, she looked even paler than before.

I shrugged. “Ziame kept me warm.” When my words made him frown in confusion, I added, “The Beast.” It felt wrong to call him that, but I had to remember that that was the only name anyone on the ship knew him by—except me.

That had Tori gasp in fright. “Your cellmate is called that?” Her eyes were huge in her thin face as she stared at me. I had the strong urge to wrap my arms around her shoulders and offer her more comfort, so I did.

“That’s a good thing,” I told the young woman. “It means he can protect us.” I explained. She could see that, couldn’t she? Even if Ziame wasn’t such a softy underneath all that scaly armor, I would have tried to get him on my side.

Luka had taken his hand scanner to check on both of us, and now he nodded. “He’s good to you? I’m glad. I was so worried for you that first night.” His hand twitched once around the scanner as if he was wrestling with some strong emotions.

“Thanks,” I said, and I meant it. This guy was a marshmallow. It was the scary eyes that made him look terrifying, but really, once you got over that part, I realized he was nothing but kind. In fact, I would bet that he absolutely would take the doctor’s oath to do no harm seriously.

“You’re both healthy, the baby too,” he said when he’d finished looking at his scans. This time, I frowned and cast a look at Tori, but she was gazing at her bloated belly with a look of fear and revulsion—absolutely not the picture of a happy mother-to-be.

“What about the disease Tori has that’s harmful to the Krektar?

” I asked, gesturing at the girl in question before flapping my hand at the door behind which Thonklad stood.

Was that what was making her look so thin and unhealthy?

And though I didn’t want to think it, should I be keeping my distance so I didn’t catch it myself?

Luka raised his eerie eyes to my face and gave me a cheeky grin. “I made it up. I figured they’d find that believable for a few days, and that would buy her some time.”

Tori looked up and stared at Luka for a moment in stunned surprise. “You lied to them to keep me safe?” I wasn’t surprised that he had, but this revelation seemed to finally ease some of Tori’s fear of the doctor.

Luka beamed back at her with his widest smile and nodded. “Of course. I don’t want to hurt any of you. I convinced them that putting translators in without anesthetic would be harmful to the baby, and they don’t want to lose it, so...”

Huh, lucky for her. I still remembered what a bitch that had been, and from the guilty look Luka cast at me, I knew he remembered that too. I shrugged. “Alright, how long can you keep us here where it’s warm? Is it possible to take a shower?”