Page 332 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Jakar

My mate was hurt and scared. It was clearly written in every motion of her body and in the expressions on her face.

So, though I wanted to knock on her door again, wanted to prolong this moment of contact, I didn’t.

I hadn’t even gotten to ask her if she’d let me court her yet. Now when would I get the chance?

Kitan and Chloe had shaken our tail of pursuers, so now we were flying to Rakex, a planet on the edge of Kertinal space.

That’s where we’d meet up with Eoin, Tori, and her baby, whom we’d had to leave behind on Yengar Station in all the chaos.

That’s also where we’d be leaving the humans we rescued—if Ziame could manage to arrange it with the Rakex government.

I didn’t have much time to convince Meena to stay on the Vagabond with me.

Still in front of her door, I closed my eyes to recall what she’d looked like.

Long black hair draped around her slender shoulders, her small chest emphasized by the way the shirt she wore clung to her.

Her skin was this deep, lovely tan that I just wanted to touch; was it as silky as it looked?

She was beautiful, but she was scared, and I knew I’d made a mess of this interaction just now.

Sunder was right: she wasn’t ready; she needed more time.

Right then and there, I knew what I’d have to do.

When we were helping the refugees settle in on Rakex, I’d have to stay behind with them.

If I didn’t, I’d lose my chance with Meena.

I’d have to wait for as long as she needed me to wait.

It meant leaving the Vagabond and my brothers.

The thought made me sad, but I had wanted a mate for so long that I would do anything for one.

Turning around, I headed for the door next to Meena’s.

It was one of the access points to my hydroponic bay, which we’d built in a row of converted crew quarters.

Meena had been assigned a room right next door to the place I frequented most on this ship.

There were other humans in this hallway, but they’d put them four to a room to save space.

Meena was the only one with quarters entirely to herself.

I knew my friends had probably done it because they knew she was my mate; I hoped she wouldn’t be upset about the preferential treatment.

Entering the green, verdant place, I breathed in deeply and stretched out all four of my arms. The air here was a little humid, a little warmer than the rest of the ship.

I imagined it felt somewhat like the jungle climate back on my home world—though I couldn’t really recall it.

There were no trees in here, but the entire back wall of the room was covered with climbing plants.

The hydroponic pods lined the space in neat rows.

The room had been converted from four bunk rooms into a single space, large enough to give you a small taste of what it felt like to be outside on a planet.

Walking to the nearest pod’s control panel, I immersed myself in the work. Growing food for an ever-growing crew meant I couldn’t slack off a single day. I took great pride in supplying at least a quarter of our food myself, growing fresh vegetables to go with each meal that Tori cooked.

With Tori not on the Vagabond right now, we were down to each of us taking turns in the galley—to various degrees of success.

Sunder and Aggy had made the food today, which had turned out all right.

I’d heaped on more than I knew Meena needed on that tray, because I had far less faith in Hina and Fierce’s cooking skills, and they were up next.

I mean, I loved my brother, but he preferred raw meat and bones, which didn’t exactly encourage the learning of cooking skills.

I wondered if Meena was any good at cooking and if she was good with plants.

Hina was, but she cared more about looking at them under a microscope, finding out about their individual parts and what you could use them for.

Me, I just liked the peacefulness of working here, of making things grow that could nurture my brothers, their mates, and me.

Here on the Vagabond, I’d found my place, found the things that I could do to contribute.

I’d have to figure that out again once I stayed behind on Rakex with Meena.

When I reached the last row of pods at the back of the room, I caught a flash of yellow and frowned.

The plants there didn’t flower yellow, and they were beyond that phase, so what was it?

Shifting my arms into a more defensive position, ready for action, I leaned around the row of pods for a better look.

I was startled when I discovered Akri sitting in the corner, legs tucked up against his chest and his arms curled around them, head tentacles doing the same thing.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, surprised.

I hadn’t thought he came here. Akri had not shown much interest so far in any of the plant life aboard the ship—not when he was the AI housed in the ship’s main computer, and not now that he’d somehow been downloaded into the brain of this body.

A body we’d pulled from a broken stasis pod, one the Doc had struggled to revive or even get any kind of readings from.

Akri looked up at me, his head lolling awkwardly back on his neck.

He didn’t move further, just stared at me for a moment.

“The abundant noise is interfering with my ability to control this host,” he said in my native tongue, the syllables sounding effortless and perfect.

Akri probably spoke my native tongue better than I did, as I’d lived most of my life adapting to this Quadrant’s traders’ common.

“That’s no good. You can hide in here as long as you’d like, brother. Anything I can do for you?” I asked, concerned by how limply he held his head, but how tightly he was holding his body together. “Should I call for the Doc?”

Akri’s mouth tightened, his eyes closing.

“Processing, please hold.” I had to hold back a chuckle at that.

It was so typical of him to say, even though he didn’t need to now that he was in a body.

Not that any of us had expected him to say that when he was the ship, either.

It had to be hard to adapt to such a different body—one day he was the size of a Star Class Cruiser, the next he was this tiny creature living inside it.

“Negative. I am performing within the expected parameters. I believe I am just… tired?” he responded finally.

His eyes opened again to look at me, his body slowly uncurling, legs stretching out in front of him.

A small pouch hung from his neck by a strap, and he touched it with one hand.

“I have Meena’s pain collar here. According to my calculations, you’d most appreciate disposing of it.

” He fiddled with the opening of the bag, an angry scowl on his face when his fingers were clumsy with the string that held it shut.

My heart started racing, my spots darkening to a deep red that matched the rest of my skin in anger.

Her pain collar? I definitely wanted to be the one to destroy it.

I’d worn my own for so long that I could still feel it sometimes, and scarring lined my neck from the times it had been too tight after a growth spurt.

Would she want to see it happen? Or did it have less meaning to her since she’d only worn the thing for a day?

“Go to your quarters to rest, Akri. Want me to help you get there?” I said, palming the pain collar and tucking it behind some plants in the nearest pod; I’d come back for it later.

Akri didn’t respond, but when I reached out for his hand, he let me grab it and haul him to his feet.

He was clumsy, more so than he’d been this morning in the mess hall, definitely tired.

“When was the last time you slept?” I asked, worried that he wasn’t getting enough rest.

Akri shrugged, his tentacles flopping across my shoulder.

I secured him against my side with two arms and gestured toward the door.

Akri tilted his head, the back of it hitting my shoulder, his dark eyes meeting mine.

“I last slept twenty-nine hours ago. You might be correct. That is insufficient for this body.” I didn’t scoff out loud, but I wanted to.

Damn right it wasn’t, silly male. Then again, Akri wasn’t used to the physical limitations of a body; he still had to get used to things.

“Let’s get you to bed, then,” I told him, and then I talked him through how to move his legs until he managed a better walk than just a shuffle.

We had given Akri a room in the hallway where most of us slept.

Ziame had wanted to have him nearby in case he needed help.

When we got there, I tucked the male into bed, and he had already succumbed to sleep before I’d even left the room.

Filled with purpose, I headed back to my green room and snatched up the hated collar that they had forced Meena to wear.

Then, I went to the engine room, where there were plenty of tools available for me to demolish the thing.

Da’vi watched from a nearby console but didn’t comment, just shrugged and went back to whatever minor repairs the ship still needed after our previous adventure.

When Arianna came in with a plate of food for her mate, I seized my opportunity.

“Hey, Ari? Have a moment? I need advice on how to court a female.” The woman laughed, kissed Da’vi on the side of his cheek, and danced over to where I was standing at a workbench, hunched over the splintered remains of the pain collar.

“Sure, what do you want to know?” she said cheerfully.

*

Meena