Page 387 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

My eyes went wide with shock; this was Drameil.

No wonder he was so furious, and no wonder all his gold was gone.

Hard times? This was a complete fall from grace.

Unfortunately, he took that as an admission, hissing furiously, cane swinging through the air with a whistling noise.

I did the only thing I could to avoid that blow: I threw myself to the left, landing painfully on my shoulder.

The cane went over my head, missing so closely that I could feel the air displacing along my cheek.

Drameil roared, a deep, rattling noise that sounded almost like the breaths of some poor sap dying.

“I knew it! That ambitious toad! I am going to kill him!” The cane was raised above his head, and I feared that he was about to start whaling on me with that thing.

I braced myself to roll out of the way, aware that a blow with that cane would break bones when wielded by a being like a Sythral.

I was a goner if he landed more than just a few hits; he would crush my rib cage.

I couldn’t let that happen. I had more to live for than ever, I had to find Akri.

“What did you do with Brake?” I yelled out, my voice little more than a squeak.

The cane came down, and I rolled, but not fast enough.

An inch above my arm, the thing came to a stop, and a pair of glowing red eyes met mine.

“You want to know where my gladiator is?” he hissed, and a tongue slipped out from between his thin, parchment-white lips.

“Why do you care?” Something cold and calculating passed behind those evil eyes, and I realized that he’d sensed the desperation behind that question.

I thought I was just distracting him, but in the face of coming pain, I’d showed him my hand, showed him that I cared about where Akri was, even if he didn’t know that Brake was no longer Brake.

I didn’t answer the question, just kept staring up into his evil face, glaring at him.

This was probably suicidal on my part, but he wouldn’t understand my reasons anyway.

Adventure wasn’t so fun when I couldn’t see the way out—when I was facing down something this abhorrent to life.

My mind filled with the thought that I hadn’t even told my silly, nerdy AI that I loved him.

Despite the risks we’d taken together, I didn’t blame him for a thing, and I would do it all again if I had to make that choice.

“Oh, that must have been wholly unexpected, thief,” the Sythral drawled smugly.

He was no longer furiously enraged, but cool and collected, and the sudden switch derailed me.

He even backed off, walking to the other side of the room, where a cabinet against the wall clinked as he opened it.

Pouring himself a glass of lurid green Peckana in a crystal glass, he reminded me of the sickly sweet drink, which induced mild hallucinations in some species.

I didn’t know what he thought he knew, but it was probably not good news for me. Two guards popped up on either side of me, and I was hauled to my feet by my arms, forced to dangle between them while my toes barely scraped the floor.

“Yes, with his mate imprisoned, Brake is going to fight harder than he ever has before. He’ll win back all my money in the arena, and then I’ll crush that fool Jalima.

He’s going to wish he had never crossed me.

” The fallen Crimelord raised his glass of Peckana in the air, as if he were making a toast to me.

“And when Jalima is dust, I will capture the Beast and his brothers once more, and I will see to it that they all pay for what they cost me.”

I jerked in the grip of the two guards holding me, furious that this bastard thought he was going to win.

Even if he was calling Akri Brake, I knew he was right.

Akri would fight for me; he would hate himself for it every step of the way, but he’d fight if that meant I would be safe.

I wanted my taser back, and I wanted to pummel this bastard like I’d done the last, to make him pay for the pain he so enjoyed inflicting.

The door opening caused all of us to turn and look at the portal.

All I saw was a yellow blur, followed by a gurgled scream.

The guard to the left of the portal flew back, pinned to the floor by Akri; he wasn’t moving anymore.

Akri rose with the guard’s laser rifle in his arms, a deadly expression on his face as he leveled the gun at the next Krektar with cold precision.

That male was raising his own gun, but he was too slow.

The rifle whined as it went off, and the second guard went down in a heap.

The males holding me up dropped me like I was a sack of potatoes.

Without my hands to catch me, I thudded painfully to my knees, but I managed to soften the blow by rolling over.

That allowed me to see the two males charging Akri, engaging him in a fight.

I also saw Drameil back up to the wall next to the drinking cabinet.

He flicked a switch and ducked through a hidden doorway that opened for him.

By the time Akri had disposed of the guards, Drameil was gone, and the panel was sealed.

I cursed out loud, but my disappointment at seeing the bastard escape faded when Akri dropped down next to me and pulled me into his arms. “I got you, Jenny. You’re safe, sweetheart!

” he declared, his chest heaving from the rush of battle, his body pumping out heat against my own chilled skin.

“Oh God, Akri! You’re okay! I was so worried!

” I told him. “He escaped. We have to get him, or he’s going to keep trying to hurt you…

” I had no doubt of that. Drameil thought the gladiator Brake was his best way to regain his riches and restore his power.

Whether that was true or not, he was desperate enough to fixate on Akri and never stop trying.

Akri opened his mouth to speak, but the Sythral spoke first, his voice coming through the ship’s intercom system. “Intruders in the waiting room, I want them caught, right now!” That couldn’t be good. He was alerting everyone on the ship to our position. We had to get out of here.

“We’ll hide,” Akri assured me, his hands swift as he took the restraints off my wrists and hauled me to my feet.

“This way,” he urged, and hand in hand, the two of us rushed from the room and started running through hallways as dark and black as the one I’d woken up in.

Then he locked us into a room and grinned. “Help is coming. Don’t worry.”