Page 53 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

I heard Diamed say calmly, “Well, that was interesting. Great flying. Was it me, or did your captain have an IV bag dangling from one of his horns?” I shivered.

Yeah, I’d seen that too. I didn’t listen to Kitan’s response, though, but instead sprang from my seat the moment I was free.

I was about to run out when I realized that I needed to be responsible here, too, as long as they thought I was First Mate for some reason.

“Kitan,” I said, “as soon as you can engage autopilot, please do. Then get your ass to medbay so Luka can check your injuries. That was hard work, and you’re not healed by a long shot.

” I waited until the male had focused his golden eyes on my face and given me a sharp nod before I started to turn away, but he halted me by calling out my name.

“Our pursuers didn’t follow us out of atmo.

We’re in the clear.” He shot a sharp, golden look at our new nav and then added, “I’ll just call up Sunder so he can give our new addition the tour.

” He was still sitting up straight, but I had a feeling that was purely for Diamed’s benefit and not because he wasn’t in pain.

He’d flown this ship with his arm in a cast and his upper body almost entirely covered by bandages, after all.

I left the bridge, hoping Kitan was true to his word, and rushed in the direction of the hangar bay.

***

Ziame

I allowed myself to slump back in the pilot seat when I’d managed to set the small shuttle down with only a minor scrape along the floor.

That had been a close call. I’d made myself sound confident to Kitan and the others, but internally, I hadn’t been nearly as certain I could land the shuttle.

At least, not after one of the thrusters had gone out.

We hadn’t just lost speed because of it; we’d lost maneuverability too.

Eyeing the nearly empty, swaying IV bag dangling from my horn, I huffed out a tired breath.

My shoulder ached, one arm was entirely numb, and my ribs were creaking in protest with every move I made.

Not to mention the fact that my muscles never did get the chance to properly cool down, and I’d worked them hard—every part of me was sore.

None of that really mattered, though—we’d pulled it off! I’d survived my two bouts of combat, and each of us had returned victorious. We’d made a lot of money today; enough for a good amount of supplies and some repairs. It was all starting to look up.

Luka was at my side then, having managed to extract himself from his seat.

Honestly, with how my arm was, I didn’t think I could undo my own straps, though I flicked my tail around to jab at the release button.

“Let me,” the doctor said calmly, and he undid the harness, helping me shrug out of it.

“Fierce, help him up, please?” he then asked, and I wanted to growl that I didn’t need help—except I really did.

Letting the gladiator pull me out of the damn pilot chair felt embarrassing, but the male grinned at me. “Holy crap, that was impressive, brother! I had no idea you could fly like that.” Well, that certainly eased my ruffled scales.

He propped himself under my good arm and helped turn me so we could make our way out of the small craft.

Passing Jakar, I saw how the male was now carefully pressing his broken upper arm against his chest with one of his lower arms while he helped the Kertinal male to his feet.

The newcomer was swaying, his eyes unfocused, as he was clearly in a lot of pain after the rough flight.

Thorin eyed the precious box with our winnings and the sack with Abigail’s betting money, but in the end, simply left them where they’d landed and went to support the Kertinal on his other side. Then we started our slow and careful way out of the hangar bay and toward medical.

Luka carefully monitored both the Kertinal and me with every plodding step we took. I was tired enough that I was letting my tail drag along the floor behind me, something I never did; it was simply too much effort to keep it off the ground.

Then I caught Abigail’s scent on the air with my tongue, and my ears perked forward; I could hear someone running.

She came around the corner in a sprint, her long, slender legs eating up the space between us.

She didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate despite my blood-soaked appearance—she simply flung her arms around my middle and held on tight, her momentum causing me to stagger, though thankfully, Fierce braced us in time and helped to keep me on my feet.

“Hmmph” came out as my breath was knocked from my lungs.

My name was all she said as she pressed her face into my scales.

As Fierce was holding me up by my good arm, all I had was my tired tail to curl around her, and I did that gladly.

“I’m alright,” I said into her cloud of curls, briefly pressing my nose into them and inhaling her scent.

“Shit,” she muttered as she pulled away slightly, eyeing the blood-soaked bandage on my shoulder. “Oh no, did I hurt you?”

Her expression was absolutely horrified, and I hurried to reassure her. “As if you could, little one.” Abigail grinned at me and would have hugged me again, her soft hair rubbing against my scales, relief spreading across her face.

Luka intervened. “We need to get to medbay before this big guy falls flat on his face. I doubt we’d be able to easily get him moved once he goes down, and I’d rather not test the theory.”

The skin around Abigail’s dark eyes tightened with worry, but I gave her a reassuring grin.

“Not gonna happen, Doc.” But I started a shuffle forward anyway, because I really did want to get to medbay.

Abigail immediately slid to the side, curling an arm around my middle to walk with me.

Maybe she thought she could help prop me up like Fierce was doing.

I was warmed by her concern and her caring.

We made it to the medbay, where I was helped onto the medical cot with the surgical arm.

I felt bad for the Kertinal I’d hurt with my fire breath, but he didn’t complain as he was helped to lie down on the other cot to wait his turn.

Possibly, he was so out of it from the pain by now that he was barely aware of what was going on around him. He certainly didn’t speak much.

Luka got to work on my shoulder, and Abigail never left my side, holding onto my good hand tightly the entire time the surgical arm worked on me.

With more appropriate pain relief administered, I could finally relax and find a modicum of peace.

“According to my database, you heal fast. Correct?” Luka asked me as he finished applying new bandages.

When I nodded, Abigail exhaled in relief. “Thank you, I was so worried. He’s going to be fine?” I hated that this was making her worry, but I was eating up the attention, too. I hadn’t felt this cared for in a long time—I just wanted to keep hold of it.

“He is,” I told her firmly. “I’ve had far worse.

” Then, when that only seemed to agitate her more, I added more helpfully, “Two days, and I’ll be good as new.

” Her eyes widened, and she turned to Luka, and only when he gave her a nod to confirm it did she relax.

It was giving me all kinds of hopeful thoughts.

Abigail was a caring person; of course she’d be worried about any of the males.

But I dared hope that this meant she felt something much stronger for me.

Now, she eyed the freshly stitched-up and bandaged injury on my shoulder, then the work Luka was doing on the minor cut to my hip.

He’d, thankfully, already used the tissue stimulator on my abused ribs to help ease the battering they’d taken.

“So, how soon are you fit enough to make our mating official?”

My fire starter clicked in my throat in shock.

There was no oxygen to ignite, though, as I’d completely stalled for breath.

On the other cot, the clicking sound had made the Kertinal flinch, but the rest of the males in medbay had fallen completely silent, staring at our exchange.

As they were all injured to varying degrees, they’d sat down on the floor out of the way to await their own turn, and Tori was going around with refreshments.

“My Abigail,” I murmured as I gazed into her earnest eyes hovering near my face.

“Are you certain?” I didn’t want her to be stuck with me; I wanted her to love me—to be with me because she couldn’t bear to be apart from me, the way I felt about her.

After what she’d been through, she deserved a happy life, and so did I.

She smiled at me, reaching out a hand to gently stroke my ear.

It flicked into her hand eagerly. “Yes,” she said firmly, and I realized her eyes were luminous with unshed tears.

“I love you, you big green lunkhead. You’re not getting rid of me now.

” Then she leaned into me and nuzzled her face against my throat in a Lacerten kiss, and for a moment, every single ache and pain disappeared.

My world narrowed down to the female who had taken my heart with her strange stilts, wild hair, and beautiful mind.

“I love you too, Abigail,” I said, and managed to lift my damaged arm to curl it around her slender shoulders.

With my good one, I started to push up so I could get to my feet.

There was cheering and applause, the gladiators stamping their feet in celebration.

Luka was frantically trying to get me to lie back down, even though he was fighting a smile.

I managed to get upright, holding my female to me as I got off the cot on surprisingly steady feet.

“Treat the Kertinal, please, Doc,” I told him, “and the rest of this lot.” I swept my tail around to indicate the others gathered just as Sunder stepped into the medbay, which meant everyone but the new recruit was now in this space; the Doc probably didn’t like that.

“Fine! But get some rest, Ziame. You’re not invincible,” the Doc conceded while he initiated the controls on the medical cots to switch them around so he could get his new patient under the surgical arm.

Sunder eyed the crowd, then the male Luka was now fussing over, and hissed out, “Doom? You brought the male here who was supposed to kill me?” The celebratory mood dissipated, and everyone turned to stare at the male in question in surprise.

We’d known that, of course, but somehow, in the chaos of the fight, I had totally forgotten.

Yeah, this was Doom—the male scheduled to fight Sunder until I’d taken his place.

The Kertinal was getting shots from Luka, pain relief easing his features, and with his purple glowing eyes, he settled on Sunder, a slow sigh sawing out of his battered lungs. “Oh, how the tables have turned…” Then he blinked and passed out, possibly medically assisted by Luka.

Kitan broke the silence. “Well. When’s the party? Can we make a cake?” When everyone gaped at him, he elaborated, “For the mating celebration?”