Page 54 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Abigail

The males in medbay all cheered for us as Ziame tucked me under his arm and started escorting me to our quarters.

If my skin wasn’t so dark, they probably would have been able to see my blush.

Still, I held my head high and smiled hugely at them.

A week ago, none of them would have been able to laugh and tease like this.

We walked slowly through the empty hallways to the captain’s quarters on the top level of the ship.

As it was near the bridge, and the medbay was located at the center of the ship, we had a ways to go.

It was hard on Ziame; despite his bluster and his treatment by the doctor, he wasn’t in any shape to do anything but sleep.

As soon as we reached our quarters, I helped him wash up and then curl up in bed.

I left only for a short while to grab us dinner, but he was already out like a light by the time I returned.

Placing the food next to him on the nightstand, I ate what I wanted and left the rest for him for when he woke.

Then I undressed and curled up against his side, allowing my body to relax, letting the stress from the past day slide away and carry me under.

When I woke up, it was to the feel of Ziame’s warm scales pressing against my bare skin.

His warm breath ghosted over my throat as he nuzzled the skin there.

I went from sleepy to horny in moments when I felt a big, textured hand curl around my breast. The tip of his tail trailed up my leg, stroking the sensitive skin behind my knee and tickling the inside of my thigh.

“Mmmm, good morning,” I husked out, laughing when that earned me a flick of his ear against my lips. It tickled and delighted me. I loved how different his body was from mine and how expressive he could be with it. “Are you feeling better?”

There was a soft growling sound, and then he lifted his head to focus his emerald eyes on mine. “Less talking, more mating,” he told me, but then he wiggled his mobile ears, clearly trying to be funny, and I just had to laugh.

When my laughter died down, he propped himself up on one arm, the stark white patch of bandaging visible on his opposite shoulder.

“I am alright. The sleep did wonders, and so did the food.” Which had to mean—I rolled my head to eye the nightstand.

Yup, he’d found the plate I’d left for him and polished it off down to the last crumb.

Still, that sword had gone straight through his shoulder.

If I closed my eyes, I still saw the reruns of that image.

“I know you said you heal fast, but I’d feel better if Luka checked…

” He interrupted me by licking at my lips, then nibbling on the bottom one and nuzzling his way down my jawline and into my throat.

Goosebumps broke out all over my body, and I immediately lost track of what I was thinking.

“I am fine,” he repeated, confusing me for a second.

My lust-filled brain caught on a moment later when he sat up straight on his haunches at my side and demonstrated his range of movement with his injured shoulder.

“Sore, but all right. The bruising is all gone already.” His emerald eyes held mine for a long moment, completely serious.

“I promised this was the only gladiator fight I’d ever do as a free male. You’ll never have to see that again.”

I’m a tough girl. I told myself that regularly, but this time, my eyes filled up.

“I was so scared you wouldn’t come back to me,” I heard myself say in a terribly fragile-sounding voice.

Irritated by that, I sat up so my knees were tucked in between Ziame’s big thighs where he sat in front of me.

“I know it’s unlikely I’d ever be able to go home…

but even if I could, I wouldn’t want to anymore, Ziame. I want to be with you.”

There, that came out far more confidently, even if my heart was pounding in my throat.

I’d just blurted out that I loved him, that I wanted to be his mate, right there in the medbay earlier, but that didn’t mean declaring myself felt any less scary now.

This was a huge decision, and our future was still far from certain, even if the universe was huge and Drameil would have a hard time finding us.

He cupped my face in his big palms, managing to make my six-foot-tall ass feel tiny since he loomed over me like the giant he was. His eyes were tender. “Good, I love you, Abigail.”

“And I love you. I know it’s fast, but… it feels right.” His declaration was making me feel all warm inside; I didn’t even care a lick that I was having this conversation with him butt naked.

“You should know, though…” he said, tail flicking forward to curl around my waist. “Earth as you know it—that’s unreachable.

You were in that stasis pod for a very, very long time.

” I had suspected that all along; there had to have been a reason Tori and I had been yanked from faulty pods bought on the cheap. A gamble. This explained it.

“How long do you think?” I asked quietly.

I felt sad inside but also kind of relieved.

I had nothing to go back to on Earth—I’d mourn coffee and chocolate, probably, not to mention my shoe-shopping addiction—but those seemed small in the grand scheme of things.

Not like Tori, who was desperately missing her big Italian family.

“Between two and three centuries ago, before Earth became spacefaring, it was a common practice to nab humans from Earth—so much so that it’s not uncommon to still find stasis pods like yours. There’s a return-to-Earth program for such people… We can see if Tori would like that.”

Huh. Well, that was interesting. It was sort of nice to know Earth had made it out of its own solar system, that we, as humans, were still around, alive and kicking two centuries later. Sad to think so many people had been stolen from my planet that a program like that was even necessary.

“I’m sorry, little one. I know how hard it is to lose your home,” Ziame offered, his tail hugging me a little tighter.

He did—his home had been lost to him for three years—but he could return to it now.

Was that where we would go once we were mated?

Or were we going to stay aboard this ship and help the other gladiators?

I asked him what he wanted, and to my surprise, he shook his head. “I can’t go back. I don’t know how.”

It was obvious from his voice that this was bothering him.

“How can you not know how to get back?” I asked.

He shrugged his uninjured shoulder. “I don’t know the coordinates.

My ship’s AI would know, but the ship is programmed to self-destruct if I don’t return within the specified time frame. I didn’t, so it’s gone.”

I remembered how he’d explained that his species was super-advanced but also extremely secular.

Their planet was carefully hidden so that no intrepid explorer would ever find it.

I understood better now that this meant Ziame wouldn’t be able to return to it either.

“I’m sorry, Ziame. You must miss your family a lot,” I offered, and to my surprise, he now grinned at me and shook his head.

“It’s all right. Explorers like myself are only picked because we have no ties holding us back.

I found my family—it’s right here.” He pulled me to him as he spoke until I straddled his big thighs.

His mouth found mine, nibbling and licking, and I let the feelings he evoked wash away our conversation.

Raising my hands, I curled them around his horns for balance, leaning into his touch and rubbing my face into his throat when he let me. He smelled so good, so warm and safe. I was so lucky to have been thrown into his cell, of all people, to find someone like him out here.

He leaned forward, pressing my back into the mattress and coming down on top of me. As always, he was careful to keep his weight off of me, just enough to feel him right there but never enough to feel smothered.

“I love your breasts, so soft and round,” he murmured as he moved down my body to nuzzle them.

His split tongue flicked out to lick one of the stiff peaks.

Instantly, heat shot through my body, a sharp pang of desire tightening my pelvis.

“So tasty,” he added in a growl as he switched his attention to the other one.

His tail had a mind of its own, sliding up my leg and steadily seeking out the slick heat at my core.

My spine curled up as I groaned when it flicked against my clit, then slicked lower to press into my passage.

I uncurled my clenched fingers from his horns and slid them down his shoulders, marveling at the thick muscles beneath his leathery scales.

He was steadily pushing his tail in and out of me, mimicking the act of sex, and I was so ready for the real thing.

I tried to untangle the knots that held up his loincloth but got nowhere fast.

He chuckled softly and pushed himself up from my breasts, the wetness coating the stiff peaks chilling them.

My eyes caught on the gold bars piercing his own nipples, distracting me enough that I didn’t watch as he worked his loincloth off his hips.

With a curious finger, I flicked one of the bars and was rewarded with a hiss.

“Do that again,” he said with a growl, his tail stilling between my legs.

I sat up, found his other nipple with my mouth, and nibbled while I flicked the first one again with my thumb. The small gold bar was warm against my tongue. He shivered, his fire-starter clicking in his throat, but I wasn’t scared for even a moment that he’d hurt me.

He was done playing the next moment, his big hands gripping me around the waist to toss me back onto the mattress.

His mouth came down between my thighs with a growling, primal sound.

“Just a quick taste,” he muttered as he licked, finding the right spot immediately.

He’d already figured me out thoroughly with our earlier explorations and now played me expertly.

There was no hair to grab hold of, only sharp spikes that he’d flattened against his skull, but his horns made fantastic handlebars.

When I felt myself getting close, I held him tight, not allowing him to back away as he’d done before.

Thankfully, this time he didn’t tease; instead, he let me fall off the edge just as he pressed a thick finger inside of me, curling it just right.

“Ziame…” I moaned, my legs dropping open from their clutched position against his jaw.

Limp from satisfaction, he shifted, prowled up my body, and used his hands to palm my bottom, lifting me up. “Are you ready for me?” he asked, ears perked forward. “You still want this?”

I let my gaze slide down his strained expression, over his muscled chest and defined abs, to where his thick cock was straining toward me.

Yes, please. That needed to be in me as soon as possible—it was going to feel so good.

But he wasn’t just asking that; he wanted to know I understood this was it.

He would never let me go after this. This was the ultimate commitment to him.

“Do it. I want you,” I said, letting him know how much I meant that by pressing my hips up toward him, hooking my heels into his firm behind. He growled, his green eyes flashing as he flexed his grip on my ass to hold me still. “Do not move.”

When I froze, he gripped his cock with one hand and lined us up.

I felt the heat of him against my private flesh and couldn’t hold back a whimper.

Then he was pressing into me, the broad head stretching me with a slight burn until the head slipped past the tight muscle.

I made some kind of strangled sound, and when he paused what he was doing to check on me, I clenched around him on purpose, enjoying the hiss that drew out of him.

“Move. I can take you,” I told him firmly.

My eyes were glued to the sight of his cock where he stretched me open; only the head was in, and I wanted him all.

He repositioned, leaning over me, and then he pressed in, not stopping until he was fully seated.

When he was, he came down on his fists over me, bracketing my shoulders, and started to move.

Each push of his hips sent a jolt of heat through my core.

His cock was textured just right, the scales and veins causing the perfect kind of friction.

And then he brought his tail into play, the agile tip finding my clit and stroking.

It wasn’t long before my orgasm crashed through me.

I may or may not have screamed his name at that point. I didn’t care.

***

Ziame

Abigail was absolutely perfect as she pulsed around me. I drew out her pleasure as long as I could, struggling hard to keep myself from following her over the edge. I wanted to see her come again—I wanted her to unravel and scream my name.

“Again,” I told her, telling myself to hold out a little longer. Increasing my pace, I leaned down to lick at her perfect, soft little breasts until she came undone around me once more. This time, I allowed myself to find my own release, growling out her name as my seed filled her.

I ignored the twinges of pain in my shoulder when I curled my arms around her and rolled us over, carefully making sure we didn’t separate.

I wanted to spend forever in this moment with her.

She pressed her sweaty cheek against my chest, limp, spent, and satisfied.

Her dark skin gleamed, and her wild, curly hair brushed against my chin just the way I liked.

For a long while, we said nothing, and I let my mind drift in the feel of her against me and dreams of tomorrow.

It wasn’t so bad a future, living aboard this ship with my Abigail and my gladiator brothers.

Maybe I was more tired than I thought, though, because it wasn’t long before I fell asleep again.