Page 72 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Chloe

Despite having slept for four days straight, I was exhausted again by the time Kitan and I had made it to my quarters.

It didn’t take much to convince me to lie down for another nap, and though I was a little sad to see Kitan go, it was nice when Tori came to sit with me.

She offered to sing songs for me, and, curious to hear a bit of music from home, I gladly accepted, happy that Tori could easily recall songs from one of my favorite musicals and sing them perfectly.

I worried about Kitan. He hadn’t said much as he left, but I could tell that the Doc’s news had sent him reeling.

Unlike him, I’d lived my life, from the moment I’d gotten the ports, knowing I had a timebomb in my head.

It wasn’t fun to hear that the bomb was going to go off within a month, but I had had time to get used to the idea far more than he had.

There was a part of me that was pretty scared.

I didn’t want to die—not when I had finally found something I wanted to live for beyond pure survival.

I wanted time to spend with Kitan, to discover this thing between us.

I wanted time to be Tori’s friend, and Abigail’s, and to spend more time hanging out with the gladiators.

Mostly, I was simply resigned. Surgery and implants cost money I didn’t have.

I had barely managed to gather the funds for the ports I already had, and I doubted the gladiators had that kind of money lying around—or that they would be willing to invest it in me.

Forcing all the morbid thoughts from my head, I allowed myself a brief moment of sadness for feeling unable to go after Kitan and comfort him right now.

Then, I let myself be lulled to sleep by the sound of Tori’s beautiful voice.

When I woke up sometime later, it was to discover that Tori had left and Kitan had come back.

He was in the same spot as when I’d woken up in med-bay, except this time, he was sitting on the floor at the side of my bunk.

A huge purple bruise covered the side of his jaw, much to my alarm.

As I sat up in a hurry, the whole room spun around me, but the feeling only lasted for a couple of seconds.

There was no headache this time, but I was willing to bet that Kitan was sporting one with that bruise.

My movement had jolted him, and he sleepily blinked his long, rust-colored lashes as he sat up.

It was cute the way he rubbed at his eyes with a fist—until I spotted the caked blood on his knuckles. What the hell? Had he been in a fight?

“What happened? Why are you hurt? Who did that to you?” I demanded as I tugged his hand into my lap and inspected the swollen, bruised joints. This looked suspiciously like he’d punched something hard… I’d seen injuries like that plenty of times on the pirates; they tended to brawl all the time.

He huffed a laugh. “I happened. Don’t worry, I needed to let off some steam after…” His golden eyes shuttered, and I knew he was remembering the Doc’s bleak prognosis.

Reaching up, I patted the side of his face—the uninjured side.

“I’m sorry. But I’m okay for now. I’m okay, and I’m right here.

” With a sigh, his eyes shuttered again, and he tilted his head away so I couldn’t see his expression any longer.

He maintained contact with my hand, and, if I wasn’t mistaken, pressed his face into it a little more.

Then he got up, all smiles again. “If you’re up to it, want to go down to the mess hall for dinner? Tori’s about done with the cooking, I think—though I suspect Sunder did most of the work, since she complained about sore feet…”

I accepted the hand he held out to me and rubbed my stomach. “Yeah, I could eat.” Tori was a pretty decent chef, and I loved eating little pieces of home, even if they were made with foreign ingredients half the time.

It wasn’t until later that evening, like a gentleman from my entertainment feed dramas, when he escorted me back to my quarters that he broached the subject of my imminent demise.

All evening, everyone had celebrated my return to consciousness and the retention of my faculties with toasts and laughter.

I had a feeling no one except the Doc and us knew this was only a short victory, and I hadn’t wanted to break the happy atmosphere by telling them.

“Chloe,” he said as I stood in my open doorway.

He was looking up and down the corridor to make sure we had privacy before he continued.

“The time frame… It’s too short to get you the help you need…

” I heard the pain in his voice but wasn’t sure how to react.

The way he was standing, holding himself back, made me unsure if he’d welcome any kind of comfort.

Besides, I still wasn’t sure how to go about it, even if it was welcome.

“I know,” I said simply. There was a pang of regret that time; I really wished I had more time with Kitan, even if that didn’t seem fair to him.

Maybe it was best if I simply kept my distance.

I shouldn’t let the people on the ship get more emotionally attached to me when I could drop dead in a few weeks.

“There’s…” His gold eyes met mine. “I know this means asking for your trust, but would you let us—me—put you in stasis? Not now, but, you know… in a few weeks before the ports degrade completely?” I shivered at the suggestion, having spent hours and hours beside the broken—though somehow still working—stasis pod; I didn’t have the best faith in those things.

At the same time, I was dying; what did I have to lose anyway?

“Sure, we could do that,” I said, and watched as his shoulders deflated and his head shot up to beam me this incredibly relieved smile.

I liked that look; it had hope. I liked the way his eyes sparkled, and the way the dark stripe and freckles across his face emphasized the clean lines of his bone structure and the sharpness of his jawline.

“You’re okay with that?” he asked, then hurriedly added, “I talked with Da’vi, and he says he and Jakar can fix up one of the units in the hold so it functions at peak condition again.

Doc says if we get you in before the implants degrade, it’ll give you a fighting chance.

We can get you to a neurosurgeon as soon as I get the funds together, and Thorin’s agreed to help me get the funds.

I mean, he didn’t say it outright, but he’s always up for arena fights, so… ”

The waterfall of words startled me. Though Kitan was a chatty beast on most days, this was clearly something he’d thought about a lot already.

I actually had to stifle a chuckle. “That sounds good. Just... don’t risk yourself to get the funds, alright?

I don’t want to see any of you hurt.” The thought that he’d go to such lengths—that he’d consider arena fights just to get them—made me feel loved, honored.

On top of that, he’d already gotten other people in on this, and apparently, they’d agreed.

It was something else to suddenly have all these people backing me up, caring about my fate.

I still struggled a little to relax when in a crowd; the mealtimes were difficult, so I appreciated that both Kitan and Abigail were always trying to draw me into the conversation. I still felt like the newcomer, the outsider, but it seemed I wasn’t as much of an outsider as I thought I was.

I was grateful that Kitan took pity on my struggle with emotions at that moment, gently urging me into the room and wishing me a good night.

I needed the time to get to grips with this new direction my life was taking.

Get used to the fact that I might even have a life.

When he turned to leave, my chest tightened.

Before I could change my mind, I caught his hand and clung to it.

Time was so short, and I wanted him to kiss me again.

It was one of the most brazen things I’d ever done, but I rose onto my tiptoes and caught his mouth with mine.

He rumbled a growl, and excitement thrummed through my veins.

I knew him now, knew how good he was, how much he wanted to be mine.

He kissed me back with passion, nothing like the gentle exploration from before.

Our tongues tangled, our tastes mingled, and fire coiled like lava through my veins.

Turning us, my back collided with the nearest wall, and then he picked me up, holding me pinned.

I loved every second of it, and when his hand slid along my side and cupped my breast, I knew exactly how alive I was. More. I wanted more.

My moans urged him on, as did the way I pressed my nipple into his palm.

“I’ll give you what you need, Chloe,” Kitan growled against my ear.

He was a little more beastly than his human shape implied, and I loved hearing the feral side of him.

I trusted him to take care of me, even when the reins began to slip just a little.

He stroked my nipple until I saw stars, then did the same to the other before his hand dipped lower.

The thin leggings were no barrier as he cupped my core with his large palm.

Heat shook me, pleasure scorched me, and with expert strokes of his big fingers along my clit, I found my peak.

I tumbled off it and straight into Kitan’s safe, sheltering arms. “That’s it,” he murmured against my hair, through the last of my shaky moans.

“I’ve got you.” I knew he did, and when he shifted me in his arms so he could carry me to the bed, I fought to keep my eyes open.

I did not want to miss a moment. When he tucked me in, I began to protest, but exhaustion was stronger.

I fell asleep satisfied yet missing something, wishing Kitan would stay with me, that he’d stay with me forever.

***

Kitan