Page 87 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Chloe

The ceremony that Kitan was forced to participate in was a long and boring one, attended by more than a thousand priests crammed into the large starry hall that I’d seen the day we arrived here.

It was as dark as before, but with spotlights aimed at the dais, where Kitan and I were seated at the front of the large hall.

For a long time, Kitan just stood to the left of Purveyn as the high priest led the ceremony, occasionally lending power to something the priest said by repeating the words in a loud, deep voice.

Kitan was falling back on oratory skills he’d been taught when he was young, and he fell easily into his role, with a familiarity that told me he’d done rituals just like this one countless times.

While I was just a decoration, seated on a pile of pillows at Kitan’s left and meticulously arranged by the tailor before the hall had filled—just so—with my body on display to create the most alluring, pretty picture, I was there to project the image that Kitan now had the very best of mates, something the other priests could envy and desire.

I had been confused as to why they were even allowing Kitan to publicly display me.

I still recalled from Earth that priests were usually celibate.

That wasn’t the case here, though—priests were allowed to marry, have children, and they didn’t discriminate in gender either.

They had males and females in the order, and it was only a coincidence that the ruling council currently held no women.

By the time the ceremony was ending, my stomach told me it was almost dinner time, and Kitan had yet to shift.

I was relieved that he’d had nearly the entire day to rest, to give his poor body the break it needed.

I hoped that by morning he’d be back more to his old self.

At least it didn’t look like I’d be dragging him, bloody and shaking, back to our rooms tonight.

Because of that, I didn’t mind in the least that I was put on display the way I was.

I’d gladly pay that price; it was a small one.

When Kitan suddenly strode to the middle of the dais we were on and tilted his head back, I knew the culmination of the ceremony had come.

The lights went out, and then, with a soft hum, an iris-shaped window twisted open in the top of the dome.

A beam of real sunlight fell dramatically on Kitan’s body.

He paused, holding a pose with arms out, and then suddenly shrugged out of the robe and shifted smoothly.

One moment, he stretched out his arms, his nude body on display for all to see; the next, he was a huge bird of prey—wings a rusty red and wider than his arms had been, a head as proud as an eagle’s, with a sharp, hooked beak.

He soared into the air, circling the huge dome we were in and twirling around the beam of light in an intricate dance that had every single person, including myself, holding their breath in awe.

When he finally flew through the beam again, he shifted and landed crouched as another predator on all fours, reminiscent of a cross between a bear and a tiger.

He threw back his head and let out an ear-splitting roar, which was met with cheering and roaring in return from the people gathered all around.

As he shifted back and shrugged into the fancy priest’s robe, the cheering became even louder.

It felt like I was watching teenage fans respond to seeing their idol on stage.

They were going nuts, screaming and fawning over him.

It looked like the ones in the front were about to crawl up onto the dais, pressed forward by those in the back who wanted to get closer too.

Why were they so crazy about Kitan’s ability?

Could they not see the resentment in every line of his body, the way he nearly flinched away from them as they approached?

When the front of the horde got too close, the iris above Kitan’s head slid closed with a snapping sound, and force fields came to life around the dais in a shimmering circle of blue.

Spotlights were turned on again to light the dais from the sides, while Purveyn instructed the horde of suddenly frantic clergy to calm down, settle, and leave the contemplation hall in an orderly fashion.

I watched how the old male strutted around behind the force field and took in the adoration meant for Kitan as if it were his due. Oh yeah, I thought to myself, that’s why these old bastards want to control shifters like Kitan. It’s their source of power.

It took hours before the hall had cleared and the force field could be dropped. Thankfully, Kitan had only walked around the circle, waved, and shaken hands for the first hour, doing so under Purveyn’s watchful eye and only blessing those Purveyn deemed worthy.

The last hours, Kitan sat at my side, curling his body around me protectively.

Warming my chilled skin with the heat from his, I wasn’t dressed warmly enough for sitting still as long as I had been forced to and was chilled down to the bone.

I was grateful that Kitan simply plucked me from the pillows and sat me in his lap, nuzzling at my neck, my hair, and whispering how glad he was that I was here.

Our cozy embrace had the crowd sigh and point; I was certain they loved seeing how in love Kitan and I looked.

From what I’d gathered from the ceremony, it had been a welcome home for Kitan after his abduction.

A tale had been spun to make it seem like he had singlehandedly orchestrated his own escape from a gladiator stable and found his mate in the process.

It was Officer Ga’tera’s first appearance that day when he came to escort Kitan and me back to our rooms. The uptight male was pale in the face, and when Purveyn departed—handing us over to him—he did so with a sharply whispered comment in the officer’s ear that I couldn’t hear.

None of us spoke as we walked back, but I noticed how Kitan’s step was much easier and more natural this time.

Those two shifts he’d done during the ceremony hadn’t seemed to harm him; that was a very hopeful sign.

It seemed we were both feeling better because, despite the tiresome ceremony and the cold, my worrisome headache and bloody nose from this morning hadn’t returned.

I had my box with the precious implant clutched under my arm, while Kitan had wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me close. I was happy to have him hold me like that this evening; for once, it was for comfort—not because he could barely stand on his own.

Ga’tera didn’t come into our quarters with us, but he nodded at the guard at our door, dismissing him with a sharp gesture.

I took that to mean that it was going to be Ga’tera who’d stand guard tonight—odd, as he was an officer, and it seemed like a task beneath his status.

Maybe he was in the doghouse because he’d given us the implant without checking in with Purveyn first. It seemed like an odd choice to let him do the guarding if he’d proven sympathetic to our plight.

With no words exchanged, I’d probably never know.

Once in our rooms, I was incredibly grateful to shrug out of the damn dress—I didn’t even wait to reach the bathroom.

Kitan could look; I wanted him to look. The moment the silky fabric pooled around my feet, I tilted my head to glance over my shoulder, gratified to notice the burning gold of his eyes.

In the semi-darkness of the room, with only a single light turned on, they glowed, focused entirely on my bare butt.

When I dared to give a little wiggle, he made a choked, growling sound. “Mate.”

He had me around the waist with warm, calloused hands.

Then I was up in the air, draped over his shoulder, and he was striding through our rooms straight to the huge bed.

“Play with fire, and fire you get,” he told me as he threw me onto the mattress.

Naked and on my back, I watched him avidly as he paused to untie the sash that held his robe closed.

Like me, he was barefoot, and the moment the robe slid to the ground around him, he was completely exposed.

I took in the defined ridges and curves, the shadows and valleys that made up the landscape of his chest. I eyed the freckled lines that bisected his biceps and the veins that marked his arms. He was so beautiful that it took my breath away.

I couldn’t believe that the first man who ever made me feel safe was this perfect—and that he wanted me.

That he had wanted me even when I’d been frumpy, covered up, and shy; he’d still wanted to be with me.

I was lucky to have this, to have found this.

While I’d been looking at him, he’d been taking his fill of me.

I could see it in the way his breathing had sped up, see it in the way his cock had risen.

It stood up, almost touching his belly: thick, veiny, and dotted with the interesting texture of little freckled bumps at the top.

His sack was a heavy weight beneath it, nestled against a thatch of red hair.

I spared a moment to take in his thighs too—the curve of his ass when he moved to climb on the bed with me.

Crawling over me he leaned his weight on his arms on either side of my head, his big body covering me and radiating heat though he wasn’t touching me anywhere. “Are you ready for this? There’s no going back after this, I will consider you well and truly mine and I do not share.”