Page 9 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Jasmin

I woke from the restless, cold slumber I’d fallen into, huddled on my cot.

My entire body was frozen, not just from the cold, but also from some primal instinct warning me.

The lights were out, so I couldn’t see a damn thing, but my ears picked up the soft rushing sound of water.

Then there were a few male voices, huskily complaining about wet feet.

One of the gladiators in the cells, worryingly, was loudly wondering if they’d remember to let them out before the water was up to their necks.

“Jasmin,” someone whispered. “Wake up, female!” The voice sounded urgent.

I recognized the sound of that voice, the deep, husky timbre of it.

Now it was tinged with worry; Yashan feared for me.

I doubted he was going to be worried by the several inches of water currently covering my cell floor, and his.

Sitting up, I scooted to the foot of my bunk, which rested against the side of his cell.

“I’m okay. What’s going on?” I asked. He was on his own bunk, feet pulled up so he was sitting cross-legged, facing me.

I was trembling from the cold, which had dropped a little more, with a large amount of cold water now slowly filling the space.

“Monsoon season,” he said, reaching out a hand slowly through the bars and lightly curling it around one of my knees.

“It always floods the subbasement of the stables, and they never remember to move us in time.” His thumb rubbed circles on my knee, sending warmth into my chilled skin and tingles straight to my core.

Even through the flight suit, I could feel how his calloused fingers pressed against me.

His words were worrying, just as much as those of that other male earlier.

Up to my damn neck? No, their neck. That’s what the guy said.

Yashan was so freaking tall that I’d be treading water long before it reached that high.

With how cold I already was, I’d be hypothermic by then too.

Shit, fingers crossed the water would at least short out this pain collar.

But I doubted I’d be so lucky; my luck had completely run out the day I’d pissed off my superior officer in the UAR.

“Jasmin,” my new friend said, drawing my attention.

With one hand, he pointed at the water level, which was halfway up to my bunk, and with the other, he gestured at my body.

All the while, the hand on my knee was still offering me warmth, centering me.

“You feel very cold. Can your body handle the water temperature? It could be a few hours…”

I knew I went pale. He was mostly just a shadowy outline, his limbs moving, though I couldn’t see much else.

He seemed to see better, because he made a soft sound.

“Now your whole face changed color. Will you let me offer you some warmth, so you’re better prepared?

” I eyed the water with some trepidation, it shimmered like obsidian in the dark, swirling beneath my cot.

I wasn’t going to survive—certainly not gracefully—in this cold water without help.

For a moment, I grappled with the idea of trusting Yashan.

He was about to offer cuddling through those bars to warm me.

Was I willing to be that close to another male again?

After what asshole Greg the officer had pulled on me?

And after Okar? Needing the warmth won out, I’d always had a strong survival instinct.

I wouldn’t have made it out of Earth’s slums and into the piloting academy if I hadn’t.

Scooting closer to the bars was my answer, and Yashan didn’t ask for more permission.

His many arms slid through the bars to help position me as best he could against his much warmer body.

He even urged me to stick my legs through so he could almost drape me across his lap.

I felt a little twisted up, like a pretzel, but there was no denying that with those extra two arms, he could wrap me up pretty neatly.

I felt cocooned in warmth for the first time since being thrown into this cell.

At first, he just briskly rubbed my skin, urging my body to absorb as much heat as it could.

But even those brisk touches were shockingly sensual, it felt good.

They made me realize how long it had been since I’d really hugged anyone.

Sex didn’t count; Okar and most of my other previous lovers hadn’t been the type to hug after.

I could rest my chin on Yashan’s shoulder through the bars, close my eyes for a moment, and just sink into this feeling of connection.

Honestly, this felt like what home should feel like.

That was a feeling I’d only ever equated to being aboard Bev, especially when I had her to myself.

By the time the water was starting to bubble onto my cot, Yashan had urged me to my feet.

Then he told me he’d lift me, so I’d stay dry longer.

I would have protested with most men, but he was so stacked with muscle and had four arms to better hold me, so I let him.

Call it what it is, I wanted more hugging time, too.

This position was far more intimate, though, and now that I was not so cold, he was just holding me, not rubbing me roughly.

I felt far too aware of how I was pressed against him—and where.

Like the press of one of my breasts against his upper pectoral.

The heat of him against my thigh. The hard bar of his cock.

I shivered, realizing what that press of impressive flesh was.

He was turned on. I wanted to be flattered by that, but really, I was probably the first female he’d held in a very long time.

Kinda sad for both of us, but more so for him.

For a long time, I kept myself distracted with that erection, though, as Yashan didn’t talk to me.

The outline of it felt interesting—not entirely human-shaped—and I was suddenly dying with curiosity to find out his differences, to know how it would feel.

He certainly felt big, but in girth more than length.

I was tingling between my legs, my core clenching around nothing as I imagined how that would feel.

Yashan suddenly inhaled deeply, his chest pressing against mine like bellows, and a low, deep groan followed.

His head tilted as it came to rest against the side of mine.

I felt heat scald my cheeks, which I was sure he could feel.

Maybe he wouldn’t know what it meant. “You smell so lovely, Jasmin,” he murmured.

“If we weren’t trapped in here, if both of us had choices…

” He didn’t say anything else, but I heard the promise in that tone.

If he could, he’d gladly fuck me right this instant.

He knew I was turned on. I loved that he’d used the word choices, though, very respectful of him. It made me feel safe.

All thoughts of arousal—of sex with this handsome behemoth of a man—soon fled my mind.

When Yashan could no longer keep me out of the water, the cold started seeping into my limbs.

I was freezing, trembling against his chest soon enough.

My teeth chattered, which greatly alarmed Yashan until I explained it was natural.

Soon, the water was up to my shoulders; Yashan was actually using the water’s buoyancy to press me higher, so it was up to his neck.

I was no longer shaking at this point, my mind going hazy. That was a very, very bad sign.

*

Yashan

“Damn it,” I cursed when Jasmin’s pretty eyes slid closed and her body went lax.

She’d passed out, her body drained from the cold.

She was slight, but the bars were still too close together for me to slip her through.

Which made holding her and trying to rub warmth into her chilled skin extremely difficult.

“Any sign of them yet?” I demanded more loudly of my brothers. One of them, a Hoxiam named Geramor, made a laughing sound deep in his many-toothed throat. “Did old age turn you into a sissy, Yashan? Can’t stand a little wet and cold?”

Another gladiator, a little farther away, shushed the blue-furred male.

“You are concerned for the female? Is she managing Yashan?” That was Pu’il, always morose, but always friendly.

I had very few interactions with the younger male, but I did know that before he’d been caught and sold as a gladiator, he’d had a life, a wife, and young kids. They had been murdered in front of him.

“She is not,” I said succinctly. I didn’t deign to give Geramor an answer.

The Hoxiam was always stirring shit, and as he was a flesh-eater, most of us tried to avoid his company when we could.

Sleeping in a cell where he could reach through the bars and try to eat you… Yeah, not my best neighbor by far.

“Might be better for her if she slips away quietly like this, peaceful,” Pu’il offered.

The thought sliced through me painfully.

It was true. I wasn’t doing her any favors, saving her now so she could get raped by Drameil later.

Unless she managed to escape, dying now was probably the kindest thing for her.

But selfishly, my arms clutched her more tightly to my chest. My heart pounding furiously, I didn’t want to fail another female. I wanted to keep this one safe.

The door at the top of the stairs suddenly clanged open.

A Krektar guard let out a long string of curses and then shouted, “I ain’t going in there.

Don’t fancy wet feet. You want to prevent death by drowning, you come on up here.

No fighting!” A moment later, the cell doors were all remotely unlocked. Krektar laziness at its finest.