Page 32 of Beast Unburdened

“Shit,” she muttered as she pulled away slightly and eyed the blood-soaked bandage on my shoulder. “Oh no, did I hurt you?” I snorted at her, “As if you could little one.” Abigail grinned at me and would have hugged me again but 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 so I rather not test the theory.”

The skin around my 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, her caring.

We made it to 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 bandaging. When I nodded Abigail exhaled in relief, “Thank you, I was so worried. He’s going to be fine?”

“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 and 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 when I gazed at 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 narrowing down to the female that had taken my heart with her strange stilts and wild hair and her 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 that Luka was now fussing over and hissed out. “Doom? You brought the male here, that 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 at least 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 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?”

Chapter 16

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 non 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 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 and allowed 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 pressed against my bare skin. His warm breath ghosted over my throat as he nuzzled against the skin there. I went from sleepy to horny in the span of 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 at the back of my knee, 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. “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 catching 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 alright. 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 confident, 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 medbay before 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 that 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.