by Anna Hackett
Thankfully, they avoided meeting any other Thraxians, and it wasn’t long before they stepped out of the ship and into the night air.
But as they moved away from the shadow of the Thraxian ship, big shapes came out of the darkness.
His gut cramped. The commander and a fresh set of guards.
Drak. Raiden cursed. They were injured, tired, and they had Harper and Regan to protect. Raiden ran through every option in his head, trying to find a way out.
“Give the women to us,” the commander said. “I plan to sell them to the worst slavers I can find.” His gaze bored into Raiden. “And you will finally die like the rest of your planet.”
Raiden was willing to give his life to protect Harper. He traded a glance with Thorin. “Ready for another fight?”
Thorin nodded. “I’m always ready for another fight.”
Suddenly, shouts broke out from the back of the group of Thraxians.
Raiden tensed, then saw the group part, each one going for their weapons.
Galen, Saff, and Kace rushed into the fray, swinging their weapons. Galen was a deadly force, fighting with a double-bladed sword.
Raiden took a brief moment to watch the man in action. The man could own the arena, if he’d fight. He’d taught Raiden everything he knew.
Yoxx ran.
Galen leaped on him, taking him down. The commander bucked beneath Galen’s boots.
Raiden tensed, but simply tightened his hold on the woman in his arms. Galen met his gaze, a question in his eyes. His face looked as though it had been carved from rock. He’d lost everything, too, when Aurelia had fallen.
Raiden nodded.
Galen landed the killing blow.
As the remaining Thraxians realized their commander lay on the dirt, defeated, they broke away, running toward the Thraxian ship. The fight was over.
Raiden stepped closer, staring at the body of the alien he’d hated his entire life, and felt…nothing. He met his friend’s gaze. “Thanks for the backup.” Galen nodded and Raiden hitched Harper’s still form higher in his arms. “I need to get Harper to a regen tank.”
***
Harper woke, floating in goo.
She wrinkled her nose. It was a strange feeling, like she was swimming in a pool of gelatin. She felt no pain. She gripped the sides of the regen tank and moved her legs. All healed.
She sat up, and gingerly pulled herself out of the tank. No one seemed to be around. She stood beside the tank, shivering, blue goo dripping off her and onto the floor.
Then she spotted the chair near her tank and the big gladiator fast asleep in it. Her heart clenched. He looked exhausted, his face drawn.
He’d come for her. Yeah, he’d screwed up, but in the end, he’d come for her. Her perfectly imperfect gladiator.
She grabbed a large drying cloth from a stack nearby and toweled herself dry. She spotted a silky robe tossed over the back of a second chair. Gripping the chair for balance, she pulled the robe around her body.
She moved over to Raiden, drinking in the sight of him.
Suddenly, his eyes opened. “Harper?” He reached out and pulled her toward him. He pressed his face into her belly. “You’re okay?”
“All healed.” She ran her hands over his short hair. “How’s Regan?”
“Fine. Resting. She’s a little rattled, but strangely, Thorin has been very protective. I wasn’t sure if his hovering was helping or hindering, but Regan seems to find him comforting.”
Big, bad Thorin comforting? “I’m sure he means well.”
“Yes, he does.”
“And Rory?”
Raiden shook his head. “Galen is searching for her and waiting to hear from his contacts.”
“Dammit.” Harper pulled in a shaky breath. I’m so sorry, Rory.
“We’ll find her.”
Harper nodded. “Rory is tough and she’s also had years of training in mixed martial arts…hand-to-hand combat. But she also has a quick temper. She’ll push, and prod, and fight.” Which would get the engineer hurt. “I won’t give up until we find her, and Madeline Cochran. She was taken as well.” Harper prayed Madeline was on Carthago.
Raiden looked up at Harper. “I’m sorry.”
She frowned. “For what? Rory? Saving me? For getting me out of there and healing me?”
“You would have saved yourself.” He looked up at her. “I’m sorry for being an ass, and leaving you in the first place.”
“I’m just glad you came back.” She let her gaze drift down his hard, tattooed body. He was hers. All hers. “Why did you?”
“You were right,” he said. “Revenge is…empty. I heard you were in trouble and realized killing the commander gained me nothing. Losing you would destroy everything I had.”
She leaned down and pressed her lips gently against his.
His hand gripped her jaw. “You fill me up, Harper. You fill up all the dark, empty spaces.”
She felt a warmth bloom in her chest. “Nice words, gladiator.”
“I was empty for a long time. A part of me was locked down after I lost my family and world. I’m not empty anymore.”
He reached up, his callused hands pushing the robe off her shoulders. She thought he was going to pull her into his lap, but instead, his hands moved over her limbs. He checked her arms, cupped her breasts, probed her ribs. Then his hands slid down her belly, leaving a trail of heated sensation in their wake.
He smoothed his way down her legs, pausing at the places she knew Scar Face had broken.
“I’m all healed, Raiden.”
“I needed to check for myself.” Now, he yanked her into his lap.
She straddled him, feeling his hard cock beneath her. “Someone might come in.”
“I locked the door.” He tore open his trousers.
She moved against him. “So, are you going to tell me how you feel about me?”
“I told you. I feel everything for you.”
“Raiden. That’s not what I want to hear.”
“A gladiator isn’t supposed to talk about feelings.”
She moved again, teasing him. “So gladiators are afraid of something.”
“Gladiators are not afraid.”
“Hah, got you. Fear is a feeling.”
He smiled, cupping her jaw again. “With you, I feel pleasure, joy, annoyance, fear.” He shifted her hips, the thick head of his cock rubbed against her slick center.
She moaned. “What else, Raiden?”
“Love.” He pushed inside her, so impossibly slowly. “I love you, my little gladiator of Earth.”
She gasped, gripping his shoulders. “I love you, too, Raiden. And I’m not little.”
“You are to me.”
She slid one hand up to cup his stubbled cheek. “No one’s ever really loved me. Not enough to keep me.”
He growled. “Mine.” He started to move her hips faster, his own hips plunging up. “You’re mine, Harper. I’m keeping you, and I’m never letting you go.”
“Always,” she answered.
They kept moving against each other, him stretching her and filling her in a way no one ever had before. “Harder,” she murmured. “Faster.”
“No.”
Frustratingly, he slowed down. His hand slid down between their bodies, over her quivering belly, finding the slick little nub of her clit.
They moved together, the room filled with their husky cries and murmurs. As he started rubbing her in tight, little circles, her breath hitched.
His gaze locked with her. “This time, we go slow. Because we have forever.”
***
Raiden wanted to take his time. He wanted to love Harper and not rush.
So much of their loving had been wild and wanton. Now, he wanted to show her something else.
As he filled her, thrusting slowly in and out of her body, he watched the emotions washing over her face. He would never get tired of watching them. And the one that he could see most was love.
He’d never fe
lt like he deserved love before. Now, he was never going to let it go.
Moments later she came, her head dropping back, her body squeezing down on his cock. As she cried his name, he felt his own release threatening, and he felt a shining instant where there was nothing bad, or ugly. Oh, it would be back—that was life and she was a capricious mistress at times—but right now, she was beautiful, and joyous, and full of wonder.
He gripped Harper’s hips, pulling her down, and shoved himself deep. He held himself there, trying not to shout as he poured himself inside her.
When he could finally make sense of his thoughts, she was kissing his neck and jaw. She curled up in his lap, holding on tight.
Suddenly, the door slammed open and gladiators poured in.
Harper let out a squeak. “You said you locked it!”
“I did.” Someone had picked the lock. He suspected Lore’s tricky fingers.
“Oh, my God.” Harper’s horrified whisper brushed against Raiden’s ear. “You’re still inside me.”
Raiden reached down and grabbed her discarded robe, pulling it over her body. It covered…most of her.
“She okay?”
“How’s she feeling?”
Thorin gave an amused snort. “Oh, she looks perfectly fine to me.”
“She’s healed,” Raiden told his friends. “She’s fine.”
She smiled at him. “Very fine.”
There were bawdy chuckles all around. Harper groaned and buried her face in his neck.
“Sure you want to tie yourself to me and this rowdy lot?”
She looked up at him. “Yes, Raiden. Forever.”
Chapter Twenty
Showered and dressed, Harper headed to see Regan.
Galen had given her a private room not far from the gladiators’ living area. She entered the light-filled space which was far smaller and tidier than Raiden’s room.
Regan looked clean and rested and much better than the last time Harper had seen her. She was sitting on a bench, eating some strange purple fruit.
Harper cleared her throat. “Hi.”
“Harper!” Regan rushed over and threw her arms around Harper.
Tears pricked at Harper’s eyes. The feel of Regan’s curvy form was familiar, and Harper hugged the woman back hard.
“You’re okay?” Harper asked.
Regan pulled back and nodded. “Yes. Thanks to you.” Then her friend frowned. “But you were hurt.”
“I’m fine now. All healed. They have some pretty advanced medical technology. Don’t let the stone architecture and the swords fool you.”
“Rory?” Regan’s eyes had a haunted look.
Harper squeezed her hands. “We’re looking. We’ll find her.”
Regan squeezed her eyes shut, a sob catching in her chest. “God.” Then, she swiped a hand at her face. “We’ll find her. We won’t stop until she’s safe.”
Harper nodded. “And Madeline, as well. It’s a promise.”
“And then what? How do we get home?” Regan chewed on her bottom lip. “Can we find a ship?”
Harper drew in a deep breath. “Sit down.” She found herself sitting on the edge of a couch as her friend sat beside her.
Regan looked her in the eye. “They won’t let us go, will they?”
Where the hell did she start? God, she hated to be the one to break the news to her.
“You can leave anytime you choose.” Raiden’s deep voice.
Harper looked over and saw him in the doorway. She smiled at him. The damn gladiator was here to support her. He strode over and stood behind her couch, resting his hand on her shoulder.
“This is Raiden. He’s…” She wasn’t quite sure how to describe him. Boyfriend sounded too juvenile. Lover?
“Hers. I’m hers.”
“You’re…you’re sleeping with one of them?” Regan’s voice was filled with shock.
She stared straight at her friend. “No, I fell in love with a loyal, brave man.”
Regan sank back into the couch. “And we can just leave? He’s not holding you here against your will?”
“Of course he isn’t. And yes, you can leave.”
“You can go wherever you choose,” Raiden added.
“Home,” Regan said. “I want to go home.
Harper felt a hollow feeling creeping in. “It isn’t quite that simple. The Thraxians who snatched us…they followed a random wormhole to reach our solar system. Earth is on the other side of the galaxy to Carthago.”
There was a hushed silence.
“So we take the wormhole back,” Regan said, watching Harper intently.
Harper drew breath. “It’s closed. It no longer exists.”
“So we find the ship and we take the long ride home,” Regan said, her tone frantic.
Harper bit her lip “Even with the fastest spaceship, that will take roughly two hundred years.”
Regan started shaking her head.
Harper gripped her friend’s hands. “Everyone you know would be long dead.”
“No.”
“I’m sorry, there is no way back to Earth.”
Regan pressed her lips together, pulling in some deep breaths. “I’m probably going to have a big fat breakdown about this later.”
There was her steady scientist friend. Regan rarely fell apart. “You’ll be entitled.”
“You don’t seem too upset about this,” Regan said.
There was no judgment in Regan’s tone, just curiosity. Harper gave a small nod. “I’ve had longer to process it. More time to come to terms with it. And there was nothing, no one, left for me on Earth, anyway.”
She felt Raiden’s fingers tighten on her shoulder. She looked up and smiled at him.
“I decided I could survive, give up, or thrive. I’ve made my choice.” And it was the gladiator standing beside her. She looked back at her friend. “It’s your choice, now.”
“You have a place here at the House of Galen, if you choose,” Raiden added.
Regan just watched them with sadness on her face. Harper vowed then and there to do whatever she had to do to ensure her friend found happiness.
***
“Raiden, I’m glad I caught you.”
Raiden turned and saw Galen striding toward him. “G. You caught me before I headed out.”
Galen thrust his hands on his hips. “I’m hearing rumblings that the Thraxians are out for revenge after our little…altercation.”
Raiden gave a careless shrug. “That’s nothing new. They can try, and we will beat them, as we always have.”
Galen tilted his head. “You have something valuable to lose now.”
Raiden grinned. “And she can take care of herself.”
Galen gave him an answering smile. “So she can. I’m happy for you. I’m happy that you’re happy.”
Raiden grabbed his friend’s arm. “You should give it a try.”
Galen raised a brow. “A woman? Oh, no. I don’t think so. They are far more trouble than they’re worth.”
“I’m going to ask her to let me put my mark on her.”
Beneath his long sleeves, Galen carried Aurelian tattoos too. They were a tradition to capture stories, promises, and oaths. For a long time, Raiden had ignored the markings on his body while Galen had hidden his.
But now, loving Harper had helped something settle in Raiden. Now he wanted to celebrate his history and see his name on the skin of the woman he loved.
Galen went still. “She agreed?”
“I haven’t asked her yet, but I’ve lined up the skin artist in the market if she says yes.” Raiden imagined holding her as his name and the Aurelian markings of his family were etched on her skin.
After Raiden had left his friend, he went looking for his woman.
Thorin had mentioned she’d gone to the market to find some things for Regan. Raiden had a suspicion where he’d find her. As he moved through the streets, he knew that she was still hurting for her friend. She’d found a place where she was happy, b
ut Regan was still walking around looking a little shell-shocked. And he knew they were both worried about the other women, Rory and Madeline. There had been no sign of the Earth women.
He took the ramp down to the market and soon reached the door to his pool. When he stepped out onto the tiles, he saw her form silhouetted against pool lights.
Her hair was wet, a drying sheet wrapped around her damp body.
From his woman’s hunched shoulders, he could tell she was sad. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“She just needs some time,” he said.
Harper nodded. “I know. But unlike me, Regan has friends and family on Earth. And she can never go back. It will be harder for her.” Harper turned in his arms. “She doesn’t have a big, strong gladiator to lean on.”
“We’ll be there for her. And Rory and Madeline, when we find them.”
Harper smiled. “My big, tough gladiator. You’re just a big softie under that tough exterior.”
With a growl, he leaned down and nipped at her lips. “You’re going to get yourself challenged for talk like that. I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Bring it on, gladiator.”
He was glad to hear the humor in her voice, and to see the happiness dancing in her eyes. “You don’t want me to challenge you. I’m bigger, stronger, and you’ll never—”
She lashed out with a leg, and took him down. As he landed flat on his back, she came down on top of him, her knees jammed into his sides.
Yeah, he knew his woman well.
He rolled, and together they wrestled across the tiles, knocking over some plants. She fought back with all her strength, and he grunted as her fist landed in his gut. His little gladiator wasn’t pulling her punches.
As they rolled again, he pinned her to the ground, listening to her laughter.
Yeah, Raiden had found his perfect match in every way.
“Harper, I want to ask you something.”
She stilled. “It’s important?”
He nodded, pulling her up so she was sitting in his lap. “I wanted to ask if you’d do me the honor of accepting my mark.” He brushed his fingers up her arm. “Of letting me place our story and our commitment on your skin.”