“Why?” Annie asked, intrigued.
“Dom is a carrier for the DAI-O gene. It’s a gene specific to shifters,” Leo said as his smile dropped and a solemnness settles over his features. “It’s also called the ‘Berserker gene,’ which should give you a pretty good idea of what it does. The specific mutation of the gene that he has leads to Rogerson disorder, which, long story short, means once he shifts it’s extremely likely he won’t be able to control himself. Obviously, having an angry, feral bear on your hands is not an ideal situation, so for the most part Dom doesn’t shift.”
“Is that common? Among shifters, I mean?” Annie asked, unsure how to feel about this new disease.
“In bear shifters, there’s one in eight thousand who have it. I know that sounds like a lot, but remember, there’s not a ton of us to start out with and we’re spread out. And that’s just the stats for bears born with the mutation. Carriers generally don’t live as long as the rest of us for a variety of reasons,” Leo said soothingly.
“Okay, so, your crew is made up of one decent man who knows what he’s doing, a man who probably has kinks that most of the population would consider cruel and unusual punishment, a sarcastic coder who almost definitely hates me, and the smallest, angriest shifter of them all,” she said just to make sure she had all her information right.
“You’re forgetting Leo Ingram, the suave, sexy captain,” Leo told her, waggling his eyebrows.
“How could I possibly neglect my savior like that?” Annie responded, letting the sarcasm gained over a lifetime of pouring drinks for some of the galaxy’s worst and dullest color her tone.
“Very impolite of you,” the captain said with a wicked grin. “But you seem to have acknowledged your mistake, so I’m willing to treat you to some of our five-star space safe cuisine in the kitchen, if you’re hungry.”
“Starving,” Annie said, standing. The captain walked to the door and pressed the door to open it, then held and arm out to her. She crossed over to him, kicking her dress aside as she passed it, and put her arm in his.
He cleared his throat as he led her out into the hallway.
“You know, if you need to talk to someone about today,” he said a bit awkwardly, “Rick’s good with that sort of thing. I mean, I’ll listen if you want, but I’ve been reliably informed I’m not the best person to talk to about trauma.”
Annie shrugged. “It’d be pretty hypocritical of me to start screaming and crying because you killed those guards, seeing as I spaced seven of them on my way out.”
Leo started. “Hold up, you said you drugged the guards.”
“I drugged my personal guards,” Annie explained. “I set the countdown on the bay door opening low when I stole the Needle and the guards who came to stop me from escaping left the ship the same time I did, only no ship.”
“Huh,” the captain said after a moment. “I mean, if you want to talk about that—”
“I don’t,” Annie cut him off. “I feel terrible about killing them, and I wish I hadn’t been in a position where I had to. But these were people who woke up every day and loyally served a monster, and worse, they were content to let me be a sacrifice to him. I am not a cruel person by nature, Captain Ingram, but I will not let people take advantage of me without my consent.”
“Without your consent?” Leo asked.
“My father is an alcoholic, which is how I ended up in this mess in the first place,” Annie said. “He lied to me, he took the money I gave him for food and bought more alcohol, and he stole from me. I knew about it, and I kept letting him do it because once upon a time he was the best father in the world. Unfortunately, it appears that letting his behavior continue is only ever going to hurt me.”
Her voice was cold, as was she. She felt her muscles tighten the way they did when the temperature dropped, but instead of shivering she was perfectly still. Her mind felt far away as she locked down on the white-hot blaze of betrayal and rage she’d felt for her father ever since he’d told her what he’d done. Being out of danger for five minutes didn’t mean she wanted to start having emotional breakdowns right and left.
Leo stopped walking.
“Hey, now,” he said. “It’s not a mistake to be kind, and it’s not naïve to think that parents shouldn’t hurt us and take advantage of us. That’s normal. Well, maybe not so much in this line of work, but you know what I mean.”
He dropped his arm and grabbed her hands, smiling at her. Annie was suddenly aware that the man in front of her had kind eyes, a warm smile, and broad shoulders and her heart leapt even as her mind scoffed at the irony.
“Thanks,” she said, forcing a small smile. “Now, you said something about food?”
He put an arm around her shoulder and started walking down the hallway. She leaned into him and let his warmth soak into her. Her anger at her father was a thing decades in the making and wouldn’t be undone just because someone, even someone as gorgeous as Leo, smiled at her and told her it would be okay, but knowing that someone was on her side was comforting.
The kitchen was surprisingly spacious, with counters along the walls and a large table with five chairs scattered around it in the middle. Leo walked over to one cabinet and took out two packets and two bowls. He put a glass pot under one machine and pressed a button. The machine whirred to life and soon steaming water was filling the pot.
“Noodles okay with you?” Leo asked as he ripped the packets open.
“Sounds perfect,” she answered.
She looked around as Leo prepared the food. Again, the space was clean and, other than the chairs, orderly. She would have expected something messier from five men living together and working as smugglers. With that said, smuggling required a certain level of organization, so maybe it wasn’t so surprising after all.
Leo set the steaming bowls of thick noodles in some kind of broth onto the table and motioned for her to sit. As they settled down to eat Annie realized something.
“You never answered my question,” she said, fiddling with her fork.
Leo swallowed the noodles in his mouth. “Hmm? Which question?”
“Why are you really doing this?” Annie asked. “I asked on the beach but we got somewhat distracted what with all the murdering.”
He looked at her thoughtfully. “Because you are very pretty, and very interesting. I’m a smuggler captain. I need to be able to assess wares and make hiring decisions. That’s my job, deciding who and what is and is not valuable. And you are clearly very valuable.”
“Even without diamonds covering my tits?” Annie teased, something in her belly warming in a way that had nothing to do with the hot meal.
Leo laughed, clear and loud. “Even then.”
“Captain,” Rick’s voice floated down from an intercom, slicing through the light-hearted moment, “I said I’d contact you if anything happened and, well, something happened. Strathmore’s hailing us. Get to the cockpit as soon as you can.”
Just like that, the air turned to ice. Annie struggled to breathe, cursing her own stupidity as her thoughts faded into a panicked white noise. Why had she thought she could outrun something like Strathmore? Why had she thought he wouldn’t focus on retaliation?
“Hey, hey, hey, Annie, it’s going to be fine,” Leo said as he pushed away from the table and walked around the table to kneel in front of her.
“Of course it’s not fine,” Annie spat back. “He’s going to catch us and he’s going to kill me, and then he’s going to kill all of you for helping me.”
She tried to stand and discovered that her knees had turned to paste. Leo shot up to catch her as she toppled forward, wrapping his arms around her. Clutching at his shirt, she pressed against his chest and tried in vain to take comfort in him.
“I should never have gotten on this ship,” she whispered.
Leo shushed her. “Don’t say that. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be.”
“How would you know?” she demanded.
“Because you be
ing here feels right to me, and I’m hoping it’s the same for you,” Leo answered.
Annie looked up at him. “I’ve known you for less than a day, I can’t… I’m not…” She broke off and shook her head, frustrated.
“There are worse things to do than fall in love at first sight with the girl who jilted a warlord,” Leo teased with a gentle smile.
Annie snorted. “You didn’t fall in love with me at first sight. You’re not that kind of guy.”
“Maybe not,” Leo said. “But I did see you and realize you would be incredibly important to me if I let you. You crashed out of that damn forest in a torn up wedding dress and combat boots and I just thought ‘of course, this makes perfect sense.’”
“Is my incredible importance in your life getting you killed?” Annie asked.
“I’m willing to take that chance. I’ve always been a sucker for redheads,” Leo answered.
Annie looked at the man in front of her. It made sense that she was attracted to him; he was beautiful. But she refused to be the kind of girl to fall head over heels for someone without knowing them. Still, he was offering to risk his life for her and that was hardly nothing. She leaned up and slowly, gently, pressed her mouth to his.
“What was that for?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure, exactly,” Annie answered, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. “I guess we’ll have to find out.”
“Have I mentioned I’m a huge fan of hands-on research?” Leo asked and pressed his mouth to hers. He was every bit as gentle as she had been but not as chaste. Running his thumb softly over her hip bone, he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lip. Annie let go of his shirt and wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her mouth to him.
The kiss was the kind of thing she stopped herself from imagining during quick hook-ups with men she never saw again. It was intimate and slow, the kind of kiss that promised all the time in the world. Annie thought her heart might stop. There were, she supposed, worse ways to go.
“Leo, I—oh, Christ, really?”
Leo and Annie jerked apart to see Rick scowling at them.
“I thought the intercoms were down,” the brunette said, “so I came to find you so we could deal with this situation we’re in. Of course, if you feel that going at it like teenagers is more impending than out impending doom, by all means go ahead.”
“I was just, ah…” Leo coughed. “I was just showing her how to shoot a gun, don’t worry about us.”
Annie cringed internally as Rick looked very pointedly at Leo’s weaponless self.
“Anyways. Please relocate to the cockpit. I have a suspicion that if I ignore Strathmore’s calls any longer he’s going to just blast us out of the sky.”
“Right,” Leo said, smoothing his shirt. “Lead on.”
The terror that had lessened in Leo’s presence returned with a vengeance. Annie grabbed his sleeve.
“Tell me it’s going to be okay,” Annie hissed at him.
“At very least it’ll be interesting,” he answered. At her glare, he added, “I’m not in the habit of letting my people get hurt you know. Have a little faith.”
“For the man who thought ‘I was teaching her to shoot a gun’ would actually work?”
“You’re lucky you’re gorgeous enough to get away with that. Anyone else and I’d be forced to challenge them to defend my honor.”
“You have none to defend,” Rick cut in as they approached the cockpit. “Now, be firm, be polite, don’t let him access video, and don’t get us killed.”
“I can do that,” Leo said. He entered the cockpit and sat in the pilot’s chair, leaning over to press a button on the dashboard. Annie and Rick hung back.
“Don’t worry,” Rick murmured. “He’s actually very good at this.”
“I’m just afraid ‘very good’ isn’t going to get very far against Strathmore,” she answered quietly.
“Hello, Appomattox,” Leo said in a firm, agreeable voice that Annie recognized from the beach. “You are speaking to the captain of the ICS Breakwater. How may I help you?”
“Hello, Captain Ingram,” Strathmore said, voice as chilly and distant as ever. “I believe you have something of mine. I’d like it back.”
“Sir, I assure you that all cargo on my ship was gotten through a trusted supplier. I doubt—”
“Feigning ignorance will gain you no mercy. We both know I mean the girl,” Strathmore interrupted. “Anyanka, are you listening in? I imagine you are, since your new friends haven’t seen fit to allow a video call. How are you? It doesn’t matter. No matter what the answer is, it’s so much better than you’ll be once I have you again, you dim-witted bitch.”
Annie shuddered and Leo’s hands clenched so tightly on the edge of the dash she was afraid he might dent the metal.
“And why, exactly, should I give her back to you after that?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I’d have thought it was obvious. I’m giving you the chance to earn the right to continue living. My sorry excuse for a bride in return for the lives of your crew. It’s an excellent deal.”
“With all due respect,” Leo said in a tone that made it very clear exactly how much respect he thought that was, “I think this is something I should discuss with my crew.”
“And give you time to plot? I think not,” Strathmore said, sounding bored. “You decide now, Captain. Is whatever the little whore’s been doing for you really worth risking your life over?”
Leo went rigid. “I think this conversation is over, Captain Strathmore,” he said in a voice ironically similar to the other man’s. “Fare well.”
He cut the connection and thumbed a few switches on the dash. Rick swore.
“Hold onto something,” he told Annie. “He’s about to get us out of here fast.”
As soon as he finished talking, the ship seemed to tilt. The artificial gravity compensated for the sudden burst of speed, but Annie still felt the nausea roil in her gut as the ship suddenly jumped to warp 8.
“What the fuck was that?” someone (Annie thought Hyde) bellowed over the intercom.
Leo slammed his hand down on the talk button. “Family meeting, kitchen, five minutes,” he growled. “We’ve got some shit to discuss.”
Annie wobbled to the kitchen, leaning heavily on Rick.
“Is it always like that?” she asked him, struggling not to vomit.
“I’m going to go ahead and let you in on a secret,” he said, smiling at her. “The answer to that question will always be ‘yes, but you’ll get used to it,’ unless you’re asking about Custer singing in the shower in which case the answer is ‘no, actually, it only gets worse from here.’”
“Good to know,” Annie said as he helped her into a chair. She leaned forward and shut her eyes, trying to relax enough to let her stomach unknot. The effect was ruined when Custer and Hyde barged in.
“What’s happening? Are we running from pirates again?” Custer asked excitedly.
“Not… exactly,” Rick answered. “I’ll let the captain explain.”
“No, I think you wanna tell me now,” Hyde said, nostrils flaring. He pushed the bandana keeping his dreadlocks out of his face up to glare more effectively. “Look at Custer. How does he look to you?”
“He looks happy,” Rick said in a resigned voice.
“Exactly. And do you know what the leading cause of that psychopathic little shit being happy is?” Hyde said, barreling on before Rick could answer. “You and the captain pulling some stupid shit that the rest of us have to handle. Now, there’s a girl at our table who Strathmore—the Strathmore—is looking for and Custer is smiling like he just got a puppy for Christmas, so maybe tell me why we’re flying like our ass is on fire because I am leaping to some very disturbing conclusions.”
Owen (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 2) Page 18