No Remedy

by Christine d'Abo

  Mace adjusted her stance, taking a half step backward. “On second thought, keep holding it like that and drop to your knees. Put your free hand behind your head.”

  Alec wanted to groan at the grin on Byron’s face.

  “Ah, sweetheart, if I’d known you were into that kind of game, this evening could have started on a far more pleasant note.” Byron sank to his knees, winking as he braced his hand against his neck. “I should warn you, I’m normally the one giving the commands.”

  “Any other time, I might be tempted to take you up on the offer.” Mace’s cool grin sent a shiver through Alec. “For now I’ll have to settle for you placing the blaster on the floor and pushing it toward me.”

  As Byron followed her directions, Mace reached behind her back, tossing a set of electro-cuffs to Alec. The metal was cool in his hands . . . and the shape was so familiar he nearly whimpered as all the inappropriate thoughts surged back into his mind.

  “Alec, secure his hands behind his back.”

  “Mace, listen—”

  “I’ll listen when I know he’s secure and your life isn’t in danger anymore. So shut up and do what I tell you to.”

  “Yeah, Alec, do what the lady says,” Byron taunted. “I know how much you love to follow orders.”

  Ignoring him as best he could, Alec skirted around to his back to yank Byron’s hands down and fix the heavy electro-cuffs on properly. He couldn’t stop from swaying close to his former lover, taking in the scent of sweat and leather as he jerked on the metal.

  “All done,” he whispered against Byron’s ear.

  The small act of rebellion felt good. He had been beneath Byron more times than he could count. He’d succumbed to the other man’s will so often he’d forgotten he had a mind of his own. Hell, surviving their reunion without ending up naked was a miracle, enough to make his blood sing through his veins.

  His feelings for Byron had always been confused, but their parting had complicated matters to the point that Alec didn’t know his own heart any longer. Gods, he had never thought he’d be in this position again.

  Byron turned his head so Alec’s nose brushed his cheek. “Don’t think we’re done here. We need to talk.”

  “You’re not in a position to be giving orders.”

  “I’m always in a position to give orders. It was one of the things you loved about me.”

  A hand tugged Alec back. His gaze locked onto Mace’s as he turned.

  “You need to step away.” She gave him a gentle squeeze. “I want to make sure he’s been secured properly so we can talk.”

  Byron’s breath hitched, but he didn’t comment. Gods, Alec wanted nothing more than to forget everything and convince Byron to come to bed with him. Hell, if he could get Mace to come as well, he could cross a major fantasy off his list.

  Not now.

  He kept his back to the pair of them, instead looking out the window. He already knew the questions Mace would ask Byron, as much as he knew what the answers would be. His carefully constructed world was about to come crashing down around him, and surprisingly he wasn’t as upset as he should have been.

  “You’re a bounty hunter.” Mace’s voice was strong and confident. “You mentioned the guild. Are you with them or freelance?”

  Byron’s silence filled the room, making Alec want to turn back and shout at him, demanding an answer. He curled his fingers around the edge of the table in front of him and locked his gaze on the people on the street outside.

  Thankfully Mace wasn’t deterred by Byron’s stubborn refusal to cooperate. “I have connections inside the guild, so it won’t take me any time to find out exactly who you are.”

  This time Byron chuckled. “I figured you did.”

  “Then there’s no point in holding back.”

  “Sweetheart, there is always a point. I’ll learn as much about you as you learn about me during this little interrogation.”

  “While that may be true, I’m currently the one with the blaster and the key to your electro-cuffs. So let’s start again. Why is the guild after Alec?”

  “I think that’s a question for your boy.”

  “I asked you.” Mace leaned closer to Byron, who didn’t react to her apparent attempt to loom over him in a menacing way. Even on his knees, Byron was nearly as tall as Mace.

  Alec turned, leaning his weight against the table. “When did the bounty come through?” He didn’t really want to ask Byron anything, but he had to know how much time they had before more hunters came.

  For once, the cocky expression on Byron’s face slipped. Mace might not have recognized the look as one of concern, but Alec did. Byron’s chin dipped down toward his chest as he let out a soft huff.

  “Orders came across my desk three months ago. You did well, Alec. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to find you in time.”

  Alec couldn’t keep from rolling his eyes. “Like you would have bothered if there weren’t credits involved.”

  Byron jerked forward and only stopped when Mace pressed the muzzle of the blaster against his temple.

  “Down, boy.”

  “I bothered, you jackass!” Byron growled up at Alec, settling back again. “I searched for you after your little disappearing act. I couldn’t pick up your trail after the Centarin outpost. Guess you were paying attention during my bitching sessions. But you must have gotten sloppy recently, making my job a hell of a lot easier. Really? Alec Randall? Too close to your real name, Roiten.”

  “Guess so.” Alec ignored the sudden tightening of his throat. Byron had looked for him. Alec honestly hadn’t thought he would.

  “Enough!” Mace leaned against the wall. “Three months isn’t a long time. How big is the bounty?”

  Byron grimaced, turning to Mace. “Five million.”

  “Shit.”

  “Big enough for me to worry. I delayed the information getting out as long as possible so I could try to locate you first.” Byron jerked on the bindings. “Not that I’m much good to you trussed up like this. Let me go, Alec, so we can talk.”

  Alec shook his head. “No. What do they want me for?” He knew the real reason, but while he assumed the Loyalist government was behind the bounty, they weren’t going to be stupid enough to broadcast their true motivation.

  Byron narrowed his gaze on Alec. “Multiple murders of Loyalist officials. I’d ask if you did it, but I made discreet inquiries at the facility after you left and there was never any murders. So they lied to hide the real reason.”

  Alec was across the room, Byron’s neck between his hands. He wanted to shout at him to leave well enough alone, to let them find him, to go away and save himself rather than condemning them both. But he could only glare into Byron’s face. His heart ached for how things could have been. If he hadn’t learned the truth. If he hadn’t realized just how bad . . .

  “I could have helped you,” Byron managed to squeeze out. “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  “I had my reasons.” Alec pushed Byron away, letting the other man suck in a gulp of air. “You shouldn’t have come after me.”

  Mace stepped forward and smashed the butt of her blaster against the back of Byron’s head. Alec watched his ex-lover’s eyes roll up into his head before he fell unconscious to the floor.

  “What the hell are you doing?” He straightened as Mace stepped over Byron’s prone body. “He’s not the only one who’ll be looking for me.”

  “Exactly. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Sorry, but we won’t have time to go back to your apartment. We’ll have to pick up whatever you’ll need once we get out of this system. Might take a while to find an outpost, but I have a few contacts.”

  Mace disappeared for a few minutes, banging around loudly in the next room. Alec couldn’t move. Byron was here, despite the efforts Alec had taken to keep him away. Protect him. A sickening realization settled in the pit of his stomach—maybe things could have been different had Alec stayed. But trusting Byron would have meant
putting him in danger, something Alec had no intention of doing then or now.

  Mace returned with a large black bag slung over her shoulder. “We’ll be able to use the back streets to get to the lowlands. I have my ship stashed there.” She’d thrown on a pair of black pants and a dark-blue leather vest, and held a strange stone necklace in her hand. She no longer appeared to be the meek assistant he’d come to know over the recent months.

  In fact, she looked a lot like Byron.

  “Wait.” He shook his head. “You have a ship?”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “You didn’t think I walked here, did you?”

  “I assumed public transport, actually. How can you afford a private ship?”

  “The less you know about that, the better.”

  Something else he’d have to pursue with her once they were far from here. “Where are we going?”

  “We have a few options available to us.” She nudged Byron with the toe of her boot. “What do you want to do with this one?”

  Gods, that was a question he had asked himself more times than he could count. “We can’t leave him here. I doubt he’s changed much, which means he has more than his fair share of enemies who would take advantage if they found him like this.”

  “I don’t think dragging him along is the best idea.”

  Alec crouched beside Byron, close but not touching. Unconscious, he’d lost the harsh edge in his face. Alec wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch the warm skin of Byron’s neck. They’d only been together a year before he’d run, but he regretted ending things the way he had.

  People had died as a result of Alec’s actions. He needed to put things right if he was ever going to allow himself to be with another person. He couldn’t live in peace and harmony knowing he’d murdered innocents.

  But seeing Byron again . . .

  “We have to take him. Now that he knows for sure I’m alive, he won’t stop until he’s found me again.”

  “He’ll just cause problems for us when we want them the least.” Mace sighed as she pulled a bio syringe from her pack and jabbed it into Byron’s neck. “That will keep him unconscious until we can get him secured on my ship. You’ll have to carry him, though. I’ll grab what gear I can. We leave now.”

  Alec’s back and shoulders were screaming as they breached the top of the latest hill. He wouldn’t be able to take much more of this—Mace was more of a slave driver than he was. Thankfully she’d stopped a few meters away, giving him a chance to catch up.

  Byron was bloody heavy.

  Mace glanced over her shoulder at his approach. There was a twinkle in her eye as she checked him out. Gods, he must look as tired as he felt.

  “There she is.” Mace nodded toward the valley. “She might not seem like a lot on the outside, but the Geilt is one of the toughest ships I know.”

  Alec sucked in a breath when his gaze landed on the hulking mass settled by the tree line. The ship must have been sleek and gleaming when it was new, but now its hull was mottled with blaster burns and pockmarked with countless dents and scratches. “It’s spaceworthy, right?”

  Mace snorted. “If my brother heard you insult his ship, he’d kill you.”

  “Remind me never to meet your brother.”

  “If you’re hanging around me long enough, it’s inevitable. Just remember your manners and you’ll survive the privilege.”

  Byron made a soft moaning noise, his arm twitching in Alec’s grip.

  “Let’s get on board. I forgot how heavy this bastard is.”

  To her credit, Mace hadn’t asked any questions about his obvious relationship with Byron. Whether it was out of some perverse sense of respect or if she was simply practical enough to know this wasn’t the time for an interrogation, Alec was thankful.

  As they approached the ship, Mace pulled out a slim control pad and typed a code. The loud hiss of a hydraulic lock disengaging caused a flock of tyranian beasts to shoot into the sky from the surrounding treetops. The ominous sound of their squawks sent a shiver through him.

  “I’ve come to check on my baby every week since arriving here, so it won’t take me long to get us ready once we get inside. It looks like no one has bothered her.”

  Mace paused at the still-closed door to press her hand to a bio scanner. Another beep and the door whooshed open for them. “You can set him down here and—”

  The echo of shouting rolled down the hill to them. As soon as Alec turned, he recognized the men from the bar running full-tilt toward the Geilt. Bounty hunters.

  Fuck.

  “Go, go, go!” Mace pushed him into the ship, sending him staggering under Byron’s weight.

  Alec managed to keep his feet long enough to set Byron down on a padded bench off to the side of what appeared to be the main cabin. Mace slapped her hand against the internal bio scanner, sending the hatch door snapping shut.

  “Secure him and then yourself. I’ll get us into the sky.”

  “How the hell did they find us?” he shouted as she disappeared into what he assumed was the cockpit.

  “The same way your lover boy did.” A set of keys flew through the air, landing half a meter from where he knelt. “Undo his cuffs and secure him to the bench. There’s a bar underneath you can use.”

  The ship shuddered as blaster fire painted the side of the hull. Alec’s fingers shook as he released one side of Byron’s electro-cuffs. Gods, how could he have let this happen? His normally tight emotional control was slipping, which would lead to bad things if he didn’t get a handle on them shortly. The ship rocked again, but this time he recognized the familiar rattle of an engine starting up.

  As quickly as he could, he snapped the cuff to the bar, making sure Byron was positioned as comfortably as possible. Despite their differences, Alec never wanted to see Byron hurt. With any luck, he wouldn’t wake up until they’d gotten into space.

  He’d have to ask Mace if there was somewhere else they could move him. Alec might not wish Byron any harm, but he also didn’t want to spend the duration of the trip—however long it would be—in either a staring contest or a verbal chess match with the man he’d run out on.

  “Alec?” There was a note of urgency in Mace’s voice he couldn’t ignore.

  “Coming.”

  The cockpit was small, but there was a copilot chair; he fell into it and did up the restraints. “I hope this thing is fast.”

  Mace snorted. “I’ve seen my brother pull maneuvers with this bucket that would make your head spin. She’ll have enough to get us out of here. Hold on.”

  The jerk of takeoff forced him back into the seat. He looked at the scanners to see the bounty hunters from the bar scrambling back to avoid the heat of the engine’s thrusters. Alec prayed all the hunters’ resources were on the ground, not in orbit, and Mace had managed a clean escape. As his gaze slid over to her, he grew fascinated by the movement of her hands over the controls. Her precision with the commands indicated she was an expert pilot, as did her practiced ascent into the atmosphere.

  His moment of admiration at her skill was replaced with sudden, deep-burning anger. Mace was just another person who’d lied to him. And like an idiot, he’d been taken in by her. “Who the hell are you?”

  She jerked but kept her gaze averted. “Not now, Alec.”

  “I’ve worked with you, side by side, for months now.” Fury bubbled up through his chest, suddenly making it hard to breathe. “Was anything you told me true?”

  “Not. Now.”

  He knew he should resist the urge to use his ability. They were on the run with bounty hunters breathing down their neck. Shit, she was flying their damn escape vessel—he needed to leave it alone. At the last moment, he realized he’d started tapping his finger on the side of the computer panel anyway, and forced himself to stop. Now was not the time to play with people’s minds.

  “We’re breaching the upper atmosphere. Hold on.”

  The ship shook violently for a few seconds before instantly calming. The
dark blanket of space felt like a cool balm on his pounding heart. He let out a huff of air and tried to relax.

  “We made it,” he said softly.

  “Not exactly.”

  He froze at the sound of Byron’s voice directly behind him. The low whine of a blaster told him how badly he had screwed up.

  Mace sighed heavily. “Great, Alec.”

  Byron wanted to laugh at the look of utter annoyance on the woman’s face. When it came to his ex-lover, he’d felt the same thing on more than one occasion. “Not his fault, darling. He thought I was still out of it, and you didn’t exactly have time to check me for spare keys. Now if you’d be so kind as to fly us to the gate, I’ll get us to a guild outpost.”

  “No!” Alec tried to move away, but Byron pressed the blaster to his side.

  “I don’t fucking think so.” Mace twisted in her seat to meet his gaze directly. “I’m not going anywhere near the guild.”

  “Don’t like bounty hunters? I can’t imagine why.” Byron knew he was being an asshole, but there was something about the hellion in front of him that made him want to fight. “I bet if I placed a few communications I’d learn some interesting things about you. Who did you say you were again?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Unfortunate name. Your parents must be fun.”

  “My parents are dead, jackass.”

  He winced internally. He may not have had the best home in the universe, but at least he still had his father around to share in the misery. “Sorry.”

  Mace snorted. “I doubt it.”

  “I hate to break up this little argument, but I think we may still have a problem.” Alec stepped away from the blaster and pressed the display. “It looks like our friends on the ground weren’t alone. We have at least two ships on an intercept vector.”

  Mace glared at Byron, looking more irritated than scared. “Mind if I take care of them? I’d hate to have a hole blown in my head before I get us to the dimension gate.”