No Remedy

by Christine d'Abo

  It didn’t matter how many years had passed, he’d never given up looking for Alec. He’d used every case from the guild as an opportunity to search for him without drawing unwanted attention.

  The Loyalist government had made it painfully clear he was supposed to leave Alec the hell alone. The order had only encouraged Byron to dig deeper. He’d hit a wall when he learned the government had lost track of Alec as well. His lover had been written off as dead and irrelevant. They should have had no reason to put a bounty on his head.

  So who had?

  Mace seemed sympathetic. “I guess it isn’t the sort of topic you can easily approach.”

  “Not really. ‘Hey, darling. Sorry we lost track over the past seven years. So, how many people have you managed to kill unwittingly?’”

  “Exactly.” She sighed, leaning back against the couch. “We should be within scanning range of the planet soon. If Alec can hold on long enough to tell me what he needs, I’ll be able to help manufacture a treatment for the Brasillian symptoms.”

  “We may have to force it down his throat, but hearing Faolan’s story might work as well.”

  Mace flinched. He moved to the water processor along the back wall, sensing she was about to ask him a question he really didn’t want to answer. The reclaimed water was cool as he swallowed it down, reminding Byron how long it had been since he’d taken any time for himself.

  “Did he do it?” The too-calm tone of her question made his stomach sour.

  “Do what?” It was a feeble attempt to deflect, but he really didn’t want to have this conversation.

  Her eyes flared with annoyance and anger. “You damn well know what I’m asking. Was Alec really the creator of the ryana poison?”

  Another swallow of water, this time to force the rising bile back down his throat. “Yes.”

  Her muttered curse summed up his feelings exactly.

  “Are you okay?” He turned back to face her, hoping to get a line on her emotions. If she was going to snap and do something everyone would regret, he wanted as much warning as possible.

  Mace looked up for a second before her gaze snapped to the door. Alec stood there, a blanket wrapped tightly around his half-clothed body. Byron fought the impulse to go to him, knowing neither Alec nor Mace would appreciate the sentiment. But gods, did he want to.

  “I—” Alec gave his head a soft shake. “Where are we heading?”

  Alec glanced at Mace, but she dropped her chin to her chest, breaking eye contact. Byron took a half step forward. “Pymiran sector. It’ll be safe, so we can get you healthy. Once you take the medicine, then you’ll be able to continue your research.”

  “Because you are going to finish it,” Mace added, steel behind her words.

  “The ryana antidote?” Alec waited for her to answer. When she didn’t, he turned to Byron. “What happened?”

  “Mace and I had a little heart-to-heart. Seems a good friend of mine is her brother. Thought she was dead when it turned out she’d been rescued by a pirate.”

  Before he had a chance to continue, Mace was on her feet and moving across the room to stand in front of Alec. Byron followed but stopped a short distance away when he realized she wasn’t touching Alec.

  “Faolan’s been infected. I owe him everything. So you are going to take whatever medicine you need to get your head straight enough to help me find an antidote. Then we are going to find the Belle Kurve and you are going to make sure it works and Faolan is going to be okay. If everything works out, I might consider letting you live. But if he dies, you’re next.”

  Byron opened his mouth to say something, but Mace spun around, her finger pointing at him. “And don’t tell me not to threaten him. If our positions were reversed, you would feel exactly the same.”

  She stared him down until he backed off. Nodding, he conceded her point. “Fair enough.”

  Mace swallowed, letting her hand fall to her side. A soft chuckle slipped past her lips. “I hate this.”

  Alec shuffled closer to her, reached out, and squeezed her shoulder. “I know the words are meaningless, but I am sorry. I never knew what they were really doing with the things I created. I was a cocky kid who didn’t think, and trusted that the people I worked for were giving me all the information. But I’m going to make this right, Mace. I promise.”

  She stiffened. “I hate knowing it was you. When the creator was some faceless monster cackling with glee over his latest method of torture, it was easier.”

  “But knowing the monster was an idiot, someone who believed the ryana poison was going to be used as a way of removing a blight of mutated ryana fungus from a farming colony, doesn’t quite make anything better.” Alec’s voice was strangely sympathetic.

  A tear slipped down Mace’s face as she reached up to cover Alec’s hand. “Yeah.”

  Byron hated feeling useless. He wanted nothing more than to blow something up or beat the shit out of someone. Standing here watching them try to feel their way through this fucked-up situation was worse than a knife wound to the gut. He needed to get them on the planet and make this right. For both of them.

  Instead he reached down and scooped up Alec’s glasses from where they’d fallen earlier. Holding them out, he brushed his fingers against Alec’s when he took them. Byron knew if he could keep the three of them together, they could work through this.

  He did his best to ignore the softer emotions welling up in his chest. “Mace. You’re exhausted. Why don’t you and Alec go lie down and I’ll make sure the ship lands on the safe zone.”

  She pushed her hair behind her ear and wiped the tear away. “If you do anything to hurt this ship—”

  “I’ll castrate myself. I remember your brother’s rules. Go rest.”

  He watched as Alec tugged on her shoulder. “I’m still feeling a bit woozy. I might need your help.”

  Mace turned, reluctantly wrapping an arm around Alec’s waist, and the two of them disappeared down the hall. Byron stood in the middle of the room alone and did his best to fight through the rising tension in his body. This wasn’t what he’d expected to find when that warrant crossed his desk. He didn’t have a clue how to fix this.

  There were many things in Alec’s life he regretted. Hurting Mace—even unknowingly—was very close to the top of his list. With his feet hanging off the side of the bed, he sat and watched her pace. She was clearly tired and angry, most of the latter emotion directed squarely at him.

  Escaping his Loyalist keepers and letting them think he was running scared or dead had been the only way he could be free to work without restrictions and find cures for all the shit he’d cooked up; it had also meant escaping the pain and guilt of having to look the victims and their families in the eye. Living a furtive life in a squalid, obscure waypost settlement was far too easy a punishment for his crimes.

  Except now there was Mace.

  “You should sit down,” he managed to say after her fifth circuit around the room. “Maybe have a rest.”

  “Yup.” She kept moving.

  Alec pinched the bridge of his nose and ignored the burning starting up in his blood again. Damn it, he was going to have to get himself off soon just so he would be able to think. “I can leave. I’m sure there’s more than one cabin I can lock myself in if you don’t want me in here. It will give you a chance to have a shower and unwind a bit.”

  Mace stopped short, turning her head to stare at him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You still look like hell, and Byron will murder me if something happens to you.”

  “I’m clearly making you uncomfortable, so it might be for the best.”

  He’d started to push himself up when she strode across the room, stopping him with a hand on each of his shoulders.

  “Don’t be an idiot. Stay there.”

  Not wanting to give up the contact, he covered her hands. He’d lost count of how many times they’d been in a similar position over the past few months. Encouraging one another to rest, to eat, to try aga
in. He’d taken it for granted. “Mace, I’m—”

  “Don’t.” Muscles jumped along her jaw as she clenched her teeth. “Just . . . you’re not the only one on this ship with a past. I’m not an innocent princess who can pass judgment on you with a clear conscience, but that doesn’t mean I’m not furious right now.”

  He’d often wondered what had brought Mace to him. Sure, he was the expert, but there were many other doctors both in and out of Loyalist influence who could have helped her almost as well.

  “Bry said he knew your brother. Another bounty hunter?”

  “Yeah. He thought I was dead and ended up working for Krieg, the head of the guild before Byron took over. And a complete bastard.”

  Taking a chance, Alec tugged on her wrist, coaxing her to sit beside him. Mace resisted briefly before letting him pull her down. Not wanting to break the fragile truce they seemed to silently have created, he laced his fingers through hers, enjoying the softness of her skin. Giving her a squeeze, he was relieved to feel her return the gesture.

  “So your brother went to work for the guild. Where did you end up?”

  “Pirate ship. I probably have a bigger bounty on my head than you do. I figured Byron was after me when he showed up on the planet.”

  A few standard days ago, he couldn’t have imagined his sweet-tempered research assistant doing anything that would warrant a bounty on her head. But a pirate?

  Still, it made a strange sort of sense. The way she held a blaster and the sharp temper he’d seen emerge proved that Mace was a force to be reckoned with. After her showdown with Byron, he could easily imagine her raiding a Loyalist cruiser and taking no prisoners. He suspected she could easily kill him barehanded if she were so inclined. “What are you wanted for?”

  A small smirk tugged at her lips. “I blew up a Loyalist weapons facility a few years ago. It was part of a raid that allowed the Borjan Five colony rebels to drive out the Loyalists during their coup.”

  “Have you ever killed anyone?” It wasn’t the sort of question he expected anyone to answer honestly, but somehow he knew with Mace it was different.

  She tried to pull her hand away, but he didn’t let go. She relented after a moment and squeezed tighter, her gaze locked on the floor. “Yes, I have.”

  “Self-defense?”

  “Self-preservation. He was a pirate, one who didn’t follow the code. We got wind he was coming after Faolan. When he blew up a base where several pirates were meeting, because he thought Faolan was there, the Admiral put out notice to have him killed.”

  “The Admiral?” Gods, there was a lot beyond the Loyalist borders he still didn’t know. “Who the hell—”

  “Best not to ask.” A small smile twitched at her lips. “Me and one of the other crew members had to go after the bastard and put him down.”

  Mace was protecting others.

  “You had no choice.”

  “Doesn’t make it right or take away how it makes me feel.” She finally looked up at him, her eyes full of anguish. “He was a complete bastard who got off on pain and torture. I know I did the universe a favor by killing him. But there was a brief second before I pulled the trigger when he looked right at me. Gods, Alec. He looked terrified. I had done that to him.”

  Byron had always brushed off the action of taking a life as an unpleasant but sometimes necessary part of the job. Mace seemed to feel the same way Alec did, know the same cold dread that seeped through his body at the knowledge he was responsible for snuffing out the spark in another being. Needing to offer comfort as much as he had to take it, Alec leaned forward and captured Mace’s mouth in a kiss.

  Unlike Byron, he didn’t dive in with force. While a part of him still loved Byron and his domineering ways, there was another part of him that wanted softness and comfort couched in strength. He wanted Mace.

  There was a chasteness about the press of their lips together. In any other circumstance, he could have laughed off the gentle contact. He might never have pursued Mace at all, given where their relationship had been even a few days ago. But now, here, sitting on the side of a bed floating through space, totally unsure of where the future was taking them, he couldn’t pull away.

  Mace moaned as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. Alec ignored the feeling that he was taking advantage of the situation. The fire burning through him pushed past his warring emotions, forcing his growing need to a crisis point.

  The kiss turned angry and urgent, and he knew Mace was taking what she needed from him.

  He pulled back, gasping, dizzy at the sight of her swollen lips and glazed eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that from the moment you walked into my lab.”

  “Why didn’t you?” She rubbed her thumb across his temple.

  “I told you before, you weren’t serious.” He’d spent his years after leaving the Loyalists trying not to take advantage of others, and he’d tried to resist his growing attraction to his lab employee. But Mace was the strong pirate, not the meek assistant. She might even be able to handle the darkness swirling around inside his head. They were on equal footing.

  Mace lightly sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, finally nodding. “But I am now.”

  A wave of lust welled up inside him. Without thinking, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed her firmly back into the mattress. “If you’re going to change your mind, I need you to do it sooner rather than later. The Brasillian symptoms get worse when I’m . . . well, right before they get better. I won’t be able to think about anything but that after a certain point. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself.”

  “I’ll probably kill you if you try.”

  “You might want to do that anyway now that you know the truth.”

  In a move that would have impressed Byron, Mace rolled them over on the bed so she straddled his waist. Lowering her face so she was only an inch from his, Mace spoke in a low and firm voice. “Let’s get something straight. I’m still pissed as hell at you for what you’ve done. Don’t be foolish enough to think everything is okay. I might still kill you. But there is something between us and I’m not willing to walk away. Not yet. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Now are you going to fuck me or not?” She stripped off her vest for the second time in as many hours.

  Alec’s world tilted on its axis. For once, he wanted to be the one calling the shots in bed. He needed her to know he was capable of giving her something other than pain and heartache. Without any warning, he rolled them back over until they were in the middle of the mattress, then shifted down to unfasten her pants and pull them off. He was grateful she hadn’t put her boots back on when she’d abandoned the room earlier.

  He yanked his own pants off and crawled back up to where she lay waiting on the bed, watching him with a measured, appraising gaze.

  He fit perfectly between her legs. The moisture from her pussy now trickled down her thighs to wet his legs and cock. Mace moaned, bucking her hips up to force the connection between them, sending another rush of lust through him. It was powerful but bordered on the edge of his control.

  “I wanted our first time to be something special you’d remember.” He kissed her shoulder. “I didn’t expect it would end up being a pity fuck.”

  “Technically,” she gasped as he bit down on the juncture of her neck, “this is the second time. And who said anything about pity? Now if you don’t do something soon, I’m going to call Byron on the coms and get him to come down here and—”

  He smothered her tirade with a kiss. Her lips parted instantly as her tongue probed his mouth. He jerked his hips forward, forcing the length of his shaft across her swollen clit. Mace moaned, digging her nails into the backs of his shoulders and answering with a buck of her own.

  He could have come from the novelty of it all. Smooth skin and soft curves, covering a layer of strong muscle. From her near-frantic thrashing beneath, he knew Mace wanted him to do more, take her out of herself. He’d felt that near-blinding
need more than once with Byron—silently begging someone else to make the hurt and confusion simply go away. But just because she wanted to lose herself didn’t mean she was going to hand control over to him the way he did to Byron.

  He covered her hands with his, spreading them until Mace’s arms were stretched out to the side. Breaking their kiss, he couldn’t stop grinning at the look of frustration on her face. She struggled against his hold and tried to maneuver her legs so she could leverage herself off the bed. Spread wide like she was, she didn’t stand a chance.

  “None of that, Mace.” Alec tilted his hips, trapping her. Her eyes widened as a startled gasp escaped her. Rubbing his lips across hers, he grinned down at her. “I’m still on fire in here and need some relief. I want to come in your pussy again.”

  “Oh yeah?” There was defiance and more than a little eagerness in her voice. “Are you going to make me?”

  “Is that what you want?” He tightened his grip on her wrists. “Because I have no problem playing rough. Given my current state, I think rough is the only thing I can manage.”

  Mace snorted. “I doubt you know what rough is.”

  He couldn’t let a challenge like that go unanswered. Transferring both her slender wrists into one hand, he reached down with the other to pull on the back of her knee. He knew if he encouraged Mace to wrap her leg around his waist, she would, but it would totally undermine the mood they were setting. Instead he pressed her knee to the mattress, pinning her open.

  Thanks to the enhanced olfactory neurons provided by his spliced-in Syrilian DNA, and the keen need forced on him by the Brasillian syndrome, the scent of Mace’s arousal hit Alec hard. Without pausing to think, he gave in to his impulses and drove himself completely into her waiting cunt.

  Mace cried out as her back arched off the mattress. Alec pulled back to give himself better leverage. He didn’t stop. Hell, he didn’t even slow down. Instead he picked up the pace until he was pounding into her steadily. His mind seemed to sharpen every time her slick passage clenched around his shaft, making him aware of details that would normally have escaped his notice.