No Remedy

by Christine d'Abo

  Faolan let out a soft huff before turning to face Alec once more. “Let’s start this again. You say you’re the man responsible for my death here, but I know who it was that poisoned me. Mind explaining exactly what you meant?”

  Alec began to explain. And it was at that moment Mace realized she’d fallen in love with him.

  Without deflecting any blame from himself, he described his work as a Loyalist scientist, how he thought he’d been helping others by creating the ryana poison. By developing other chemical agents, some of which had also ended up as weapons. By designing the poison that had killed so many Syrilians . . . and the virus that had saved them, but at a terrible cost. A small part of her heart broke when he told them about the moment he’d learned of the tragedy on Syrili Prime and realized the truth. When he got to the part about his decision to flee—after a Loyalist security director had threatened to tear his life apart if he stopped developing products to the specifications he was given—Mace had to bite her tongue to keep from comforting him. Alec didn’t come right out and say Byron’s life had been threatened, but she was able to read between the lines.

  Based on how Byron tensed, he could as well.

  “I did my best to cover my tracks, moving from one backwater planet to another. At first I wouldn’t stay longer than a few standard months in any one spot. I’d been over a year on Naveeo, though. I figured once they realized I wasn’t going to reveal any unpleasant truths about them, they’d leave me alone. I thought I’d been doing well until Byron tracked me down.”

  Gar snorted and rolled his eyes. “Don’t feel bad. Byron has an uncanny ability to find shit.”

  Faolan crossed his arms and studied Alec. “So you’re telling me Mace didn’t just find some loony scientist who happened to specialize in ryana—she managed to find the one person in the entire universe who is the most likely to save my sorry ass, even after he’d done his best to hide from everyone?”

  Looking back at her, Alec smiled. “It seems like there are two uncanny trackers on board.”

  She knew she was blushing, but for once she really didn’t mind. There was something about the way Alec was staring at her that melted her insides. Gods, she wanted him.

  The sound of Byron clapping his hands together made her jump, breaking the moment. “Now that we’re past the whole ‘trying to kill each other’ phase, I suggest we get these two set up in a lab or med bay so they can continue to work on a cure.”

  Despite his words, Byron clearly wasn’t comfortable on board. The sooner they were able to get into some sort of routine, the better things would be for everyone. Mace was about to say as much when Faolan let out a low groan.

  “What’s wrong?” Gar was beside him in a flash, one arm around Faolan’s waist even as his body started to sag.

  “I’m not—” Faolan’s face went white and his eyes rolled back into his head a second before he passed out.

  Byron hadn’t moved in far too long. Back against the wall, he switched feet, taking his weight on the right one and pressed the left flat against the surface behind him. He was bone-tired and thirsty, and he kind of needed to use the head. But his gnawing desire to get out of the corridor where he’d taken up residency was squashed every time he glanced across the med bay door. Gar stood there, motionless, mirroring his position. Byron wouldn’t abandon his compatriot.

  Doc had kicked them both out of med bay after Gar’s hovering nearly caused her to drop a bio scanner. She’d kicked Byron out just for the hell of it. At least she patched my arm up first.

  Gar refused to move farther than half a meter from the door, even after both Doc and Mace tried to convince him to go rest. Byron didn’t bother wasting his breath on futile pleading. One look at Gar had told him that nobody would convince the man to leave his husband. Gar was staying put.

  It was what Byron would have done if it was Alec lying in there.

  “He thought he was dying.”

  Byron’s head snapped up. “What?”

  “He didn’t actually say the words,” Gar admitted. “But I suspect it’s why we’re here in the ion cloud.”

  Byron nodded. “Mace mentioned as much.”

  When Gar shifted his gaze from the spot on the floor he’d been examining, Byron was surprised to see his eyes were red-rimmed, bright with unshed tears. “The stupid bastard has given up.”

  “You know, Alec and Mace are amazing with that science crap.” Byron pushed away from the wall to move closer to Gar. “Ice Man, if anyone is going to be able to find a cure in time to save your guy, it’s those two. Alec is a fucking genius and Mace, well, she’s pretty damn smart too.”

  Gar snorted. “Most people are terrified of Mace when they meet her.”

  “I can imagine. She’s almost as fast as you are with a blaster. Hell of a good pilot too. She was pulling some maneuvers in that bucket of yours you would have been proud of.”

  Hell, the more he thought about her, the more Byron wanted to be with her. She’d slotted so neatly into his way of thinking, he hadn’t realized she’d done it. She was right there in his mind beside Alec. The two of them were a pair, not only balancing each other out, but filling the gaps in Byron’s life.

  Alec fed his need to see the wonder in the universe. Byron’s father had done what he could to educate him, but he’d been a mechanic on a middle-grade outpost world. The world of books and higher learning had been so far out of Byron’s reach, they weren’t in the realm of possibility. With Alec, he had a chance to touch a wisdom and way of seeing things he’d never considered before.

  Mace . . . Gods, he hadn’t ever expected to feel so close to a woman. His mother had died when he was a baby. After her death, his father never sought a female companion for anything more than a quick fuck, and he’d never brought one home. Byron had done the same thing for years, never realizing how much his father’s narrow outlook had affected his own. By the time he’d gotten some enlightenment, he’d already been in the guild, aiming for more power but half expecting to die each time he left for a mission. And still so angry at Alec’s disappearing act that he hadn’t considered a new long-term partner of whatever gender. Quick fucks were all he could manage.

  Mace had been a surprise in every possible way. She was strong and capable and skilled . . . and soft and comforting and small enough to fit perfectly under the curve of his arm. Where Alec reasoned and considered, she dove headfirst into most aspects of life despite the risks. Even in her one area of vulnerability, she’d taken a risk. She’d told Byron what she wanted, and trusted him to follow through. Only one other person had ever trusted him that way.

  And gods help him—having the two of them in bed was the best fucking sex he’d ever had in his life.

  “Do I want to know what you’re thinking about to put that look on your face?”

  Byron snapped his attention back to a now amused Gar. “Since it involves me doing dirty things to your sister, probably not.”

  Gar rolled his eyes. “I guess it goes without saying, if you do anything to hurt her, I’ll put a laser through your brain so fast you won’t have time to blink.”

  “And yet you still felt the need to say it.”

  “I know you, Byron. I’ve seen the revolving door to your bedroom. Men, women, it’s all the same. Never more than a night. Mace deserves more than that.”

  So does Alec. He knew Gar was right and only had his sister’s best interests in mind. It still pissed him off to know Gar thought so little of him.

  “You’re saying I’m not good enough for her, Ice Man?” Byron crossed his arms and stood directly in front of Gar. “You’d rather she end up with someone like you? Someone safe, who’ll protect her but never let her wild side out to play? I was good for Alec, and I’m just as good for her. Both of them.”

  Gar blinked, and for a moment Byron thought he was going to get a punch to the jaw. Instead the other man chuckled. “Now I understand.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Back
on Zeten when you caught me and Faolan escaping. You looked at me and saw the one thing I hadn’t even admitted to myself. I wasn’t sure how you’d been able to do that. I get it now.”

  Byron was about to drill him about what the hell he meant when the med bay door opened and Mace stepped out.

  “How is he?” Gar grabbed her shoulders with his hands. “Can I see him yet?”

  Mace appeared more than a little wrung out, black smudges shading her eyes and her skin paler than Byron had ever seen it. Her gaze flicked to him for a split second before she concentrated on her brother.

  “Doc has him sedated for now. He’s stable, but his immune system is starting to break down. Alec thinks he’ll be able to manufacture a booster that will buy us some time.” Mace reached up and covered Gar’s hands with hers. “We are so close to a solution. You just need to get him to hold on a little longer.”

  The expression on Gar’s face turned Byron’s stomach. He knew that expression, knew the feelings that went along with it and how they ate at a person from the inside. Reaching out, he gripped Gar’s shoulder and gave him a squeeze.

  “Alec is the best researcher I’ve ever come across. He makes these jumps in logic and understanding . . . I don’t even pretend to understand what he’s talking about. He’ll find a remedy. An antidote or something to help counteract the effects of the poison. Something.”

  Mace was nodding before he’d even finished speaking. “He wants to see you, actually. He has some questions about Faolan’s condition and how it might have changed over the past few months. Some things that Doc and I didn’t have the answers to.”

  Gar glanced between the two of them, and Byron knew him well enough to practically see the wheels spinning in his head.

  “You both trust him? Completely, without reservation?”

  Byron straightened. “Ice Man, other than yourself and your sister, Alec is the only other person I do trust.”

  It seemed to be enough for Gar. Without another word, he stepped past them and strode into the med bay. Once the door had closed, Byron couldn’t help but pull Mace into a hug.

  “You look like shit,” he muttered, placing a kiss to the top of her head. “You should try to get some rest.”

  Warm breath heated his chest, and he thought he felt her return his kiss. “So you trust me?”

  Of course she would pick up on that. “You think I’d fall into bed with just anyone?”

  “Yes.”

  He snorted. “While that might be true, there aren’t many people who I’ve let myself get . . . close to. Alec was the only person before now.”

  Mace hesitantly brushed her fingertips along his jaw. “And you’re starting to feel close to me? You haven’t known me that long.”

  Byron had seen too much of the shitty part of the universe to be convinced a softer emotion like love had that much power over him. He didn’t know if that word, that idea, was strong enough to match what he felt when he looked at Alec. And lately, the same stirrings built low in his gut, took over his breathing and heartbeat, governed his every nerve ending when he let his gaze sweep over Mace. Reaching up to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear, he smiled. Close, she’d said. Yeah, that too.

  “I think I might be. The length of time doesn’t seem to matter.”

  “I think . . .” Mace swallowed and smiled back softly. “Thanks.”

  “How is our boy doing? While I can stand here and say how confident I am in his ability to work miracles, I don’t have a clue when it comes to that science shit. I know he gets frustrated when things don’t go the way he wants.”

  She pulled away and shrugged. “He’s as tired as I am, but I don’t think he’ll rest. We’ll need to keep an eye on him or else he’ll burn out and be useless to Faolan. At least with Doc here we have another set of eyes to help work on the problem. Honestly I’m just as worried about Gar at this point.”

  Byron frowned. “Why?”

  “Doc said he’s been running himself ragged. Not sleeping. Taking over all of Faolan’s duties on top of his and mine. It’s been too much for him.”

  Thank the gods. At least this was a problem Byron could do something about. “I can help with that. Once he gets out from checking on his man, I’ll get him to put me to work.”

  Mace broke out into a blinding grin that both loosened the tension in his chest and sent a surge to his cock. “Thank you so much, Bry. It would mean a lot to me.”

  His body seemed to move on instinct, walking Mace forward until her back was flush against the wall. “How much would it mean?”

  Her full-body shiver and the gentle buck of her hips against his groin had him growling. “I’d be very grateful. I would even owe you a thank-you.”

  Closing his eyes, Byron pressed his forehead against the wall by her head. “You’re going to kill me talking like that when I can’t do anything about it. You and Alec . . . fucking killing me.”

  Pushing away from her, he ground the heel of his palm against his straining cock. “Go and rest, Mace. I’ll get your brother and we’ll get things straightened out on this ship. I’ll make sure everything is fine.”

  “Bossy.”

  He snorted. “You like it, so don’t even bother with that. Now go, so we can cure your captain and get back to a normal life for once.”

  Mace nodded and slipped back into the med bay, leaving him alone.

  Byron raked his fingers down his face. A normal life? Gods, he didn’t even know what that was.

  The muscles in the back of Alec’s neck were screaming at him. He’d been at this for three days now, nearly every moment he had since finishing his reevaluation of the antidote based on the new information he’d obtained. He did his best to ignore the discomfort in his body as he waited for the latest test results to come through. It was better to think about the positives—like the advantages of coming to the Belle Kurve to work on the antidote. Not only might he be able to help Faolan—a man he owed this to, and would never have met if he hadn’t made his dash for freedom seven years ago—but he had all the live samples he could ever desire to test his formulas on. He was also able to see how the poison had mutated over time as it interacted with Faolan’s immune system, something he hadn’t been sufficiently accounting for in his previous antidote attempts.

  “Your spine is going to snap in two if you don’t relax.” Faolan’s amused voice filled the med bay. “My gods, you’ve got a stick up your ass to rival Gar’s.”

  The first few days of Alec’s renewed testing, Faolan had been unconscious. Three days ago, Alec had found an odd cellular mutation floating in Faolan’s latest blood tests that had led him to making an improvement in the immune booster. In a matter of hours, the captain was awake and getting back to his old ways, if Doc was to be believed. How the fiery redheaded doctor hadn’t killed Faolan from sheer annoyance before now, Alec wasn’t sure.

  “I think this one might be close, Captain. I need to make sure there aren’t any glitches.”

  “Alec, you won’t miss anything.”

  He couldn’t help but turn at Faolan’s exasperated tone. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I’ve been awake for four days now, and I’ve yet to see you miss a detail, forget a note, or be unable to recollect any aspect of any of the tests either you, Mace, or Doc have run. Relax.”

  Alec stared at him, not quite believing what he was hearing. “If I miss something, you will most likely die. We’re barely slowing the progress of this thing as it is.”

  Faolan’s bright-blue and very amused gaze locked onto his. “Me dying isn’t the end of the universe.”

  Alec stomped across the med bay to stand at the foot of Faolan’s bed. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Anger swelled through him, exploding out. “Gar and Mace would be devastated if anything happened to you! Do you think I’d ever be able to live with myself if you died and I had to look at them every day knowing it was my fault your body was floating out in the middle of an ion cloud? So pardon me if I’m going to do
everything possible to save your sorry ass.”

  Faolan’s smirk never left his lips. “Really, I know I’m harping on a theme here, but I never thought I’d meet anyone who was more of a tight-ass than Gar. It’s really something to see. You’ve got so much emotion bottled up inside you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you actually exploded from the pressure.”

  Alec bit down on his tongue, not wanting to take any more of Faolan’s bait. Of course he had emotions, but rarely did they do him any good in situations like this. He kept very tight control over himself, like a good little Loyalist scientist. The only time he ever let go was when Byron pushed him, forced him to relax and give up his control. Or even better, when Byron and Mace were both with him. Then he felt like everything else around him could melt away. He could simply be a man with normal concerns and not carry the weight of his sins on his shoulder.

  Gods, he missed them. He’d segregated himself from them as much as possible, not willing to risk the distraction. Mace was a constant presence in the med bay, either visiting Faolan or helping with the antidote, but the work took all their attention. Fortunately at least Byron was busy elsewhere on the ship, only stopping by to visit when Gar did. Those times were tenser than anything Alec could ever remember between them. He knew there was so much they needed to discuss, but he couldn’t do it—not now.

  “That is some serious thinking if I ever saw it.” Faolan shifted in his bed, crossing his arms over his still-sizable chest. “When was the last time you took a break?”

  “I don’t see what that has to do—”

  “You are the man who is trying to find a cure for the thing killing me. I want to know if you are in a suitable mental state to be working on this. Now answer the question.”

  It took Alec longer than he would have liked to think back so he could provide the response. “Twelve hours.”

  Faolan rolled his eyes. “Go. Find Mace and that other fella and get laid. Eat, drink, I really don’t care. I don’t want to see you back in here until tomorrow morning.”