Captivated (The Verge Book 2)

by A. C. Thomas

  Confounded, irritated, overwhelmed. Those terms rather defined most of his parents’ reactions to Theo, actually.

  Jun ran his fingers lightly over the buttons in front of him, his voice so soft it was almost shy. “Patch is like that. A whole bunch of heirlooms mixed up and stitched together into a hideous old quilt.”

  Theo grinned, the chair creaking ominously as he leaned forward with excitement. “That’s what you’ve been cursing in all along, isn’t it? I’ve caught bits and pieces of it, and it’s only left me craving more. You’ll have to teach me; everything I’ve heard so far was absolutely delightful.”

  Jun responded with something in Patch that definitely called into question Theo’s standards for delight.

  Theo threw back his head, laughter bubbling up and over like an overfull kettle on boil. “Oh, Ari will simply wilt with despair when he hears I’ve picked up a new language so diverting to curse in.”

  Jun gave Theo a solemn expression, all traces of amusement washed away. “You miss him. Your Ari.”

  Theo sighed, pulling his hair free from the braid and starting it over again just to give his fingers something to do. Something to calm the wailing tide of fear and longing that washed over him at the mention of his twin. “More than you can imagine. I’ve never been apart from him for so long. We do everything together. I hardly know who I am without him by my side.”

  A muscle jumped in Jun’s jaw as he turned his attention to the view screen. “I’ll bring you back.”

  Theo stood from his seat and clasped his hands together excitedly as he bounced on his heels. “Oh, would you? I fear it’s been long enough now that he must be absolutely beside himself. He never was one to embrace a change in routine. Dedicated to his schedule, my Ari.”

  Jun shook his head once, firmly, gaze flicking to Theo before returning to his screen. “When you’ve finished the translation, I’ll bring you back.”

  Theo deflated into his chair, pulling anxiously on the braided lock of hair and sprawling in every direction in a manner Ari considered uncouth. “I see. Yes, of course. I suppose I have not yet served my purpose, have I? I apologize, but sometimes I do forget that I remain your captive. It isn’t always quite what one has been led to believe in books—captivity.”

  Jun didn’t respond, tattooed fingers tapping on his screen with urgency for a matter of minutes while Theo braided and unbraided his hair. Jun finally lifted his hands from the screen. “It’s time to prepare for the jump. Strap in tight.”

  He glanced over to check Theo’s harness and sighed loudly when he saw that it was twisted and undone, shoved to the side so Theo could drape a leg over his armrest. After clicking out of his own seat with brisk efficiency, Jun walked over to grab Theo by the shoulders and righted him in his seat.

  Theo swallowed hard as firm hands settled his hips into place, moving him as if he were as light as a feather.

  Theo was an absolute sucker for manhandling.

  Jun appeared to know how to handle a man such as Theo.

  The penchant wasn’t something Theo was proud of, but it was something that had him sucking in a sharp breath as Jun untangled the straps with a muttered Patch diatribe. A hard yank, securing Theo further in his seat, forced a noise out of him that should never have seen the light of day.

  Jun’s startled eyes met his as his fist clenched tight on the strap over Theo’s chest. He released him, shoved away, and returned with half a stumble to his own seat. His ears, exposed by the close-shaven sides of his head, glowed red along the edges as he cleared his throat and strapped himself in.

  Jun didn’t say anything as they approached the Verge, his focus on the shimmering barrier of swirling colors and impenetrable energy filling their view screen.

  Theo’s breath caught at the sight; he had never been this close before, never seen it in person. The Verge was beautiful in the way that dangerous things could be beautiful sometimes, like standing at the edge of a cliff and staring down into the churning waters of the sea.

  Theo never could resist edging closer to beautiful, dangerous things.

  Energy crawled over his skin as they drew nearer and nearer, colored light twisting and snapping in lightning-hot flashes in every direction.

  Every muscle in Jun’s body tensed as he gripped a sturdy lever on the dash, his knuckles white beneath the ink.

  He glanced over at Theo, then slammed the lever forward, sending the dinghy careening straight into the barrier. The ship shook so hard that the bolts holding Theo’s chair to the floor rattled and whined beneath his feet.

  Debris started to fall all around them. Small metal pieces pinged against the floor, and wires draped down from the ceiling as panels shimmied open.

  Jun’s teeth clenched over a low roar as he brought his fist down hard on the dash to force the lever the rest of the way. It fell into place with a quiet click, and then they were jerked back against their seats, energy crackling with a frequency Theo could feel in his teeth as the dinghy finally punched through.

  Alarms shrieked overhead as the ship wobbled and somersaulted away from the barrier. Yelling out curses, Jun slapped blindly at switches and buttons until silence fell, and the ship was righted once more.

  A silence that was immediately broken when Theo’s chair teetered, tipped on its base, and crashed to the floor with a bang only surpassed in volume by Theo’s undignified yelp.

  The floor shook and juddered beneath his cheek where he lay pressed against the cold metal, wheezing a little as he gasped for the air that had been knocked out of him.

  Jun’s cursing took on an entirely different tone, softer and lower as he clicked out of his harness and dropped down to extricate Theo from his.

  Strong arms wrapped around his back and hooked behind his knees. Theo’s view tipped again as Jun lifted him with a quiet huff, placed him gently into the pilot’s seat, and fastened the harness that required a great deal of tightening to fit down to Theo’s leaner frame. “Are you hurt?” Jun asked, his words strained.

  He ran his hands over the air surrounding Theo’s body like he wanted to touch but was unsure of his welcome.

  Theo tried to speak but only managed a cough as his lungs struggled to fill.

  Cupping Theo’s chin in his fingers, Jun turned his head to inspect the sore spot throbbing high on his cheek. Jun’s face darkened at whatever he saw, and he brushed his thumb softly, just below the spot. He’d just parted his lips to speak when a static-slashed voice came over the ship’s com.

  “Can’t believe you made it back here in that piece of shit, Captain. I was taking bets we’d be scraping both you and the dinghy off the Verge with a rusted spatula. You just lost me a stack of chips, you dick.”

  Jun’s hand fell away from Theo as he leaned over the dash. He brought up his screen and tapped rapidly. “I’m sending you my location. Pickup in ten. My ship better be exactly the way I left it, Axel.”

  The voice laughed, a pleasing light tenor in distinct contrast with Jun’s rumbling bass. “I think Marco’s got her running even better than she was before you left. We all behaved ourselves while Daddy was gone; don’t you worry.”

  Jun pressed a despairing hand to his face, muffling a groan. His ears glowed ever brighter over hunched shoulders as he growled his response. “If you ever call me that again, I will let Boom use your best arm for target practice.”

  He muted the com as Axel’s voice started to come through again. Leaning over the dash with a deep breath, Jun turned to face Theo and frowned at his gleeful expression.

  Theo tried not to laugh, but, like most efforts to contain himself, he failed miserably.

  Jun stomped past him into the main cabin, grabbed his coat off the seat, and pulled it on. He returned to loom over Theo. “You’ll meet the Crew when we rendezvous with my ship. They might be a miserable bunch of assholes, but I can personally guarantee your safety among them. While you are here, you are my responsibility. I take that very seriously.”

  Theo nodded, impress
ed with the speech and the intimidating figure Jun cut in his sweeping coat, with his forbidding scowl firmly in place.

  He chewed on his lip, questions bursting from him in a shoulder-quaking fit of laughter.

  “So, the Daddy thing—”

  “Don’t.”

  “Is it a universal ban or—”

  “Stop.”

  “—is it up for negotiation?”

  “I will flush you out of the airlock,” Jun gritted behind clenched teeth, every line of his face a threat. Every line of his face a study in masculine beauty.

  Theo held up both hands. “No, you won’t, for several reasons.” With a shark-toothed smile, he ticked items on his fingers as he listed them: “First, this ship isn’t equipped for it. Second, you’ve already shown your hand, and I know you need me alive and well. Third, I think we both know you would miss me too much.”

  He added a flutter of lashes to the final point, causing Jun to snarl as he made his way back to the main cabin. From there, the sounds of panels opening and items crashing to the floor were underscored by dark muttering in Patch.

  The dinghy jolted, caught in a loading beam, and Jun hit the wall with a shout as Theo rocked securely in his harness.

  He didn’t know whether to be frightened or thrilled over this next step into the unknown. Given his options, Theo decided to go with thrilled. Life was much better that way.

  It took less than five minutes for Jun to load the dinghy onto the much larger ship and then lower the ramp down into a cavernous cargo bay stacked high with metal crates.

  Three pairs of curious eyes peered up at them.

  Chapter Nine

  The first one to speak was a young man with spiked green hair and so many freckles scattered across his pale skin that he appeared to be made up of constellations. He gave Theo a once-over with a smirk, then turned to Jun, hands planted on his hips.

  Well, one hand and one bright-blue bionic limb that attached just above the elbow on his left side. “A Doll? You went all that way just to bring back a rusted Doll? We could’ve dropped a line down the pipe and had one of those on the ship in an hour, Captain. Damn waste of time just to scratch an itch.”

  His voice was familiar, sharper without the static interference of the comlink. Jun ignored him, clomped down the ramp to shove past, knocking his shoulder belligerently against Axel’s, which only earned him a bark of laughter.

  “When you said you had to go pick up something in the Core to help us with the job,” Axel continued, “we were thinking more along the lines of some kind of badass laser cannon. Not”—he gestured along the entirety of Theo’s person disdainfully—“this.”

  Jun scowled, waving Theo down into the cargo bay as if he were directing a landing pod. “This is Dr. Campbell. He’s going to help us.”

  Theo offered an abbreviated bow, trying not to gawk at the assembled Crew as he smoothed both hands down his wrinkled jacket and straightened his cravat. “Pleasure to make your acquaintances. I do apologize for my disheveled appearance; Jun abducted me directly from my office. I’m afraid I’m not at my best. It’s lovely to meet you all, regardless of the unusual circumstances.”

  Axel’s face lit up, pale-green eyebrows rising as he turned to Jun. “Oh. Sorry, Captain. You had me worried for a minute there. I thought you were getting us mixed up in the Doll trade. Turns out you were just abducting innocent, unsuspecting people directly from the Core for totally unrelated reasons. Cool.”

  Jun dropped down to focus on opening one of the cates surrounding the dinghy. He pressed his hand to the scuffed scanner panel and waited for the series of beeps. “You know I don’t trade.”

  Axel assessed Theo again, tossing his words over his shoulder at Jun as he took Theo in like livestock. “Well, I also thought I knew you didn’t kidnap adorable little redheads, but here we are.”

  Theo perked up at the compliment, flicking his cuffs into place as he smiled at Axel and moved slightly closer. “You truly think I’m adorable?”

  Axel turned to Jun with a ringing laugh. Jun remained bent over the crate but stopped moving, shoulders hunched. Axel still seemed to be speaking to Theo, but aimed his words directly at Jun. “Sure I do, dollface, and I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one.”

  Jun yanked a surge launcher out of the crate and aimed it casually in Axel’s direction, which only made him laugh harder before turning back to Theo. “The name’s Axel, your resident handsome, sexy, hilarious ace pilot.” Two voices snorted derisively at the description, one of them belonging to Jun. “I’d be happy to show you around. You must be dying for some conversation after being cooped up with Captain Chatty all the way here.”

  Jun continued to pile items on the lid of the crate without ever acknowledging his companions.

  Theo considered his forbidding profile, then leaned in to Axel conspiratorially, pitching his voice to be heard over by the crates. “It wasn’t all bad. Portions of the journey were particularly stimulating, I would say.”

  Jun’s ears slowly tinted red as he dumped his assembled weaponry into a battered canvas duffel bag with a clatter, maintaining a pointed focus on his task.

  The other two members of the crew waited in silence that grew somewhat ominous the longer it stretched on, both pairs of dark eyes trained on Theo. Axel gestured at them.

  “These are the Valdez siblings, Marco and Boom. Marco’s alright, but steer clear of Boom if you want to keep all your limbs intact, gingerbread.”

  Axel waved his bionic limb cheerfully as Theo stared at the siblings, who both shared the same clear olive skin tone and shiny black ringlets but were so different in build it was laughable.

  Marco stood as tall and broad as Jun. His hopelessly stained shirt was missing the sleeves, leaving his arms, corded with muscle and streaked with engine grease, in full view. He noticed Theo’s attention to them and flexed with a wink and a kiss, earning a glare from Jun that could have melted steel. His trousers had been cut off at midthigh as well, the hems frayed down to his knees. Well, knee. His right leg appeared to be composed entirely of dark, grease-stained metal.

  Boom stood at least a head shorter than Theo, her petite figure barely contained by her extremely short garment. Comprised of thick, alternating strips of leather and mesh, it ended scant inches after her legs began. Only a small stretch of muscular thigh showed past the hem before disappearing beneath heavy-soled leather boots, the tops of which were folded down to expose a row of shiny blades tucked against her skin. Glowing augments adorned the backs of each of her small, elegant hands, with thin lines of metal embedded from wrists to the last knuckles.

  Boom rolled her eyes and cocked one shapely hip to the side, her faintly glowing hands gesticulating lazily. “Oh shut up, Ax. You lost that arm before you even met me. Captain’s gonna be pissed if you scare off his little Doll with your incessant bullshit.”

  Her clothing and demeanor were so far outside of the scope any woman Theo had ever met. It was fascinating.

  Exciting.

  Delightful.

  He drew his hand slowly through the air between them, indicating her fantastic manner of dress. “Is that sort of ensemble en vogue in the Restricted Sector? How absolutely marvelous. You appear both completely terrifying and utterly magnificent, madam. I do so envy you your style. Monochromatic has never been so appealing, and I must say, you wear it well!”

  Boom cast him a suspicious glare, then sneered over her shoulder at Jun. “Is he for real? He talks like he’s in one of those historical vids my aunt used to watch.”

  Jun shrugged and dropped a double-barreled pistol into the duffel carelessly, heedless of the clatter it made. “You get used to it.”

  There was a tone to his sardonic voice that was very nearly fond, and it did something rather absurd to Theo’s heart. So much so, he began to wonder if the fanciful organ had decided to take up jump rope.

  Marco offered a shy smile. “I like it.” He spoke in a soft tenor Theo would never have expected, considering hi
s large build. “I think you sound nice.”

  Such a small, strange thing to send a lump to Theo’s throat. He struggled against it in expressing his thanks to Marco, who accepted with a slight nod. People back home were not usually so friendly to Theo. So effortlessly kind.

  His reputation usually preceded him.

  Axel sidled closer with a comical leer. “Need me to show you to your bunk, Doc?” He spoke far too loudly to be addressing Theo, who was right beside him. “Get you tucked in for the night? Looks like the captain’s busy, so I don’t mind stepping in as a friendly gesture.”

  The duffel bag crashed to the ground behind Axel, which only made his face light up with glee.

  Jun stalked over and grabbed Theo’s upper arm in a firm but gentle grasp. He steered Theo away from the crew without a word of parting, weaving through the stacks of crates and out an open door into a wide corridor.

  Theo stumbled along behind as they made their way through a makeshift dining hall and cluttered galley, past closed doorways, and down another corridor into a sparsely appointed bedchamber fitted with a bolted-down bed, a minuscule metal desk and chair, and little else.

  Jun shut the door behind them with a flat palm against the panel, locking them in with a quiet beep.

  That ever-present charge snapped and buzzed in the space between them, just as thick and inescapable here as it had been on the dinghy.

  Theo was almost relieved by the constancy of it.

  The reassurance that he had not imagined the intensity.

  He took deep breaths to combat his racing heart as Jun waited silently, hands fisted at his sides. “Well, your crew seems lovely. I hope we can get to know one another better over the course of my work here. Develop a positive relationship as colleagues. Not that I’ve ever had a particularly positive relationship with my colleagues before, but it never hurts to make the effort.”