Hadrian shook his head, the movement tiny and nearly invisible. “I would never hurt him.”
“But you’re not staying on board. What happens when we get to Alpha Centauri?”
“I cannot answer that.”
“You might want to think about it. He’s been fawning over you since you arrived. It’s going to crush him when you leave. If he thinks you might be interested, I’ll be cleaning him off the floor for months.” The statement was harsher than he’d intended, but Danverse wasn’t sorry. The man before him threatened to undo everything. Liam was smitten. If Hadrian returned his affections, Liam might follow him to the gates of Hell.
Hadrian’s shoulders sagged and he lowered his head to the side of the bed. He reached out to the bed frame and traced the line of the molding, his fingertips stopping short of the life-saving aura’s edge.
“I have tried to stay away. I barely know Liam, but I cannot deny how drawn I am to him. I never realized how lonely I was until I met him.”
Danverse couldn’t help hearing the raw need in the dangerous man’s voice. It was stronger than his own. The struggle to restrain himself was written in the tightness running across Hadrian’s shoulders.
“I’m not going to tell you to stay away from him. I’m just asking that, before you start anything, you think about how it will end.”
Danverse turned away and left the sick bay. He couldn’t continue to watch Hadrian at Liam’s bedside. He’d watched the scene of Hadrian dispatching the group of raiders more times than he cared to admit. The man was a trained killer. The sight of him unraveling at Liam’s bedside was unnerving. Danverse had no interest in humanizing Hadrian at this point.
The door closed behind him with a loud hiss, and Danverse looked down the hall. He deflated with an excruciatingly slow breath. Pressures of being captain had never weighed so heavy on him before. He was beginning to understand the age-old concept of the captain going down with the ship. Being the captain meant forever standing alone.
Did it always have to be that way? He wasn’t ready to concede that.
“Mrs. Claus. Where is Mac Smith?”
Mrs. Claus chimed in. “Mackenzie Smith is in his quarters, Captain Danverse.”
Danverse turned down the hall and entered the lift to Beta deck. Once there, he stopped in front of Mac’s door. He pressed the door chime, and the panel replied back in amber digital letters: Do Not Disturb.
Danverse frowned. It was time for the mess hall to start serving dinner, and he wasn’t ready to eat without company. Mac hadn’t surfaced since the scene at the cargo bay, and Danverse needed his proximity to take the edge off. He pressed the panel’s com again.
“Mac. Open the door. That’s an order.”
An extended pause followed before the heavy door slid open. Mac stood in the doorway, but he wasn’t the man Danverse was accustomed to.
The customary jovial energy was gone. Dark circles painted his eyes. His disheveled hair was way beyond the usual, and he still wore the same filthy T-shirt and breeches from two days before. A dirty sheen glossed his skin. Mac was often unshaven, but right then, he was a wreck. He looked up at the captain and turned away, disappearing back into the darkness of his room. Danverse followed him in and was surprised by the sight.
The lights were low, the room primarily lit by the active data screens on multiple monitors. The uneven, harsh light threw unnatural shadows across the normally uncluttered room. Mac was known for making a mess of himself during his duties, but his living space had always been immaculate. That was not the case now. Tools and com-pads were thrown about the room. Every storage panel was open, their contents spilled out. Empty bottles littered the floor. It looked like his quarters had been ransacked.
“What the fuck happened here, Mac?”
Mac ignored Danverse, picked up a random com-pad, and deposited himself in front of a monitor. He tapped the screen impatiently as he compared details between the devices. Apparently unhappy with the results, he threw the com-pad to the floor and picked up another, his eyes wild and unsettled. Danverse didn’t like what he was seeing.
“Mac.” With a whisper, he placed a firm hand on Mac’s shoulder. Danverse could feel the tension in Mac’s muscles. Mac paused and turned to look at him. The agitation and emotion floating under the surface couldn’t be denied. It reminded Danverse of when Liam came to his door after his nightmares had gotten out of control.
Mac’s words were as rough as his appearance. “I have to find how they got in.”
“What? The raiders?”
“They bypassed my systems and nearly killed the boss. They would have killed more of us, too, if they’d had the chance.”
“But they didn’t, and Liam is going to be fine.”
Mac twitched as he shook his head. “I should have been able to keep them out.”
“It’s not your fault, Mac.”
“Of course it’s my fault!” Pain flooded his voice, making his words coarse and agonizing to hear. “If I’d done my job right, they wouldn’t have found a way in!”
Danverse stared into Mac’s watering eyes. It took everything he had to maintain a comforting tone.
“If someone wants something badly enough, they usually find a way. Motivation is a powerful tool. All you can do sometimes is plug the holes so it can’t happen again.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do since it happened. I can’t figure out how they got in! I’m smarter than those assholes! I don’t understand why I can’t find it!” Mac pulled away and snatched up another com-pad.
When Mac came to work on the Santa Claus, he had been twenty-two years old. He’d applied while in port on Alpha Centauri two years ago. The boy’s good looks and personable nature got him noticed. He was eager and talented but far too young. Danverse would have turned him away if he hadn’t read his background check. Mac had grown up in an orphanage, surrounded by people, and wasn’t handling life on his own well. The world was too big for his overactive intellect. Living on the ship with its contained community was exactly what he needed.
But Mac was so young. The men aboard the ship would’ve eaten him alive if they’d had the chance. Danverse had felt an immediate need to watch over the boy. He’d mentored him and loved watching how good he was at overhauling the ship’s systems. Mac’s intellect and skills were amazing. There was nothing tech-oriented he couldn’t modify or fix. He was naïve, but with just enough street smarts to keep him from being gullible. The captain had even quietly scared off the supply officer, James, when it looked like he had designs on his tech. James was a good crew member, but a notorious rogue. Danverse didn’t want to risk Mac falling for him and being wounded in the process. He’d seen it happen enough with young ones.
Mac’s natural spirit was infectious, and this level of darkness was unlike him. It was destructive and painful to witness. He wanted to be able to make Mac back into the amiable young man he’d hired. Mac was the positive energy in his life, not this distraught stranger.
A vid playing on the monitor over Mac’s desk caught his attention: it was the security vid of the incident in the cargo bay. He watched Liam being shot and the subsequent bloody fight. Then Hadrian Jamison was gunned down, with the execution-style shot afterward. Then the vid repeated itself from the beginning.
“Mac. Why are you watching this?” He was shocked enough to whisper. “You shouldn’t be watching this.”
Mac began fidgeting, eyes locked on his monitor. He seemed to be having trouble keeping his hands still as his shoulders slumped and his breathing became uneven.
“I’ve never seen anyone die before.” Mac’s fragile reply tore at Danverse. “Not for real. You see it in entertainment vids, but it’s not the same.”
“No. No, it’s not.” He came up and rested his hand on Mac’s shoulder again in an attempt to quiet the rising tremors.
“You were in the Centauri civil war. How do you kill someone or see it happen over and over and come out of it the same person?”
“You need to take a break, Mac.”
“I have too much work to do. Leave me alone.” He shrugged Danverse’s hand from his shoulder.
“You need to get some distance from this. You need a fresh perspective. It’s not working right now. Step away.”
“No.”
That did it. If there was one thing Danverse couldn’t tolerate, it was insubordination. The alpha dog came out and snarled its displeasure. He slapped a firm hand on the back of Mac’s neck and gripped him tight.
“I said step away. That. Is. An. Order. Boy.”
Mac stiffened and exhaled in a sharp rush before his shoulders relaxed into submission under the captain’s touch.
“Yes, sir.” Mac’s voice was soft and compliant. Danverse led him away from his work and to the center of his room.
“I don’t like seeing you like this, Mac. I don’t find self-destructiveness an attractive quality in my men.” Danverse rumbled in Mac’s ear, his dominance established. “I’m going to take care of you now. Grab a set of clean clothes. I’m taking you to the showers.”
Mac nodded. Probably for the first time in days, he came into focus. All at once, Mac’s only order of business appeared to be the captain’s. The crazed light in his eyes seemed far, far away as a calm came over him.
“I will wait in the lockers while you shower, and then you will accompany me to the mess hall for dinner. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter Six
“I WON’T LIE. You had us scared for a while.”
Danverse laid a hand on Liam’s arm, taking care not to disturb the medical devices still attached to him. Monitors continued to chime to the pulse of his vitals, but he was awake. Danverse couldn’t have masked his relief if he’d tried. He sat on the edge of the bed while Liam rested. The stasis field was off and he was able to move freely, if carefully. The sheets were rolled down to his waist and the previously gaping bullet wound was now a lightly raised mark on the swell of his pec.
“Dr. Bosch says I can go back to my duties tomorrow. I’m a little stiff from being in this bed so long, but it looks like I’m going to be around for a while. I can’t wait to get out of here.” Liam’s eyes were alert, if a bit tired. “You mind filling me in now?”
The smile began to fade from Danverse’s lips. “How much do you remember?”
“Pretty much all of it.” Liam’s visage darkened as he turned his eyes away. He reached across his chest, the tips of his fingers grazing the remaining scar. “How did you guys know I was in trouble?”
“The gunshots set off Mrs. Claus’s sensors and she issued the intruder alert. They managed to block their bioscans and some other sensor feeds, but didn’t get everything. We came running. Dumb luck, really.”
“How did they get in?”
“Not sure yet. Somehow they bypassed all the security protocols. Mrs. Claus didn’t even register their ship’s presence when they docked. Mac’s working on it.”
“Still? He’s got to be going crazy if he hasn’t solved it by now.”
“You have no idea.” Danverse’s volume dropped to a murmur.
“Marc? What happened?”
Danverse rolled his head back to face the ceiling as a soft sigh escaped him. “It was bad, Liam. Mac’s feeling guilty that all this happened because they got past his security systems. He was taking it personally, and for some reason, he started watching the cargo bay’s security vid of the assault…on endless repeat.”
“Shit. For how long?”
“I don’t know. By the time I found him, he was in complete meltdown.” Danverse rubbed his hand down his forehead and face as he struggled to contain himself. The memory of Mac coming undone was still upsetting. “Mac doesn’t have experience with this kind of shit. We’ve been to war, but Mac… It was scary, Liam. It was like someone had taken my…tech and replaced him with a complete stranger.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“I think so. I got him under control.”
“Under control?” Liam’s eyebrow arched.
Danverse paused as he read the meaning behind Liam’s words. “Not like that.”
“Why not?”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t take advantage of him in the state he was in.”
“Seriously?” Liam’s sarcasm was too loud.
Danverse flinched. He never hesitated when Liam came knocking on his door at three in the morning, but Mac was different.
“He’s too young.”
“Mac is hardly a child.”
“He’s just a boy.”
“Boy being the operative word.”
The only sounds in the room for long moments were the synthetic chimes of Liam’s heartbeat. They seemed to echo. Danverse shifted uncomfortably as he thought.
“I see the way he looks at you, Marc. He would do anything for you.”
“It’s not possible.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’s here. On your ship, and he’s not going anywhere. You love this life, but it can be lonely.”
“That’s enough,” Danverse snarled, using his most commanding tone, hoping Liam would take the hint. This conversation was not something he wanted to delve into. Even with his best friend.
Liam didn’t take the hint, but his response was more pleading than he’d expected. “Talk to him. From what Mac told me, he has his sights on someone, but he thinks they aren’t interested. You might want to do something before that guy pulls his head out of his ass.”
Danverse snapped around, his face heating. The thought of Mac with another crew member made his teeth grind. He knew he wasn’t a proper match for Mac, but he didn’t want to hear about anyone else laying claim to him either.
“How’s things with Hadrian?” he spat back.
Liam’s brow creased with a frown.
A sad, angry fire rose in Danverse’s chest. That was a dirty evasion, and he didn’t typically resort to such tactics. But he knew Liam well enough to know that if he didn’t, the subject of Mac would never come to a close, and he couldn’t handle that right then.
He didn’t understand why, though. It wasn’t the first time Liam had said he thought an eager-to-please cub matched up with a controlling dom seemed like a perfect pairing. Was he afraid Mac would reject him?
How could Mac not, once he discovered what Danverse was capable of behind closed doors?
“There’s nothing to say. Hadrian’s made it very clear that he’s not interested.”
“Really? The man who killed seven armed men to save your life isn’t interested? The man whose first concern when he woke up was whether you were okay, before his own welfare? The man who’s been sitting by your bedside since Dr. Bosch released him? Is that the guy you’re talking about?”
The words rolled off his tongue without a filter. He didn’t know why he was telling Liam this at all. He didn’t want the two of them together. Confirming Hadrian’s interest was sure to end in disaster, but he had to get Liam to stop questioning him about Mac. That topic was off-limits.
With his tirade ended, Danverse formed a thin line with his lips. He was suddenly agitated, and being near Liam was making matters worse. The confused look on Liam’s face spoke volumes. He was processing every word Danverse said. It would only be moments before Liam started believing in Hadrian’s attraction, and what would Danverse do then?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Mac couldn’t be an option. No matter how good it would be, Mac was far too innocent to be exposed to Danverse’s more sadistic needs. Liam was the only one who allowed him to indulge at that level, and the guilt accompanying the pleasure was becoming a burden.
He didn’t know wh
at to do.
MARLEY KEYES WAS not happy.
He sat in his assigned quarters and paced like a trapped rat. While the metal apartment was nicer than he was used to, it still felt unnatural. Having barely set foot outside his room, he was getting claustrophobic. How the hell was he going to get through the next several weeks?
He caught a whiff of his unwashed body and cringed. He needed a shower but was so worried about the others on board seeing him naked that he’d resigned himself to bathing only when absolutely necessary. If only he could get to Alpha Centauri without getting ass-raped in the process.
Yes, he’d lied on the application for passage. He’d expected the members of the Santa Claus to be a bunch of girls in men’s clothing. They were far from it. Most of the guys were bigger than he was and a few were so muscular they were outright scary. He didn’t want to admit if something went horribly wrong, the homos could probably kick his ass before he could stop them. The crew was nothing like what he’d been told all his life.
The mining colony he had grown up in was a small community that had limited contact with the merchants and cities outside and whose people were extra careful to avoid the stain of the degenerate upper classes. The cities of Luxoria had a reputation for decadence and affluence. Marley was the tech of his particular division, which gave him an opportunity not to be stuck in hazardous labor. From an early age, he had been taught all people outside the commune were dangerous to the virtuous. The rich had always earned a living off the backs of the laborers.
But the crew on board were laborers, right? The idea they were all a bunch of depraved swine was beginning to lose fuel. The men hadn’t groped him in the corridors or mess hall, although he was sure it was only a matter of time. He had always been warned about the crazed sexual appetites of the non-heteros.
Whatever he had been expecting, though, this wasn’t it. The captain and the crew were no batch of sissies. Captain Danverse seemed like military, and Marley’s first instinct was obedience. The rest of the crew were pretty regular guys. Then there was the whole thing in the cargo bay.
The Luxorian Fugitive Page 8
