Chapter Twenty-Five

Boom fixed Theo with a long, hard stare when he entered the bridge, scanning him from top to toes, and then she gave a huff and went back to her screens.

Jun walked in with his shoulders back, not even glancing Theo’s way as he went directly to Boom’s console. “What is it? Security breach?”

She shook her head, dark curls bouncing as she tapped on one screen to make it larger and zoomed in on a low-quality vid feed. “Not exactly. Got a ping. Facial recognition code for Dr. Campbell. Something’s screwy, but it’s only off by a small margin. Take a look at this. It’s a live feed.”

Jun leaned over the feed, and then pivoted to give Theo the same scanning treatment. His face was guarded as it hadn’t been since they’d left the dinghy to board his ship. “Explain this.”

Theo was just as puzzled as everyone else. Why in the stars would a live vid feed send his code? Unless—

But that would be impossible, right?

“Out of the way, let me see.” Theo squinted at the grainy feed, heart jumping into his throat with instant recognition. Drumming impatient fingers on Boom’s arm, he hip checked Jun farther out of his field of view. “Can’t you make it any larger? I need to know if it’s— Oh stars! It is, it’s him! But how?”

Boom worked steadily on the picture quality, the vid feed stretching and zooming in jerky increments until the figures moving across the screen became as clear as possible.

Undeniable.

Theo swatted Jun on the shoulder, ignoring the glare he received in response. “It’s really Ari! Look, Jun, that’s my twin brother! Where is this; can you find the origin? Why is he out here? This must be coming from beyond the Verge, correct? How could my sweet Ari possibly get all the way out to the Restricted Sector? He once had to take a breathing break because we needed to frequent a different post office than our usual.”

He finally turned to Jun when he got no response, taken aback by Jun’s slack-jawed, shocked expression. “You have a twin?”

They didn’t have time for this. Ari was alone somewhere out in deep space, for some unfathomable reason. Ari was as gentle and timid as he was level-headed. He needed Theo to jump in and save him. This was the time for action.

He flapped his hand in Jun’s face to convey the urgency of the situation, bones itching with the need to do something. “Yes, of course, which should be obvious by now from our very close resemblance, do keep up. I know I’ve mentioned Ari to you before, Jun.”

A small line appeared down the center of Jun’s forehead as he thought very deeply about something that, frankly, Theo did not have time for right now. “I thought—I thought Ari was your husband.”

Boom recoiled from the console with a soft hiss. “Yikes.”

Axel and Marco spoke over each other from the pilot’s chair and over the static-bitten coms:

“Shit, Park.”

“Oh, Captain. That’s tragic.”

A bubble of affront rose above the seething ocean of concern for his brother to pop in an explosion of words, index finger digging into Jun’s solid chest. “I beg your pardon? You thought I was married? You genuinely thought I was a married man, who would comport myself in such a way with you? You insult me, Jun.”

It wasn’t the first time Theo had been assumed to be woven of loose moral fiber by one of his lovers, but it was the first time the assumption had hurt so badly. He felt a real connection with Jun, something deeper than physical attraction. He was even beginning to convince himself that his feelings might be returned.

Jun wrapped a careful hand around the finger drilling through his sternum, his face open and contrite. “Theo, I didn’t—”

Yanking his hand out of Jun’s grip, Theo spun back to the screen, teeth gritted. “No, I don’t suppose that you did. I don’t have time for this; can you find my brother, please? Quickly. He sets much stock in punctuality, and I would hate to be tardy for his rescue.”

The light, jovial lilt to his words did little to disguise the way his voice shook, fear running ice-cold through his veins. He had never needed to fear for Ari before.

Ari was usually the brother one could depend upon to keep safe. To be sensible and solid and dependable. To stay put. Theo didn’t care for the reversal of roles one iota.

He was going to have to murder Ari for putting him through this, once he was safe in Theo’s arms.

Boom aimed a subtle, quick expression at Jun that did not bode well for Theo’s nerves.

“What? Where is he? You’ve found it, haven’t you? I can tell—” Theo tipped down closer to the screen with a gasp as Boom enhanced the image to show more detail. “Wait, that—that doesn’t appear especially comfortable. Are those mag-cuffs? Is he being detained? Those don’t seem to be Enforcers. Ari would never cross the law; he won’t even jaywalk. What is going on, and who is that?”

He pointed at the large man being dragged along at Ari’s side, his heavy boots scraping the floor. Ari walked close by with his head down, demure as ever. The occasional brushes of their limbs might have seemed accidental to anyone else, but Theo knew his brother. That was Ari seeking comfort. Or offering it.

Who was that man? Ari hardly touched anyone but Theo.

He had certainly never comforted anyone else.

Could it be? Had Ari finally fallen beneath the sway of Eros as he had bemoaned Theo doing time and again?

The man looked so rough, disheveled, and beaten bloody that Theo didn’t know if he should hope for one way or the other.

Though he knew Ari favored men of a certain size, much as he tried to deny it—

Boom stepped back from the screen to consider Theo, one hand idly fiddling with a blade in her boot holster. “He’s been picked up by Raiders. Him and his companion. You’re sure you don’t recognize him too? He’s dressed like some Verge rat.”

Theo hooked his fingers in Jun’s belt to urge him closer, dread dropping through him like molten lead at Boom’s tone. “No, I’ve never seen him before. That doesn’t sound like particularly good news. Am I wrong in assuming one does not generally wish to be ‘picked up by Raiders’?”

Jun’s hand covered his on his belt, not to remove his grip but, rather, to cradle Theo’s knuckles gently. “No. One—uh—you really don’t.”

It didn’t take a doctorate in linguistics to understand the ominous undertone in Jun’s few words. Theo straightened his shoulders with a deep, fortifying breath. “Well, then you know what we have to do, don’t you? We must rescue him, with every element of haste. As soon as you can alter our heading.”

Axel leaned back in his seat with a creak, hand hovering above his controls. “Orders, Captain?”

Jun didn’t look away from the view screen in front of him, fingers on one hand tapping away unconcernedly as he slipped his other away from Theo’s to pull up a swiftly scrolling stream of numbers that made Theo’s eyes want to cross.

He twisted Jun’s sleeve, an edge of desperation crawling over him as he watched the men on screen throw Ari into a dark room and shut the door. The despair on Ari’s face as the door shut between him and his unconscious companion tore through Theo like claws through wet tissue, leaving him raw from the inside out.

“We have to save him, Jun! He has obviously gotten himself into a sticky situation. He never has had my flair for adventure, dear thing, I’m sure he’s simply beside himself. I don’t care what you say; I insist that we go there immediately and facilitate his heroic rescue.” When Jun finally glanced at him with a slightly raised brow, Theo firmed his resolve. “No, no. I won’t entertain any of your arguments to the contrary; we are going, and that is final!”

Jun shrugged the shoulder Theo was clinging to, then turned to him with an expression that reflected the sentiments of both of his knuckle tattoos. “Three hours. I altered our heading as soon as you recognized him.”

It was a struggle for Theo not to drop to his knees and express his gratitude right there on the bridge.

Axel squawked, mouth dragging down in a petulant line around the string of candy dangling from it. “Captain, we’ve talked about this. Your override is for emergencies only. Just tell me to do it next time. Your flight codes are abysmal. I bet I can clean these up and get us there an hour sooner.”

Two hours.

Just two hours, and Theo could see his brother again? He lost momentary control of his limbs in his excitement, wrapping them all around Jun like a clinging limpet.

It wasn’t his imagination; Jun definitely wrapped both arms around Theo’s back in turn, pressing warm and solid against him until tears sprang to Theo’s eyes unbidden.

He dashed them away with a determined sniff as he pushed to stand on his own. He directed a winning smile in Boom’s direction. “Now, I’ll need to borrow a small arsenal to enact my rescue plan. Just a few of your detonators and a ray gun, for effect, if you please.”

Jun scoffed behind him. “You have a plan?” he asked, using a tone that did nothing to indicate his support of Theo’s mission.

Boom wasn’t making any sort of move to provide Theo with the weapons he needed, so he decided to switch tactics.

He spun around to shine his smile on Jun, who froze beneath the manufactured brightness. “Of course, I have a plan! I’ll simply arm myself, infiltrate the Raider ship, and retrieve my brother. And”—he squinted at the vid feed showing Ari’s wounded companion being wrestled into too-small cuffs—“his paramour as well. It shouldn’t be terribly complicated.”

To his consternation, Jun started to laugh, and then he checked over Theo’s shoulder, and Boom joined in with him, the pair of them practically rolling with laughter. Jun had to take three wheezing breaths before he could speak. “Oh, no, you’re not setting foot on that ship.”

Theo might have a preference for taking orders in the bedroom, but he refused to take such a senseless command at face value. “Yes, I am. If I don’t board their ship, how am I going to rescue my brother and his friend?”

Jun didn’t answer for a moment, busy switching out his ray gun for a newer model that Boom had stashed somewhere previously unseen. He looked up as he snapped his new weapon into place. “You’re not going to rescue him. I am.”

He accepted a detonator from Boom, leaving Theo to squint dubiously at her scant attire to determine where it had been kept. “And then, I’m sending you home.”