CHAPTER 13

"I came for you, Renault." The words were a low rumble, a sound that seemed to come from Axton's chest. He rose slowly from his chair, a shadow swallowing the light around him, and began to stalk toward Ren.

​Ren instinctively stepped back, his heart thumping a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Axton's towering form blotted out from between his desk, those silver eyes like twin-beam scanners, dissecting him with every stride.

'I shouldn't have asked that,' Ren gulped quietly as Axton's shadow stopped right in front of him.

"T-thank you, Captain -"

"You belong to me now, Renault. You owe me a debt: your life. Am I wrong?" Axton questioned, his voice a smooth, deep tone.

Ren hesitated, clutching his shirt.

This was what he feared; the devil doesn't bargain, he'd only take whatever he deemed valuable from you.

Dancing with the devil would surely get one burned, and, Ren has just gotten burned.

He knew that Axton's help didn't come without a price.

Captain Axton Conan, helping a dying young man from a pure heart? Pigs would fly the day it happens.

"I... I don't know," Ren murmured under his breath, pulse dancing in his ears.

He couldn't stand the direct stare from Axfom in front of him.

He couldn't bring himself to answer so easily. Keal had warned him that the only way to survive was never saying no, but he wanted badly to say no at that moment.

Owing a debt to Axton?

That would be a lifetime of slavery until the opportunity to pay back arrived, and the payment was nothing other than his life.

"I can't afford to lose you, not until my experiment is done with you. Letting you die would be my foolishness, and, until you have been proved to be valueless, your life is mine, Renault. Do you understand?" Axton asked, his eyes narrowed to a slit.

Ren nodded. Did he have a choice? No.

"Yes, Captain," Ren replied, sighing very quietly.

His knuckles turned white from how tightly he clenched them, holding himself from saying something that would get him killed.

"Good," Axton said, moving away from Ren and circling his desk. He stopped at the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the Faction's skyline—silent proof of the power concentrated on this floor.

The storm raged outside, pouring down dark, acidic liquid in the form of rain.

No one, not even Beast-bounds, could survive the black rain.

Everyone took cover when it rained.

Ren was glad he was safe.

He stared at Axton's broad shoulders and wondered if the man was born that way. He was sure that Axton had existed before the virus breakout, and he couldn't stop imagining what Axton was like as a normal human.

No virus, no life threats, no Faction wars, no Beast-bounds. Just him as a normal military captain and a normal life.

Would he still be this heartless?

Was he born this way?

"Report your mission, Renault," Axton said, cutting through Ren's thoughts.

Ren blinked, returning to reality.

'Report?' He furrowed his brows, almost forgetting the reason he was there.

"Oh..." he murmured to himself.

Immediately, he fumbled around to get the documents out from inside his shirt. Once again he was thankful for the laminated map; Axton would have had his head if anything happened to it.

Hearing the shuffling behind him, Axton turned and watched Ren as he slightly raised his shirt to pull out a book and a map from under it.

His brows were raised in an astonishing arc, his eyes focusing. He had never seen anyone do things the way Ren did. So out of the box, so disorganised.

Ren was exactly the kind of person he banished from his Faction, but this time, he couldn't. He needed Ren, more than anyone.

But, even disorganised, Ren seemed to be able to deliver whatever he was asked. That was the tricky part about him that had Axton wondering how an unaffected, weak, and stupid human like Ren could survive this world.

With his tardiness, he should have gotten himself in trouble or killed back at Base7, but no; he still lived, forging, and finally, he'd landed himself on Axton's doorstep.

Axton was curious to see how long Ren could really survive his Faction.

Axton's eyes suddenly locked with Ren's as Ren raised his face.

Ren immediately glanced away when he saw that Axton was watching him fumble around with the documents.

Clearing his throat quietly, Ren slowly stepped close to the desk, "Here's the Agricultural plan, the map, the blood... and myself." He reported in a steady voice, keeping his eyes on the items on he desk.

Axton's ears perked up at the last item Ren mentioned, his eyes zooming in on Ren's lowered face.

"Face up," Axton commanded.

Slowly, Ren lifted his face, staring at Axton's shoulders to avoid his eyes.

"Yourself?" Axton questioned, striding slowly toward Ren.

Ren stood his ground, "You specifically asked me to return myself to you, Captain. I thought I'd add that to the report." He answered.

Axton read Ren's face like a book as he stood before him once more.

Axton could feel Ren's hatred, his clenched fists gave it away, and the way Ren's eyes moved like they'd rather be blinded than bestow upon him.

Axton looked away from Ren's face and down at the objects Ren had provided.

He wanted to speak when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in, Corvin," Axton permitted, his hands pushing into his pocket.

Ren's heart skipped a beat as Corvin entered the office, his mind reeled.

'Was it time for my experiment?' He bit on the side of his bottom lip as thoughts flooded his head.

"Good evening, Captain. Welcome back, Ren," Corvin said as he stood in front of Axton's desk, beside Ren.

He wasn't wearing a white coat today, his brown shirt and black pants made him look more like a Faction soldier than a doctor.

"You brought your sister's blood, I see. May I take it, Captain?" Corvin questioned.

"Take him along as well," Axton said dismissively.

Ren panicked, he was really getting experimented on.

Can they at least feed him?

He was barely standing and his stomach was almost glueing to his back like a flattened lizard. He might just collapse before the experiment began.

Suddenly, he felt something in his pockets and quickly took them out. He would use them to buy time.

"I've got more," Ren fished out two objects from his pocket and placed them on the desk.

He glanced at Axton and gulped, his face looked angry and Ren thought he might just have angered the beast by wasting his time.

But it was better that he showed those objects to Axton before he found them out himself and got the wrong idea.

"At this point, one would believe that your commander isn't after conquering our Faction. Rather, a cupid. He gave another Aphrodisiac, Captain," Corving calmly explained.

"Yes, I mean, no... It's nothing like that, Captain," Ren quickly hurried to explain as he felt the dark aura rising from Axton.

He didn't want to get hurt anymore, he'd had enough injuries to last him a lifetime.

"You were sent to seduce me?" Axton asked, but nothing could be detected from his voice or look.

"Yes, Captain. But I do not plan on doing that, I'm incapable of such activity. That is why I am telling you, Captain. I am on your side, for my sister's sake," Ren spoke clearly.

He had said the truth, it was left for Axton to believe him or not.

"He also gave this recorder, Captain. I promise, I do not plan on using any of them. I know who holds more power, and it's you, Captain." Ren spoke, digging his fingers into his palms.

"A person who betrays his Faction. How do you expect me to believe a word of such a man?" Axton suddenly appeared in front of Ren, his finger tilting Ren's chin up to look into his troubled green eyes.

Ren gulped, finally staring into Axton's eyes, "I live for my sister's life, Captain. You hold both our lives in your hands, if I die, she dies. Even if I live, and you decide to stop supplying serums to my Faction, she still dies. I only follow power, Captain: you." He delivered smoothly, breathing slowly.

As Ren spoke, Axton had gradually lowered his hand to Ren's neck, wrapping his fingers around it, not to hurt him. He wanted to fully embrace that hum he felt whenever he touched Ren.

He hadn't been so sure if it came from Ren or not. But at that moment, as he closed his eyes to feel the lulling hum, he realised that there might just be something more to Ren than they saw.

"Captain, are you alright?" Corvin placed a hand on Axton's shoulder to break his temporary spell.

Corvin had seen how wide-eyed and stiff Ren became, that's when he realised that Axton's hand was slipping inside Ren's shirt with his eyes closed in concentration.

Axton immediately stepped away from Ren, his character not breaking for a split second.

"Take him away. Lock him up in the glass room," Axton's cold detached order reinforced the panic in Ren's shocked body.