Page 11 of Alpha Awakened

The meeting continued. When they finished it was time for lunch. The team left HQ and made their way to the mess hall.

Inside, the mess was crowded with soldiers and personnel grabbing their midday meal. Their team had to wait in line for a few minutes before they were served. Once they got their trays of food, Ortiz and Jax set off for a table near the bank of windowson the far side of the room. Hazard followed them. But to his surprise, Ice didn’t. He took his food and left the mess hall.

“Where’s he going?” Hazard asked as he watched the captain leave.

“Ah, that one is a lone wolf,” Jax answered. “It’s rare that he eats with us here in the mess.”

“Oh.”

Hazard was disappointed to hear that. Unfortunately, Ice’s absence fit the vibe he got from the team. They were a group of wolves working together, but they weren’t quite a pack. At least, not in the way Hazard had grown up with. Unfortunately, that was all too common in the Legion. The military accepted shifters within their ranks. But they were treated as humans with few allowances made for the differences in their natures.

He was on a mission to change that. Being assigned to a team that was all wolves and who stayed together in the same barracks had seemed like the perfect opportunity. Learning that they weren’t quite as together a pack as he’d expected was a surprise, but he wasn’t going to let that bother him. It simply meant that he had work to do to bring them together and show the military how much better it could be if shifters were allowed to embrace their true nature.

The table Ortiz and Jax went to was already occupied by three soldiers — two officers and one enlisted. Ortiz introduced Hazard to them.

“Hazard this is Captain Hayes, Lieutenant Chin, and Sergeant Baker. They’re a part of Team Sierra 6. The rest are around. You’ll meet them all eventually. Everyone, this is Corporal Mitchell, newest member of the 448.”

“Call me Hazard,” he said. After saluting the two officers, he sat down.

“I know it’s unusual for enlisted and officers to eat together,” Ortiz continued. But the 448 is a small squad so I prefer todrop some of the formalities. Same for Hayes and his band of ragamuffins.”

“Some of the other officers don’t like it,” Hayes said. “They think it breeds disrespect for rank. But I’m not setting up separate tables for my team when we’re out in the field, so why avoid knocking elbows at the table with them on base?”

“Sounds good to me. I like building rapport with my team, regardless of rank.”

Hayes raised his carton of milk in a casual salute. “I like you.”

Ortiz grinned. “That attitude is why I picked him for my squad.”

Hazard easily accepted the two officers’ explanation for why they ate with their enlisted members. However, it made it even more glaring that Ice chose not to eat with them.

Always happy to make new acquaintances, Hazard joined in with the conversation at the table. Despite the fact that Hayes and his team looked hard from battle, they were all cool to talk to. Hayes, a shifter with brown hair and gray eyes, had a deep scar through one eyebrow. Chin had a youthful face and laughed easily, but his hair was almost completely prematurely gray. And Baker, the only human of the three, had long-healed burns down the side of his neck, disappearing into his uniform collar.

As Hazard neared the end of his meal, his eyes were drawn more than once to the doorway Ice had disappeared through. He decided that now was the perfect time to speak with the captain alone.

“Excuse me,” he said as he rose from the table.

Ortiz glanced at him once and nodded before she went back to her conversation with Captain Hayes. But Jax looked at him, then the door, then back at Hazard.

“Bad idea, man,” he said, shaking his head.

Hazard smiled and winked at the corporal. “Sometimes the best results come from bad ideas.”

* * *

Ice took his tray of food and went to sit at one of the few tables outside the dining hall. No one bothered him here. He liked the solitude of it, especially since he took off his outer mask to eat.

As he made his way through his meal, his mind wandered. Not to tactics and mentally reviewing missions as usual, but thinking of their new team member. Mitchell. He was nothing like Grayson. She’d been an older, taciturn beta. It was... different to have not only an omega, but one who apparently liked to talk as much as his new partner.

He had also noticed that Mitchell’s scent was intriguing. He couldn’t get a full grasp on it as Mitchell wore standard Legion issued scent blockers like all the other shifters on base. But as the morning had worn on, they’d sweated off just enough for a hint of Mitchell’s natural scent to peek through. Ice’s nose had picked up on something bright whenever they were close to one another. He didn’t make any effort to sniff out that bright scent however. To do so would be unacceptable for an officer to do to a subordinate. Besides, he didn’t care what the corporal smelled like. What he did care about was the new member’s performance.

He wanted Mitchell to perform well because every team member’s performance affected their success on missions, and more gravely, whether they lived or died. But also, because Ice’s time in the 448 played a crucial role in his plans for a promotion in rank.

Most high-ranking officers transitioned to roles behind combat lines, working in strategy or intel. But that path wasn’t for him. He needed the action of being in the thick of a fire fight. In addition, as a shifter, he’d have a tougher time getting morebars on his uniform. No shifter had ever been promoted past Colonel. His goal was to become the first shifter to ever make the rank of Brigadier General.

He’d accepted the position on the 448 because Ortiz wanted a second officer on the team. As a captain, Ice should be leading his own squad. However, he was used to working as a solo operator. Since he was more of a loner than a leader he’d accepted. Plus, taking on a job this dangerous would be a big, glowing gold star on his service record. If he did well. If he fucked it up, his plans for promotion would be in jeopardy.

Which is why he wasn’t exactly thrilled to have Mitchell on the team. He wasn’t going to let an impertinent chatterbox fuck up his goal. If Mitchell couldn’t pull his weight, he’d have Ortiz ship him out somewhere else.