Page 147 of Alpha Awakened
“And I should take you back?”
Ice swallowed past the lump of emotion in his throat. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want me to do to prove how much I love you. I’ll do all your gun and gear maintenance. I’ll make you beef Wellington once a week. I’ll bribe Ortiz into letting you skip the morning run whenever you want.”
Hazard laughed. “Stop. I just want you to do one thing.”
“Name it.”
“Kiss me.”
“Gladly,” Ice said before he leaned over to kiss his beloved omega. Mindful of his injuries, he kept each press of their lips tender and gentle. “I love you,” he whispered as he brushed their noses together.
Hazard smiled up at him. “I love you too, Captain Royce Ice Anderson.”
Ice put a gentle hand on Hazard’s buzzed head and rubbed the soft hair. “Are you sure you’re not saying that because the pain meds are making you feel good?” he teased.
“Hell no. I mean the drugs definitely have me nice and relaxed. But I know I love you. I just wish it didn’t take a building getting dropped on my head for us to finally come out and admit how we feel.”
“Well, you are hard-headed,” Ice teased.
Hazard arched an eyebrow. “What does that make you?”
Ice laced their fingers together. “Lucky. Dense but lucky.”
“That sounds about right,” Hazard said as his eyelids started to droop.
Ice leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Hazard’s forehead. “Get some sleep. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hazard’s eyes slid shut. Within seconds, he was asleep.
Ice left their hands entwined, needing the warm skin to skin contact with his lover to reassure himself that he was okay. After a while, his own eyelids started to feel heavy. He leaned back in his chair. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but like he’d said, he wasn’t going anywhere. The threat of a stiff back after a night sleeping in a chair wasn’t going to pull him away from Hazard. Ice relaxed and let himself slide in to sleep, there at his lover’s side.
* * *
After a night in the hospital, Hazard was ready to be discharged. He’d been banged up and bruised, but thanks to his helmet protecting his skull and his swift shifter healing, he was medically cleared to leave the hospital and return to work. Once the nurse gave him the go ahead, he got up and dressed. Now he was sitting on the bed, impatiently waiting for Ice to come and get him.
A few minutes past eight in the morning, he heard boots in the hallway approaching his room. The door opened and Ice came in, Jax and the major with him.
“Ready to go?” Ice asked.
Hazard nodded. “Yep. Let’s get out of here.”
Ice had already taken his uniform and gear back to their barracks, so there was no reason to linger.
“We’ve got a solid lead on Cortez’s location,” Ortiz said as they left the room. “Remember Emma Larson?”
“The high and mighty drug lord from Minnesota?”
“That’s the one.”
“Turns out she didn’t have connections high enough to get her out of trouble with the federal government,” Ice said.
Ortiz nodded. “But she did have information that she was willing to share for a lighter sentence for her, her sister, and her right-hand man. She was able to give us the location of Cortez’s Minnesota encampment. Recon is verifying it now. If the intel is true, we go after him.”
“I’m going with you,” Hazard fiercely declared. Bruised or not, he wasn’t going to miss bringing Cortez down.
“I figured you’d say that. You’re sure you’re up to it?”