Page 36 of Alpha Awakened

Ice scoffed. “If you wanted to be treated like a delicate flower, you wouldn’t have spent the last twelve hours rolling around in a swamp with the gators.”

Hazard looked up at the big alpha. He put on an exaggerated pout and batted his eyelashes. “Well at least tell me the way Itook down that merc was pretty. Us omegas love hearing that we’re pretty.”

“You were-.”

Hazard cut in before Ice finished his sentence. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I was effective.” He shook his head with a low chuckle. “Good night, Captain.”

He’d just reached his bedroom door when Ice called his name.

“Hazard.”

He turned back to see dark eyes watching him from behind that wolf mask. “Sir?”

“You did good work tonight.”

Hazard brightened at the unexpected praise. “Thank you, Captain.”

Ice nodded. “Make sure you wash behind your ears. Think I saw a clump of swamp mud back there.”

Hazard’s smile bloomed into a full-on laugh. “Will do.”

Chapter 13

After a solid six hours of sleep, Ice woke up refreshed. He showered again, dressed in casual uniform and left his room. The common area was empty and his senses told him the bedrooms were as well. After a simple breakfast of toast and oatmeal, he went outside to grab his boots and hose them off. To his surprise, they were sitting there by the front door already cleaned and left to dry in the sun. He took them inside and deposited them neatly on the floor at the foot of his bed.

Ice left the 448 barracks, setting out across the base without a particular destination in mind. It was a cool and sunny fall day. As he walked, he wasn’t specifically looking for Hazard. But he stopped when he saw him.

The corporal sat on a fence rail. A trio of soldiers stood in front of him, raptly listening to whatever he was saying. All of them were shifters. Alphas. The hackles on the back of Ice’s neck rose. Without stopping to question why he didn’t like seeing the soldiers clustered around his teammate, he strode over to their little group, stopping behind Hazard.

Hazard leaned back on the fence rail, balancing precariously to look at him upside down. “Hey, Captain Anderson,” he greeted him.

Ice reached out and put a hand on the spot between Hazard’s shoulder blades. “Don’t fall,” he quietly cautioned.

Hazard smiled. “I won’t with you behind me.”

Ice looked down into those smiling green eyes. The heat of Hazard’s body warmed his palm through the layers of his glove and Hazard’s thin T-shirt. He didn’t return the smile, but he kept his hand where it was until Hazard was sitting upright again.

He looked directly at each of the three soldiers in turn. Two were of equal rank to Hazard. One was a sergeant. All were big, strong, and muscular. One by one, they dropped their gazes, heads slightly twisting to the side to submissively show their necks. They returned to their conversation with Hazard, but it wasn’t long before they made their excuses and left.

Hazard turned around on the fence to face him. A small smile curled up one side of the omega’s mouth and his eyes sparkled with humor. The sun made the light green irises brighter. But even in the direct sunlight, his hair was still inky black. It looked incredibly soft. Ice wondered how it would feel to run his bare hand over it. His palm tingled inside his glove.

Of course, he wouldn’t touch his squadmate’s hair. Or the hard line of his jaw. And he certainly wouldn’t trace the curve of his plump lips. Or even touch a fingertip to the tip of his nose. Hazard was off limits. He knew that. But something within him was starting to stir, trying to convince him otherwise.

“What are you gonna do now that you have me all to yourself, Captain?”

A flush crawled up the back of Ice’s neck. Whyhadhe chased off those soldiers? “Wasn’t trying to get you to myself,” he denied.

“Of course you weren’t,” Hazard said softly.

Hazard clearly didn’t believe him. But to try and deny it again would only look more suspicious, so he changed the subject.

“I wanted to check up on you to see if there were any issues after the mission.”

“Nope.” Hazard shook his head. “I’m right as rain. In fact, I’m about to go for a shifted run if you want to join me.”

Run at Hazard’s side. He’d never gone on a run with another wolf that was solely voluntary and not part of a training exercise. That type of pack activity was unfamiliar to him. And the thought of running with only Hazard by his side felt intimate in a way that jogging together as humans didn’t. He turned down the offer.

“I can’t. I have paperwork to take care of. Have to submit the official transfers for those two lieutenants. But you enjoy your run.”