Page 37 of Alpha Awakened

“And you enjoy your paperwork,” Hazard said teasingly. He hopped down off the fence. “I’ll see you later.”

He was already walking off when Ice remembered his clean boots. “Hazard!” he called out.

Hazard slowed and turned around to walk backwards. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for cleaning my boots. I appreciate it.”

Hazard shrugged. “I was hosing mine off so it was no trouble to turn the water on yours too.” He turned around again and continued on his way.

Ice watched him until he disappeared from sight, headed for the path that led to the wooded area used for training exercises and wolf runs. With no reason to linger at the fence, and since he really did have paperwork to do, he headed for his office in the main building.

As soon as he turned, he spied Ortiz, casually leaning against the corner of the recreational building. Of course, Ice knew her too well to believe she was casually hanging out. The woman was too busy for that. She was obviously waiting for him so he made his way over to her.

“Major.”

She nodded a greeting before she spoke. “You and Hazard are getting along.”

Ice tilted his head in question. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“It is. It’s going even better than I’d hoped.”

Ice didn’t respond to that. If Ortiz had something to say she could say it. He rarely spoke for himself. He certainly wasn’t going to speak her words for her.

“Can’t help but notice that you seem a little territorial around the corporal.”

She’d seen his foolish display at the fence with the alphas. Ice drew his shoulders back. However, before he could offer any protest, Ortiz held a hand up, stopping him from speaking.

“I want my team bonded so that we can work together as smoothly as possible. I don’t care how that bonding happens. I only care about safe, successful missions.”

Ice met her gaze. He didn’t see any anger there or anywhere on her face. Ortiz meant what she said. He nodded once. “Understood, Major.”

“Good. Hope you got enough rest. We’ve got a new mission coming up this week.”

“I’ll be ready.”

“I know you will.”

She pushed off the building and walked away, leaving Ice to wonder if she’d given him a pass regarding Hazard or a warning. Maybe she’d given him both.

* * *

The mission was a shit show. They were sent up to Oregon as part of a joint task force operation. Each of them had been itchy from the moment their boots hit theXand rightly so. Intel was bad on both the number of enemy operatives and the location of the nerve agent they were there to retrieve. Plans had fallen apart and they’d been forced to improvise on the fly. The teamgot the job done but there’d been too many close calls for their comfort.

Now, they were back in Oklahoma, silently gearing down in the ready room. No one talked, their usual post-mission jokes absent. Hazard’s teeth were clenched tight, making his jaw ache. He saw at a glance that the others were in a similar state. Jax’s shoulders were up around his ears. Ortiz’s brows were drawn together in a frown. Ice’s gloved hands repeatedly balled into fists before flexing loose and then balling up once more.

Hazard was glad they’d all made it back safe, but the agitation scratching under his skin wasn’t eased. He knew what he needed to shake the gritty, unsettled feeling. He needed to scent his squadmates to reassure himself with their presence and reestablish their pack bond. But they were barely bonded as a team. They certainly weren’t bonded as pack. And he’d never seen them scent each other. Not even once. It stood to reason then, that they weren’t going to do so tonight either. That frustrated him. Scenting was a part of who they were as shifters. It didn’t make sense that they didn’t do it.

Uncharacteristically clumsy in his agitation, Hazard dropped his helmet on the floor. The sound of the helmet hitting the tile floor in the tense, silent room was as loud as a gunshot. When he went to pick it up the toe of his boot caught it and sent it skittering over to Jax.

Hazard cursed from between clenched teeth. “Damnit.”

Jax scooped up his helmet and held it out to him.

“You alright there, man?” Jax asked in concern.

Not one to lie, Hazard shook his head.

“What’s up?”