Page 43 of Alpha Awakened

What would Hazard do if he kissed them?

Ice mentally drew up short at that thought. What the hell was he doing thinking about kissing his squadmate? And in the middle of a mission no less.

Hazard tilted his head to the side. His lips curved in the smallest of smiles. Then, just the tip of his tongue peeked out to lick over the center of his bottom lip.

Ice’s eyes widened. Was Hazard thinking the same thing? He couldn’t ask, not daring even a whisper in case they were heard. And he had no place asking a subordinate anything about kissing. He jerked his eyes away, but there was nothing else to look at besides boxes of Bics and reams of printer paper.

Hazard shifted his stance, bringing them closer together. The extra clips on the front of his tac vest brushed against Ice’s own.

Ice’s gaze flew back to Hazard. He watched as the omega tilted his head back and parted his lips. Ice didn’t know if Hazard was about to speak, but he placed a gloved finger on those lush lips to stop him just in case. And then, he let it linger there, surreptitiously brushing over the dip of the Cupid’s bow that had captured his attention earlier before he dropped his hand.

Hazard licked his lip again, except this time his tongue traced over all of that plush bottom lip, leaving it damp. It looked very soft. Ice swallowed a groan. Barely realizing what he was doing, he started to lower his head...

“Got it. My mate would have a fit if I didn’t have this for our daughter’s birthday breakfast in the morning.”

“I understand that, sir. My mate rules the den too.”

Ice abruptly straightened, the voices out in the office snapping him out of whatever trance he’d nearly fallen into. Was he actually going to try and kiss Hazard? While he was wearing his mask? He needed to get his head back in the game.

Looking at Hazard, he narrowed his eyes in warning. Hazard merely smiled and shifted back so that their vests no longer brushed together.

More footsteps. The light clicked off. The office door closed. Still they waited, making sure the forgetful Mr. Vaughn didn’t return for anything else.

Jax spoke into their ear pieces again.

“You’re all clear. Security is back at his station and our visitor is heading out.”

Ice breathed a small sigh of relief, watching as the tension eased from Hazard’s shoulders. He opened the door and they stepped out into the dark office.

“Let’s get what we came for.”

Back at the desk, they clicked their pen lights on again. Hazard began rifling through his desk drawers while Ice searched through the file cabinet sitting next to the desk. After a couple of minutes, they were both still empty handed.

“I’m not finding anything,” Hazard said with a frustrated curse. He stepped back and eyed the desk. “Hold on a second.” He squatted down and looked under the desk top. “There you are,” he said as he reached up. There was a click and then a hidden compartment opened beneath the bottom drawer on the left. There was nothing inside it except for a single blue folder. Hazard snatched it up. “Whatever is in here it must be pretty incriminating if he needs to hide it away like that.”

“Let’s see what you found.”

Hazard handed him the folder. Ice opened it and spread the documents out on top of the desk, making sure to keep them in the correct order. They’d hit pay dirt. Letters from Cortez making requests for payments and supplies. Receipts for Western Union wire transfers to a C. Cortez in Arizona. And there was more that they didn’t have time to read.

Taking out a slim camera from his pack, Ice quickly took photos of every single document. Then, he carefully put everything back inside the folder. While Hazard returned the folder to its hiding place, Ice updated the other half of the team.

“Information secured. We’re coming out.”

***

When they made it back to their RV point, Ortiz was already there and back in human form.

“Folks back at HQ will want to analyze what we found but it definitely looks like he’s in bed with Cortez,” Hazard said.

“That brings us another step closer to finding him. Good job, you two.”

She lightly grasped the back of Hazard’s head, leaning down to touch their foreheads together. They both breathed in, scenting each other. It only took a second then she was releasing him. After she moved away, Jax came over and repeated the action with each of them.

Ice watched, slightly surprised. He thought that they would only scent each other during times of tension or to reassure each other after a stressful event. But they’d just done it now when everyone was fine and happy.

Hazard turned to him. Before Ice even had a chance to turn down his offer to scent, Hazard raised his hand for a fist bump. Appreciating that Hazard respected his preference not to engage in that behavior, Ice tapped their gloved knuckles together.

“Nice work,” he said.