Page 65 of Alpha Awakened
“Ortiz was right to bench us,” Ice calmly replied.
“Of course she was. Arguing in the field could end up with someone on our team catching a bullet or a mission failure. But I’m not talking about her decision. I’m talking about us.”
Ice rose from the table. He stalked over to Hazard, using his height advantage to tower over him. “There is nous,” he said as he glared down at him. If you’d get that through your stubborn skull we wouldn’t be stuck here on base while our team is out there doing work.”
Hazard had to tilt his head back to maintain eye contact. But the omega was fearless. He didn’t submissively drop his gaze or show his neck. He stood toe to toe with him, not giving an inch of ground.
“You really think there’s nothing between us?” he asked incredulously. “You don’t feel what I feel?”
“This job and my life aren’t about feelings. It’s about executing the mission. No more, no less.”
“No feelings?” Hazard shook his head. “That’s a cold way to live. No wonder they call you Ice.”
Ice shrugged. “That’s the way it is.” It’s the way it hadalwaysbeen for him.
Hazard stared at him for a long moment. The anger began to fade from his expression, replaced by something... soft. Ice almost took a step back. If that look was pity, he didn’t want it.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Hazard finally said. “You can do your job and be just as kick ass even if you let yourself have an emotion or two.” He reached up and put a hand on Ice’s chest. “You have a heart and it’s beating — it’s not frozen. You have warmth and flesh and blood because you are not a machine. Youshouldfeel. You should experience the closeness of being with another person.”
“You think I’ve never been with another person?”
Hazard rolled his eyes. “I’m not talking about simply fucking. I’m talking about making connections. Physicalandemotional. Have you done that?”
“No,” Ice answered honestly. He had plenty of sex with willing partners who knew not to expect anything past what happened in the bedroom. And he’d never emotionally connected with any of them. Never felt the need to.
“Let me change that for you. Right here, right now. Let yourself feel with me.”
Hazard moved the hand on his chest to reach up to the straps of his mask. Slowly, he unclasped the buckles and drew the mask away, his gaze remaining steady on Ice’s the entire time.
Ice’s heart pounded, amazed that he simply stood there and let Hazard remove his mask. No one else had ever dared to touch it. His balaclava still covered his face, but he felt bare nonetheless. He didn’t speak, waiting to see what Hazard would do next.
With his free hand, Hazard ghosted the tips of his fingers over Ice’s lips, then trailed them down to press against his chest once more. “Feel,” he whispered.
Feel. What would it be like to feel with Hazard? He’d be a liar if he denied that he wanted to experience it. And here in this moment, he had the opportunity to do so. As he stared into Hazard’s green eyes, something lovely teased his nose. Hazard’s sweet scent, laced with arousal. Ice groaned.
He drew in a deep breath, pulling the scent into his lungs. That wonderful smell lit a spark in his chest. He couldn’t resist it. Didn’t want to resist it. And he wasn’t going to.
Ice surged forward, slamming their lips together in a kiss. Hazard’s eyes went wide with surprise. He stumbled backward, letting out a startledoomph! But then he quickly settled into thekiss. Satisfaction hummed in Ice’s blood when he had Hazard’s lips under his once more.
Feeling like this wasright, Ice wrapped his arms around Hazard, holding him close to his body. Hazard returned the embrace, twining his arms around his neck in a tight hold. Their lips coming together in kisses so frantic they could hardly breathe, Ice walked him backward, heading for his own room because it was closer. Too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to where they were going, they ended up crashing against the closed door.
Unwilling to separate, they stayed pressed against it, Ice devouring Hazard’s mouth and Hazard eagerly returning each kiss, until Ice finally had the presence of mind to reach down and turn the knob. Their combined weight caused the door to abruptly swing open. Hazard lost his balance and started to fall backward, but Ice caught him and yanked him back up against his chest. His face flushed, eyes wild and glowing bright, Hazard lunged for him, pulling him into another kiss.
Once they’d moved all the way into the bedroom, Ice kicked the door closed. Hazard peeled himself off of his body and Ice reluctantly let him go. He watched as Hazard tossed the wolf mask on the desk, then backed up towards his bed. Hazard sat down on the edge of it and scooted back to lay on the pillows. Then, he laid there, staring at Ice. Waiting.
Ice moved to stand at the foot of the bed. He could stop this. This was his room but he could still walk away. Give them both time to cool down. But as he watched, Hazard smoothed a hand over his hip then up to brush over the erection straining against his pants. He squeezed once, before he slowly began to stroke the hard length through the fabric.
“Come and feel me,” he said in a throaty whisper.
Ice didn’t move. Conflict raged within him. He desperately wanted to join Hazard on that bed but knew that he shouldn’t.
Hazard licked his kiss swollen lips, leaving them shiny and wet. “Please, alpha,” he pleaded softly.
At that huskily voiced plea, Ice jerked forward as if he’d been held back by the tautest of rubber bands and that band had suddenly snapped. He’d never been one to be affected by a bed mate calling him by his designation. But hearing it from Hazard, with those heavy-lidded eyes on him, had his cock hard and arousal pooling low in his gut. He put one knee on the bed.
“You want me to touch you? Feel you?”
Hazard nodded. “Yes.”