Page 95 of Alpha Awakened

The mood between them changed on the ride back down to base. Gone were the tender words and the soft laughs from their time together at the cabin. Now Ice was silent, his demeanor nearly as cold as it had been before he’d shown up to Hazard’s bedroom in the middle of the night.

Hazard was quiet too. He sat stiffly in the passenger seat, watching out the window as they drove. His heat was over but still he burned. He was hot with embarrassment that he hadn’t even made it a single night into his heat before he was howling and crying for Ice to come to him.

They pulled up in front of their barracks and Ice shut off the Jeep’s ignition. Hazard looked at him from the corner of his eye. The captain was masked again, hiding his handsome face away from everyone, including Hazard. He could hardly believe he’d been allowed to see the alpha unmasked, but he would treasure the memory and the way Ice had taken care of him.

“We should get inside,” Ice said

“Yeah.” Hazard agreed. “But first. Thank you for your help with uh... everything. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ice had come for him. But it was probably only due to his alpha instincts overriding what he wanted. And probably an urge to shut him up and get the heat over with as soon as possible so they could get back to chasing Cortez.

Ice got out of the truck. After grabbing his bag, he started to come around to the passenger side but Hazard didn’t wait for him, opening the door on his own. Ice gave him a look but then backed up as if to say,I’ll leave you to it. He turned and headed into their barracks. Hazard grabbed his duffel from the floor of the Jeep and followed him inside.

It was evening, their work hours over for the day, so they were greeted by a familiar evening scene - Jax on the couch, feet up on the coffee table as he watched TV.

“Welcome back,” he said when they walked in. “Everything okay?”

The question was voiced with genuine concern but it still had Hazard’s stomach clenching tight with mortification.

“I’m fine. Sorry about the howling.”

The alpha gave him a gentle smile.

“Don’t worry about it. Our bodies do what they’re gonna do.”

After that brief conversation, he and Ice went to their separate rooms. Hazard distinctly remembered Ice breaking the lock on his door to get into his room, but there was no sign of any damage. The door and lock had already been replaced. It no doubt had been taken care of by Ortiz since only an officer could get base maintenance to do a repair with such speed. He’d have to thank her later.

Hazard dropped his duffel on the floor and sank down onto the bed. What a fucking mess. He and Ice were going to have to share living space and go back to being teammates after spending his heat together. Ice had said multiple times that they couldn’t work together and be in a relationship. Now, he understood why he felt that way.

The awkwardness from the drive down was still twisting his guts into knots. What if that feeling carried into the field? How was he supposed to work with the captain with the memory of the past three days hanging between them?

And what about his next heat? Would he end up doing the same thing, pathetically howling and begging for Ice to come to him? Ice wasn’t going to put up with that nonsense more than once. If he still had feelings for the captain the next time his heat came around, he’d have to take his ass to the omega building for lockdown. Maybe muzzle himself for good measure.

But that was months away. Right now, he had one concern. How was he supposed to go back to normal life after he’d spent hours touching his captain and feeling his touch in return? How could he get back to business as usual after gazing on the strong beauty of Ice’s face, feeling his big body pressed against his own while he thrust inside him? Fuck. The answer was, he couldn’t.

Hazard realized what he had to do.

He got up and went into the bathroom. Stripping out of his clothes, he looked at himself in the mirror. Other than the confusion in his eyes, he looked like a well-satisfied omega. He was still a little pink in the cheeks. His hair was slightly grown out and three days of beard growth covered his jaw. Bite marks littered his shoulders and chest. And there was one deep purple bruise over his left mating gland.

Hazard touched his fingertips to the bruise, remembering...

With a curse he looked away from the mark and dropped his hand. Spreading a towel over the sink, he shaved off his beard growth and buzzed his hair down to its usual level. Then he headed to the shower.

After getting clean and dressing in a pair of fresh fatigues, he left the barracks and headed over to HQ where he knew the major would be working late. The hallway that led to Ortiz’s office was mostly empty of people. When he reached her office, he knocked on the frosted glass window set into the door and waited.

“Come in!” the major called out.

Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob and went inside. He usually liked coming to this space. But tonight, he wasn’t calmed by the low lighting and soothing scent of mint that permeated the room. He stood in front of Ortiz’s desk, at parade rest, arms clasped behind his back. The position allowed him to hide the fact that his hands were tightly gripped together.

“Hazard. What can I do for you?”

“Major. I’d like to request a transfer.” He had no idea where he was going to go, he just knew he needed to get away from Ice. Maybe he could go up to the base in Alaska. Captain Grant had made it more than clear that he’d love to have him there.

Ortiz raised an eyebrow in clear surprise. After a moment, her eyebrow lowered. Her expression changed, her eyes narrowing in thought as she stared at him for a long, silent moment. Hazard almost squirmed like a guilty pup under her gaze but he held still.

“Request denied.”