Chapter 79 Mr. Brand, we are just wa
Chad didn’t know why he was surprised that Peter had upgraded his ticket to first class, but he was.
As he took his seat in the luxurious little pod that shielded his seat, he felt like a pampered sugar baby.
It was nice, and something told him it wouldn’t be the last time he got the first-class treatment.
He got a few surreptitious looks from the flight attendant as she offered him a glass of champagne, but he didn’t mind. The blood on his collar and the raw bite on his neck were like a beacon, screaming out to the world that he had been claimed, and he didn’t blame her for being curious.
He wondered how the guys he worked with were going to react. He hoped that they wouldn’t be weird about it, but he knew that things might get difficult.
If it got to be too awkward he could always find a new job, but he really hoped it didn’t come to that.
The last time Chad had been sent out on the Desert Energy job, he’d been part of the protection detail of one of their executives. This time he was guarding the oil fields where they extracted the oil, which had the potential of being a much more unpredictable job.
Once his final plane landed, after layovers in both Frankfurt and Dubai, Chad collected his bag and made his way outside into the blistering heat to locate the Tank Security car that should be waiting for him.
He threw his bag over his shoulder, but he miscalculated and the heavy strap scraped over his bite and almost made his knees buckle.
Embarrassed, Chad shifted the bag to his other shoulder and moved on, hoping no one had seen his performance. He looked over the rows of cars lining the road outside the arrivals area, searching for his driver.
After just a second, he spotted him. The beta was short and stout, with a thick neck and a bushy mustache, and the sign he held up was painted with the stylized Tank Security logo.
“Hi, I’m Chad Brand, I think you’re here to pick me up?” Chad said, walking up to him and extending his hand.
“Mr. Brand, we are just waiting for your colleague and then we leave, yes?” the beta said, taking Chad’s bag and putting it in the back of his shiny SUV. Before Chad could ask which colleague, Mick ambled up next to him and clapped him on the back.
“Chad, hey! I didn’t know you were going back today. I didn’t see you on the plane, where were you sitting?”
Mick was standing so he didn’t have a clear view of Chad’s neck, and he obviously hadn’t noticed the bite. He looked fresh-faced and eager to get to work, his Tank Security uniform already in place.
Chad had made the trip in casual jeans and a button-down shirt.
“I got upgraded to first class,” Chad said, feeling a little self-conscious. “Aren’t you here a few days early? I thought you left after me last time…”
Mick had ended his rotation five or six days after Chad, and if he was back now it meant that his leave had fallen considerably short of a full four weeks. Chad hoped Tank Security didn’t make a habit of shafting their operatives that way.
“That’s just the way it worked out with the schedule. I’m getting an extra week after my eight weeks are up to make up for it,” Mick explained. Then he punched Chad on the shoulder. “And upgraded to first class... what did you do? Blow the captain?”
Chad punched him back, making him laugh. “Fuck you, Mick,” he said, laughing right with him.
They climbed into the back of the SUV, the driver getting behind the wheel without a word. The engine was already running, and the interior of the SUV was blissfully cool. Chad climbed in first, and when Mick followed he got his first look of Chad’s neck.
“Motherfucker, look at that,” he said, dropping down next to Chad and leaning forward to study his neck. “You never told me mystery man was an alpha—and you let him bite you? What the fuck, man?”
Mick didn’t sound upset. He was smiling, but his humor was clearly at Chad’s expense.
The driver ignored them and pulled away from the curb.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I just… it feels right,” Chad said, shrugging. “If you’d asked me five weeks ago if I’d even consider dating another alpha, I would have said no. But I met him and… well, we matched pretty fucking good.”
Mick nodded, Chad’s sincerity softening the edge of his humor.
“So what’s he like? He must be pretty dominant if you don’t mind submitting to him.”
Chad barked out a laugh at how much of an understatement pretty dominant was when describing Peter.
“He’s pretty much the most dominant guy I’ve ever met,” he said, grinning.
Mick scoffed. “Really, more than Peter Tank or Aiden Halsted? I doubt that.”
Chad made a face and Mick narrowed his eyes.
“It’s not one of them.” The words were disbelieving. Chad shrugged, giving him another look. Mick’s eyes were wide. “Motherfucker, which one?”
“Peter,” Chad said, just the idea of mating with Aiden making him shudder. He hadn’t seen the man since the encounter in the training facility, and he hoped he never had to lay eyes on him again, though he knew that was unrealistic.
Mick’s eyes bulged.
“You mated with Peter Tank? Are you insane?”
“Probably,” Chad said, unable to help the smile on his face.
“How does that even work? He’s so….” Mick looked like he was struggling to find the word.
“Dominant?” Chad offered, but Mick shook his head.
“No, fucking terrifying!”
Chad watched Mick’s face, surprised to see that he wasn’t kidding. He looked almost concerned.
“We match up pretty well in terms of pheromones or whatever. I like the way he makes me feel.”
Mick looked disbelieving again, but he didn’t say anything. He leaned back and stared at the road ahead over the headrest of the seat in front of them. The road cut through a barren desert, with nothing to see for miles on either side of the car.
“Well, congratulations I guess,” he said after a while.
Chad thanked him, feeling awkward, after which they didn’t talk much. They made it to the security checkpoint—a Tank Security employee checking their ID—before they were driven to the separate residences occupied by Tank Security personnel and management.
The walled compound was like a whole other world from the cramped temporary structures where the regular workers lived.
“Welcome to the Tank Zone!” Mick said, jumping out of the SUV. He gestured at the two-story buildings lining the circular fence of the walled-off area and the squat one-story building they all faced. “Let’s head in and register our arrival.”
Chad grabbed his bag from the back of the SUV and thanked their driver before following Mick toward the building occupying the middle of the obnoxiously named Tank Zone. He was relieved that Mick was acting normal.
“So did Tank warn anyone here that he mated you?” Mick asked as they walked into the air-conditioned building. The change from hot to cold to hot to cold was jarring, and Chad wondered if he’d ever get used to it.
“I don’t think so,” he said, answering the question. “He said I could decide if I wanted to tell anyone.”
Mick shook his head, laughing. “Boss man here is going to shit himself when he finds out.”
“Why?” Chad frowned.
“Seriously? What do you think Tank will do to him if anything happens to you? You’ll be lucky if they let you leave the Tank Zone, much less do any actual work.”
“I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” Chad said. He thought about it as they made their way to the administration office and signed in, getting their schedules and instructions to report to the team leader in the morning.
“Mick, you know how all this works. Would you show him around?” the beta secretary asked, handing Chad a slim welcome packet of instructions and rules.
“No problem,” Mick said, taking the envelopes with the keys to his and Chad’s apartments. Opening them up, he looked at the numbers. “Hey, Chad! Look at this. We’re neighbors.”
“Cool.” Chad took his key. “You want to head over and get settled in before you show me around?”
Mick nodded and shifted his bag further up on his shoulder.
“Sounds good.” Mick turned to the secretary. “Thanks Billy, see you around.”
With that he and Chad headed out to find their lodgings.
***