Creed
Have I been taunting the arsehole by having Emily sleep on my shoulder?
Yes, indeed.
Rick Wagner might not be the current mission, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get him primed while we take care of other business.
“He won’t do anything,” she says quietly, drawing my jacket off her shoulders and folding it neatly. There’s a small indent on her cheek from where she’s been leaning against me, and she rubs it absently. “Or not right now, anyway. He’s too much of a wimp to take on someone like you.”
Exactly. Wagner is not just an arsehole, but a coward. My team has tailed him all day, and the guy is a braggart and a liar, short-changing his staff and snitching on his customers. He’s also got a tracker on Emily’s phone, despite the fact they’ve been broken up for months. It might be hypocritical, but when I keep tabs on people, I always know where to draw the line, and this dickbag has gone way over it.
“I’ll take care of him,” I tell her, picking up her purse from where it slipped to the floor. It puts me back in close proximity to her sweet perfume, and I take a moment to brace myself before I hand it over. “Just go inside and lock the door.”
She accepts the purse, but her plush mouth curves down at my instruction. “You’re not getting into a fight with Rick over me. He’s not worth you hurting yourself.”
I don’t know whether to be touched or insulted. “There will be no fight . He’ll yell and make threats, and then he’ll decide it’s better to just go away quietly.”
Her eyes narrow suspiciously. “That’s soldier-speak for breaking him into a dozen pieces and dropping him in a ditch somewhere. Claudia says the same thing to me at least once a week.”
I can feel my lips twitch, and a small part of me settles knowing she has someone like Corporal Nash in her corner. Her sister might have gone through some heavy shit with her pack, but I know from personal experience, that makes you twice as dangerous when it comes to defending your own.
“Maybe you should just kiss me, then.” Emily says, blowing thoughts of her sister out of my mind with the force of an AT landmine. “I bet that would really rile the bastard up.”
I know she must be kidding, but my mouth doesn’t get the memo. “I like that plan a whole lot better.”
A silky red brow lifts, and I expect her to laugh me off, but instead she cups my cheek, drawing me down with some kind of magical power. No one other than Finn has touched me in nearly a year, and I wait for my muscles to lock up on reflex. Affection of any kind feels like claws across my skin, but I’m putty in her soft hand as she brushes her lips over mine. Like Finn said, she smells like ours but tasting her is a whole different matter.
When I pull back, my skin is burning, but this time with a need for more. “Jesus, I didn’t think you’d do it.”
Her big hazel eyes gleam up at me. “Want to stop?”
I cast a quick glance at the windscreen, but her dickbag ex is the last thing on my mind. “He only looks semi-riled.”
“You mean we can do better?”
There’s a note of sass in her voice, and I grunt. “I’m not sure about better, but I’ll take more , if it’s on offer.”
I wait for her to pat my cheek and tell me to keep dreaming, but she bites her lip as she studies my face. I don’t know what she sees there, but I feel my mouth go slack as she climbs over the console and settles herself in my lap. She’s all warm curves and velvety skin, and I’m pretty sure I’m gaping at her like an idiot as she rests her hands on my shoulders. “Rick told me I was a frigid lay. When I broke up with him, he said no other alpha will ever waste his time on my mediocre beta pussy.”
I’ve listened to her interview with Finn, and I know that being considered mediocre is a trigger for her, considering her father told her on a daily basis that she didn’t measure up to his expectations. Did she share that hurt with her ex in a vulnerable moment, only to have him turn around and weaponise it against her?
Maybe I’ll ask him when I’m removing his teeth with a hammer and chisel.
But thoughts of violence spin apart like shrapnel as she leans forward and nuzzles the side of my neck. “I guess I won’t have to hit him that hard,” I mutter, gently squeezing her soft thighs. “His brain is clearly already broken.”
She snorts into my throat, but then pulls away and gives me a sly look. “Maybe it’s healed up since then. Rick has always had a pretty thick skull.”
“Then I guess it’s back to the million pieces in a ditch approach.”
She smirks, but I can see the need in her eyes, and my fingers tighten on her hips. She’s an intriguing mix of strength and vulnerability, and it seems to flip a switch inside me, because the next thing I’m saying is, “You’re the first person I’ve touched like this since Soren. I can’t… usually it feels like knives grinding in my skin, but this feels so good, I don’t ever want you to move.”
She makes a soft humming sound in the back of her throat, rocking forward gently over my lap. We’re both fully aware of the state I’m in, my dick so hard I can feel the ache in my back teeth. Most of my fucks have been hard and fast, a few forgettable moments in dark clubs or on a stranger’s bed. Before Soren, I thought the closest I’d get to a relationship was the bond I have with my brothers, Finn and Lang, but this feels like how it’s meant to be. Soft kisses and gentle touches, her lips mapping my face and neck, while I hold her close enough to feel her heartbeat echo mine.
“I like the way you touch me, too,” she murmurs as her hands slide down my chest, resting against my ribcage. She’s still riding me, but it’s slow and almost teasing, like we have all the time in the world to find our rhythm. I’m imagining what that would look like when she says, “You know, I’m with Derek. Not just dating him, but he’s my best friend, and the last person in the world I’ll ever hurt.”
Which just confirms he’s also on my protection list, because what matters to her matters to me. It’s as instinctive as breathing, but I know that these kinds of pack dynamics are new to her. Ours might be more complicated than most, but there’s a simple principle at the heart of our pack: no one is ever left behind.
“And I’m with Finn, and Lang, and Soren,” I say simply, brushing back a curl from her cheek, “even though we’ve never touched like this.”
She looks at me in surprise. “You’ve never cuddled your mate?”
“It didn’t happen like that for us.” That’s the understatement of the year. “We’re mates, but the bond isn’t fully there. Not yet, I mean.”
She makes that humming sound again and leans forward, her kiss a blend of sweet vanilla and sympathy. “That must be so hard. But we’ll hopefully fix that, right?”
If anyone else suggested it, I’d bite their head off. We’ve been working on a solution for over a year, and so far, we’ve fixed shit. But I’m quickly becoming convinced that Finn was right. This beautiful girl in my arms could be our missing piece.
I must have waited too long to reply, because she slowly pulls back, her skin flushed as she climbs into her own seat. “If I knew dry humping another alpha would get rid of him, I would’ve done this a long time ago.”
I look at her blankly, and she nods towards the windscreen. I have no idea when her arsehole ex left, but he and his car are nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry,” she says, drawing my attention back to her. “That’s not exactly dry , is it?”
Her cheeks are now burning as she stares at my lap, but my brain has gone way offline. Because the scent wafting up from the damp spot on my trousers is as potent as omega slick.
“Um… I should probably go inside.” She grabs the handle, but then looks back at me, her plush lip caught between her teeth. “Thanks… for bringing me home.”
I want to thank her back. For the touches. The trust…
But if I open my mouth, I’m not sure what will come out.
“Goodnight.”
She’s gone before I can reply, and I barely twitch a muscle until she disappears inside the apartment building. The front gate would be termed decorative if it wasn’t falling the fuck down, there’s more weeds than shrubbery in the handkerchief garden, and the security light blinks twice then fizzles out altogether. I can see at least three windows cracked open on the first floor, not that the shitty lock on the front door would keep anyone out, anyway. Fuck, I hate this place. It takes everything in me not to follow her inside, scoop her up, and carry her back to my car.
Instead, I text to make sure my guy on the next corner is still awake, and once I get his confirmation, start my car and dial Finn’s number.
Even though it’s the middle of the night, he answers on the first ring, his voice as cool and collected as ever. It’s enough to make me see red. “Did you know this could happen?”
“Be specific, brother.”
I’d roll my eyes if I wasn’t glaring a hole in the red traffic light in front of me. “You said that if Emily was compatible with Soren, like she’s compatible with the rest of us, that she could tone down his condition, right?”
“She’s the closest thing we’ve come to a solution.”
I grip the steering wheel tight enough to make the leather whine. “And what if this isn’t part of her life plan?”
“She’ll adapt.” I gun the engine, and he sighs. “How about you pull over, take a deep breath, and explain why you’re driving thirty over the limit?”
Of course, the fucker is tracking me, but it’s a good reminder that I’m being reckless, and I force myself to slow down. “Emily just dry-humped me in my car – her words, not mine – and then left a puddle of slick in my lap.” The silence from the other end is deafening, only I can’t tell if it’s because Finn’s surprised, or because he’s hiding the fact he’s not fucking surprised at all. “Did you know she’s a switch?”
“No.” He takes a beat, then I can hear his keyboard going to work in the background. “You know I thought she was a null. Her blood work, her scent, and the Command Method all suggest she’s as clinically close to that state as you can get.”
It sounds like an evasive answer, but I’ve read the same files he has. Nulls are about as rare as it gets, and most spend their lives passing as betas. But powerful alphas with highly dominant traits can sometimes identify them, since nulls have little to no scent and are immune to an alpha’s command. They’re basically designation free, and questions have been raised if they can bond in any meaningful way. So much of our world is based on instinct, dominance, and mating bonds, nulls are a rarity that no one has any real interest in researching.
“Maybe you were wrong. Maybe her father was wrong.”
One of the first things Finn did was hack into Brigadier Nash’s files, only to discover he’d been trying out his designation manipulation techniques on his kids over the breakfast table. Not only is commanding a family member frowned upon, but a senior military officer doing it to his oblivious, underage children would get him dishonourably discharged, at the very least. “His notes say he was trying to turn her into an alpha, right? But what if she isn’t a null. What if she was predisposed to being an omega? All those commands he was shoving down her throat could’ve short-circuited her fucking wiring!”
“Ty, calm .”
There’s just enough command in his voice to make me thump a hand against the wheel, but I realise I’ve slipped over the speed limit again. Fuck it. No one is around at three in the morning, and if I slam into a guardrail, this car is designed to be bombproof. “I won’t fucking calm down, Finn! If we’ve just played Russian Roulette with this girl’s life, I won’t fucking forgive myself.”
I jab the call button so hard, I think I might have broken it.
Tough shit.
I screech into the facility parking garage, and stride right past Finn, but he catches my arm, pulling me up short. “What are you doing, ?”
“I have to know. I’m grabbing a testing kit, and taking it back to her place.”
“Think it through.” He doesn’t relax his hold, and while in a straight-up, physical fight I could probably take him, one alpha command and he’d have me on the floor. There’s dominant and then there’s Finn, just like there’s air and then there’s a hurricane. “If she’s a switch, you already have your answer.” He points to the smear of slick on my trousers. “And you and I can both smell the truth.”
“How?” I don’t try to barge past him again, but I shake off his hand. “Was it you?”
“No.”
“Then was it Soren? Did he trigger her?”
“Come up to my office. We shouldn’t talk about this here.”
“Why not?” My voice is almost a snarl. “This is the most secure facility in the world, remember?”
Finn runs a hand over his face, and for the first time I catch the sparkle in his eyes. The guy usually has the gaze of a ghost, but right now he can barely contain his giddiness. “You’re happy!” I choke out. “And you’re not fucking surprised, are you?”
“I’m pleasantly surprised. But given the data, it was a potential outcome.”
I shake my head at him. Is he for real? “Stop speaking like a computer, dickbag! What the fuck are we going to do?”
“We’re going to do the same thing we’ve always done. Observe, adjust, and protect.” His hand is back on my arm, and this time I can feel the authority in his hold. I could probably still shake him off, but do I really want to eat gravel in my best suit? Which of course reminds me of Emily’s sweet body rocking over me as she hummed in her throat and kissed along my neck…
“Come on, you’ll feel better if we pull up the feeds and check in with her.”
I shake myself out of the haze and scowl at him. “She’s not at her boyfriend’s. I dropped her at home, if you can call that place a fucking home.”
Finn just shrugs. “I wired her sister’s place a week ago.”
I can’t help but laugh, and he slaps my shoulder as he steers me towards the elevator. We bypass the security room where one of my team is monitoring the screens, and head straight up to his office. He pulls up multiple feeds, including three different angles that show Emily curled up on her sister’s sofa. “You’re fucking shitting me. You’re one creepy motherfucker, Finn.”
“Dry humping in the Merc?” He gives a low, dark chuckle, and there’s no mistaking the thread of satisfaction in it. “You won’t even let me take off my shoes in that car.”
“Yeah, well your feet don’t smell like her…” I stare down at my lap, words failing me as I take in the rigid line of my cock, pressing hard against my damp trousers. “Jesus. I feel like a goddamn adolescent.”
“At least it proves she’s not a null.”
I scowl at him, once again reminded that Finn views this as a puzzle to be solved. Not that he’s heartless about our situation, but his feelings of guilt are equally matched by his thirst for knowledge. With his big brain and unlimited resources, there’s not many unknowns in Finn Visser’s world.
“Stop spying on her,” I grumble, and he smirks as he pulls up the cameras to Derek’s place. The big beta is also on the couch, but he’s hard at work with a laptop on his knees. Every hundred keystrokes or so, he swipes at his red nose with a tissue and chugs from a Red Bull can, but otherwise his unblinking concentration reminds me of the guy standing next to me. “Can you see what he’s looking at?”
If it’s porn, it might be handy to know what he’s into. If it’s something on the dark web, that could be useful in its own way.
“He’s currently rifling through your discharge papers.”
What the hell? “He’s in the DOD database?”
“Mmm. Seems our boy is doing his own background checks.” He pulls up a few more screens, displaying the results of Derek’s search. He’s thorough, unearthing everything from my commendations to my health records, and bank statements going back five years. “Don’t be too flattered,” Finn smirks. “He’s probed Lang so hard he probably felt it in his tonsils.”
I grunt, because it’s unsettling being on the other side of this kind of invasive shit. Although, I have to admit, it’s kind of nice to see how much he cares. “What if he decides he doesn’t want any part of this?”
Finn’s eyes gleam as he looks up at me. “You think he'd walk away from her now? From what I’ve seen, he'd marry her on the spot.”
“Exactly. The guy doesn’t have a great record with alphas. So why share, when he can keep her to himself?”
Finn gets that wolfy look in his eyes that tells me his beast is close to the surface. “Because with us, he can mate her. Why just marry when you can bond for all eternity?”
Hearing the Hallmark sentiment come out of his mouth is a little weird, but I get the point. With us, if we become a real pack, Derek will have the kind of soul-deep connections few betas ever experience. But does he want that? He already has the girl of his dreams, why take on a bunch of domineering strangers with baggage like ours?
“We’ll have to win him over first,” I warn Finn. “He doesn’t strike me as a pushover.”
Derek swipes at his nose again, while my best friend’s eyes gleam as he looks back to the screen. “Leave Derek to me.”