Chapter 2
Gray eyes.
The sunglasses had been gone, and Emerson had been mesmerized by those gorgeous, gray eyes. Desire had burned in them, demanding his touch. A demand was overkill. He was ready to oblige with the barest hint of a request.
Images of Dash under him had played in his mind since he’d left the first time, but it was his first day as his brother’s second and the investigation had to come first. Had to.
People had died, and countless damage had been wrought through the province.
More would follow unless they caught the arsonist responsible for the carnage.
Instinct didn’t care about all that, unfortunately.
His entire body thrummed with the need to take what it wanted.
Emerson fought the violent urge to follow Dash to his car and not let him leave.
Once the alpha safely slid behind the wheel and pulled away, he forced himself to turn his back—which wasn’t easy—and focus on the job at hand.
Harrison stared at him, an odd look on his face.
“What?” Emerson snapped, his entire body stretched tight.
A hint of a smile played over Harrison’s lips, as if he knew a secret. “Nothing.”
Harrison’s stomach knotted. Secrets weren’t something he was willing to share with anyone.
Those secrets could lead to his downfall, and that wasn’t happening.
His brother had already questioned him after Dash’s first appearance earlier that day when he’d been unable to stop staring.
He wasn’t ready for another line of leading questions.
One day and he was already inching closer to being outed as alpha-attracted.
Would his strait-laced twin turn him over to the Guard as a sexual deviant? Instinct said no, but the fact he didn’t know for sure left him reeling.
Luckily for him, Harrison reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, more interested in who was on the other end than him.
“Hey, babe,” Harrison said after he lifted it to his ear.
He turned his back to Emerson and took a couple of steps away.
Emerson’s shoulders relaxed, glad to be out of the danger zone.
He dragged in a deep breath, though he could still scent a bit of Dash’s musk under the reek of burnt wood and charred possessions.
His gaze flicked to the road where the alpha had just pulled out of view, the urge to follow still strong.
It was one thing to fuck around with alphas on the downlow. One night of passion that he could easily walk away from was risky, but he was careful. Careful hadn’t come to mind when Dash had been near and that took risky to downright dangerous.
What he’d felt in Dash’s presence was something else entirely.
Exciting—and utterly terrifying. He’d felt lured closer, unable to look away.
The urge—or maybe it was safer to call it a compulsion—still pulsed in his veins.
Considering he’d seen the same look in Dash’s eyes, that was dangerous for them both. It would be safer to keep his distance.
Too bad he didn’t think he could do that.
Focus on the investigation—not some alpha who could ruin you.
“Emerson’s here, helping.” Harrison said, pulling his attention.
His brother stared at him. He assumed Harry was talking to his beta Cassidy, so he yelled out a greeting, “Hey, Cas!”
“He says hi,” Harrison said, lifting the phone away from his mouth, before turning away from Emerson again and lowering his voice.
They chatted a few more seconds before Emerson heard, “We’re wrapping up momentarily. Give me about fifteen and call the order in.”
“We having dinner?” Emerson asked brightly.
“We are. Not you,” Harrison spat.
Emerson pouted, a little hurt by the tone in his brother’s voice.
His by-the-book brother had just confided in him that he’d finally met his omega, Raimy, and that instead of breaking things off with his longtime beta boyfriend, he was keeping both of them in his life.
He couldn’t believe his twin was going to be a part of a throuple.
He also couldn’t believe Harrison had confided in him at all.
It had made him feel guilty about not sharing his secret, but there was a vast difference between a relationship being considered socially inappropriate versus illegal. Out of the two of them, he was the only one who could land in prison for loving another.
“Oh, come on. I wanna meet your omega.”
“Not tonight.” He returned to his call. “Love you.”
“Bye, Cas!” Emerson yelled.
Harrison hung up, eyeing Emerson with a raised brow.
“What?” Emerson asked.
Harrison just shook his head. “Let’s shut it down for the day.”
“We still have a little light left,” Emerson said.
Harrison pointed to the empty paint cans they’d filled with more samples for the lab. “We’ve got about all we’re going to get out of this place. I think we can call it a night.”
They both grabbed a few of the cans each. Emerson followed his brother to the pick-up that was almost identical to their father’s truck. The only difference was it said Fire Investigation instead of Fire Chief. Harrison loaded the cans into the back, securing them inside an empty cabinet.
“I suppose you need a ride back?”
“Would you rather I walk?” Emerson asked, lifting a brow.
“Get in the truck, asshole,” Harrison said. At least there had been humor in his tone that time.
Emerson moved to the driver’s side, blocking his brother from it. He held out his hand. “New guy drives. Old guy’s exhausted.”
Harrison looked like he was going to argue, but once again shocked Emerson and handed over the keys. “Don’t get used to this.”
Emerson chuckled. “Oh, from what I hear, I’ll be getting one of these of my own.”
His brother rolled his eyes and walked to the passenger side.
They drove in mostly silence, winding their way through the rolling hillside.
As they neared town, he glanced over and saw Harrison was asleep.
When they pulled into the parking garage of the department’s main building, Emerson almost hated to wake Harry up.
As quietly as he could, he opened the door and got out. Taking the keys with him, he unlocked the cabinet in the back and pulled out all the samples. Hands and arms laden, he marched them to the lab.
A tiny omega saw him through a large glass window separating a small reception area from what looked like a mad scientist’s laboratory. As he walked out into the vestibule, Emerson sensed something familiar about him.
The omega smiled brightly. “Hey, Harry! What do you have for me?”
“Emerson,” he said. “I’m Harry’s twin brother.”
“Oh, shit, sorry,” the lab rat said, pushing his glasses up his perky nose. He took a step back, as if he didn’t trust non-Harry. If only he knew how much he could trust Emerson not to get too close. “The chief mentioned you were coming on board. It slipped my mind.”
“And you are?”
One more push of the glasses. “Oakley. My friends call me Oak.” He tentatively held out a hand. “Night shift lab tech.”
Harrison stared down at the tiny omega before he sat some of the evidence cans on a nearby counter and carefully shook his hand, keeping as much distance as he could. “Nice to meet you, Oak.”
“What do you have for me?”
Emerson set the other cans beside the first set. “We collected these samples from the apartment fire south of the Highlands. What’s the protocol for turning these over to you?”
The little lab rat scurried behind the counter and pulled out a clipboard with a long chain and an attached pen. “Harry usually has them all marked for me by the time he arrives.” He looked over the lids. “And looks like that’s done. Give me a minute.”
Oakley logged each one, showing Emerson what he wrote. When he’d finished, he re-counted the cans and the entries. “Looks like I’ve got them all. I just need your signature beside each one.”
Emerson scanned the list, confirmed the numbers Harrison had labeled each can, and signed off. No way was he not ensuring everything had been turned over correctly. He’d never hear the end of it if he fucked up a simple task like that. “How long before we can expect results?”
“We’re incredibly backlogged,” Oakley said, taking the clipboard from Emerson. “But we’ve been doing our best to bump Harrison’s stuff to the top of the list. Do you have email yet?”
“I assume my same old email works fine,” Emerson said.
“Not an investigations address, though? Your old one might not be secure enough,” Oakley said.
He pushed his glasses higher on his nose again.
“I’ll send the results to Harrison’s email, just in case.
” He collected all the paint cans, somehow managing the lot better than Emerson had, and ambled closer to the door closing off the lab.
“Shouldn’t be more than a couple of days, I hope. ”
Emerson marched over and helped Oakley with the lab door.
Oakley’s face grew pink, and he pulled away from Emerson. “Thanks.”
Emerson backed off, terrified he’d made the omega think he was coming onto him. The door hit Oakley in the shoulder, and he let out an audible, “Ooof.”
“Sorry,” Emerson said, pushing the door open again and shaking his head. “I didn’t want to get in your space.”
“It’s okay,” Oakley said, frowning slightly.
He slipped inside, and Emerson gave him a short wave through the glass before heading out.
When he returned to the truck, Harrison was standing in the back of the truck rifling through the storage chest. As soon as he saw Emerson sauntering his way, he jumped down from the bed in a wicked temper.
“Where the hell did you go? Where’s our evidence?”
“I just dropped it off at the crime lab,” Emerson said, holding his hands up in surrender.
Harrison’s brow furrowed. “You can’t just drop it off. It has to be logged in. You have to sign it over. There are procedures we must follow, Em.”
“Oakley walked me through the procedures,” Emerson said, lowering his hands. “Each can was logged. I confirmed they were all there, too—and signed them in. Oakley says they’ll email you the results as soon as possible.”