Chapter 26 #2
It was past four in the afternoon—on Monday. Glancing at his messages, it appeared he’d texted both Mason and Jackson to let them know he’d need to be out at least another day. Then he noticed the syntax was off.
Two Black Guardsmen, who knew him well.
If he knew his friends like he thought, either one of them would find them soon enough.
He called Mason first, but the call wouldn’t go through.
Neither would one to Jackson. The last texts seemed to have gone through, but as far out as they were, reception was likely spotty.
He snagged a robe from the back of the bathroom door and donned it as he walked through the boat, eyeing his screen.
Dash finally found reception at the same second he noticed a small craft aiming their way with speed.
Lowering his hand, he assumed it was the not-so-welcome wagon he didn’t want to arrive. The boat zoomed up, stopping feet away and curving to hug Emerson’s houseboat. Mason jumped off first, stalking closer.
“How’d you find me? Another tracker of Jackson’s?”
“No,” Jackson snapped as he tied the small boat to Emerson’s. “I triangulated the spot where the call hit the cell towers and I realized you were somewhere out in the bay.”
“How convenient,” Dash said.
“Someone had your phone,” Mason said. “That wasn’t you who texted.”
“No,” Dash replied. “Emerson texted for me. I was a bit… out of it.”
Both Mason and Jackson stared at him.
Dash ignored their stares.
Mason spoke first. “Did you two…?”
“It’s clear they’ve been fucking,” Jackson snapped.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Dash snapped, staring at his bare feet peeking out of Emerson’s robe.
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Mason said, a warning in his tone.
Dash looked up at his best friend. As soon as his eyes met Mason’s, all Dash saw was disappointment.
“Please tell me you didn’t,” Mason whispered.
“We did,” Dash said, holding Mason’s stare.
Mason’s face fell.
“Wait,” Jackson said, taking a step closer to Dash. “You let him—”
A naked Emerson was suddenly standing in front of him, facing Jackson and Mason down with Dash behind him. His growl rumbled through them both.
“Back away from my omega!” Emerson roared.
His omega? Dash pressed his forehead against the back of Emerson’s bicep, shaking his head. Mortification filled him to the brim. He peeked around the edge of Emerson’s arm to spy on Mason and Jackson. They both stared, mouths agape.
“Get off my boat!” Emerson roared again.
“Stop,” Dash whispered to Emerson. He was going to make things much worse.
Emerson looked over his shoulder, rage in his eyes. That rage calmed a little the longer he stared at Dash. Other than the lapping of the tide against the side of the boat and a distant boat horn, silence hung like heavy fog.
“Is this truly where you want to be?” Mason asked Dash, his gaze aimed at his feet. “With him?”
Dash took a step from behind Emerson, who pressed a restraining arm across his stomach, his gaze never leaving Jackson.
Jackson stood at the ready, his body poised for a fight.
“This is where I want to be,” Dash murmured.
Mason met his stare. He looked back at Emerson for a split-second before he turned back to the speedboat. Jackson, on the other hand, didn’t look ready to leave. Emerson took a step closer, another growl rising from him.
“Get out of here, or there will be trouble,” Emerson warned.
“Do I look scared of you, asshole?” Jackson snapped, baring his teeth.
Dash cut his glance to the side and saw Emerson’s teeth were bared, as well.
Was he really going to have two dumbass alphas fighting over him? He slid closer to Emerson and threaded a hand in his alpha’s, eyeing Jackson—and hoping it would be enough to stop any violence.
Jackson winced, a stab of pain showing in his face.
“This is where I belong,” Dash said to Jackson.
He wasn’t trying to throw his relationship with Emerson in Jackson’s face.
He wasn’t that cruel. Even though their friendship was strained, he cared about Jackson.
But they were never meant to be, and deep down, he sensed they both knew that.
If Jackson needed a visual reminder that he was with Emerson to end the fight, so be it.
Jackson’s gaze dropped to Dash’s hand clenched in Emerson’s before he rose.
He nodded so faintly that Dash wasn’t sure he’d actually seen it.
Jackson stepped over the railing and plopped into one of the two seats on the small racing boat.
Mason gave Dash a curt nod and a slight wave before revving the engine and peeling off, the waves of the smaller craft sending Emerson’s boat rocking for a few seconds.
Once they were a decent distance away, Emerson turned to eye him. “Where you belong, hmm?”
Dash’s face warmed.
“You can stop trying to deny it now—and stop trying to run from me,” Emerson barked.
“Fine,” Dash snapped in reply to the bark, but the bite from his words was robbed when Emerson swooped in for a kiss.
“You can return to work in the morning. Tonight, you’re going to rest and recover.”
“Yes, sir,” Dash replied, his face going beet red at the unintended ‘sir.’
Emerson grinned. “About time you started minding me.”
Dash shoved at his chest. “Asshole.” He glared at Emerson. “How do you do that?”
“How do I do what?”
“Sometimes you say something in a certain tone and it’s like I can’t stop myself from doing what you’ve just commanded.” Dash paused, realizing he’d just given way too much ammunition to his mate.
Emerson’s face was a mask of incredulity. Dash tried to hide his own astonishment while silently screaming at himself for telling the alpha too much.
“Riiiight. As if I could force you to do anything you don’t want to do,” Emerson said, chuckling. He searched Dash’s face a moment, his smile fading and frown growing. “You’re playing with me.”
Dash forced a smile. “Of course.”
“Yeah,” Emerson said, frowning. “You’re way too smart to have said that if it was true.”
Dash clenched his jaw, trying to hold the smile on his lips.
Emerson cocked his head to the side, lifting both hands to collect Dash’s face in them before barking. “Tell me the truth.”
Dash shivered. Asshole. “That tone… It does something to me.”
Emerson’s jaw dropped.
Heat warmed Dash’s cheeks again. “Is this something omegas do with their mates?”
Emerson shrugged. “How would I know? I’ve never heard mention of it.”
“I’m an alpha, too. Maybe I can harness that same power to make you do things.” Dash cleared his throat before attempting to match the same tenor. “Take the boat back to dock.”
Emerson chuckled. “Nope. That wasn’t it.”
Dash cleared his throat again, making the same command.
Emerson shook his head.
“That’s not fair,” Dash muttered. “You’re not allowed to use that against me anymore.”
Emerson dragged him closer. “I won’t promise that.”
Dash narrowed his eyes.
“I will promise to only use it when I need to force you take better care of yourself.”
Dash scoffed.
“Rest tonight, work tomorrow,” Emerson barked.
Dash fought a grin. “Asshole.”
Emerson chuckled. “It’s too late to go in tonight anyway.”
“Tell that to Jaye Lachlin,” Dash whispered.
Emerson sighed, leading them both back towards the door. “You can’t go searching for him with nothing in your tank, Dash. You’re putting both of you at risk.”
“I’ve done more with less.”
“That doesn’t mean you should,” Emerson replied. “Maybe the tone is linked to your hybrid nature. With two alphas, maybe one has to be more dominant somehow?”
“Maybe. There’s a lot I don’t know about my condition.”
Emerson pulled the door closed behind them, allowing Dash to turn and face the man.
“You said that specialist did tests on you. Maybe you could ask him about it.”
“I’ll never speak to that man again.”
Emerson stiffened. “Why not?”
“I had to sneak out of his research ward in Alexandria—otherwise I might’ve still been locked up in there, still taking more tests.” He shook his head. “I’ve never even seen the results of all that testing he did.”
“For fuck’s sake… how long were you there?” Emerson asked as he sat on the bed and opened Dash’s robe.
“Nearly three months. Luckily, Mason figured out where they’d taken me and helped me escape.
” As soon as he said the words, guilt hit him hard.
Mason had given him so much. What had he done to pay that back?
He was being self-centered not considering the impact his actions had on the man and their business.
“He brought me back to my parents here in Fort Seattle and stayed with us a while, until the smoke cleared. That’s when I convinced him to stay and go into business with me. ”
Emerson drew him back to bed. “He quit the Guard for you?”
“He was already disillusioned before all this happened. We all were. Nothing we did seemed to tip the meter much. Going into province after province and seeing the decay and corruption? It slowly broke parts of us. But also seeing it in the Wildlings, too? That was even worse.” He cuddled into the crook of Emerson’s arm.
“Depravity isn’t a product of our society.
It’s an error code written into our very DNA.
If given the chance to greatly profit from another’s harm, men will choose it nine times out of ten. ”
“That’s a rosy view of things,” Emerson said, urging him to lay his head down.
Dash closed his eyes and listened to the steady beat of Emerson’s heart under his ear.
“I’ve been to every major province in this Palatinate and found darkness in every one.
It’s too much. No matter what we did, there was always more around another corner.
When I was told I would be let go, I accepted it without argument.
I figured if I can’t make the world better, maybe I can make one province better and be happy with that.
Which is why I feel dreadful wasting another day while my client’s son is missing. ”