by D. J. Heart
“How do you know all this?” Chad popped open his own Coke and considered Topher’s face. If this was all off some random internet site then he was going to kick his ass.
“I took biological psychology class when I was an undergrad. There’s been a ton of research on this, but it’s not really mainstream. A lot of alpha groups try to discredit it.”
“Why? Isn’t it good to know how it works?” Chad didn’t really follow alpha politics. All he knew was that being an alpha was a huge advantage, and he liked it that way.
“Well, maybe, except sometimes alphas can match with an omega. A lot of people don’t like thinking that you can be mates with one of them.”
Chad shrugged. So what if you were mates with your omega? They were yours to do with as you pleased.
“What do you think I should do?” he asked Topher, putting his feet up on the coffee table and looking up at the ceiling. He was so confused.
“Run away while you still can?” Topher said, sounding like he was only half joking. Chad looked at him, and he shrugged. “What can I say? He’s the scariest dude I’ve ever met. Why would you want to be in a relationship where you’re the bitch?”
Chad frowned, offended. Submitting to Peter didn’t make him a bitch.
“Watch it,” he warned. “I may not be able to take on Peter, but you’re no problem.”
Topher just nodded, not at all intimidated. “That’s my point. You’re a dominant guy—way above average. But with Peter you’re basically a beta. Can you really live the rest of your life with someone who outranks you that much?”
Chad opened his mouth to reply, but then he didn’t say anything. He was surprised that his initial impulse was to answer yes to Topher’s question.
“I don’t know,” he said at last, feeling overwhelmed and confused.
“Well, something tells me Tank isn’t going to give you a lot of space to think about it.”
Chad bit his bottom lip. The look on Peter’s face when Chad left had been shocked—like he couldn’t believe that Chad wasn’t just caving. Chad had the feeling that once Peter decided how he felt and how he was going to react, he was going to be in trouble.
Still, Chad couldn’t bring himself to be scared of Peter. He knew on an intellectual level that Peter was scary as hell, but he didn’t feel it.
“Let’s talk about something else,” Chad said, choosing to put his head in the sand—at least for the moment. “How’s it going with the hunt for an internship?”
“I have interviews tomorrow and next week, but there’s a lot of competition. I’m just hoping for the best at this point.”
“Tomorrow? That’s soon. Are you prepared?”
“Mostly. If you want to help me out I’ve got flashcards I need to quiz myself on.”
Chad grinned. He hadn’t seen a flashcard since high school, and even then he hadn’t used one. Topher was such a nerd.
“As long as you don’t expect me to know anything, I’m happy to help,” Chad said, smiling.
***
Chad helped Topher study for several hours, quizzing him on every aspect of the company he was interviewing to intern with and a whole bunch of technical stuff that Chad didn’t understand. After Topher went back to his apartment, Chad called his parents to see how his dad was doing.
His dad was doing fine, though he hated his new diet. Chad evaded their questions when they asked about Peter, and they soon got the hint that he didn’t want to talk about it.
“We love you,” his mom said before they hung up, his dad repeating the words in the background. Chad felt his heart warm, missing them.
“Love you too,” he said, putting the phone down and ending the call.
Still feeling tired and worn out, emotionally and physically, he decided to make an early night of it.
***
Chapter 22
Peter had a plan. He wasn’t going to let Chad slip through his fingers—just the thought of it made a sub-vocal growl rumble in his chest—but neither was he going to force Chad to be with him.
He was going to compromise.
It was a Friday morning, and if Chad was being a good employee he should be finishing up his class with Aiden in less than ten minutes. Peter stood outside the training room door and waited.
Five minutes in and he couldn’t contain his impatience anymore. He barged into the room, head held high and chest puffed out so far it strained the buttons of his shirt, the fight on the mat coming to an abrupt end as the two alphas saw who had entered.
“Mr. Tank!” Merchant said from the front of the room, walking toward him. “How can we help you?”
Peter frowned, looking toward the side of the room where Chad was watching him with a curious expression. There was no fear, which was a relief, but neither was Chad smiling nor acting at all happy to see him.
“I need the room,” Peter said, ignoring the fact that this was supposed to be Aiden’s class. Merchant was a good teacher, but he tended to have some unorthodox ideas about what was appropriate to teach new recruits.
“All right,” Merchant said, turning to his students. “You heard the man, everyone out!”
The five young alphas scrambled to leave, Chad among them. Peter walked right up to him and grabbed the front of his sweaty shirt, holding him back.
“Not you,” he said, letting go when Chad stilled and stepped back. Turning around, Merchant was the only person still in the room. Peter bared his teeth in an unintended show of aggression.
“Hey, hey!” Merchant said, walking back. “I’m leaving. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
Peter snarled, and Merchant ran out of the room with what Peter swore was a laugh.
The guy was insane. It hadn’t been more than a week since Peter had nearly killed him, and he was already back to his old irreverent self.
“Hello,” Chad said, jerking Peter out of his thoughts. Peter narrowed his eyes, observing his would-be mate with an intent expression. Chad fidgeted, but he didn’t step away or act nervous. “Are you—”
Whatever Chad was going to say, Peter didn’t get to hear it. He grabbed Chad’s shoulders and slammed him face-up against the wall, roughly handcuffing his hands behind his back before spinning him around so that they were face-to-face.
“What are you—”
Again Peter cut him off, crashing their mouths together in a vicious show of domination. Peter needed to establish that what came next didn’t mean that he was in any way submissive—his inner alpha demanded it.
Reaching down, kissing into Chad’s mouth like he was punishing him, Peter shoved Chad’s shorts down around his thighs and freed his cock. Chad was hard, and Peter could feel the length of his cock pressing up against his thigh and lower stomach.
Peter’s own cock was aching, but that wasn’t Peter’s focus now. This was about Chad.
“Shut up,” Peter snarled when he pulled away, stopping whatever Chad was about to say. Chad watched him with wide eyes, his breathing hard but his gaze focused and unclouded. Chad was aroused but not flying.
“Good boy,” Peter said when Chad stayed silent. Then he crouched down and took Chad in his mouth.
The taste was delicious. Manly and pungent, Chad tasted like sweat and salt and alpha. Peter loved it. He made his mouth a wet hole, trying to imitate what he knew he liked, and gripped Chad’s knot with one hand as he used the other to push him back against the wall.
No matter that Peter was the one on his knees; he was the one in control.
Sucking on the head of Chad’s cock, tracing the vein running up the underside of the solid shaft with his tongue, Peter moved his hand from Chad’s hip and in between his legs. He pushed two fingers past Chad’s rim, completely dry, bearing down on his prostate with as much force as he could muster.
Chad screamed, and Peter’s mouth flooded with come. He’d tasted the seed of another alpha before—even Chad’s—but this was different. Pulling off Chad’s cock, Peter spit the load in his mouth back on Chad’s co
ck as he milked him to completion. When he was done, Chad sagging against the wall and breathing like he’d just run a marathon, he rose back to his feet and grabbed Chad’s chin. He forced Chad to look him in the eye.
“The only person who’s ever going to touch your cock from here on out is me. Do you understand?”
Peter hadn’t meant to say it, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed Chad to know that he was owned.
“Yes,” Chad breathed out, the word mushed from Peter’s grip on his jaw. Peter let go and leaned down for a kiss, gentler this time. He knew from experience that Chad was tasting himself on Peter’s tongue, and the thought turned him on.
“You’re mine.” Peter said when he pulled back. Chad didn’t respond, but Peter didn’t need him to.
Reaching behind Chad’s back, Peter unlocked the cuffs with practiced ease and slipped them back into his pocket.
“Are we okay?” he asked, needing to know that Chad wasn’t just humoring him in the moment.
“I… yeah. I think so,” Chad said. Peter breathed out a sigh of relief, an anxious knot in his stomach releasing.
“Good. I have to get back to work, but will you come over tonight? Any time after six is good.”
Chad frowned, and Peter’s heart sank.
“You don’t want me to…?” Chad nodded down to the obscene bulge in the front of Peter’s suit.
Peter grinned, relieved again. He felt like he was on an emotional rollercoaster.
“How about you take care of it tonight?”
Chad swallowed and his pupils dilated. He grinned.
“Okay.”
Peter took a step closer and smiled, the expression gentle on his face.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said, pressing a kiss to Chad’s upper lip. He pulled away, Chad standing there with his pants down and his knot on full display, and walked out of the room with a spring in his step.
“Everything good?” Merchant asked, coming up next to him as he walked out toward the parking lot. “You had sort of a crazy look in your eyes back there.”
Peter shot Merchant a bemused look, too happy to be offended.
“Everything’s perfect,” he said, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. Then his brow furrowed. “Now why exactly are you teaching Aiden’s class?”
Merchant’s answering grin was anything but reassuring.
***
Chapter 23
The next two weeks passed in a blur. Chad spent almost every evening at Peter’s apartment, and though they didn’t always have much to talk about, Chad found that he was comfortable just being in the other man’s presence.
“Is it weird that I’m going back to the same protection detail?” Chad asked a few days before he was going back to work, making Peter look up from the book he was reading.
“Not really, why?” Peter put his book down on his lap and gave Chad his full attention.
“I was just talking to Mick, and he said that it was unusual. He said that the first job is more like a trial and that after that most guys get moved to another group.”
Peter shrugged, picking his book back up. “Sometimes we move people, but not always. Why, do you not like your team or your team leader?”
Peter sounded curious, but not like he was going to do anything about it if Chad said no. Peter had never offered him any special treatment, and Chad didn’t want it.
“No, I like them just fine. I was just curious.”
Chad picked up Peter’s laptop and resumed browsing his social media feed, while Peter kept reading.
Chad hadn’t lied. He liked his team. His team leader was a decent guy, the alphas he worked with were competent and not too boring, and the job they did was easy.
What was not to like?
***
Peter sat in his office and prepared for his meeting with Novotech’s CEO, Gilroy Sprain. Since the man had specifically requested that the meeting be one-on-one, Peter wanted to be sure he understood as much as possible of exactly what Tank Security was doing for the gigantic pharmaceutical company.
It would look bad if Peter didn’t seem to have a handle on the specifics—even though he really didn’t.
The intercom on Peter’s desk cranked to life, David’s voice interrupting his studying.
“Mr. Tank?”
“Yes, David?”
“There’s a pair of FBI agents in the lobby asking to see you. Should I have the front desk send them up?”
“Alphas?” Peter asked.
“Yes, sir,” David said.
Peter felt his hackles rise. He couldn’t suppress the instinct that any investigation into him or his company was as good as a challenge, but if he actually attacked one of the agents he would be in deep shit, unless he could prove it was provoked.
“Send them up,” Peter said, taking a calming breath. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.
“Mr. Tank? Agents Burr and Jones are here to see you,” David said, opening the door and letting two alphas in. Peter sized them up as David closed the door behind them.
“What can I do for you, gentlemen?” Peter asked, his body relaxed and his gaze intent. The two agents were dominant, but nothing like him. Agent Burr was older, maybe late forties, while Agent Jones couldn’t be more than thirty.
Agent Jones looked nervous, his shoulders tense and his expression forced, but Agent Burr looked perfectly relaxed.
“Mr. Tank, do you mind if we ask you some questions?” Burr asked, pulling out a notebook. Peter shrugged one shoulder and gave his head a shake.
“Not at all, ask away.”
Agent Jones cleared his throat and drew a breath like he was going to speak, but his senior partner cut him off.
“Are you aware that several members of Biotech Universal’s executive team were recently taken hostage and beaten to within an inch of their lives?”
Peter resisted the impulse to smile. “I did not know that, no,” he said, lying through his teeth.
In fact, Peter had taken great pleasure in watching the video feed of his team teaching the greedy executives a lesson on the importance of respecting proprietary information. His only regret was that he hadn’t been there to take part in the fun.
“So you deny that your firm arranged the kidnappings and assaults on behalf of Novotech Pharmaceuticals?”
The question was asked calmly and without any challenge, and Peter had to respect the alpha’s skill. It couldn’t be easy to walk into the office of an alpha like Peter and accuse him of criminal activity.
“I do,” Peter said, looking over at the younger alpha when he drew a sharp, indignant breath. “Is there something wrong, Agent Jones?”
“No, Mr. Tank. Agent Jones is just a little excitable,” Burr said, shooting his partner a warning glance. Jones looked furious and humiliated, but he didn’t say anything.
“Is there a reason you think my firm was implicated in this attack?” Peter asked, letting just a hint of warning creep into his voice. He knew that none of his guys had talked, and they had covered their tracks well. Someone at Novotech might have ratted them out, but Peter had never spelled out exactly what sort of lesson they were going to teach.
“We have our sources,” Agent Jones said, his tone superior. Peter let his mouth split into a slow grin.
“You do, do you?” he asked, licking his lips. Agent Jones was young and attractive, and if Peter weren’t seeing Chad he would have delighted in taking the haughty alpha into his bed.
“Yes.” Jones didn’t say anything more, crossing his arms and glaring at Peter.
He was lucky he had a badge, or Peter would have torn him apart for looking at him like that.
“I doubt that.” Peter’s voice held an edge of menace.
“Well, that was all we wanted to ask. Thank you for your time, Mr. Tank.”
“That’s quite all right. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
Agent Jones wrinkled his nose at that, but he didn’t comment. The two alphas took
their leave, and Peter was left feeling confused.
What exactly had the two agents hoped to accomplish? It certainly wasn’t the extraction of a confession. And why give away the fact that they were investigating him?
Peter called his lawyer and relayed the encounter, but the beta didn’t have any ideas what game the FBI was playing either.
“If they suspect you were involved in this crime—which you and I know you weren’t—perhaps they were hoping to rattle you into doing something rash?” he suggested.
