Aiden gave him a droll look that let Peter know just what he thought about that. “You,Peter Tank, don’t want to control every aspect of his life? Since when?”
Peter shrugged. Aiden was right; it was out of character for him, but even though he’d only known Chad a month, he knew how Chad would react if he tried to take over that way. Chad needed his independence, and for some reason Peter wanted to give it to him.
He would just have to deal with Chad’s absence. They could video chat, talk on the phone, and if Peter got really crazy, he could take a trip to inspect the operation and see Chad in person.
“Since now,” Peter said. “But let’s talk about something else. What’s new with you? Take anyone home lately?”
Aiden shrugged, but there was a gleam in his eye that told Peter that he had. He hoped Aiden found someone soon. It would make things much less awkward.
***
Chad stripped down and hopped in the shower, wondering how he’d managed to get sand in his underwear when he’d barely even left the jeep. As the water pressed down on him, washing away the sweat and grime of being outside in the desert heat, the phone rang and jerked Chad out of his blissful hot-water haze.
Scrambling out of the shower, Chad left a trail of water on the floor as he sprinted to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Chad. Is this a bad time?” Peter asked, and Chad’s belly clenched with warm happiness at the sound of Peter’s deep baritone. It was hard being away from his new mate, but he was dealing better than he’d thought he would.
“Not at all, I was just going to shower. How are you?”
Peter chuckled. “Better now that I’m talking to you. I wish you were here.”
“Well, I’ll be back before you know it.”
Peter didn’t say anything to that. He asked Chad what he thought of his new assignment, and Chad answered that things were pretty much what he’d expected. Barring an attack, either by terrorists or saboteurs, all they did was patrol the perimeter of the camp and keep the peace among the workers.
“So have you told anyone that we mated?” Peter asked after a while.
“Just Mick. It hasn’t really come up. People see the mark, but they don’t ask about it.”
Chad was a little surprised by that, actually. He’d expected people to be more judgmental and more curious, but it seemed that as long as he did his job, no one cared.
“As long as no one is giving you shit about it I guess that’s fine. But if someone asks you who claimed you, I expect you to tell the truth.”
“I will,” Chad promised.
There was a crackling sound in the corner and Chad jumped. His walkie-talkie blared to life, his commander’s voice coming through loud and clear, ordering him to report to the southwestern corner of the camp as fast as possible.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Peter said, having heard the order. Chad said a quick goodbye and hung up. He rushed to get dressed in the uniform he’d discarded on the floor by the door.
There was still sand rubbing him everywhere, but Chad ignored it. He strapped on his vest and grabbed his gun and made his way outside. Mick was ahead of him, and Chad ran to catch up.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Chad asked, falling into step next to his friend at a jog. They climbed into a jeep, Mick behind the wheel, and drove out toward the southwest corner of the field.
“Probably just some of the workers making a fuss,” Mick answered. “If it were an attack the alarms would have sounded. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”
They were almost there when the sound of shots rang out, and Chad’s heart started racing. Adrenaline coursed through his body, his grip on his gun tight, but Mick was relaxed as ever.
“Probably just warning shots,” Mick told him.
They turned the corner around a row of barracks set up for the workers, and saw a large crowd surrounded by maybe fifteen Tank Security soldiers. Mick parked the car and jumped out. Chad followed him and they made their way to their commander for instructions.
“Having some trouble?” Mick asked, looking out over the crowd of people. The workers seemed agitated, but they were just standing around waiting.
“I think we’ve got a handle on it now. We’re splitting them up into groups and taking them back to their barracks,” their commander answered.
As Chad watched, three of the Tank Security guards moved into the crowd and started separating them into smaller groups. The process was quick and efficient, though the sight of the much larger alphas shouting at and bullying the betas to do as they were told didn’t appeal to Chad’s sense of fairness.
