The words were clipped and angry, and Chad’s stomach sank. Trudging back to his jeep, casting one last look at the beta still running into the desert, he got behind the wheel and headed back to face the music.
***
Peter was in a good mood when he got the call. Merchant had just come back from demolishing the factories contracted by Biotech Universal, and the new CEO of Novotech had personally apologized to Peter for the behavior of their previous CEOandaffirmed his company’s intention to maintain their working relationship.
“Mr. Tank?” David interrupted him over the intercom.
“Yes, David?” Peter looked up from Merchant’s report, leaning back and stretching his legs out under the desk.
“You have a call on line two. It’s Alvin Chambers from the Desert Energy oil field.”
Not really worried, Peter picked up the phone. “Chambers, what do you need?”
There was a brief pause, Chambers clearing his throat, and Peter got a bad feeling.
“Mr. Tank, is Chad Brand your mate? I mean, did you claim him?”
“I did,” Peter confirmed. He gripped the phone tight. “Why?”
“We have a situation, sir. Mr. Brand disobeyed a direct order and allowed one of the workers to escape. The rep from D.E. is furious.”
“What was the order?” Peter asked.
“Excuse me?”
“The order he refused, Chambers. What was it?” Peter’s voice came out low and angry. He knew that it shouldn’t matter—Tank Security employees were expected to obey all orders—but he needed to know if only to know how fucked he was.
“The worker was trying to scale the fence, and Brand was ordered to shoot him down. He refused, and the worker escaped.”
Peter closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers. This was exactly the kind of thing Peter had hoped to avoid by sending Chad to work for D.E.
“Send him home. I’ll deal with him. I’ll give D.E. headquarters a call and smooth things over.”
“Yes, sir,” Chambers said.
“Where is he now?”
“He’s locked up in his apartment. We’ve got guys on him, but he hasn’t been touched.”
Peter’s hackles rose at the thought of someone other than him restricting Chad’s freedom, but he knew it couldn’t be helped.
“I’ll send someone to pick him up tonight,” he said. “Just keep him where he is, and don’t let him talk to anyone.”
“Yes, sir.”
Peter hung up, his good mood from earlier vanishing. He didn’t know how to feel. On the one hand, Chad had humiliated him and made him look like he couldn’t control his mate, but on the other hand, he had known that Chad wasn’t suited for the type of work that was Tank Security’s bread and butter.
Picking up the phone again, Peter made arrangements for Chad to be picked up and put on a plane back to the states. Ifeverything went according to plan, his mate would be back in the city by morning.
***
Chapter 30
Chad waited inside the living room of his small apartment, wishing Chambers hadn’t taken his phone away from him. Then again, maybe he should just count himself lucky. Until he’d blurted out that Peter Tank was his alpha, he was pretty sure that Chambers had intended to challenge him over his disobedience.
With two alphas standing armed guard right outside the door, he couldn’t have felt like more of a prisoner.
He still couldn’t believe that he’d been expected to kill someone who didn’t pose an active threat to his life or the life of someone he was guarding. What the fuck kind of shit was Tank Security doing here?
