Chapter Twenty-Two

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Alpha watched the powerful commander dismiss his team and leave the room with no further acknowledgment of his or his brother's presence.

“I’ve seen that look, brother.”

Alpha turned to Omega. “Don’t get into any trouble. I’ll be back.” Alpha turned to leave the room and paused when he saw Shot still eyeing Omega. “You two be nice.”

He heard Omega’s snort as he walked down the long hallway and up the stairs of the large warehouse. It was early in the day. People were scurrying about doing whatever menial jobs they did for Backhander’s task force. Alpha ignored the looks. He was dressed like a ninja, his dark hood back over his head. No one moved to stop or question him while he made his way to Call’s sleeping quarters.

His steps were quiet. He listened first to see if the man had company.

“Come in if you’re coming.” Call’s deep voice reached him outside and he couldn’t help but smirk.

Alpha opened the door and stepped in, quickly closing the door behind him without making a sound.

“Does everything you do have to be done with stealth?” Call’s back was too him. He was digging around in a tall dresser.

Call was shirtless, only his fatigues on over a firm backside and brick hard thighs. His boots laced up over his fatigues, regulation style. Alpha got a good look at the man’s tattoos across his back and arms. A soaring Bald Eagle on his right shoulder, draped in an American flag. Tribal art that spanned down his entire right side, armbands, a proverb, Nietzsche. There was nothing on the left, that side was covered with deeply indented scars. Alpha moved in closer to see more.

Call slammed the drawer shut and braced his hands on the top of the wood, refusing to turn and face him. “What do you want?”

“Your bravery fascinates me. You dare keep your back to me. I could kill you with one move.”

“I could do the same thing to you,” Call responded quickly.

Alpha smirked. “I bet you could, SEAL. But I’m here for answers, not to fight. Tell me. Why are you still sending in your team?”

“You don’t understand sacrifice, Assassin. Women and children are being taken and sold right here in our own country. We may have a chance to save them. I can’t not take it. My men are prepared to fight… and die if need be.”

“Are you ready to die?” Alpha asked, a lot closer to Call. He could see the man’s broad back muscles bunch up when he spoke so close to his shoulder. 

“Yes I am.”

“Well that would be a shame. So young, so serious,” Alpha said in a hushed tone. Call’s breathing had increased as his back rose and fell with his labored breath. “You need to leave now,” he growled, his forearms bulging as he gripped the edge of dresser.

Alpha wasn’t afraid of the strong SEAL.

“You’ve given enough for your country.”

“I said leave.”

“You owe them nothing more.”

“I’m warning you.”

“Gave them your beauty.”

Call growled and spun on him but Alpha was ready for it. He caught the powerful blow that was swung at him in one hand and spun around, slamming his chest into Call’s back. He did it too fast for Call to counter. The man was a couple inches taller than him and Alpha knew he needed to get him off his feet. He propelled them forward and Call’s shins hit the bed first before he fell face first to the thin mattress and Alpha fell on top of him. He had one of Call’s arms twisted behind him and grabbed the other before he could pull that Ka-Bar and pinned it above them. Call’s body twisted and jerked while trying to free himself from the complex hold.

“Get the fuck off me,” he hissed.

Alpha didn’t dare miss that Call wasn’t afraid and didn’t feel he needed to call for help.

Call turned his head and Alpha put his lips on the shell of his ear, speaking in a soothing murmur, “I’ve seen your anger. Your controlled rage. Nothing to pour all that energy into. No outlet. I look into your beautiful eyes and I see the real you. I see your supremacy and strength. I see your weariness, too. You’re tired. Tired of the command. You’re ready, John.”

Call’s body relaxed under him, Alpha released his pinned arm, and to his relief Call didn’t try to move him off, but he did turn his head to show the side that had no scar tissue.

“I won’t allow you to hide,” Alpha snarled. “You actually think those scars bother me?”

Call slowly raised his head and turned back, showing him his disfigured face.

“Shrapnel. A real soldier’s tattoo,” Alpha whispered.

Call sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes were closed like he was focused only on Alpha’s voice, and that’s how he wanted it.

“Don’t do this,” Call groaned.

Alpha tested the skittish Commander by tilting his pelvis forward so Call could feel how turned on he had him. Mutilated face and all. Call’s beauty was not on the outside. Only a real man would’ve been able to see deep inside to where it existed.

Call moaned low in his throat at Alpha’s hard cock pressing against his ass. “Fuck. Why are you doing this?”

“Mais, vous voulez moi aussi”

Call’s eyes widened at the sudden change of language before answering him, “No, I don’t want you too.”

He knew Call spoke fluent French. Alpha was going to use whatever tactic he could to get the man to understand him.

“Se détendre, Jean. Se détendre.”

“I can’t relax. I have a mission to oversee.”

Alpha rose and flipped the big man over with ease. He let his gaze travel lower and his mouth watered at all that dark hair splayed across Call’s broad chest. It was appealing and tempting to him. Made him want to yank off his cloak and rub his own chest against it. Lying on top of John Marion felt like the most natural thing he’d ever done. Most of all it felt good… it felt right. Call had always intrigued him. The couple of times he’d encountered him in the field, he’d watched him far longer than he needed to. Respected his brilliance, his allegiance, marveled at his commanding presence. He would’ve made a good servant of the order.

He looked deeply into the light brown eyes that stared back at him. Thousands of stories were being told right before him. Call looked at him with longing and it made him want to satisfy every desire the man had. “And after your mission is over.”

“If I’m still here.”

“Tomorrow’s battle will be attained by today’s admission. Accept your victory now, and the fight is already won.” Alpha rubbed his own cheek against Call’s rough skin. “But your greatest battle, John, is the one you fight within yourself. You’ve given to your country so unselfishly… what have you taken for yourself?”

“Nothing.”

“So you keep fighting. What’s after the fight?”

“The end. Half my team is retiring. Ready to move on, ready for, as you say, calmer days. Ready to do something besides fight, ready to... to –”

“Pour l'amour”

“Yes. Ready for love.”

“Are you?”

“I don’t know love. Too damaged to love.” Call’s voice had changed. Strained, trying to mask his pain. Trained to conceal his emotions.

“Then let me introduce you to it,” Alpha whispered. His voice changing too. Deeper, lustful.

Alpha didn’t speak again. He didn’t need to. Call slowly brought his hands up and clasped the edges of his hood.

“Vous êtes toujours cacher”

God the man speaks beautiful French. “I’m not hiding from you. I have no desire to hide from you, John,” Alpha responded easily.

He let Call remove his hood and when he did Call took one rough hand and ran it through his dark, wavy hair, down until he was caressing the side of his neck. “You’re so… so gorgeous.” Call frowned and turned away. “Not like me.”

“I’ve been all over the world, John. I’ve encountered many people, many faces. I judge nothing by appearance. Sometimes the more beautiful the serpent, the more fatal the sting.” Alpha pressed in deeper. “You, my friend, far surpass any beauty I’ve ever seen.”

Alpha lowered his face, slanting his head slightly, hovering over Call’s parted lips. “Je veux vous embrasser.”

Call closed his eyes and said quietly, “Then do it.”

Alpha needed no further permission. He’d asked for a kiss. Request granted. He closed the short distance and his mouth just barely brushed against Call's. A timid touch, just to feel each other out. He pulled back slightly and when Call’s strong arms looped around his back he let him pull him in tighter to him. The heat went from zero to ninety in one point two seconds.

Alpha gripped Call’s face and kissed him with everything he had. Kissed him like he hadn’t kissed a man in years – he hadn’t. Kissed him like he wanted to be kissed – and Call did. It wasn’t long before Call’s legs opened for him and he slid pleasantly between them. Call’s hands on his hips had him thrusting within those parted thighs. Damn. The man’s strength turned him on.

Alpha’s cloth-covered cock rubbed angrily against Call’s in his thick fatigue pants. It wasn’t enough. While Call ravaged his mouth, Alpha went for the man’s dick, needed to feel the heat of it in his palm. His hands were skilled enough that it only took a few seconds to free that beautiful blushed cock. As soon as it hit the air, Call arched and jerked Alpha hard against him.

“Fuck you're strong.” Alpha hissed at the pain. Loved it. Lived in it.

Call’s hands were on his ass, aggressively kneading the firm mounds. A large palm found its way under his cloak and inside his Yoroi. Alpha’s raspy voice moaned his excitement against Call’s throat. He spit in his palm and wrapped his moist hand around Call’s thick cock and began to jerk him like the man needed him to. Fast and fierce. He tore away from their violent kiss and dipped down to suck on one those pert nipples. He bit and sucked them until they were red and taut. Call’s eyes squeezed shut and Alpha knew he was close.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck. I’m gonna come.” Call bit hard into his shoulder to stifle his yell.

Alpha growled at the pain from the bite. Felt the hard body beneath him go stiff. Call’s thumb pressed against his hole and the promise of what was to come had him shooting his own load in his black pants. Call was right there with him. His hot cock pulsed and throbbed in his palm, his warm come slicking his grip. Even after Call went soft, Alpha didn’t want to let it go.

Alpha rose and fell with Call’s chest.

“Fuck,” Call groaned.

“Been a while, soldier.” Alpha rose up to give the man his space. He went to Call’s small hamper in the corner and pulled out a faded blue t-shirt. It smelled like him. Alpha wiped away the sticky substance from his hand before shoving it down his pants to wipe his groin. Thank god his cloak was long enough to conceal the dampness.

Call was still lying on his back, his hand rubbing back and forth over his buzz cut like he was trying to put something together in his mind that didn’t make sense.

“You’re thinking too hard, John.”

Call rose and took the offered shirt and wiped himself, tossing the shirt back across the room. “You keep using my name. I assume you won’t tell me yours.”

Alpha took Call’s chin in his thumb and forefinger tilting his head to him. Call placed his hand over his but didn’t remove it.

“Stick to your convictions about me, Commander, but abandon your assumptions.”

Call smiled at him, just a small crook of the right side of his mouth, but it was enough to make Alpha fly.

“Do you always speak in proverbs?” Call questioned with amusement lacing his deep voice.

“If it will make you smile like that, I’ll only speak in proverbs,” he answered him with his own smirk.

Call stood to his full height and walked him back to the dresser. He put both arms on either side of him, caging him in. He liked the feeling more than he thought. “Are you satisfied?”

“Are you?” Alpha said back quickly.

“No.”

“Then I take that as an invitation to come back.” Alpha leaned in and kissed Call again, needing just one more taste before he left. While those long lashes were closed over those expressive brown eyes, Alpha quietly ducked under Call’s arm and was standing by the door before he opened his eyes.

Call didn’t turn around, his arms still braced on the dresser as if he couldn’t watch him leave.

“You’ll see me again, John. Sooner than you think,” he reassured him. “Remember my name. Daskshaun Armand, Persian for ‘man of army’. But for you, I’m simply Shaun.”

“And your brother?”

If Call was going to believe he truly was interested in him, starting out by being secretive wouldn’t ease the SEAL’s inquisitive mind. Alpha gave him a serious look, and answered him. “Ericktor, or ‘Erik’. I trust you not to repeat it.”

“I know you only trust a few.”

“And am doubtful of most.”

Alpha threw his hood back over his head, turned, and left Call’s quarters.

Hawk was there leaning against the wall, his eyes glowing with his curiosity. “What business did you have with Commander Marion?” Hawk asked boldly.

Alpha stepped into his space and whispered in his rough-hewn voice, “Tell me Hawk, when you're fucking that pretty boy of yours, does he scream your name when you make him come?”

Hawk pulled back and glared angrily at him, his eyes flashing with gold. “Why the fuck are you asking me that? That’s –”

“That’s none of my goddamn business.” Alpha cut him off. “You’re exactly right. And my business is none of yours. If it was meant for you to know, you would’ve had a vision of it.”

Alpha turned and met his brother at the bottom of the stairs. Shot was across the room watching Omega carefully.

“Did you get what you came for?” Omega spoke to him in Persian as they walked through the warehouse, leaving the same way they came in – through the secured underground entrance. Eyes bored into the back of their black hoods, but they ignored them all.

“Yes, brother. Got what I came for and more. Let’s make haste. There’s plenty to be done.”

“Like being discharged from the order,” Omega said solemnly.

“Yes. Whether you come or not, I’m going back tonight.” Alpha faced him.

“Does he mean that much to you already?”

“More. I told him I’d be back. I meant it,” Alpha answered truthfully. He wouldn’t let Call down. Enough people had done it to him already.

“Are you with me, Erik?”

“Of course I’m with you, brother. I’ll never doubt you again.” Omega pulled Alpha to him. Both of them got in the Jeep they had left parked out of range of the cameras outside the warehouse and sped out of Washington.