I heard their footsteps before I scented them. I clenched my eyes so tightly that I was seeing ghostly images dancing inside my eyelids, but there was no way I wanted to open them and greet my boss and his husband while I was bare-ass naked with my knot lodged inside my mate.

Smooth, cool fabric slid over my shoulders as Papa P covered us. Matthew's shoulders shook with repressed mirth but I was far too mortified to find anything about the situation humorous. He snorted in laughter when Papa P started humming.

It took me several seconds to place the song and I buried my reddened face against Matthew's neck as it registered. Right at that moment, the bossman started singing along… Dancing, Shagging on the Boulevard. If it weren't for the fact that my mate needed me, I might have willed my heart to stop beating and just let me die in this moment. There’d be no coming back from this epic level of shame.

The bossman's voice trailed off and he cleared his throat before speaking. "Open your eyes, Jonah. We know you're awake. Being a shifter is a real bitch sometimes, and this is one of them. We get it. But we’re all adults here so let’s just move on."

Matthew was apparently much more matter-of-fact about things than I was, because he was the first to answer. "What time is it? The light is barely coming in through the windows. Surely it can't be visiting hours yet."

Papa P trilled out a laugh. "Oh, I like you already. He called us out, Ray." His voice grew more serious as he turned his attention back to us. "Forgive us for bursting in at six o'clock in the damn morning, I promise we normally have much better manners. But Ray wanted to get in and out before the hospital fully comes to life. We thought a bit of privacy might be in order, yes?"

"Privacy? I'm pretty sure that's what we thought we had," I growled under my breath. "Seriously, it would be downright luxurious right about now to have a locking door."

"Calm down, young man," Papa P chided lightly. "Noah told us that your mate here had mentioned something about being an FBI agent when you recovered him. We are assuming that means that he was undercover?” He paused and rolled his eyes before looking at Matthew. “Forgive me—could I just ask your name? I don't want to talk about you like you're not in the room or refer to you just as Jonah's mate."

Matthew sounded amused as he quietly answered. "My name is Matthew Hutchins. And yes, I am an agent with the FBI. I was working undercover on this trafficking case. Since you all were behind my rescue, I'm assuming that you know a little about what was happening at that compound?"

The sound of metal scraping over the linoleum floor hurt my ears as Ray pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down to face Matthew. I peeked over my mate's shoulder to see Papa P settling down onto his lap as they shared the single chair in the room.

"Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Ray Perkins, and this is my husband Justin. We run a team that works closely with the government to help police our shifter population, but as you will no doubt understand, we are a shadow organization that is neither acknowledged nor denied. We simply don't exist, aside from the federal funds that find their way into our accounts after a job well done."

Papa P nodded his agreement. "Not all of our jobs are for the government; some of them fall into our laps. But Team ALPHA primarily exists to protect, help, and rescue any omega in peril. Some of our cases over the past couple of years have linked together and led us to this cartel that had you imprisoned."

Matthew nodded his head in recognition. "Wow, you guys really do know what's going on then. And yes, I've definitely heard of Team ALPHA—I just never thought I'd actually meet you guys. You do a good job of staying behind the scenes. Although, you do tend to leave evidence behind. Usually in the form of demolished buildings."

The bossman grinned. "Ah, yes. You’ll meet Boomer. That’s his handiwork you’ve described. And now you've not only met us, but you’ve found yourself mated to one of my guys. It's just random chance that Jonah was even in the field when you were found. He's our IT man, or the tech wizard, depending on who you ask."

I shook my head. "I used to be the wizard. Until version 2.0 arrived on the scene. Now we have Pax and I'm pretty much redundant."

The bossman rolled his eyes. "You're far from redundant, and we both know that. Don't sell yourself short to your mate, Jonah. You may not be a hacker like Pax, but you're damn good at what you do."

Matthew looked back over his shoulder. "Now I have another reason to thank the fates, if you aren't normally in the field. What pulled you away from your computers that particular day?"

"My brother. The cartel took him from me over a decade ago and we were recently reunited. He'd been working for them—actually, he’d been working against them from within, but that's a whole other story. At any rate, he was the only one who knew the layout of the compound so that our team could take them down. He insisted on going and there was no way that I was going to let my omega kid brother go into that shithole while I sat back in a cushy office."

I sneezed right then and my knot must have gone down more than I'd realized because my cock popped out of Matthew's ass with a loud squish. I rolled over onto my back, covering my face with both hands while Matthew shook with laughter.

He gasped. "Oh, crap. At some point I'm probably going to be embarrassed when I remember this whole situation, and maybe it's the pain pills keeping me from it? But you've all got to quit making me laugh like this. It still hurts too much."

Papa P's kind voice had me peeking between my fingers to see him smiling gently at my mate. "It could be the medicine, or it could also be the fact that you've just come out of a horrifying situation and the random humor of life doesn't have the power to humiliate you like it may have before. At any rate, it's good to see you laugh, although I'm sorry it causes you pain."

Matthew carefully sat up, pulling the sheet around to cover his lap while I grabbed for my discarded hospital gown and slipped it on before swinging around to sit beside him on the edge of the bed facing my bosses. Once we were settled, Matthew went into agent mode. He looked at Ray with a firm nod. "I'm assuming you have questions, so go ahead and ask."

Papa P held up a hand before the bossman could speak. "Before you guys get into the nitty-gritty of the cartel business, has the doctor seen you yet? Do we know how long you're going to be here in the hospital or what your current condition is?"

I shook my head. "The doctor will be in soon, I'd imagine. The nurse was happy to see Matthew awake during the night. He shifted, and that fixed a lot, but we don't know what his current prognosis is just yet. I'd hoped the doctor would have dropped by during the night, but I guess we have to wait until he arrives to do his regular rounds." I wrinkled my nose with disgust. "Fucking doctors. And watch, he'll probably be in early so he doesn't miss his tee time at the golf course."

The bossman's easy grin was his only acknowledgment of my statement. He looked back at Matthew. "We need to know more about what intel you may have. We took out all three of their compounds on American soil, but we need to make sure they don't have anyone else still operating or any other omegas needing to be rescued. Also, you should probably know that I put in a call to the local field office yesterday after you were found to see if any undercover agents had been reported missing, in an attempt to identify you."

He paused for a moment, a hesitant look crossing over his face before he continued. "The reason I'm bringing it up is that Special Agent in Charge Chad Deamer got in touch with me late last night. He wants me to tell him which hospital you’re in so he can confirm your identity. He says that they recently had an agent go rogue and kill some innocents, and he gave your name. I didn't know it was you for sure until you confirmed your identity, but your description matched. The charges you’re accused of don't mesh with the situation the team found you in, so I'd like to hear your side of things."

Matthew jumped to his feet, the sheet puddling to the floor as he frantically looked around as if seeking an escape route, completely unconcerned by his nudity. He reached a hand up to scratch the back of his freshly shaved head, then looked down at me as though trying to figure out where I fit in with whatever was going on inside his head.

I stood and clamped my hand around the back of his neck, massaging his pressure points and exuding a touch of alpha pheromone to calm him. "Breathe, Matthew. Hear Ray out, okay? I'm sure he didn't rat you out, all right? The bossman said he wanted to hear your side of the story. Now let's sit back down and talk, okay? I promise that you aren't in any danger; I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

He let me guide him back down onto the bed and waited while I covered him with the now germ-ridden sheet after I'd retrieved it from the filthy floor. Matthew sucked in a shuddering breath and squared his shoulders before speaking.

"Forgive me, I'm not normally a drama queen. Special Agent in Charge Chad Deamer is a fucking liar. He was working with the cartel and is the one who tried to get me killed after he spotted me working at their compound undercover. If he or the cartel get their hands on me again, I'm dead. I'm not worried about jail time, I can easily prove my innocence of any charges he's tried to trump up, but I can't protect myself or clear my name if I'm dead."

The bossman smiled gently. "Remember what we said a few minutes ago? The cartel has basically been dismantled within our borders. That threat doesn't exist anymore, at least not like it did. That compound you were found in is another one of those demolished crime scenes, courtesy of Boomer. There are naturally going to be loose ends like Chad; that's why we need more information. We need to take him down, and anyone else working with him."

Papa P patted the bossman’s chest. "All right, Ray. You can interrogate the boy another time. Let's allow him to get some rest and see what the doctor says. There will be plenty of time for you to get all the information you need later." Papa P stood and pointed to the bed. "You lie down, young man. You’ve had enough excitement for one morning. Jonah, move your ass so we can get your mate comfortable. I don't care if you want to snuggle in next to him, but you can't sit right here because you're in my way."

Matthew wheezed out a laugh as Papa P went into Terminator mode with the caretaking. I walked around to the other side of the bed and slid in beside Matthew, spooning up behind him and wrapping an arm around his waist to hold him close while Papa P took a clean sheet from the linen cabinet and spread it over us. He flashed me a knowing wink before taking the soiled sheet and dumping it in the linen bin. He patted both of our feet before stepping aside while the bossman put the chair back against the wall where he’d found it.

"We’ll talk when Matthew is discharged. I want you boys to come straight to our house, though. Don't you dare go straight home, Jonah McKiernan." Papa P wagged a finger at me. "I'll keep Ray off your back for now, as long as we have your promise that you will come right to us. Not that I have to worry too much. I'm sure my son and your other teammates will be along at various points today to stand guard and keep you boys company."

The bossman looked up from the phone he was tapping on. “That’s an affirmative. Now that we know Matthew is being targeted, I’m sending the guys in to watch over you. Ezra and Zeke were already headed this way, so you’ll get them first.”

After they left, it was blessedly silent for a few moments before Matthew asked in a shocked tone, "Wow. Is the rest of your team that intense? Because those two were hard-core."

I snorted as I hugged him closer. "You have no idea."