by Kian Rhodes
I snickered. “If you want to know, ask him,” I suggested with a wink. “I’m not going there with the boss.”
My Omega narrowed his eyes at me and returned to reading through the file in front of him a few seconds before Ralph and Casen walked back in with matching smiles.
Colby’s brows shot up to his hairline, but, luckily, Ralph spoke before Colby could stick his huge foot in his mouth.
“Cass offered to fix us some lunch,” Ralph announced with a soft smile for the blushing Omega. “Everyone okay with burgers?”
“Absolutely,” Colby agreed immediately, rubbing his stomach. “I’d forgotten I was starving until you mentioned food!”
Ralph bent down to kiss Casen’s cheek, and, I swear on all that’s holy, he patted the older Omega’s ass as he did.
What the fuck? Colby mouthed at me, but all I could do was shrug. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this out of my comfort zone.
“Okay, then,” Ralph said, slipping back into his chair and opening the top file on his stack. “Let’s get started.” He paused and looked up in surprise. “Did you print out the system logs for all of these or am I just lucky?”
“There is a log in each file,” I confirmed. “It should help if we can see who has accessed the files.”
“Especially if the same person was in all of them,” Ralph agreed, flipping open his notepad and reaching for his pen.
We worked in silence for several minutes before Ralph spoke again. “Rafe? Any thoughts on why Kier was at the auction house fire?”
“Charles Kier?” Colby’s head jerked up. “From ODI?”
I nodded. “One and the same, Colby. I forgot to mention it to you.” Ralph waited patiently while I quickly filled my Omega in on the development before turning back to answer his question. “Not really, Ralph,” I admitted. “We still need to figure out who he’s working with, though. He has to have a partner on the inside of the agency.”
“I know it doesn’t look great,” Colby said quietly, “but I can’t believe that he or ODI would be involved in a trafficking ring or any of the rest of it.”
“I know,” I agreed, nudging his foot with mine under the table, “but, if I’m wrong, it’s one helluva a coincidence for him to have just happened to be there to try and foster the displaced Omegas when the fire broke out. I mean, their campus is thousands of miles from here.”
Colby’s mouth twisted into a scowl, but he didn’t comment, just went back to scribbling notes on his pad. The room was silent except for the scratching of pen on paper when Ralph closed his last folder. “You two almost done?”
“I am,” I acknowledged, setting down my pen. “Colby?”
My Omega still looked like he’d been blowing a lemon, but he nodded. Before Ralph continued, Casen spoke up from behind me.
“Great! Perfect timing. The burgers are ready.”
I began to stack the folders up, but Ralph reached for the one he had just closed. “I’m holding onto this one for the moment.” He set it on the floor next to his seat to make room for the heavily loaded plate Casen was waiting to place before him. “This looks delicious, Cass. Thank you.”
Casen murmured something I didn’t catch and his cheeks colored a deep red. Temporarily forgetting everything else we were dealing with, I stared in shock. The brash, obnoxious, tough-as-nails rent-boy fucking blushed!
“Rafael?” The warning note in my superior’s voice snapped me out of it. “You have a problem?”
“What? No!” I denied immediately, fighting the urge to squirm in my seat like a naughty schoolkid. “I, ah, was just admiring the plate,” I fibbed. “It looks amazing!”
Casen rolled his eyes, making it clear that he didn’t believe me, and even Ralph narrowed his eyes at me. Colby, on the other hand, was choking as he tried not to laugh.
Bastard was going to be in for one hell of a spanking when I got him alone.
Sure, I am, Colby whispered in my head. Even his telepathic voice was snarky.
I sighed and picked up the massive burger Casen had placed in front of me, groaning when I bit into it. With two patties, three slices of cheese, and a stack of bacon under a fried egg, it really was an edible work of art.
“Fucking delicious, Casen,” Colby mumbled around his mouthful of burger. “I hate to say it, man, but I think you might be in the wrong line of work.”
I cringed but Casen just laughed.
“I don’t know why you’re surprised,” he said with a wink at Ralph. “Everyone knows I’m an expert at handling a big piece of meat.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ralph
The last thing I’d expected when I pulled Cass to the bedroom was for him to lay a sinfully delicious kiss on me and then sweetly brush off my apologies for having to exclude him from our discussion on the classified documents, offering to make lunch while we worked.
“Are you sure?” I’d asked doubtfully. “I mean, you aren’t here to wait on us. You can watch television or I have a huge movie collection or there are games on my tablet?”
Cass had rolled his eyes and hugged me close before responding. “I kind of like taking care of you,” he said softly, glancing up at me through his lashes. “Unless you don’t want me to?”
Well, screw that a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
“I’d love it, sweetheart,” I murmured. “There’s a ton of meat in the freezer, if that works?”
“Sure,” Cass said confidently, leaning up to kiss my cheek. “I can defrost it in the microwave.” He cast a wistful glance at the bed that made me chuckle. “Now, let’s get this done so you can take me back to bed.”
I’m not even a little ashamed to admit his words made me groan. “That’s just mean, sweetheart.”
Cass laughed and tightened his arms around my waist before releasing me and catching my hand instead. “Let’s go.”
Back in the kitchen, Rafe, Colby and I dove into our files, the silence broken only by muttered comments and Colby’s occasional swear word until we closed the last file. It wasn’t until we’d scraped every bite of our lunch – amazing double burgers paired with homemade potato chips and butterscotch pudding – that we turned back to the job at hand.
I thanked Cass for taking my plate and lifted the folder I’d kept off the floor and laid it in front of me on the table. “Did either of you find anything odd in the files or system record?”
Colby and Rafe both shook their heads.
“Everything looks perfectly normal,” Rafe grumbled and Colby nodded in agreement. “What about you?”
“Just this one,” I said, tapping the folder in front of me, the record on one Darren Bowlock. I passed it to Rafe, who spread it open so they could both see.
After several minutes, Colby raised his head. “I don’t see anything out of place, boss. Other than the case was put in inactive status even though it shouldn’t have been.”
“Look at the department ID from when that was done,” I suggested.
“CAO,” Colby read out loud. “Okay, that is weird,” he agreed. “Why would the Crimes Against Omegas department even be in this file?” He looked at Rafe. “Bowlock was charged with trespass and property crimes, wasn’t he?”
“CAO wouldn’t have any reason to be in the file,” Rafe agreed. “But look at the timestamp,” he said, jabbing his finger at the paper. “Three o’clock in the afternoon.” He snorted and shook his head. “There isn’t even anyone in CAO at that time of day.”
“We need to find out if their logins have been compromised before we assume it’s a member of CAO,” I said, making a note on my pad. “After all, if our mole is tech-savvy enough to know how the RFID technology in the lab works, they very well may have realized we’d be able to track the system access back to the user.”
Rafe nodded. “Not to bash anyone in CAO, but I don’t think technology is really one of the areas they stress when they’re hiring.”
I would never say it out loud, but he wasn’t wrong. Compass
ion was definitely higher than technical knowledge on the interview list for that department. Instead, I nodded to the stack of files. “Let’s each take a different batch than the ones we started with. This time, we’re looking for a similar pattern – any logins from departments that shouldn’t have an interest or during a time that that team wouldn’t normally be in the office.”
By the time we’d finished our second round of vetting, we had added six files to the one I’d first identified and Cass had long since cleaned up the kitchen and excused himself to lie down.
“Well, this is interesting,” Rafe muttered, staring down at the folder topping his stack. The brown label that held the neatly typed name – Borrero, Rafael (Alpha – Blood Valley) - meant it was filed under assault with intent to kill.
Colby’s eyes were flashing and anger radiated off him in waves. “That’s not the word I’d fucking use.”
“It makes sense, though,” I pointed out, trying to keep my tone level. “I never did get why Jack would have risked poisoning you over an on-again, off-again hookup relationship. And if our mole was watching the case, I’m guessing that he didn’t.”
“It also blows a hole in his defense that he was trying to kill Colby out of jealousy,” Rafe agreed, laying his hand over Colby’s.
“Especially with the secret file on Colby that you found in the auction house.” The words had barely cleared my lips when I realized that something was wrong.
Colby had no clue what I was talking about.
Seriously, one of these days they really were going to drive me to curse.
“Why would there be a secret file on me?” Colby asked. “My sale was legal and documented.”
Rafe drew in a deep breath. “I think we better talk about it at home, Colby,” he said softly. “You’re not going to like it and there’s no point in dragging it out into the open here.”
To my surprise, the Omega who never backed down from anything met his Alpha’s eyes and slowly nodded before turning to me. “Are we done?”
“I think so,” I said, patting our stack of suspect files. “Since removing these from the COPSD office was against policy, why don’t you leave them here with me? I’ll return them to the office and we’ll sweep the offices and boardroom for bugs when we get in.”
There were the expected murmurers of agreement and then the door closed behind them and I was alone. Unless you counted the Omega who was sleeping in the other room and I was definitely counting him.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Casen
Between the whispered conversations about the files Ralph and his team were inspecting and the weird looks that Rafael kept throwing my way, I was more than willing to escape to the land of nod after I’d cleaned up the lunch mess.
When I’d bent down to whisper in Ralph’s ear that I was going to lie down on the couch, he’d shaken his head, his eyes blazing with arousal.
“Uh-uh. In my bed,” he’d murmured back, nipping at my earlobe. “I want to be able to smell you in my sheets. Can I wake you up when I’m done here?”
“You better,” I’d agreed, my body already heating up at the thought of him taking me again.
When I got to the bedroom, I considered my options.
The clothes that Ralph had bought for me – a pair of beautifully distressed black jeans that fit me like a glove and a super-soft rag-hem long sleeve t-shirt in a beautiful jade green – would have been comfortable enough to sleep in, but I didn’t want to get them sweaty in case I had to wear them for an extended period of time.
I knew Ralph wouldn’t mind if I swiped a t-shirt from his closet. In fact, after his comment about wanting my scent in his sheets, I suspected he might even like it.
But there was something I thought he just might like more, because the jeans, fluffy socks, and shirt weren’t the only things in the bag Ralph had given me.
Pulling the shirt over my head, I folded it neatly and set it on the dresser top. The jeans followed. Then the socks, leaving me clad in the lacy navy-blue boy shorts that skimmed over my ass and cradled my semi-hard dick.
Forgoing the t-shirt, I slid under the fluffy comforter and buried my face in the amazingly Ralph-scented pillow.
Then, sleep pulled me under.
I don’t know how long I slept before the slow, sweeping touches from a dream lover began to stoke a slow heat in the pit of my stomach. When the large, strong hands stroked down my back and over my flanks, I sighed and spread my legs, grinding my erection against the soft sheets.
“Mm, you like that, huh?” The deep, growling voice in my ear made me shiver. “Your butt was made for lace. You look freaking amazing.” One calloused fingertip slid under the scalloped edge where the lace skimmed the top of my thighs, just below the curve of my cheek, gently tracing the material from my inner thigh to the seam. “I’ve been hard all day thinking about you wearing these under those jeans.”
I whimpered into the pillow, afraid to open my eyes for fear that I was still dreaming as sharp teeth scored the sensitive skin of my neck, nipping lightly as they went. “Ralph?”
“It’s me, sweetheart,” my Alpha said soothingly. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Fuck, no,” I sighed, melting a little more when my admission was rewarded by a succession of kisses following my spine down to the waistband of my lace shorts. “Want you.”
“Good,” Ralph’s voice was low and smooth, erotic as hell as the word sent gusts of his hot breath over the small of my back, making goosebumps rise on my skin. “Because you’re mine.”
Deep down, I knew he didn’t mean it – after all, it would hardly make sense for a career lawman to take up with a rent-boy – but that didn’t stop a thrill from running through my body at the possessiveness in his tone.
“Yours,” I agreed, moaning when he slid the stretchy lace down my hips. My leaking dick was still caught in the fabric under me with the elastic waistband stuck under my ass cheeks, stretching around my thighs.
Ralph’s response was nothing but a wordless growl that sent his hot breath wafting over my quivering hole as he spread me open. He kissed my pucker, sucking and nibbling until it loosened enough that he could drive that thick, wicked tongue deep inside me.
Unlike the first time he’d rimmed me, there was nothing hesitant or teasing as Ralph began to eat my ass like a starving man at a buffet. When I cried out and thrust my hips back, forgetting his rule about keeping still, Ralph never missed a lick. He just grabbed my hips and yanked me, folding my knees under me with one hand as he continued to tongue fuck me until I was begging for more.
Then, everything stopped.
Ralph pulled away, leaving me open and exposed, shivering as the cool air brushed over my wet skin.
“Alpha?” I couldn’t keep the whine out of my voice as my body screamed for him to keep going.
“I’m right here,” Ralph’s voice was rough and I could tell he was fighting for control. “Just a second, sweetheart.”
The mattress shifted under me and I could hear the rustle of a condom packet and the click of the lube.
“You know I don’t need that, right?” I groaned. “I’m already wet as fuck.”
Ralph’s chuckle was a deep, masculine sound of satisfaction. “Don’t want you to chafe while I’m stroking you,” he explained, leaning down to lick a strand of slick that was dripping from my hole. “And I love how ready you are for me.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Ralph chose that instant to drive into me, sliding deep in a single thrust that made us both shout.
“Oh, Jeez, Cass,” Ralph panted in my ear. “So freaking good! You okay?” He rolled his hips, giving me just enough friction to make me beg.
“God, yes! Please, move!” I gasped out, trying to grind my hips back against him. “Oh, fuck, Ralph! Please!”
Ralph wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me in place against his body and he bit down on my neck, sending another wave of pleasure rocketing through me. “Tell me you’re mine, Cass,”
he demanded, holding me still as his cock throbbed inside me.
“Yours, Alpha,” I whimpered, hanging my head. “For as long as you want me.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Rafe
“I still don’t understand why you thought I’d be upset.” Colby was frowning when I finally stopped talking, finished explaining about the file that we’d found on him at the auction house. “I already knew they were trying to sell me, Rafe. I lived the story, for fuck’s sake.”
Okay, yeah. I knew that was true, but still.
“I know, baby,” I responded, keeping my voice level. “But you never mentioned anything about a breeding program or anything like that.”
“I didn’t know about it,” Colby acknowledged with a shrug. “I mean, sure, I knew they did those stupid fertility tests and shit, but you know that. Hell, they showed you the results before they sold me to you.”
Again, he had a point.
“But what if that wasn’t all they did, Colby?” I finally forced myself to voice the concern I was dancing around. “What if they used you to make some of those things?”
Colby shook his head immediately. “I don’t see how. They took blood, nothing else. For that they’d need eggs, wouldn’t they?”
“Probably,” I agreed. “But who knows what they did when you were drugged?”
Colby laughed out loud. “Rafe, I was never knocked out,” he assured me. “Hell, I never even slept until the night you brought me home. That’s why I was so exhausted.”
I raised a brow. “You stayed awake twenty-four hours a day for over a week?”
Colby shrugged again. “Pretty damned close. I napped when I was on the auction floor because I knew one could assault me in front of the crowd. Otherwise, yeah, I closed my eyes but didn’t sleep. I promise, they didn’t use me for anything like that.” Colby stopped and his eyes narrowed a little. “Why is this so important to you, Rafe? You seem a lot more concerned than I am.”
“I guess I am,” I agreed slowly. “Honestly, I was pissed when I saw that folder on you.” I slammed half of my water bottle, wishing we’d had enough time for something stronger before we had to get back on the case.