by Flynn Eire
I watched him think that through, practically seeing the wheels of his mind working. “Kiss me.”
“Gladly.” I mashed my mouth down to his, thrusting my tongue past his lips and showing him how a kiss could be more than comfort. Rune moaned loudly, squirming out of my hold enough so he could move his leg over my hips. Good. He was learning that not everything needed to be pain.
I wanted him to feel nothing but pleasure.
“You please me, Rune,” I panted after I broke the kiss. “You will be my best sub ever. I am thrilled I found you.” His eyes lit up, his chest heaving as a small grin formed on his lips. “Pride. That’s pride you’re feeling. You like being praised and it fills you with pride that you made me happy.”
“Yes,” he admitted. I let go of his wrists, and he threw his arms around me, hugging me tightly. “Thank you, Reynell. No one’s ever cared enough to explain any of this to me. I thought I was broken.”
I blinked back tears as I held him. “No, Rune. You’re not broken. You’re special, very talented with tech from what I’ve heard. It just means you learn in a different way.” And you’ve obviously been abused since you were young so I’m pretty sure your mind was fucked with at such a young age you never learned any of this when most of us did.
But I didn’t say that. That would have hurt him, and I couldn’t do that to him. Rune needed help, not to be kicked.
And I had a feeling all anyone had ever done to Rune was kick him.
3
The next morning I snuck out of bed early, smiling at Rune’s peacefully sleeping form tucked under my sheets. Things were getting complicated fast, but in all my years, I’d never been so drawn to someone, and I’d learned long ago to trust my instincts. Rune would be worth the headaches our entanglement would cause to my assignment and life.
Half an hour later, I was sitting behind a computer, looking up what I needed to with a bagel and coffee I snagged from the kitchen. Another hour after that, the man I wanted to talk to in private strolled in, flinching when he saw me.
“What the fuck are you doing in my office?” Alexander growled.
“Looking over the warrior rankings at this camp,” I answered, leaning back in his chair.
He narrowed his eyes as he closed the door behind him, storming over to the desk. “You don’t have access to that information.”
“And yet, here I am, staring at it.” I raised an eyebrow at him as I slid my orders that I’d brought with me across the table to him. “No, I didn’t break into your systems.”
“I knew you being sent here was not right. You’re a spy,” he accused, not even picking up the paper.
I rolled my eyes and nodded to the papers. “Yes, I’m a horrible spy who just so happened to do this right as you were about to walk in and not actually sent here by the council to investigate some issues and potential threats. I have clearance, Alexander. I’m under orders. I’m sharing this with you now because I’ve cleared you and this is your camp.”
“What issues?” He studied me closely before picking up the papers and quickly scanning them.
Now came the hard part. “Like a warrior going AWOL for a few days and it not being brought before the council.” His head snapped up as his fangs came out. “Alexander, I know it was Dimitri and he’s your mate. I’m not here snitching to the council about every misstep you guys make. I’m looking for traitors and anyone leaking information. We’ve taken some serious hits lately, almost lost several of your monarchs still in control in Europe.”
“Which we stopped and help bring the information to light about.”
“Yes, which some think is a convenient way to take focus off you guys,” I argued, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I filed my report about what happened with Dimitri. He’s been cleared, okay? I’m not your enemy, and you guys aren’t the only camp being looked at. Extra security checks were put in place after we learned the Zakasacs were banding together. But they had a lot of information. Then the French monarch was being targeted. He wasn’t the only one. That’s a lot of leaks.”
“Agreed. But they did not come from here.”
I stared into his eyes. “Can you guarantee that? Are you a hundred percent sure that no one here could ever let something slip and you know your people so well that you’d stake your reputation on the fact that I couldn’t tell you anything that would shock you?”
Most people would have immediately defended their people. Alexander was smarter than most people. “Everyone has secrets and no one truly knows what’s in a man’s heart. But there is not a man in this camp I do not trust with my life on a regular basis. I stand by that.”
“Then I hope you will help me do my job so I can show the council that the red flags were tied up and we can move on to where we should be focusing on.” He gave a stiff nod but I saw he still wasn’t on my side. “Alexander, when we did extra checks, you guys had so many red flags this camp lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree. You get taken, find out all this information about Zakasacs banding together, then your mate goes AWOL for days, and that doesn’t get reported. Do you have any idea how suspicious that looks to outsiders?”
Alexander’s face went pale as he steadied himself on the desk. “My Dimika is no traitor. He wasn’t my mate then. I—it was my—I was the reason. Do not blame him.”
“I know. I know, Alexander,” I murmured as I leaned forward and patted his hand. “I assured the council that Dimitri had a PTSD meltdown due to your kidnapping, and combined with the effect of not having your bite, he kind of lost it. Nothing more. His reputation is not smeared, and after my report, the matter has been closed. My point is, I’m not here to find out all your guys’ dirty little secrets. I’m here to close up some issues so we can move on and find what the problem is.”
He practically collapsed in one of the chairs across from his desk, bobbing his head. “Dimitri is cleared? You are sure of this?”
“Yes. You and Dimitri both, I swear it. I wanted to make sure the council accepted my report before I brought you in the loop on my assignment.”
He studied me again, his eyes taking in every detail as I would expect a trained, experienced warrior as him to do. “I wondered why I did not receive an adequate answer to my questions as to why Yuri’s replacement would come in at his rank. Normally a replacement warrior would come in at the bottom, not be switched in at third in a camp.”
“I actually outrank you,” I chuckled, leaning back in the chair. I expected more of a reaction to the news than a disbelieving smirk to appear on his face. “You and I are old men, Alexander. Who do they send in to clean up bad warriors?”
Again his face went pale as his eyes filled with fear before pure rage. “We have done nothing wrong. There is no reason for you to be here.”
“I was sent to investigate,” I said clearly, calmly. “Fight me on this and not aid me and a different order will be given.”
He slammed his fist on the desk hard enough I saw a crack form. “Do not threaten me or my people. I don’t care if you are god himself. If you are here to make sure we are aboveboard, we have nothing to hide and I will aid you. But never speak again about calling in the Wyrok to clean up this camp like you hold the call button on the boogeyman! These warriors do not deserve that.”
“I apologize. I did not mean it as a threat,” I immediately clarified. I hadn’t, but from his perspective, I could see how it would seem that way. The Wyrok was called in as a last resort normally in most people’s eyes. It literally translated to the first judgment and it was the highest authority in our world. “I merely meant to enlighten you as to my true qualifications and rank, inform you that this situation is real enough that I was sent in to report what has been going on here. No one cares if Dimitri had a meltdown. I am looking for traitors and leaks.”
“As are we,” he muttered, sitting back in his chair. “What do you need? I assume you have questions if you’ve decided to bring me into your loop?”
“Yes, but first, who are you investiga
ting?” I found that one shocking.
Alexander gave me a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you think we would not run additional checks of our own? You brought up several red flags which is why I’ve been tracking you closely.”
“You’re getting rusty then because I’ve been at your computer several times in the two months I’ve been here,” I chuckled.
“Damn machines confound me still sometimes,” he grumbled. “I didn’t want to bring others into my suspicions about your placement here otherwise I could have had Rune run checks on where you’ve been logging in.”
I bit back a flinch at the mention of Rune’s name. “So he is not one you are investigating?”
Alexander didn’t hide his surprise at that. “No, Rune is very loyal, harmless even. An oddball from the rumors, but professionally he has never raised any flags with me or my people. A very dedicated warrior.”
“And yet his is ranked last among your people and head of tech,” I hedged, gesturing to the screen. “You understand why that would raise a few flags to an outsider as well.”
“I do,” Alexander hedged, scrubbing his hand over his head. “Rune is…” he trailed off and then shook his head. “There is none like him in the field of technology or knowledge. He is like a sponge that absorbs it all up. We need more warriors like him that use their brains and not only their swords.”
“But?” I pushed when he didn’t continue.
Anger flashed in Alexander’s eyes and I understood it. No one liked to speak ill of their people. “He is not particularly aggressive, which the council and others see as a sign of weakness for a warrior. I do not. Needing to fight and knowing when to engage in a fight are two different things. Rune doesn’t need to fight. He does not care that he is ranked last or if someone wants to move up above him in rank. He always concedes. It is not important to him. Protecting all of us with his brain is.”
“Alexander, I’m not going to run and tell the council your assessment of Rune,” I muttered, looking back at the screen. “I’m not here to snitch. I’m here to make sure there are no traitors. That is all. Personally, I agree with you. Strength is not always shown with a sword. I simply need to know why the head of all your coms, tech, and security systems is ranked last among your warriors.”
“He is ranked last because he does not care where he is ranked. He is in charge because no one can beat him in computer or tech knowledge,” Alexander informed me firmly, letting me know there was no room for argument on the subject. “He puts his attentions and energy into what he does best, not pointless battles for a number. That is the way he sees it. That is his prerogative so I never pushed him.”
You also never checked he could fight if he needed to. “Who are you investigating?”
“Ben and Dean. I do not like those two, never have, and considering they fit the profile of traitors—thinking they’re hot shit when they’re not—that would lead them to believe they’re underutilized, and thus, might be approachable from outside influence.”
“Agreed.” I now understood why the legend of this guy was so hyped up. He earned it. “What steps are you taking?”
Alexander gave me a toothy grin. “Lance and Nate, both post-trans, believe they are being trained on how to do recon missions and have been tailing Ben and Dean for the past month. I will send you all their notes and logs.”
“Please do. I would like to set up some interviews with both of them.” I scrubbed my chin and then smiled. “We’ll call it a training exercise. Debriefings and cross-interrogations to make sure the potential targets haven’t compromised them. There are some red flags from both of them I’d like cleared up as well.”
“Anything I should worry about?”
“No, I think I have the full story,” I sighed. “But an attempted rape charge that just goes away after they become intimate once Nate is mated is a red flag. Plus, after the mess of Lance’s father’s disgrace…” I trailed off and spread my arms out as if to say do you blame me for asking? He nodded and stood. I quickly logged out of his computer and got to my feet as well. “I don’t think I need to tell you that my true reason for being here is to be kept confidential from everyone for the time being.”
“Understood.”
“Even from your mate.”
He shot me an unfriendly look. “Why? You said Dimitri was cleared.”
“He is, but I haven’t finished my reports on all of his friends and your mate is very loyal. Until I know they’re cleared, I would like him left out of the loop for the time being. Young pups tend to want to warn their friends when they’re under scrutiny.”
Alexander bit his lip but nodded, and I knew I’d been right. Dimitri might not outright say something, but he might hint to his friends to watch their backs or something. I couldn’t have that until I was done clearing his friends.
I left his office, which was in the main command center of the camp, and searched for the one person I knew who’d be running the floor. Sure enough, Rune was sitting at his station overlooking all the other techs. I sauntered over there and leaned my hip on his desk.
“Good morning,” I murmured as I leaned in.
“Morning,” he muttered, intently staring at something. Then he glanced at me and did a double take, registering who I was. “Oh, morning, Rey—Helios.”
“Morning,” I chuckled softly as I leaned in closer, about to kiss him. But he pulled away and glanced back at his screen. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, umm—you were gone when I woke. I’m working.” He reached up and yanked the tie out of his hair so it came undone and fell into his face… Classic defense mechanism.
“Hurt,” I whispered in his ear. “You’re feeling hurt, rejected maybe even.”
“Yes, thank you. This one I know all too well,” he snapped, moving away from me.
I wasn’t having any of that. I grabbed the back of his rolling chair and yanked him closer to me. He swallowed a slight yelp but looked up at me as he grabbed onto the desk to keep from losing his balance. I reached out and tucked his hair behind his ear before rubbing my thumb over his cheek.
“I’m going to kiss you now, and you’re going to accept it because then you’ll feel comforted and know that I’m not, nor was I, rejecting you in any way by leaving you in bed. I had something to attend to.” I did just that before he could say anything, sliding my hand down and around the back of his neck. When I pulled away, we were both panting softly. “Better? Is the rejection gone?” He nodded as he stared into my eyes. “The hurt?” At that he looked away. “Tell me why you still hurt, Rune.”
“What were you attending to?” he threw back.
I couldn’t even control the smile that spread on my lips. “Rune, are you jealous?”
He shrugged, and I realized he wasn’t blowing me off so much as he didn’t know. “You didn’t fuck me so you were left hanging. You were up and out of bed before the sun. You weren’t at breakfast and some other attractive people weren’t there either. I thought you were going to be my Master and that meant no one else. You said no one else could touch me but maybe that only works one way.”
“It doesn’t,” I swore to him. “And yes, you’re feeling jealous.” I kissed him again. “It’s maddening, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he breathed against my lips. “I don’t like it.”
“Imagine how I felt walking in on two men taking you.”
“But I wasn’t yours then.”
“You were. You just didn’t know it yet,” I growled as I pulled him onto his feet. I dropped the files I’d been holding onto his desk and wrapped my other hand around his back, mashing my mouth down to his. I kissed him silly, a thrill going through me when he melded his body against mine. “Come to my room for lunch. We’re going to move on to stage two of your training where I show you how much I like to gently tease my subs until they come for me.”
His slight smile and peaceful expression melted as his eyes filled with panic. “But I like pain. I don’t know ho
w to do gentle.”
“Because you’ve never been touched gently, have you, Rune?” I didn’t even need an answer—it was all there right in his eyes. “It’s okay. I know you haven’t. We’re going to try it. You didn’t like kissing and you do now, right?”
“Oh yeah,” he moaned as he kissed me.
“Good, very good, Rune,” I praised as we pulled apart, kissing each of his cheeks. “You are becoming such a wonderful kisser that I can’t get enough of you. You have no idea how happy it makes me that you like to kiss now because it’s one of my favorite things to do.” He smiled as his eyes filled with joy. “I’m so lucky to have found a sub like you. Meet me for lunch and try this for me?”
“Of course,” he immediately agreed.
I let him go and picked up the files, shooting him a look over my shoulder and making sure my voice was loud enough so everyone in the command center could hear me. “And for the record, no, Rune, I wasn’t attending to anyone else. It was work. No one at this camp has even caught my eye besides you. No one comes close to being as beautiful as you are. They could all be naked in front of me and I would still seek you out clothed and beg for you to spend time with me.”
“Oh, okay then,” he breathed, his chest heaving as he bobbed his head. “See you at lunch, Helios.”
“I can’t wait.” I gave him a wink and walked away, ignoring the mouths hanging open and weird looks people were shooting me. What I did acknowledge was the scathing one Alexander was giving me.
By scratching my temple with my middle finger as I walked by him. Fuck him. He wanted to get all disapproving on me… He could kiss my ass. I didn’t answer to him, and in my opinion, he’d dropped the ball big time when it came to Rune. I had Rune’s best interest at heart.
Could anyone there truly say the same thing? Even with the fact I needed information from Rune, I still wouldn’t ever hurt him.
I worked on filing update reports with the council about filling in Alexander and his clear handle on the seriousness of the situation, including his own risk assessment of the camp which I would be reviewing and apprising them of. Then I started in on that, laughing how Nate and Lance notated everything Dean and Ben did, down to how often they’d found the two men fucking.