Page 44 of Tooth and Nail

FUCK!

He opened his eyes and slowly turned around. The man was standing there looking entirely too smug with his arms crossed over his wide chest, giving his beautiful pecs too much definition. It was all Eoghan could do not to drool.

“I was looking at the tattoo,” he said. It was the truth, just not the whole truth. When Ari dropped his arms and took a couple of steps forward, Eoghan swallowed hard. He was close enough now for Eoghan to smell the sandalwood and orange even over the stink of albat guano.

“Do you like it?” Ari said, looking down at his shoulder and running long fingers over the tat.

Up this close, Eoghan could see the definition of the letters, the expertly inked fine lines, the crispness of the color even on his dark skin. But it wasn’t the tattoo he really admired. It was the way it rippled over the bicep as Ari lifted his arm and gave it a flex, turning in profile like a goddamned bodybuilder to give him a better view. His cock was as hard as a brick and just being this close to his partner was making everything worse. He nodded quickly and stepped back, nearly knocking over the folding chair he’d been sitting in.

“It’s really nice.”

Ari watched him practically trip over the chair before righting it and then smiled brilliantly when he looked up. He made no other comment, just resumed undressing. That was enough for Eoghan. He turned his back again and tookseveral deep breaths until he heard someone from Wendy’s crew instructing Ari how to wash from the head down and the peripherals in. He probably already knew the routine, but Eoghan waited until he heard the generator start up and the shower come on before stripping the rest of the way and climbing behind his own curtain.

He washed up quickly from head to toe, rubbing the antibiotic shampoo through his hair. He hated the stuff since there was no built-in conditioner and it always seemed to leave a film on his hair which he prided himself on. Despite having an Irish name—his mom had liked the spelling—his Welsh ancestors had gifted him with thick, straight locks, and he always took good care of it. Besides, his scalp was very sensitive, and he loved it when guys ran their fingers through it. He finished up quickly, taking a towel from one of the cleanup guys, and dried himself thoroughly before pulling on teal blue scrubs and two layered booties for the trip back to the office.

When he stepped out of the shower enclosure, Ari was already fully dressed in an outfit which matched his. They looked like a fine pair of idiots, but the clothing was a hell of a lot better than wearing the alternative…literal bat shit. Ari glanced over at him and smiled, walking over. His curly hair glistened from the water which clung to it and to his dismay, Eoghan noticed he smelled like the soap they’d washed with rather than the lovely scent of sandalwood and citrus.

“Are we done with Ralphie? Shouldn’t we try to make contact with him and tell him to find a new place to roost? Debrief him on what happened? Find out if there are others like the one who attacked Wick?”

Eoghan glanced over at St. Clair who was on a stretcher being wheeled into a waiting ambulance which would take him to a civilian hospital to be checked out. He hadn’t sustainedany bites, so it wasn’t necessary for him to be seen by Dr. Patterson. There was nothing classified which needed to be contained.

“After we do our debrief, the chief may want us to come back out and talk to him, but chances are, another team will be out here to do follow up,” Eoghan said, looking at Ari. “She’s going to take one look at us and send us home after she hears what happened in detail.”

“Do you think Ralphie and his colony will have to relocate?” Ari asked.

Eoghan thought about that for a second and then nodded. “Yeah, it was probably stupid to let them stay here in such a populated neighborhood to begin with. I bet the chief is beating herself up for that oversight right now. Chances are, they’ll be moved out to a desert location to find a cave to live in. There are plenty of them all over the Southwest. They’ll move his colony somewhere that no one will run across them. The worst thing for them would be some Chiropterologist stumbling upon them as soon as guano is reported. Part of what we do at the I.S.R. is containment and it’s normal to move an exposed WITSEC protectee, but you already know that having come from the civilian marshals branch. We do it all the time.”

“That’s true.” He smirked. “It’s just hard to imagine a bunch of bats—er—albats with new names and identities.” He shook his head. “God, what has my life become?” He laughed and then reached up to run a hand over his damp hair before losing the smile, getting serious, and pinning him with a gaze. “What do you think happened to Wick in there, Eoghan?”

He felt a flash of anger as he remembered the way Ari had failed to listen to him and stay by his side. He couldn’t keep the frown off his face. “I’m not going to speculate right now. The chief will want us back in the office as soon as possible and Idon’t have time to discuss everything I need to.” He turned to walk away when Ari grabbed his arm. He spun around. “What? We need to get back to the office.”

“Are you pissed at me?” His open and innocent expression threatened to throw him off, but he really wasn’t going to get into it here in front of Wendy’s people. All he wanted to do was shake him and tell him he never should have run after Wick no matter what was happening to him. He’d been given a direct order and he’d chosen to ignore it and run straight into an unknown situation where he could have been killed. He turned and came back, poking a finger into Ari’s big chest.

“You could say that but like I said, I’m not talking about it right now. Grab your—” He looked around. Everything they’d brought with them, including his favorite boots, and the clothes which’d been hiding Ari’s gorgeous body from him were in hazmat bags. The first thing Wendy had done after meeting Ari was to take his weapon and put it in an evidence bag destined for Wordy back at the office. “Never mind. Let’s go!” He was pretty sure his irritation could be heard in his tone and every word he spoke, but he couldn’t help himself. Eoghan knew he needed the time it would take to get back to the office to calm down, just so that he didn’t wring his partner’s neck when they finally talked about his insubordination.

The ride back to the office was done in complete silence and as soon as they’d parked and handed off the keys to Dick Tooley, they headed to the locker room and changed into spare clothes, saying nothing. Eoghan sensed Ari’s unease as he walked beside him, but to his credit, he didn’t bring up the subject again. They were admitted to the chief’s office as soon as they knocked.

“Come in and sit down. I want to hear everything that happened,” the chief said.

They took seats in front of her glass desk, and Eoghan relayed the entire story in detail, not leaving anything out, including the way Wick had panicked and Ari had broken away from his side to assist St. Clair. Ari said nothing and when Eoghan finally sat back, he was relieved to have gotten it all out without his partner interrupting him.

She turned toward Ari when Eoghan was done. “Is your partner’s account correct, Brown?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s exactly what happened.”

She frowned, sitting forward. “Why did you leave your partner’s side when Wick was being attacked?”

“What should I have done, ma’am? Let the BMA kill St. Clair?” Ari asked.

“The BMA?”

Eoghan shot Ari a frown before looking back at her. “It’s an acronym for big motherfucking albat. My partner is still getting used to scientific names for orders and classifications.”

Surprisingly, Chief Deputy Priest smiled for the first time since they’d walked into the room, seeming to relax and sit back in her chair. She nodded. “So, in answer to your question, yes, you should have let the…BMA kill St. Clair if that meant obeying your training officer. In my experience, Sapphire would never have let him die. You must trust your partner. Have you learned nothing in all your experience in the Army and civilian Marshals Service?”

Ari sighed, looking away from her and down in his lap. “Yes, ma’am. I should have listened to Eoghan. I guess it was instinct that made me react that way.”

“Well, you’re going to have to learn how to trust your partner’s instincts as well as your own,” she said firmly. “And you are never ever to leave your partner’s side. By leaving one partner to help another partner, you left Eoghan’s backunprotected. You didn’t know that the one attacking St. Clair was the only one in there.”

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