Charles sat in his undergarments in his cabin and sulked on the 10th day at sea.
True to his word, Faulkner stuck by Connor almost every waking moment and managed to foil every single attempt Charles made to be close to his bride.
His attempts to take the seat next to Connor at the dining table was thwarted when a posse of sailors, including Faulkner himself, grabbed all the seats around their captain before Charles was even halfway to the table. His request that they spend some time preparing for the mission was disrupted when Faulkner promptly inserted himself into the conversation and insisted on being there to “help plan the ship’s movements while they were preoccupied.”
Even his beginning a conversation about their mutual love of dogs somehow devolved into Charles yelling at Faulkner that there was nothing mangy or questionable about his Spado when the man barged in and made an insulting comment about Charles’s choice of companions.
Protecting his captain was one thing, but insulting poor Spado like that...it was abominable. His Spado did not deserve such slander.
Charles glared at the door and imagined himself punching Faulkner. While he was not a proponent of violence towards one’s elders, Charles was willing to make an exception in this case. The man was absolutely infuriating.
A knock on his door woke him from his reverie.
“What?” he called out. It might have come out a little more testily than he would have cared for, but at this point, he just wanted some peace and quiet to lick his wounds in peace.
“It is Connor.”
Charles sat up straight, eyes wide.
Connor.
His wife.
At the door.
Now?
“One moment,” he called, hurriedly glancing around.
Where did he put his—
Ah!
He reached towards the small reading table and grabbed his trousers from where he had thrown them. While he quickly tugged them up, he looked around for his shirt.
Where was it?
“If this is a bad time, I will leave you in peace.”
“No!” Charles cried out in a hurried panic.
No shirt.
He’ll have to make do.
“No,” he repeated, more calm.
He walked over to the cabin door and unlocked it.
“Please, come in.”
The door opened, and Charles’s Omega walked in.
“What brings you here?” Charles asked, hoping that Connor did not see how his hands shook in his presence.
The Omega looked around, distinctly uncomfortable.
“May I have a seat?” he asked instead.
Charles nodded. “It is your ship.”
“It would not be polite to take over someone else’s space, regardless.”
Charles smiled.
Manners, unlike his first mate.
He watched as the Omega gingerly seated himself on the only surface available: the bed.
He blinked.
Privately, he wondered what it would feel like to take Connor to the gentle sways of his ship, the Omega’s crew not 100 feet away as he muffled the boy’s moans with his mouth. That blasted Faulkner only two cabins away.
It was such a dirty and wrong image. Wholly ungentlemanlike. Hardly civilized behavior at all.
Charles gulped as his trousers suddenly tightened, and he discretely moved draped his undershirt over his bulge.
It wouldn’t do much to hide anything if anyone was specifically looking at it, but it was the best he could do on short notice.
Silently, he damned Hickey for having corrupted him with the other Alpha’s dissolute ways.
How was he to court the lovely Omega before him if he sported an erection whenever he neared him?
“I wanted to thank you for your patience today.”
Charles was confused.
“What patience?”
Those fine hands twisted in nervousness in the Omega’s lap.
“I realize that Faulkner was deliberately antagonizing you, today. I must apologize for his behavior. I really do not know why he is doing so. He never held quite the enmity towards the Templars that the Brotherhood holds—“
“—Held,” Charles interrupted.
Connor looked up at him, startled.
“We have an alliance now. You cannot mean to say that you despise us still.”
Not with the slow move towards reconciliation between father and son. Now with the truce between the Omega and Charles himself.
Connor looked away.
“Not everyone is altogether pleased with the alliance, even though he agreed to it,” Connor muttered.
Charles narrowed his eyes.
“But he listened to our reasoning eventually and does support our alliance.”
Achilles, then. No one else could have such power within the new Brotherhood, higher than even Connor himself.
Charles wondered if he should kill the old man.
“Nonetheless, I wish to make my apologies for my first mate. His actions towards you today were unwarranted, and I thank you sincerely for not retaliating.”
Especially when it was Spado who was most insulted. It would have been one thing to mock Charles himself, but his poor Spado...Charles would be the first to admit that he decked more than one Alpha for slurs against his beloved dog.
Just like he decked the people who insulted his choice in brides, both before and after Connor’s...
Quickly, he turned his thoughts away.
“It is of no concern. It would be unseemly for me to retaliate against someone advanced in years,” Charles murmured.
It was the most he could think of without sounding maudlin, but he immediately brightened upon seeing the grateful look on his bride’s face.
“Thank you. I truly do not understand why he has acted so. He has no grudge against your Order, and it truly baffles me.”
Oh Charles was absolutely clear as to why Faulkner antagonized him daily.
Absolutely.
And he would love to kill the man for it.
“I suppose that he was a good friend of your mentor, and he must have heard a very partial tale about my doings. I can no more blame him for his dislike of me than I can blame you for your earlier contempt.”
Connor looked startled at this.
“I,” he began, a shamed blush blooming on his cheek.
“We were enemies, and now we are allies. I hold you no ill will and can only think about how brutish I must have come across all those years ago in shame.”
The Omega’s eyes grew wider. His lashes framed those striking amber-brown eyes.
“I am not a bad man. I love my land, honor my mentor, serve my Order with loyalty and adore my dog. And I hope that you will include me in future cooperative missions. I would make up for the way I’ve behaved to you and yours. And I would seek to cement this alliance between our two factions, so that we may both help bring peace, order and freedom to this land we love.”
Connor opened his mouth to reply.
Charles boldly put a single finger to his bride’s lips.
“We are not so different, the Order and the Brotherhood, and I have come to recognize that order is no order without freedom. I hope to work with you to bring this understanding to all our brothers and sisters.”
With that, Charles removed his fingers and waited.
In Pursuit of Happiness 15
Chapter 15 - The First Offensive
Charles sat in his undergarments in his cabin and sulked on the 10th day at sea.
True to his word, Faulkner stuck by Connor almost every waking moment and managed to foil every single attempt Charles made to be close to his bride.
His attempts to take the seat next to Connor at the dining table was thwarted when a posse of sailors, including Faulkner himself, grabbed all the seats around their captain before Charles was even halfway to the table. His request that they spend some time preparing for the mission was disrupted when Faulkner promptly inserted himself into the conversation and insisted on being there to “help plan the ship’s movements while they were preoccupied.”
Even his beginning a conversation about their mutual love of dogs somehow devolved into Charles yelling at Faulkner that there was nothing mangy or questionable about his Spado when the man barged in and made an insulting comment about Charles’s choice of companions.
Protecting his captain was one thing, but insulting poor Spado like that...it was abominable. His Spado did not deserve such slander.
Charles glared at the door and imagined himself punching Faulkner. While he was not a proponent of violence towards one’s elders, Charles was willing to make an exception in this case. The man was absolutely infuriating.
A knock on his door woke him from his reverie.
“What?” he called out. It might have come out a little more testily than he would have cared for, but at this point, he just wanted some peace and quiet to lick his wounds in peace.
“It is Connor.”
Charles sat up straight, eyes wide.
Connor.
His wife.
At the door.
Now?
“One moment,” he called, hurriedly glancing around.
Where did he put his—
Ah!
He reached towards the small reading table and grabbed his trousers from where he had thrown them. While he quickly tugged them up, he looked around for his shirt.
Where was it?
“If this is a bad time, I will leave you in peace.”
“No!” Charles cried out in a hurried panic.
No shirt.
He’ll have to make do.
“No,” he repeated, more calm.
He walked over to the cabin door and unlocked it.
“Please, come in.”
The door opened, and Charles’s Omega walked in.
“What brings you here?” Charles asked, hoping that Connor did not see how his hands shook in his presence.
The Omega looked around, distinctly uncomfortable.
“May I have a seat?” he asked instead.
Charles nodded. “It is your ship.”
“It would not be polite to take over someone else’s space, regardless.”
Charles smiled.
Manners, unlike his first mate.
He watched as the Omega gingerly seated himself on the only surface available: the bed.
He blinked.
Privately, he wondered what it would feel like to take Connor to the gentle sways of his ship, the Omega’s crew not 100 feet away as he muffled the boy’s moans with his mouth. That blasted Faulkner only two cabins away.
It was such a dirty and wrong image. Wholly ungentlemanlike. Hardly civilized behavior at all.
Charles gulped as his trousers suddenly tightened, and he discretely moved draped his undershirt over his bulge.
It wouldn’t do much to hide anything if anyone was specifically looking at it, but it was the best he could do on short notice.
Silently, he damned Hickey for having corrupted him with the other Alpha’s dissolute ways.
How was he to court the lovely Omega before him if he sported an erection whenever he neared him?
“I wanted to thank you for your patience today.”
Charles was confused.
“What patience?”
Those fine hands twisted in nervousness in the Omega’s lap.
“I realize that Faulkner was deliberately antagonizing you, today. I must apologize for his behavior. I really do not know why he is doing so. He never held quite the enmity towards the Templars that the Brotherhood holds—“
“—Held,” Charles interrupted.
Connor looked up at him, startled.
“We have an alliance now. You cannot mean to say that you despise us still.”
Not with the slow move towards reconciliation between father and son. Now with the truce between the Omega and Charles himself.
Connor looked away.
“Not everyone is altogether pleased with the alliance, even though he agreed to it,” Connor muttered.
Charles narrowed his eyes.
“But he listened to our reasoning eventually and does support our alliance.”
Achilles, then. No one else could have such power within the new Brotherhood, higher than even Connor himself.
Charles wondered if he should kill the old man.
“Nonetheless, I wish to make my apologies for my first mate. His actions towards you today were unwarranted, and I thank you sincerely for not retaliating.”
Especially when it was Spado who was most insulted. It would have been one thing to mock Charles himself, but his poor Spado...Charles would be the first to admit that he decked more than one Alpha for slurs against his beloved dog.
Just like he decked the people who insulted his choice in brides, both before and after Connor’s...
Quickly, he turned his thoughts away.
“It is of no concern. It would be unseemly for me to retaliate against someone advanced in years,” Charles murmured.
It was the most he could think of without sounding maudlin, but he immediately brightened upon seeing the grateful look on his bride’s face.
“Thank you. I truly do not understand why he has acted so. He has no grudge against your Order, and it truly baffles me.”
Oh Charles was absolutely clear as to why Faulkner antagonized him daily.
Absolutely.
And he would love to kill the man for it.
“I suppose that he was a good friend of your mentor, and he must have heard a very partial tale about my doings. I can no more blame him for his dislike of me than I can blame you for your earlier contempt.”
Connor looked startled at this.
“I,” he began, a shamed blush blooming on his cheek.
“We were enemies, and now we are allies. I hold you no ill will and can only think about how brutish I must have come across all those years ago in shame.”
The Omega’s eyes grew wider. His lashes framed those striking amber-brown eyes.
“I am not a bad man. I love my land, honor my mentor, serve my Order with loyalty and adore my dog. And I hope that you will include me in future cooperative missions. I would make up for the way I’ve behaved to you and yours. And I would seek to cement this alliance between our two factions, so that we may both help bring peace, order and freedom to this land we love.”
Connor opened his mouth to reply.
Charles boldly put a single finger to his bride’s lips.
“We are not so different, the Order and the Brotherhood, and I have come to recognize that order is no order without freedom. I hope to work with you to bring this understanding to all our brothers and sisters.”
With that, Charles removed his fingers and waited.