asscreedkinkmeme | Kink Meme - Assassin's Creed pt. 5

In Pursuit of Happiness

Chapter 12 - On a Journey

Connor fidgeted. He was not sure what possessed him to invite both his father and Lee along. It was true that he needed their services to call off the Templar guards on the island that Church had finally given up (and if the man spoke false, then his apprentices would see to it that there were consequences).

But really, he had initially planned on bringing only one of them, and one was certainly enough.

He looked up from the wheel to give directions to Faulkner and caught Lee staring at him again.

The Alpha looked away quickly enough, but Connor saw that strange look in his eyes, the one that was always present when Lee looked at Connor.

He was regretting bringing the man along.

In truth, he had not expected the man to come.

Lee had done his duty and secured the alliance. One would think that he would take any chance possible to not be stuck on a boat with such men as Connor and his crew. He had shown a remarkable distaste for anyone of a certain...class (and it made Connor feel sorry for Thomas Hickey, of all people), and Connor knew well his thoughts on Connor’s people.

Really, there was no reason for Lee to be on board. And that he chose to join them and spend the entire time staring at Connor...

Connor looked away in annoyance and felt that gaze fix itself on him again.

He grit his teeth.

Was Lee trying to unnerve him and get them all killed? Possibly marooned on these reefs that Connor was currently navigating between?

What was so fascinating about his person that Lee kept staring at him?

Connor idly wondered if Lee had never seen one of his people in nontraditional clothes before. Or perhaps he looked especially strange in such attire, having inherited various traits from both his mother and his father. No doubt, he looked a strange sight with his rather bizarre combination of features and in a captain’s uniform no less.

Suddenly, his ire with the man deflated. Lee would not be the first to look uncomprehendingly at Connor, after all. He knew full well that he was an oddity, of strange eyes, too-light and too-dark skin and a facial structure that was altogether too angular. Lee was not doing anything that anyone else had not done more than a dozen times before.

If it were only George’s gaze on him...

When George looked at him, his eyes were kind. As gentle as the Alpha’s gestures and words. He always respectful, no matter who he was talking to, even Connor, and Connor thought that his gaze might be one of a lover.

Or, that is what he thought. They had never spoken of it before, but their correspondence had gained a touch of playfulness lately. Almost intimacy.

And George always looked at him admiringly.

Connor imagined the commander near him, blue eyes softly gazing at him, and he shivered despite the heat of the tropics.

What would it be like, for George to be on his ship with him? Would he come and knock on Connor’s door at night? Seeking his advice on the war and strategy as he has often done in the past?

Would he approve of Connor’s captaincy? Of leading this crew of loyal Alphas about the Atlantic and defending against their enemies?

Would he look upon Connor’s uniform as an oddity or would he appreciate the goodwill and love that went into it, by the people who had supported Connor throughout his life?

Connor was not sure, but he could just imagine the commander standing on his deck, smiling at him and—

“Do you often steer with your eyes closed?”

Connor nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around and glared at his father, who had someone made his way on top of the deck without anyone alerting Connor.

He clenched his jaw.

His father had been no easier to deal with, full of insults and doubt about his handling of his own ship.

“I was blinking.”

A smirk. “You were daydreaming.”

Connor’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, and he contemplated tossing his father overboard.

While Lee probably would not be so happy if he did, he was certain that his crew would support his decision. They could even hold Lee back for him.

“Is there a reason you are here and not in your cabin where you said you’d stay?”

He had banished his father there after five hours of non-stop criticisms.

“Can not a man visit his son?”

Not if he chose to be a complete arse about it.

“I was given to understand that you feared my captaining the ship. The cabin seems a great place for you to be away from ‘such a spectacle,’ as you put it.”

Another smirk.

“Nonsense. A bit of constructive feedback will only do you good.”

Connor grimaced.

He hoped his father was not going to stay on deck for long. He was not sure he could take another 5 hours of ‘constructive feedback.’

“Sir!”

Lee had walked up behind them.

“I believe your son may have a point. Distracting him seems unwise at this stage—” he gestured to the deadly reefs along each side “—and should perhaps be left to later.”

Connor gaped at the man.

Did the man just...

His father smirked again (really, what was so funny) and nodded.

“Of course, Charles, of course. You are quite right. It would be dangerous to distract the boy now while we are surrounded by reefs.”

Perhaps Connor misjudged Lee. Perhaps he had been too harsh on them both. After all, if they really were going to finally leave him in peace—

“And as my successor, I rely on you to protect him from distraction.”

Spirits above, what?

Connor saw Lee light up, inexplicably happy.

He would have to deal with the unnerving and vaguely uncomfortable stares for another couple of hours? Until they passed the reef?

Connor was really regretting bringing them along.

OMG LOL! Poor Connor, bet he wishes he could tie them both to the anchor and throw them overboard, and of course I bet Lee is salivating over Captain Connor - because who wouldn't? I especially love Haytham teasing his son (really no daydreaming while captaining a vessel, Connor) and of course helping Lee score some Connor points. Think Connor also is really curious about Lee's sudden shift in personality.

Connor's getting there. He's giving Charles lee the benefit of the doubt, but he's not sure what to make of it. It'll take more drastic measures before Connor's well and truly intrigued by the man.

And yes, Charles is altogether too happy to be near Connor and stare at him dreamily in his captain's outfit. Hehehe.

Very curious... And did Haytham just give Charles his approval to court his son?

In his own Haythamish way. :D He's privy to almost everything.

Captain Connor in his beautiful outfit, mmmm... Lovely sight, I can only envy Charles here, though the man is probably facing his own difficulties at the moment. Charles, you bastard, you gotta make it this time, I'm putting my trust in you.

Charles is such a rascal. :D Driving Connor bonkers of course, but actually faring better than Haytham is right now.

In Pursuit of Happiness

Chapter 13 - First Mate

Charles stared. He knew he shouldn’t. He knew it was not gentlemanly of him. But he could not help it.

The half-Native leaned back from where he was still guiding the wheel, straining to catch sight of something on one of the islands that they had just passed. The fitting trousers and shirt stretched over his lithe body, accentuating every elegant line of his body and thighs, and it was all Charles could do not to march over, bend him over the wheel and have his way with him.

He’d known what his lovely wife looked like when he wore his captain’s uniform. He remembered how succulent Connor looked in those whites, blues and tans, the colors complimenting his olive skin and the cut revealing in all the right places. And he’d prepared himself for that sight of him again.

The wind blew that tricorn hat off of Connor’s head, and the fabric curved around his shapely buttocks as he promptly bent down to pick it up.

Dear lord...

As if Connor felt his gaze, those amber-brown eyes glanced suspiciously at him, and he quickly looked away, pretending to be staring out at sea instead.

Either his memory had failed or he had not prepared enough, because he just couldn’t seem to stop ogling his bride-to-be no matter what he did.

And Connor did not look pleased those first few times he had caught him.

A hand tapped his shoulder, and Charles turned to find himself facing Connor’s first mate, Robert Faulkner.

So this was Biddle’s infamous rival back in the day. The man certainly didn’t seem like much.

“Yes?” Charles began.

Faulkner frowned at him then nodded at the direction Connor was in.

“You want to bed our captain.”

Charles gaped.

The man moved into his space and, for all that he was decrepit looking and old, glared menacingly at him.

“You best not be getting any ideas about him. Omega he may be, but he’s strong and wily enough to take any Alpha and win.”

Except when his loved ones were held captive. He was unsurprisingly weak when it came to his friends and family. That was how he ended up in Charles grasp in that alternate future.

Charles shook his head, clearing his mind of the dark thoughts.

“You mistake me,” he replied simply, already turning away.

Surely, if Connor’s first mate was here bothering him, then Connor must have turned his attention back to steering and commanding the ship. Surely he could turn his attention back to him again.

Charles made to look at Connor again before he felt hands seize his lapels of his coat and thrust him against the railing of the ship.

Charles’s hands immediately went to grasp the railing, and he took a large gulp as he saw the waves crashing against the hull of the ship below him. It was a very steep drop into what was likely some very dangerous reefs.

He turned back to Faulkner.

“Listen, Templar.”

Charles started. Was the man an Assassin? Why had his agents never uncovered this?

“Achilles told me all about you and your Order and what you did to him 12 years ago.

Not an Assassin then. Just a man fed who knew what wild stories.

“You’re a murderous, unreasonable lot, and the lives of people like Achilles and Connor don’t mean much to you. I won’t let you harm our captain.”

Charles bristled.

The man had no right to make assumptions about his intentions for Connor. No right at all.

Connor was, Connor was...

Connor was one of the essential pieces of Charles’s future, of his ability to be happy. Of Master Kenway’s ability to be happy.

To suggest that Charles would do anything to harm Master Kenway’s son, the wife he’d loved and mourned and couldn’t let go, no matter how much his subjects plead with him to remarry...

It was beyond ludicrous. And very presumptuous for such a man as the one who stood before Charles.

He pushed back at the man and watched with satisfaction as the decrepit old fool toppled over.

“What I seek from Connor is no matter of yours,” he hissed. “You would do well to keep to your own business.”

Faulkner glared venomously at him.

“I made an oath to Achilles to look after Connor. He’s my captain and my charge, though God knows the Omega can attract his fair share of the wrong kind of attention.”

Charles was momentarily distracted by this.

Wrong kind of attention?

He glanced at Connor, a lovely vision against the backdrop of the sea, and understood.

It was no surprise that his wife would attract unwanted attention.

“And he can deal with all of them, but you’re the colleague of the man who sired him. I’ll not let you weave your web around him. Not on my watch.”

Charles grit his teeth. Of all the troublesome fools...

He leaned close to the man, even though he could clearly smell the man’s breath.

Privately, Charles wondered what it was about sailors that led to poor hygiene. The lack of bathing he could understand, but there was no excuse for one’s breath smiling like whiskey and rum first.

“I have no plans to harm Connor. Now leave me be!”

Faulkner didn’t go away.

“And what about bedding him?”

Charles snarled at him.

“If I want to bed that delectable Omega then know that you are hardly going to stop me.”

Faulkner glared at him again before looking archly over to the side. Charles followed his gaze to the rough and tumble Alpha crew that kept the ship running.

“You should know that each one of Connor’s crew adores his young captain and would die to see him safe.”

The look in the old man’s eyes asked Charles if he was willing to go against these men just to have Connor. If he was suicidal enough to try when, with one word, Faulkner would have them all at Charles’s throat for daring to have designs on their captain.

Charles didn’t even need to think about it.

“I would go through much more than that for him.”

“For who?”

Both Charles and Faulkner whirled around to see none other than Connor himself staring at them.

He was clearly unimpressed, and only one word franticly darted through Charles’s panicking mind.

Bugger.

LOLOLOL Oh Charles, you're so transparent! Love how Faulkner is ready to cock-block him after Haytham gives him the green light. Kind of wondering, what became of the Aquila and her crew in the alternate timeline?

I imagine they came back to find their home in Templar control, their captain dead and gone. They would've gone back to sea and become pirates to fight against the men who caused Connor's death. So it would have continued until Biddle got the best of them and sunk the Aquila. Faulkner would probably have managed to find safe harbor again, but he would've fallen back into drink, having lost everything.

Poor Faulkner /hugs/ wonder if George is going to get jealous that Connor's spending more time with his second.

George has no clue yet, but I do imagine that George won't be too happy about Charles making the moves on Connor. :D

I can't but love a protective Faulkner. I wonder if he's simply good at sensing these things or if Charles was pretty damn obvious and Connor was just oblivious as always hahahaha

imo, probably a mix of the two. :D That and Connor is still somewhat thinking of Charles as an enemy. It's probably too big a jump to go from enemy to suitor in one sitting. :D

In Pursuit of Happiness

Chapter 14 - Misunderstanding Wolf

When Connor had noticed that Faulkner and Lee had both disappeared, he felt a moment of panic. Lee had been behaving strangely ever since he set foot on Connor’s ship for the first time. If he did something to Faulkner...

He glanced around with something almost akin to panic in his eyes before he spotted his first mate and Lee together by the railing.

They didn’t look very happy.

Still fearing for his first mate, Connor waved to one of his crew, the only one who had talent in steering a ship.

“Keep her going,” he instructed the man as he handed the wheel over and made to move towards Faulkner and Lee.

His crew would be disappointed in him, he knew, but Faulkner’s safety was more important.

He reached them just in time to hear Lee snarl at Faulkner and, “I would go through much more than that for him.”

Oh?

“For who?” he couldn’t help but ask.

The thought of Lee, of Charles Lee, caring for another person that way was...bizarre. The man had never shown anyone even an inkling of affection, with the sole exception of Connor’s father.

Ah.

Was that it then?

Was Lee in love with Connor’s father?

Connor considered it.

From what he had seen, Lee was oddly affectionate with his father, almost an overwhelming flow of respect and admiration whenever he spoke with him. Though they clearly did not agree on some things, Lee was always careful in the way he spoke around his father. His practically followed his father around like a dog did his master.

Connor rolled the thought around in his mind, testing it.

Such an odd notion, the thought of the two Alphas together, particularly with their religious restriction against the joining of those not able to breed children. As two male Alphas, their union could not create children, and Connor had learned that, for those who followed the white Christ, such a union was considered an abomination.

He understood why it was that way for the Christians, though he did not agree with it. The white man’s societal structure was such that rigid roles were assigned to those who carried children and those who sired children. Those who carried were assumed to need protection, and those who sired assumed to be naturally more equipped to give protection. Hence, the colonial society gave power to those who sired in the expectation that they would protect and nurture their families.

Connor’s own people had a far different structure, where the choice of bearing versus siring was divorced from the choice of societal role. Two male Alphas or two female Omegas together could be rather rare, but it did not threaten the social structure the way it did for the colonials.

But Lee and Connor’s father?

It was odd. It was truly odd.

Offhandedly, he wondered how Faulkner had found out and why he was apparently taunting Lee with the information.

Surely, it was not worth the rage Connor could see Lee falling into.

“Nothing!” Lee blurted.

Connor noted that he was glaring harder than ever at Faulkner.

This was not good, he needed to extricate Faulkner before he got himself killed.

He turned towards his first mate.

“We will be heading into a very dangerous section of the reef. Join me at the helm or else we will be drifting on plywood this evening.”

He was pleased to see Faulkner sober immediately.

Nothing like a little reminder that the lady in Faulkner’s life needed him. He was the perfect first mate whose affection lay with no one but his lady of the sea.

Connor had used it often in the past when it looked like Faulkner was getting himself into trouble going up against the rough Alphas who liked to annoy Connor.

He adored the old man and wouldn’t let him come to harm while he was nearby.

Although it always seemed rather coincidental to him that the Alphas he went up against were the same ones that irritated Connor to no end, with their clumsy propositions and lewd suggestions.

“I’ll join you in a minute, Captain.”

Connor took one final wary glance at Lee and then nodded.

He need not worry over a minute’s worth of conversation. Even Lee couldn’t erupt during that short time.

Turning his back on them, Connor made his way back to the helm. The most dangerous part of the reef was soon advancing, and he would need his full attention to circumvent them.

----

Both Charles and Faulkner watched as the Omega turned his heel and walked briskly back to the helm. The wind whipped Connor’s clothes about, and Charles salivated to see one trouser-covered buttock briefly exposed.

His wife was delicious, utterly delicious.

And he was not going to let some first mate stop him.

“You can no more stop me from wooing Connor than you can stop the tide from receding from the beach. If I choose to make him mine, there is precious little you can do to hinder me.”

Faulkner glared at him.

“Last warning, Lee. Stay away from Connor.”

And then he whirled around and made his way back to the helm.

Charles sneered as he watched the old man nod at Connor and begin to yell Connor’s instructions to the crew.

It was an empty warning. Meant to scare and do little else. There was nothing that Faulkner could do as, more than half the time, Connor was on land and on Brotherhood business.

There was nothing he could do, and, if Charles wanted to, then he could remove the thorn before it became a problem.

He looked, then, at the grateful smile that his wife gave the old fool and the familiarity with which they spoke to each other and transmitted orders.

Connor would be devastated, he knew, if he did something to the meddlesome first mate. And the last time he had threatened someone Connor cared about...

Charles’s shoulders slumped in realization.

He would need to work around the old fool.

The more I read this fill, the more exciting and eager I get... what's going on here. Know this, sweet anon: I wake up every morning and check my mail with utter excitement, happy whenever I see an update. Yep, this fill makes me happy <3

Thanks anon! //glows// That's really awesome to hear. :D Always glad when someone enjoys the story!

LOL, well had this been in the Master of the House timeline, Connor would have been correct that Lee was holding a torch for his father. Oh, what a shock it will be to learn that his former mortal-enemy is in love with him... and that they had been married in an alternate future where everything went to hell.

Fortunately, Charles has learned from his mistakes. But I'm sure that even with his knowledge of the future, an extra decade of patience and experience - wining the war against the Crown will be a lot easier to obtain than Connor's heart.

Oh absolutely Anon! :)

While Charles does admire Haytham a lot, the years spent pining over Connor has long taken precedence in his mind and heart, and he's determined to win Connor over.

...Also realized that winning the war against the crown will be easy now. Since he knows the future and stuff, so he can predict their moves as long as the continental army doesn't do something hugely different. Connor on the other hand...

Connor on the other hand...

Yeah aside from his unbelievable exploits, Charles only really knows his wife's defeated side, after caging him in his manor and raping and threatening him into submission for nearly a year.

Also, there's the matter with Washington and Connor's relationship that he somehow needs to sabotage somehow.

Re: In Pursuit of Happiness 14

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-24 20:11 (UTC) - Expand

In Pursuit of Happiness

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.

Ohhh, yes, Charles, work your charm, baby. Work it and someone might soften up a little... Damn, this is so exciting, my feels are all over this fill.

Hehe. :D As Haytham said, Charles can be very persuasive.

On the other hand, I swear my fills are getting dirtier and dirtier...

Re: In Pursuit of Happiness 15

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-24 22:03 (UTC) - Expand

Heh, I don't blame Charles at all for the dirty day dreaming. I mean when Connor was alive he admits in Master of the House he barely interacted with his wife, unless it was sex... and of course Charles has a healthy appetite, and then he abstained for ten years (was it because he was still devoted to Connor and/or was punishing himself).

I love the detail you added of Charles decking Alphas for insulting those he loved like Spado and Connor. Thankfully he manages to rein in his anger with Faulkner - and just praying for this mission at sea to be over and done with so he doesn't have to deal with the Aquila crew (and Connor being being ridiculously attractive and untouchable).

As for the conversation, wow Charles, you smooth talker. Connor is so stunned that he doesn't even bat away the little intimate touch of Charles' finger against his lips.

/shivers/

Re: In Pursuit of Happiness 15

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-25 09:07 (UTC) - Expand

In Pursuit of Happiness

Chapter 16 - Strategic Decisions

Connor was at a loss. When he had first decided to apologize to Lee, he had only one thought on his mind. That he was to keep the peace on his ship no matter what and prevent Faulkner’s incipient murder and the dissolution of the alliance.

Faulkner’s behavior had been truly baffling. Of the last couple of days, he had taken every opportunity to taunt or otherwise insult Lee. And while Connor admitted that he could be somewhat dense to the intricacies of the English language, even he was surprised by some of those insinuations.

It was most unseemly. The normal bawdiness and language of his crew was to be expected, but the exchanges between Faulkner and Lee had been getting more and more dangerous, with real intent to wound and harm.

Today’s exchange was even more charged. What his first mate had said about Lee’s dog...

It was regrettable. While it was true that rumors of Lee’s singular—attachment—to his dogs, and to one particular dog, was near legendary, he had never heard of anything untoward. And the dog, by all accounts, was friendly and level-tempered, unlike its master. It was most unkind, and Connor had chastised Faulkner for his discourtesy after Lee had left.

He thought that Faulkner might repent, but it seemed that the old Alpha was intent on being stubborn. It was certainly not helping Connor’s efforts to keep his first mate alive, and he would not even be able to fault Lee for his anger.

It was a precarious situation, and where one side would not listen to reason, Connor hoped to convince the other side not to take offense.

Too much was riding upon their agreement, and it was up to him to maintain the civility on his ship. If that meant apologizing for Faulkner’s actions and advising Lee to avoid his first mate while he tried other methods to persuade Faulkner not to antagonize the Templar...

Connor was nothing if not dutiful.

And so, immediately after they dropped anchor for the night, he made his way to Lee’s cabin.

It was not a pleasant task. Despite his knowledge of Lee’s innocence (in the burning of Connor’s village at least), he found it difficult to banish the memories of the Alpha holding him against the tree, hands choking the breath out of him.

Lee had terrified him then, and it took months before he stopped crying out at night from nightmares of the Alpha and the burning of his village. And with the unerring gaze of the Alpha always pinned on his person during this mission...

Connor supposed that the man was sizing him up, understanding his worth to their alliance. But it unsettled Connor.

If it were not for the importance of this mission, Connor would not allow such a—stripping—gaze to be laid upon his person.

But no. The mission was to bring back those necessary supplies for the commander, for dear George. And to understand whether the Templars were sincere about their offer of an alliance.

Connor hated to admit it, but no matter how much he pressed his father and listened in on the two Templars’ communication, he could find nothing suspicious. It seemed that both Templars really did want an alliance and were actively working to make sure that they continue their cooperation.

Hence the necessity of preventing Lee’s famous temper from erupting. There was Faulkner’s life at stake. And, almost as important, there was the alliance at stake.

Connor and Lee were hardly friends, and Connor had expected Lee to be difficult. To make the apology as unbearable for Connor as possible and put himself in a dominant position. It would not be surprising if the Alpha demanded Connor to be in-debt to him.

And Connor was prepared to counter that. He was prepared to show Lee the benefits of their current cooperation, and how the debt between them would damage that. He was prepared with many other arguments.

He wound up using none.

Lee was...receptive.

He was very receptive.

He looked at Connor with gentle, serious eyes and immediately put himself in a disadvantage.

And Connor was confused.

He was confused by the intensity of Lee’s request, almost begging to go on future cooperative missions with him.

Why him?

He was confused by the softness in Lee’s eyes when he looked at him, as if their relationship up to that point had not been hunter and hunted, contempt and hate.

It was like Lee was looking at Connor’s father or his dog.

And he was confused by Lee’s words, the mixing of peace and order and freedom.

Did the man truly think that? Did the man truly have such an epiphany?

Connor could scarcely believe it.

It was too unbelievable, too marvelous.

That the Templars, or at least this Templar had a change of heart. That the war between them could finally end...

Connor’s heart beat with hope, and he ruthlessly squashed it.

And it had to be a trap. It had to be.

Nothing so full of promise and opportunity could be real. It was just too unbelievable.

But.

But...

But Lee was still looking at him with those serious, earnest eyes. That hand that had briefly touched his lips (and if had been any other situation, Connor would never have allowed such intimacy) had fallen back to the Alpha’s lap. The man’s body was leaning forward, as if eager to hear Connor’s reply. And that face was so very, very open.

Connor was wrong. The Alpha did have a silver tongue. Apparently, he only needed to be motivated to actually use it.

Connor fidgeted.

It was not a bad idea. If anyone could keep the likes of Connor’s father and Lee in check, it would be Connor himself. And on future cooperative missions, he could assess Lee’s intentions more fully.

Achilles would not like it. He worried whenever Connor would need to be in tight quarters with an Alpha. He had wanted Stephane to join on this mission and had only backed down when Connor pointed out that Stephane got seasick often and was not at home on a ship. He would certainly not agree to future missions between Connor and Lee.

It was one of the many points of disagreement between Connor and his mentor. Connor was not 14 anymore and had learned enough of English society and behavior not to unintentionally proposition random Alphas.

Connor looked Lee in the eye.

“If this goes well and the missions are mutually beneficial, then yes. I will be your partner.”

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