Chapter One Hundred and Five
Blade
I needed to think.
About a lot of shit.
Fucking Church. And motherfucking Bravo.
Church had texted half a dozen times in the past week. He wanted me to work with him. Every damn reason he gave was weighing on me. He also wanted an answer before he left on some fucking assignment today.
I didn’t have an answer.
I had my Lioness. She liked the cabin and my land. I was fucking content. More than content.
Fucking up my life to pull the trigger for that goddamn son of a bitch Bravo was a surefire way to run to my death. If it was only him asking, I wouldn’t even consider it.
But Church was asking.
I’d never gotten to run an Op with him. Or Geir.
Something about it felt full circle.
And fucking insane.
Lioness would be royally pissed. Not that she’d said shit about the texts when I’d shown them to her, but I saw her expression of fear after each one.
If someone had told me two years ago—hell, a month ago—that I’d be making life decisions based on what a woman would think, I’d have told them to go fuck themselves. But a Winchester-wielding Lioness had crawled under my skin and stuck. More importantly, she put up with my shit.
Every damn day, I knew what I was asking of her.
My land, my life, my rules.
I wasn’t bending.
And I was sure as fuck she hadn’t realized the full extent of what she’d gotten herself into with me.
If she wanted to walk, I’d let her—for twelve to twenty-four hours. Max. Then I’d fucking retrieve my lioness, metaphorically cage her, and fuck her until she forgot it’d ever been anything except me and her.
I saw what my old man had done to my mom.
I wasn’t gonna do that to my woman.
I’d made her a promise.
All of me. Full fucking throttle.
Joining Church would be breaking that promise.
Hell, continuing to work for Alpha would be the same, just less fucked because Alpha didn’t take on suicide missions.
Locked in on my thoughts and keeping a fast pace so I could get back to my woman, I didn’t see the SUV parked outside the north perimeter of the property line until I was a klick out.
Too late to alter course for a concealed approach, knowing if I saw them, they saw me, I slowed my stride. Whoever the fuck it was, if they wanted me eliminated, I’d already be dead.
Two hundred meters out, I drew.
One hundred meters, I stopped.
The driver door opened, and a blond motherfucker stepped out.
I didn’t holster my piece. “Got nothing to say to you.”
Bravo, Phoenix, whoever the fuck he was now, scanned past me. “I have something to say to you.”
“Don’t give a fuck.”
“Your brother didn’t set this recruitment process in action.” Familiar green eyes met mine, but he wasn’t the SEAL I used to know. “I did.”
“Still don’t give a fuck.” He had some kind of balls. “You have people to answer to.” Mainly his sister, who was fucking married to Alpha now. “Handle your shit.”
Fucker assessed me like I was a hostile. “You’re saying that’s what it’ll take to get you to work for me?”
“I’m saying I don’t owe you shit.” Including keeping his fucking secret.
He nodded. “You want Alpha read in.”
“You don’t?”
“My personal needs are irrelevant, Emrik.”
Fuck him. I wasn’t picking that up. He had living family. I knew the flip side of this shit show. Lived it for two years. His sister had been in the dark a hell of a lot longer than that.
Maybe it was because of Lioness or the fact that she had no family. Maybe it was the last two years, but I was finally fucking seeing a different perspective on life. There was more important shit than whatever covert ops this asshole was entrenched in.
I didn’t say shit.
Fucker nodded again, slowly this time, like he understood a damn thing about me. “Good copy.” He turned back to his vehicle but stopped short of getting behind the wheel. “The second I put on the uniform, I was told I was Navy royalty. When you earned your Trident, they called you Navy Legacy. I never saw any difference, but maybe I was wrong. My path was in play long before my father died. This was always going to be my mission. I did what I had to, and it kept my sister safe. I thought you of all people would understand that.” He scanned the access road, then looked back at me. “I’ll keep Church safe, but he’d be safer with you on his six.” Fucker got in the SUV and drove off.
I ran back to the cabin.