The day had been long, and the night promised to be longer. Cord was the main attraction; he and the female that was caught between shooting daggers at him with her eyes and mooning over him, that shit was making my teeth hurt. The kid had proven himself to be more of a bottomless pit than Ty by eating me out of house and home all afternoon, while the women fawned all over him like he was three. Connor was understandably preoccupied with his woman and their unborn child, and we'd already had a meeting, all of us, about the need to protect them at all cost. Security was beefed up, and Connor was working on getting her to stay home until we got shit squared away. I knew Gabriella was gonna give me shit, but I was gonna insist she stay her little ass put too. We were taking a break, and every man was off doing his own thing. Cord had taken his new shadows with him, and I was alone with my woman. Things were gonna be a little hectic around here for the next few da
Either way, it looked like we had bought some time, which with the news of Con's impending fatherhood, was most welcome. Chances are we'd end up scrapping the mission because of this turn of events. It was a hard call to make, but we worked together or not at all, and I wasn't about to take my brother into combat under these circumstances. We'd done our bid ten times over and were free and clear. It would've been a favor in the old man's memory, but getting to the bottom of this shit now took precedence as far as I was concerned. It was more important to me to make sure our own backyard was safe than some hellhole in some remote part of the world that would just go back to the same old same old ten minutes after we cleared out. While I'd been taking care of that, each of the men was taking care of other things, gathering more information. We now knew that the closest base was ten and a half miles away, which wasn't far at all, and that the man in charge was well known
We ended up meeting up in the yard. No one wanted to go to the old man's place because we had all unofficially decided to take a break since there was nothing else to be done for now. Connor was the last to join us; I'm guessing in the next few months, it's going to be like that. The decision not to go anywhere was getting easier and easier. "Listen up, Gabriella's in there making some kinda spread." The pigs started rubbing their bellies and grunting already. That would be Ty the ringleader, Devon, and Quinn. Zak just smiled, and Cord was looking over at where the two kids were setting up to play ball. When is the last time any of us had used the court? It had been a while. "I don't want you freaks overworking her with this shit, or this would be the first and the last time." Connor had had to have this same discussion weeks ago; for all the good it did him, I figured I could at least try. "What's she making, Cap?" how the fuck should I know? "Tyler,
"For the love of fuck, Ty chew." There was no question that dinner was a huge hit; she'd really outdone herself. There wasn't an unloosened tab in the place. She had the biggest fucking smile on her face, and that's all I cared about, though I could wish the wildebeest at my table had some damn manners. "What's for dessert?" I closed my eyes and counted to ten; there's no point in trying to control his greed. She got up from the table and headed for the kitchen, and I got up to go help her. "Cap, sit your ass down, no hokey pokey while I'm waiting for dessert. If you're anything like Connor, we will end up waiting half an hour while you do who knows what in there, and some things just don't taste the same cold." "Ty, learn to cook or, better yet, find a woman who can, that way, you don't have to worry about what goes on in my kitchen." "Ooh nasty, I'm just saying." He wasn't fazed by my tone, not even a little bit. I ignored his dumb ass and went in search of
Vanessa gave the signal for us to open the gate, and we all stood around as it slid back to give her entrance. She stopped in the middle of us and hopped down with a big grin. It had been some time since we'd seen her, almost a year, I think, if not more. However long it was, it was way too long; she was good people. "Lieutenant." I walked over for a hug and, at the last second, hoped like fuck that Gaby wasn't spying on me from somewhere in the house. If there's one defect in my baby, it's her wide jealousy streak. She doesn't give a fuck who it is, and no amount of explanations work when she gets that shit in her head. "Captain, it's good to see you." I patted her back and released her before my Tasmanian devil came running to put her down. I hadn't told her too much about what was going down, just that we were expecting a visitor, and I expected her to show her all the hospitality due a guest. Gaby, like I said, gets her hackles up when there's a female involved, a
She opened her mouth to speak from her place on the dusty floor in the middle of us, but I held my hand up. "Before you open your mouth to lie, I think you should know that we know a lot more than we did last time, and if you bullshit me, I will let one of these fucks slit your throat since we know these guys killed our Commander." Her eyes gave her away before she opened her mouth again. "I had nothing to do with that; I was just the scapegoat for the money thing." Her eyes were even more afraid than before, and I felt the shift in the room. It was one thing to suspect and quite another to have verification. Con moved to stand next to Tyler, but I wasn't sure he was the only danger. She might not have offed the old man herself, but she was in bed with the fucks who did it. "Tell me everything you know, from the moment they contacted you to now." She swallowed hard and looked around for an ally; there was none to be had. Right now, I might be the only thing keeping her
For some fucked up reason, the kids didn't wanna leave; the female especially seemed the most reluctant though she tried to play it off. I noticed she was no longer breathing fire, she seemed calm as fuck compared to when she first arrived, and I wondered what the fuck Cord had said or done to her in the past few hours to tame that beast. I introduced Gabriella to Vanessa, which helped to calm her ass down a little, but she still clung to my arm like she was marking her territory. Even though we'd checked and double-checked the area, we were still careful as we headed out of town. We rode in three vans funnily enough with three couples in one and then two and two in front and behind for security. Zak and Vanessa still hadn't said fuck all to each other, but I noticed that he'd been quick to jump in the truck with her when she followed the girls. The night was the usual balmy clear skies with a nice breeze, and the women were acting more excited than the rest of us like
The night wasn't turning out to be half bad. Everyone seemed to be having a good time except Ty, who seemed to be grumbling in his beer. He had his eye on Vicky the whole time even though he was slick about it, and thank fuck; she had ignored my little upstart's suggestion that she dance with the next man who asked her to. I wasn't trying to get kicked out of the only decent watering hole in a ten-mile radius. So it didn't look like Ty was gonna fold tonight, but there was still a lot of fodder for my shits and giggles. Like Dani trying to convince Con that it was okay for her to have half a glass of wine, and him having a conniption, funny shit. Or the way Cord was mooning into his mug like he'd lost his best friend, good times. "It's already late." What the fuck? Vanessa's raised voice came out of left field. "I said you're not going, and that's final." "Who made you the boss of me, Zachary? I can go where I want when I want and with whom I
"Unghh." I love the way she grunts when I pound her. She gripped the sheets so hard I thought they'd rip, but I didn't stop battering her pussy with my steel-hard cock. Her legs shook and almost gave out on her when I changed up and went in on an angle. "Mine...mine...mine." Oh yeah, it was one of those moments. That shit came out of nowhere and hit me like a freight train. Next thing I knew, I was biting into her neck like a wolf with his mate, marking her on the outside as I scalded her pussy inside with hot jizz. Ever since she'd told me about the baby, I've been hard. Each time I think I'm done with her, my dick stands up, and I have to fuck her again; it's some kind of phenomenon. I dropped down on the bed beside her, puffing like a steam engine coming into the station. "Your pussy is gonna be the death of me." She crawled onto my chest, and I held her close and kissed her hair. "You still mad?" "Yes." She didn't say anything for a long t
I got my belt and went in search of her ass when she didn't show. I wasn't quiet when I opened the million and one doors in the place or when I walked through the closets. I must've known I was gonna end up with a princess because what the fuck did I need with walk-in closets as big as the damn bedrooms? "Gabriella, front and center, now." Not even a peep. It took me damn near ten minutes to find her. Her ass was in a cubicle in my closet. "Get outta there." I snapped the belt that I had folded in half. Her eyes were glued to the leather, and she wasn't looking like she was about to climb outta there anytime soon. "Did you hear me?" she opened her mouth, about to scream. "You do that shit; it'll only go worse for you, now get your badass out here and take your licks. You wanna do the crime, do the fucking time. How many times must I tell you? If you're not willing to bear the consequences, don't do the shit that's gonna get your ass beat." "But we were only try
A quick glance showed me that none of them was the one we were looking for, but they were definitely military, the hair, the build, the carriage; all dead giveaways. I looked back at my quarry, who was sweating profusely and not looking too sure of himself. She was crying and shaking, but I couldn't take that shit in right now; I had to save her life so I could wring her fucking neck for being stupid. "Give me my woman." He looked around at all of us and his two mates, who were beat to fuck. "No, everybody back off." He started backing up in a panic. "Don't do tha...well fuck." She screamed loud and hard when the blood sprayed all over her face. Cord had gone for the hand with the gun instead of the head, which was just as well because I wasn't sure how we would've explained that fuckery. I didn't go near her right away because now that the adrenaline was kicking, I was beyond pissed. The asshole was writhing on the ground holding his wrist, but
"So here's the deal, we have got to find out what's going on down by the water. So far, we know squat, and this affects our lives as well." Dani and I and our new friend Vanessa were sitting around drinking coffee while the menfolk were out and about doing who knows what. "I don't think that's such a good idea, and whatever you're gonna do, I can't know about it because I ought to know better." "Oh, come on, Vanessa, you're like one of them. If you go with, you can be our protection. Besides, we're not doing anything, just going to see what they missed." Dani wasn't looking too sure either, but I knew how to bring her around. I had to work on this Vanessa person because Logan had left her here with us, knowing him she was supposed to be more watchman than pal, but later for that. I have a wedding coming up in a few short months, and all this cops and robbers mess was interfering with my program. "They don't even have to know we went anywhere. They left
The night wasn't turning out to be half bad. Everyone seemed to be having a good time except Ty, who seemed to be grumbling in his beer. He had his eye on Vicky the whole time even though he was slick about it, and thank fuck; she had ignored my little upstart's suggestion that she dance with the next man who asked her to. I wasn't trying to get kicked out of the only decent watering hole in a ten-mile radius. So it didn't look like Ty was gonna fold tonight, but there was still a lot of fodder for my shits and giggles. Like Dani trying to convince Con that it was okay for her to have half a glass of wine, and him having a conniption, funny shit. Or the way Cord was mooning into his mug like he'd lost his best friend, good times. "It's already late." What the fuck? Vanessa's raised voice came out of left field. "I said you're not going, and that's final." "Who made you the boss of me, Zachary? I can go where I want when I want and with whom I
For some fucked up reason, the kids didn't wanna leave; the female especially seemed the most reluctant though she tried to play it off. I noticed she was no longer breathing fire, she seemed calm as fuck compared to when she first arrived, and I wondered what the fuck Cord had said or done to her in the past few hours to tame that beast. I introduced Gabriella to Vanessa, which helped to calm her ass down a little, but she still clung to my arm like she was marking her territory. Even though we'd checked and double-checked the area, we were still careful as we headed out of town. We rode in three vans funnily enough with three couples in one and then two and two in front and behind for security. Zak and Vanessa still hadn't said fuck all to each other, but I noticed that he'd been quick to jump in the truck with her when she followed the girls. The night was the usual balmy clear skies with a nice breeze, and the women were acting more excited than the rest of us like
She opened her mouth to speak from her place on the dusty floor in the middle of us, but I held my hand up. "Before you open your mouth to lie, I think you should know that we know a lot more than we did last time, and if you bullshit me, I will let one of these fucks slit your throat since we know these guys killed our Commander." Her eyes gave her away before she opened her mouth again. "I had nothing to do with that; I was just the scapegoat for the money thing." Her eyes were even more afraid than before, and I felt the shift in the room. It was one thing to suspect and quite another to have verification. Con moved to stand next to Tyler, but I wasn't sure he was the only danger. She might not have offed the old man herself, but she was in bed with the fucks who did it. "Tell me everything you know, from the moment they contacted you to now." She swallowed hard and looked around for an ally; there was none to be had. Right now, I might be the only thing keeping her
Vanessa gave the signal for us to open the gate, and we all stood around as it slid back to give her entrance. She stopped in the middle of us and hopped down with a big grin. It had been some time since we'd seen her, almost a year, I think, if not more. However long it was, it was way too long; she was good people. "Lieutenant." I walked over for a hug and, at the last second, hoped like fuck that Gaby wasn't spying on me from somewhere in the house. If there's one defect in my baby, it's her wide jealousy streak. She doesn't give a fuck who it is, and no amount of explanations work when she gets that shit in her head. "Captain, it's good to see you." I patted her back and released her before my Tasmanian devil came running to put her down. I hadn't told her too much about what was going down, just that we were expecting a visitor, and I expected her to show her all the hospitality due a guest. Gaby, like I said, gets her hackles up when there's a female involved, a
"For the love of fuck, Ty chew." There was no question that dinner was a huge hit; she'd really outdone herself. There wasn't an unloosened tab in the place. She had the biggest fucking smile on her face, and that's all I cared about, though I could wish the wildebeest at my table had some damn manners. "What's for dessert?" I closed my eyes and counted to ten; there's no point in trying to control his greed. She got up from the table and headed for the kitchen, and I got up to go help her. "Cap, sit your ass down, no hokey pokey while I'm waiting for dessert. If you're anything like Connor, we will end up waiting half an hour while you do who knows what in there, and some things just don't taste the same cold." "Ty, learn to cook or, better yet, find a woman who can, that way, you don't have to worry about what goes on in my kitchen." "Ooh nasty, I'm just saying." He wasn't fazed by my tone, not even a little bit. I ignored his dumb ass and went in search of