* * *

I rolled over the next morning to an empty bed. My first reaction was fear that something had happened, that the dream had been snatched away before it had begun. But I reminded myself that had something happened to her my brothers would’ve told me.

The phone rang as I jumped out of bed and I grabbed it on the first ring. “Yo!”

“Dev you might wanna get over here brother.”

“Ariel.” I barely got her name past my lips as a lump of cold fear lodged in my gut.

“She’s okay but you’re needed. Get the lead out.”

Since it didn’t sound like there was any danger I had a quick shower to get the smell of stale sex off me before hurrying out the door. I missed her already.

I looked in the room where the women like to hang out but she wasn’t there and that’s when I took the stairs two at a time.

When Mancini let me into the room I came upon a sight that was very confusing. “What’s going on what’s she doing here?”

Her face fell a little at my harsh tone but she had no place in this room. Then another thought hit me in the gut. “You didn’t…”

“No, we didn’t, just calm down.” Quinn answered me knowing without me having to say that I was asking if they’d told her the truth about who she was.

“Okay then what is she doing here? I don’t want her involved in this.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that.” Mancini spoke like he was gritting his teeth and I didn’t get it.

“Since Khalil resurfaced we haven’t been able to get a bead on him. He’s even more slippery than in the past, especially since the general was killed.”

“Logan…” I started to tell him not to mention that fucker in front of her but then she spoke and I got chills of another kind down my spine.

“I can find him.”

“You, how?”

“Does he use the internet at all that you know of? Can you get ahold of anything he’s sent over the waves in the last year at least?”

“I can get it.” Mancini moved across the room.

“Then that’s all I need. I can find him anywhere.”

“How did you learn how to do this?” I was afraid I already knew the answer to that. Looks like I’m going to have to have a talk with her little brother.

“My brother taught me. SIGINT is like child’s play to me.” She grinned at me and knotted her hair at her nape, folded her legs beneath her and flexed her fingers. The girl is a fucking enigma.

I lifted my brow at the others with a silent question of ‘what the fuck’. “Ariel go join the other women I’ll get you when Mancini has what you need.”

She was playing with the computer as if amazed. “Oh can’t I just play a little bit? This system is ice.” Say what now? That did not sound like her at all.

“Go!” I pulled her up from the chair and walked her out of the room. I stole a quick kiss before sending her on her way.

“Ohhhh, kissy-kissy I see you’ve decided to stop playing the village idiot.”

“Fuck, I forgot this whole place is rigged. Mind your own damn business Ty.” Asshole!

“Okay what’s going on, how did she know about this shit?”

“Don’t look at us, she’s the one who came to us.”

“What? I don’t understand.” I’d made it a point not to drop even a hint of this shit in her presence and knew my brothers and the others knew the protocol.

No one approaches another man’s woman with this kinda shit, and these fuckers have been claiming she was mine before I took the plunge.

Mancini came back from making his call. “By the way Lyon, I need you to find out what your kid did when she was in here the other day.”

“Why what happened?”

“Well, apparently she left something behind and the women were able to listen in on a secure room. I’m sure my wife had something to do with it and I’ll be dealing with her shortly.”

“Wait, they know?”

“Not all of it thank fuck, but they know enough.” Mancini did not seem pleased. But that was probably due to the fact that his woman had somehow outsmarted him.

“And they heard the name Khalil and Nessa filled them in on the rest I’m sure. Now they’re back to playing detective.” Zak chimed in.

“How the fuck did this happen? She’s a fucking princess for fuck sake. She can’t get caught up in this Lo.”

“She doesn’t know that. As to how they know Mancini has some ideas on that.”

“They sent in the little one is my guess. Your woman didn’t say too much, in fact she didn’t give us shit. Only that she could help us find Khalil.”

“Well fuck. Did you get what she asked for and how come she can do something no one else in this room can?”

“Because if her brother taught her what he knows, then she’s better than all of us combined. And with my equipment she’d be damn near invincible. It’ll be a few hours on the other thing I have my guy on it.”

“I’m not sure about this. What if she…?”

“You’re going to have to tell her sooner or later bro.” Quinn answered my unasked question because he knew where my mind had gone. What if she finds out that she was the target and why?

And that’s what I was afraid of. How would she react? Yesterday I didn’t have this fear in my gut. I hated the idea of losing her for any reason sure, but now after what we’d shared, I couldn’t even breathe at the thought.

“Okay what else is going on what did I miss?”

“Nothing much, if she’s as good as she says then we should be done with this whole mess before the week is out.”

“But we’ve still got the others that were involved and Thorpe hasn’t gotten back to us yet with any news about the missing girls.”

“That’s all being taken care of, all we need to worry about is this Khalil; everything else like I said is being handled as we speak.” Mancini looked around the room before going on.

“Once we’ve taken care of this asshole, we’ll of course make sure all the women have been accounted for, if not we’ll go from there, but for now, we concentrate on cutting off the head of the snake.”

“And her father, the old king.” I still hadn’t worked out in my head how I was going to deal with that part of the equation. All I knew was that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Yeah about that, have you spoken to Samson yet?”

“No, I tried after the last time we saw him but he isn’t picking up but I bet we can guess where he is. If he’s anything like the CO you know he’s not trusting shit, and with his daughter caught in the middle, he’s going to be extra careful.”

“I have a feeling when the time comes those boys will find you.” Mancini said that like he knew something we didn’t and of course his ever-present smirk said as much.

“Speaking of fathers, have anybody realized yet that out of all of us Dev is completely fucked?”

“What the fuck are you talking about Tyler?”

“You not only have one, but two fathers-in-law. Not only that but look at who the fuck they are. What? You and Quinn were competing to see who could bag the most hard nosed father in law?”

“Well shit! Lo!”

“Don’t sweat it Dev. She’s yours, ain’t nobody taking what’s yours.” I see how women make men weak. It has nothing to do with physical prowess, but with the mind.

Until she came into my life a few days ago I never knew this kind of fear. Now I’m afraid of every damn thing. Afraid of losing her, of her being hurt; fear of my life without her. Fuck!

“You know I’m just playing brother, I’m happy for you.” Ty slapped me on the neck and went back to arguing with Lyon about who knows what. Those two are worst than an old married couple.

“So what do we do now? Wait around, what about the senator, where’s he?”

“Cool your jets Lyon, your pigeon haven’t flown the coop.”

“What do you plan to do to him anyway Colt?”

“Well Ty my boy, Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”

“Oh shit Lyon, you read Mencken?”

“What’s even more surprising Justice, is that you do.”

“He had a few good points but he was a racist fuck so I just took what I liked and left the rest.”

“Same here. I liked his views on inferior men ruling their superiors cause I’m fucked if our government haven’t proven that shit time and again.”

We all nodded and changed the subject to something more important. The women and what the hell we were going to do about their meddling shit.

“Colt, looks like you’re gonna have to have another talk with your woman.”

“Nah brother, a real man always lets his woman show her claws when it’s warranted.”

“Huh?” Even Ty was confused.

“I thought you said….”

“Didn’t any of your women tell you what was going on?”

There were a lot of nopes and head shaking going on. “Well, unlike you chupacabras my woman talks to me. She didn’t tell me how she got the information because that would be telling on her girls, but she did tell me they knew some stuff.”

“Once I got her to promise me that all they were doing is talking and surmising and that they will stay the fuck outta grown men’s business, it was all good.”

“The way I see it, they’re not doing anything more than what we’re doing here. The cat’s already outta the bag, and they’re not gonna stop until they get what they want. Choose your battles boys.”

“What the hell do they want?”

“Cord, do you talk to your woman? What about the rest of you?”

“Yeah, sure…”

“And you still don’t know what they want?”

Each man looked around at each other like, ‘what the hell did I miss?’ And then Ty had the answer. “Weddings.”

“You got it. Now see I don’t have that problem.” Lyon grinned while most of the room grumbled.

“And I’m not wearing no damn monkey suit on the damn beach, shit’s just all kinds a fucked up.”

“Wait what? What’re you talking about on the beach? You mean here?”

“I’m not sharing my wife’s pillow talk with you freaks, talk to your women.”

“And Hank as to me telling Mengele shit about bugging your place or whatever the fuck it is she did, fuck no you’re on your own.”

“I haven’t had this much peace from her meddling ass since the day she was born. Here, she has a whole smorgasbord to choose from. I haven’t caught her listening in at my door in a while. The rest of you…good luck.”

“Where is she? Maybe she knows what the women are up to.”

“It depends. If her loyalty is to them, and I have reason to believe the little shit is a staunch feminist, then she’s not gonna give you shit.”

“But she’ll tell you.”

“Don’t kid yourself Connor. She only tells on her mother because she knows her mother’s ass would get into trouble if I didn’t catch half her shit before it got off the ground. But if those women have their hooks in her you’re fucked.”

“Then again she does like a good bribe sometimes when she’s playing both sides.”

“You do realize you’re discussing a five year old right.”

“If you say so, remember, I warned you.”

“Well if all we’re doing is waiting and it’s still raining outside, I’m going back to bed.”

I ignored their frat boy hooting and Ty’s kissy faces and left the room. I walked into the room where the women had gone totally silent as soon as I opened the door.

I stopped where I was and crooked my finger at her. No way was I going in there with my sisters looking at me like fresh meat.

“Hi Devon, how are you?” Gaby called out to me when Ariel got up from her seat and came to me.

“Hi Gaby, hi ladies, bye ladies.” I closed the door on their laughter. They really are just as bad as the men

“I woke up and you weren’t there.” I had her hand in mine as we walked in the light drizzle back to the cottage.

“I’m sorry about that, I tried to wait until you woke up but you were taking too long.” I’m guessing that was a dig at the fact that she’d put me on my ass after a night of the hottest sex anybody ever had anywhere.

“It’s not nice baby, not good etiquette to leave my bed without telling me. I reached for you and you weren’t there.” What the fuck? I sound like a whiny little brat.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.” She said in a childlike monotone and lifted her puckered lips up to me for a kiss.”

I smooched her and pulled her under my arm feeling happier than any man had a right to. “You’re forgiven, just don’t let it happen again.”

I squeezed her shoulder and grumped and she laughed. It was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. The shit went right through me, touched something in my heart and set off sparks. I’ve become a damn girl.

As soon as we closed the door behind us I had my mouth on hers. “I missed you Devon. I waited and waited for you to wake up.”

“Next time just wake me up baby.”

“But you looked do peaceful I didn’t want to disturb you. Sometimes sleep is the only peace we know.”

I looked at her, pleased with her, and happy for us. Her years in seclusion hadn’t stunted her the way I first thought.

She’s bright and sweet and so what if she doesn’t see life the way everyone else does, that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned.

Her innocence was no longer something to bemoan but celebrate. Little nuggets of truth like the one she just made just rolls off her tongue.

So simple and yet so profound! “You’re absolutely right baby.” I wrapped my arms tighter around her and kissed her forehead.

“But I want you to wake me whenever you need me. As a matter of fact, no matter what I’m doing, if you need me, you come get me okay.”

“Okay Devon. Now did you bring me back here to talk or…” She gave me an impish grin and those dimples sent a jolt straight to my dick.

I growled and she squealed and pulled out of my arms, running towards the bedroom.

I caught up with her and took her down. A long much needed kiss followed before I lifted my heavier weight on my arms and looked down at her.

“You’re an extremely beautiful woman Ariel and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you very happy.” I brushed at the wisps of hair at her temple.

“I want to play with you.” The rain had picked up outside and was beating against the windows and on the roof, making the place feel cocooned, almost like we were alone.

“Play with me?”

“Yes, I want to take my time and learn your body and teach you mine. Would you like that? Would you like me to learn your body, what pleases you? Teach you what pleases me?”

She nodded her head and bit down on the thumb I slipped into her mouth while staring up into my eyes. “Then let’s begin.”

So eager! “Tell me if anything I do scares you okay.” She nodded and lifted her arms for me to take her top off.

I leaned in and took her lips first. That little tease back at the mansion had barely wet my appetite. When I’d had my fill I pulled back, “promise me.”

“I promise, but I won’t be scared. I’ve always been curious about sex. It’s the one thing my brother would never discuss with me even though I’m older. He always got so embarrassed.”

“I’m glad, because I want to be the one to teach you, everything.”

“Devon!”

“Yeah baby?” I kissed her nose because I couldn’t resist.

“Stop talking and show me.” Smartass!