* * *

I looked back at Quinn once before following the others to Lo’s house for lunch. I can’t put my finger on it, and he’s so good at camouflaging shit when he wants to that it had taken me a while, but something’s up.

Ever since that early morning phone call I knew he was hiding something but had let myself be convinced otherwise.

I was tempted to go back and get that shit out of him, but the baby distracted me when she met us at the door.

She babbled away about something or the other that only Ty understood and the rest of us became bystanders to their continuing saga.

I don’t care how hard you are, nothing melts you faster than a tiny tot with attitude and a chip on her shoulder.

She read Ty’s ass but good. The rest of us got a few eye rolls and finger shakes, but he was her mark no doubt. It was hard not to smile at the two of them and their antics.

Once he picked her up and cleared the way we made it inside where the women met us with smiles that for once weren’t hiding some shit that they’d been up to.

It usually takes less than five minutes to read the room, but they’re getting sneakier everyday. With Vanessa in their midst, teaching them tactical maneuvers and shit, it won’t be long before they have us completely snookered.

“Umm, something smells good.” Lo made his way over to Gaby and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

The women were bustling around the kitchen with their usual laughter as they spread platters of food on the table.

Since greedy ass Ty was preoccupied I thought it wise to dig in before he remembered that he was hungry.

There was a lot of kissing hello and whispered words, followed by the women’s giggles, followed by belly rubs and hand swats. The scene of domesticity still took some getting used to.

I was also amazed at the skill with which my brothers switched gears from plotting the demise of fuck-nuts who dared breathe the same air as us, to rubbing barely there pregnant bellies and whispering sweet nothings in their women’s ears.

I’d seen my brothers in many lights over the years and I have to say this shit is borderline comical. I doubt the boys knew they had those sappy looks on their faces as they practically ran their women around the room.

As with everything else, they showed no shame. Warrior Con was at this very moment looking like the biggest sap as he tried conning Dani into sneaking off with him. At least I think that’s what all the whispering and head shaking in his corner was about.

If Quinn were here the two of us would give them shit for the PDAs, but it didn’t feel the same on my own. Asshole threw me to the wolves.

I didn’t have time to wallow in the injustice of it all because Zak’s voice rang out with a hint of fear that almost stopped my heart.

“Zakira, NO.” He was halfway out of his seat and every adult in the room went on high alert. The baby, who had been messing around the stove while no one was looking, had big fat tears in her eyes as she looked at her daddy.

I imagine his yell had scared her more than anything when her lips started to tremble and the first tear fell. Oh shit!

“Dude what the fu…” Ty snatched her up while giving Zak the stink eye. He cooed to her on the way out the door, her little arms wrapped snuggly around his neck.

We all looked at Zak for an explanation. He shrugged and sat back down on his chair. “Ty put her down for two seconds to say hi to Vicki and she went for the pot on the stove that quick.”

We all relaxed and sighed in relief that he’d caught her before anything happened to her. The room went back to bustling bedlam and I was congratulating myself on avoiding my sisters’ machinations so far.

If their men could keep them occupied for the rest of the meal that would be great, but I wasn’t kidding myself that this shit would last.

If they’re not meddling in my shit they’re not happy. Thank fuck the conversation focused on the baby and all the ways and means she finds to get into trouble.

“You do realize none of us are ever going to be able to discipline our kids with Ty around right.” Connor grabbed a biscuit and buttered it for Dani as everyone else took their seats.

The way he broke it in half and placed piece in front of her without even thinking, is one of those things that make me thankful as fuck that we had this, even though a year ago the shit was a foreign concept.

“We’ll scold and he’d placate and we’re always gonna be the bad guy.”

“Or you could look at it as our kids will always have an ear they can bend. They’ll always know that there’s someone on their side no matter what.” “I won’t worry about it; kids know when they’re loved. Don’t worry Con your little girl’s gonna love you no matter what, even when you go all caveman on her.”

Zak grinned and dug into his food with one hand while holding Vanessa’s with the other.

“I’m not having a girl, I’m having all boys.”

There were lots of groans and pleading going around the table as each of my brothers piped in on the preferred sex of their offspring.

Ty is the only one that doesn’t seem scared shitless by little girls. Could be because they had about the same mentality who knows. If he was here he’d be ragging their asses for sure.

The conversation was light and playful with not even a hint of what we’d been up to this morning. The women knew we were leaving soon and they knew a little about what was going on, but we’ve been sheltering them from the worst of it as best we could, which hadn’t been easy.

They’re all naturally inquisitive, or as their men put it, nosy as fuck. I’m pretty sure, though they deny it, that my brothers have been sharing pillow talk. I’ve seen these women in action; no way they aren’t syphoning information from their men. Either that, or Vanessa has been doing Intel recon.

And my brothers, these once fearless leaders, were putty in their hands. They just didn’t seem to know that shit yet. When they weren’t making my skin itch with their lovey-dovey bullshit, it was fun watching the dynamics between them.

Every last one of them were whipped as fuck, including Tyler who still thinks he’s unscathed. Cord is the one who surprised me the most. There’s going to be hell to pay when he finds out that Susie is the one in control. She has him eating out the palm of her tiny little hand.

I relaxed a little at the comical conversation, only once looking out the window towards the mansion where Quinn had stayed behind. I’ll give him ‘til the end of lunch and then I’m kicking his ass until he tells me what the hell is wrong with him.

The others didn’t seem to notice, but that could be because everyone was so tensed up about the move we were about to make. Not to mention all the new players on the field. This would be the first time the seven of us have worked with nonmilitary unknowns this closely on an Op.

We’d dug into Mancini, as much as it’s possible to dig into a spook or whatever the fuck the guy is. And though we’re all agreed he’s our kind of people, it’s still not easy for us to just put ourselves in someone else’s hands; especially not when the storm was raging all around us.

For the women though, it was probably the best move. Not that we couldn’t protect them, but with everything else we had on our plate and as far reaching as the shit seemed to be, it might be good to have a little extra help while we hunted assholes.

Ty came back inside with the baby who’d calmed down to the sniffles. He was still looking at Zak like he wanted to shoot him when he took his seat with baby Zak on his lap.

She said some shit to him that he understood and he put her down after wheedling a kiss from her. The guy is such a sap.

She made her way to her daddy on toddling legs and stood at his knee. Zak pretended not to see her as she clasped her hands and peered at him from beneath her lashes.

All eyes were on her as we held our laughter. This is one of her more famous tells. She does this when she knows she’s guilty as shit but she wants you to be the one to cave.

Not sure which of her parents she inherited this from. Could be either one of them since they’re both sneaky as fuck.

When he still didn’t look at her, she poked his knee with her finger and batted her lashes at him when he finally gave her his attention. “What can I do for you Zakira?”

Without an answer, she climbed into his lap with his help of course, and started lecturing him. She laid her head on his chest, picked one of her feet up between her hands and played with her toes through her socks.

He tickled her little girl tummy and she giggled and lifted her head to kiss his cheek. All is forgiven.

“Traitor.” Tyler mock growled at her and she went into fits of giggles. For some reason, the conversation centered once again around children and who was going to be the best dad and uncle, with Ty of course claiming the prize for both.

We teased him about his book reading, that is until Dani busted Con for doing the same thing. The others were soon all toppled by their women one by one. My brothers are reading baby how to books. Damn!

I remember a time when all or most of our conversations were about war or some other sick shit that only a handful of people in the world knew anything about.

But five grown men were actually arguing about some shit that like I said, even a year ago wasn’t on our radar. The thing is, I think they were serious and so did their women who all looked at me like ‘do something about this freak show’.

I just shook my head and laughed because hey, these fuckers are crazy. How I ended up with this band of misfits is anybody’s guess, but from the day I got picked for the team it’s been like this.

As someone who prefers watching from the sidelines it was easy to see the camaraderie between these men, to sense that underlying thread of trust and mutual respect needed for a team such as ours to exist.

As one of the last to join the ranks, and me being who I am, I’d tried distancing myself in the beginning. Even though the CO had drilled it into our heads that in order to work together as a team we had to damn near live in each other’s skin.

It was a new concept for me, trust, plus I had a problem with authority as well, and a chip on my shoulder that no one was gonna knock off. I wasn’t about to trust none of these jokers and no amount of half ass inclusion attempts was going to make me think any different, or so I thought.

I was still questioning what the fuck I was doing in the navy back then. I’d joined up because it was something to do and when you don’t give a damn if you live or die, the armed forces is about the best gig going. I guess I didn’t think shit through well enough, didn’t quite get what signing up would entail.

Everyone usually cut a wide berth around me and I had kind of a reputation for being an asshole all through basic training. But that was before they teamed us up after my stint in BUDs and sicced Lo on my ass.

It wasn’t just the chip on my shoulder that had kept a cold distance between me and everyone else. It was also the preconceived notions that many had.

Lo had been the first one there to look at me and see just me. I tested him hard as fuck in the beginning, but my brother never wavered. That’s Logan for you. He only sees team he doesn’t give a fuck if you’re part android. And the fucker is relentless.