"I think this is the turn," Marcus said, pulling carefully onto a gravel road. It disappeared ominously into the woods, the shadows reducing the visibility to a few feet despite the fact that it was almost noon.

"You think?" Gio muttered, his stomach gurgling. His head thumped against the seat, and he groaned, a greenish cast creeping over his face.

"Need me to stop?" Marcus asked, already pulling over.

This wasn't the first time, or even the fourth, they'd had to stop that morning. Something about the gas station food had not agreed with Gio, and even the nausea medicine they'd picked up hadn't stayed down. He parked the car on the side of the road, getting out as Gio stumbled to the edge of the woods and heaved noisily into the leaf litter.

"Here." Marcus uncapped their last bottle of water, holding it steady as Gio rinsed his mouth. Scanning the trees, he caught a flash of light up ahead. "I'm going to go see how much farther we have to go," he said, stroking a hand over Gio's back.

The omega waved him off, panting and cursing under his breath as he spat off the edge of the road. "Stay within sight," he said as Marcus moved away.

"Alright." He hadn't planned to go past the curve ahead. He hadn't been to Brendan's cabin in years, but what he did remember was a short, white-knuckled trip up the snow-slick driveway. They had to be nearly there by now.

It was almost eerie, how little light penetrated the forest. The shade kept it cool, but made judging distance almost impossible. It took twice as long as he expected to reach the spot where the road disappeared around a fallen tree.

"I found it," he called back, staring through the portal of pine boughs at the little two-bedroom cabin. Not fifteen feet from him, the summer sun baked the road with shimmering heat, but even a few steps to the left, and he'd had no idea.

"Fucking finally." Gio straightened up slowly, glancing over at the car with a grimace. "Let's just leave the car for now. I'll find somewhere to move it into the woods later."

"Can you grab anything that you think we're going to need while I get the key and open up the house?" he asked, looking Gio over worriedly. The water bottle was half empty already, and it seemed to be staying down, so that was an improvement. Maybe they'd get lucky, and it was just motion sickness.

Gio shuffled slowly across the road, his hand pressed to his stomach. "Fine," he grumbled. "Cords for the phones, soda... Anything else?"

"That should do it," Marcus said, ignoring the way Gio dug around in the back and came back with two battered paperbacks in his hand. He'd tease him about it later.

The cabin had been in Brendan's family for years, the basic structure unchanged from the day his parents had bought the place. Once the brothers had gotten their hands on it, though, the accommodations had definitely improved. And the security.

The biometric key box hidden inside an old stump near the wood shed was Cody's donation to the property. All the brothers were programmed in, as well as Brendan's sister. For anyone else, it would take a plasma cutter or possibly a nuclear weapon.

Pressing his finger to the sensor, Marcus smiled as the key dropped noiselessly into his palm. When he came back around the house, Gio was standing on the deck, peering in the windows.

"Is this ballistic glass?" he asked, flicking the panes.

"Probably," he said, unlocking the door. "I blame Nikolai." The air inside wasn't as musty as he'd expected, the furniture uncovered and free of dust. "Huh. They weren't kidding when they said it was ready to go."

Gio was staring at him. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask," he said, stomping into the main room and throwing himself down on the couch. "Give me your phone. I want to check in."

"Sir, yes, sir," Marcus said, smirking as he flashed him a sloppy salute. "Finish your water, too."

Poking around the cabinets as the phone rang, he found plenty of canned and dry goods. Even the freezer was packed with neatly labeled casseroles. "Well," he said as the call connected, "we won't starve."

"Are you... Brendan's?" The connection crackled horribly, and the voice was almost unrecognizable.

Marcus swung around, staring at the phone. "Cody? Why are you answering Teddy's phone?"

"Look, we're... way... stay put... We sent... you guys... keep an eye... tracking position..." The call dissolved into feedback and then died.

Dialing again got them only a series of beeps as the call failed to connect. "Son of a bitch," Gio said, clenching the phone in his fist. "Did he just say they were tracking us? How?"

"Hey," Marcus said, catching his hand before he could do something silly like shatter their only connection to help against a wall. "You don't know my friends, so you have no idea how screwed these guys are." He chuckled a little as Gio stared at him in shock. "Cody and Nikolai are kind of the big guns, and if they're involved, the answer is so very, very screwed. These assholes aren't going to know what hit them."

Gio swallowed hard, tipping his head to the side until Marcus obliged him with a kiss. "Tell me about them?" the omega said, sounding small and lost for the first time since Marcus had met him.

"Let me grab a drink, and then I'll give you all the best gossip," Marcus said, pressing a kiss to Gio's temple. He took his time making a cup of coffee for himself, watching the omega struggle to keep his eyes open. When he came back, setting his mug on the coffee table, Gio's eyes were barely slitted.

"Scoot over," he said, nudging him around until he could cuddle him close. "You know about Teddy and Carlos, but I've been thinking about it. I've come to the conclusion that I'm never leaving you and Cody alone in a room together. That could be dangerous."

"He sounds fun, for an alpha," Gio slurred.

Smiling into his coffee, Marcus shook his head. "That's because he's an omega. Tough as nails and in his sixth year of Special Forces. They made him a team leader a few years ago. First one in history, and about fucking time."

Gio huffed, his head dropping to Marcus's shoulder. His eyelids fluttered and then he let out a gentle snore, barely louder than a cat's purr.

"The two of you," Marcus whispered against the flyaway hairs that tickled his nose, "could take over the world in about six hours."

"Shut up." Grumbling and shoving Marcus into position, he nuzzled his face into his chest and proceeded to drool on his dress shirt.

Laughing to himself, Marcus drank his coffee and tried to figure out when his life had gone off the rails. Probably about the time he decided to join a fraternity if he was honest. Glancing down at the dark head resting on his chest, he admitted that he couldn't complain.

"I love you," he whispered.

He managed to edge his way out from under Gio once his cup was empty and his bladder full. He had to go upstairs to find a roll of toilet paper in the hall closet, so he used the larger bathroom up there in hopes of minimizing the noise.

From the upper windows, he could see the entire clearing rippling with heat and went on a quest to figure out how to turn the central air on. He found a user manual in the kitchen, running through all the basic steps only to find that the system was off at the main.

He debated waking Gio, but the purple bruises under his eyes were finally fading. If the others were on their way, they were both going to need their rest. He did grab his phone, ducking out on the porch to try calling around. All the numbers failed to connect except Luke's, which went to voicemail.

Cursing under his breath, Marcus stuffed the phone in his pocket and headed around the side of the building. He vaguely recalled an industrial looking box mounted under one of the windows, and he was hoping that was the one he needed.

The day was sweltering, bugs buzzing to life as he waded into the knee-high grass. He hadn't even made it to the back before he was covered in sweat. The box he was looking for wasn't on the left or back, and he was starting to worry that he had misremembered. His skin was prickling with imagined bug bites, and he had to squint his eyes almost closed to see in front of him since he was facing the afternoon sun.

"This," he told himself as he peered between the deck supports, finding only spider webs and animal droppings, "was terrible planning. You are an idiot."

"Idiot."

Marcus paused, blinking against the burn of sun and sweat.

"I followed the directions, pero yo no lo veo. I don't see a house here," a familiar, forlorn voice said.

"This is why I said we should have got a car. No, you had to bring the motorcycle down an unpaved road!" Something cracked, and Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to smile. "I swear on mi madre, if you get me busted back down to guarding hookers..."

"I like the hookers."

"Ay dios mio... Shut up, Victor."

Following the sound of the crashing in the brush, Marcus picked his way across the clearing. There were a few trails that they used for hikes and running quads, but most of the entrances were overgrown from one too many years of neglect. Ducking through the overgrowth, he didn't have to wait long to find the pair stomping around.

"Lost, boys?" he asked, propping his shoulder against a tree.

While it had seemed like a good idea at the time, he found himself eye to eye with a large caliber pistol. As hapless as they seemed, it was easy to forget that the pair were seasoned gang members.

"Hijo de puta. Don't shoot him," the little omega cursed, punching his partner in the shoulder. "Son of a bitch, the boss would never let us help out again if we shot his friend."

"Sorry," the big alpha said, his shoulders curling as he shrunk in on himself. "Hi Marcus." The gun disappeared into the baggy folds of fabric the gang member was layered with.

"Hi Victor, Chuy. What are you doing here?" Marcus gestured around the forest.

"We're your backup," Victor said, his whole face brightening. "We were working a job in Jersey, so we were closest when the boss called and said you needed help." He was practically bouncing with excitement, like an oversized puppy.

Chuy, razor sharp and twice as dangerous, shook his head. "God help you, he's telling the truth. The boss said he'd be here tonight, and we're supposed to keep an eye on you until then. Sorry, we're the best they had." He shrugged, kicking the dirt.

Marcus had often speculated about the pair, but Carlos insisted that they were old high school friends. Chuy could have been a gang lieutenant if he wasn't an omega, and Victor didn't seem to care one way or the other as long as his friend was happy.

"I'm glad for the backup," Marcus said, as surprised as they seemed to be to find that he meant it. "Come on up to the cabin, and I'll show you around."

Victor nodded eagerly, but then slumped. "We have to go get the bike. We left it near the road about half-a-mile back. I guess I missed the turn." He twisted his hands together forlornly, his eyes sliding to the little omega beside him.

Coughing to hide a laugh, Marcus gestured toward the road. "Actually, you probably didn't go quite far enough. The road curves back on itself. I'll show you."

"See," Chuy grumbled, smacking the big man on his arm. "I told you we shouldn't have paid so much attention to the mile markers."

"But Teddy said—"

"I don't care what the boss says," Chuy said, stomping off into the brush. "No one is always right."

"To your left," Marcus called as they disappeared from sight. It took him a moment to get his laughter under control, and they didn't help matters by bickering the whole time.

He couldn't tell when they got back to their bike, but he did hear it roaring down the driveway as he made his way up to the front porch. The box he'd been looking for was on that side, and he'd flipped the switch, hopefully allowing the cabin to avoid becoming a sauna.

"This is a nice house," Victor said as they pulled up. "Hello." He waved cheerfully, and Marcus turned to find Gio standing in the doorway staring at them.

His hair was wild, and there was drool smeared down one side of his face. "You're the guys from the gas station."

"Hey, yeah. I remember you. Damn, could have saved us a lot of trouble if we'd known you were with the boss's friend," Chuy grumbled as he hopped off the back of the motorcycle. "Nice house. I could live in a house like this, don't you think, Victor?"

"Yeah." The lumbering alpha shouldered the stuffed full saddlebags off the bike and headed up the stairs.

Gio, blinking slowly in confusion, just watched as he shuffled past into the house. "Who?" he asked with just a hint of whine.

"Victor and Chuy are Lions members. They're friends of Carlos's," Marcus said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close. "They're here to help us out until everyone else can get here."

"Oh, hey, no. No, no, no." Chuy left off staring up at the house and shook his head. "We work for the boss. You're gonna land the boss in hot water, you go spreading rumors that he's friends with losers like us. We're the lowest of the low, man."

"No we're not," Victor said, sticking his head around the door. "We don't get to guard the hookers anymore." He looked at Gio. "Do you mind if I put one of those casseroles in the oven? I'm kinda hungry."

"Go ahead," Marcus said while Gio just stared, a high pitched noise, like a balloon that's sprung a leak, the only sound that emerged from his slack lips. "Make some coffee, too, would you?"

"Sure," he said, bouncing cheerfully back into the house.

"Shit. I'd better go make sure he doesn't set the place on fire. You need anything else, boss?" Leaning in the doorway, Chuy kept one sharp eye on the inside while simultaneously raking Marcus with a look that made him wonder if the omega was sizing up the street value of his silver fillings.

"Nothing that can't wait for dinner," Marcus said. He pressed a kiss to Gio's temple when he squeaked again. "Just roll with it," he advised, laughing and clutching at his side when the omega elbowed him in the gut.