Page 95 of SEAL of Valor

“She’s in love with you, so asking her won’t do me any good.” I run my hands over my face. “Look, guys, I’ve spent two decades running from those days. From the guilt I carried over taking Reese to bed in the first place, marrying her on a whim when I should have done it right, then not being there for her because I was so strangled by my own pain. Ever since Reese showed back up, I’ve been reliving every single moment, over and over again.”

“It leaves you raw,” Garrison offers.

“Understatement. I just—if somehow this is my second chance with her, I don’t want to mess it up. And with Brenda in the mix…” I take a deep breath. “I don’t even know what the future holds, so it seems like a waste of time to worry about it.”

“Not a waste of time,” Garrison offers. “We’ll find her and handle this.” His tone is sharp, leaving no room for argument. “Just like any other mission.”

The five of us fall silent, and my thoughts drift over the missions we’ve completed in the past. More times than not, I’ve marched into danger right alongside these men. They are my brothers in every sense of the word.

My family.

“Like any other mission,” I agree, then clear my throat. “I have an idea, but I don’t think any of you are going to like it.”

“I already don’t,” Sawyer offers.

“What are you thinking?” Zane asks.

“You let me draw her out.”

“Absolutely not,” Sawyer says.

“You barely made it out alive,” Garrison adds. “And you’re still healing.”

“I had Reese to worry about. Keep her safe, and let me do what I do best.”

Ryker shakes his head. “Cowboy, that’s a risk. Even for you.”

“I’m the wild card, remember?”

“Except Brenda knows us. She knows how we strategize. Which means she will have already planned for whatever you can throw her way.”

“Then we don’t strategize,” I reply.

“So you want to take on a psychopath who is likely well-funded and connected in ways that granted her the ability to escape a high-security prison, without a plan?” Sawyer asks. “Still craving that death wish? Because that’s one way to get it.”

“No.” Truth be told, for the first time in two decades, I want to survive. “But there is no future for any of us while she’s out there. She wanted me to do a job, so I’ll let her think I plan to do it.”

“She’s not going to just accept that you had a change of heart,” Ryker comments.

“No. But she’ll believe I want to do it to protect all of you.”

“She’ll put a bullet in you the first chance she gets.” Zane gets to his feet. “We won’t risk your life for this, Weston. Especially not when there might still be another way.”

“How’s that?”

“I don’t know yet,” he tells me. “But there has to be.”

“If we sit here and wait, we might as well sign our own death certificates. You know I’m right.”

Brenda is a lot of things, and unfortunately, cunning is at the top of that list. She managed to throw our last mission as SEALs so far off the rails that we nearly landed in prison. That was right before she swept in and ‘saved the day,’ by offering us jobs with her government agency.

From the moment we met her, she was playing a game none of us realized we were pawns in.

There is no way she comes here without a plan. Which means we have to get to her first. The lives of everyone in this house depend on it.

With everyone turned in for the night, I move through the silent house. Ryker is on watch outside, sitting on the roof of the house, a rifle in hand. Sawyer and Garrison are sleeping upstairs, with Sawyer crashing in Reese’s room while she sleeps in her mother’s room. Garrison is in the spare room where I slept last night, and Zane is sleeping on the couch.

It’s dark and quiet—which is not a good combination for a man trapped in his own thoughts.