Chapter 1

This safehouse being used was the worst possible twist of fate. Quint hesitated at the bottom of the wood steps he’d sanded and stained two summers ago when he’d been here last. The place was in good condition. Putting it on the list of potential destinations for the core to hole up had made sense, but ever since he’d gotten here with the first small group, all he could think of was the last team he’d brought. His team. Men he’d worked with for years.

Every single one now dead.

Not his first huge loss, but it had been more gutting because he’d selected all of them. Trained a few. Within these walls he’d put them back together after a brutal mission went sideways. Where he stood now he’d said goodbye to them, one after another as they were all reassigned.

Over a decade as a merc and he should know better than to let anyone too close. Hell, Jared and Seth had tried to nail the point home repeatedly in the military if only to make him a better doctor, stop him from delaying treatment to offer comfort. A personal touch that wouldn’t stop the bleeding.

He’d gotten better at that at least, gained enough of an edge to survive the harsher realities of the life he’d found himself part of. And no one had ever died here.

There’d been a few close calls, though.

Glancing over his shoulder, Quint smiled as Rhodey gently eased Reed’s sleeping form into Curtis’s arms. By Curtis’s side, Lawson held their other boy close, the quad forming into a protective unit in such a natural way there wasn’t much need to worry about them. Both Doms were decently trained and would react quickly to any threat.

Rhodey moving away from them without looking back made it obvious he felt the same.

Next came Noah on a stretcher carried by Jared and Seth, two of the core’s more vulnerable subs keeping pace at either side, shivering a bit as the breeze picked up, washing the chill air from the ocean over them. Quint made a mental note to pull out the collection of jackets, hats and gloves he’d packed away. The climate here was colder than anything they were used to, sometimes even in the summer. Without knowing where they were going, no one beyond the initial group had been able to prepare, and even then he hadn’t been able to give them much time to do so.

Leading the way up the stairs, he tapped in the code to unlock the front door, holding it open so his own Doms could pass. “There’s two bedrooms on this floor. Bring Noah to the bigger one, second door to your left at the end of the hall.” Any medical equipment that might be needed to monitor him would fit in there easily, while still giving plenty of space for his men to bed down. He turned his focus to the next group. “The second bedroom is just over here, off the great room. There’s three separate beds, but you can move them together however’s most comfortable for you.”

“Thank you, Quint.” Lawson slowed, looking around the hall which still gleamed and held the scent of the lemon cleaner Quint had used to freshen up the place when he’d arrived, getting rid of the worst of the dust and doing his best to make it as welcoming as possible. The Dom gave him a thoughtful look. “Noah mentioned you had an apartment in the Ukraine somewhere and you hadn’t been stateside in over a decade. From the sounds of it, that was never much of a home. Why didn’t you stay here?”

Lips curving, Quint met the Dom’s eyes. He couldn’t blame Lawson for wanting to get a read on their approximate location to regain some sense of control, but this wouldn’t be much of a safehouse if he let too many people know where to find it. He hadn’t been lying to Noah. This wasn’t stateside.

No need to narrow down where it was though. He trusted the man, but like most of the mercs he knew, Quint had a strict policy of making sure his secrets couldn’t be exposed with the right amount of torture.

Nothing personal.

With this Dom, though, he had to choose his words carefully. The man was very good at reading people, hearing the things that remained unsaid. Quint kept his tone casual as the group moved through the great room, boots and sneakers sounding softly on the thick carpet. “The cell signal in this area is patchy, staying here for any length of time if I wanted assignments wouldn’t have been practical, sir.”

From the look in Lawson’s eyes, that little tidbit already had his mind working, but he simply nodded, placing his hand on the small of Matt’s back to guide him into the room after Curtis.