Chapter 5: ZAK

But now I was back to being pissed because of her damn mouth. How could I have forgotten her penchant for getting under my skin with her hardheaded ass? She never fucking stops, and almost two years apart hadn't changed shit.

I heard the others coming up behind me just as I hit the door. I was in the right kind of mood to deal with this shit, though, and so I kept going. It had been quite some time since I had my foot in someone's ass, and with all the shit that was going on lately, I knew it was only a matter of time before I blow. Better they get it than her.

That pent-up anger I had against her, and the way things had ended between us only needed an excuse, a reason, to run free. If that day ever comes, it's going to be a dark fucking time, I know it.

So I have to be careful here for the next little while and channel my anger and energies in a different direction. I wasn't about to give her a reason to want to leave because even if I had to chain her to my bed, she was staying. I wasn't about to lose her a second time, fuck that.

I put that shit behind me and headed for the room where we'd stashed the prisoners. They were chained to the wall thanks to Dev and Quinn's handy work. The woman could still be heard griping about her conditions a few doors down. How the fuck did she expect to be treated after the shit she'd done?

I knew none of my brothers were dwelling too hard on the fact that we now suspected these fucks or whoever they worked for of killing the commander. We like to deal in facts, so the sooner we can square that away, the better. It was looking more and more like we might be on the right track there, though, which was in no way good for these three.

We'd been on the lookout for the asshole who seemed to be in charge, at least on this end. From the meet the Rosalind woman had described, it seems like the really big fish might be an out-of-towner or some shit; we were still working on the logistics.

Lo had come up with a plan, and the rest of us had agreed; it seemed sound. He'd contacted someone we knew we could trust, whose reach stretched across all arms of the country's military. With him on our side, we'd have more legroom and one hell of an ally.

The plan had been set, and we were on our way to weed out these fucks from their little hidey-hole. Of course, we had to scratch that mission because the fucking females had decided to play Colombo or some shit.

After I'd fucked Vanessa to within an inch of her life the second time in my bed, she'd told me their hair-brained idea and how it was, they came to be down there in the first place. I only had enough time for one hard smack to her ass before Lo had called, but that was enough to let her know what she had coming.

It didn't matter that it hadn't been her idea; she should've known better. Now she was giving me shit about having to get back to NOLA and acting all secretive about why.

When I was buried to the hilt inside her with my hand wrapped around her throat, she swore to me she hadn't been with another man, so I knew that wasn't the reason for her wanting to go. The reality is, had it been, I wouldn't have cared. She'd been mine for a long time, and it took seeing her again to realize that she'd always been mine, even when she wasn't with me. The shit that had gone down between us had more to do with my needing to protect her as her man and look out for her than anything else.

She had these ideas about the roles we were supposed to play that hugely differed from mine, and we'd had a heated difference of opinion on our last mission. That shit had involved another dick, but I see now that it had been unreasonable of me to want her to transfer from her unit because her CO had the fucking wandering eye, and it was wandering more often than not in her direction.

She was a marine, she had no real control over where she went and shit like that, and the bastard hadn't actually done anything yet. But all I saw was that another man was after what's mine, and I reacted like I typically do.

Once she reassured me that she wasn't in an all-fired hurry to get back home because of a man, I decided to let her live. Fuck I just came in her, more than once. That shit stopped me in my tracks. Not that I thought she had any diseases or any shit like that, I knew she wasn't promiscuous; I'd been the first man to have her.

I wouldn't even let my mind go to the time we'd been apart; I have to trust that she was telling me the truth. I can't deal with that shit, not now anyway. Dammit, she better not had let another motherfucker put hands on her. I was tempted to go back and confront her again, but the six men at my back reminded me that we had business to take care of. I looked over the men for my prey.

"Hey you, asshole, you look like you're in charge." I pulled the idiot I'd already beaten to a pulp up from the floor. His eyes were already swollen shut, and his lip split. If he lived, he was gonna have a hard time explaining those bruises, granted his CO wasn't the one in charge of this whole operation.

"You wanna tell me what the fuck you were doing chasing our women?" The others closed the door and stood back; this was my show.