SEALs of Summer 2: A Military Romance Superbundle

by S. M. Butler

  Her face contorted with sadness. “She died?”

  “I’ll make sure the team knows to look for her. I’ll be right back.” He sprinted back to the hole. The tunnel had been blown open wide several feet past where Ysabeau had been trapped.

  “Wow, you guys did a lot while I was gone. Did you find a woman? Ysabeau said she spoke to a woman near her.”

  A team member said, “No. The area’s clean. The dogs haven’t picked up any rafts, not even the beagle. You sure she didn’t imagine a woman? People hear and see all sorts of weird things in times like these.”

  Luke frowned. “I’m not sure of anything anymore. Good luck!”

  He raced back to the medical tent.

  Ant followed on his heels. “I want to say goodbye to your fiancé.”

  Luke grinned. He liked the sound of that more and more. Of course, he’d buy her a sparkly ring when he got back home. He had visions of getting down on one knee in this little park by the Bay. It had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the City in the background. It would be perfect.

  “How’s she doing, doc?” Luke asked the medic.

  The doctor splinted her leg as best he could. “She’ll need to be hospitalized. I suggest you get her to Miami. The hospitals will take her there.”

  She tried to sit up. “Gran? Deolina?”

  “They’re fine. In fact, Deolina and I kissed and made up.” He chuckled. “I think she likes me after all. And Tico and Gochi are okay too. You need to sit back so the doctor can finish up.”

  She went down to her elbows. “My patients?”

  “Talitha and her family are fine. She’s a little shook up, but good. The others? I don’t know, angel, this was one helluva quake, but we’ll do what we can for them. I promise.”

  “Please, miss, relax your leg,” the doctor said. “I’m just about done.”

  “Good. Because our ride’s here,” Luke said.

  The chopper’s blades echoed across Petionville. Everyone looked up when it hovered overhead.

  “A Seahawk helicopter? Who are you, Luke Carter?” Ant asked.

  “Your Ass, boss.” Luke shook his hand. “Anytime you need me, look me up.”

  “Sure will, buddy. I’d say you earned your stripes today. Take care of this sweet lady of yours.” Gently, he kissed her cheek.

  “For the rest of my life,” he said.

  “Thank you, Ant,” Ysabeau said. “For everything.”

  Leaning over her, Luke blocked the sun from her eyes. “Just relax and they will lift you up into the helicopter.”

  She studied him. “Your aura is red. Only red. Marisol is gone.”

  “I never told you my wife’s real name was Marisol. Her brothers nicknamed her Soli when she was a kid. That’s all we ever called her. How’d you know?”

  “She told me. In her own way. I guess she was letting me know it is was okay for me to be your protector from now on.” She wiggled her finger at him. “Come here.”

  “Ysabeau, my angel, I love you.”

  He bent closer and she kissed her Luke. Her Guardian. Her life.

  He made that deep rumble at the back of his throat, the sound she loved. “Hold that thought. We’ve got time and I’ve got a lot more kissing you to do.” He pumped his thumb toward the sky.

  Ysabeau’s stomach lurched and she realized she was being lifted off the ground. “Luke!” She struggled to sit up, but found she was belted to the gurney. “No! I don’t want to leave you.”

  “Ysabeau! Lie still, sweetheart. I’m right behind you.”

  *

  With his heart in his throat, he watched her gurney rise toward the copter. Sweet God, don’t let them drop her!

  When several arms pulled her inside the open door, he breathed again.

  “Your turn buddy,” Ant said as he helped Luke put the harness on. “Call me in a few weeks. I want to make sure Ysabeau is all right.”

  “She will be.” Luke was already several feet off the ground.

  Ant grinned. “Especially if you have any say in the matter. Luck, my friend.”

  “To you too.” He yelled to the small figure. With the noise from the rotors, he doubted if Ant heard him.

  As he went up, he scanned the apocalypse below. The devastation was far worse than he could have guessed while he was in the midst of it on the ground. Rescue workers scrambled all over the ugly site. Heavy equipment had been brought in and dogs roamed up and over the ruined hotel. It looked impossible. Hopeless. Yet, it wasn’t over. It gave him a zing of pride knowing that those search and rescue workers wouldn’t quit. As long as there was a chance, they’d fight for life with every drop of sweat in their body.

  Please God, let them save more people today. How many others were still buried alive beneath the Montana? How many women, children, fathers and mothers? What would he have done if he hadn’t found Ysabeau? How would he have survived her loss? He shut his eyes tight and let the rope lift him toward the clouds.

  As he crawled inside the helicopter, his limbs went weak with relief. Danny yanked him inside and closed the door. Luke weaved on his feet when the chopper took off.

  “Welcome aboard, bro,” Danny gripped his arm to keep him upright. “You’d better take a seat. You don’t look so hot.”

  “Daddy!” Sunny squealed. His beautiful, sweet girl with her dark-rimmed courageous eyes gave him her heart-seizing smile.

  “Luke,” Ysabeau whispered. He could barely hear her over the chopper sounds.

  It was then that he noticed Sunny and Ysabeau holding hands. Both of his women had tears streaming down their cheeks but their smiles knocked the air out of his chest.

  He dropped to his knees next to Ysabeau’s gurney. With one hand on Ysabeau’s soft arm, he grabbed up his beautiful daughter with his other arm. Burying his nose in Sunny’s soft hair, he inhaled the sweet fragrance of cherry shampoo and squeezed her to his chest.

  Sunny sobbed into his shirt. “Oh, Daddy. I was so scared. What if I I’d lost you?”

  His heart clenched. “You can’t lose me,” he said softly. “But you’d better stop crying before you get the hiccups.”

  “Too…hic…late.”

  So small, so strong, Sunny was the air he breathed and now Ysabeau was part of his heart. Battered, dirty, exhausted to the bone, he knelt inside the army helicopter and felt something that he hadn’t felt in years—hope.

  “How’re you doing, angel?” he asked Ysabeau. He was struck by how pale and weak she was. Her blinks were getting slower and slower.

  She made a soft sound and closed her eyes completely.

  In the seat closet to the door, Danny was smiling his face off.

  “Thank you, Dan-man. For everything.”

  Danny gave him a thumbs up.

  Luke put his headset on to talk to the pilot. “Hey, I appreciate you picking us up, man.”

  The pilot nodded. He had a long black braid and gray-blue eyes. “Least I could do for a fellow corpsman. Lieutenant Commander Mack Riley wants a full report. On the earthquake and my first day on the job for the team. Mack says I screw it up and I get his big boot enema.” The man turned around and winked. “Put a good word in for me, will ya?”

  Luke grinned. “Will do, sailor. Thank you.”

  “It’s Ty Whitehorse, sir.”

  “Nice meeting you. Don’t worry about Mack. He’s a softy.”

  “Really? I never met a soft SEAL before. I have a short communications from the Lieutenant Commander. Are you ready to hear it?”

  Luke looked out the window. They were over the water now, the devastation behind them. “Yeah, sure.”

  “He wanted you to know that team was fully aware of the ‘family connections.’ He told me to use air quotes.”

  Luke sat back. The team knew about the Soli’s family—the drug cartel?

  “I’m supposed to wait a beat and say, ‘Hell, yeah, asshole we knew. But it didn’t matter. You’re our brother and welcome back anytime. You can have this grunt’s job.’” Ty th
umbed toward himself.

  Guilt bricks fell off his back and crashed to the floor of the helo. He felt lighter than he had for years. “Thanks, Ty. It means a lot, but I won’t take your job. I’m not re-upping.” He smiled at Sunny. “I’ve got a family to think of.”

  Ty dipped his head. “Good to know. Let’s get you all home.”

  Luke kissed Sunny’s cheek. “You climb into that seat next to Danny and buckle up. I’m not leaving Ysabeau’s side. Ever.”

  “Ahh,” Sunny said softly as she clicked her own belt buckle. “Dad’s in love.”

  Luke grinned. She had no idea.

  Epilogue

  ‡

  Three days after…

  Grann and Deolina were still inside the makeshift hospital at the Post Office.

  A nurse sat next to Deolina on her cot and checked her blood pressure. “Looks good, Miss Deolina. Back down where it should be. You can go home now… Or, you know, somewhere other than this hospital.”

  “Thank God!” Grann said.

  “Blessings to you both,” the nurse waved and went to see another patient.

  “I’ve already sent a mental image to Tico. He should be out front to pick us up any minute now,” Grann said.

  Deolina tipped her head to the side. “Talkin’ into people’s minds has come in handy de past few days.”

  Grann smiled. “Yes, it has.”

  “Still…” Stretching her arms over her head, Deo yawned. “It’s not as good has having visions. I feel sorry your powers can’t match mine.”

  Grann shifted her weight. “I beg your pardon.”

  “No need.” Deo wiggled her finger toward Gran. “I forgave you de moment you forgave me.”

  Gran’s mouth fell open.

  “I’m not saying your powers aren’t useful. ‘dey helped us.” Deo shrugged. “A little.”

  Grann sputtered. “You’re saying your visions—!”

  “Saved our girl.”

  “And you did that all by yourself?”

  “Like I said, you helped a little.” Deolina crossed her arms. “But can your mind-talkin’ tell you Ysabeau is safe and sound? Dat she’s on her way to de United States to be cared for by de only man who ever loved her? I see her, clear as a bell, in his arms right now. Luke looks for all de world like he’ll never let her go. Just like I saw in all my visions. Uh-oh…” Her face looked the same as it did when she was a little girl about to be in deep trouble with the nuns. “I…I might’ve misunderstood dat image in de beginning. I guess Luke was good for our girl after all. Maybe we shouldn’t have tried so hard to keep dem apart. Don’t dat beat all?”

  Grann laced her fingers together to keep from smacking the woman upside the head. “Ysabeau’s leaving Haiti?”

  “Oh, she’ll be back. Your grandbaby’s going to be a very happy woman with a fine clinic in de middle of town. Luke will see to it. It’s going to be an amazing place saving hundreds of lives.”

  Grann blinked and tears of joy fell to her cheeks.

  “And.” Delina wiggled her eyebrows. “You’re gonna be a great-Gran. Not once, but two times over!” She leaned forward until they were eye-to-eye. “Do you understand the power, rollin’ all over me, Gran? You can talk, but I can see!”

  Grann pressed her hand to her chest. Could it be true?

  “Oh, wait! Another girl is comin’ into de vision. Lordy, she’s a beautiful cherub. She’s maybe twenty years old, or so. Healthy, strong. She’s got thick dark hair, blue eyes like Luke’s, and a smile dat can suck breath right out of your lungs. Her arm is wrapped around Ysabeau and she’s hangin’ on tight too like a daughter would.” Deolina grinned. “Can’t see none of dat pretty picture, can you?”

  Grann wanted to believe so badly.

  But then Grann remembered how faulty Deo’s visions were, how they changed, how Deo didn’t always interpret what she saw correctly. Sometimes it was best to leave the future “out there” as Mr. Carter had said, and simply wait to see how it all played out.

  Grann blew through her lips. “You didn’t see all that in your visions.”

  “I saw you forgivin’ me.” Deo wiggled her shoulders smugly. “Years ago.”

  Grann shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”

  “Did so.”

  “I haven’t forgiven you,” Grann huffed. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  She offered her hand to help Deolina out of bed.

  Deolina planted her flat feet on the floor and rose slowly. She swayed slightly.

  Grann grabbed her about the waist to stabilize her. “Are you okay?”

  “I will be.” Deo put her arm over Gran’s shoulders. “You’re stuck with me, sista. For better or worse.”

  “We’ve done the worst. Is there a better part?”

  “Ain’t nothin’ better than the two of us getting’ our mojo rockin’. Hey!” Her eyes widened. “You think we had anything to do with the quake?”

  “Of course not.” Grann swiped at the dust that still clung to Deo’s sleeve. “But one thing bothers me.”

  Deolina raised her eyebrows. “Just one?”

  “We didn’t keep them apart. Luke and Ysabeau. For all the spells, graveyard dust, and ground up scorpions, they ended—”

  “Up together.” Deolina flashed a mouthful of teeth. “We should go into de love bizness. We could save de world.”

  “You and me?” Grann snorted. “Might be the end of the world.”

  “Nah. Me and my sista got us some kick-ass love juju goin’ on. Dis is de start of somethin’ good.”

  Grann shook her head and linked her arm with Deo’s. “This is going to require a couple glasses of sherry. Hellfire, if I’ve got to listen to another one of your crazy plans, we’d better find ourselves a bottle.”

  The Priestess of Light and the mostly-retired black magic Vodun of Petro walked together into the sunlight.

  The End

  More Books by Kimberley Troutte

  SEAL EXtreme Team

  COMING IN HOT (Book 1)

  LOCK AND LOAD (Book 2)

  UNDER THE RADAR (Book 3)

  DOWN AND DIRTY (short story)

  SEALs Beyond the Battlefields

  THE GUARDIAN (Book 1) Summer 2015

  GOD WHISPERER

  CATCH ME IN CASTILE

  SOUL STEALER

  Middle Grade Fiction by K. Troutte:

  SAVING MINER’S GULCH

  About the Author

  Kimberley Troutte is a NY Times, USA Today and Amazon Top 100 bestselling author for Romantic Suspense. She is also nominated for the 2015 RITA®, the highest award for excellence in the romance genre. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, a wild cat, an old snake and all the other creatures that hubby and her boys rescue.

  To learn more about her novels, please visit her at Kimberley’s website.

  Be the first to receive news, gifts and free ARCs by signing up for the Kimberley’s newsletter.

  A SEAL’s Duty

  a SEAL Team Alpha novella

  Jennifer Lowery

  Website | Newsletter

  About This Book

  Navy SEAL Grey Stone is a lone wolf with good reasons for not wanting the responsibility of a family—until he meets Reganne McCain. The down-to-earth pediatrician makes Grey want more than he’s ever allowed himself to imagine. But early life lessons make some choices more terrifying than a war zone.

  Chapter One

  ‡

  Popping the top off his beer, Grey Stone leaned back in his lawn chair, letting the warm breeze cool his heated skin. Why he’d let his buddies talk him into a brutal game of beach volleyball, he didn’t know. Although he and Michael ‘Mikey’ Kreegan had won against Donovan ‘Deuce’ Demarco and Jack ‘Tag’ Taggart, now he was sweaty and longing for a dip in the ocean. Put four SEALs together and the sport turned into a friendly competition where one or all of them bled.

  Mikey had elbowed him in the nose going for a spike. It had bled all over his t-shirt so Gr
ey had taken it off to finish the game. By the end of the game all four of them had removed their shirts and used them to stop a wound from bleeding.

  Tag strode past him, tossing a t-shirt at him. Grey caught it with his free hand. “Thanks, man.”

  Taggart gave him a two-finger salute and continued on to hand out shirts to the other three SEALs. Grey set his beer on the ground before tugging the shirt over his head. It fit a bit snug, but covered the blood that had dried on his chest.

  He stretched his legs out and picked up the bottle. SEAL Team 5 was one day back from deployment. Downtime felt damn good. Beer tasted even better. The steaks Tag had thrown on the grill made his stomach rumble.

  The sliding door to the small Victorian cottage opened and three women walked out. The team still hassled Tag about his house and how girly it was. Even more so now that he was married.

  The three women stopped at the table set up on the deck and deposited the bowls of food they carried. A slender brunette, petite blonde and an auburn-haired beauty he hadn’t seen before. The brunette was Jack’s wife, Darci. The blonde belonged to Demarco. The redhead didn’t appear to be with anyone as Darci and Cloe’s gazes searched out their husbands immediately. The redhead simply sipped her beer.

  No fruity pink drinks with little umbrellas for her. He liked a woman who drank from the bottle. Beer, no less.

  The blonde headed in the Demarco’s direction and to Grey’s discomfort, Darci and the redhead started toward him. Ah, hell. He scanned the small crowd for Tag, hoping for rescue. At the grill, Jack met his gaze, grinned when Grey sent him an SOS look and went back to cooking. Grey scowled at him as the two women approached. Darci liked to play match-maker for the guys on the team. Looks like today was his turn. Where the hell were Steele and Malloy? They were both single. Or Mikey? He was the player.

  Damn.

  He wasn’t looking for a relationship. Not now, not ever. He’d seen what military life did to a marriage. Having spent years picking his mom up off the floor every time his dad left for deployment; it wasn’t something he’d ever do to a woman. Watching his mother slowly kill herself with prescription pills to dull the pain of being alone so often had made him vow at a young age to never ask a woman to wait in the wings while he went off to save the world. And he sure as hell wouldn’t bring a child into the world to watch his mother go through the strain of his career’s demands. It had almost destroyed him.