Challenge Protocol

by Dawn Ryder

  A brief flicker of jealousy crossed his face before he offered her a nod of approval. “Smart girl.”

  Cambria frowned at his choice of words. Dack laughed at her disgruntled expression.

  “That’s part of my problem with you, Cambria. You’re just so damned spunky.”

  “Maybe, but I’m not dazzled enough by your charm to forget that you haven’t started coloring in those details yet.”

  His face lost its boyish gleam. She stared at the stark difference, actually angry that someone had affected him so intimately. They needed shooting. She knew that much. Inside him was a man who could be tender and caring. No one should have to give that up.

  “Okay, baby…let’s see if you can deal with this…”

  Her eyes widened as she listened to his voice. Black Watch…Raul Ramos…it all swirled around her kitchen and it fit together too well. Dack finished and the kitchen echoed with silence as she absorbed the unfairness of it all.

  “That stinks.”

  Dack was hiding behind his expressionless mask. His eyes focused on her as if he was waiting for her to pound a gavel and pronounce a penalty sentence. When she didn’t add anything else, he suddenly smiled like a boy on Christmas morning. He moved, closing the space between them to grab her in a body hug that lifted her right off the floor.

  “I swear you intoxicate me, Cambria!” He turned around in a circle before letting her slip down his body. “You can beat me with a crocodile anytime, so long as you don’t lose your sense of humor.”

  “You deserved that ass beating.” She shoved at his chest but he didn’t release her “The next time you show up, you will call me or I’ll bash your skull in with something harder.”

  He grinned at her. A self-confident, smug male, asshole of an expression that hit her like a set of fingernails being dragged across a blackboard. But she couldn’t stay mad for very long. There was a hint of need in his eyes that drew her attention. A glitter of hope that he aimed at her now that she hadn’t let her eyes well up with tears of fright.

  “I’ll clear my men, Cambria, but that won’t change Logan’s place in my life.”

  “Yeah, I get that.” Vengeance was tougher to avoid than anything else. Dack and Logan had a better chance of slipping under the radar if they let their dishonorable discharge stand.

  “You do?”

  Cambria offered him a raised eyebrow. “Oh Dack, my dear boy. Open your eyes. I’m a black chick who was raised among the poor. That brings with it the gangbangers. I understand retribution. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been screwed over, you finger them and you’ll be wearing a mark for a long time.”

  “That’s not a race issue, Cambria. Last time I checked, I was a white guy.”

  “Nobody’s perfect.” She smiled at him, giving him a flash of teeth.

  He stepped forward, hooking an arm around her waist. His body was hard and warm and just so comfortable that it sent tears into her eyes. She wasn’t afraid of him. What scared her, down to her pedicured toenails, was the way she melted every time he touched her. She wasn’t in control of it. Any ability to do so had vanished sometime during those moments they’d lain in her hammock. He pushed her chin up until their eyes fused.

  “So you understand, honey. I want you to come home with me, but think about it, because I swear to God I won’t let you go very easily.”

  “You do and I’ll be happy to catch her.” Logan’s voice didn’t even sound sleepy. It was cut with a sharp note of possessiveness. Dack didn’t even flinch at his partner’s sudden appearance.

  Cambria considered the hard look in Logan’s eyes. “I thought it was your turn to sleep?”

  “I got lonely.” Heat flickered through his eyes. “You need to understand my demands, Cambria.”

  “Is that so?”

  Logan didn’t even blink in the face of her pique. “That’s right. See I didn’t get any cuddle time. Now that’s just plain unfair because I watched you cozy up to this bastard over here. You want me to feel unloved?”

  It was ridiculous. But so damn sweet she wanted to melt into a jellyfish that would do anything they asked of her.

  “Well, I’m not going to start sleeping eighteen hours a day.”

  “I guess you’ll just have to come home with us.” Dack’s voice as low but she still heard the determination in it. “We don’t sleep in shifts on the mountain.”

  A ripple of heat went through her, but a creak from the front door grabbed both their attention. Dack’s body moved like a leather whip. He pulled her around him as he grasped the gun lying on the countertop. Logan was already around the far side of the living room with his own gun held in a steady hand.

  “Cambria? I smell the coffee so I know you’re up.”

  The deep brass tone echoed through her house because Remington used every ounce of his army training to bellow.

  “That’s my brother!”

  There was a thunk from the outer room as her voice reached Rem. Fear tingled along her skin as she imagined the horrible possibility of a gun battle in her condo. It wasn’t that far-out an idea either.

  “I’ve got company, Rem.” Reaching for Dack’s arm, she gripped the hard muscle. “He’s got a key, Dack.”

  There was a momentary flicker of indecision in his eyes before the gun was tucked in the back of his waistband. Her brother’s head came around the doorframe a second later, but only one eye as Rem remained behind the wall while he investigated just what was going on in the kitchen.

  Her brother snickered under his breath before filling the doorway. His teeth flashed at her as Dack hooked an arm around her. “Sorry, Sis.”

  Remington wasn’t sorry. Nope. Enjoyment danced in his caramel eyes as he stepped into the kitchen. But his smirk faded as his gaze settled onto Dack. A serious expression crossed over her brother’s face. The teasing sibling vanished in a second, to be replaced with the sort of hard scrutiny she’d come to expect from Dack and Logan. Tension tightened instantly as Rem caught sight of Logan.

  “Would the lot of you relax?” Stepping away from Dack, Cambria shot him a hard look when he frowned at her. “It’s too early in the morning for cock fighting.”

  Rem nodded and looked between Logan and Dack again. “Didn’t realize which group you were keeping company with, Sis.” There was a warning edging her brother’s voice. Propping a hand on her hip, Cambria glared at his overprotective attitude.

  “I didn’t know that I was expected to clear my social schedule through you, dear Brother.” Rem cocked his head to one side in the face of her temper. “This is Dack and that’s Logan.” Half turning, Cambria looked at Dack. “My brother Remington.”

  None of the men offered a hand to the other. They continued to glare at each other, rubbing her temper raw. She was sort of used to Dack and Logan being on the defensive but Remington was another matter altogether. Her brother was not going to transform into a heavy. Not when it came to her love life.

  “Don’t make me call Mom, Rem.”

  That hit a soft spot. Her brother narrowed his eyes before opening a cabinet to grab a coffee mug. “You always play dirty, Cambria. Why didn’t Mom have more boys anyway? I’ve been outnumbered my entire life.”

  “Is that why you ran away to the Army? To immerse yourself in a male-dominated environment?”

  Rem flashed her an arrogant smirk. “Nope. I did it because they let me play with guns.”

  Cambria laughed. Their mother had a strict policy on guns. Touch one and she was going to make your life a living hell. It had been a necessary ban in their house, considering half the kids Rem had gone to high school with had already spent at least one night behind bars before their senior prom.

  She pointed a polished fingernail at him. “So don’t tempt me to rat you out because you’re acting like a turkey in my house.”

  Rem lost his easy demeanor. His face went blank, in that same sort of way that Dack and Logan had of masking their emotions. “Do you know what you’re playing with, Cambria?”<
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  “She knows because I told her.” Dack broke his silence, his voice low and edged with authority. Rem’s face flickered with a hint of reaction before her brother controlled it. He glared at Dack before nodding slowly.

  “Then I guess we don’t have a problem.” Her brother shot a determined look at Dack. “Right now, that is.”

  “Rem.”

  Dack captured her waist and pulled her back against his body. He locked a hard arm around her waist, keeping her there as she hissed at him. “Relax, honey. I’d do the same if it was my sister. Your brother is just doing his family job.”

  “What you three are doing is cock fighting in my house.” Wrenching out of his hold, Cambria fumed at them all.

  Dack shifted his gaze to her, his eyes filled with determination. “Relax, honey. Why don’t you go pack that overnight bag so we can get going? You don’t want to waste your three-day weekend.”

  Ohhh…she should tell him to go to hell.

  She hadn’t agreed to go anywhere with him and Logan. Only Dack knew that. He was testing her, challenging her to follow him up to his mountain where he and Logan felt safe enough to explore their relationship. She wanted to go, but not just because of the heat filling her blood. It was more than that. She wanted to spend time with the real them, not the always-watching-over-their-shoulder personalities who were standing in her kitchen.

  “All right, I’ll do that.”

  He wanted to grin like an idiot. Dack kept his lips in an even line as he listened to Cambria climb the stairs. Even the suspicious glare coming from her brother didn’t really put much of a dent in his elation.

  “Just make sure you take care of my sister.”

  The promise of retribution shone in Rem’s eyes. Dack stared directly at it, unwavering, because he agreed with the man. Cambria was worth his best effort. He’d stand up for his own sister if she was hanging out with someone like him.

  She was insane.

  There was no point in debating it. Cambria grabbed a duffle bag and tossed things into it without much thought or care. Pulling the zipper closed, she walked out of her room and stopped long enough to pack her laptop. An annoying bubble of happiness was sitting in her throat as she secured her computer, a giddy sort of elation that had her rolling her eyes. Cambria, power queen of the corporate world, should have been above falling love…but she wasn’t.

  “Oh girl, Mia is going to laugh her ass off at you.”

  Yeah? Well, so be it. Just like her mother, she wasn’t a liar. The tender emotions were there, beating inside her chest. It didn’t mean anything was settled or that she was going to avoid heartache hell or that she wouldn’t try to kill the pair of them before the weekend was over.

  But that didn’t change the fact that she would carry them both in her heart, whatever way it all ended up.

  Descending the stairs, she steadied her nerves. For the first time in her adult life, she feared rejection. If Dack and Logan left her, it would sting.

  Dack was waiting for her. His eyes were shimmering with as much emotion as she felt twisting through her insides. He rubbed his chin with a nervous hand before reaching for her bag.

  “Come on, baby, let’s get out of this city.”

  Yeah. She liked the idea of that.

  * * * * *

  The drive was a long one. The city dropped away behind them an hour before they reached Dack and Logan’s home. As they pulled into the driveway, Cambria couldn’t help but enjoy the greenery. Everywhere you looked there was something green—trees, bushes and smaller trees. The air even smelled better.

  A large A-frame cabin rose up from the mountainside. A security fence slid closed behind their vehicles as she marveled at the man who stepped out of Dack’s truck. He was more at ease than she’d ever seen him, the lines of worry missing from his forehead. His eyes flickered with enjoyment as he held out a hand to her.

  “Tour’s starting now.”

  He didn’t think he’d ever been so nervous. Dack watched Cambria, trying to gauge her reaction.

  “Stop rubbing your jaw.” She turned knowing eyes towards him. “I’d think you’d know your own nervous tells a little better than that.”

  Being caught with his hand on his chin made him snort. A naughty little smile of enjoyment curved her lips as she winked at him.

  “Your home is lovely, Dack.” There was a note of true appreciation in her voice that set off a jolt of heat.

  “Well, you haven’t been introduced to the rough edges yet.” His gut tightened back up as he waited for Logan to rustle up some of the men. To say that he needed Cambria to accept his lifestyle was an understatement.

  “Ah, the rest of your group.” Cambria kept her eyes on the door as four men entered. There were all hard cut like Dack and Logan, their eyes sweeping her and the room before they relaxed their guard.

  “That’s Jace and Nash—you’ll meet their wife Robyn later.”

  Casting her attention back to the men watching her, Cambria found herself in the middle of a watching game. The men in question stared at her. She could feel Dack’s and Logan’s eyes burning into her back. In front of her Dack’s men surveyed the scene, waiting to see what she would say.

  “Robyn sounds like one lucky lady, to have you both.”

  Jace flashed her a smile. “I like her.” He aimed his comment at Dack. “Besides, any woman who can put up with you is good in my book.”

  He tossed Dack a two-finger salute before turning and leaving with Nash on his tail.

  “This is Reese and Gavin. Since they’re single you’ll see them a little more.”

  The two men surveyed her carefully, and Cambria realized that the introduction was really for them. Dack’s mountaintop home was secured tight and she was the outsider. She thought about it for two whole seconds before she shoved it out of her mind. She really didn’t care. Dack and Logan were here and that’s what mattered. The rest were just the things she’d get used to.

  “Where’s the other one?” Cambria turned around to stare at another man. This one was lanky and lean, the kind of leanness you saw in an extreme athlete. His eyes were smoky gray, and they were the most piercing things she’d ever seen. He stared at her before asking another question.

  “What happened to your friend, corset lady?”

  “That’s Beck, team sniper.” Logan waggled his eyebrows at her. “Which accounts for his nosy personality.”

  Beck turned his head slowly, his face still lacking any emotion. “I would have tagged them both.”

  Cambria snorted. “Good luck. Mia isn’t as sweet as she looks.”

  Those piercing eyes returned to her as a single corner of his mouth lifted. “Don’t tease me, darling.”

  “Beck’s busy now.”

  Dack stepped up and hooked an arm around her waist.

  “Like you said, Captain, I’m busy.”

  The second Beck cleared the doorway, Cambria jabbed a finger into Dack’s ribs. His body jerked, but he didn’t jump away from her. He captured her hand and twisted it, locking up her arm. The smirk on his lips irritated the hell out of her. Lifting one leg, she stopped as it tapped the soft underside of his crotch.

  She was free a second later. “That was a nauseating display of machismo.”

  “I loved every second of it.” There was a smugness in his tone that should have irritated her. Instead she shook her head, amused by the public display of ownership.

  She shrugged and Logan chuckled at them both. “So, boys, what’s on the schedule?”

  Dack lost his frown and grinned like a boy. “My kind of fun.”

  * * * * *

  Dack’s idea of amusement was dirty.

  I-need-a-shower-right-now, kind of filth.

  Her feet were killing her by the time they made it back to the cabin. The sun setting beat them home, and the temperature dropped simultaneously with it. Cambria was shivering and coated in mud from head to toe.

  “I see the boys took you sliding.”

  Looki
ng up from a computer desk in the living room of Dack’s house was a dark-haired woman. The entire living room was an office, confirming that Dack really didn’t have a life.

  “You must be Robyn.”

  Dack and Logan had halted on the front step to shower off some of the mud covering them, with the garden hose. Cambria had turned her nose up at the idea of being hit with cold water under the night sky. She’d mop up her own muddy footprints first.

  “I guess it’s true what they say, inside every man is a little boy.” Robyn’s eyes swept her as a silvery giggle escaped her lips.

  “Yeah, well remind me to swat their naughty tails.” Her voice didn’t carry any real threat. She might be a mess but it had been fun. Up on the opposite side of the ridge was a lake. At some point, someone had dug long slides in the soft earth. Dack and his men had strung up a pulley system to get buckets of lake water to the top of the run. They’d dump a few loads of water into the slide, turning it to slick mud, before jumping into it and careening down into the lake.

  Robyn stood up, waving her hands in front of her. “They’re all yours, honey. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see another woman in my life.”

  “I bet.”

  The other woman laughed before waving goodbye and leaving. Cambria felt a prickle of heat cross her face. Robyn was vanishing because she knew that Dack and Logan were hot on her heels. Living with a pair of men herself, she knew exactly what was going to happen after the mud was washed away.

  It was almost silly, the way her cheeks flamed. Moving towards the bedroom, she felt even more heat lick across her cheeks as she passed the large bed. Dack had transformed since setting foot on his property. Those few glimpses she’d spied of him relaxed didn’t prepare her for the full unveiling. The afternoon had been fun.

  That rubbed at her temper—no one should be able to affect anyone so deeply as to take that part of life away. Raul Ramos was a bastard.

  For the first time in her life she hated someone she’d never met. The emotion bubbled up inside her. The man had stolen something very precious from the men she loved. It made her sick.