Chapter 2: ZAK

I'd warned her once, but I guess she lost sight of that shit when my brothers sent out the call. Too fucking bad for her. I'd given her her freedom once; no fucking way I was doing that dumb shit again. That shit had almost destroyed me. I'd gone into a downward spiral that had taken all my brothers' strength combined to bring me back from the brink.

It had taken some time before I realized that I was on a suicide mission, taking unnecessary risks. It was only because those risks could've hurt my brothers as well that I had harnessed myself.

It was hard as fuck living without her. After only having her for a short time, it felt like I was missing the best part of me. I faced death every day, but nothing hurt as much as the loss of her. I was on the brink of madness more than once, questioned my sanity and my reason for living like never before. All the shit I'd thought was soft in others, I found myself falling into, and then out of that confusion bred hate. I waffled back and forth between hating her and loving her so much it fucking gutted me.

Back then, I had promised myself never again, I'd never give a woman that kind of power over me again, and here I am, not even twenty-four hours since she walked back into my life, with her pussy juice drying on my nuts. It felt good as fuck, though, I can't lie.

The feel of her was just as I remembered: that soft flesh wrapped around me the same way it always did and drew me in. And it didn't take much to have all the old feelings come rushing back. Feelings I'd thought long buried and forgotten were once again at the forefront of my mind.

***

Like the first time, I'd ever laid eyes on her. It was the wolf whistle from some other fucker on the base, in the middle of the desert, that had drawn my attention. I remember the hot sun beating down on us as we were winding down from a drill in a bitch of a heatwave. I'd turned to see what all the fuss was about when the murmurs started after the whistle. Fighting men are part dog, part hyena; they'd howl at a fucking snake if it looked good enough. Especially when you've been in the middle of bum fuck nowhere for weeks, waiting for the action to kick off. I've seen less disciplined men pine away for the taste or feel of pussy. Me not so much.

It was her hair that caught me first. Either she'd grown too hot sitting in the transport that had brought her and the rest of her team in, or she was just happy to reach her destination in one piece, but she had taken off her headgear and loosened her braid.

All I saw was a rainfall of red trailing down to the top of her ass, and oh what an ass it was, fuck me. Then she turned and looked right at me and poleaxed my ass. No joke, I think my world stopped for a second or two. Quinn likes to say he saw the second the lightning bolt struck. He said there was nothing in me for five seconds at least, like I'd gone away somewhere, before coming back to myself.

He could be right because I remember shaking my head as if to clear it but not being able to take my eyes off her. Everything else went still; even the din of the men's voices had ceased to penetrate. I even forgot I was in the middle of a war. All that was there was her. I was intrigued and pissed the fuck off at the same time. My brothers and I had a deal, no serious relationships while we were still in. We all took those things seriously, whatever we'd promised each other as men. But looking at her, I felt the threat. No other woman in all the years since we'd made that pact had come close to making me want. And I knew as sure as the sun was shining that I was about to break that promise.

She didn't only make me want after one look; she made me crave. I was already formulating the upcoming arguments in my head of what I was going to tell the others so I could have her, and I didn't even know her name, knew nothing about her. None of that mattered, though; all I knew in those first few moments was need.

It didn't escape my notice that she too seemed to have been stopped in her tracks, to be hit by the same phenomena that had struck me where I stood, as she stared back at me. It was only the intrusion of the noise around me that had snapped me out of it, and when I moved, she started to blink again like she was coming out of a stupor.

I honed in on her like a wild beast on his mate's scent, locked her in, and caged her off from the other males that were there, with just a look. My body reacted strongly to her scent the closer I got to her like I knew her somehow, but that couldn't be; I would've remembered her. I didn't say anything to her for the longest while, just stood there gazing down at her, not giving a fuck what the others in the camp must be thinking; all I saw, all that mattered was her. I felt a sense of calm come over me, followed by the need to mate.

I remember feeling almost desperate to get her alone, to get her away from all of those male bodies. Men who had been comrades a short ten minutes ago were suddenly a threat. I became aware of others vying for her attention and almost committed murder.

I wanted to take my piece and shoot the fucks for even trying, but common sense prevailed. I think they got the message to back the fuck off when I bared my teeth at them, though, and they all fell back.

My brothers like to remind me of that shit too on occasion; well, they hadn't in a while, not since we'd called it quits. Back then, I'd wanted the day to come to an end so that I could learn everything about her; and then I got pissed the fuck off that she was there, which made no sense.

I hated the fact that this woman who had made me feel was here in the middle of this hell. What her being there meant suddenly registered, and I wanted to grab her up and get her the fuck out of there and back to the mainland. Back to safety until you could come get her when my tour was over. But I knew that shit wasn't about to happen.

I'd heard the stories of the hotshot marine they were bringing in, hadn't paid too much attention, though, because what the fuck did I care? But everything I'd heard came rushing back, and I hated all of it. I hated that she was good at what she did, so good that they were bringing her in to send her on special ops with us.

I hated that she was a beautiful woman in the middle of all these men when everything in me told me she was mine. I especially hated that her CO had a reputation for fucking his female subordinates, and rumor had it that it didn't matter if they were willing or not. The very thought of it made me contemplate murder.

It was amazing looking back how quickly everything had changed. In literally the blink of an eye, I saw my life change, saw everything I wanted, with her in the center of it, and I didn't even know her name. "Red."