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“My brother,” he muttered. His voice dropped, rough and raw. “His name’s Toby. He’s… different. Gentle. Brilliant. He doesn’t see the world like we do. He’s in Vegas right now with the same piece-of-shit uncle who tried to use him like a slot machine the last time he needed to pay off a debt.” His voice wavered. “I didn’t tell you because…because I didn’t want you to see that part of me. I thought I could keep it separate.”

“You didn’t tell us,” Dagger said quietly, “because you didn’t think we were your family.”

Brawler’s jaw flexed.

“You think we wouldn’t want to know about your brother?” Dagger stepped closer. “We go to war over less. You think we’d sit this one out?”

“Next time,” Twister added, “you bring Toby to the team cookout or we’re all tripping you in formation.”

“Dibs,” Flash said. “I’ll hold your arms while the rest of them swing.”

Brawler groaned, rubbed a hand down his face. “Fine. You all want in? You’re in. But if anyone touches my playlist in the SUV, I’m throwing you out on I-15.”

“Deal,” Easy said, already opening the back.

“We all know it’s nothing but rock and rage anyway,” Shark muttered.

As they piled in, Brawler took one detour to the base kennel.

Beast exploded out of the gate like a missile, tail wagging, eyes sharp.

“Time to work, buddy,” Brawler said, ruffling his coat. “We’re going to save my brother.”

Beast growled low in answer.

Hours later, Vegas hit them like a living pulse, neon lights flashing, music pounding, people flooding the sidewalks in waves. Horns blared, laughter echoed from balconies, and the strip shimmered like a hallucination in motion.

They piled out at Ray’s favorite place. The casino floor was chaos, overhead lights, clinking chips, perfume clouds, and the constant drone of slot machines. Tourists milled like ants, draped in sequins and bourbon.

“All right,” Flash muttered, scanning the floor. “Blackjack, craps, or sleazy poker table?”

“I want odds on how many kneecaps Brawler breaks before we get to him,” Easy said.

They moved in formation, methodical and sharp.

Then Brawler saw him.

Ray.

Greased hair, oversized ring, cigar hanging from his teeth like a cartoon mobster. Toby stood beside him, small, still, wide-eyed, arms wrapped around his torso like armor. His face was dirty, his shirt was filthy, and he looked like he was about to cry.

Something inside Brawler detonated .

“Beast,” he snapped, unclipping the leash.

The dog launched.

Ray barely had time to scream before the Malinois was on him, snarling, snapping, teeth flashing as Ray stumbled over a craps stool and sent chips flying like confetti.

“Jesus!” Ray shrieked, flailing as he scrambled toward a craps table.

“Security’s inbound!” a dealer yelled.

Dagger appeared at the manager’s side just in time. “That guy’s using his autistic nephew to count cards. You want TMZ here tomorrow, or you want us to handle it?”

The manager’s face turned angry in Ray’s direction. He looked at the crowd around him. They all roared, and he grinned. “The customers are always right. Let the dog have a minute with the piece of shit.” He waved three brawny guys off.

Beast circled Ray, low and feral, eyes locked, fangs glinting.

Toby turned toward the chaos. “Chris?” His face broke into smiles that were brighter than the neon lights.

Brawler couldn’t get to his brother fast enough. “Hey, buddy. You okay?”

Toby ran into his arms. “It’s too loud. I don’t like it. There’s too many lights. I told him I wanted to go home. Hank’s gonna be mad.”

“No, he’s not.” Brawler said, his voice soft and soothing. “You’re coming home with me.”

Toby opened Brawler’s fingers. “You get hurt. Want me to kiss it?” He just looked at his little brother, feeling the guys around him shift, the aws , and damns under their breaths. Yeah, they were now hooked too. Toby did that without even breaking a sweat. Twister had sewn him up on the drive.

Ray groaned from the floor, dragging himself upright.

“Fuck you,” he wheezed at Brawler.

Beast lunged again.

Ray screamed and took off running through the pit, across the floor, straight toward the exit as Beast chased like a demon loosed from hell, snapping at his flabby ass, connecting a couple of times, while Ray shrieked and tried to cover it.

People started cheering. Phones went up. Someone yelled, “Hell yeah, K-9!”

The SEALs couldn’t stop laughing.

“Let him run,” Twister said. “Hell, give him a head start.”

Beast finally returned, trotting back proudly like he’d just won a medal.

Brawler rose, pulled Toby close, and looked at the rest of his team.

“I owe you guys.”

“You owe us a beer,” Flash said. “Maybe a plate of ribs.”

“You’re bringing Toby next time,” Dagger added, deadly serious. “You’re not hiding your heart anymore. That kid’s one of us now.”

Outside, the Vegas night was still bright, the strip pulsing behind them like a heartbeat.

But Brawler felt clear . His brother was safe. His team was family. The next chapter was already in motion. What happens in Vegas? gets you a SEAL, a dog, and a war.

The small, crowded room smelled faintly of old wood and fresh coffee. Folding chairs creaked under the weight of loved ones, strangers, survivors.

Quinn stood just inside the doorway, the chip would soon be hers. Her hands trembled. Six months carved into her bones. She’d taken a short vacation from the embassy project for this. It was too important not to attend.

But she wasn’t ready. Not yet. Not until she made it right.

Her eyes swept the room, past her parents and Dagger’s, past the twin boys fidgeting in their too-small suits, to the back row, where they stood like sentinels.

The team.

Her eyes burned.

They had every right not to come.

She had blamed them. Hated them. Cast them as the ghosts who brought her husband home in a flag-draped coffin. Still… they came. Stood beside Dagger through every storm. Protected her in Caracas. Kept her boys safe. Stayed.

One by one, she crossed the room.

She stopped in front of Easy first. His midnight-blue eyes met hers, calm and unreadable.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice soft but steady. “I took my grief out on you. I never once asked what you lost. Thank you… for standing by him.”

He gave a small nod. “He’s our brother,” he said. “So are those boys.”

She hugged him, and he didn’t hesitate, folded his arms around her like they’d known each other a lifetime instead of a war zone.

Next came Shark, who stood a little straighter when she approached. “You watched over all of us. Your comms saved lives. Thank you for protecting him. For never throwing my words back in my face, even when I deserved it.”

Shark blinked hard and muttered, “Hell, now I feel bad for all the times I called you scary behind your back.”

She laughed wetly and hugged him, holding tight.

Twister next. She looked up into those copper-flecked eyes that had assessed her injuries and kept her moving.

“You treated me like I mattered even when I was at my worst. You never let me fall.”

“You got back up on your own,” he said quietly.

She kissed his cheek and moved on.

Then Flash. She paused. “You…” she said slowly, “are a very fast, strong menace.”

Flash grinned wide. “Facts.”

“But you made me laugh when I didn’t think I could anymore. You made things lighter when everything felt like lead. I blamed you for surviving. For being loud. For not grieving the way I thought grief should look. I’m sorry.”

Flash’s cocky smile faltered. He leaned in and whispered, “I never told him… but the way he looked at you? Back then? Scared the shit out of me.”

Quinn choked out a laugh. “Yeah. Me too.”

She hugged him tight.

Bondo was next. The quiet giant. The protector. The one who had said the least but seen the most. She looked up into his gray eyes and said, “Thank you for being his anchor. For making me feel safe, even when I didn’t deserve it.” He pulled her into a hug so fierce it stole her breath.

“You always deserved it,” he said gruffly.

She turned next to Tex, who stood just behind the others, watching her the same way he always did. Sharply, quietly, with eyes that missed nothing and judged everything. He was a man built of granite and expectation, and for the longest time, she’d thought he barely tolerated her.

But now, she saw it clearly.

She’d hurt him , too.

“You stood by Dagger when I wouldn’t,” she said softly. “You gave him a mission when he needed something to live for. I know I was a liability to this team. But you protected me anyway. Thank you. For trusting him. For never giving up on him… or on me.”

Tex’s jaw flexed, but he nodded once. “You gave him something to come back for. That matters.”

She stepped in and hugged him, not too long, just enough. Surprisingly, he hugged her back. She gave him a cheeky salute and he grinned, shaking his head.

Then she turned to the last man in the row. Brawler. He towered over her, arms folded, eyes narrowed, but glinting with something warm beneath the rough exterior.

“You scared the hell out of me,” she admitted. “All of you did, but you? You were the loudest. The biggest. The most protective. I thought you were judging me, maybe even hated me for the way I treated Dagger. But you didn’t. You just loved him.”

Brawler cleared his throat. “Yeah, well. He’s my brother. You mess with one of us…”

“I know,” she said, stepping forward. “But you also didn’t shut me out. You never threw it in my face. You protected me anyway. You made Dagger laugh on the days he forgot how.”

Brawler looked down, his voice gruff. “He didn’t laugh much.”

“I know,” she whispered. “But he will now.”

She hugged him. He didn’t move for a second… then folded his arms around her like a human shield. “Thank you for being gentle with my boys and for T-Rex pancakes with syrup claws,” she whispered. Brawler cleared his throat.

Flash piped up from the side. “Okay, if she hugs Twister again, I will cry , and I am too pretty to cry.”

Quinn laughed through her tears as the team broke into chuckles, a ripple of energy cutting through the weight.

Then, and only then, did she turn to Dagger.

The man who stood by her through it all.

The man who gave her silence when she needed it, fire when she was cold, and strength when she had none.

“I told you I was sorry once,” she said, her voice low. “But it wasn’t enough. Not for me.”

He didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Just watched her with that stillness that always said more than words ever could.

“I made you carry a weight that wasn’t yours, and you did it anyway. You always did. You knew I was sorry… but I needed to say it right. I needed to look you in the eye and tell you I love you. I blamed you because it was easier than facing myself. But I see you now. All of you.” Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry, Kade. Deep down, where it matters.”

She wasn’t just apologizing. She was unraveling. Offering him her heart without armor, without pretense. It was easy, and it was right. It felt so damn good to have them all in her life.

He stepped into her space, slow and steady, and lifted a hand to cup her cheek.

His thumb brushed her skin like he was anchoring her there.

“You were never alone, Quinn.” Her breath hitched. Tears spilled.

“I was so lucky to have you all,” she whispered, her voice trembling. Then she leaned her forehead to his, breath tangled with his and let the silence between them say everything else.

She turned, at last, and walked to the front of the room. The chip was waiting. So was her future. When the applause came, she barely heard it. Behind her, a familiar voice called out.

“Hey, Dagger! Try not to drown, bro! She’s on fire today!”

Laughter rippled through the room.

Dagger groaned. “I’m killing him.”

But he didn’t let go of her hand.

The new US Embassy stood like a sentinel of light in the heart of Caracas, sleek, modern, and unapologetically bold. What had once been a chaotic construction site marked by scaffolding, sweat, and uncertainty had been transformed into a masterpiece of form and function.

Glass and steel curved in clean, intentional lines, reflecting both the city skyline and the sky above, transparent yet unyielding. Local stone grounded the structure, a nod to the country that had shaped so much of her pain and, somehow, her healing.

Every element had purpose. The security perimeter flowed seamlessly into the design, invisible to the untrained eye. Sustainable features, green walls, water reclamation systems, solar glass, anchored it in innovation. Sunlight flooded the atrium, casting golden light over textured walls that told a story of resilience, unity, and quiet strength.

To anyone else, it was an embassy.

To Quinn it was proof of who she was, a woman who knew exactly where she was going personally, professionally. A testament etched in steel and stone.

Somewhere beneath the foundation, when the cement was still wet, she’d knelt and pressed a dedication into the earth. To Brian. To Kade. To her children. To the team who had never faltered.

It was immortalized now, buried in concrete, hidden from sight but never forgotten. Part of the bones of the place. Part of the woman she’d become. That even the most broken things could be rebuilt.

She stood in the majesty of her own vision, a structure born from fragments of grief, resilience, and untamed creativity. Bit by bit, she had shaped this monument to their country, to herself. To rising.

A woman who had been knocked down more times than she could count, burned by heartbreak, failure, betrayal. Still, she gathered her smoldering remains and rebuilt. Again, and again.

She was the flame incarnate.

Fierce. Unyielding. A phoenix reborn not by fate, but by will.

Her power wasn’t just in surviving the burn. It was in transforming it. Every scar, every misstep, every grief-forged night… she had made it fuel. Now, her fire stood in steel and glass and concrete, unmovable and unashamed.

Then—Dagger.

Equally resolute. Born of water, not flame. Where her fire surged with instinct and emotion, he flowed with control, strategy, and quiet strength. He was the current that bent but never broke. The stillness beneath the surface, the tide that could move mountains when it chose.

Fire and water.

She burned bright. He met her blaze with depth and calm.

Sometimes, they clashed, her sparks hissing against his tide. But other times, they became something more. Steam rising. Power multiplying. Fire sharpened by water, water warmed by fire.

If he hadn’t saved her, again and again, her blaze might’ve consumed everything.

But he never tried to extinguish her. He simply made sure she burned smarter . Brighter. Together, they were a force no storm could shake. She turned to him now, breath caught in her throat. "It’s… beautiful, Quinn,” he said softly. “That doesn’t even touch what you’ve created. I always saw this in you. But you’ve crushed my expectations.”

She stepped closer, tears caught in her lashes.

“I love you, Kade. Where my fire meets your water, like a wave cooling the burning sand.” She smiled, soft and fierce. “You were the ash that whispered, rise , when I didn’t think I could anymore.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, grounding herself in the strength that had always been hers, even when she fought it.

“I want your child, Kade. Planted deep inside me. A symbol of this fire we forged together of our commitment, our family, our future.”

His chest heaved, voice ragged. “Quinn,” he breathed. “I love the fuck out of you. I’ll give you whatever’s in my power. If it isn’t, I’ll make it so.”

She trembled, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes, whiskey fire and sea-glass calm, crashing in perfect balance.

“Come on, my phoenix,” he said, lips curling. “I’ve got a hotel room and I want to watch you burn.”

Their future wasn’t built on perfection. It was built on fire and water, rage and forgiveness, ruin and rebirth. Through grief, through fury, through a thousand almosts, they had found their always.

It was over the moment he looked at her and said, “You worked your ass off for that degree.” That quiet, unwavering belief.

She never stood a chance.

Dagger’s integrity was lethal.

He didn’t just protect her body. He guarded her worth . Even when she couldn’t see it.

Now, she saw everything. She kissed him again, fierce and claiming. “Oh no, my love,” she whispered. “I’m going to set water on fire.”

The house was quiet. For once. The kind of stillness that came only after chaos. Bath toys had been cleared, the twin boys tucked under superhero blankets, the dinosaur shampoo crisis averted. Ezra had curled into a corner of his pillow, one leg hanging off his small bed, while Elijah sprawled like a starfish across his. Their breathing was soft and steady, little chests rising and falling in a rhythm that soothed something deep in Dagger’s bones.

He stood in the doorway, shirt damp, hair dripping from the splash zone, a plastic stegosaurus still suctioned to his arm. He hadn’t noticed it. He didn’t care.

Quinn stood beside him, arms crossed, wearing one of his oversized shirts, her curls frizzed from the bath steam and exhaustion written all over her face. She was working hard, her firm thriving under her leadership, and had landed another huge contract. She looked like hell.

She looked perfect.

His chest tightened as he watched her gaze soften on their boys. Her boys. His boys. Theirs.

He had no idea when it had happened, this shift inside him. He’d always believed his job was to keep people safe by staying detached. Focused. Sharp.

But this woman… she’d undone him.

Not with force. Not with fire.

With love. Quiet. Steady. Unrelenting.

Now, watching her in that soft hallway light, worn and beautiful and utterly his, he couldn’t hold it anymore.

He stepped away from the doorway. Dropped to both knees at her feet. No fanfare. No ring. Just the full weight of everything he was, offered without armor. Quinn’s breath hitched. “Kade…”

He looked up at her, hands resting on his thighs, heart hammering like he was about to breach a compound, not ask a woman to marry him. But maybe this was the bigger leap. Because this time, he wasn’t protecting her. He was surrendering to her. “Marry me,” he said quietly. Roughly. Every word pulled from somewhere deeper than he’d ever let anyone see.

Before he could say anything else, before he could even breathe, she dropped to her knees with him, cupped his face in her hands, and said the words that would live in his soul forever.

“You kissed me like a wrecking ball. I knew it from the start as everything inside me came undone.” Her voice was a hushed storm, low, tremulous, but steady with the kind of truth that left no room for doubt. Emotion wove through every word, cracking slightly at the edges like something long held back finally set free. “You effortlessly captured my heart against my will, ruining me before I even realized I belonged to you. All the while, you tried to hold back with your quiet, soul-wrenching integrity that only pushed me right into the fall.” Her features softened as she spoke, the sharp lines of pain giving way to something luminous, eyes shimmering with unshed tears, lips trembling with the weight of revelation. “But it wasn’t just your kiss that changed me. It was everything… it was you. The healing. The anchoring. The way your gravity pulled me out of the ruins and into something whole again.” Her voice went so soft. “I didn’t realize then that the free fall wasn’t chaos. It was flight. Somehow, impossibly, I landed in love.”

He was wrecked. Completely, thoroughly, irrevocably wrecked. His throat locked down. He couldn’t speak. He could barely breathe. He pulled her to him, wrapped her in his arms, pressed his forehead to hers. When he finally found his voice, it was a broken whisper.

“I wrecked you, babe? You leveled me.” He didn’t try to be eloquent. He didn’t need poetry. She was his poetry. “You were the chaos I never saw coming. The one thing I couldn’t control. You shattered everything I thought I needed to be, and made me feel again. You didn’t just give me love… you gave me back pieces of myself I didn’t know I’d lost.”

His arms tightened around her, voice low and reverent.

“You brought me home, Quinn.”

She stroked the bristle of his jaw, tears sliding silently down her cheeks.

He swallowed hard. “I used to think love made you weak. That it got people killed. That control was the only thing keeping me steady.” He paused, glancing toward the bedroom where the boys slept. “But you showed me it’s the opposite. Love grounds you. Love strengthens you.” He exhaled. “Somehow, you made me stronger by letting me fall .”

Quinn’s hands curled into his shirt, eyes searching his.

“You leveled me, Quinn,” he said, voice quiet now. “Then you rebuilt me.” For a moment, as he held her, he thought of Brian. Not with guilt this time. With peace.

He’d always blamed himself for losing his brother. Always carried that weight like shrapnel under the skin. But maybe Brian had brought them together in the only way he could. Letting Quinn live. Letting them both love again.

God, his team. His brothers.

They’d seen the change in him too. Not just the way he watched Quinn, not just the way he smiled more, fought less, but the way he showed up for them. Let them in. Trusted deeper. Laughed easier. He was more than a weapon now. He was a man again.

“I love you, babe.”

She looked at him like he was the axis her world had spun around without her knowing, and in that moment, she wasn’t just beautiful. She was undone and whole all at once, love written in every line of her face.

“I love you more,” she said softly. Then, with a wicked gleam, “Now show me some of that amazing stamina… because I want to consummate our engagement.”

She trailed her fingers along his collarbone, nipping him there as she snagged his dog tags. As her clothes slipped away, one piece at a time, she moved toward the bedroom, slow, confident, lit from within.

When he didn’t follow, she turned, bare and glowing, the tags swinging between her breasts.

“Come here, you gorgeous man,” she murmured, voice like velvet and flame. “Let’s burn together.”

His heart tripped, his dick hardening.

Yeah, he was a fucking man, and he was going to fuck her until she screamed.

And it was because of her.

Because of this life.

This hallway. These sons of his. This chaos.

This love. It wasn’t perfect. But it was theirs. From silently watching over his brother’s wife and children to standing by her in grief, without expectation to being the unspoken father of her twins, finally hearing her say I want your child.

Their loop had started in shadows and ended in light. Not just with love, but with acknowledgment . With Quinn choosing him, not out of pain, but out of power.

He was always there.

Now he was theirs.

That was it. The fire. The healing. The forever.

Thank you for reading Dagger , the sixth book in my SEAL Team EAST series. I’m so grateful you’ve joined me on this wild, emotional ride, and I hope Quinn and Dagger’s story struck deep and lingered long after the final page. Their journey from grief to healing, from fire to love, has been one of my most personal and powerful yet.

I hope you’re looking forward to Brawler’s and Flash’s books. I can’t wait to write them.

But first, one more mission awaits in the NCIS series.

Book Twelve: Trusting Grace - A haunted operator. A brilliant auditor. And a covert breach that was never supposed to happen. NCIS Special Agent Grace Harlan was buried in quiet exile until a dangerous anomaly pulls her back into the field. Nash Rahim doesn’t trust anyone. Especially not the woman who flagged the failure that cost him everything. But now they’re on the same side of a broken system, forced to confront what really happened and who’s still pulling the strings. And if they’re not careful, the next breach… might be their hearts.