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Mission accomplished, they headed back to the boats.

Once aboard, Zeke kept watch while Celine and her grandfather hugged for a long moment.

Both were understandably emotional, though the master chief kept it low-key while Celine let the tears fall silently down her cheeks.

Zeke wanted nothing more than to be the one comforting her, but he understood the shared grief they both felt, and it was important to keep an eye on their surroundings while the two Santinis let their emotions out for a quiet moment.

Zeke kept an eye on the shoreline and the water, as well as listening to the mop up reports over his tactical radio.

Everyone they knew about had been accounted for, and the shifters were setting up shop to deal with the fallout.

They would man the estate for a few hours while they dealt with prisoner transport and arranged for their local magical contacts to come in and examine the place.

Zeke hoped he’d find out the results of those examinations, but he wasn’t sure if he’d be kept in the loop.

It was enough to know the mage who had hurt Celine so badly had been brought to justice.

He felt really good about that, and about the role he’d been able to play in averting disaster.

Sitting there in that boat, awaiting further orders while watching over the woman he’d come to love and her legendary grandfather, he realized that the gift he’d been given by that ancient djinn wasn’t so lame after all.

In fact, the more he learned how to use it, the better off he’d be.

Today’s mission had proved that to him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

It might not be the showiest of abilities, but it certainly had come in handy when needed. He’d redouble his efforts to learn how to best use it.

While he was thinking those deep thoughts, a sleek black head rose out of the water a few yards off the stern of the boat he was sitting in.

He checked his instinctual raise of his weapon when he realized it was a seal, showing its wide black eyes and playful face.

Zeke glanced over at the master chief and saw him nod at the seal, then look at Zeke.

“One of yours?” Zeke asked quietly, though he thought he already knew the answer.

“Yeah. There’s a platoon of them out there in the water, watching for trouble. That check-in was to say that nothing’s been spotted,” Santini replied.

“Good to know.” Zeke was impressed all over again by the shifters and their abilities.

As if her grandfather’s voice had broken Celine out of her grief, she straightened away from the big man and wiped her cheeks. A moment later, she looked at Zeke.

“You were so incredibly helpful in there, Zeke,” she whispered, nudging her chin toward the mansion in the distance. “Thank you.”

“No thanks necessary,” he assured her. “I’m just glad I was there to back you up. And I’m damned impressed by what you were able to do. I didn’t realize selkies had that kind of magic.”

“Not all of us do,” Santini said, patting his granddaughter on the shoulder. “Celine is one of the special ones who has an extra dose of protective magic.”

“Well, it was amazing. And unexpected,” Zeke replied, still keeping an eye on their surroundings even as they chatted, working out some of the adrenaline that had peaked during the confrontation with the mage. It would take some time to come down off that high.

“As was your timely warning,” Santini reminded him. “If I haven’t said it before, that’s one useful little gift you have there, son.”

Zeke nodded slowly. “I didn’t think so before, but after all this, I’m starting to realize its value.”

“Well, it’s about time,” Celine said, smiling softly for the first time since the battle.

Zeke didn’t get a chance to reply as his radio came alive with the order for his unit to retreat.

In the next minutes, most of the boats were filling again with the members of his unit who were scattered among a portion of the shifter troops.

The rest of the shifters would stay on the estate a little longer to conclude matters there.

They were headed back to base not long after, the boats a little lighter than when they’d gone in, but every heart pleased at the outcome.

There had been a few injuries, but nothing life-threatening.

At least, nothing that Rick couldn’t handle.

Shifters were able to heal most superficial wounds quickly, taking only a little longer for the more serious ones.

But there were a couple of guys that needed Rick’s help to overcome the worst of their injuries without significant downtime or permanent loss of dexterity.

No matter how much Zeke was becoming accustomed to dealing with magic, shifters still managed to amaze him on a regular basis.

Particularly after witnessing what Celine had done during the battle.

He wouldn’t talk openly about it without her permission, he decided.

From what her grandfather had said, her ability was special even among shifters, and he’d gotten the distinct impression that selkies liked to be even more mysterious than the other shifters he’d met so far. He could respect that.

When they got back to the island base, it was a bit of a letdown.

Zeke still had all that adrenaline running through him, as did most of the guys, though they had witnessed different parts of the wide-ranging battle scene.

They would all make full reports later in the day, but for right now, the mission had been accomplished, and their orders were to rest and recuperate.

It was nearing lunchtime, so everybody gravitated first to their quarters, to put away their gear and maybe hit the showers, then they wandered down to the cafeteria.

Master Chief Santini’s crew had worked without him, preparing a victory buffet.

Special dishes had been included with specific soldiers in mind, as a treat.

A lot of their favorites were on display, ready for consumption.

It was a thoughtful gesture that the men appreciated.

They ate quietly, each thinking over the mission.

Some had used their new skills a bit more than others, working together as part of a team for the first time in ages.

From the overall tone of the quiet conversation, it was clear that everyone had enjoyed flexing their new magical muscles, so to speak, as part of a bigger force.

Unlike other missions, the men of the unit had been inserted into platoons of shifter soldiers.

A few here. A few there. Each contributing their own special skill to whatever those groups were assigned to accomplish.

The plan had worked even better than anyone had expected.

Which boded well for the future of the unit.

Or at least, the men within it. They had proven today that they didn’t have to function as a complete unit, but their skills could be utilized in conjunction with other special troops.

And by special, Zeke was thinking specifically about shifters and those with knowledge of the magical world around them.

He wasn’t sure what that meant for the cohesion of the unit in the future.

It was possible they could be split up and moved around like chess pieces.

He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of that, but he was a soldier, and he was sworn to do his duty and follow orders wherever they led him.

He had a feeling, from the way they all shied away from talk of the future, that a lot of his colleagues were thinking the same.

This morning’s adventure had been an eye-opener in a lot of ways.

On the one hand, it was good to know they could work well with others using their new abilities.

On the other, they had just proven that they could be split up and moved around with little loss of effectiveness.

Zeke had gotten so used to working with the men of his unit that they were like family. It would be hard to break up the team. But they all knew, if that’s what Uncle Sam wanted, that’s what they were going to have to do. Whether they liked it or not.

But, hopefully, not for a while yet. They were all still under threat.

They’d taken out one key mage this morning, but there were others still out there gunning for them.

Armando Salazar, Abdul Kettering, the other two female mages who had been working with the one they’d cornered that morning…

Not to mention the Venifucus . There were still quite a few enemies out there.

And he couldn’t leave out the foreign agents who kept targeting the unit, trying to kidnap them and hurt their families.

Until some of that settled down, Zeke figured they wouldn’t be going anywhere, except for short forays like this morning’s. All along, they had been doing small missions to safeguard their families and loved ones, but this morning’s mission had been a lot larger and involved a lot more troops.

Maybe it was a turning point. Maybe they’d be able to do more missions like that now they had proven themselves able to work well with others. Zeke didn’t know. And he wasn’t sure anybody really knew the answer to that just yet. If Jeeves and Rose knew, they were keeping it to themselves.

The brass would decide what they wanted, and those plans were way above Zeke’s pay grade. Hopefully, the officers making the decisions would take into account how well the unit functioned as a fighting force…and a family.

Lunch was both celebratory and subdued, each man a little lost in his thoughts, which was to be expected after such an adventure. Rick was still with the shifters since there was at least one wounded soldier that still needed his special healing touch.