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Leila leaned on the railing of the porch surveying the grounds around the cabin. One would never know that an entire camp had been set up anywhere in the vicinity. She’d pictured the tents right outside the cabin, maybe surrounding them, but they were unseen, just like the GhostWalkers seemed to be when they wanted.

Diego stood close to her. Very close. She wasn’t a woman who had ever felt the need to be protected, but she found herself liking the way Diego had such a protective vibe when he was near her. He liked physical contact. She would never have thought she’d want to be affectionate around others or have Diego hold her hand or put his arm around her waist, pulling her close in front of his friends, but she did like it. She wanted it. Maybe needed that closeness with him.

“I can disappear in a wilderness,” she admitted, “but I couldn’t hide an entire camp the way your friends have.”

“Does it bother you to have them all here?”

When he asked the question in that low, velvety voice, his palm slid up her back to curve around the nape of her neck. The movement was a slow caress that sent little flames flickering over her nerve endings. She decided it was Diego, not Mordichai, who was the leading authority on women, but she wasn’t going to give him more of an advantage than he already had.

She thought his question over before she answered. “It isn’t that they bother me. How could it? They came here to help. They’re willing to put their lives on the line for us. I’m just not used to being in such close proximity to so many men. I trained alone for the most part. The men who did come near me were usually those who were having trouble with the enhancements, and their aggression and dominant levels were out of control.”

Diego’s fingers moved on her neck, a slow massage that sent that burn flickering through her veins. At the same time, she felt tension she hadn’t known she had easing.

“These men are all enhanced,” he said, bending his head close so his lips whispered over her ear. “They are aggressive and dominant. Each of them. Some admittedly more than others, but they are. They consider you family, Leila. They would never hurt you or Grace, and they would fight to the death for you.”

She pressed her lips together, leaning back into his massage. She knew he was trying to reassure her, but her experience with many of the enhanced soldiers hadn’t been positive.

“Why do you suppose these men have been able to live with the enhancements when some of the other soldiers from Chariot’s lab have been affected so negatively? It doesn’t make sense. Chariot’s people were careful in their selections. The men they chose were good men. I don’t think any of them have the number of enhancements you and your friends do, and yet often they can’t handle it.”

“Whitney does a pretty thorough mental evaluation before he selects soldiers for the GhostWalker program. He prides himself on finding the men who can deal with the genetic enhancements. We weren’t told that would be in the works. All of us had tested for strong psychic abilities, and we were on board for enhancing those abilities. But Whitney was looking for men he could enhance genetically as well. I think the evaluations played a large part in finding those of us who could take the levels of aggression in the predatory DNA he put into us.”

“It’s scary to think that every one of these men have such predatory traits.”

He turned her to face him, tipping up her chin so her eyes met his. “I do, Leila. I have so many aggressive predators in me it isn’t funny. In certain situations, I feel more animal than human. I can’t say to you that aggression and dominance aren’t a huge part of me. I need to hunt. I don’t have to kill, but it is entirely too easy for me under the right circumstances. Most of us are that way. We have a code we strictly adhere to. And we help each other. We realized that there were no advocates for us, so if we wanted to survive, we would have to form close bonds between all the GhostWalker teams and back each other up.”

Leila wasn’t sure why she found it reassuring that Diego was so honest about the dominant traits in him, but because he shared with her so openly, she felt more comfortable with him. Trusted him more. It didn’t make sense, but there it was.

One of Diego’s more dominant traits was his protective nature. She wanted that for Grace and any future children she had. She wanted the stability of a home. Many of these GhostWalkers were married. According to Diego, they were devoted to their wives. She had paid close attention to the way they harassed one another, and it was always with affection. Each man had been introduced to her, and they had treated her with care and respect. Not one of the men had acted as if they were interested in her sexually. They didn’t make her skin crawl or raise alarms. They treated her more as if she were a sister than anything else.

One of the things that stood out the most when she was introduced that morning at breakfast was the way Rubin and Ezekiel stayed close to her. Rubin had actually stood on the other side of her, one hand on her shoulder. Ezekiel had come up behind her for the introductions. She should have felt very vulnerable with him behind her, but she didn’t. She felt safe. She could feel the waves of protection coming off the three men—Ezekiel, Rubin and Diego—and it felt good. She was very aware she wasn’t one hundred percent physically fit. These men she was being introduced to were elite soldiers. More than soldiers.

“You must think Chariot isn’t going to let me go. All of you must think that.” Her stomach knotted, and the tension came right back.

“I doubt he would allow it without persuasion of some sort.”

Her heart slammed hard against her chest. She pressed her fist over it in the hopes of quieting it. “I left Gracie with Marcy. She might be married to Commander Chariot, but she has always been a friend and advocate. If there is one person on this earth aside from you, Diego, that I trust, it’s her. But Chariot knows she’s watching Gracie. When I’m away, she always does. He probably has my baby in his home right this minute. Sometimes Marcy will stay at my little apartment in the dorm building, but there are times when she takes Grace to their home.”

“You’re worried that he’ll hold the baby hostage and insist that if you want her, you have to return to them.”

She nodded. “I think he will, yes.”

“You do know how fucked-up that is, using a baby to force her mother to continue working for them. You don’t even get paid, Leila. He’s not treating you with the respect he gives his soldiers. He sends you out on assignments that can get you killed with no backup. I doubt he was responsible for the decision to send your sister to Whitney, but he certainly knows about it. Just the fact that some of the soldiers were bringing you up the mountain to rendezvous with a helicopter to take you back to Chariot and the others were taking your sister down the mountain to return her to Whitney tells you how much Chariot is concerned with your well-being.”

“It really doesn’t matter if he’s a complete bastard, Diego. If he holds Grace back and won’t allow me to take her with me, I won’t go. I won’t leave her.”

Diego swept his hand down the back of her head in a soothing caress that allowed her heart to stop pounding. It wasn’t just a caress; it was a gesture of solidarity. He spoke volumes without saying a word. She loved that about him. She also believed in him. It made no sense. They weren’t paired by some strange phenomenon. She had only been with him a couple of weeks, but those days had been intense. They had focused completely on each other, and more, they could each see into the other using telepathic communication.

“I think someone else has arrived,” she whispered to Diego.

Diego circled her waist with one arm and tucked her into his side. “We’ve got two men coming toward us, just now emerging from the forest. The one hanging back a little is Trap Dawkins. Don’t take offense at anything he says or doesn’t say. He’s probably one of the brightest men on the planet. I don’t say that lightly. He’s a self-made billionaire, married to Cayenne, one of Whitney’s rejects, and he’s neurodivergent. He doesn’t like to engage in conversation, but Draden and Wyatt are working with him on social cues. He’s a father now and knows it’s going to be important to make those kinds of efforts.”

“He looks uncomfortable. He doesn’t have to be introduced.” She wasn’t certain she could go through too many more introductions without wanting to make a run for it.

“Trap has abilities we may need to retrieve Grace. He was the one who managed to free Wyatt’s daughters from a holding cell. They were scheduled for termination. Cayenne was as well. Without Trap, we never would have gotten to those children or Cayenne.”

Leila could tell it was important to Diego that she try to understand his friend Trap. The man walking with Trap had wavy dark hair and a muscular build. He wasn’t as tall as his friend, but he walked with confidence.

“Wyatt Fontenot is with Trap. Wyatt brought us all home to his grandmother, Nonny, a few at a time. We’ve made that area our home ever since. None of us can do without Nonny.”

“Judging by the food she sent and how delicious it was this morning, all of you probably settled there because she’s such a good cook. I’m beginning to believe you all think with your stomachs.”

Diego’s soft laughter was more in her mind than aloud, but it warmed her. She knew he didn’t laugh often, and she took it as a gift every time she heard it.

As they got closer, she could see that Wyatt’s wavy hair was extremely thick and unruly. It helped to give him an approachable appearance. He sent her a grin and gave her an old-fashioned bow.

“You don’ know how happy I am to meet you, ma’am,” he greeted before Diego could make the introductions.

Your friend Wyatt is quite charming.

He’s Cajun. Don’t fall for it. There’s nothing charming about that man.

She laughed aloud. She couldn’t help it. “Nice to meet you too. I’m Leila. Diego tells me your grandmother’s name is Grace. My little daughter is named Grace.”

His smile widened and actually reached his eyes. He definitely had charm. Diego’s arm tightened around her. He bent his head and brushed a kiss onto the top of her head.

“Nonny will love that,” Wyatt said. “Pepper and I have triplets and a set of twins. One of the twins is named Grace after Nonny. She’ll love having another child with her first name.”

“Five?” Leila was a little shocked. She had heard this before but hadn’t really processed the information. These men didn’t seem to be family men, yet they were.

“Five,” Wyatt admitted. “We both want a large family.” He indicated the man hanging just two steps back. “This is Trap Dawkins. He has twins as well.”

“Twins?” Her voice came out as a squeak. “There seems to be a theme. Does anyone have just single births?”

“Be very cautious how you answer,” Diego warned the other men. “We were discussing having children, and I don’t want her running for the woods.”

“We had twin sisters,” Rubin announced helpfully as he came up behind them.

Trap’s eyebrow went up. “Twins run in your family? And you’re enhanced? I’ll have to figure the odds.”

To Leila’s shock, he winked at her, indicating he was teasing Diego. This was the man they’d said was neurodivergent and would ignore her. Yet he had a sense of humor. The men were surprising her. Clearly, they were all trying to put her at ease.

Diego groaned. “Seriously, Rubin? You had to tell her that?” He kissed the top of her head again. “And you aren’t helping, Trap. Sweetheart, they’re in some kind of conspiracy. They probably rehearsed.”

“Are you saying there aren’t twins in your family?” She put a hopeful note in her voice.

“Well, yeah, there are.” Diego sounded reluctant to answer. “I can’t lie.”

Leila found herself laughing again. “I don’t know what to think about the twin thing.”

“Wyatt has triplets and twins,” Trap put in helpfully. “I’ve been considering conducting a study for a little while now, calculating the odds.” His voice had turned speculative.

Leila knew immediately that he was actually contemplating doing exactly what he said. He might have started out teasing his friend, but the subject caught his attention, and he was already calculating and analyzing.

“We just lost Trap,” Wyatt said as his friend turned away from them, back in the direction of the forest.

“He didn’t bring the lab with him, did he?” Rubin asked.

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Wyatt said. He flashed Leila another grin. “He was polite for several minutes.”

He wasn’t apologizing for Trap. She could see that right away. Trap was accepted exactly as he was.

“He’s been doing a fast analysis of the men under Chariot’s command,” Wyatt continued, speaking directly to Diego. “Luther’s with Joe. They’ll be here any minute. We stopped off at Luther’s place to ask a few questions.”

“He answered you?” Diego asked.

“Luther wasn’t very forthcoming about his life when I first arrived with Bridget. My sister,” she clarified. “I asked all kinds of questions, but he didn’t answer.”

It seemed as though more and more men were arriving. That definitely boded ill for the easy recovery of her daughter. These men didn’t believe for a moment that Chariot would give her up or they wouldn’t have all come running. She tried not to show that she was becoming upset, but Diego seemed to be in her mind and caught her alarm.

What is it, sweetheart?

That voice of his was molten fire pouring into her mind, branding his name there. Filling all those places where she was terrified of having to leave him but so convinced she had no other choice.

You already know Chariot isn’t going to let me go, don’t you? That’s why so many have shown up.

The chances are very low that he’s going to listen to reason. We moved a satellite over his compound and are using it to catch any activity, such as his soldiers coming our way. We also have other ways of getting information. We’ll know if he’s sending another wave of soldiers to retrieve you.

Leila knew Diego was attempting to reassure her, but the news that his commanding officer and Luther were consulting together filled her with dread. Using a satellite cost millions of dollars. Millions. She couldn’t even conceive of the kind of money it would take to put a satellite in the air and move it where one wanted it to go. There had to be a protocol in place for moving satellites. Without a doubt they knew very powerful people, but she didn’t like the way the entire mess was shaping up.

Chariot works for the government. He has the backing of the United States military. Her heart was pounding too hard, and she couldn’t seem to slow it down. Never in her life had she been close to panicking. What was wrong with her? She was going to get these men killed. They had families. Wives and children. They were good men. She could usually detect a taint on a person, something that instantly put her off. None of the men she’d been introduced to had that strange off-putting aura about them.

“Joe’s here,” Wyatt announced, turning away from the cabin to look toward the forest.

“Do you need to at least greet him?” Leila tried to step away from Diego. She was going to have to leave. It was the only way to keep a war from brewing.

“Sweetheart,” Diego said, using his soft, mesmerizing tone. “I know you think this is happening because of you, but it’s been shaping up for some time. Get it out of your mind that if you go back, this is all going to go away. It isn’t. It won’t. It’s bad enough that we have Whitney harming young girls and women and turning us into…I don’t even know what to call us. But we aren’t entirely human anymore. We don’t need another fully sanctioned lab doing the same thing.”

“The soldiers volunteer.” Leila couldn’t get her voice to go above a whisper. How did he know what she was thinking? It wasn’t as if she wanted to leave him.

“You didn’t volunteer. They gave your sister to Whitney. That right there condemns them in our eyes. Why would they be in league with a madman? Why take the two of you from Luther, your only relative? And after they kidnap you, going against your parents’ wishes, they train you to be an assassin and force you to work for them without the protection even the soldiers have.”

She felt the floor of the porch tremble. Wyatt turned back, a frown on his face. Rubin and Ezekiel, who both had stepped off the porch to follow Wyatt back toward the forest encampment, stopped abruptly to face Diego.

Diego’s arm still circled her waist, locking her to him. There didn’t appear to be tension in him. One would never know looking at him that he was angry, but she touched his mind and found rage. The trembling of the porch floor was an indication, and his energy was powerful enough that three men felt it and turned back. She immediately stroked gentle, soothing caresses in his mind, giving him those images and the feeling of her touching him mind to mind.

“Diego, what is it?”

“These men think so little of our women they’re willing to sacrifice them to further their own gains. When we were boys, we lost our sisters one by one. It was horrific to be unable to save them. We did our best to watch over them. To keep them fed, to brighten their lives. Don’t get me wrong, our sisters did their part, but we valued them. We knew what they were. These men destroy the lives of women and children and don’t seem to give a damn about them or what happens to them. Look at what Whitney did to Bridget. She has no filter and is wide open, so every noise, everything around her, hurts her. She’s in constant pain. Chariot might say he didn’t do that, but he did. He conspired to send a little girl to a madman, knowing Whitney was considered insane. Knowing his reputation. Hell, it was his wife who told you Bridget was in trouble.”

His voice never rose from that low rumbling sound, but the edge to it let her know fury on her sister’s behalf, on hers, burned through him. She fell a little bit more in love with him. His anger on her behalf was very real.

“Everything okay, Diego?” Wyatt called.

She felt Diego take a cleansing breath and release it. He nuzzled the top of her head before answering.

“Yeah, we’re good here.” He gestured for the three men to go on their way.

Leila noted that Rubin studied his brother carefully before finally turning and following the others.

The moment they were alone, she turned her face up to his. “I don’t want these men to have to fight other soldiers, Diego, not on my behalf. I don’t want to be responsible if even one of them doesn’t make it home to his family. No matter what you say, they wouldn’t all be here if it wasn’t for what is happening to Bridget and me.”

Diego urged her toward one of the rocking chairs on the porch. “That’s true, but a showdown has been brewing for a long time. Our teams are always in the shadows. Very few people know of our existence, and that makes it easy for other factions to conspire against us and hunt us down. We’ve been sent on assignments that ultimately were designed to be suicide runs. I can’t tell you how many times one or more of our teams were sabotaged by those sending us out. We serve our country. We save lives. As long as we’re completely in the shadows and the things Whitney has done never comes to light, all of us will always have to question who’s against us even though they’re our commanders.”

“That’s all true,” Leila agreed. She sank into the rocking chair and was a little surprised at how comfortable it was. Just like the chairs in his home, these were hand carved. “But you aren’t looking at the entire picture, Diego. If the world knew that Whitney had introduced animal and reptilian DNA into you, the backlash would be horrendous. People don’t like anything different. The prejudice against you would skyrocket. Those of you with various types of genetic differences would face unimaginable discrimination. Your kind wouldn’t be tolerated.”

“We’re aware.” Diego didn’t look at her. In fact, he stepped back, his hand dropping away from hers, his mind abruptly retreating from hers.

Leila looked up at him. As with most occasions, his features were expressionless, but there was something in his eyes—disappointment? Hurt? What had she said that triggered that kind of reaction in him? He had to know what she said was the truth. He had to have been aware of the reaction people would have to them. He said he was aware, so why the withdrawal?

“Diego, what’s going on?”

He turned back to her, his eyes hard. “?‘Your kind wouldn’t be tolerated’?” His voice was low, sounding like the lash of a whip.

Instantly, she heard what he’d heard. “I’m so sorry for wording it that way,” she apologized. “I’m the same as you when it comes to genetic engineering. I sometimes, when I’m trying to understand other points of view, put myself in their place to try to get out of my own head. I don’t like forming arguments until I’ve listened and actually heard what the other person is saying to me. In this case, I was trying to make a case from someone else’s point of view. But you have to know if there is a ‘your kind,’ I’m part of that with you.”

As apologies went, it wasn’t the best explanation. She had a bad habit of stepping outside herself when she was discussing anything controversial. It had always been important to her to hear the other side of something, even if it ended up making no sense to her.

“You just saw one of my flaws, Diego. I have a lot of them.”

He paced away from her and came back, the restless movements of a caged tiger. She recognized that he had far too many predatory traits to be able to stay indoors long. She had no idea how he’d managed to stay with her in the little den he’d set up for her before he could bring her to the cabin. She admired him all the more for that.

Diego crossed the porch twice and then returned to stand in front of her. “There is a faction already looking to wipe us out. They’ve sent soldiers after our women and children. Joe was nearly killed. I can’t tell you how many times they tried to kill Pepper and the children just because they’re different.”

“I worry for Grace. I know that I’ve passed some of my traits to her. I can see them in her already. But I never meant to imply that I felt any different from you. I identify with you and your GhostWalkers. Truthfully, a good percentage of the soldiers under Chariot’s command are good men. Part of the reason I detest that we might go to war with them is because, like your friends, they didn’t do anything wrong. They joined the program with the best of intentions. They honestly aren’t any different from you or me.”

Diego crouched down in front of her, his palms shaping her knees. Looking into his eyes immediately flooded her with warmth. He was always focused when he looked at her, as if she were the only woman in the universe. She shouldn’t have trusted an attraction that hit so hard, so fast, and maybe she didn’t, but she didn’t want to lose him. The thought of not being with Diego was extremely upsetting.

She didn’t need a man. She never had. She didn’t want to be taken care of. She wasn’t that kind of woman. Still. She looked at Diego’s very masculine features. She couldn’t conceive of leaving him behind, even if she knew it was the right thing to do to avoid a war.

“Sweetheart, I know you do your best to hear whoever is talking to you, and I should have taken that into consideration before I reacted like a hothead.”

She didn’t think he reacted like a hothead. He hadn’t yelled at her or even condemned her. He’d withdrawn. She was going to have to remember that was his first reaction. She even understood. No matter what his mother had said or done to him, he had never reacted. He withdrew, internalized everything. It was a habit that would be difficult to break.

“I want you to hear me now. I know you’re probably thinking we barely know each other. I’m absolutely certain Whitney couldn’t have paired us, and even if he had, I would be grateful that he got you to notice me. I believe you are the one woman for me. I want to take that chance with you. Whatever is happening around us, whatever the GhostWalkers or Chariot’s men choose to do, doesn’t negate the fact that I believe we should be together.”

“I feel the same way,” she felt compelled to admit. “But it’s weird that it happened so fast. Don’t you suspect something isn’t right?”

“Or it could be exactly what it’s supposed to be. Why are two people attracted to each other? I may want you physically, but we haven’t gone there. I know we can’t right now, and I’m okay with that. I’d rather spend time with you than anyone else. Even Rubin, and that’s saying something. I’ve never felt this way for anyone else, and I doubt if I ever will again. When I make a commitment, Leila, I follow through. That’s who I am.”

“You saw what happened just now. I worded my thoughts wrong and hurt you.”

“That was my issue, not yours. We’re getting to know one another. There will be things coming up we have to work through. Any long-term relationship has its ups and downs. We’re bound to fall in and out of love, but if the commitment is there, and we only focus on each other, we’ll make it.”

“I have no idea how to have a relationship, Diego,” she warned.

“We have Nonny. She was in a very good marriage. It wasn’t always easy, but they were determined to make it work, and they did. We can go to her and ask questions if we need to.”

“You’d do that?” She was a little shocked. Diego didn’t seem the type of man to consult anyone over something so personal. She liked that he would care enough to do so.

“I think we should give ourselves every opportunity for success.” He sighed and once more stood. “I’m a predator, Leila. I may have the protective instincts of all those animals and the ones I was born with, but I also have some very unfortunate traits.”

“Do they keep you alive?”

He frowned. “Yes.”

“Do those traits help you to save lives?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes softening from that hard, scary look to something she was beginning to crave.

“And those same traits help you to guard every man on your team.” She made that a statement because she knew the truth of it.

His answering smile lit her up until she was so ridiculously happy that she could make him smile after he’d been upset. They had a long way to go to understand each other, but she felt if they could keep talking things out, they had a good chance of making it.

Diego’s smile faded, and he suddenly turned his head, lifting his face toward the breeze. “Joe’s coming this way, Leila. He’s got Luther with him.”

“Luther will be able to tell us what happened with Bridget,” she said.

“He doesn’t have her with him, so be prepared for that,” he warned.

He hesitated, and she found herself tensing up. Waiting. He had something important to say and was finding the right words. That was a bit alarming to her. She looked past him to see Luther and another man striding toward them. It was easy to see the man’s Italian heritage in his good looks. It was also very easy to see he was supremely confident. He moved with a fluid power, one that surrounded him.

Joe Spagnola wasn’t particularly tall. He didn’t have the bulk that some of the other men under his command had, but he had presence. She found a little shiver moving through her body.

“He knows things,” Diego said. “It’s one of his many gifts. When I say that, it’s nearly impossible to hide much from him. We aren’t trying to.”

“Other than the fact that you are capable of doing the same kind of psychic surgery as your brother.”

“He’ll find out. I would like to keep that from all of them, but he’s going to ask questions, and when he does, you can’t lie to him. I’m asking you not to volunteer the information, but we can’t lie to him. For one thing, he deserves our respect, and for another, he would know. He’s got some kind of built-in lie detector.”

“Is he a fair man?”

“I wouldn’t follow him if he wasn’t,” Diego confirmed.

Leila was used to being around soldiers who were enhanced genetically. But she didn’t have the experience with those who had psychic abilities. She believed most people had capabilities they hadn’t developed but sometimes felt or even acted on in a limited manner. She certainly had moments when she knew things. She’d tried very hard to develop those traits, but she had the advantage of hearing about the GhostWalkers and their extraordinary abilities.

Diego’s commanding officer approached the porch, Luther pacing easily at his side, showing that his wounds were healed, and despite his age, he could easily keep up with the younger man.

Leila tried to remain relaxed when Joe and Luther came straight up onto the porch. Luther awkwardly patted her shoulder.

“I was worried about you, girl. I didn’t make it to your sister in time. I’m sorry. Luckily, we’ll be able to track her. It was good to hear Diego had gotten to you before those men took you to a helicopter.”

She glanced at Diego. She thought Luther would have been told the men had no intention of getting her to the helicopter.

“Those men had decided not to get her to the helicopter, Luther,” Joe said. “Unfortunately, some of the soldiers who are enhanced physically can’t handle the aggressive traits.”

Luther didn’t have to have it spelled out for him. His entire demeanor changed. He took a step back and turned his attention to Diego. “You took care of this?”

“I did. I’m sure that’s what is putting Joe in an impossible situation,” Diego acknowledged.

“Not impossible,” Joe murmured and flashed Leila a charming smile. “I’m Joe Spagnola. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”

She could see how easily others would succumb to his charisma. “Just Leila, please,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t ask her questions.

Joe perched on the railing across from her. “Luther gave me a few details, and Rubin has provided a few more, but Diego, there are gaps. Big ones. I’ll need everything, no surprises when I take this to the general and demand a meeting with Chariot.”

“I’ll do my best,” Diego said.

It was all Leila could do not to look at him. She had the feeling this was going to be bad. Diego had been adamant that no one could find out about his surgical abilities, but instinctively she knew that this man would never stop until he uncovered every secret. Luther wouldn’t have told him a thing. She had no intentions of revealing anything Diego had done for her, but she had the feeling Diego’s loyalty to the man would be his downfall.