Prologue
Matthew “Wolf” Steel couldn’t be more proud of his five teammates, and friends. SEAL teams were notoriously tight, and his team was no different. The SEALs were exhausted. They’d just spent the last two weeks at an “undisclosed location” trying to ferret out the head bad guy in a nest of hundreds of other bad guys. It’d been a hell of a mission, but one they’d ultimately succeeded in accomplishing.
Looking around the plane, Wolf observed the sleeping men. He really should be crashed as they were, but he still had way too much adrenaline coursing through his body to relax just yet. He knew he’d be out for the count later, but for now, he was wide awake.
Christopher “Abe” Powers was the first to catch Wolf’s eye. Abe was probably his closest friend of the group. Wolf thought he was the only one of the group who knew even a little bit of Abe’s background, but it was uncanny how well the nickname fit Abe. The man was as honest as the day was long and Abe demanded that same honesty in those he called his friends.
Wolf watched as Abe shifted in his seat and then settled once again. Wolf then looked over to Hunter “Cookie” Knox. Cookie had been the most recent addition to their team, but no one looked down on him as a result. Unlike many businesses, it didn’t matter if a SEAL was fresh out of Seal Qualification Training or had been on a team for years, a SEAL is a SEAL.
The group was still getting to know Cookie, but he’d proven to be a great addition to their close-knit team. Cookie was the best swimmer out of all of them; he was funny, compassionate, and never hesitated to do whatever it took to get the job done.
Faulkner “Dude” Cooper’s mutterings drew Wolf’s attention. Dude hadn’t taken any of his gear off and was sitting scrunched into the little seat on the military plane. Wolf remembered when Dude was almost blown up trying to secure a building. As their resident explosives expert, Dude found a booby trapped M14 mine duct taped to a door jamb during one of their missions. The mine was nicknamed “toe popper” because it was designed to maim and slow down people entering a room, rather than kill them.
Dude had immediately recognized the type of mine and had moved to re-insert the safety clip to disarm it, but something had gone wrong and the bomb went off. The mine did what it was intended to do; resulting in Dude losing parts of three of his fingers on his left hand. He had extensive scarring as well as missing parts of his hand as a consequence of being too close to the mine when it exploded.
Wolf knew Dude was more sensitive about his injury than he’d ever let on to any of his teammates. Wolf had seen Dude’s face go blank and cold when a woman rejected him after seeing his mangled hand. Although he missed his friend’s happy-go-lucky attitude at times, Wolf was thankful Dude was still with them. With the best instincts when it came to explosives, Wolf knew the team was better off because Dude was on it.
Thinking about Dude’s issues with women caused Wolf to reflect upon Sam “Mozart” Reed. That was one man who certainly didn’t have any problems with women. Mozart was popular with the ladies and never hesitated to turn any encounter into one which involved flirting and the possibility of a one-night-stand. As far as Wolf knew, however, Mozart had never been tempted into anything more.
Wolf figured Mozart’s aversion to settling down with one woman had something to do with Mozart’s little sister being murdered when he was a child, but Wolf never pried. A man was allowed to have his secrets.
Wolf chuckled to himself thinking about the last man on their team, Kason “Benny” Sawyer. Nicknames were a part of life on SEAL teams. Everyone got one and it wasn’t necessarily something that was macho or even wanted by the recipient. Benny was a case in point. He’d been trying for years to get the guys to change his name, but they’d just laughed and ignored him. An inside joke with the team, they’d ask Benny if he liked some new name only to just laugh and say “too bad” when Benny agreed that he loved the new one. Benny had earned his nickname fair and square, and nothing he could say would change it.
Feeling tired for the first time since he’d climbed onto the plane, Wolf finally closed his eyes. He felt lucky he not only had one of the most interesting and exciting jobs in the world, but that he was able to work with such a great group of men. Each man had his strengths and weaknesses and there were no secrets within the group. Abe, Cookie, Mozart, Benny, and Dude were teammates, but they were also his closest friends.
Wolf sighed, settled himself into his seat and tried to get comfortable. The team would most likely have a few weeks stateside before being sent on another mission, but time off was never guaranteed. Wolf knew the night after they returned, the team would head to their favorite bar for a “post-mission” ritual of blowing off steam and shooting the shit.
Leaving the mission behind was sometimes difficult, but somehow their tradition of throwing back a few beers would break the team out of the military frame of mind and bring them back to what was important…friendship and women.
Wolf figured each team member knew they most likely wouldn’t meet the woman of their dreams in a bar—especially not in a bar near the base where too many women were more than willing to sleep with a SEAL just to say she’d done it. But, it didn’t stop the boys from enjoying what was frequently offered.
Wolf ignored the niggling little voice in his head that said he wouldn’t mind settling down and finding someone to love. It wasn’t as if he could plan it, he’d just have to go with the flow. Hopefully it happened sooner rather than later, but he wasn’t going to act desperate about it.
Sleep finally came over Wolf, as it had the rest of his team, and they all slept the sleep of the exhausted as they flew toward California, and home.
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