In his previous life, he’d attended plenty of high-powered meetings. He’d witnessed more Mafia power games, standing at Salvatore Denaro’s side, than he liked to remember. The man had been the ruthless head of the Ndrangheta.
And Dom had been his enforcer, his bogeyman used to scare Salvatore’s rivals. Salvatore’s personal killer.
Shaking off the memories, Dom joined his squad. But even as he pushed the memories away, he still felt the darkness clinging to him like filth.
Holmes stepped forward to address the squads. “The tracker on the Gizzida bomb is still functioning. It’s moving slowly north.”
On a previous mission into the mountains, Dom’s squad had located the mysterious octagon bomb the aliens had created. No one knew exactly what chaos it could cause, but they’d managed to get a tracker on it.
“They haven’t found the tracker?” Marcus Steele, leader of Hell Squad asked.
“It appears that they haven’t,” the general said.
Niko frowned. “Although if they have, they could be leaving the tracker active in order to set a trap for us.”
“A risk we’ll have to take.” The general’s piercing blue eyes scanned the room. “Once the bomb stops moving, the plan is to send in some squads to investigate. Squad Three, you’re on standby for the mission. Squad Nine will be back up.”
“Bring it on.” Hemi Rahia pumped a fist into the air. The bearded berserker was always ready for a fight.
Dom saw their squad leader and Hemi’s brother, Tane, lift his chin. Today, his dark dreadlocks were pulled back from his face. He had dark-bronze skin like Dom, but his was thanks to his Maori heritage. The former mercenary was a hell of a fighter and a good leader.
When the meeting broke up, Dom followed his squad to the gym.
His friend, Griff, fell into step beside him. “How was patrol? Boring?”
“Yeah.” Dom’s thoughts instantly veered to Arden.
Griff smiled. “I don’t know why you always volunteer for extra patrol shifts.” The former cop and ex-con shook his head. “While you were out there, my woman nabbed me.” Griff grinned widely. “I got lucky.”
Dom studied the man and noted the lipstick on his collar. No guesses needed to work out what Griff and Indy had been up to. Indy was the wild, bold comms officer for their squad. After dancing around each other for quite some time, Griff was now happily besotted with his woman.
It was good. Dom was happy for his friend. After everything he’d been through, Griff deserved some good in his life.
They reached the gym, and while the others started working out, Dom headed into their squad locker room. He stripped the rest of his gear off and stowed it in his locker.
In the men’s room, he washed up. As he looked himself over in the mirror on the wall, he thought of Arden’s sketches of him.
She’d been drawing him. He pressed his hands to the edge of the sink and sucked in a breath. That meant she’d been thinking about him.
What he’d seen in those pictures… His fingers curled around the cool porcelain. She hadn’t drawn him looking scary or evil. She’d drawn him looking thoughtful, heroic.
He stared into the mirror. She clearly had a good imagination.
He glanced at the black ink resting on his hip. It was in Italian—vivere liberamente. Live freely. The words were a harsh reminder to himself that he was never free.
Back at his locker, Dom pulled on his workout gear, then headed back into the gym.
The others were spread out—Levi and Ash running on the treadmills, Hemi and Griff lifting weights, and Tane kickboxing with one of the heavy-duty bags hanging from the ceiling. Dom headed over to join Tane.
“So,” Hemi called out, “with Griff all loved up with Indy, that means we need to find Dom and Tane some women.”
Tane ignored his brother, landing a hard kick to the bag. The chain rattled.
Dom lifted his fists and landed a few hard jabs to the canvas. He never used gloves.
“Let’s see,” Hemi mused. “Maybe some pretty blonde for Dom?”
“I like brunettes.” Cazzo, why had he said that?
“A-ha.” Hemi pointed at him. “Then we’ll find you a pretty brunette, my man.” Hemi looked at his brother. “And I think my bro seems to have a preference for silver hair.”
Tane kicked the bag so hard that it fell off the chain and landed on the floor. “Shut it, Hemi.”
Hemi was shorter than his brother, but broader. He didn’t seem intimidated by Tane’s sharp tone. “Why would I want to do that?”
Dom knew the silver reference was to Selena—the alien woman and ally who now lived at the Enclave. Hell Squad had rescued her from the Gizzida months before. When she’d first arrived, she’d been a shell-shocked kidnap survivor. But lately, she’d been coming into her own strength.
And she was powerful as hell.
“I hear the doc’s running more tests on Selena,” Ash said.
Tane’s head jerked up. “Tests? She’s been through enough.”
“She has skills and abilities that can help us fight the Gizzida,” Levi said.
Hemi nodded. “Yeah, without her, there’s no way we’d have gotten away on that last mission in Katoomba.”
Dom’s gut tightened. Without Selena, Griff would’ve died on that mission. The alien woman had the ability to tap into the planet’s natural energy. She could connect with animals, and hell, he’d seen her control the very ground under their feet.
“She isn’t a fucking weapon.” Tane snatched up a towel, wiping his face. Then he tossed it in the bin near the door. “I’ve got things to do.” He strode out of the gym.
Hemi just shook his head, watching the empty doorway. “Okay, who wants to place bets on how long it takes my little bro to stake a claim on our resident alien?”
“I’m in,” Levi called.
Griff nodded. “Me, too.”
Dom ignored them, turning back to his punching bag. His friends were so blissed up from being in love, they wanted the same for everyone else. He thought briefly of Arden, then blocked her out of his head.
He pounded the bag until his arms ached.
Chapter
