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I had
turned
into something else.

I looked down at my hair-covered body and my feet with only three long toes… What the hell was I?

I didn’t have time to freak out. To stand there and stare at my changed form. Rachel cried out, and I lunged at the closest man.

“Ace! Ace!” the man yelled. He didn’t fight me, not even when I threw him into the wall. Not even when my throw was strong enough that he went right through it and landed outside.

I let out a growl.

It felt good.

I looked down at Rachel; the green of her eyes was more intense. She looked up at me and cowered. In her eyes was wild fear.

I had seen that look before.

On the blonde.

This was why she said I wasn’t human. She was right.

I turned my back on Rachel. I didn’t want to see the look in her eye. There was another man standing behind me, both hands held out before him in surrender.

“Ace, man. It’s me.”

He was big and had blond hair that was cropped really close to his head. He was wearing a uniform like I had been, except he had on a blouse. The name strip read: “Pyeatt.” I knew that name.

Another man approached the tent, and I stiffened. Pyeatt didn’t avert his eyes from me, but he spoke to the man. “I think he’s confused. Something must have happened to him. He doesn’t know me. He shifted right here.”

The footsteps quickened. The second man had dark-brown hair, cropped just like his friend Pyeatt. Recognition slammed through me.

Brick.

“Ace,” Brick said. “We came to find you. We’ve been searching for two days.”

Though I didn’t remember exactly how I was connected to Brick, to all of these men, I knew I was. Somehow I got separated from them and they had come to find me.

No man left behind.

The realization I had just been fighting with people who were not my enemies took all the steam out of me and I suddenly felt exhausted. My body seemed to shrink and tighten, almost as if it were sucking in all the strength and power I was exhibiting on the outside. I closed my eyes, feeling the changes happening to my body and willing them to happen faster. When I opened them again, I was back in the body I recognized. Only this time I knew why I sometimes felt caged and restless. I knew why I seemed to move so fast and had exceptional hearing. I knew why I felt different.

I was different.

“Brick,” I said, trying out the name, trying to make the connection.

“Ace.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

Brick glanced at the guy beside him, Pyeatt. Then he looked back at me, worry in his eyes. “Because that’s your name. It’s what we call you.”

I shook my head. “My name is Vance.”

Brick nodded. “Yeah, but all of us have nicknames we call each other.”

I nodded.

“Snake! Throw me the bag!” Brick yelled outside.

A large canvas duffle bag came flying through the door. Brick caught it with ease and held it out. “We brought you some clothes.”

“Are they mine?”

“Yeah, dude. They’re yours.”

In my situation, most people wouldn’t care whose clothes they were given, but I cared. I wanted something that was mine. Something I knew belonged to me.

“We’ll wait outside,” Brick said. After he said the words, he hesitated, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave me alone.

I nodded. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

When he turned to leave, I spoke again.

“You guys brought a ride, right? We can leave?”

“Soon as you get dressed we’re going home.” Brick promised.

I paused. I didn’t know where that was. “Brick,” I said in a low voice. “Where is home?”

He walked back into the room, coming close, not even seeming the least bit worried about being so close to someone like me. “What happened, Ace? We were all jumping out of the V22, you were right behind us… and then you were gone.”

The shadows in his eyes at my disappearance made me feel better. It made me feel like I found where I belonged. The thought made me glance behind me, at Rachel. My chest tightened and I looked away quickly.

“I can’t remember. I got hit by some debris when the plane exploded, and then I woke up here.”

Brick nodded, grim, his eyes sliding to Rachel.

I stiffened. I didn’t want him looking at her. I angled my body, trying to conceal her from his line of sight as I stole another, more thorough glance her way. She was pressed against the wall, watching us with wide eyes. Her entire body was trembling and she did her best to muffle her terrified sobs.

“I’ll be right out,” I told Brick, my eyes not leaving her face.

When he was gone, I took a step toward her, and she flinched.

Something about that cut deep.

I sighed and pulled out the uniform in the bag and the boxers and socks that went with it. When I had my trousers and socks on, I pulled on the green T-shirt and looked over at Rachel. “Are you okay?”
Please don’t be scared of me.

“What the hell are you?” Her voice shook.

“I’m… not sure.”

“How can you not know?” she accused.

“You’re the one who found me and you ask that?” I wasn’t angry, but I was still confused. I pulled out my blouse and shook it out. There was a nametape on the left breast that read MAGRILL. Vance Magrill. I never thought I would learn my name off an article of clothing. I shoved my arms into the blouse and began buttoning it up.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. I…” I didn’t know what to say. Hell, I didn’t know what to think. Apparently, I was in the military and I was some sort of… whatever. I had been in a plane crash, and now I couldn’t remember anything about myself. How was I supposed to explain that to someone else when I hardly understood it myself?

“I get it,” Rachel said softly, pushing up to stand a little taller but still staying against the wall. “Well, I don’t
get
it. But I know you probably don’t either.”

“I won’t hurt you. I swear.”

She nodded, trying to look convinced.

“Please tell me you know I would never hurt you.” The words ripped from my throat, a low and insistent plea.

“I…” she said, her voice falling away. I ran a hand through my hair. It dawned on me how it had grown so long in only two days. “Gather everything you want to take. We’ll make sure you get back to the States.”

She began to protest, but I cut her off. “You didn’t leave me behind, and I won’t do that to you.”

She nodded and went to gather her bags. They were already packed and there were only three, one of them a bag of camera equipment.

“Is this all of them?” I asked just to be sure.

She nodded and I reached out to take them. She didn’t flinch away from me, but she stiffened and I knew she didn’t want me to touch her. I still took the bags but was careful not to come into contact with her.

How could we go from burning touches and hot kisses to being reduced to being strangers so fast?

Because we were strangers.

Now more than ever.

“Vance.” Her voice stopped me from stepping out in the night.

I turned abruptly, my eyes searching her emerald irises.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, taking a tentative step closer. “I do know you wouldn’t hurt me. I’m just…”

“Scared.” I finished for her. I sighed and dropped the bags beside me. “I understand.”

“You were protecting me,” she said, tipping her chin back a little farther to look up at me. “You only… changed… when they came at me.”

I moved slowly, giving her enough time to back away, but her feet stayed planted. I trailed my fingertips down the side of her cheek, wondering if this was the last time I’d ever touch her.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, Rachel. Not even them.” She probably didn’t realize the significance of that, but I did. Those men were everything I had.

She turned her face, pressing her cheek a little closer against my palm. I slid my hand around to cup the back of her neck, relishing the way her hair felt like silk against my skin.

I stepped closer, making my intentions perfectly clear. “If you don’t want me to kiss you, Rachel,” I rumbled, “say so right now.”

She remained silent.

I captured her mouth in the kind of kiss I would have given when we were alone under the stars—slow and gentle. I rubbed over her lips like I had nowhere else to be, like she was the only thing that mattered.

Her soft sigh into my mouth was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted. I swallowed it down and continued to kiss her, drawing her body fully against mine and reveling in the way we fit together.

Eventually, I pulled away, dropping one final kiss in the center of her lips. Rachel kept her eyes closed and pressed her lips together, like she was trying to hold on to the way I felt just a little bit longer.

I wasn’t ready to walk away from her yet. I wasn’t ready to go out there and face all the shit I knew was waiting.

I didn’t have a choice.

“If you ever need anything…” I let my words hang in the air. I didn’t even know where to tell her I would be.

“I won’t.” Her words were soft spoken yet somehow final.

Fuck.

“You ready?” I asked, reaching down to grab her bags again.

She only nodded, looking unsure and afraid.

I didn’t bother to reassure her again. I would protect her and if push came to shove, I would prove it.

Outside, a huge sand-colored vehicle was parked nearby. It was somehow a cross between a tank and a HUM-V. It was badass looking, and I grinned.

Brick jogged to my side. “Recognize Dozie, I see.”

Memories flooded me.

I was standing beside “the Bulldozer,” AKA Dozie, and I was grinning. There was a set of keys in my palm and my buddies were surrounding me.

Pyeatt slapped me on the back. “That was some impressive driving.”

“Finesse, my friend, finesse,” I said, full of myself.

I blinked and the memory cleared. I looked at Brick. “How did you get Dozie to Kuwait?”

Brick slapped me on the back. “You know we have the hookup, Ace. Besides, old girl Dozie here heard you were missing and came to find her big daddy.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

From behind me, Rachel gasped and I spun. Two of my “comrades” had grabbed one of her arms and were holding her like she was some kind of criminal. I dropped her bags and went to stand in front of them.

“Hands off,” I growled.

The two men let go but didn’t move away.

“What the hell was that for?” Rachel asked, directing her question at me.

I glanced at the man to her left. He had blond hair and brown eyes. I couldn’t remember his name. It made me feel ashamed. These men had come for me. They had searched Kuwait for me, a member of their team, and I repaid them by forgetting who they were.

He didn’t seem to realize I didn’t know him, so I didn’t tell him. “Ace. You know no one knows about us. You know we’re ordered to keep our team a secret.”

No one knows about us…

The words rang through my head. Did that mean they were like me too?

Brick appeared next to us. “I got this, guys. Can you grab their stuff?”

The men glanced at me before going off to do what Brick said. I turned toward him. “Are you…?”

Brick cleared his throat and looked at Rachel. “They’re right, you know. We are the Marine Corps’ best-kept secret.”

The United States Marines… I was a Marine… part of a special Black Op team that no one else knew about… Marines weren’t soldiers. We’re warriors.

“I don’t understand,” I said, trying to piece together what I knew and force myself to remember the rest.

“They want to kill me, Vance,” Rachel said, her voice flat.

My head snapped up. Her green eyes were hard, but there was something behind that hard façade: fear.

“We’re not going to kill you, Rachel,” I said. That was ridiculous.

I turned to Brick. He returned my stare with an even one of his own. I didn’t like his look. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Go wait in Dozie, Rachel.”

“Do you mean that tank thing over there? The one packed full of huge Marines?”

“They won’t hurt you. They know better,” I growled.

She didn’t seem to believe me. Hell, I kind of doubted myself too…

“Pyeatt!”

He appeared beside Dozie.

“Watch Rachel. Don’t let anyone touch her.” I turned to Rachel.

“They don’t have to touch me to shoot me,” she pointed out calmly. Clearly, this girl was good with weird.

I felt the side of my lip curl upward. “Don’t shoot her either,” I yelled.

I heard some laughter from inside Dozie.

Rachel walked toward Pyeatt, but I could tell she didn’t want to.