gained consciousness, there wasn’t any way to get an idea of what had happened. Evidence in the treatment room might give Keen some clues, but he needed to interview both men.
“Listen, you three sort this out among yourselves,” Raze said finally, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “I’m clearing my men back to the Valiant.”
Without waiting for a reply, Raze whistled sharply and circled his hand in the air, signaling the team to round up and move. Cipher fell into step behind Flare and Harm. When they stepped onto the dart, Blaze was waiting for them, leaning back against the door to the cockpit. “Clusterfuck, huh?”
Raze smacked Blaze’s shoulder. “Brother, you don’t know the half of it. Take us home.”
Blaze nodded and returned to the cockpit. Cipher found a seat and dropped down in a tired huff. There wasn’t much said on the short flight back to the Valiant. They all seemed lost in their own thoughts. Cipher had so many questions about what had happened between Reckless, Talon and Chance.
There was something strange about those final few seconds of footage. Whatever Chance had thought was going to happen when he confronted Reckless with Talon had gone wildly wrong. Considering Reckless was the least wounded of the trio, it seemed to Cipher that the doctor was likely the perpetrator. Unfortunately, with his rank and connections, even if guilty, he was unlikely to face any real consequences.
That thought irritated him as they docked and returned to HQ for their debrief. When they were finally dismissed, he trudged to the elevator with the rest of the team. The unmated guys stepped off on the floor where Cipher had recently lived. Raze had stayed behind for a meeting with Orion and Vicious so the remainder of his ride was quiet and alone.
As he unlocked the door to their quarters, he wondered if he would find Brook in bed or lounging on the couch. He didn’t find her in either place. Instead, he followed the light coming from his workspace. They had been lucky enough to be allotted an apartment with a third bedroom. He had converted it to a place where he could bring projects and tinker away on new designs and ideas. He had encouraged Brook to spend as much time in there as she wanted, and he trusted her to treat his projects with care.
When he pushed the door open and found her kneeling by one of his more secret devices, he froze.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He hadn’t told her about those designs yet. How the hell had she even found it?
His gaze moved to the goggles perched atop her head. Of course. She must have found the goggles in one of his desk drawers. They allowed the wearer to project blueprints over their surroundings and were standard issue to most engineers and techs. With those on, she would have been able to see that hidden cabinet tucked away along the wall.
Finally sensing him, she glanced toward the door. Her curious expression morphed instantly to one of pure happiness. She hopped up from the floor and rushed toward him. “You’re home!”
He wrapped his arms around her and played her words over and over in his head. Home. He was home. With his mate. Was there any sweeter greeting?
“I’m home,” he replied and kissed her lovingly. She responded with the same pliable softness she always did, letting him take and seek until he had his fill. When he pulled back, he brushed his thumb along her cheek. “Did you get some rest?”
“I did.” She rubbed her hand across one of the loops on his tactical vest. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“I’m fine. It was a false alarm.” He let his thumb move along her pouty lips. “And, no, I’d rather not talk about what happened right now.” His focus drifted from her face to the device on the floor. “I’d like to talk about that, though.”
“Oh.” She bashfully dropped her gaze. “I found it with these.” She reached up and tugged the goggles free from her head, making a mess of her hair as she did. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone through your things.”
“It’s fine.” He took the goggles from her and tossed them onto the closest chair. Smoothing her hair with his hands, he asked, “Do you know what that is?”
“A puzzle box?” she guessed. “I’ve been trying to open it for the last half hour.”
He shook his head. “Not a puzzle box.”
“Is it something classified?”
“No.”
She