Page 2 of Master of My Heart

He didn’t have a choice. He had to find someone. Soon. But how could he find someone to marry in four months?

Chapter Two

Chase hunched over the coffee table in his living room, staring at the huge map of Northern Argentina. He studied the tiny towns surrounding his suspected target area until his eyes ached. But it was necessary. He didn’t want to be hampered by maps during the mission, and he and his team relied on few electronic devices while in the field. Some of his army buddies ridiculed his reliance on his memory and paper maps, but paper and his mind couldn’t be hacked, couldn’t be traced. Electronics made people vulnerable.

Not that he didn’t like electronics. They had their place. He loved his smartphone and computer. They helped immensely in planning the complex details of his trips. Once out in the field, though, he didn’t want anyone’s life hanging in the balance because of a dead battery. He made sure he knew the territory, the terrain, the towns and settlements... Anything that would keep him and his team safe.

He’d made the mistake of relying on electronics in Syria, where he’d gotten badly injured, ultimately receiving a medical discharge from the army. He’d lost three good men—three brothers—and one more was injured, like himself. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“I thought you’d be moping around,” came a deep southern drawl from the arched opening that led from the hallway into the living room.

Chase looked up to see his friend, brother-in-arms, and roommate, Ethan Marlowe, walking in, a bemused expression in his hazel eyes.

“Don’t have time to mope,” Chase growled, irritated that Ethan knew him so well. “We leave tonight.”

He plopped down next to Chase on the plush leather couch, his brows drawn together. “You’ve got it memorized already. You had it down last week. We all did. What are you worried about?”

Chase sighed. “Nothing.” He leaned back, running a hand over his face. “I guess I’m trying to keep my mind off today. Don’t you think it’s kind of ridiculous that it bothers me?”

Ethan shrugged. “I know you better than that. It’s an unsolved mystery. I get it.”

Chase ran his hands over his newly shaved head. He always shaved it before a mission. One less thing to worry about out in the field. “It’s more than that.”

“I know.” Ethan patted him on the shoulder. “Richard’s deadline doesn’t help.”

Chase cursed. It had been two weeks since that conversation with Richard. Not many people would understand why he had a right to demand Chase get married, but Ethan did.

The constant nagging about his refusal to get married annoyed him, but it wasn’t like he didn’t want to get married. He did. He just couldn’t find the girl. These last two weeks, in between last-minute job preparations, he’d searched as much as he could, knowing he’d have to give up his search soon, but there was still no sign of her.

Part of him wondered if Richard was right. Maybe he should just move on, try to find someone he could hold a decent conversation with, and accept that Sabrina was gone. After this long, what were the chances he’d ever find her?

But the longing in his heart wouldn’t go away.

Then there was the time he saw her after he got hurt in Syria. She appeared out of nowhere and healed him, kept him from dying. Even Ethan had seen her; otherwise, Chase might have thought he was imagining things. He knew she had been there in some form, but was she an angel? Had she come back from the grave? Or was she something else entirely? After he had come home, Chase had told Richard about it. He’d expected the older man to be shocked, but he wasn’t. The Brotherhood dealt with many supernatural things, so it just seemed to confirm what Richard had suspected about Sabrina the first time he saw her—she wasn’t completely human. She was some sort of demi-Immortal.

The Immortals, angel-like beings from another realm, worked with the Elders of the Brotherhood to guide the world in finding a balance between good and evil. Just as there were good and bad humans, there were good and bad Immortals. Theo, one of the Immortals who watched over North America, had come along on a particularly difficult mission a few months ago. Chase had grilled him about Sabrina, but he insisted he knew nothing about her. Theo had no reason to lie and had encouraged him to keep searching.

It was one of the reasons Chase still hoped he’d be able to find Sabrina someday. And why he’d never married, even though Richard constantly hounded him to do so. He and his wife, Kathy, set him up on dates monthly, trying to help him find a suitable wife, but none captured his interest. Chase preferred to keep his dating casual and distant, just as he had since high school. His heart had been stolen five years ago and it was still in the hands of his precious Sabrina.

Chase’s heart ached for her. He picked up his phone and scrolled to the oldest picture he had to gaze at the beautiful, green-eyed, brown-haired beauty who had captured his heart. It had been taken the night they’d been officially introduced. She looked so young. So did he, now that he thought about it.

Today was her twenty-first birthday. He’d met her when he was twenty-one. Maybe this will be the year I find her. It had to be. He couldn’t imagine marrying anyone else.

The marriage deadline loomed, though. If he didn’t find a wife... Well, he didn’t want to find out what the consequences would be. At a minimum, he’d be forced into a marriage with a woman he didn’t know. Beyond that, he couldn’t say. He didn’t really want to think about it. He just wanted to find Sabrina.

Loud voices from the hallway interrupted his thoughts as the rest of the team arrived. It was almost time to leave.

Matt Rhodes was Chase’s transportation guy. He was a quiet, tall, thin man with short blond, curly hair and hazel eyes. Lance Green, his weapons manager, was a tall, broad, black man with intense dark brown eyes. Corey Thompson, his communications guru, was short, thin, and reminded Chase of his youngest brother. He had an infectious smile and a great sense of humor. These three guys, along with Ethan, made up his core team.

The job they were preparing for had a specific mission—an assassination. Several, actually. While Chase was a good shot, he knew he needed someone really, really good, so he’d called in a friend to help out.

Alex Kunze, a German Elder-Son and renowned Brotherhood assassin, appeared in the doorway, followed by two members of his own team, Americans Seth Hurst and Tony Monaldo. The three of them were in their early forties and had been active in Brotherhood activities since before Chase had even heard of it.

Alex stood there, looking like the Teutonic god Chase half-suspected he was, his concerned blue-eyed gaze landing on him. Alex and he had spoken at length about Sabrina, and his friend had done everything in his power to help find her, to no avail. Chase knew Alex understood his despair, having gone through something similar with his own wife, Anna.

The big blond man sat down next to Chase on the couch. “Are you all right?” he asked, concern apparent in his accented baritone voice.

Chase shrugged. “Trying to stay busy.” He ran his hand over his face. “Today always kinda sucks.”

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