New York Times Bestselling Author

​She was never ugly. She was just unseen…until he came along.

Weird. Strange. Ugly. All her life, Brinley Deaton has been described with those words—and worse. And not just by strangers and schoolyard bullies, but by her own family. Raised by a mother who’s hated her since birth, in the shadows of a younger sister who’s a literal beauty queen, Brinley’s carved out a life as a pageant designer, making other women stand out, even as she hides her own light. Until she meets Dash…

Delta Force Operative Dash “Shadow” Carlson is on assignment with his team, protecting the VP and his wife in Fiji as their daughter competes in a pageant, when he meets the woman of his dreams. But she’s not some Barbie in a ball gown. Wild red hair, unique features, smart and talented…Brinley stands out in a crowd full of plastic women. And when he learns they both live in Alaska? It’s fate, pure and simple.

Convincing her to go on a date once they’re back in Fairbanks is easy. Making her believe she’s beautiful—inside and out—is much harder. But first he has to get them both home alive…then keep her that way, when trouble follows them all the way from Fiji.

**Rescuing Brinley is the 1st book in the Delta Force Heroes: Guardians Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.

Rescuing Brinley

Sept 8, 2026

Chapter One

“I have your new assignment.”

Dash “Shadow” Carlson sat in the small room on the Fort Wainwright Army base in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the rest of his Delta Force team, waiting to hear what they’d be doing next.

Their duty station was unusual for a Delta unit. The base was home to the 11th Airborne Division, but Shadow and his teammates had been sent here to conduct arctic training for units that cycled in and out, and so they would be closer to places like Eastern Russia, North Korea, China, and anywhere else that might need a rapid deployment team of special forces operatives.

Shadow hadn’t thought he’d enjoy being here. He was raised in Arizona and wasn’t used to the extreme cold that came with living in Fairbanks. But after a bit of adjustment, he found that he loved the area. It was rural, beautiful, and, when outfitted properly, the cold wasn’t that big of a deal.

He’d recently had a conversation with his mom, who couldn’t understand why he actually liked living in Alaska, and he’d said it was a lot like living in Arizona in some ways. When the temperature got too extreme—cold instead of hot, as in Phoenix—people stayed indoors. In the summer, when it was nice, was when everyone got outside and went camping, hiking, biking, enjoying the temperate weather as much as possible. When it was cold, they hunkered down inside where it was warm.

Arizona was similar, except people stayed inside quite often in the summer, when the temps soared above a hundred and ten, and indulged in outdoor activities more in the winter, when the weather was ideal. His mom would never be a fan of the cold, however, and would probably never come visit him in the winter, even though that’s when things like the Northern Lights were the most active—and the most beautiful thing he’d ever witnessed.

But Shadow understood. He wasn’t a fan of visiting her in the summers in Phoenix either, so he guessed they were even. 

Realizing his mind had wandered, Shadow turned his attention back to Lieutenant Colonel Zamora, the man in charge of their team. He was a former Delta operative himself, and Shadow and the rest of his team highly respected the lieutenant colonel and trusted him with their lives.

“As you may or may not know, Vice President Roling’s daughter, Ayla, has been participating in beauty pageants her entire life. And just because her father was elected to the oval office doesn’t mean she’s going to quit. There’s an international pageant in Fiji next weekend. Both VP Roling and his wife will be traveling to the island to watch their daughter compete. And you all have been slated to go with them and work alongside the Secret Service to make sure the entire family stays safe.”

Delta Force operatives had acted as bodyguards for high-risk or important personnel in the military and government in the past, so this wasn’t exactly a surprise…but a beauty pageant? How the hell dangerous could that be?

Shadow kept his thoughts to himself. As a member of the US military, he went where he was ordered and did as he was told. As did his team—to a point. None of them would ever follow an order if it meant hurting American citizens. They were loyal and loved their country to a degree few would understand, but that was where they drew the line.

“A beauty pageant? You’ve got to be kidding,” Atlas mumbled.

He was the youngest on the team and hadn’t been a Delta for as long as the rest of them.

“I’m not kidding,” Zamora said sternly. “If the VP and his wife want to go and watch their daughter compete, that’s what they’ll do. It’s our job to make sure they’re safe while they’re doing it. Period. They could be watching a Ping-Pong tournament or participating in a Pokémon event, and our mission wouldn’t change. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things…I’ve got Pokémon Go downloaded on my own phone.” He grinned slightly. “I’m just saying, it doesn’t matter what the person or people are doing—it’s your job to make sure they get back home alive.”

“Yes, Sir,” Atlas said, sounding properly chastised.

“Is there a reason the Secret Service won’t be enough on this trip?” Echo asked.

“Good question. And the answer is yes,” Zamora said. “It’s the Miss Globe pageant, and it’s an international event that’s been held since nineteen twenty-five. It’s renowned for being one of the oldest in the world. The eligible ages for participants is eighteen to thirty-five. Each country is normally only allowed one contestant, with a total number of around sixty to a hundred. But this year, for the first time, it’s been increased to two, which obviously doubles the number of women competing…not to mention their chaperones, coaches, etcetera. And with the current tensions in the Middle East, and the various countries taking sides, it’s been decided that extra precautions are necessary, just in case.”

“So Ayla Roling is one of the US reps,” Grinder said.

“Yes.”

“Who’s the other woman competing for the US?” Kodiak asked.

The lieutenant colonel consulted a stack of papers in front of him. “A woman by the name of Callista Deaton, from California.”

Shadow jotted down notes as Zamora spoke. He was the oldest member of the team and had been a Delta Operative the longest, and as such, the other guys often looked to him to lead the group, which he had no problem with. The truth was, each of the other six men were exceptional leaders as well. They took control when the situation called for it. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, and no one had any problem with anyone else taking charge when necessary.

But in everyday matters, the team was more than happy to let Shadow take the reins.

“Will we be meeting with the Secret Service before we leave?” Shadow asked.

“Yes. A few of them will come here and debrief the team before you head south. You’ll meet Ayla, VP Roling, and his wife, Nazita, when you land in Fiji. Two of you will be on Ayla, two on Nazita, and three on Roling, for the most part. I’m expecting to receive the final schedule tomorrow and will pass it on then. All the other contestants will be vetted by the Secret Service. Your only concern is the family. Permission has been granted to take out any threats to the VP, but your main objective will be to remove the family if anything happens. To get them to safety. Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads. They’d probably have some once they got more intel, but for now, the mission was straightforward.

“All right. Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow, we’ll meet back up once we get the reports on the other contestants and we’ll go over maps and contingency plans in case shit hits the fan. Dismissed.”

Shadow stood, along with his six teammates, and they filed out of the conference room. No one spoke until they got to the parking lot. They gathered around Shadow’s dark green Toyota 4Runner to talk.

“Are we seriously going to a beauty pageant?” Zero asked with a grimace.

“Looks that way,” Shadow said.

“I, for one, am fucking thrilled,” Torch chimed in. “At last, a deployment in paradise with beautiful women we’re literally supposed to ogle. Won’t exactly be a hardship.”

“Our attention won’t be on the women,” Grinder said dryly. “It’ll be on everyone else, making sure no one decides to use the gathering to make some damn political statement.”

“Hey, I’m guessing the women aren’t exactly meek and mild. We might have to watch them more than you think. They could harbor some deep dark hatred for their fellow contestants. They’ve probably fought tooth and nail to get to this international competition and aren’t afraid to do whatever it takes to come out on top,” Torch insisted.

“Our job,” Shadow interjected, “is to keep the VP and his family safe. But with that said, if something happens, we obviously need to do what we can to look after as many people as possible.”

Everyone nodded.

In truth, nothing about this assignment was new. They were being sent to safeguard a specific group of people, but the entire goal of every mission they were sent on was to keep casualties to a minimum and save innocent bystanders and citizens, if at all possible. A beauty pageant might not seem as if it was a dangerous environment, but any large gathering could be used by political extremists to make a point. A warped and fucked-up point, but a point all the same.

Assassinating the Vice President of the United States would be a huge boon for some terrorist groups, and killing dozens or more civilians in the process wouldn’t be a deterrent. Not at all.

“Anyone wanna meet up at The Staggering Moose tonight for dinner and a drink or two?” Echo asked. “Looks as if we aren’t going to get much down time between now and when we leave for Fiji.”

“I’m in.”

“Hell yeah.”

“Sounds good.”

“Perfect. Eighteen hundred work for everyone?” Echo asked.

Everyone agreed once more and headed toward their own vehicles in the lot.

Echo stayed behind, and once everyone was gone, Shadow looked at him and raised a brow, asking without words what was up.

“How you feelin’ about this mission?”

Shadow shrugged. “Not feelin’ anything yet, one way or another. Why?”

“Don’t know. Just feels as if the colonel probably wasn’t given all the details. I mean, this definitely isn’t our usual kind of thing. Yes, we’ve done some bodyguarding before, but that was more military, generals and stuff. Not the VP and his family. I just have a hunch there has to be a more than credible threat to get our team involved.”

“I agree,” Shadow said without hesitation. “But it doesn’t change how we handle things. We’ll head down to Fiji and do what we’ve trained to do. If there’s an attempt on the VP’s life, or his wife or daughter’s, we’ll do whatever’s necessary to keep them alive.”

Echo nodded. “It would just be nice if we had all the necessary intel to do our jobs before we land.”

“The government does like its secrets,” Shadow said. “If nothing else, at least we won’t have to worry about frostbite on this mission, like we do when we’re training units on their cold weather survival skills.”

“True. Although something tells me that we might actually prefer that to uber-competitive women. I’ve heard that beauty pageants can get downright cutthroat.”

Shadow snorted. “Well, that’s not our problem. If some chick gets pissed at another contestant for stealing her mascara, it’s none of our business.”

“Unless she pulls out a pistol and tries to shoot someone,” Echo said dryly.

“No one is shooting anyone. They’re more likely to run a smear campaign behind the other woman’s back. I remember the mean girls from high school very clearly…even though it’s been years since I graduated.”

“At least a century,” Echo agreed, as he slapped Shadow on the back.

“Shut up,” he mumbled, even though he’d brought the teasing on himself with his comment. There were days he felt as if he were eighty-five, and other days when he was proud of how fit and strong he was. Forty wasn’t exactly ancient, but in the teams, he was getting to the higher end of what the Army preferred. And it wasn’t the dangerous missions, but more the comradery and closeness he felt with his fellow Deltas that kept him striving to be in the best shape possible. He wasn’t ready to give that up.

And while he admired and respected what Lieutenant Colonel Zamora did, he also wasn’t ready to take a desk job.

“You coming to The Staggering Moose?”

“Of course. Someone has to keep an eye on you assholes to make sure you don’t get so drunk you miss PT in the morning.”

“Have we ever missed PT, even when hungover? Or still drunk?” Echo asked with a grin.

“No, but there’s always a first time. See you later.”

Shadow drove toward his apartment…and for some reason, an uneasiness settled upon his shoulders like a cape soaked in gasoline. On the surface, it looked perfectly normal. But all it would take was one spark for the whole thing to go up in flames.

Kind of like the upcoming mission.

It seemed like just another bodyguard mission, but his gut was telling him that Echo was right. That there was a reason beyond precaution for the Delta team’s assistance.

And moreover, he had the strangest feeling that this mission would alter his life in some way. Although how was still unclear.

Shadow did his best to shake off the feeling. He was just feeling antsy because of his recent birthday and turning forty. Everything would be fine. He had to believe that.

Sin Pari. Without Equal. That’s what being a Delta meant. The motto referred to the extraordinary skill, secrecy, and commitment to excellence that he and all his fellow Deltas showed, day in and day out. The upcoming mission would be no exception.

But deep down, he knew he was lying to himself. Something was coming. Something big. And it would change his life, one way or another. Shadow just had to be ready to deal with whatever was thrown his way.