What Does Watch Your Six Mean?

“Watch your six” is military shorthand for watching someone's back.

Years ago, when I named a character Six, I had no idea how important the words watch your six would eventually become. Or what a great title that would become for a book about literally planning to watch your six.

Watch Your Six

Six and Pietas begin the Bringer of Chaos series as enemies. Pietas is an immortal king who hates humans. Six is a human soldier who has every reason to distrust him.

Neither man is looking for a friend.
They find one anyway.

Throughout the series, Six repeatedly watches Pietas's six—not simply by protecting him physically, but by standing in places where Pietas cannot see. Six notices things Pietas misses. He questions him. Challenges him. Refuses to be intimidated by him.

For a man accustomed to obedience, that may be one of the greatest gifts Pietas has ever received.

But friendship changes the meaning of protection. To watch your six means you have someone behind you.

Pietas possesses extraordinary power. He can survive things that would kill Six. He can make decisions and enforce them in ways Six cannot.

What happens when the person you love faces something you cannot accept?

And what if you can stop it—but doing so means overriding the choice of the person you're trying to protect?

That became one of the questions at the heart of Watch Your Six.

Brotherhood isn't obedience. Loyalty isn't ownership. Watching someone's back doesn't mean deciding where they are allowed to go.

Pietas has spent much of his life believing leadership means accepting responsibility for everyone around him. Six has spent much of his life fighting for the right to make his own choices.

They love each other like brothers.
That doesn't make those differences disappear.
It makes them matter more.

Watch Your Six is the final book in the Bringer of Chaos series, but for me, its ending isn't really about defeating an enemy. It's about two men who began as enemies learning what it means to stand beside each other by choice.

The series theme is simple. Enemies by birth. Allies by necessity. Brothers by choice.

Sometimes watching someone's six means trusting enough to let them watch yours.

READ WATCH YOUR SIX