Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

April 17 th

8:18 A.M.

This woman was going to be the death of him.

She consumed him, drove him crazy, made him irrational with a need to keep her safe, drove every single one of his protective instincts into overdrive, and made his heart swell with so much love that he wondered how it still fit in his chest.

Beth was his everything, and the thought of her being hurt was making him lose control.

Knowing what he did about Beth's past and how she had been abused and tortured, Axe always made sure that when he touched her, it was with the gentleness and reverence that she deserved. Sex between them was soft and sweet, but what was arcing through the air in this moment was the opposite.

When her hands fumbled at the waistband of his pajama pants, trying to shove them down his hips, her greedy hands reaching for his already rock-hard length, some of his common sense returned .

He couldn't maul her like she had been used and abused by every other person in her life. Beth deserved the world, she deserved to be worshipped, not thrown down on the kitchen table and ravished like he was some horny, hungry teenager.

"Wait," he said, managing to get a grip on Beth's wrists, stilling her almost frenetic movements.

"Wait? Why?" Beth asked with a pout. An actual pout.

Smiling despite the desire coursing through his veins, he held onto her wrists with one hand and, with his other, smoothed a lock of hair off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. "Because I need to slow down a little or I'm going to pick you up, carry you upstairs, strip you naked, and throw you down on the bed."

A shiver rocketed through her, and heat burned brightly in her eyes making them appear to glow on her otherwise pale face. "Do that," she said in a breathy whisper.

"Can't, wisp," he said, although his body was totally on board.

"Why?"

Her voice had a thread of vulnerability, and he ached to wash it away. "Because you deserve sweet, soft, and gentle. You deserve everything."

"Then give me everything." Although he still held her wrists, she shifted the rest of her body closer. "You've given me sweet, soft, and gentle, and you were right, there was a time when that was what I needed. When it was all I could handle. But I'm stronger now, Axel. You helped me become strong. You shared your friends with me, and every single one of you taught me what I needed to survive hell. I can never change my past, Axel. I can never go back and do it over, but I want a future, a future with you. You give me everything I need, so don't hold back now. Give me everything, make love to me like I'm not a woman who's been abused her whole life."

Never able to deny his wife anything, Axel grabbed her hips and lifted her, grinding his erection against her center. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," she said, squirming in his arms. His length jerked at the friction, and he tightened his grip on her hips to hold her still.

"And you'll tell me if you feel uncomfortable and need me to stop? Nonnegotiable," he added as he began to carry her toward the stairs. "I won't ever do anything to hurt or traumatize you."

"I know. That's why I trust you to make love to me any way you want. I just want to be normal, Axel. For one moment, I want to be completely normal."

"Normal is overrated," he said as he reached their room and tossed her onto the bed.

Beth landed with a bounce and squealed in delight, the gleam in her eyes told him she was all in. If she was just doing this as a way to prove some sort of point, either to him or to herself, then he wouldn't go through with it. Axe meant it when he said he wasn't going to do anything to hurt or traumatize her. She'd been through enough, but if this was what she wanted, to be treated like any other woman then he could give her that.

Even if she wasn't any other woman.

She was his woman.

His to love, his to protect, his to pleasure.

Which was exactly what he intended to do.

Shoving off his pajama pants, he left them where they dropped and climbed onto the bed. All Beth was wearing was one of his T-shirts so it didn't take more than a couple of seconds to grab the hem and yank it up and over her head, throwing it onto the floor.

Delectably naked and ready for him.

"Touch yourself, honey," he ordered as he shifted so he was on the bed, his knees on either side of her legs, looking down at her.

Beth's eyes widened. He was pretty sure she had never touched herself. Her life had never been the kind that was conducive to her learning about her body or even having the time to think about what brought her pleasure.

Her hand trembled as she moved it between her legs, but there was no hesitation on her part, and he watched in fascination as her slender fingers slid along her wet center and came to rest on her swollen bud. She swirled the pad of her finger on it before bringing it to her opening and slipping it inside, Axe began to stroke his hand up and down his length. Sex with Beth was always perfection, it didn't matter to him if it was slow and sweet, or hot and passionate, but seeing his wife like this, no inhibitions, no timidity, he knew hot and passionate was going to be in the cards a lot more frequently.

Alternating between pumping her fingers in and out and working her bundle of nerves, Beth whimpered, her breathing growing ragged as she began to writhe on the bed as pleasure built inside her.

His length jerked as he watched her, and as much as he loved watching her pleasure herself, if she didn't come soon, he was going to and he wasn't coming until he was buried inside his wife.

"Faster, babe," he said as his free hand circled her wrist and his finger touched the top of hers, adding pressure to her bud as they worked it together.

"I'm close, Axel," she said with a moan as he moved both their hands to her opening.

Taking her hand, he curled her fingers into her palm one by one until only her forefinger was left up. Then Axe covered her hand with his, keeping his own forefinger straight, and plunged both their fingers inside her.

She was hot, tight, and utterly perfect, and he couldn't get enough of her as they slid their fingers in and out. Both their movements grew jerky when he withdrew their fingers and moved them to her bud, working it hard and fast.

"Come, babe, now," he ordered her, and just as he dipped their fingers back inside her, grazing the spot that would make her see stars, she exploded. Crying out her pleasure, her internal muscles clamped around their fingers as he continued to thrust them in and out as his thumb brushed across her bud, prolonging her pleasure.

While she was still quivering, Axe released her hand and grabbed her hips, burying himself inside her in one smooth move. Beth cried out her pleasure again as her quivering muscles continued to pulse around his length, and he grabbed her bundle of nerves between his thumb and forefinger, rolling it a few times then pinching it hard, and a second orgasm rolled through her.

Thrusting roughly into her, it only took a few seconds before he found his release and he came with a grunt. Waves of pleasure seemed to go on and on, and he realized that he'd been treating his wife like she was a lot more fragile than, in reality, she was. Beth had been bent in all number of directions, but she hadn't broken. She was strong, so much stronger than him, and while he would always feel the need to protect her, he also had to encourage her to find her wings and learn to fly.

Because she would never fly away. His Beth was smart and capable and could do anything she put her mind to.

Including helping him and his team find the building where she had been held prisoner.

Sinking down onto his wife, careful to keep his much larger body from crushing hers, he held her tight, rolling them to their sides so they were facing each other, him still buried inside her.

"Thank you," she whispered, feathering a kiss to his lips.

"Thank you ," he countered. "For being strong enough to survive and come back to me. For being the most amazing woman ever to have existed. For loving me despite my faults."

"You don't have any faults."

Axe chuckled. "Spoken like a woman in love. I don't think you have any either."

"You're going to let me help, aren't you?"

"On one condition."

"I won't do anything stupid. I won't do anything dangerous. I'll do everything you tell me without arguing or trying to discuss it with you first."

"Not what I was going to say, but good to know. The condition is today you just get to be my wife. Nothing else. No madman trafficker hunting us, no danger, no pain, no fear, nothing but you and me and this bed. Oh, and maybe the bath, and the shower, and definitely the kitchen. I've always wanted to taste you in the kitchen. Tomorrow, we'll let our problems back in, but today, we're just going to be a regular husband and wife."

April 18 th

11:14 A.M .

She was getting frustrated with herself.

Okay, so she was well past frustrated, Beth was absolutely annoyed with herself. The worst part was she couldn't even lie to herself and say that she had a terrible sense of direction, which was why she struggled to figure out the path she had taken a year ago. As a child, they had lived on a remote mountain farm, and she had known every inch of those woods. Known the perfect places to hide so nobody would find her. Although, she only hid out there when she needed a break because there was always a punishment waiting for her when she got home.

It wasn't even the fact that a year had passed since she ran through these woods, her desperate mind knowing only one thing. That she needed to get home to her husband. Just because a year had passed in real time, since she only got her memories back a couple of days ago, they felt much fresher, more like they had just happened.

So far, they'd been at this all morning, and she was yet to lead them more than about fifteen minutes away from the compound where she'd set off the alarm when she'd entered it that night. How were they ever going to find their way to wherever she'd been kept at this rate? It would take them days, weeks even.

"Hey, you're doing fine," Axel soothed from where he stood right beside her.

Frustration simmering over, she whirled around to face him. "That's a lie and we all know it," she snapped.

Eyes widening in surprise, they then softened in understanding. "It's not a lie, wisp."

"Of course it is," she said with an eye roll. While totally aware she was being unfair, her husband had been nothing but supportive even though she knew he didn't want her to do this, she couldn't seem to help herself.

"No, Beth, it's not," Axel said, firmer this time. "Nobody thought this was going to be easy for you. Nobody thought you were just going to waltz out of the estate and lead us on a trail back to where you were held in under five minutes."

"I did." She huffed.

"Think you need to readjust your expectations then, Bethie," Tank spoke up.

"You are doing a great job," Axel assured her.

"You have to say that because you're my husband."

"You are doing a great job," Scorpion repeated Axel's words as he slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a brotherly hug. "And Jessica would kill me—slowly—if I married anyone but her."

His teasing helped her to relax a little, and that eased some of the pressure inside her. Maybe she really was putting too much pressure on herself, having unrealistic expectations.

"Okay, I'll try not push myself so hard," she agreed.

"The harder you push yourself, the less likely you are to remember anything," Rock said.

"Really?" she asked, turning to look at him. She'd thought the harder she pushed herself, the better she would remember things, and she was pushing as hard as she could which was why she was getting so frustrated with herself.

"Definitely," Rock said. "You're trying to force your brain to do something it only just decided you were in a place where you could safely remember without causing more damage."

"And remember when you ran back to the estate you weren't in a good frame of mind," Trick added. "You were hurt and traumatized, you were running for your life, you weren't taking notes so you could find your way back."

"That's true," she agreed slowly. They also had no idea when her amnesia had kicked in. Had she forgotten who she was sometime while she was being held prisoner and being forced to kill to survive? Had she lost her memory while running through the woods? Had she lost her memory when she finally knew she was in a place where she was safe? When her memories had come back, they'd all come back so she had no idea when she'd lost them, although if she had to guess, it was the second she stepped onto the estate and knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was now safe.

"Elle does this cute thing with the kids when they can't remember something. It's kind of silly, but do you want to try it?" Panther asked.

"I'll try anything," Beth answered quickly. There was a lot of pressure on her to do this. From herself, at least, since the guys had only reluctantly agreed to let her try this and kept reassuring her that she was doing fine.

"Okay, close your eyes," Panther instructed. Once she had, he continued, "Now think of the last time you laughed. When was it?"

A smile was already on her face as she answered. "Last night, Axel thought he was so clever making me a chocolate dessert smorgasbord. I told him not to try to carry everything at once and offered to help, but he was being all alpha macho man and wouldn't let me. Of course, he dropped it and chocolate went everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Took us an hour to clean up, and I'm still not convinced we won't come home to find the kitchen swarming with ants who found everything we missed."

There were snorts and snickers all around, but Beth kept her eyes closed, enjoying reliving the perfectly ordinary, normal person's life moment in her head.

"Good one." Panther chuckled. "Okay, now you're just going to let yourself relax and picture your mind right where you want it to be. This is the last place you remember being so just let your mind drift back there. No putting pressure on yourself, and any time you feel yourself getting all tense and stressed, you just picture that moment where soldier clumsy here thought he could do everything himself."

Letting go of the pressure, Beth allowed herself to relax and picture herself a year ago running through these woods desperate to get home to the people who loved her.

There had been no other thought in her mind.

A singular purpose.

Get home.

Get to Axel.

Then she'd be safe.

So obviously, she still had her memories while she was running home. She hadn't found the compound because its location was buried in her subconscious, she knew where it was and was heading there on purpose. Once she got there, unable to process any more trauma, her mind had just shut itself down.

But she knew where she was going.

Which meant she had known she was close to the compound .

That meant she must have recognized something in the place where she was being held or the surroundings when she first escaped, and knew she was close to home.

Relaxed now, no longer trying to force herself to figure out the path she had taken that night, Beth found that images began to play in her mind.

Opening her eyes, she turned a little to her left. "I came from this way," she told Axel and the guys, pointing in the direction she remembered herself running.

"Knew you could do it," Axel said, grabbing her hand and tugging her closer so he could give her a quick kiss.

"Sorry for taking my frustration out on you, it wasn't your fault I couldn't figure it out," she whispered, touching another kiss to his lips.

"Not mad at you, wisp, but you're forgiven."

"I love you, more than anything," she said, compelled to make sure he truly understood the depths of her love. He was the first person to ever love her, to ever even care about her, and she treasured that gift like the precious thing it was.

"Love you right back."

Keeping a hold on her husband's hand, for the next couple of hours Beth led the men through the woods. It wasn't always easy. There were times she could feel her frustration level rising again, but every time it did, she stopped, closed her eyes, and pictured something that made her laugh. It was like a mind cleanser, and after, she could always push away the irritation, focus again, and figure out where she had come from.

Every so often the guys made her stop, take a moment to rest, drink some water, and eat a piece of fruit. It wasn't particularly hard hiking out there, but they were deep in the forest, and with the combined physical and mental work she was doing, Beth was beginning to weary.

"We should stop soon, head back, start again tomorrow," Axel announced. "We'll mark the spot so we know where we got to, and Panther can start running checks on this area, see if we can figure out where you were."

Ignoring him, something tickled the back of Beth's mind.

There was something about this place that … freaked her out .

The trees looked the same, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and her heart rate accelerated even as she stood still.

"Axel?"

"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing her growing distress.

"I think we're?—"

Before she could finish her sentence, gunshots broke out around them, and she was thrown to the ground, her husband's body covering her and pinning her down.