Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

April 20 th

1:28 P.M.

Pretending he wasn't panicking would be pointless.

Axe wasn't just panicking, he was pretty close to completely losing it.

Hiding it seemed pointless because he already knew without a shadow of a doubt that if any one of the eleven other men with him was in his position, they would be close to losing it, too. The Delta Team guys might all be single as far as he was aware, but he knew every man on his team was completely and utterly in love with the women they planned to spend the rest of their lives with.

If those women—hell, when those women had been in danger—needed them and they weren't there it would kill any one of them.

That was love.

It was hurting worse when it was the person you loved in trouble than when it was yourself.

All of a sudden Blade straightened, cocked his head, and looked further off down the corridor .

Without a word, he looked at his team, nodded once, and took off running.

"We gotta go," Steel said and not one to doubt Delta Team and their somewhat unbelievable talents, Axe took off after Blade.

They ran for what had to be a good half a mile before he heard it.

The sound of heavy machinery.

A bulldozer?

Why would someone be using a bulldozer?

Were they going to come out from the underground tunnel to find they were right next to a farm? Or a building site?

That didn't seem logical. Tomas had stayed under the radar for so long by being careful. Sure, it was a risk to be so close to Bravo Team's compound, but a calculated one since he knew nobody would be looking for him there.

Light filtered in, and Blade shoved through a partially open door only seconds before Axe. There was no farm out there, and no building site either. But there was a bulldozer, and it was being driven by Sarah.

There was no sign of Beth.

Frantically, he gave another visual sweep of the area, praying he was missing something and that Beth was tied up somewhere nearby.

But she wasn't.

There was just Sarah using a bulldozer to push dirt into what appeared to have been a large hole.

Why would the woman be doing that?

She'd made it out without anyone realizing she was gone. She could have been in the clear. So why had she decided to hang around and fill in a hole? And where was Beth?

Apparently catching sight of them as the rest of Bravo and Delta Teams came running out of the tunnel, Sarah gave what could only be described as a manic laugh. "You're too late. Perfect Beth is gone forever."

The hole.

The dirt.

It clicked

A grave.

From the size of it a mass grave .

Sarah had stayed because she didn't really care about getting away. She wasn't thinking calmly or rationally. She had a goal, and it wasn't to evade capture. It was why she'd killed Tomas, he was going to prevent her from getting what she really wanted.

"Perfect Beth got everything I should have had. Everyone cared about her and no one cared about me. Well, now she's dead and there's nothing you can do about it," Sarah squealed in delight.

Red rage filled his vision.

This woman might have once upon a time been a victim, but now she had killed an innocent woman.

His woman.

Before he had a chance to aim his weapon and pull the trigger, ending Sarah Sanders' life, someone else did it for him.

Dragon looked over at him. The man's unusual violet eyes locked onto his. "Beth's not dead," he said.

There was confidence in Dragon's voice, and Axe didn't waste time asking him how he could possibly know that. He simply turned to scan the mostly filled hole. There was no way to know where exactly Beth had been when Sarah began filling in the hole. Tracks circled the space, so it was obvious Sarah had been driving around for a while moving the dirt. Even with twelve of them, excavating the hole would take far too long.

Beth didn't have that kind of time.

Even if she was alive now, she couldn't last long buried under all this dirt.

All of a sudden, Lion sprung forward, bounding down the couple of feet into the hole and zeroing in on one specific area. "Here."

The one word spurred them all into action, and moments later, they were all down on their hands and knees shoving dirt aside in a desperate attempt to get to Beth. It didn't matter that the Delta Team guys had only met Beth a handful of times over the last six years, they were side by side with Bravo Team, the tension emanating from them the same as from his own team.

Despite the rumors surrounding these men, they were more than just killing machines, they were real men with big hearts .

"Got something," Steel called out, shoving away a little more dirt and holding up a pale hand.

Beth's hand. Even if he hadn't known it anywhere the simple gold wedding band and the engagement ring with the diamond Beth had always claimed was too big would have given it away.

"It's her," Axe said, shifting positions so he could take his wife's hand in his.

While he held her hand the others dug around it, slowly uncovering Beth. As they worked, he talked.

"Hey, wisp. It's me, it's Axel, I'm right here. I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can you hold on, okay? I know you're so tired of having to fight all the time, and I wish you weren't in a position where you have to do it again, but I need you to be strong one last time for me. I swear to you, wisp, that if you fight for me this last time, I will make sure you never have to again. I will protect you, keep you safe, and never let anyone hurt you. I promise you, Beth, so just fight for me, okay? Please, wisp, fight. I can't lose you. I can't. I need you, honey, more than you ever needed me."

"Got her head," Tank announced, brushing away enough dirt that her face became visible.

"I've got a pulse, but she's not breathing," Rock announced as he pressed two fingertips to Beth's dirt-streaked neck.

"We have to get her out," he said desperately.

Doubling down, it took the guys a couple of minutes to free Beth's body from the mound of dirt enough that they could lift her out. As soon as she was free, Axe shifted so he could gather his wife's limp body into his arms.

No one asked him to give her up so he could climb the couple of feet out of the hole, a few hands just rested on his back, steadying him as he carried Beth out of what would have been her grave.

Immediately dropping to his knees, he laid Beth out on the dirt-streaked grass and knelt beside her. While he grasped her chin, opening her mouth and using his fingers to scoop out the dirt that clogged her airways, Rock cleared her nose, and Delta Team's medic Voodoo poured water over Beth's eyes, using his sleeve to clear away the dirt that caked onto her eyelashes .

As soon as her airways were clear, Axe hunched over her. One hand pinched her nose closed, the other tilted her head back and her chin down, then he covered her mouth with his own and breathed into her.

One breath.

Then a second.

Pausing, he leaned over so his cheek was above her mouth.

There was no puff of air on his skin, and her chest didn't rise and fall as she took a breath.

"Still got a pulse, try again," Rock instructed.

Covering her mouth again, he did two more breaths before pausing to see if Beth would take a breath on her own.

She didn't.

"Pulse is getting weaker," Rock said.

"Come on, wisp," Axe pleaded. "Don't leave me, Beth. Come on, take a breath for me. You fought just as strong as you always do, now all you have to do is take one breath. After that first one the second will be so much easier, and the third easier still."

Another breath and another, and he stopped to check if she was breathing on her own, but she wasn't. Rock's head shake indicated her pulse was still getting weaker.

She was going to die.

Fade away.

Right in front of him.

Seconds.

They'd been too late getting to her by seconds.

If he'd asked for Beth sooner, noticed Sarah was gone quicker, ran faster down the tunnels, dug the dirt away from her more rapidly, he wouldn't be losing her.

Beside him, Voodoo nudged his shoulder. "Let me try."

It was on the tip of his tongue to refuse. If Beth was dying, he wanted her to at least go cradled in the arms of the man who loved her more than life itself.

But he'd heard some crazy stories about the lives Voodoo had saved.

So, he nodded and shifted slightly, reaching out to grasp one of Beth's hands.

Voodoo took the place he had vacated, and pinched Beth's nose closed, then pressed his lips to hers and breathed a huge breath into her. Somehow the second breath seemed to be even larger, and then they all heard it.

A sharp intake of air.

From Beth.

Voodoo didn't hesitate to move out of the way so Axe could be back at his wife's side. One hand palmed the back of her head, the other cradled her cheek. "Come on, wisp, just like that. Good girl, take another breath for me, honey."

Beth inhaled again.

And again.

And again.

A collective sigh of relief went up. Somehow Voodoo had performed another of his miracles, quite literally bringing Beth back from the brink of death.

Beth began to stir as consciousness returned along with her ability to breathe on her own.

"Don't open your eyes, wisp," he instructed, "they're still all dirty. Don't try to move, don't do anything, just rest and breathe, we'll get you to the hospital as soon as we can."

"Ambulance on the way," Thunder informed him.

"Hear that, wisp? An ambulance is coming. All you have to do until then is just rest and breathe."

Axe shifted so he was sitting and pulled his wife into his lap. She was still limp, but her chest continued to rise and fall, and Rock smiled when he pressed fingers to her neck to check her pulse.

Ignoring his command for her to rest, Beth whispered something so softly he couldn't make out the words. Whatever it was seemed important to her though, because a trembling hand raised to grab at his shoulder.

Leaning down he held his ear against her lips.

"Never hated you," came the softly murmured words. "Love you."

Tears began to stream down his cheeks. That's what she was worried about right now? That he might think she'd meant it when she said she'd hate him for choosing her life over his own?

"I know that, wisp," he assured her. "I knew you didn't mean it, knew you could never hate me. I love you, too. More than anything in the world. My sweet, strong, beautiful wife. My life."

April 21 st

3:38 A.M.

Dirt.

Everywhere.

In her eyes

Her mouth.

Up her nose.

It pressed down on every inch of her body rendering her immobile.

Trapped.

Suffocating.

Couldn't breathe.

Dying.

Axel.

Hate.

Love.

Beth was going to die with her husband thinking she hated him.

No.

Had to fight.

Only she couldn't.

If you couldn't move then you couldn't fight.

If you couldn't fight then you died.

"I'm sorry, Axel," she murmured.

"Beth, wake up. Now!"

Weighted down as they were, her lungs could no longer inflate with air.

"Beth! Come on, wisp, wake up for me."

"Sorry, Axel."

"Wake now!"

Her body was suddenly yanked out of the dirt that was slowly smothering the life out of her and her eyes snapped open.

No dirt.

No brown.

Only white.

Hospital.

Not in the mass grave surrounded by dead bodies, slowly being buried alive.

Safe.

Rescued.

Axel had come for her again.

Saved her life again.

And now he had to watch her fall apart all over again.

Bursting into noisy sobs, she tried to tell him how sorry she was. For everything. The horrible words she'd said, putting them both in danger by running away instead of staying with her husband and his team, for not being strong enough to survive, for not being strong enough to be okay now.

When Axel dragged her into his arms, holding her in an embrace that was one millimeter shy of crushing, her tears only grew louder and messier.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "This is all my fault. I should have trusted you to help me when I had amnesia, maybe if I had, I would have gotten my memories back earlier and you wouldn't have had to make a deal to take your own life for mine. And I shouldn't have run away when I was scared of losing you. I just keep making bad choices. You almost died because of me. I can't ever forgive myself for that. I wish I could take it all back, but most of all I wish I could take back that I said I hated you. I don't hate you. I don't. I love you. I love you so much."

Panic was swamping her, and Beth grabbed at her husband trying to pull Axel closer, wishing she could merge their souls together so he would know how badly she regretted those horrible words she'd thrown at him.

Somewhere nearby other voices spoke, but she couldn't make out what they were saying.

Didn't care what they were saying .

All she cared about was making sure her husband knew how much she loved him.

It was hard to see through the tears blurring her eyes, and the sound of her weeping pretty much drowned out anything else.

The feel of her husband's hands on her, stroking her back, smoothing locks of hair off her wet cheeks, stroking her skin, caressing it, those touches were the only thing keeping her grounded when her whirlwind of emotions wanted to pick her up, toss her around, then slam her back down.

Soft kisses rained down on her face. Forehead, temples, cheeks, the tip of her nose, even her chin. When firm lips pressed against hers, kissing her until her crying had no choice but to cease, Beth felt the worst of her panic begin to fade.

"I love you, Beth. Always. Forever. I'm not angry with you for struggling to deal with amnesia. You literally weren't yourself. You didn't remember me or know how much I loved you. You had nothing solid to hold onto. I don't blame you for running when you were scared, you were trying to do what you thought was best even if you were wrong. Of course I wish things were different, but that doesn't mean I blame you, am angry with you, or thought for one second you meant it when you said you hated me."

"I wish I could take it back," she whimpered. "I want to take it back."

There was so much tenderness in his eyes, his touch as he swept a hand across her cheek, and in his voice when he spoke that it started a fresh wave of tears. "I know you do, honey. But you don't have to worry about it. I never believed it for a second. You hear me? Not a single second."

How badly she wanted to believe that was true.

But doubt was smothering her just as the dirt had done hours ago.

"I love you," she said, trying to infuse the depths of emotion behind those few small words.

"Wisp, I love you too." Along with the sincerity in his voice and his expression, there was a heavy dose of pain.

She was hurting him.

Again .

Because her stupid emotions were getting the best of her.

Just like they'd done when she escaped from Tomas and Sarah the first time. This time her mind might not have shut down on her to protect her, but she was still hurting her husband, the man she would do anything for, who she loved more than life itself.

"I love you," she said again. How many times would she have to say those words before she finally believed she had undone the damage of saying the opposite?

Would that ever happen?

Or would those words, spoken in fear, haunt her for the rest of her life?

"I love you," Beth repeated as Axel shifted on the bed so they weren't kneeling facing one another but he was settled against the pillows with her draped across his chest.

"I love you, too, Beth. Nothing has changed. Not a single thing."

Maybe not for him, but for her everything had changed.

She'd said words she couldn't take back and couldn't seem to let it go no matter how many times Axel assured her he had never believed them and still loved her.

"What's going to convince you that I love you more today than I did the day I met you?" Axel asked, his large hand smoothing her hair over and over, his touch slowly soothing her.

"I don't know," she whispered, wishing she was strong enough to pull herself back together. "I wish I could marry you all over again."

"Then that's what we'll do."

That surprised a laugh out of her. "We're already married, don't think you can marry someone again unless you get divorced first, and no way am I letting you divorce me just so we can have another ceremony. I'll be okay." Somehow, Beth still managed to believe that. It defied logic after everything she had been through but still, she felt deep down inside that with Axel's love and her Prey family around her, she would find her way back.

"We'll renew our vows."

"Renew our vows?"

"Sure, why not? It's the closest we can get to marrying again, and it will remind you that I have never for one second regretted falling in love with you and making you my wife. We'll do something special. Magical. With Baranov dead, the targets on my back and the rest of my team are gone. We don't have to keep to the shadows anymore. We'll go somewhere, a castle maybe, one that's half in ruins, to show you that when you think you're broken down, beaten down, that things will never improve, beauty can grow from those ruins."

Axel was sounding more excited by his idea by the second, and like it was contagious, Beth could also feel a spark of excitement flicker to life inside her.

"We busted up Tank and Tillie's wedding again," Axel continued, "we'll take them with us, they can say their vows for the first time while we repeat them. Hell, we'll take the whole team. Rock and Ariel are engaged anyway, Scorpion wants to marry Jessica before the baby comes, and Panther wants to do the same with Elle. And we all know Trick was just waiting for the perfect time to propose to Stephanie, if he would just hurry up and realize there is no such thing as the perfect time, that every second is precious then they can join in. We'll marry as a team, show the world that Bravo Team is stronger together, that we're a family that nothing and no one can break up."

"I … like the idea," Beth said, her lips curling into the first smile she'd had since being dug out of the mass grave that was supposed to become her own grave.

"Then it's done. But I don't want to wait long. I can't wait to shout from the rooftops that you're my wife, that of all the men in the world you chose me to love forever."

"May Day," she said immediately. "May first, halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice, because our relationship is still sweet and fresh like spring, but we're heading into the best years of our marriage, the summer."

"Perfect."

"You're perfect." Beth dropped a kiss to her husband's lips. "My man."

"My woman."

"My heart."

"My life."