Chapter 23

April 22 nd

10:52 A.M.

The last forty-eight hours had been hard.

Not harder than the hours proceeding them when he and Beth had been at the mercy of Tomas Butcher and Sarah Sanders, but for Axe, watching his wife struggle emotionally was every bit as hard as watching her literally fight for her life.

It wasn't that he had expected Beth to regain consciousness after almost being buried alive and act like nothing had happened. His wife was strong, but nobody was that strong. The reactions she was having, the nightmares, the panic attacks, the random meltdowns into a sobbing mess, and her constant need to reiterate that she was sorry for saying she hated him and telling him how much she loved him, were all perfectly normal.

His faith in his wife wasn't shaken. There were now more physical scars littering her body, and many more psychological ones, but Axe knew she would once again rise from the ashes.

Beth was too strong not to .

He wasn't the only one intent on showing her that she wasn't alone. All the Bravo Team guys and their soon-to-be wives—all of them had agreed to the joint wedding in Scotland—had been around. The Oswald siblings and their families had been, too. Alpha Team and Artemis Team had been there, the retired SEALs who ran the west coast offices as well. And he had seen more of Delta Team in the last twenty-four hours than in all the years they had worked for Prey.

No one was going to let Beth think for one moment that she was still all alone in the world. Just because her biological family hadn't loved her or cared about her didn't mean she had no family. In fact, she had the biggest, toughest, most loyal and caring family a person could ask for, not just at her back, but at her sides and in front of her, too. Surrounding her in a bubble of love and support.

Now she had been discharged from the hospital, and they were about to arrive back home. On top of almost dying, Beth had been diagnosed with a concussion from the head injury Sarah had inflicted when she'd knocked Beth out, her dislocated shoulder had been dislocated all over again, likely by being dragged through the tunnels, and she had two cracked ribs. Then there was the irritation to her eyes, nose, mouth, and throat from the dirt, and the risk of infection from dirt getting into her open head wound. Pumped full of antibiotics and painkillers, his wife was as excited to get home as he was to get her there.

"I thought I would never get to see this place again," Beth whispered as he opened the gates to the compound and drove through them, closing them behind them.

"There was a moment when I was sure neither of us were to come home," he admitted. Axe knew that what his wife needed right now was not for him to pretend he wasn't every bit as affected by their ordeal as she was, it was for him to be open.

Once already they had made the mistake of not just telling one another what they needed, and he had no intention of repeating it.

From here on out, openness was going to be the most important ingredient in their marriage.

Reaching over to take his hand, Beth squeezed his fingers tightly. "I know you've told me a hundred times already I don't have to keep telling you how sorry I am that I said I hated you, but I need to tell you again that I love you."

While Beth had been sleeping earlier, he'd talked with Piper Hamilton-Eden, Prey's on-staff psychiatrist. She had told him to let Beth apologize as many times as she felt she needed to, not to try to stop her from expressing herself, and to just keep doing what he'd been doing and assure her that he had never believed she hated him. It seemed like simple advice, and while, of course, he wanted to hear that his wife loved him, he hated that she kept saying it because she was afraid if she didn't, he might not believe it.

Turning their hands over so hers rested on his, he shot her a smile as he drove down the driveway. "I'm never going to want my wife to stop telling me she loves me, and I'm never going to stop telling you how much I love you."

"You were willing to die for me, I know how much you love me," Beth murmured as a stray tear snuck out and rolled down her pale cheek.

"And you were willing to live for me. You fought. Again. For your life and for mine. You killed Baranov to keep me alive, and you fought as hard as you could not to leave me."

"I will always fight for you, for us," Beth said solemnly.

"Ditto."

Her cute little nose scrunched up. "Ditto is a weird word."

Axe laughed at that, and it felt so good to laugh, to feel the freedom of knowing his wife was no longer being hunted, to have her hand in his, to smell her sweet scent filling the car. If she wasn't injured and they both weren't ravished by exhaustion he'd take her inside, carry her up to bed, and show her with his body as well as his words how much he loved and adored her.

"Home sweet home," he said as he pulled up outside the cabin.

"Is this still going to be our home?" Beth asked. "You guys built this place because of Leonid Baranov painting targets on your backs. Now he's dead, you don't have to hide out on a remote compound anymore."

"Do you want to leave?"

"No." The word was uttered immediately and emphatically. "I love living here. I love the peace and quiet, I love the beauty and tranquility of nature, and I love having our family all around us. I want to stay right here, but if you want to move then I want to be wherever you are."

"I want to stay right here. I talked with the guys and offered to help them set up somewhere else if they wanted to move. Every single one of them, and their women, said that while the compound might have been built to keep everyone safe, it's home, and none of them could imagine living anywhere else. This will always be Bravo Team's home."

Beth relaxed back into her seat, obviously having been worried about it. "Perfect. I love this place, it's the first home I ever had and I want to live here until the day I die. Die a very old woman," she added.

"You ready to head inside?" he asked, turning off the engine.

"Yep. Can't wait to be free of the never-ending hustle and bustle of the hospital. All I want to do is curl up in your arms, light a fire in the fireplace even though it's much too warm, curl up under a blanket, drink hot chocolate, watch the flames, feel your arms around me, and just enjoy being alive. Being free."

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

Undoing his seatbelt, Axe got out of the car, rounded it, and opened Beth's door. She was waiting for him, and when he captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her face up so he could kiss her, she kissed him back with the same sense of love, peace, and freedom that he felt.

They were no longer being hunted.

Their enemy was dead.

The rest of their lives were free to be lived however they pleased.

Wanting his wife close, Axe scooped her into his arms, bumping the car door closed with his hip so he could carry Beth into their home. A home he hoped one day soon might be filled with the sound of childish giggles and little feet. They had never talked in detail about starting their own family, but he knew it was what both of them wanted, they had just been waiting for the time to be right.

Somehow, he managed to unlock the cabin door without having to set Beth down, and the moment he flung it open a chorus of voices called out.

"Welcome home!"

Both he and Beth startled at the sound. Some special forces soldier he was, he hadn't been giving their surroundings the least drop of attention, it was all for the wife he held in his arms. Their cabin was filled, standing room only, by every member of Prey and their families. Even Athena Team who rarely went into the field were there, and Charlie Team who hadn't been able to help with taking Tomas Butcher down since they had been on a more personal op.

Plates of food covered every available surface, balloons filled with helium made the ceiling invisible, children giggled and darted about through the maze of adults, and everyone was smiling and laughing. It was chaotic but it was perfect.

It was family.

But it wasn't what Beth had wanted.

She'd wanted peace and quiet, not loud and crazy, and whatever his wife wanted she got.

"Want me to tell them to leave?" he whispered in her ear as the crowd of people surged toward them.

"Not on your life," Beth whispered back. "This is much better. This is family. This is love."

Axe couldn't agree more.

May 1 st

8:29 P.M.

Magic.

Beth couldn't think of a more perfect word to describe this day.

Somehow, Axel and the rest of the guys had managed to pull this whole thing off in just a matter of days.

Not even two weeks had passed since Leonid Baranov, Tomas Butcher, and Sarah Sanders had been killed, and she and Bravo Team had been freed of the shackles that had bound them for six long years. Axel had declared that he and the other guys were going to arrange everything, all she and the other women had to do was organize their dresses, hair, and makeup .

At first, she had been a little skeptical that six alpha warriors could pull off a wedding, but she shouldn't have been. No one could have done a better job. Axel's money had certainly got everything done, he hadn't cared what the cost was, he wanted this day to be perfect for her and his friends.

And it was.

Reminiscent of Ross' wedding to Emily in Friends—her all-time favorite TV show—instead of an old church, they were in the ruins of what was once a castle. There were enough remaining stones to show the beauty and splendor of the building when it had been in operation. There was a rawness to the landscape. Unlike in her favorite TV show, they weren't in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world, surrounding them were wide open spaces, grassy heather moors, and in the distance, a line of trees leading to a forest.

There was freedom here as well as beauty.

Add in the setting of the sun as all six brides had walked down the aisle, and now the lingering dusk light melded with the thousands of flickering candles to create the most gorgeous glow. Beth had no idea how the candles were all staying lit in the soft wafts of wind, but she'd seen people darting about relighting them so she suspected that Axel and the guys had assigned certain people the job of keeping them lit.

Sticking with the May Day theme, garlands of flowers were everywhere, and a stunning Maypole stood behind where the minister was officiating.

All the other couples had gone first, Beth had insisted on that since they were all getting married for the first time while she and Axel were renewing their vows. Rock and Ariel had gone first since they had known each other the longest, then the others had decided to go in order of when they had met. Tank and Tillie had been second, followed by Scorpion and Jessica, both of whom couldn't seem to stop touching her small baby bump. Next up had been Trick and Stephanie, and then Panther and Elle, with Andy and Ruthie standing by their sides had joined their little family together.

Now it was her and Axel's turn.

All eyes were on them, and Beth would have felt self-conscious if she wasn't so excited and nervous to remarry the man of her dreams .

Because her husband had insisted, she wasn't wearing the same simple white dress she had when they had first married. Axel wanted her to pick out the dress of her dreams and feel like the princess she was to him. Although she'd been a little reluctant at first, she'd fallen in love with the prettiest dress she'd ever laid eyes on.

Beads and lace on the bodice, ruffles of silk cascading down from the satin bow at her waist, hair piled on top of her head in an intricate mass of curls dotted with small diamonds, with a diamond shaped into a heart at the base of her throat, and matching diamond earrings, Beth did feel like a princess standing here in front of everybody she loved.

All of Prey was there, from the youngest to the oldest, no team had been sent into the field, they were all there to help Bravo Team celebrate this very special day.

Standing before the minister, her hands cradled in Axel's, the twinkling lights all around them, family there to support them, she couldn't be happier. This couldn't be more perfect, but what made it the most perfect of all was the man smiling down at her with so much love in his eyes she felt it.

Actually, felt it like a physical caress.

Caressing her body, her heart, her mind, and her soul.

Touching her down deep in places that had been so badly damaged they shouldn't ever be able to heal.

But heal they did.

Because of this man.

"Axel and Beth have prepared their own vows to speak to one another this evening," the minister announced to the gathered throng.

Focusing all his attention on her, Axel began to speak. "I grew up privileged. Everything I wanted, I got. At least material things. My whole future could have been mapped out for me. Working long hours in an office, safe, protected, in charge of a vast empire. It would have been so easy, I could have lived in the lap of luxury and never had to worry about a single thing. But something was missing. Purpose. I had no purpose there. I wasn't making a difference. So, I walked away from that life believing there was more I was supposed to do with my life. That I was supposed to make a difference somehow."

The hands holding hers, with thumbs brushing softly across the inside of her wrists, were mesmerizing, and she waited with bated breath to see what he was going to say next.

"I thought the difference I was supposed to make was big. I thought I was supposed to save the world, save thousands of lives, kill dozens of terrorists, but I was wrong. As soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew. My purpose wasn't big, it was small. It wasn't a thousand people I was supposed to save, it was one. It wasn't a dozen terrorists I was supposed to kill it was one man who hurt the woman I love. You were mine from that very first second, I knew it. I didn't understand it, but I knew and trusted in that feeling. Never once have I regretted trusting those instincts."

When he reached out and touched the pad of a thumb to her cheek Beth was surprised to find she was crying.

Happy tears though.

"My love for you has grown as I've seen you face your fears, learn so much about yourself and the world, and be so very brave. That's what I love the most about you. Yes, I love your beauty, I love your big, caring heart, I love your strength, strength that would put any warrior to shame. Because you are a warrior. The very definition of the word. Your bravery knows no bounds. It hasn't been an easy journey, but you have gotten up every day and faced that journey even when most would have just given up. And that is why I could never love anyone more than I love my sweet, beautiful, strong, brave Beth. My wife, my heart, my soul, my life. My everything."

If she'd had any doubts about Axel still being able to love her when she'd said such horrible words to him, they evaporated.

Like a wisp of smoke.

Just … gone.

When the minister looked at her and nodded, Beth drew in a breath and spoke, not to their family watching them, but to this man, who loved her so very much. "Lucky. I feel lucky. I know it's crazy, what I've lived through has been horrific, and maybe I should mark myself the unluckiest person alive, but I haven't, I don't. Any team could have been there that day to rescue me from that house of horrors, but it wasn't. It was you. In that instant, my life changed. I didn't know love existed, I'd never seen it before. All I knew was that there was something different about you."

How very glad she was that she had trusted in her own feelings.

"I was scared to trust you because all I knew of men was that they hurt you. But you were so gentle with me, you taught me what gentleness was. You taught me tenderness, you taught me trust, you taught me faith, and you taught me love. I would be lost without you. But I'm not without you and I'm not lost. I can never be lost again because our souls are tied together. Once, all I knew was loneliness, now all I know is family. You, your team who adopted me and treated me like I was one of their own from the beginning, the wonderful women they've fallen in love with, and everyone at Prey. I used to think family was a terrible word, one laced with pain and suffering, now it's the most precious word in the universe. You, Axel Lindon, didn't just give me yourself and your love, you gave me a family, a place to belong, and one day soon I hope we can have our very own little family. I love you. Forever. Without reservation and conditions. You're mine and I'm yours."

"With those beautiful words I now pronounce you all over again husband and wife," the minister announced.

Taking the ring, with a simple gold bow on it, Axel slipped it onto the ring finger on her right hand. The bow symbolized that they were tied together forever, and she would cherish wearing it.

"Now you may kiss your bride."

At the minister's words, Axel gently dipped her back and pressed his mouth to hers, sealing their renewal of vows with a kiss.

Cheers and clapping sounded from the gathered Prey crowd, and as they walked hand in hand through the castle ruins, they were surrounded by so much love it made her heart swell. Everyone hugged her, offering their congratulations and joy, and by the time they reached the doors to the castle, she realized she no longer felt an instinctive need to stiffen and pull away when someone touched her.

Family.

Love.

The darkness of her past could no longer touch her through the light shined upon her by the people who had become her family.

As long as she had Axel by her side she would never be alone again.