Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

April 16 th

9:46 A.M.

Something hit him on the head.

A small pink ball bounced onto the floor at his feet then rolled off across the gym floor.

Turning, Axe glared at his friends as he continued with the set of bicep curls he was doing.

"Did you just throw that at me?" he growled.

Panther shrugged, completely unapologetic. "I called your name half a dozen times and you didn't respond."

"So you threw a ball at me?" he grumbled.

Another shrug, this one accompanied with a grin. "Worked."

"Still a ball," he muttered.

"A pink ball," Scorpion amended, clearly amused.

"Ruthie's," Panther said as a way of explanation, his smile growing as he mentioned the little girl who had captured his heart along with her mother.

"Pink your new favorite color?" Scorpion teased .

"Sure is," Panther replied good-naturedly. "And if the baby turns out to be a girl, we're going to be swimming in everything pink." Neither Panther nor Elle wanted to know the baby's sex, deciding to wait to be surprised when their little one was born. From what Axe could gather since Panther already had a son, eight-year-old Andy, he was hoping for a girl, and since Elle already had a daughter, seven-year-old Ruthie, she was hoping for a boy. Although he knew that boy or girl, both of them would be thrilled to bring a new baby into the world, one that would officially join their little family together.

"Hey, aren't you having a girl," Tank taunted Scorpion. "You think you're not going to be living in a world of pink?"

Scorpion froze, arm with a dumbbell in his hand paused halfway between his side and shoulder, then groaned. "I would have thought Jess wasn't the kind of woman to go all pink crazy, but now that you mention it, I'm totally wrong. She's been buying baby stuff, and over half of it is pink."

The horrified look on Scorpion's face made them all laugh, which only made Scorpion scowl at them.

"You think your women won't be any different?" Scorpion asked them. "You're getting married next weekend," he said to Tank. "Tillie has been saying for months now that she wants to do one thing at a time. How long after the wedding do you think it'll be before she starts talking about adding to your little family?"

For a moment, the grin on Tank's face faltered, but then it only grew wider. "When we get pregnant, if it's a girl and my pixie wants to deck things out in pink, I'll paint the whole house inside and out if that will make her happy."

It was plain for anyone to see how much Tank loved Tillie. He'd met the woman when she'd become a Prey case the same day that Beth had reappeared on the compound. While it had been a bumpy start for the couple given the job Tank had to do, they were now so in love and ready to spend their lives together. Axe felt awful that because of him being in a coma the couple had decided to postpone their wedding a couple of weeks.

"Suck up," Scorpion muttered before turning his sly grin on Rock. "What about you? You pined over Ariel for two decades before you finally got her back. You're getting married in the summer. Do you think you two can even make it to the wedding before we hear you're expecting the pitter-patter of little feet?"

The smile on Rock's face was positively giddy. "Can't wait to get my girl pregnant. As soon as she's ready, I'm ready. And I'm with Tank. If we're having a girl and Ariel wants the whole house pink, I'm down for painting the whole woods pink. Whatever my girl wants, she gets. I owe her. Big time."

Ever since they'd known Rock, he had been in love with a woman from his past who they knew he had hurt even though they didn't have any details. Ever since Ariel came back into his life, Rock had been a different man. Happier, calmer, and more relaxed.

It was what love did to you.

It changed everything for the better, and there was no better feeling in the world than holding the woman you loved close.

"Another suck up. And you?" Scorpion turned to Trick. "Just because you and the lovely Stephanie have only been together a few months doesn't mean marriage and babies aren't in the near future for you two lovebirds."

"Can't wait." Trick grinned. "Steph is it for me and I already bought a ring."

That cut off the talk on pink for the moment as they all offered congratulations. They had all known it was a matter of time, it was plain to see that the darkness Trick and Stephanie had met in had since blossomed into the most beautiful of lights. None of them were surprised to hear that Trick was already preparing to pop the question.

"Now you," Scorpion said, turning to him. "You want to tell us what that goofy look on your face is and why you've been here but not here all morning? Can we assume it has something to do with our girl?"

Knowing how much these guys loved his wife, that they all thought of her as a little sister and would do anything to protect her, meant more to him than he could ever express to them. They'd been rock solid this past year, simultaneously supporting him and Beth as well as helping him hunt for Leonid Baranov, and falling in love along the way.

While it had sucked watching Beth bit by bit lower her guard with his friends, all he had ever wanted was for her to be happy. So as hard as it had been for him, he'd relaxed a little as he'd seen the small progress Beth had made. The worst feeling in the world for him was knowing that Beth was alone. She'd suffered through so much without any support, and it made him physically ache to see her shutting herself off from all of them.

But not anymore.

His Beth was back, and the weight of the world seemed to have lifted from his shoulders.

"Last night Beth got her memories back of our lives together," he told the guys. It wasn't that he had been purposefully withholding that from them. After sleeping with his wife in his arms, they'd made love this morning before he cooked her breakfast and walked her over to Tank and Tillie's place to spend time with the others while he and his team had a PT session. When he'd gotten there, he'd been too lost in thought about how amazing last night had been to do anything else but daydream about it.

"All of them?" Trick asked.

"Everything up until she was taken," he confirmed.

"That's awesome, man." Panther, who was closest to him, slapped him on the shoulder.

"It's more than awesome, it's perfect. I finally have my wife back." While Axe couldn't say that he had ever given up hope that Beth's memories would return, he had begun to feel like there was a chance it would never happen. She'd been slipping away, and he hadn't known how to reach out to help her when she wouldn't let him get close enough. But now she was back, and she was his again in every sense of the word and he was never going to let her go.

"I hate to sound like a wet blanket," Tank started, "but we're no closer to finding Leonid Baranov than when we first raided his house six years ago. As long as he's out there none of us are safe."

More like a bucket of ice water than a wet blanket, Axe refused to let anything dampen his mood this morning. Reality would still be there tomorrow, but today, he was going to focus only on the positives, not the negatives.

There would always be a reason to worry about safety in their line of work. And while he didn't disagree that Baranov was a major threat and the reason he and his team had been forced out of Delta Force, today was about gratefulness.

Thankful Beth was alive.

Thankful he was alive.

Thankful they were together.

Thankful her memories had returned.

Thankful that his teammates were all happy and in love and planning wonderful futures.

"Leonid Baranov is as close to the devil as we've ever gotten. He's pure evil and is a threat as long as he's alive. But if there is one thing this whole thing with Beth and her abduction and amnesia has taught me it's that even on the darkest of days, where the clouds are so thick that barely any light gets through, the sun is still there. It's still shining. The sun never moves, we do. Life does. Some days we bathe in the sun's rays, others it's so dark we can't see it. Love. The sun is love. It's always there, Beth's love, my love for her, your love for your women, and theirs for you. No matter what happens nothing can touch it. It's like the sun, there will be days when it's so bright it's blinding and days it's so dark you'll feel lost. But it's there. It's always there. That's why I know we'll bring Baranov down. There is no sun in his world, no love. He doesn't understand it. But we do. We love our families, and that's why there is nothing that will stop us from destroying the devil."

April 16 th

12:13 P.M.

It felt so good to laugh again.

To relax.

To be free and have fun.

To be normal.

It felt like normal was the one thing she had never been. Beth knew that very few people in the world had lived a life like hers, and in some ways, it made it hard to connect to people. What could they possibly understand about growing up as she had? Of being sold and tortured?

But here, with Axel and the guys and the women they had fallen in love with she didn't feel isolated. Maybe it was because of the darkness Bravo Team had seen for themselves, first in their careers in Delta Force and then with Prey. They had seen firsthand what had happened to her, so she knew they got it even if they hadn't lived it.

These women sitting around her now got it, too.

Each one of them had lived through something horrific. Tillie's childhood trauma with her father and having a hit put on her by a crime boss. Ariel's abduction by a human trafficker, Jessica's childhood abuse, Stephanie's torture at the hands of a terrorist militia, and Elle's brush with a stalker meant they knew how evil the world could be.

This right here was her family. They got her, accepted her, and made her feel like she was completely normal.

"So, girl, you have to dish on what our guys were like before we met them," Jessica told her as they sat around Tillie's living room, finishing off things for the wedding that was supposed to happen a couple of weeks ago.

"Pretty much like they are now," she replied. Even though she had only known these women after she had amnesia, now that she had her memories back she felt closer to them. It was weird, and she didn't know why, they had all accepted her as she was, maybe it was because now she remembered the guys from before it made her feel closer to everyone.

"Big teddy bears, aren't they?" Ariel said, a dreamy look on her face. "Warriors on the outside, but inside they're so caring and soft, there's nothing they wouldn't do for someone they love."

"They're amazing," Beth said. Honestly, she didn't know how she would have survived those first few months without every single one of those men. "They were there for me unconditionally after they found me and pretty much adopted me. Leonid Baranov put targets on their backs, they were forced to leave their jobs, their homes, they were building this place, joining Prey, they had so much on their plates already, and yet they didn't hesitate to take me under their wings."

"They all love you so much," Stephanie said softly. Of all of the women, Stephanie had become the closest to Axel over the last couple of months. It had been a shock to Beth when she first saw the other woman hug Axel and had gotten a burst of jealousy. She hadn't been able to let Axel get close then and she'd known that Stephanie was in love with Trick, but still seeing another woman touching her husband had felt weird. And not good weird.

A soft smile touched her lips as she thought of her newly restored memories. "Axel used to read to me, and when he learned I didn't know how because I'd never been to school, he made it his mission to teach me everything I should have learned as a child. Trick taught me to bake, he'd spend hours with me in the kitchen," she said to Stephanie.

"Huh, I didn't know that. He's been holding out on me, I didn't know he was a baker," Stephanie said. "I think he's going to have to make that up to me."

They all laughed.

"Tell him to make you brownies, his recipe is to die for," Beth said. "Panther taught me all about phones, computers, and the internet. I didn't even know they existed. We literally lived on a farm with no running water and a generator that ran the lights. Panther gave me my first phone and made me feel normal for probably the first time ever. He was so patient, and he's such a good dad. I remember Andy bouncing about our feet while he taught me how to use the phone, he never once got frustrated with either of us even though it took me a while to figure things out."

"His patience with Andy and Ruthie is one of the things I love most about him," Elle said, her smile warm, eyes soft.

"I know it's totally weird and not really a useful, practical life skill, but Scorpion taught me how to make balloon animals," she said with a laugh.

Jessica's eyes widened. "Balloon animals?"

"Told you it was weird, but it was just … fun. Maybe the first time in my life I was ever just playful and silly. Those were some of the happiest memories I have." Beth smiled fondly as she recalled those hours she'd spent with Scorpion.

"I had no idea he could do that," Jessica said.

"I think he was a little embarrassed about it. I don't think any of the guys know," Beth explained .

"Well, he better plan on doing that for the baby." Jessica huffed, but there was no real anger in her tone.

"You know he will," Beth said. Turning to Ariel, she smiled again. "Your guy taught me to shoot. Not so much fun, but I definitely felt a whole lot safer once I knew how to defend myself. Although Axel did about have a heart attack when he learned Rock was not just letting me touch a gun but actively teaching me how to use it."

"He worries about you," Ariel said. "All our guys are worriers."

"Can you blame them?" Jessica asked wryly.

"I guess we do have a bit of a habit of finding ourselves in sticky situations," Tillie conceded with a giggle.

"Sticky?" Elle snorted. "Try Gorilla Glue level stuck."

"Can't argue with that." Stephanie laughed, the darkness that lingered in her eyes was fading with each passing day, but it would never completely disappear.

"What did Tank teach you?" Tillie asked.

"So much," Beth replied. "He ran me through self-defense techniques for hours every single day. Not only did it help me learn how to get out of situations I might find myself in, but it also helped build up my strength and stamina, both of which were severely lacking after spending months locked in a cage in Leonid Baranov's basement. Axel didn't like Tank teaching me all that stuff, not because he didn't want me to be able to protect myself if I had to, but because he didn't want to think of me ever having to be in a situation where I would have to use it. But I'm so grateful for everything Tank taught me because if he hadn't, I would be dead right now."

It took a second for what she'd just said to sink in, but once it did, Beth was immediately gripped by more memory flashes.

"You want to live then you have to fight for it," a man told her.

A man she remembered.

He was Tomas Butcher, Leonid Baranov's right-hand man.

But what did he mean she had to fight to live?

Fight who?

Where?

Why?

Beth supposed the why didn't really matter .

She knew better than to go off alone, even if it was chasing after what looked like a dirty, tiny, abandoned kitten. All she'd wanted to do was find the poor little thing and take it to a shelter. Or take it home. She'd been thinking of getting a pet.

Only when she'd followed the small animal into an abandoned lot, she'd suddenly been grabbed, subdued, shoved into the back of a waiting van, and drugged.

Baranov had come for her.

Ever since Axel had saved her, she had worried this day would come.

Now that it had, it wasn't what she had expected.

Yes, she was once again back in a cage, only unlike last time, there was no rusty metal collar around her neck, attached with a chain to the door of her small cage. This cage was bigger, there was a metal toilet and a sink, and there was a metal bed frame in the corner with a mattress even worse looking than the one she had slept on as a child on top of it.

Three walls of her cage were concrete, and the fourth was metal bars running from the concrete floor to the concrete ceiling. Everything was painted white, and there were no windows, so she had no way of knowing how long it had been since she'd been kidnapped.

Beth understood why Baranov had taken her, he hadn't broken her yet, and he liked to play with his toys until they were ruined. But she had no idea what fighting for her life meant.

"Let's go," Tomas ordered.

Since he had one of his men unlock her cage and reach in and grab her arm to pull her out, she had no choice but to go where she was taken.

Still a little woozy from whatever drugs she'd been given, she did what Axel and her guys had taught her and paid attention to every detail. Figuring out the place's strengths and weaknesses might wind up saving her life. Of course, her husband would be looking for her, but she wasn't going to be a damsel in distress, she was going to fight for her freedom and her life.

Taken into a large room with a raised platform in the middle and seats all around, she looked about, totally confused.

What did they expect her to do?

Men were sitting in the seats, and on the platform in the middle was a man she was sure she recognized as one of Baranov's guards .

She was led up onto the platform, and then the man who had dragged her there stepped away.

Tomas silenced the men, and dread pooled in her stomach when he looked at her. Whatever was going on here was bad.

Really bad.

Maybe even worse than what Baranov had done to her before.

"Our first fight is ready to begin. No rules, the winner is whoever kills the other first," Tomas announced.

Kill?

They expected her to try to kill someone?

That was what they meant by fight for her life?

Either she killed the man who was a foot taller and had to outweigh her by more than a hundred pounds, or he killed her.