Lena picked up her pace, worried he’d do something stupid, like get himself killed. She couldn’t lose someone else that she loved, not when she’d just found a chance at happiness again.
“I tried to make you see reason, but, no, you had to stay on your high horse.” Ed dripped with such condescension, Lena wondered how he’d ever hid his duplicity.
Marshall’s chin shifted as he clenched his jaw. “You make me sick.”
“And you’ve never had the balls to do what needed done,” Ed spat back.
Lena was so close she could smell the sharp tang of fear emanating from Ed. She just needed a distraction, something to get him to point the gun somewhere else. She gazed at Marshall over Ed’s shoulder, hoping she could communicate her need, but Marshall’s hard stare never left Ed’s face. Marshall took another step forward, his eyes narrowing on Ed.
“So, what, you hide like a coward behind women and children?” He took another step closer and spread his arms wide in challenge. “Why don’t you come at me head on, without the protection of a three-year-old?”
“Better yet, why don’t I just kill you?” Ed shifted the gun to point it at Marshall.
Lena darted forward. Wrapping her left arm around Ed’s neck, she snaked her right hand down his outstretched arm, grabbed his wrist, and pulled up. He growled and bucked against her, but she held tight, twisting his hand back. As he bent forward, lifting her off her feet, pounding footsteps rushed to her. Her body flipped up over Ed’s back as a shot blasted loud in her ear. White-hot pain seared her head, then she fell over his body into darkness.
Twenty-Six
Marshall stared at Lena’s small hand held within his and slid his fingertips along her smooth skin. His gaze roamed up her arm and to her face, peaceful in sleep. He’d almost lost her. His gaze moved across her to where Carter slept soundly beside her. Marshall had almost lost them both. His throat threatened to close again with the memory of the gun to Carter’s head and watching Lena land on her back on the hard warehouse floor, blood running from her head.
He shuddered, took a deep breath in, and set his forehead on the side of the bed by their joined hands. Gunnar swore the bullet had just left a crease along her scalp, and that the bump to her head from landing headfirst would be a bigger pain. Marshall wasn’t sure now. Should he have insisted they go to the hospital instead of hiding away in the safe house Paxton had set up?
Lena had said she’d be fine, that she just needed to sleep it off. Marshall had highly doubted that as he’d winced every time Gunnar had pulled another stitch through her head. He still doubted it three hours later as he watched her rest.
When they’d arrived at the safe house with the Stryker team and Rebel boys, Sosimo, bruised from the bullets that had slammed into his chest, had gone into one room, while she’d immediately gone into another. Marshall had wanted to follow her, to pull her into his arms and beg her to stay with him. Instead, he had let her close the door with a sad smile as he had rubbed Carter’s back. Ten minutes later, when Carter had wanted Lena, Marshall took that as his chance to convince her. She’d been sound asleep, so he’d let Carter crawl into bed with her and snuggle up, soft snores quickly coming from him. With tears stinging Marshall’s eyes at the picture the two made, he had pulled up a chair and hadn’t left his post since.
He couldn’t, not when his entire world was right before him.
How was he going to show her life with them as a family was worth the risk? He couldn’t lose her. Had nearly died himself when that gun had fired. He sighed and gently kissed the top of her hand.
Tentative fingers speared through his hair, sending a thousand bolts of lightning down along his scalp. He turned his head and rested his cheek on her hand. She smiled softly at him as her hand trailed from his hair and fluttered back to the bed. Man, she was beautiful. He wanted to spend every morning waking up with her beside him.
“Marshall?” Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “What are you—where’s Carter?”
He kissed her hand one more time, not taking his gaze off her. Her eyes warmed and her fingers flexed in his palm. The reaction lifted the corner of his mouth.
“There.” Marshall pointed with his chin to the other side of the bed where Carter sprawled as Marshall leaned toward her. “He wanted to see you, and since that was all I could think about too, I let him.”
He set his elbows on the bed next to her and brought their intertwined hands to his face. Closing his eyes, he kissed her fingers to bolster his nerves. Here goes nothing.
“Lena.” His voice came out a harsh whisper. “Please. Carter needs you.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I mean, that’s not what I wanted to say.” He huffed and shook his head. “I’m screwing this up. Yes, Carter needs you, but I need you too.”
“Marshall.” She shifted, trying to push herself up to sitting.
The tone of her voice settled like boulders in his gut. She wasn’t going to stay. The realization sucked all oxygen from the room as life without her stretched out before him. He cupped her cheek with his hand, stopping her movement.
“Lena, I can’t lose you. I’ll do anything you want. If my business puts us at too much risk, I’ll sell it.” He leaned closer. “You want to move to the wilds of Alaska to live off the land? I’m all in. As long as I can do life with you, I don’t care where we are. I love you, Lena Rebel.”
Lena placed her fingers on his lips and sat up. Marshall swallowed. His heart jackhammering in his chest made it difficult to breathe. She slid her fingers over his bristly beard that had grown in over the last week, sending heat to his fingers and toes.
“Shh, Marshall. I’m not going anywhere.” She leaned her forehead on his. “How could I when everything I never knew I wanted is right here with you and with Carter?”
His entire body sagged in relief, then it tensed as fireworks burst in his heart, throwing those spiraling off-shoots through the rest of him. She wasn’t leaving. Hope and love burned so brightly within him, if it was actually light, it’d be blinding.
He tilted his head and captured her lips with his. It wasn’t the tender kiss he’d meant to give, but one of relief and passion. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. He needed more Lena. Would never in a thousand years be able to get enough.
He’d been on life support before her. Just going through his days on automatic, missing out on what he’d been given in his son. With her well-placed barbs and pointed glares, she sparked him back to life.
She pulled him to sit next to her on the bed and tunneled her fingers deep into his hair. He was a goner, packed into a rocket and shot into space, gone. He kissed a trail along her cheekbone, then explored below her ear and down her neck. He didn’t need the Alaskan wilderness to be stranded. He was lost in the wonder of Lena Rebel.
“Daddy?” Carter’s sleepy voice shut Marshall’s passion down faster than NASA’s control with a no-go.
He pulled back and stared at Lena, his chest heaving as he reined himself in. Lena’s eyes twinkled and her mouth twitched at the side. Marshall wanted to dive right back in. As if sensing what he was thinking, her head tipped back and a joyful laugh he hadn’t heard rang from her. She kissed him again, then turned to Carter.
“Come here, squirt.” She pulled him from the covers and wrapped him in a big hug.
Carter squealed with happiness and wiggled as Lena tickled his side. She flashed a smile up at Marshall that settled the chaotic sparks of earlier to hot embers. He didn’t care how or why he’d been blessed with forgiveness and a second chance. He’d take it, let it make him a better man, and find a happiness he never thought possible again. His cheeks hurt with his smile as he leaned forward, gave Lena a lingering kiss, and then nuzzled Carter’s neck with his whiskers until his son giggled and shrieked.
Epilogue
Lena closed her eyes and breathed in the crisp Colorado mountain air, so different from Kentucky’s humidity. The last month since they’d got
ten Carter back had been a whirl of bringing on an entirely new security detail, going over Marshall’s company with a fine-toothed comb, and assessing what their next step would be. She relished the chance to relax for the weekend away from everything.
She still couldn’t believe Ed had been key to so much that had gone on over the last two years. Through all of Paxton’s interrogations, Ed kept his lips tightly sealed, but according to Kiki’s mom, who fed Paxton information in return for a lighter sentence and protection, Ed was instrumental to the organization’s actions. Through another assistant within Congress, he had gotten advanced notice of the rescue mission where Ethan had died and had given the organization the go ahead to sabotage the mission. He’d pushed not only Amara, but other people close to lawmakers. He’d even been the one to pressure Colonel Johnson to betray his nation and best friend. Ed’s capture made Paxton hopeful they could finally make some leeway into taking down the organization, something Lena was more than willing to let Paxton’s team handle.
“Who wants to bet our man Jake here passes out when he sees Chloe step out of that cabin?” Rafe’s joke opened Lena’s eyes just in time to see him go all rigid, like he was in shock, and stumble backward.
“You speaking from experience?” Jake rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, but nothing could hide his smile under his trimmed beard.
“Yeah, kind of convenient you eloped with no one to witness your own foolish reaction to Piper.” Sosimo chuckled and pulled June closer to his side, rubbing her very large belly in the process.
“We’ll have to ask Piper to spill the beans when we’re done here.” Samantha turned to Tina, who snuggled up to Milo. “Why hadn’t we thought to make her before?”
Lena missed the girls nights the others would drag her to when she’d lived at the ranch. She wasn’t into romcoms and gushing about men, but being included, even reluctantly, had mended a part of her heart. Just like Zeke and the team had when they pulled her into their fold.
Tina shrugged. “Maybe we were too wrapped up in the romance of a beach wedding.”
“Mama, I thought we were throwing confetti, not beans.” Eva bounced in her seat next to Zeke.
“We are, squirt.” Zeke rubbed her head. “Spill the beans is an expression.”
Lena had missed this, her family of friends. They’d forced themselves in when all she had wanted was to disappear within her grief. Her eyes stung with tears, so she blinked to clear them, gazing at the tall mountains that surrounded the summer meadow Chloe and Jake had crash landed in that winter. She’d get through the wedding without crying, even if she had to wrestle her tears into submission.
“Eena, me hungry.” Carter looked up at her from her lap. “Me want beans.”
Laughter echoed through the trees and up the jagged mountainside. Then suddenly quieted as Jake froze, his gaze on the cabin. Lena turned, and a darn tear broke loose. Chloe walked with Piper and Davis on each side of her toward them. Lena had seen the simple, short dress covered with a long lace overdress that was perfect for their spunky Chloe, but watching Chloe radiate as she practically dragged Piper and Davis down the aisle overflowed Lena with a sense of blessing and love.
Marshall squeezed her hand, rubbing his thumb over the simple engagement ring he’d given her the day after they’d gotten Carter back. He had said he wasn’t waiting long and that she’d better figure out what kind of wedding she wanted fast. She peered up at him as he lifted their joined hands to his lips and softly kissed her ring.
“Soon, this will be us.” His whisper in her ear flitted butterflies in her stomach that soared to her head, making her dizzy.
Lena leaned into Marshall as she pulled Carter closer to her. She couldn’t wait to marry this man and officially be a family. She might just take a cue from Rafe and elope. She smiled as Jake stepped forward, took each of Chloe’s hands in his, and kissed them with precious reverence. Another tear escaped, but Lena didn’t care. Happiness sprung like a deep well inside her, and she wanted the world to see.
If you want more of the Rebel family, be sure to order Bjørn’s story in A Rebel’s Beacon.
You can also read Arne and Katie’s second chance at love in A Rebel’s Heart, exclusively available for free for a limited time to Sara’s newsletter subscribers.
Also by Sara Blackard
Vestige in Time Series
Vestige of Power
Vestige of Hope
Vestige of Legacy
Vestige of Courage
* * *
Stryker Security Force Series
Mission Out of Control
Falling For Zeke
Capturing Sosimo
Celebrating Tina
Crashing Into Jake
Discovering Rafe
Convincing Derrick
Honoring Lena
* * *
Alaskan Rebels Series
A Rebel’s Heart
A Rebel’s Beacon
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Also by Sara Blackard
About the Author
About the Author
Sara Blackard has been a writer since she was able to hold a pencil. When she's not crafting wild adventures and sweet romances, she's homeschooling her five children, keeping their off-grid house running, or enjoying the Alaskan lifestyle she and her husband love.
Honoring Lena Page 15