Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
“Let’s play hide and go seek,” Ariella said excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot in that energetic way only children could.
“Sure thing, Ari-Bear, your mom and I will play with you,” Lion agreed.
Honestly, he couldn’t get enough of spending time with his girls.
Whether it was playing games, watching movies, or eating meals altogether around the giant dining room table, he didn't really care.
He just wanted to soak in these moments, make up for lost time, and build a lifetime of memories.
“No, I want everyone to play,” Ariella insisted, turning hopeful blue eyes on the others as they all worked together to clean up after lunch.
“I'm not sure everyone else wants to play hide and go seek with you, sweetie,” Kate piped up.
Thankfully, his girl had been doing better this last month at letting him in.
Lion was pretty sure it wasn't just because Ariella seemed to be improving every single day, but also that Kate was putting her growing trust in him into practice.
Now it wasn't just an abstract idea in her mind. Each time he showed up with words and actions, he could see another piece of her walls come crumbling down. She’d cried in his arms several times over the last few weeks, worried Ariella would relapse, that these improvements were too good to be true.
That she was opening up and sharing her emotions with him instead of thinking she had to handle it all on her own, was slowly washing away his guilt from the past.
Those words he’d thrown at her a decade ago would always exist between them, but they no longer defined their relationship.
“Nah, we can swing a game for the squirt,” Thunder said with affection.
“Are you guys going to cheat?” Ariella asked, narrowing her eyes as her gaze roamed the men in the room.
“I don’t think being the strongest man in the world is going to help me at hide and go seek, squirt,” Steel told her, amusement sparking in his eyes.
Because Ariella was part of this now, she might even begin to develop her own enhanced skill, given that she’d taken a variation on the drug that had created them, they’d explained everything to her in as child-friendly a way as possible.
Ariella wasn't just any kid, though. She was mature for her age, given everything she’d been through and the things she’d had to confront.
Her correct assertion that while Kate hadn't donated bone marrow, she had played just as big a role in saving her as he had proved that, and she’d asked a lot of questions.
The little girl was intrigued by all their skills and had asked them to demonstrate them several times this last month.
“Maybe yours won't help you cheat, but what about Dragon’s smell and Blade’s hearing. They can cheat. You can, too, Dad, with your sight. It’s no fun playing if people are cheating,” Ariella said, so seriously that Lion had to hide his smirk.
“Couldn’t agree with you more, Ari,” Rose agreed, grinning at the guys. “You heard the kid, no cheating.”
“Scouts honor,” Blade agreed. Dragon just smirked.
“Not making any promises,” Dragon said, making Cassandra swat at his shoulder. “Sorry, little rabbit, but it’s not like I can just chop off my nose for the game.”
“He won't cheat, Ari, I’ll make sure of it,” Cassandra assured the little girl.
“We playing outside or inside?” Indigo asked.
“Outside,” Ariella and Maya answered in unison.
“Jinx,” they both said, smiling at one another.
“Double jinx.”
“Triple jinx.”
“And let’s stop there,” Thunder quickly inserted before the two could keep going and going and going. In fact, Ariella and Maya had spent ages googling all the way up to a thousand a few days ago, and this was their new favorite game.
It was nice not only to see his daughter embracing her new family, but also to see Maya coming out of her shell.
It was hard to believe it hadn't even been two months since they found her in a cage, staring blankly at the ceiling, naked and presenting her body the way she’d been conditioned to.
Beth Lindon and her husband Axe, who was the team leader for Prey’s Bravo Team, had come to visit a couple of weeks ago, and spending time with Beth, who had lived through something similar, seemed to have really helped Maya.
Before a very pregnant Beth had left, the two had made plans for their next visit once Axe and Beth’s baby was born and they were settled into a routine.
“Spoilsport,” Maya muttered, but her gray eyes were full of love when she looked up at Thunder.
“And you love me for it,” Thunder shot back, grasping her chin and tilting her face so he could kiss her.
“Come on, let’s go play,” Ariella insisted, still bouncing about.
If you’d asked him six months ago whether he and his teammates would be completely at the mercy of a four-foot-tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl, who had them all wrapped firmly around her little finger, he would have laughed at the notion.
Actually, he hadn't laughed back then, so he probably would have just glared and dismissed the idea as an impossibility.
But it wasn't an impossibility.
It was his new reality.
Their new reality.
Because he wasn't the only one who traipsed after Ariella as she skipped through the house. Wasn't the only one who stepped out into the warm spring sunshine and looked around as they decided who was going to count and who was going to hide.
“Steel can count,” Ariella made the decision for them, and since her wish was apparently their command, they all nodded their agreement, which made Kate laugh.
“I did not know all these years that my kid has this ability to control grown men, who, I'm not going to lie, are definitely scary before you get to know them,” she said.
“They’re not scary, Mom, they just look mean sometimes because they forgot how to smile.
But it’s okay, because they're remembering again,” Ariella explained like it was the simplest thing in the world.
Then she went darting off toward the trees.
“Count to one hundred before you come looking for us, Steel,” she called out over her shoulder as she ran.
“Your kid is a little genius,” Steel said softly as they all watched the child run off without a care in the world.
Steel was right. Ariella couldn’t have put it any better, or any simpler.
He and his team had forgotten how to smile.
They hadn't had any reason to. The Gardner family had stripped them of their families, their lives, and their freedom, filled them with a rage that demanded retribution, and hunted them for years.
But things were changing.
Love had found its way into their lives, and they were learning to smile again, to laugh even. They were finding moments of joy growing from tiny snippets into the majority of their time.
“No cheating remember, squirt doesn’t like it,” Steel reminded the others with a glare that told them they’d better not disappoint Ariella.
Dragon just snorted, but Blade nodded obediently, and Lion knew he’d play with his eyes closed when it was his turn to count just so he didn't give his daughter any reason to be sad. Ariella had been through enough, they all had.
“One, two, three, four, five …”
As Steel counted, the rest of them scattered, other than Rose, who remained at Steel’s side, her head resting on his shoulder.
Lion noticed they weren't the only couple that stuck together as he grabbed Kate’s hand and tugged her along with him.
Dragon was with Cassandra, Blade with Whitney, Voodoo was with Indigo, and Thunder with Maya.
Passing his special spot, he heard Ariella giggling to herself as she tried to hide behind the giant rock in the center of the tiny circular clearing.
There was no need for enhanced skills to spot the kid, but in the end, it wasn't really hiding and not being found that made this particular round of hide and go seek fun.
It was just being with the people you cared about.
The people you loved.
Wanting to hear his daughter’s squeal of delight when Steel and Rose found her, Lion chose a large tree nearby and pressed Kate up against it.
“I love you,” he murmured as he brushed his lips across hers.
“Love you too,” she murmured back.
“Thank you for giving me a second chance.”
“Always. You explained, apologized, and made amends, that’s all anyone can ask. I think it’s time to set the past where it belongs. Behind us. I love you, Leo. Ariella loves you, the guys on your team love you, and their partners love you. It’s time to move forward, to focus only on the future.”
Kate was right. He was surrounded by people who loved him, a family that had been born out of trauma but forged deep, unbreakable bonds. One thing he’d learned these last few months was that living focused only on revenge wasn't really living at all. Revenge wasn't living, but loving was.
“Babe, you should know something,” he whispered in her ear.
“What?”
“We’re getting a bunny. And a kitten. And a puppy. And a horse. Maybe an entire farmyard to go with them. Ariella wants pets.”
Belle and Jacob couldn’t make a relationship work before, now they have to work together to find a deranged serial killer in the first book in the action packed and emotionally charged Prey Security: Serial Killer Apprehension Team series!
Teach me to Kill (Prey Security: Serial Killer Apprehension Team #1)