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To her surprise, the men around her chuckled.

She was taken aback for a moment before Pyro explained.

“He was talking out his ass, sweetheart. If anything, he would’ve been the one in deep shit.

I’m not saying the Turkish government hasn’t done some sketchy things, but everything Osman did to draw attention to them won’t go over well. ”

Tate’s arm went around her shoulders, and he pulled her against him. Laryn immediately melted into his side. The last ten minutes or so seemed like a blur. One second, she thought she was about to be assaulted, and now she was back in Tate’s arms and hopefully on her way to safety.

Her entire body began to shake. “D-d-delayed reaction,” she said, closing her eyes and doing her best to curb her body’s response to the adrenaline dump. “I’m okay.”

“I’ve got you. We’ve all got you,” Tate reassured her.

With her eyes shut, Laryn let go of some of the control she’d been using to keep her body upright.

Every part of her hurt. She was exhausted.

Could sleep—on a nice soft bed, with a fluffy pillow—for days.

But she had no doubt there would be debriefings she’d have to attend once they got to the ship.

She’d need to explain what happened to her and what military secrets she might have exposed.

She’d do whatever was necessary, because deep down, she recognized that she’d brought some of what happened to her on herself, just as Altan had accused.

If she’d simply stayed quiet and hadn’t thought to escape her feelings for Tate by taking a new job…

If she’d gotten out of the helicopter after fixing the FLIR the first time…

“No,” Tate said sternly.

Looking up at him, she frowned. “No, what?”

“This wasn’t your fault.”

Her eyes widened. “How could you possibly know what I was thinking?”

“Because I know you. This was all Osman’s doing. All of it. Paying off people in Virginia and on the ship to find out your movements. To orchestrate that kidnapping. He got what he deserved, and you shouldn’t feel a second of regret.”

“For Altan? I don’t. Not at all. He was a dick,” Laryn told him.

The men around her all chuckled.

“Right. So what are you feeling guilty about? And don’t say nothing, I can tell you’ve got regret swirling behind those beautiful brown eyes of yours.”

Laryn sighed. She looked around at the other five men in the helicopter.

“You all put your lives, and maybe careers, on the line for me. I know better than most that it wasn’t a matter of simply flying in to get me.

There had to be a ton of red tape, and I’m still worried about relations between Turkey and the US going sour because of all this. ”

“No one’s career is on the line. And we were never in any danger.

Hell, most of the men in that hangar were just like you, Laryn.

They weren’t there of their own volition.

The second they had a chance to get the hell out, they did.

I think when the Turkish government hears what Osman was doing, and how he was going about it, there won’t be any ramifications,” Edge told her.

“Are you being honest with me? Or telling me what you think I want to hear?” she asked.

“I try not to lie,” Edge said earnestly.

It wasn’t exactly a straight answer, but Laryn realized it was the best she was going to get at the moment. She took a deep breath, then turned back to Tate. “How are those two SEALs doing? The ones you and Pyro had to go get?”

“Is she serious right now?” Pyro asked no one in particular.

Laryn glanced at him and said, “Yes, I’m serious. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Maybe because you were just rescued after being kidnapped and having who the hell knows what done to you for the week it took us to get to you, and you want to know how the Navy SEALs are doing?”

“Well, yeah.”

“They’re good,” Obi-Wan said from his copilot seat. “Mustang and Pid are back in Hawaii, being spoiled by their friends and family.”

“Thank God. And they’re okay? They’ll be able to continue doing…SEAL stuff?”

More chuckles sounded in her ears through the headphones. “Yeah, sweetheart, they’ll be just fine.”

She nodded. Then she glared at Tate. “You wrecked another chopper,” she said sternly, falling back into the comfortable sniping they were so good at.

“Oh no, I did not. I landed perfectly.”

“Did you or did you not have to destroy that MH-60 I slaved over? Spent hours upon hours getting flight ready?”

Humor made Tate’s eyes sparkle.

“We couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands,” Pyro said, defending his friend and fellow pilot.

“I about died when that asshole shot it up,” Laryn admitted with a sigh. “I guess I have more long days and nights to look forward to, huh?”

Tate nuzzled the side of her head. “Guess so. But am I allowed to admit that I’m not entirely upset about this turn of events?”

“You like when I’m overworked and stressed out?” Laryn asked, feeling more and more like herself. This was what she needed. A bit of normalcy to overpower the horrible memories of the last week.

“No. I like when we’re stateside. Without a chopper, it’s not likely we’ll be sent on any missions anytime soon,” Tate said.

“Not to mention the Army probably isn’t so keen to see us lose another chopper so soon after the last two,” Pyro said with a chuckle .

“We’re out of Turkey airspace,” Buck informed them all through the headset.

Laryn sighed with relief. She hadn’t realized how tense she’d been, but she was grateful for everyone’s attempt at distracting her until they were well and truly out of danger.

As Buck and Obi-Wan flew them all back toward the destroyer, Tate said softly, “You did good, Laryn. I’m proud of you.”

“You have no idea what I did. What I went through. Maybe I was in a three-room suite with food piled high on trays and everything I asked for at my disposal,” Laryn countered.

Tate looked at her, his expression serious.

“You’ve lost at least ten pounds from when I saw you last. You smell like soap, but it doesn’t completely disguise the scent of mustiness and decay in your hair, which tells me you were probably in the dungeon under that hangar.

And I can tell just by your body language that it’s going to take a hot minute for you to get over what happened.

“I’m here for you, baby. I’m a good listener, and I want to know everything you survived from the second we left to pick up the SEALs, until we found you in the hallway with that asshole.

And if you don’t want to tell me , you’ll talk to a psychologist. Because I plan on us having a long, happy life together, and in order to have that, you can’t be constantly thinking about what happened back there. ”

He was scowling by the time he finished speaking, and Laryn couldn’t help but grin up at him.

“Nothing is funny about this,” Tate growled.

“I know,” Laryn said, sobering. “You want to know what I was thinking the entire time?”

“That you wanted to kill those motherfuckers?” Chaos asked.

Laryn gave his teammate a quick smile before turning back to Tate.

“Well, yes, but the thought that kept rolling around in my head was, ‘Tate’s coming.’ I had no doubt you were doing everything in your power to get to me, and all I had to do was hold on until you got there.

I stalled as much as possible, figuring the evil I knew was better than the evil I didn’t.

Yes, I was uncomfortable, and scared, and hungry.

But I wasn’t tortured. Wasn’t beaten. I was just stashed in one of those cells in the dungeon under the hangar for most of my time there.

It was dark, smelly, gross, and uncomfortable…

but again, I knew you were coming for me.

I just had to hold on for one more day, one more hour, one more minute. ”

“Laryn,” Tate said, his voice quivering with emotion.

“There’s no crying in the Night Stalkers,” she admonished gently, as she hugged the man she’d loved for what seemed like forever.

“Wrong,” Edge piped in.

Laryn wasn’t even embarrassed that she was having this pretty intense conversation not only with Tate, but five of his best friends. She knew these men, had worked with them for years. Respected them. Loved them, each in their own way.

“We cry,” Edge went on. “We’re human just like everyone else. And there’s no shame in crying. We’ve all done it. Sometimes it’s the only way to get the emotions out so you can continue on with life.”

He wasn’t wrong. But his words also made Laryn wonder what exactly he’d cried about.

There was a lot about these men she didn’t know.

And she was looking forward to getting to know them all better.

A lot better. Because if she had her way, she’d be spending a lot more time with them, time outside of work, which was more than all right with her.

She felt Tate’s hand on the side of her head, encouraging her to rest it against his shoulder, which she did gladly. She was exhausted and she felt grubby, but at that moment, in Tate’s arms, safe, she didn’t really care.

Laryn had no doubt that the next few hours, or days, weren’t going to be fun, but after surviving what she had…

she could deal wi th “no fun” without any issues.

As she lay against Tate, she felt the sudden need to lose herself in her work.

To put the past behind her. And thankfully, she’d have lots of work to occupy her time and mind in the foreseeable future.

She had a lot to look forward to…the most important of which was Tate. Every indication was that he was completely serious about a relationship with her. Something Laryn still had to pinch herself to believe.

She smiled. Content to put herself in this man’s hands. He’d more than proven that he could, and would, stand between her and anyone or anything that might harm her. She couldn’t ask for anything more.