BONUS EPILOGUE (Blade & Lily)

Duty Bound — Blade & Lily

Six months later…

Blade had faced down Taliban fighters in the Hindu Kush, survived an ambush that took three of his brothers, and lived to tell the tale. None of that compared to the sheer, gut-twisting terror of standing at the altar.

He tugged at his collar for the fourth time. The suit was custom-fitted—Pat had insisted—but it felt like a straitjacket. Give him body armor and a helmet any day.

“Stop fidgeting.” Phoenix materialized beside him, looking annoyingly at ease in his own suit. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m not fidgeting.”

“You’ve adjusted your collar four times in the last two minutes. That’s fidgeting.”

Blade shot him a look that would’ve made a raw recruit cry. Phoenix just grinned, the bastard.

The small white chapel in Fayetteville was packed. Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, casting jewel-toned patterns across the wooden pews. There were flowers everywhere—white roses and eucalyptus—and the air smelled sweet and clean, nothing like the dusty, acrid scent that still haunted his dreams sometimes. Less often now. Lily had seen to that.

Pat sat in the front row, ramrod straight, his silver hair freshly trimmed. The old SEAL looked sharp, but there was a softness around his eyes that Blade recognized. Pride. And something deeper. Grief, maybe, for the son who should have been here. Spade would have been his best man.

Blade swallowed hard. He’d made peace with it—mostly. The nightmares had faded to a dull ache, a scar that no longer bled but would never fully disappear. He’d learned to live with that. Learned that carrying the weight didn’t mean carrying it alone.

The organ swelled, and every head in the chapel turned.

And there she was.

Lily appeared in the doorway, and the entire world went quiet. She wore a simple white dress—no train, no veil, nothing fussy—because that was Lily. Elegant without trying. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders, the way he liked it, threaded with tiny white flowers. Her eyes found his across the room, and the smile she gave him hit like a round to the chest.

He forgot how to breathe.

Phoenix nudged him. “Breathe, mate.”

Right. Breathing. That was a thing.

She walked toward him on the arm of her father, a quiet, bookish man who looked utterly bewildered by the collection of battle-scarred operatives filling the pews. Viper, in a suit that looked like it physically pained him, sat beside a petite redhead who kept whispering to him. Ghost had flown in from God knows where—the man was impossible to pin down—and even Stitch had surfaced, looking healthier than Blade had seen him in years. Something had changed in the former army doctor. A new light in his eyes. Blade made a mental note to ask about that later.

Then Lily was in front of him, and nothing else mattered.

“Hi,” she whispered, her eyes glistening.

“Hi yourself.” His voice came out rougher than intended. He cleared his throat. “You look…”

“If you say ‘not bad,’ I will end you,” she murmured, a wicked glint in her eye.

He laughed—actually laughed, in front of everyone—and shook his head. “Incredible. You look incredible.”

The ceremony was short and sweet, just the way they’d wanted it. No dramatics, no overblown speeches. Just two people making a promise they both intended to keep. When the chaplain said, “You may kiss the bride,” Blade didn’t hesitate. He pulled Lily into his arms and kissed her like it was the last thing he’d ever do, and the chapel erupted.

Phoenix whistled. Viper slow-clapped. Pat just nodded, his jaw tight, his eyes suspiciously bright.

• • •

The reception was held in the garden behind Pat’s place—a sprawling, green space with fairy lights strung between the oaks and a long trestle table loaded with more food than a platoon could eat. Turns out, Pat’s neighbor was a caterer. Convenient.

Blade stood at the edge of the lawn, a cold beer in his hand, watching his wife—his wife—laugh at something Phoenix’s date was telling her. The sound carried across the garden like music, light and free. Six months ago, he wouldn’t have believed this was possible. A year ago, he’d been white-knuckling through his days, riding his Suzuki too fast, drinking too much, trying to outrun a ghost.

Now he was building something. Blackthorn Security was operational. The DOD had greenlit the funding, and Pat had handled the red tape with the efficiency of a man who’d been navigating military bureaucracy for thirty years. They had an office—a converted warehouse on the outskirts of town—and a roster of five operators, with more to come.

Phoenix had just returned from the oil rig assignment in the Gulf. It had been rough, by all accounts—something about an explosion, an island, and a chemical engineer who’d gotten under his skin. Blade didn’t push for details. The man would talk when he was ready. They all did, eventually.

Pat appeared beside him, two cigars in hand. “Smoke?”

Blade took one. “Thanks.”

They stood in companionable silence, watching the festivities. The fairy lights caught the twilight, turning the garden into something from a dream.

“Spade would’ve been proud,” Pat said quietly. His voice didn’t crack, but it trembled at the edges. “He’d have given you so much grief, though. You know that, right? ‘Blade, settling down? The world must be ending.’”

Blade’s chest tightened. “Yeah. He would have.” He took a pull on the cigar and exhaled slowly. “I think about him every day, Pat. That hasn’t changed.”

“Good.” Pat’s grip on his shoulder was iron. “Don’t let it. But don’t let it own you, either. You’ve earned this, Blade. All of it.”

Before he could respond, Lily appeared, sliding under his arm like she’d been doing it her whole life. She smelled like roses and champagne, and when she looked up at him, her eyes held a secret.

“Can I steal my husband for a minute?” she asked Pat.

Pat winked. “All yours.”

She led him around the side of the house, away from the noise, to the old oak bench that overlooked the creek. Fireflies danced in the gathering dusk. She sat and pulled him down beside her, her fingers laced through his.

“I have something to tell you,” she said. Her voice was steady, but her hand trembled in his. Just slightly. Enough for a man trained to notice the smallest detail.

He searched her face. “What is it? You okay?”

She bit her lip—that thing she did when she was trying not to smile. “I’m better than okay.” She placed his hand on her stomach, flat and warm beneath the silk of her dress. “We’re better than okay.”

It took a second.

Then it hit him.

“Are you…” He stared at her. “Lily, are you serious?”

She nodded, tears spilling over, and the grin that split her face was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “Six weeks. I found out yesterday. I wanted to wait until today to tell you.”

He kissed her. Soft this time, reverent, his forehead pressed to hers. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t find the words. The man who’d stared death in the face a hundred times was completely, utterly undone.

“We’re having a baby,” he murmured, testing the words. They felt foreign. Impossible. Perfect.

“We’re having a baby.” She laughed through her tears.

From the garden, a roar of laughter erupted—Phoenix, no doubt, telling another war story that was eighty percent embellishment. The fairy lights twinkled. The cicadas hummed. And somewhere, Blade was sure, Spade was grinning.

He pulled Lily close, pressing his lips to the top of her head, breathing her in. For a long time, he’d believed the best of his life was behind him—left on a dusty mountain path in Helmand Province. But here, in the fading Carolina light, with his wife in his arms and a future he never dared imagine taking shape, he knew the truth.

The best was just beginning.

~ End ~

If you haven’t read DUTY BOUND, the first book in the Blackthorn Security series, you can find it here.

Here’s what it’s about:

Duty Bound by Gemma Ford

Former special ops soldier Blade Wilson swore he’d never return to Afghanistan after a mission left him scarred by guilt and loss. But when Lily—the girlfriend of his late best friend—is kidnapped by the Taliban, Blade becomes the only man capable of bringing her home.

Trapped in hostile territory, Lily is hunted for the military secrets stored in her memory, and every second brings greater danger. Rescuing her should be simple, except Lily blames Blade for the death of the man they both loved.

Forced to rely on each other to survive, the tension between them quickly turns into something far more dangerous: undeniable attraction. As enemies close in and betrayal lurks around every corner, Blade and Lily must decide whether they can trust each other enough to escape alive—and whether the feelings growing between them are worth risking everything for.

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