“I would hope so, since you’re holding the ring I’m giving to Kyle,” Jamie said dryly. “Please tell me you didn’t forget that at home.”
“Like you forgot your suit?” Liam patted his pants pocket with a firm hand. “So little faith. I have your ring right here. It’s not going anywhere.”
Except on Kyle’s finger, Jamie thought.
Their wedding bands were simple, made of platinum, and in Kyle’s case, edged in diamonds and sized to sit comfortably beside his engagement ring. Once Jamie put the wedding ring on him, it was never coming off.
Jamie’s fingers twitched just thinking about that, as well as the private present he had gotten Kyle, which was set to be delivered to their home from the jewelers while they were getting married. The Secret Service and the private security firm that watched over their home would receive it in his absence. The supervising special agent knew to put it in Jamie’s home office safe until Jamie could return and get it packed.
They would leave for their honeymoon in a couple of days on a private space shuttle up to his family’s premier luxury spaceship cruise liner that circled the Earth and Moon. Empyrean had been a sticking point between Jamie and his father during the course of the long-running Pavluhkin mission, but in the end, things had worked out. While stocks had dropped, overall, damage to the company’s name and bottom line had been minimal. Jamie’s classified identity becoming known and his actions during the attack on the capital had gone a long way toward mitigating any negative attacks on the crown jewel of his family’s business empire.
“If it isn’t the man of the hour,” Richard said as he came into the room. “Are you nervous?”
“Not remotely,” Jamie replied, the answer mostly not a lie.
Their fractured relationship had mended somewhat after Richard won the presidency, but it still wasn’t where it had once been. Richard was too set in his ways, and Jamie was too stubborn, and they both thought they had been in the right over the past few years. In hindsight, maybe they could’ve given a little ground, but it didn’t matter now.
Richard had what he had always wanted, and Jamie would start overseeing parts of the family’s business once he returned from his honeymoon. He and Leah were both heirs to their parents’ vast business ventures and wealth, and it was time he focused on what would become his future. Jamie still worked with the MDF, though, as did Kyle. They might not have been active duty, but they were still metahumans, and they both felt they couldn’t completely walk away. Not yet.
“Are people starting to arrive?” Jamie asked.
“Yes. Security is clearing everyone before they’re directed to the Blue Room for pre-ceremony refreshments. Katie and most of your team are here as well. I can send for them if you want them up here,” Richard replied.
Jamie shook his head. “No need. I’ll reach out to Katie.”
Jamie stretched his thoughts to the very edge of his mind in a way that he hadn’t needed to do in quite a few months. The mental link that had been between him and the rest of his team courtesy of Katie’s telepathic power was still there, still active, and Katie heard his thoughts before they barely formed.
Alexei says they will be on time if he and Kyle have to shoot out every last stoplight, Katie told him.
Jamie laughed, shaking his head as he did so.Tell them no property destruction. That’s an order. I don’t want to be bailing my fiancé out of jail before we’re even married.
I’ll let them know.
Come on up with the team.
On our way.
Katie slipped out of his mind, and Jamie focused on the room rather than the thoughts in his head. “They’re coming up.”
“It feels a bit like a reunion,” Liam said.
“You’re not wrong.”
The last time the entire team had been together in one place was for Alexei and Sean’s wedding back in December. Everyone had scattered after retiring from active field duty last year, which hadn’t surprised Jamie at the time. They still talked to each other, met up in smaller groups when they could, but they were all learning how to live new lives after their old ones had been upended.
These days, everyone was either pursuing an education, new business ventures, or had taken positions with the MDF as supervisors or trainers. They were all metahumans, and the MDF didn’t want to give them all up, but laws stated they could choose to walk away if they wanted to, and some of them had.
Ultimately, Jamie wanted his team alive and happy, and he had gotten that in the end. The only thing left to do now was marry the man he loved.
Richard and Charlotte moved farther into the bedroom, sidestepping the photographer. Jamie hadn’t forgotten she was there, but he’d mostly ignored her while she got shots of him getting ready with Liam’s help.
The sound of laughter echoed in the hall. Jamie smiled as the former members of the Alpha Team he had once led poured into the room, led by Katie and her partner, Strike Force Captain Matthew Gailani.
Katie looked beautiful in a gray gown that fell to her knees, the style a little different from Annabelle Brown’s and Madison Chan’s, though they had stayed within the gray and teal color scheme of the wedding. They’d all chosen dresses that fit their body types and personalities in lieu of wearing their uniforms as the guys had done.
Donovan Williams and Trevor Sanchez had both opted to wear their dress blues like Jamie, though theirs were the enlisted color design and lacked the officer embellishments Jamie’s had. Dr. Gracie Gold had never been military, but the royal purple gown and the elegant matching hat she wore looked lovely on her. Trevor’s partner, Brandon Kane, wore a three-piece suit with morning tails that matched the look of Liam’s reception outfit he’d brought along to the White House for later.
Alexei and Sean Dvorkin were with Kyle this morning, and the entire team would be there to stand with them as groomsmen and women. Liam was his best man, and Katie would stand right beside the Brit as his best woman, along with Donovan and Madison. Alexei, Sean, Annabelle, and Trevor would stand with Kyle. The team was their family, and they’d all been through so much together. The wedding party decision had been the easiest one to make out of everything over the past six months.
