Karolina (Karo) Matthews is second in command in her platoon of Navy SEAL's. She's proud, strong, brave, and she would put her life on the line for the country she loves. Niklaus Bennett is powerful, dangerous and the Alpha of the Fiorscoth Pack. He...
Picture of Niklaus Bennett (UPDATE 01/10/2023 I chose this photo when I was 17 years old, now I'm dying laughing at all the comments y'all have made on his picture. I picture him different now that I'm almost 25 LMOA. Just going to keep him here for the comments only LOL)
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"Warriors are those who choose to stand between their enemy and all that she loves or holds sacred."
Karolina Matthews POV
It was Christmas eve today in the United States of America. I could say there was no greater feeling to be flying and seeing nothing except white and green, but I would be lying. I was scared to go home and sit there doing nothing, just like before I joined the Navy. It's been nine years since I began my military career, and it's been seven and a half since I became a SEAL. I also hadn't been home in two years. I had seen a lot that no twenty seven year old should have to see.
Our pilot did his best to land the small jet smoothly, but he landed safely, which is all I care about. The boys and I thanked the pilot with a small nod accompanied by a hand shake before walking up the jet bridge into the airport.
We looked intimidating, I thought. We were all dressed in black EMS jackets, our SEAL camo pants and combat boots, our camo backpacks, and finally we all had our personal weapons strapped to our backs. I even had my Colt-pistol sitting in a drop-leg thigh holster. My team looked dangerous, and very serious as all our faces were whipped of emotion.
We had landed in the Bangor Air National Guard Base in Bangor Maine. The base was also a public airport, so it was kind of humorous to watch the civilians giving us exasperating looks. We didn't care about them though. I could see our families sitting on the other side of the security check-ins; all of our family members looked like they were going to burst into tears.
"My baby," whispered my mom, Sherry, as soon as she was able to take me into her arms. I put my arms around her and let her cry as I watched the others.
Henry's mother and wife were here. His mother, Monica, had a big smile on her face as she watched the interaction between husband and wife. I smiled on the inside.
Cody's wife and their two children were here. Cody had lifted his young children into his arms and had his forehead pressed against his wife's. They were giving each other "the eyes".
Andrew and Colton's parents, Dennis and Linda, had locked the twins in a Demeris sandwich and I saw the boys roll their eyes at their affection. Snipes and Colt didn't like being coddled.
Tyler had just folded his arms around his crying mother, and I saw the emotions in his eyes that I knew no one else could read. My strongest friendship in our platoon was with Tyler. I could read the SEAL like an open book. He had missed his mother, and he was trying to hold back his tears.
Leonardo was surrounded by his three teenage daughters as they had hugged him from any angle they could. He had a small smile on his face as his arms wrapped around his youngest and pulled her closer. I knew she had some sort of illness, a deadly one too. Lung cancer, if I remember correctly.
I could hear strangers all around us saying "awe" and all that kind of sweet stuff. My mother smiled at everyone as she let me go and then she locked her green eyes with my brown ones.
"Oh Karolina, I missed you so much." she whispered, dabbing her eyes with her brightly colored scarf.
"I missed you too, mom." I replied with a soft smile, "Let's go home."
****
My mother's two room apartment hadn't changed since I had left it two years ago. The walls were still an evergreen color, and the floors hard cherry wood. The living room had a television with a box, and the couch/love seat were a warm beige. I could see the kitchen from where I was standing. It was filled with older appliances, but the counter tops were mom's favorite quarts.
"Your room has been untouched," mom spoke as she walked further into the house. "So everything should be right where you left them."
"So, my beds unmade?" I joked. I had left the house in such a hurry that I didn't even make my bed. My mom hates when I don't make my bed, says it is unladylike. Well, she wont be getting ladylike from me. I just spent two years surrounded by six guys while we were in the middle of nowhere.
She looked over her shoulder at me and gave me that motherly glare, "I made your bed." Then she smiled, "Yesterday."
"You spent two years with my unmade bed? That's a shocker." I gasped playfully.
"Your sheets needed to be washed, so when you came back they would smell downy fresh."
We both started laughing and went our separate ways; she was making dinner, and I wanted to change into something comfortable.
My room was still down the hall, second door to the right. As I opened that brown door, I was hit by memories as I saw my familiar pale blue walls, my full sized bed with a Star Wars comforter and sheets, and finally my White Birch wooden desk. My dad had made that desk for me when I started first grade. That was twenty one years ago and I have had it ever since. I shut the door behind me and placed my bag and weapons by my desk, and collapsed on my bed.
I had been a quiet teenager. I never went to parties or stayed up late. My homework was always first priority and it paid off as I was first in my graduating class. College wasn't in my plans though. My father was a SEAL just like I am, but he was a leading commander. He was respected by all and did everything he could to protect his country. He died in Iraq when I was seventeen, and it was his death that made me want to join the military. I wanted to do what he did and fight for my country.
I dragged my hand down my face before getting up to change.
