"They kept me safe more times than I can count. Judy liked to throw parties when her current mark or husband was out of town or working. She didn’t want a little kid around ruining her fun, luckily most places we stayed either had dogs, or there were dogs in the neighborhood. It was just easier for me the dogs accepted me. I wasn’t the new kid or the weird kid to them I was just me."
"I told Wyatt about one instance where the dogs I befriended saved me from a terrible situation, and I was determined to do the same for them. So, I breed or adopt pit bulls and mastiffs to train as service dogs. Peyton laughed, but I hate to tell you Declan you will have to go through one of my training classes to get a puppy just like everybody else family or not."
"Okay, I’ll do that if you let me slide on the two-year waiting period."
"Sorry, can’t but I can go with you to choose and dog and help you train it yourself, I have to ask why you would need or want one of my dogs? You’re a dragon your instincts, and other skills negate the need for protection. I would also assume you have an excellent sense of smell."
"Yeah, your right but you have to remember I have two mostly human daughters and a granddaughter now that may turn into a bear. I would like to think that if I am not there, they would be protected."
"What about their mates I mean Declan they are bears? Big Bears, I’ve seen them, and they are nothing to sneeze at. Not to mention you are all military trained and shoot I could go on and on."
Declan chuckled," you are right, but dogs provide companionship and love that other things can’t. I want McKenna and the rest of you to have the best possible protection, and I see no harm in adding another layer. An added Bonus if you’re a little girl and you can confide and cuddle with that protections."
"Ah I see where you are going and I will be happy to help. I’m not sure what I will be doing after this mission is complete Wyatt and I haven’t honestly talked about it. I know I want to be with him he mentioned something about going back to base with him but wherever I land you can count on me helping you find McKenna, a dog."
"Oh, sweetheart I don’t think you have to worry about where you will land after this mission I can virtually guarantee you are going to end up at the Alpha Base. Will you be okay leaving your mountains?"
"Actually, I really wouldn’t mind the change, even before I meet Wyatt I knew I was coming to a crossroads so to speak when I contacted Cathy to take over for me at the kennel it just felt right. She and I have been corresponding for a couple of years. She has even been to three of my training courses and spent some of her leave with me when she was still in the military. I know she will continue the training program and be superb at it."
"Your assistant was in the military? What branch?"
"Navy her name is Cathy Torrent."
"Shit really, Cathy served under me for a while she is an excellent dog trainer and soldier. You really lucked out with her."
"Wow small world, but now that I think about it. She did mention a Senior a couple of times. I can tell you that she had a very high opinion of you as well." Peyton yawned, man it had been a really long day. She still had a ton of work to do but needed a nap.
"Honey why don’t you get some shut eye. I will wake you up in a couple of hours so you can start going through all the data we got today."
"I would like to argue with you Declan, but I’m afraid I couldn’t even focus on a screen right now." Going to a bedroom Peyton intention was to get ready for bed but then for the first time since leaving Wyatt she let the emotions she had been holding back all day hit her hard, and she cried. Losing contact with the team and especially Wyatt, fearing she had put them all in danger. Getting chased down the snow-covered highway and then the suits almost catching up with her. Seeing Judy on the corner looking for her, it was all just too much she wasn’t even going to think about all the other stuff now.
She barely heard her phone ringing over her sobs. She debated for about a second on whether to answer it or not but since the screen revealed it was Wyatt she did needed the comfort and safety only he could provide her. She didn’t even get a chance to say anything before Wyatt said," What’s wrong baby?" She tried to play it off with a nothing, and then I’m just tried, but Wyatt wasn’t having any of it. “Baby listen, I know this is all new to you but I can feel your upset, tell me what is going on?” And that was all it took for Peyto to break all over again. She told Wyatt everything from my fear of being wrong about the mission to my fears of the future. That she was missing her dogs and most of all him.
"Baby listen, I can be there in six hours just say the word, I don’t like hearing you like this. I should have never agreed to this separation, we just mated we need to be together. We can figure out another way to hack in Davis they aren’t as important as you are."
"No Wyatt we need to finish this I just lost it for a little bit, I’m so sorry."
"You don’t have any reason to apologize, Peyton, shit baby you have had to deal with so much in such a short time. But I can put one of your worries to rest when this mission is over we are going back to the Alpha base. I want you to live there with me, baby you're already my mate but if you need a piece of paper to cement that we can get married."
Peyton started to cry all over again she didn’t want to tell him no or let him down in any way, but marriage was not something she could do. The lump in her throat grew, and she managed a whispered," I don’t want to get married, Wyatt." Before he could respond she quickly said the rest," I don’t think I ever will Judy used that institution for her own gain too many times to count. I watched as she married man after and man and then just walked away without another thought. Then there were her marks she destroyed marriages and families with a simple bat of her eyelashes. I’m so sorry Wyatt I just can’t it holds no meaning for me."
Peyton was expecting him to be mad or maybe a little disappointed. Her denial was tearing a whole in her heart. She wanted to give him everything, but marriage couldn’t be one of them.
"Oh, Thank God."
"What?"
"Baby I don’t want to get married any more than you do. We are mated, fate blessed and that means more to me than any piece of paper or gold ring ever could. This is our life Peyton, and we make the choices. No one will ever determine our road that is ours to decide. You get me?"
"Yeah, Wyatt I think I totally get you. Thank you."
"No need to thank me, baby, I hate to say it, but I am kind of disappoint in one way?"
"Yeah, why is that?"
"I kind of like the idea of calling you Peyton Green."
"Yeah, honey I think that could happen I kind of like the idea too. Thanks, Wyatt, I hope I can make you as happy as you have made me."
"Okay enough of the serious stuff, we need to do something fun to get your mind off of all this crap. So, what are you wearing right now baby?"
"Huh, a t-shirt and underwear, why?"
Wyatt laughed" honey that was supposed to be my sexy voice let’s try again, Baby what are you wearing right now?"
"Oh, um Wyatt I think I know where you are going with this but really? Phone sex? Declan is in the other room what if he heard and sorry babe but I can pretty much guarantee I won’t be any good at it."
"Okay how about we play a game then?"
"What like I spy or something?"
"Not exactly, in this game, you have to do everything I tell you or ask you to do."
"Oh, more like Simon Says, Wyatt how would you know if was really doing what you told me to?"
"I’d know baby because I trust you not to lie to me and you would do it because you want to make me happy."
Peyton was excited by the possibilities this game held she really didn’t think she could get into phone sex it was kind of cold, or so she thought. "Okay Wyatt I will try I just don’t want to disappoint you it just feels weird."
"Honey you could never disappoint me, and you don’t even know what I am going to ask you to do yet. I think you are just letting your mind get away from you."
"Maybe, okay Master Wyatt I’m ready to obey your every wish," Peyton giggled.
"Now that’s more like it. Okay first things first, I want you to go to the bathroom and change into your pajamas, wash your face, brush your teeth and take care of any other business you might need to."
Peyton was a bit disappointed, her nightly routine wasn’t anything close too sexy, so she kind of stomped her way to the attached bathroom leaving her phone and Wyatt out in the bedroom. Some things no one else needed to hear. She decided to give the whole phone sex thing a try she had already built it up in her mind, but she had agreed to do whatever Wyatt said maybe she could give him a little push, though.
"Okay Master your willing slave has attended to her nightly preparations and is now able to serve and obey."
"Nice, all right I want you to walk over to the bed and climb in under the covers."
Damn, she thought she would be bad at the whole phone sex thing, but Wyatt was even worse. Her excitement kind of deflated she did as Wyatt said and got into bed fully dressed.
"Operation complete Sir."
"Okay, are you comfortable? Warm and cozy?"
"Not really, it’s better when you’re in bed with me. You know it’s weird I spent years without you in my bed, and now I can’t imagine going to bed without you by my side."
"I know what you mean baby, and we will be together again really soon. Now I want you to tell me all the delicious little things you do to that luscious body of yours when you think no one is watching."
"Just kidding baby, we can try the phone sex thing another time. How about I just stay right here on the line until you fall fast asleep."
"It’s not the same but thanks, honey. I really needed you tonight."
"No problem baby gets some sleep and Peyton, I love you."
"Love you to Wyatt," she said, and she was out so exhausted from everything that had happened that day. She fell asleep listening to Wyatt’s breaths in her ear. She really loved that man.
Chapter 24
Peyton was jolted out of one of the best exotic dreams she had ever had in her life by something, it took her a couple of minutes laying in the dark to figure out what it was but the sound of flesh hitting flesh was enough to get her moving quickly. Grabbing her clothes and dressing quickly she tried to figure out what she should do next. She didn’t know if she should hide or go out and see what was going on. She didn’t have a weapon, and she had learned her lesson with Wyatt back at her bunker.
Going out to who knows what scared the crap out of her. Luckily, she didn’t have to make a choice because Declan came into the room a second later.
"Come on honey we have been compromised we need to make tracks and quick."
Stepping over the body in the hall Peyton felt the bile gurgling up her throat, it was one of the suits that had been with Judy. His head was laying at an odd angle his eyes staring blankly. Yuck. Well at least there wasn’t any blood, yeah, she spoke too soon the living room was a mess. She finally took stock and noticed that Declan was bleeding. " Shit. Declan your hurt."
"It’s okay Peyton, only a scratch nothing that won’t heal pretty soon. I should have done this before but honey we need to run a scan. I thought we were good after the coffee shop, but they have to be tracking our movements somehow. Declan pulled out a wand-like device and scanned Peyton from head to toe, and there wasn’t anything."
"Come on sweetheart grab your gear, I don’t know if these guys had back up we need to get moving, but we have to try and figure out how they are tracking us. Putting all of her stuff in a pile, Declan scanned it again nothing. Shit, this doesn’t make any sense. Here honey hold on to this, I’m going to grab my stuff wait for me by the door I want to go out first okay?"
"Yep," Peyton stuffed her clothes into her bag grabbed her laptop and the scanner and waited for Declan to reappear and placed his bag down by her feet. "Okay honey I’m going to check things out, I will come back and get you when it is all clear. Do no move from this spot okay?"
"Yep."
When Declan came back to get her Peyton fumbled all the things she was trying to hold inadvertency setting the scanner off when Declan reached for her, and it beeped. It would have been comical if it wasn’t so serious. Both Peyton and Declan’s eyes widened. Peyton wasn’t the one that had been bugged, Declan had been. They found the small transmitter under the collar of his jacket.
"God, damn it. Okay, honey, we need to run a scan over the rest of my stuff. Doing so they found four other trackers. Okay shit, this is not good. Here is what we are going to do, I don’t want to alert the fuckers that are tracking me that we found the transmitters, so we are going to take a page out of your playbook. There is a 24-hour restaurant down the road. We are going to slip these little babies on to someone else. Then we are going to call a meeting with the rest of the group because we have been compromised big time."
The bug transfer went off without a hitch, and Peyton got some amazing pancakes for the trouble. Declan was quiet, he sent a text to all his teams telling them to scan for bugs. When all of them came back, positive Peyton had to ask him to stop the car. She had no idea what it was, but the Alpha vibe was suffocating her, and she needed some fresh air before she passed out or puked. Neither very pleasant.
"Declan, can you pull over for a second please?"
"What sorry are you okay Peyton, shit honey you don’t look so well."
"Please, Declan can you pull over?"
When they finally got to the side of road Peyton jumped out of the vehicle, breathing the fresh air was helping but Declan came around the car, and she had to stop him. " Declan, sorry but you need to stay away from me right now you putting off some unyielding vibes and shit I am so sorry, but until you calm down, I need you to stay away from me. The alternative won’t be pleasant sir. My body can’t decide if it wants to puke or pass out I’m so sorry I just please can we just sit here for a little bit."
"Fuck, sorry honey give me a minute." Declan then paced back and forth taking deep breaths, and Peyton could physically feel the change in the air. The Dragon was calming down, no less pissed just less. It was so weird.
"Do you want to talk about it Declan?"
"Fuck I don’t know it looks like every team has trackers. I have ordered full sweeps. I just can’t figure out how it happened. One team would be understandable although unacceptable but it can be justified. Not all six teams, they are located all over the country, shit it would take an army just to track one team let alone all six. Fuck this is no good. Honey hate to say it but your mission is scrapped, I’m calling everyone in. We need to get to the airport, scan the plane and get the hell out of here. Once we figure out what is going on, we can try again."
Peyton was disappointed, they needed the information from Davis’s server, but Declan was right they were compromised three men had just died, and she wasn’t willing to take a chance on more blows coming.
Chapter 25
They scanned the plane thoroughly and didn’t find any more trackers to Peyton’s relief. The flight to the Alpha base was short less than an hour, the drive a bit longer. The sight that met her when they pulled up the drive was almost as good as seeing Wyatt again. Zeus was sitting in the middle of the driveway with a big doggie grin on his adorable face.
"What the fuck is that?" Declan yelled. Slamming on the breaks swerving to miss the waiting dog.
Peyton just laughed and jumped out of the car, Declan went to grab her arm, but it was too late. He was screaming now, "are you fucking nuts get back here.”
Peyton ran to meet up with her old friend skidding to her knees arms held wide hugging her best friend. Zeus reciprocated with doggie kisses and wiggles. It took her a couple of minutes to notice the huge man standing behind Zeus.
Recognizing him from the video conference, Peyton didn’t want to stop getting the love from her fur baby but felt she better at least make and attempt to greet the true Alpha of the Alpha team, Jackson “Jacks” Thorp.
A very pregnant Ryleigh peaked out from behind him to the big man’s dismay, Peyton just laughed. " Hi Peyton, welcome home, Bas thought you might want to see a familiar face when you got here, so he went and picked up this big guy. Thanks, this was one of the best welcomes I could ever think of," Peyton said rubbed her friend.
"Is there somewhere you would like me to put him? I know not everyone likes to have dogs in their houses."
"No, we are pet-friendly" Ryleigh laughed, and Jacks growled. " Kommen Zeus," Peyton commanded, and Brut followed her into the beautiful house but stayed close to her heels. Peyton had trained him to know Bastian’s scent, but she was still a little unsure of how he would react to all the Shifter vibes. Shit, she hadn’t reacted all that well herself.
Ryleigh led her into a large family room and motioned for her to take a seat on a comfortable looking leather couch. Peyton choose to take the only seat she wanted right next to Zeus on the floor. She wondered about Hera and Brut, but Zeus was special. He was her first puppy and one of the loves of her life. If she couldn’t have all three Zeus would definitely do.
Jacks filled Declan and Peyton in on what was going on, "Bas, Wyatt, and Cash are in the air, Ryleigh is tracking them, and we should expect them by dinner time. We found thirty nasty little bugs all attached to clothing. Bastian reported two on his field jacket. We are assuming the bugs were transferred, but Wyatt and Tory are currently looking into it. Tory did not have any trackers in her things or on her person, well except for the one Ryleigh had placed."
"You tracked your own operative?"
"Yeah, sorry but I would like to talk to you about it as well. " Ryleigh said. " All the Holly Group agents have been implanted with trackers. Wyatt and Tory developed them and are also the only ones able to activate them. I would like you to consider getting one implanted. They are safe and non-invasive, but they can save your life. It did mine."
Wyatt: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 3) Page 21