"I’ll do it, sorry but you had me at Wyatt and Tory created. I’m fine with getting the tracker. With Judy and the suits out there determined to find either Bastian or me, I would feel safer if Wyatt had a way to find me if something happened. But now that I think about it, I wasn’t bugged yet they still hunted us down, who are they really after? Also, if Bastian had two bugs on his person why didn’t they hunt him down instead of us? If he is who they are really after?"
"All good questions," Jacks said, " we are trying to figure them out but until Wyatt and Tory get back to examine the tech we are at a standstill." Just then a stunning lady walked in carrying an adorable little girl Peyton recognized her as well, this was Emma and little McKenna. Zeus tail started beating the floor a mile a minute he really wanted to go to Emma and the baby but was so well trained he stayed glued to his spot but even if it was becoming harder and harder. Peyton had never seen him this way before, it was kind of funny actually.
"Hi Emma it’s nice to finally meet you in person, do you by chance happen to be afraid of dogs?"
"It’s nice to meet you too, and no, I have been dying to get my hands on that beautiful creature since he showed up, but Dalton wouldn’t let me. Well if it is okay now I can assure you Zeus will not hurt you he is trained as a PTSD dog among other things he is very gentle."
Dalton looked dubious, Peyton could tell he wanted to protest Emma going anywhere near her big baby. But Emma had other ideas, “Sorry babe but you said as soon as Peyton got here I could play with him.” Dalton was going to say something, but Peyton gave him a reassuring smile and said Gehen. Zeus bounded to Emma all happy doggie wiggles, but he never once made her lose her footing or invaded her space.
Emma hugged, scratched and rubbed all over the happy dog. Dogs have a sixth sense about people, and he seemed to have picked Emma from what they had all told Peyton she needed him as much as he needed her.
"Hey looks like you just made a friend for life, when we get some free time I will give you a couple of his commands. Your husband, or shit sorry mate, is going to want in on the lessons too." Dalton groaned half-heartedly, “just what I need 150-pound slobber maker."
"Hey, Peyton it looks like Zeus is in good hands how about we go do the blood work I told you about before."
"Sure, I’m kind of curious to see what my spirit animals are."
"Spirit animals?"
"Yeah, Wyatt and the rest of the guys get to change into animals since we girls only get the DNA without the benefits I figured we might as well think of them as guides."
"Great thought but you know it’s a long shot we aren’t even sure if you have shifter DNA yet."
"I know you said I needed the blood test but Wyatt said that we couldn’t be true mates if I didn’t at least have some Shifter DNA." Peyton pulled back her hair and showed Ryleigh and the rest of them her mating mark.
"Wyatt claimed you, holy fuck, does Bas know yet?" Dalton asked.
Ryleigh and Emma said congratulation so did the guys, but they all started messing around with how Bastian was going to react to Wyatt doing his little sister. She had to admit they were pretty inventive if not very embarrassing. She really didn’t think Bastian would react badly to her and Wyatt as a couple. She knew Wyatt was his best friend, it might be a little weird, but she kind of hoped he would be happy for them.
Ryleigh ran the test, and it proved that Peyton was one of Franklin's babies but her Shifter DNA didn’t match anyone else, she had only two strands wolf and tiger. Ryleigh showed her the data they had collected from Dr. Franklin’s home and explained what she and the others had figured out so far and what they still needed to know. All the children were marked with a conception date and an algorithm they had yet to crack.
Peyton had a few ideas, but she really needed to concentrate on Davis and Judy’s connection with them. That would have to wait until the rest of the team was back. Declan promised they would try and figure out a way to still do the operation, but his team's safety had to come first, and Peyton agreed with him.
Chapter 26
Peyton was exhausted, but her mind wouldn’t settle down, she knew it was because Wyatt was on his way but she didn’t want to be that girl. She had been on her own for a very long time and needing someone like she was coming to need Wyatt was a foreign concept to her. She was baffled by her behavior the last couple of weeks. Always a loner with the exception of her dogs or the little time she got to spend with Bastian, she was surprised that she was so accepting of the people of Alpha Team. In return, she was equally shocked that they accepted and welcomed her with open arms. She wasn’t an outsider anymore, and it felt good.
Only one thing would make it better and just as she thought it Wyatt walked into the room. Peyton ran into his open arms hugging him tightly climbing his body to get closer if she could have buried herself within his body she would have. She hadn’t realized how stressed she had been with him not in her sight. Now that she could see for herself that he was okay in one piece the walls she had created crumpled, and she cried, safe in the arms of the man she had come to love more than life itself. Everyone in the room disappeared all she knew was Wyatt’s strength, warmth, and love at that moment.
That was until a familiar voice broke the spell, “Hey little sister don’t I at least get a little hello or something?” Leaning away from Wyatt’s neck to face her smiling brother Peyton said, “I missed you, and I’m so glad you are okay.”
Climbing down off of Wyatt she walked into her brother’s arms and whispered, “Please don’t be mad I love him, Bastian, he is my mate, and he claimed me.” " Oh, honey I’m not mad, I couldn’t have picked a better mate for you if I had tried myself," he laughed.
She looked up to see Wyatt’s smiling face, and for the first time, she also noticed the large bruise that was fading on his jaw. Breaking from her brother she went back to Wyatt, “Oh my God what happened, how did you get hurt. Where you followed did Davis find you and Cash?”
The guys all kind of snickered which only increased Peyton’s worry, so she demanded, "what happened?" "It’s nothing honey, I’m fine I promise I just happened to get stuck in between a hard place and your brother, the good news is he has given us his blessing.”
"What!", glaring at her brother, she said, “You hit him, why?” To her surprise, Bastian wasn’t the one that answered Cash did, “Well honey when you tell a guy you are banging his sister all reason has a tendency to leave a guy.” Peyton was just about to lay into her brother when Wyatt stopped her," Baby it’s okay we worked it out, and Bastian is on board now."
Looking at her brother, he smiled shrugged his shoulder and said, “It’s a guy thing, we are good now, and I am very happy for both of you. Even more pleased now that you will be staying here with us." He hugged her and then turned her back over to Wyatt.
"Okay people I’m starving and fried, I need at least eight hours of straight uninterrupted sleep." Everyone laughed and agreed, and all of the members of the Alpha team congratulated Wyatt as they left the room. Peyton was still overwhelmed and clung to Wyatt. “It’s okay baby I’m here we will work everything out but Bas is right we need food and sleep so we can start fresh and to be honest I can’t wait to get you into bed. I missed you last night more than you will ever know." Peyton let him lead her out of the room into the common area where everyone was gathering around the table.
Wyatt led her to a seat and Peyton was in awe of how comfortable she felt, looking around the room she knew she had made the right choice this was right where she needed to be. The guys were playfully ribbing each other while Emma with Zeus at her heels started to bring out dishes from the kitchen. Peyton went to stand and offer her help, but before she could Ryleigh, Jacks and Dalton all appeared with dishes in hand it seemed they all had it under control. It was a simple dinner chili, cornbread, and salad but it was more than the food to Peyton, the comradery, love, and friendship could be felt around the room, this was what she had craved as a little girl, holidays with family and
friends it was almost too much.
Wyatt must have thought she was in some kind of distress because his hand rubbed her thigh and he leaned forward kissing her cheek then whisper, “Are you, okay baby?” She didn’t answer for a while but realized she was more than okay. Yes, I am more than alright for the first time in my life, I am perfect." She was whole. After dinner, the group disbanded to get their much need shut eye, and Wyatt showered her with love and affection until the wee hours of the morning.
Peyton woke several hours later surprised by how good she felt but when she noticed she was alone she let her mind wonder if maybe all of this wasn’t just a little too fast. Maybe now that Wyatt was back with this family of friends he didn’t really need her anymore, maybe all of this wasn’t what she thought, maybe she had just made her relationship with Wyatt into more than what it was. Doubts sucked, and after a few minutes, she decided that she was done with them.
Just like back in the bunker she was going to go with whatever this was and just let it happen. She could feel the rightness of her decision the feeling of contentment as well, puzzled she closed her eyes and like out of some science fiction movie she saw a golden line reaching from her mind and soul to something or rather someone else.
It was Wyatt she had felt, deciding to explore the link further at a later time, she jumped out of bed and into the bathroom. They had work to do all of them, and Peyton was more the ready to make sure her family was safe by any means necessary. She had a plan, and she knew it wasn’t going to be widely accepted, but if executed correctly, Alpha, NAC and The Holly Group might just be ahead of the game for the first time.
Walking back into the common area Peyton was apprehensive, she knew what needed to be done, but she also knew the men of Alpha Team weren’t going to like it. She needed to get into Davis Defense for at least 5 minutes. Wyatt instantly noticed her distress and walked right to her, “What’s wrong baby, I was hoping you would sleep for a little longer, I was going to bring you breakfast in bed.” He said with a smile. She contemplated running back into the bedroom and waiting for him but knew she needed to tell the group about her plan. “I would have loved that Wyatt.” She said, and he added the “But?”. " Yeah but I need to talk with everyone." Wyatt looked puzzled but got everyone’s attention.
She was a bit embarrassed because she did not like being the center of attention, but she was certain her plan would not only help the people in the room or the other teams but the people who they had yet to find. Wyatt encouraged her by hugging her close lending his support even though she knew deep down it would be short lived she relished the moment, but it was Declan that encouraged her to speak. " What’s up sweetheart, what do you want to tell us."
"I think I know how to get all the information we need from Davis without detection, but it means I have to go into their facility."
Wyatt was the first to speak, “No way you going into Davis Defense, they are already after you, shit you and Senior barely made it out of the safe house."
"But see that is where you are wrong. Declan was traced to the safe house, not me, I don’t think Judy and the suits are actively working with Davis but rather working on their own agenda. If I am such a big target, why only send a couple of people. They could have taken me at any time before Judy played her hand. We know they want you guys and apparently, they or someone else already knows where you are located the trackers proved that already."
"We need to figure out what is going on, what Davis Defense and Judy and the suits are planning, we can do that if my plan works. Or at least we will be able to confirm it they are working independently or together. If we could get our hands-on Judy, we have a chance of figuring that out. She is all about protecting number one, but she keeps on going underground. At least my plan will give us real answers. All I need is to plug into one of their internal phone lines. It will open up the server to us and hopefully give us the answer we desperately need. Doesn’t it surprise any of you that Davis was so entrenched in the Franklin family but left his hard drive right where you could find it? I mean it doesn’t make sense if they want the children he created why didn’t they use the information for themselves?"
"Even Emma’s captivity doesn’t make sense, a rogue agent working for Ryleigh’s brother, but she was only taken after working for Davis for what six months? If Davis was really behind all this why would they have waited? Why not just turn the data over to Pandora, I think there is a lot more going on here than even any of suspect. Isn’t it just smart to investigate further, shit wouldn’t it put everyone’s mind at ease if we could eliminate the biggest United States defense contractor as our enemy or a least confirm they are indeed working to create a new super species? Is it possible that Pandora wanted to divert our attention, for several months you have been concentrating on Dr. Franklin’s data, then on Davis in that time did you find anything related to Pandora?"
"We have the list of known Pandora facilities from Franklins records, some of our teams took grave hits getting Cassie Larson out of the Colorado facility." "Did they?" Peyton asked. "Think about it from what you told me it was chaos, you got Cassie out unharmed as well as several other women but two of Echo teams men were taken. Where are they? Why were they taken and the women let go? Why did the people at the facility use tranquilizers instead of real bullets?"
"That may be the case," Ryleigh said" but the women were in pretty bad shape, some won’t even talk about what happened to them while they were at the facility. We also know from the Intel that the Breeding program is alive and well, I have confirmed that myself." "Yes, but you are missing something. Pandora is taking women of a certain age with the same blood type, running test for possible impregnation but what do they need more than the women to impregnate them?"
"Fuck, you are right. Sperm they need shifter sperm."
"You were able to rather quickly determine my heritage who is to say that Pandora doesn’t have the same capabilities. They also need time what better way to get it then making someone else the target. You also indicated that Dr. Franklin was at the end of his supply, we assumed that he had created both female and male babies but what if only females made it to fruition. The algorithm has one thing in common the number 6 is listed as the fifth number in all of them. What if that stands for “F” or female?"
"Shit if that is the case we played right into their hands. Fuck we gave them a new supply Rock and Greyson, two male shifters at their prime how could we be so fucking stupid," Declan cursed.
Jacks was the next to speak," I agree with Peyton we need to figure out who we are really fighting here and to do that we need better intel. I don’t think sending anyone into Davis at this time is the right choice but getting our hands-on Judy Carlton and the suits could prove invaluable. Peyton, how do you feel about flushing Judy out into the open?"
"Oh, hell no! Wyatt protested angrily. " You are not using Peyton as bait, shit hasn’t she already been through enough. Fuck Jacks you wouldn’t put Ryleigh out there, and you know it."
"Your wrong man, Ryleigh was out there right in the open, and you know it. It is different now she is pregnant, but I know that if given a chance she would jump right in if we needed her."
Ryleigh said," I would, but I am also a trained operative Peyton isn’t, this woman means her harm we can’t ask her to do that."
Wyatt was pissed, "who is to say that Peyton isn’t already pregnant, I don’t want my mate in harm’s way period. There has to be another way."
"They want me why can’t I be the bait?" Bas asked.
Peyton was floored she never even thought of the possibility of her being pregnant but they hadn’t used anything, and they had been going at it like rabbits. Rubbing her stomach Peyton let her mind drift, she could see a little girl with her eyes and Wyatt’s curly hair or a little boy that looked just like his daddy. If she was pregnant, she knew she needed to end this thing with Judy one way or another. It was one thing for the woman to cause Peyton problems quite another thing to cause harm to he
r possible children or the rest of the Alpha team. Judy Carlton needed to go away for good this time.
Everyone was still arguing when Peyton spoke up, “I’ll do it, but you need to promise me that Judy Carlton will never see the light of day again after this, I will not risk my future with her still lurking in the shadows, she needs to go away forever."
Wyatt was pissed, but he could feel Peyton’s determination, he would let her do this, but he would be right by her side whether she liked it or not.
"I think we should head to my house, if she is going to show up she will show up there. Let’s let the stalker become the prey for once."
Chapter 27
For the next few hours, the Alpha team planned their trap for Judy. When Wyatt and Peyton finally got some time alone, she asked him, “Wyatt do you really think I might be pregnant? Do you want this it’s all happening really fast?”
"Oh, baby I would love to see you swell with my cub but I want you safe and protected more. I don’t like this plan, my bear doesn't like this plan, he is screaming at me to keep you safe not put you in harm’s way. Do you understand that.”
"Yes, I also understand that you are going to let me do what needs to be done, I can’t have Judy hanging over our heads anymore she is dangerous, Wyatt I need her taken care of so we can move on with our lives. I don’t want to look over my shoulder anymore. I know she is only a part of that but can you at least understand why I need to do this for me but also for us?"
"Yeah, baby I get it I just don’t like it. "
"I know you are going to worry no matter what I say but Wyatt I have a couple of Ace’s up my sleeve or should a say a couple of bears and pretty mean dogs." She laughed.
Wyatt: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 3) Page 22