“We may have only just met, but we’ve been dancing around each other for months now. I feel things for you I can’t really explain, and I have a feeling you might have some of those same feeling for me. I wanted to be the one to give you this, to answer your questions and alleviate some of your fears.”
Peyton didn’t know what to say to Wyatt’s confession. She had been drawn to him, couldn’t get him out of her mind, even for a little while. When she tried, he only made appearances in her dreams. Peyton had thought she made him up, but her dream version and the real thing were so close, she had to wonder if, in fact, he possessed more magic than he thought. Now, finally meeting him in person, she knew those dreams would never stop, but the reality could be so much better.
“Baby,” brushing his finger down Peyton’s hot cheek, he couldn’t resist adding a little more for her to think about, “you are so much more than I ever dreamed. But, right now, isn’t the time to explore any of that, as much as it might kill me. NAC has factions coming at them from all sides. Our secret has been revealed, and some pretty fucked up people have that information. As much as I would like to put all that aside and explore this thing between us, we have to focus on the danger knocking at our door. I could sit here with you for weeks and still not even scratch the surface of all the things you need to know or will want to ask.”
Damn, Peyton was trying as hard as she could to sit still and listen to Wyatt. In all reality, she really wanted to jump up and down like a preteen yelling, “He likes me, he really, really, likes me.” It didn’t make any sense, but damn, she’d said she needed a change. A couple of days, or even hours, with this hot as hell man would definitely be a change in her routine. But that didn’t change the situation they both found themselves in. There was a time to be selfish and a time to get to work. As much as she regretted the choice, now was not the time to be selfish.
Peyton had to stop ogling the sexy man. She still had a ton of work to do, and he was a distraction she didn’t need. No doubt about it, Wyatt Green was definitely distracting her, making her head all fuzzy, and butterflies had invaded her stomach.
“Sorry, Wyatt, but we can’t go back to your base. I need to stay as far away from Bastian as possible right now. I have to keep him safe even more so now you’ve given me this new information. You guys have your things going on, and so do I. I won’t put any of you in danger, and until I can determine if the threat I think is out there isn’t one, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Wait a minute, why in the hell do you think you need to keep the Team safe? Shit honey, we’re a bunch of bear Shifters. I honestly doubt we couldn’t handle anything you think is going on. Not only that, but we’re all military trained, we’re prepared for anything and everything. You’ve worked with NAC long enough to know that. Why would you ever put your own safety in jeopardy over your brother’s? He can take care of himself, and if he even suspected what you’re doing, he would rain hell down on you.”
“Damn it, Wyatt! I have a job to do, just like the rest of you. I’m not exactly helpless. How long did it take you to find me? You sound so misogynistic right now, like the little lady can’t protect herself. I don’t get it. I’m twenty-five years old, and all of a sudden, I’m incapable of handling my own shit. Where the hell have you all been all my life? I mean, how have I survived this long without you or even Bastian? He came around maybe a couple of times a year if I was lucky. I get you guys are circling the wagons, but until I figure out what I’m working on, you’re all going to have to accept I’m not going anywhere.”
“Shit! You’re totally changing my words around to suit your purpose, so that you can get your mad on. I’m not being misogynistic here. We’re trained and you’re not. You can hack like nobody’s business. Shit, I might even be inclined to leave you if you’d brought your dogs. At least then, you would have some type of protection. Answer this question for me, Peyton, what would you have done if I wasn’t one of the good guys?
“Do you even have a weapon or know how to use it? The Team has Bas’ back. You’re the only one out here on your own. And sorry, sweetheart, but it took me all of a couple minutes to breach your perimeter, break into your security system, and gain entrance into your safe house. It may have taken some time to track your ass down in this behemoth of a building, but I did. That means someone else could, too.”
Peyton didn’t like it, but Wyatt was right, she really was treading water here. She wanted to get away so she could find answers. She needed to keep Judy off balance, so she would freak out and mess up. Worse of all, Peyton never once thought she wasn’t safe hidden down here. She’d taken all the safeguards to ensure her location was concealed, but Wyatt had found her, and from the sounds of it, fairly quickly, too.
“Honey, listen, you really need to start talking,” Wyatt said. “What’s going on, why do you think Bas is in danger, and who the hell is after him and the Team? You also need to talk to me about your mother and what you know about your birth. It’s important, Peyton, please trust me.”
Peyton did trust him. Wyatt wasn’t like other men she had met, he was honest and forthcoming. At least, that’s the impression she’d gotten from the numerous emails, chats, and texts she had from him over the last year. Even now, showing her that he was a Shifter had to involve some trust on his part. Shouldn’t she do the same? Trust him as he asked and spill it all. She'd already been thinking about asking him to help before all this happened. He had the skills, only this time, there wouldn’t be keeping anything from her brother. As it was, he’d sent Wyatt after her, and she was pretty sure when she went back into her computer room, there would be a ton more messages from him.
“Okay, listen, I don’t like to talk about my mother, but I’m going to give it to you straight. As for my birth, I don't know much. Mom liked to talk when she was drunk or being her usual mean self, but I really never knew if any of it was true. According to her, she was supposed to be a surrogate, but decided she could make more holding me for ransom. It didn’t turn out that way. All I know is some company paid her big money to knock her up. Again, that’s what she liked to say, but the woman isn’t exactly trustworthy.
“What I don’t get is why that information is so important to you. What does my birth have to do with any of this? Wyatt, she’s a liar, through and through. You can’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth.”
“Honey, I don’t think she’s as big of a liar as you think, but we can return to that later. Why do you think Bas is in danger?”
“Fine, give me a minute. There are things about me Bastian doesn’t know, and I would hate for him to find out.”
Peyton got up and started pacing the floor. This story was going to go over so much better if she could spit it out without having to look Wyatt in the eye. She hated Judy and was ashamed of all she had done to prevent her influence from tainting her life. All her efforts had been for naught because she never really got away from the woman.
“I was taken away from my mother at the age of thirteen. I’m not going to go into all the details, but she wasn’t exactly mother of the year. She allowed some things to happen to me that put me in the hospital. The state where we were living finally decided she wasn’t a good enough parent and made me a ward of the State, placing me in foster care.”
Wyatt saw red. He wanted to jump up and hold her for whatever she’d been through. But most of all, he wanted to feel his hands around this Judy person’s neck. What the hell had happened to Peyton that she had to spend time in the hospital and be removed from this woman’s custody? In his line of work, he came across abuse of every type. He also knew sometimes authorities turned a blind eye to what was staring them right in the face. To be removed that quickly, the abuse she suffered had to be extreme, and it broke a little part of him.
“I let Bastian believe that was the end of my contact with her, but it wasn’t. She’s never left my life as much as I would have liked that.”
On her next pass in front of him, Wyatt couldn’t
resist a little touch. He ran his hand down her calve and gave it a little squeeze. He wasn’t sure if the gesture was to offer her reassurance to go on or a small offer of support, but he also needed the touch. The small smile she gave him allowed him to stay quiet and keep his ass planted right where it was.
Damn, she was in so deep with this man she didn’t even know what to do. His little sign of support or encouragement made Peyton realized he might just be the one thing she always wanted but never knew what it was. His continued attention and silence strengthened her resolve to go on.
“So, my so-called mother came to visit me a little over a month ago. I’d been giving her money every month for years, so she would stay away. Her showing up at my door, risking me cutting her off was out of the ordinary, to say the least. Yeah, I know what you’re going to say. I shouldn’t have ever given her money in the first place, but it was the best way for me to keep tabs on her. I could track the money and know exactly where she was making withdrawals. It kept me from spending every second of my life looking over my shoulder.
“Anyway, when she came by in typical Judy style, she gave me some bullshit story about hearing I made more money than what she had initially thought and wanted her cut. I didn’t buy it, but I needed to figure out what was really going on. Judy threatened Bastian, saying some men she knew wanted to know his location as well as his friends’, meaning the team. She even indicated she knew you guys were in the Upper Peninsula. I could tell she really didn’t have much more and was fishing. I agreed to pay her more money, but told her I needed time. I gave her the first payment a few days later, and that bought me a month. Right before I was to meet up with her, I left town and came here.
“You have to understand, Judy isn’t a good person. Money and her looks are the only things she cares about. She doesn’t like losing, either. I keep an eye on her and what she’s up to, but when I conduct my training and adoptions, I have a network which does that for me. I set up a system years ago. After her visit, I looked deeper and tracked her movements, until I came upon two men who she visited more frequently than anyone else. Figuring these men were either her new marks or possible partners in crime, I decided to run their images through the CIA’s facial recognition program.”
“Wait a minute,” Wyatt interrupted. “How the fuck did you get access to the CIA’s facial recognition program? Fuck, you hacked them. Do you know how dangerous that is Peyton? I know you’re good, but even I can’t get into their system, let alone use their programs without anyone being the wiser. Shit, one of the cases we worked a while back, Senior had to go to them and ask for permission to use that program, and he was denied. He has a higher security clearance than anyone I know. The fact you even know about that program puts you in jeopardy.”
“Oh, come on, Wyatt. Every system has a backdoor, you just have to find it. I found theirs years ago and saved the information for when I needed it. As for gaining the information about the program, it’s not as hidden as they would like to believe, there are entire forums dedicated to it. Anyway, the situation warranted the use of the information and technology. You know damn well you would have done the same. It’s what we both do.”
“Shit, Peyton, I don’t know if I should give you a high five or spank your ass red. You're trying to play lone wolf here when all you really had to do was pick up the damn phone. If you had told Bas your suspicions from the start, we could have prevented any backlash. I know you’re good honey, but you’re only one person. The fucking CIA has hundreds of people who are as good, maybe even better. This was a risk you had no business taking.”
“Whatever, Wyatt, what’s done is done. I can’t undo it, even if I wanted to. So, like I said, the program worked, and I found out the two men Judy had been meeting up with are both ex-military and currently work for Davis Defense. I’ve been tracking them, and they’re sticking pretty close to Judy. I can only assume she’s promised them results. The problem is the only way for her to get those results was to either press one of Bas' brothers or me.
“I don’t even think my pseudo-mom has the balls to approach Bastian’s brothers. They are all badasses and belong to some motorcycle club not too far from my place. Unfortunately, my mother has never been all that smart. If money is involved and she’s desperate enough, she would try anything. So, I was the lovely winner in her little roulette game.”
“Shit, I want to stop you from talking right now. What the hell, Peyton? You think Judy has a chance of getting to my Team, and yet, some bikers are going to scare her somehow? Don’t you pay attention to anything? We’re trained operatives. Why in the world would you even think we were more vulnerable than the Ruthless Bastards? Shit, here’s another question for you, sweetheart, if you thought Bas’ brothers and their club were so badass, why didn’t you go to them instead of starting this insane little idea of going out on your own?”
“Listen, you don’t get it. Judy is my fucking problem. I deal with her. It’s been that way my entire life, and it isn’t going to fucking change!” Peyton yelled and crumbled to her knees.
Wyatt didn’t resist the urge this time. He pulled her closer until she was resting on his lap. He needed to hold her. Peyton really believed she was alone in the world. She didn’t realize she had an entire team who would welcome and help her with open arms. Wyatt was pissed Bas never let her in on the fact. She’d been shouldering this load for so long, she didn’t know of any other way to do it. He was going to change that.
“Listen, honey,” Wyatt whispered, rubbing her back, “I’m sorry, but you really need to change your way of thinking. You’re not alone, and you don’t have to do any of this on your own. There are people in this world who would be more than happy to help you, all you have to do is ask. Your brother, his brothers, shit, even your assistant Cathy would gladly help you out. But Peyton, if you take nothing else I say to heart, bury this deep; you have me. Now and for however long you want me, I’ll always be there for you.”
“Why?”
When Peyton looked up at him with tears in her eyes again and asked why an even bigger part of his soul was taken by her. He was afraid he would never be the same again.
“So many reasons, honey, a lot of them. It’s not the right time or place to tell you, but here are a few. I care about you Peyton, I have since our first job and our very first communication. You’re a sweet and loving person. You put others first before even thinking about yourself. And damn, honey, I’m not really a mushy guy, but I like you. Now let’s finish this up. I have a feeling, I’m not going to like the rest any more than what I’ve already heard.”
Then he did the unexpected and laid a small chaste kiss on her temple. The comfort that small gesture provided gave her the will to continue down this slippery slope. Peyton wanted to wince thinking what she was going to say next. Talking it out like this made her realize she’d made so many rash decisions. Even she didn’t know what to think anymore.
“Okay, so I tried to hack Davis, but their system is tight, probably the tightest one I’ve ever come across.” She felt Wyatt’s body tighten under her. Peyton knew he was going to blow up again and really didn’t need to be chastised any further. When he didn’t say anything, she decided maybe if he knew what she thought, he wouldn’t be as upset.
“The only thing I could come up with to even attempt the hack again, with even a small margin of success, would be to perform a piggyback. Even then, I’m not sure what would come of it. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for. I’m just working the leads and Davis Defense is a big lead.”
“Shit honey, sorry, but you stumbled across something you shouldn’t have,” Wyatt said, “and you should’ve let Bas know right away. Davis Defense is bad news and connected to a lot of the problems the Teams and NAC have been having lately. We need to set up a link with my teammates, maybe even get Senior involved because this could affect more than only my team. You also need to talk with Ryleigh.”
“Why Ryleigh? Isn’t she only your boss’s wife? Bastia
n told me about their wedding, from what he said it sounded super sweet. I’ve heard of surprise birthday parties, but never a surprise wedding.”
Peyton was rambling, but this was common ground, something normal. She needed a little of that at the moment. Otherwise, she would start thinking about everything else and what was to come, and it was all getting a little too much for her. She was torn between continuing to ramble to keep this safe little bubble going or shutting up and breaking the spell. She liked being in Wyatt’s arms, he made her feel safe, cared for, and so many other emotions. If Peyton could take away all the bad stuff and bottle this moment, she would keep it close to her heart forever. It was the first time in her life she felt loved. Even if that wasn’t what this was at all.
“Yeah, she is Jacks’ wife and mate, but she’s also the head of The Holly Group. Have you ever heard of them?”
“Yes, in fact, I have. I’ve been working with them on and off for several years now. My handler’s name is Tory. The work they do is important, and I’m proud to be even a little part of helping them take the douche mongers out of this world. It’s a mission I’m proud to be a part of. It’s also the same reason I help you guys out when I can. I had no idea your two firms were linked.”
“I should’ve known, but why didn’t Ryleigh know your name?” Wyatt questioned. “She was really pissed when she found out Alpha had been using you as a hacker over the years, saying you were an unknown. When Bas told her about your dogs, she put two and two together and knew who you were. If you’ve been working with The Holly Group all along, why would she only know you as the best dog trainer in the country, not as a valued operative with her group?”
NAC & The Holly Group - Box set: Alpha Team Page 72