Protecting Salvation: A Shadow Elite Novel

“Hey, sugar, sorry to break up the party but we need to talk to you about a few developments.”

Hurricane was crouched at her side and was still a head taller than her, yet she never felt a second of apprehension when he was around. “Okay, do you need me to come inside?”

He looked around seeing how close the neighbours were and nodded. “I think so.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, Pey, we’re going to head out. Exhaustion is apparently a real thing with pregnancy and weirdly, I’m not sleeping well at night either.”

“Sure, honey. Go rest and call me tomorrow.”

Peyton hugged her best friend and then Bram, so stupidly happy for them. They’d been trying but not trying, which was why Aoife had been drinking last weekend. She confided her worry over it damaging the baby and Peyton had calmed her friend down. Aoife was going to be a great mum and she was genuinely thrilled for them both.

Closing the door she turned and found Hurricane leaning his big, broad shoulder against the door to the kitchen watching her. His cap back in place, his t-shirt stretched across his chest, he looked like a sexy alpha book boyfriend and she couldn’t forget what he’d said earlier about what he wanted to do to her. Even though not a single detail had been spoken, the implication was more than enough to make her hot and bothered.

“You good, sugar?”

God, why did such an innocent word cause such butterflies in her belly every time he said it? “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”

She walked toward him trying not to let nerves or the panic of earlier choke her. He gripped her shoulder gently, causing tingles to shoot to her nipples and she was glad she’d pulled a hoodie on over her tee earlier when they went into the garden, therefore hiding her now erect nipples.

“I got you.”

He pushed her in front of him and kept a hand on her shoulder as he guided her to sit on the couch, the vibe in the room different now. It was easy to forget who these people were when she was socialising with them, but they were in work mode now and she didn’t know whether to be intimated or grateful that they were on her side. Hurricane took the seat beside her, his big thigh pressed against her leg.

“Peyton, I wanted to tell you what I found at the office.”

She linked her fingers together, flexing the digits as Lotus addressed her. “Okay.”

“Do you know what ammonium nitrate is?”

Peyton frowned but nodded, her hands moving and flexing until Hurricane took one in his and held on tight, grounding her without her even having to voice the words. She smiled gratefully and he winked and her heart rocketed. Jeez, this man.

“It’s… um… used in fertilizer. My father used it sometimes when we had the farm.”

Lotus nodded. “It is, it’s also used in pyro techniques and for making bombs. Is there any reason at all that you can think of as to why it would be in your office?”

“What? No, none.” She frowned, trying to think if she’d ever used anything like that for her garden but shook her head. “No, I don’t use anything like that. Sometimes I used Feed and Weed but I haven’t used it in ages.”

Hurricane squeezed her hand gently. “We aren’t accusing you, sugar. We’re just trying to get a feel for things. The first thing is to rule out any explainable reasons for it being present.”

“Sorry, I guess I’m a little highly strung right now.”

Val sat forward, her hand on Bás’ thigh, on the couch opposite. “Peyton, that’s completely understandable. We just need to get a read on things so we can figure this out.”

“I take it you don’t agree with the police or believe I left it unlocked?”

Titan snorted. “No, darlin’. We don’t believe that bullshit they’re shovelling.”

Her head bobbed and her shoulders slumped. She’d been beginning to wonder if McCain had been right by the time he finished gaslighting her, and she was a woman who knew how to spot the signs. “Okay, good.” She straightened her shoulders and sat up taller. “So what else do you need from me?”

“A little background would be good.”

“Are you saying you don’t have that in your file on me?” She glanced at Hurricane who smirked and she remembered how that conversation had ended and blushed.

Bás snorted. “We do, but it would be good to hear from you.”

“Okay. I’m an only child, my parents had me late in life, and by the time I was twenty, they were struggling to run the farm. When I was twenty-five my mother got sick with cancer and my father already had the first signs of Alzheimer’s. I became their legal power of attorney and when she died, I sold the farm. My father died three years ago and I used the rest of the money to set up my practice and put a deposit on this place.”

“Any other family?”

Peyton curled her lip thinking of her only living relative. “I have a cousin.”

“What caused that pretty face of yours to sneer like that, sugar?”

Peyton blushed at the compliment and the way he said it in front of everyone. But nobody seemed to notice. “Martin is my cousin on my dad’s side. We don’t get on and he tried to sue me when I sold the farm, saying that as it had been our grandfather’s before my dad inherited it, he had a right to a share of the money.”

“Dick.”

“Yeah, he is but it never got anywhere. He didn’t have a case but we haven’t spoken since.”

“Is he capable of this?” Titan asked.

Peyton’s nose wrinkled. “I doubt it. We haven’t spoken in two years so I don’t know why he’d start something now and, honestly, he doesn’t have the balls.”

“Anyone else that might have a grudge? Ex-boyfriends, clients?”

“I haven’t had a boyfriend since before, well, you know.”

Lotus offered her a small smile of reassurance and nodded and Warren squeezed her hand to let her know he was there.

“Yeah, we know. What about clients?”

Peyton paused, she didn’t want to give the names of her clients away and violate their privacy when there was nothing to suggest any of them were involved. Although, in all likelihood, if they wanted them they could just have Watchdog hack her files. “Do you really need those?”

Bás leaned forward. “Peyton, I respect your desire to protect them but at this point, we don’t know who or what we’re dealing with. It could be a simple case of vandalism, but it could be more and we need to know so we can figure this out and keep you safe.”

“I know but it takes a lot for some of these people to come to me, and I don’t like feeling like I’m betraying that by sharing their details with you. Apart from that, there’s also the fact I could lose my licence.”

“Nobody is losing anything. Just have a think and see if any of them or their families stand out. Are there any conversations that made you feel uncomfortable or raised red flags more than usual?”

“Okay, I can do that.” She liked that they weren’t pushing her on this. “Did you manage to figure out who the man was that I saw yesterday?”

Lotus shook her head. “Not yet. Watchdog is on the case, but so far all we have is his profile or the back of his head, which isn’t enough for an ID.”

“Isn’t that unusual for someone to be so aware of where cameras are located?”

Lotus cocked her head. “Usually I’d say yes, but with this being a town with a special forces camp, it doesn’t shock me as much. Operators, even retired, are always aware of everything. It’s second nature to most of them, so I’m not overly concerned but we’ll be checking it out. We’ll also run checks on McCain and his cronies and see if anything of interest pops there.”

“We should see if any large quantities of ammonium nitrate have been bought or stolen recently. We can’t rule out that some jerk is planning something bigger, and Peyton is just a pawn.”

“Like a bomb?” Peyton felt her face blanche at Warren’s words.

“I’m just being cautious.”

She could see him frowning, tension lines bracketing the sides of his eyes. His lips were tight with strain and she recognised the signs of a headache. It was hard not to worry or react knowing what she did now, but she also knew he wouldn’t want a fuss or for her to treat him differently, so she kept quiet. “Well, I’m going to pretend I never heard that shit, so I actually have a chance of sleeping tonight or, in fact, ever again.”

She hadn’t given it much thought until now. Between the crazy shocking revelations of today and the house full of people, she hadn’t had the chance but now the thought of being alone left her cold. This morning she’d been happy, carefree, or as carefree as she ever was and now her life had been thrown into chaos by some asshole. Why couldn’t people just leave her the fuck alone so she could live her life?

She didn’t want a lot, not fame or crazy amounts of money, just a quiet life but, oh no, the universe just had her name all over its shit list. She hated to admit it and sure as hell wouldn’t in front of these people who faced untold danger for work every day but the thought of being alone here left her with chills.

“We won’t let anything happen to you and you’re welcome to come and stay with us if you want,” Val offered.

Peyton wanted to hug the other woman for offering but they had Marni, Bás’ niece to consider now and she’d never bring her shit to their door. “Thank you, but I need to be here. I won’t let these assholes run me off and, as you say, it might be nothing.”

“Well, if you change your mind, we have the room.”

Val stood and hugged her and Bás gave her a nod which made her smile. He might be a married family man now, but he was still the leader of Shadow, and the only people who really got the softer side of him were Val and Marni.

“We’re gonna head off too. I want to see if I can start going through some of the CCTV from last night. I might catch something we missed earlier.”

Peyton knew that Lotus needed to keep busy and maybe this was perfect for her but she still appreciated it. “Thank you.”

“No sweat. Gotta look after my new wing-woman.”

Peyton laughed and Warren growled as Lotus shot him a wink. She didn’t know what that was about and wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Closing the door she saw Warren loading glasses into her dishwasher. “You don’t need to do that, I’ve got it.”

He put the glass down and turned as she walked into her kitchen. She liked seeing him here. Even though he took up all the space, it felt nice.

“Come here, sugar.”

She walked up to him, tipping her head back when she got close enough to smell his heavenly scent. His big hands cupped her upper arms and rubbed, the callouses on his hands feeling nice, grounding her, and making goosebumps shoot across her flesh.

“I need you to know that I’m not going anywhere until we catch this asshole or confirm they aren’t a threat to you. I can sleep in my car if you don’t want me here, but I’m not leaving you. So get that thought out of your pretty head right now, okay?”

“But….”

He covered her lips with the tips of his fingers. “No buts. It’s done. I’m staying.”

Warmth and affection filled her heart for this kind, handsome man, who was going through so much and still made her his priority. “I have a spare room you can use.”

“What, no fighting me?”

His lips twitched a little and she shook her head. “Nope. I feel safe with you, like I know no matter what, you won’t let anyone hurt me.”

Her voice wobbled and he cursed, pulling her into his arms and holding her against his chest, his lips on her hair. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, ever.”

Oh, how she wished that was true, but even without his diagnosis, he hadn’t said he’d change his mind about them being together.

Pulling away she pasted a smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes. “We should get some sleep. I have a full day tomorrow and I need to arrange zoom meetings from my home office.”

Nobody knew that she hadn’t been able to work in her home office at the bottom of her garden since her attack. That the idea of setting foot in there made her want to heave, but she had to somehow figure it out because come tomorrow, that’s exactly what she’d be doing.

“Let me go grab my go bag out of the car.”

“I’ll make up the spare bed.”

Peyton rushed up the stairs, checking the bed was made and that he had clean towels. She added a bottle of pain killers in case he didn’t have any and left them by the side of his bed. Her belly flipped at the thought of him sleeping under her roof. She turned to leave and he was in the doorway watching her, so she moved towards him as if her legs had a mind of their own.

“I locked up and took Bertie out. Was that okay?”

“Oh, yeah, perfect. Thanks.”

They stood in the doorway, his bag in one hand and the other on the top of the door frame crowding her as her heart rate skyrocketed. What was so sexy about that pose? Was it the way it made his muscle bunch or the slight slither of toned abdomen she could glimpse or was it the power she felt in him? She had no clue but it was hot and addictive.

“You okay, sugar? You look a little flushed.”

“Um, yeah, I…I’m just gonna go and read for a bit in bed.”

His smirk was sexy and she had a feeling he knew exactly what he was doing to her. “Okay, well if you need anything you know where to find me.”

Peyton scurried to her room closing the door as a deep chuckle filled her ears. Asshole. He knew exactly what he was doing. God, she’d been so close to throwing herself at him, but he was here to protect her not fuck her brains out, although the idea sounded delicious.

She had no doubt Warren would be an absolute animal in bed and any man with that much quiet confidence would have the skill to back up his game. Undressing, she changed into an oversized tee and moved to her en-suite to brush her teeth. Climbing into bed she tried to read for a bit but even the gorgeous and sexy billionaire in her book couldn’t hold her attention.

Turning the light off she thought about Warren in the room opposite her and wondered if he slept naked or if he wore pyjamas. She frowned. No, he was a sleep-in-his-boxers kind of man, and then her mind went there. What would it feel like to be dominated by him, to have him command her body in every way, to make her feel protected in his big arms? Her body ached, her pussy throbbing with the need for an orgasm to take the edge off but she wouldn’t, not with the risk of him hearing and thinking she was some sex-starved maniac who was desperate.

Sleep eventually claimed her but her dreams did not give her peace.