Page 29 of Guarding Salvation

“Lotus, we’re under fire from the east side of the property, probably the garage roof.” He used the comms in his ear to let her know the direction of the shooter.

“On it.” He laid down fire, praying there was only one shooter and hoped Lotus moved her ass.

Less than a minute later he saw a man in a dark suit fall headfirst from the garage roof and land on the stone patio.

“Target down, let’s move.”

Standing, he went to check on Aoife and found her already on her feet and moving toward him. Satisfied she was okay, he got Peyton to the car and loaded her in the back. Aoife jumped in the front beside Lotus, and they were off, tyres squealing as Lotus got them the hell out of there.

“We need a clean-up crew.”

His friend pressed the button on her comms. “On it.”

Bram stabilised Peyton as Lotus relayed the need for a clean-up team at the house. Checking Peyton’s vitals again and happy she was as good as he could make her, he turned to Aoife to see her looking down at the injured dog in her arms, tears running down her face.

“Aoife, honey, are you hurt?” His hand moved to her and she shook her head.

“No, the bullet hit Bertie.” A sob was wrenched from her shaking body as huge, tear-filled eyes came to his.

Shock was setting in and he glanced at Lotus who increased her speed, knowing the need to get her safe was chasing him.

Jack was waiting at the gate when they arrived at Eidolon, the barrier up so they could drive right through. As the vehicle stopped, Waggs came running out with a stretcher, a beautiful woman with dark hair beside him, a white lab coat over her jeans.

“Bein, how is she?” Waggs helped him get Peyton onto the stretcher.

“Vitals seem good, but she took one hell of a beating and I think she has a broken wrist and most likely a few ribs.”

“This is Dr Decker. She’s a friend and Neurosurgeon, and unfortunately for her, married to Mark.”

“Nice to meet you. Let’s get her inside and we can assess her injuries.”

Bein didn’t wait to watch them take care of Peyton, Lotus would do that. His only worry now was Aoife and how damn close she’d come to dying. If she hadn’t had Bertie in her arms, the bullet would’ve torn right through her.

As he approached the car, she was still sitting holding the dog in her arms. Opening the door, he touched her shoulder, so as not to startle her. “Give me Bertie, Irish, I need to get him some help.”

“Is he dead?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart. Let me take him and we can get Valentina to look at him, you get cleaned up so you can be with Peyton when she comes around.”

That seemed to get her to snap out of the fog of grief and shock she was in currently. Once she’d handed him the dog, he cast a glance over her making sure none of the blood was hers. It would be so easy for him to lose his mind right now, the panic seizing him at the thought of anything happening to her.

He didn’t know when exactly it had happened but in the two weeks he’d known her she’d become important to him. She’d smashed through the shell around his heart that kept people at a distance and made him care about her.

Seeing no injuries, he let out an unsteady breath and felt the knot in his gut loosen. “Come on, let’s get inside.”

Chapter 13

Bram had hardly left her side since they’d arrived. It had been embarrassing to fall apart in front of strangers but the female doctor who said her name was Savannah had been kind and sweet. Bram had insisted she get checked out and there wasn’t a mark on her, which she realised was a minor miracle. A shiver went through her at the thought of how close she’d come to dying. If she hadn’t been carrying Bertie, she knew her life would’ve ended today, but instead he’d saved her life.

A lump stuck in her throat at the thought of the poor puppy who had been so brave defending his master. Peyton would be devastated when she woke and found out he was hurt. Guilt weighed heavily on her. She knew that, without her, none of these things would be happening.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Bram had a clean black t-shirt on now and she was dressed in a pair of women’s leggings and an oversized hoodie someone had loaned her.

“I don’t know. Guilty, sad, angry, tired. So damn tired. How is Bertie?”

Aoife felt the wall of Bram’s arms encase her and breathed in his scent and the lingering smell of gunpowder on his skin. But she felt safe in his arms like she was exactly where she was meant to be. She knew how stupid that was because they barely knew each other. Neither one of them wanted long term and he’d made it clear to her that he couldn’t get involved with her now. She was a job. Yet, never in her life had she felt more like she was home than when she was with him.

“Bertie is going to pull through. Val called in some favours and got a friend of hers to operate and he saved him. It was pretty close but the little guy is going to pull through.”