Shadowed (Team Zero #4) by Rina Kent

Shadow is a dangerous man, it’d be naive to think otherwise, but he’s not dangerous to me. When I gave him a chance, he treated me like a queen.

There’ll always be the rough side like during sex, but I dig that about him.

Once I wake up, I’ll think of the best way to tell him about the baby.

“I’m leaving for a while.” His quiet voice brings me back from sleep.

Alarm grips me like suffocating smoke and it takes effort to speak in a semi-normal tone. “Where?”

He strokes the top of my hair in a lazy caress. “Somewhere.”

My lips tremble as I crane to stare up at him. “The Pit?”

He raises an eyebrow. “How did you know about that?”

“Elle told me. I thought Ghost was going…” I trail off. “You’re leaving instead of him, aren’t you?”

He grins. “Not that selfish, huh?”

“Continue being selfish.” Pressure builds behind my eyes. “Why must you be unselfish?”

He massages my scalp in slow, rhythmic movements. I close my lids and lean into his touch. Shadow plants a kiss on my lid. “I’m technically being selfish. I’m doing this to fix a duel with a Team Zero mate.”

I shake my head in his chest. “Don’t go.”

“I promise to return. I can’t let you go, now can I?” His voice holds an edge of amusement. “I have to live up to my monster reputation.”

He will go. Once Shadow is determined about something, he’ll do it.

I won’t let him.

It’s time to meet my grandfather.





Chapter Thirty-Two





“Psst!”

Natalie turns around from her usual hideout in the storeroom. It’s daytime, but as usual, she’s always organising boxes.

It’s been three days since the attack, and this is the first opening I had to get out of the room without Shadow and Elle breathing down my neck. They didn’t even buy my excuse to meet Liam. Elle wanted to come along, and Shadow didn’t like the idea in the first place.

I picked this time on purpose. Elle is working out with Ghost as they do every day. Shadow had to go to the factory with Lachlan. Half an hour is all I get before he returns.

I told him I’d be meditating with Scar, and I was since he made sure to check on me. As soon as he was gone, I snuck out of Scar’s room and came here. She’s in her strange zone whenever meditating so I don’t think she even noticed me leaving.

“Zoe?” Natalie’s big doe eyes widen.

“Hey, Nat.” I smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch and if all of this is too sudden, but can you help me?”

She wipes her hands on the front of her yellow dress. “With what?”

“I need to get out of here. You brought your car, right?”

She appears spooked. “W-why?”

“I just need to meet someone. Please?”

“I… S-Shadow will kill me.”

“If you don’t tell him, I won’t.”

She fidgets, her mocha skin paling.

I hold her hand. “Please, Nat. You’re my only hope.”

She reaches a trembling hand into her bra and retrieves a key. “Meet me outside. I’ll follow you after a few.”

“You’re the best, Nat!” I hug her and take the keys.

Thankfully, there aren’t many people in Le Salon during the day. The car park is even more deserted. I sneak along the walls until I reach Natalie’s small car. I should be worried about security cameras, but I hope to return before anything is reported back to Shadow.

Natalie follows after five minutes and we hit the road. I ask her to drop me near my old neighbourhood. I don’t want her involved in case it backfires.

“Thank you, Nat.” I hug her again.

She stiffens and gives an awkward smile.

Once she disappears down the road, I quicken my pace to President’s Joe’s ‘district’. He owns a club downtown that’s similar to Le Salon. It’s right above the fighting ring where I first met Shadow.

It feels like forever since that day. Who knew that the arrogant fighter will become an undivided part of my life? My chest squeezes into itself about doing this behind his back, but he didn’t leave me a choice. He won’t listen to reason or to my pleas to stay, so this is the only option I have left.

He says he’ll be fine, but Elle’s stories about how Team Zero’s members are tortured in The Pit make me want to vomit. There’s no way I’m letting Shadow go back to that.

Not if I can stop it.

The club sits on a large piece of land near a back alley. A few drunk men stagger by. I blend with the walls to not get into their way. Now and then, the smell of alcohol and disgusting musk hits me, and I swallow the nausea down.

A guard stops me at the entrance of the club. He’s bald and tall and his shoulders fill the doorway. He can probably snap me in halves if I breathe wrong.

“What do you want?” He barks.

“I want to meet President Joe.”

He guffaws as if I uttered the funniest joke. The laughter stops as abruptly. “Go home, little girl. No one meets the boss.”

“He’ll change his mind when you tell him who I am.” I hold my ground, voice confident. “I’m his —”