life saver, Cinders.”
We followed Saint through the huge house, the place deathly quiet as we walked down the dark corridors.
“Where are we going?” I hissed when I’d finished my food and officially woken up.
Saint didn’t reply as he led us down a hallway with paintings of Irish landscapes on the walls, apparently knowing his way through this house as well as Kyan did. Maybe better.
“We have a bet on,” Blake murmured in my ear as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I guessed he’s taking us to sacrifice a goat to Satan and open up a doorway to hell.”
Kyan stepped to my side. “Naw, my bet is we’re going to some underground African ceremony where Saint can make sure you’re married to all of us. Which I will totally fight by the way, baby.”
“It’s obvious where we’re going,” Nash said from behind me and I looked around with a question in my eyes. “To see Doctor-”
“Utter that name within these hallways and I shall castrate you and feed your balls to the O’Brien guard dogs,” Saint said cuttingly, but I got the message.
We were taking the vaccines to Dr De La Cost. We were finally going to make a difference to this fucking plague sweeping across the Earth. My heart filled with warmth at knowing that. I hated knowing we had access to those vaccines yet couldn’t do anything to save the thousands of people dying every day. But we would now.
We arrived in a large conservatory that extended from the back of the house and Kyan moved forward to unlock the double doors that led outside. The night air made me shiver as we exited onto the immaculate lawn and Blake hugged me to him tighter, acting as a barrier to the cold.
Saint marched purposefully across the grass into the thickening darkness and I frowned as we followed. “Is there a way out onto the road from here?” I asked. “Or a garage?”
Saint said nothing, but eventually stopped about a hundred yards away from the house and took his phone from his pocket. “Two minutes,” he announced.
“Before what? An alien spaceship beams us up into the sky?” Monroe asked with a snort.
“To be fair, I think Saint could organise that,” I said, slipping away from Blake to cuddle with Nash. He hugged me to his chest and I breathed in his pine scent with a smile. I swear my guys were all starting to smell more similar though. There was an apple undercurrent on him too and I guessed that was Saint’s doing as he’d packed the shower gel.
The sound of propellors came from somewhere off in the sky and I looked up in surprise as the lights of a helicopter approached.
“What the fuck?” Monroe breathed, the air whipping wildly around us as the helicopter came down to land.
“We will need to board quickly,” Saint called to us. “The noise will wake the household.”
The skids hit the grass and Saint beckoned us forward, pulling the door open and climbing inside with Kyan. Monroe helped me up and Kyan snatched me away, tugging me down into a seat beside him.
Blake pulled the door shut as lights turned on in the house and my heart rate ratcheted up. Saint poked his head into the cockpit, pulling on a headset so he could speak to the pilot.
Kyan placed a headset in my hand and I put it on as Blake and Monroe moved to sit in the seats behind us.
Saint turned and took hold of the strap at my waist as I finished securing the belt, tugging it sharply to tighten it further before dropping into the seat beside mine. The helicopter took off as he strapped himself in and Kyan spoke over the headset.
“Grandpa’s gonna shit a lung,” he said with a bark of laughter.
“Don’t worry about him,” Saint said. “I will explain this when we return.”
“Good luck with that, brother,” Kyan said, placing a hand on my knee and squeezing.
We flew up and away from the property and the few lights on in the nearest town glittered as we sailed towards it. The moon wasn’t out tonight, and I had the feeling that was no coincidence. Saint had planned this down to every detail and the cover of darkness was a part of it.
It wasn’t long before the pilot flew us down to land in a wide farmer’s field and Saint unclipped his belt. “Stay in your seats,” he growled at us before opening the door and jumping outside.
The