Lachlan (Dangerous Doms #5) - Jane Henry Page 0,25

Keenan took his wife Caitlin as his prisoner when they first met. Cormac’s wife Aileen was his as tribute, an arranged marriage to prevent war between clans. Hell, even Nolan imprisoned Sheena for spying on us, and Maeve, Keenan’s mother and the matriarch of our group, was wed to the late Seamus McCarthy when she was about the same age.

“Doesn’t mean it’s right,” I tell him, but this time, he shakes his head.

“And that’s where you’re fucking wrong.”

“Come again?”

“It’d be wrong if you didn’t claim her, Lach.”

“Nolan would kill me.”

Keenan strokes his chin, as if thinking about the possibility of a painful, brutal death at the hands of my Clan brother.

“Maybe.”

And that makes me laugh. “Such a casual response to such a violent way to die,” I say with a derisive snort.

“Nolan loves you, and you know it,” he finally says. “As does Sheena. They’d have to be blind to not know how much you care for the girl.”

Girl. A stark reminder of how old she is.

I need to leave, so I don’t tell him the other doubts I have. How being wed to a man of the Clan limits her possibilities, how I want her to have a lifetime of dreams and hopes ahead of her, but I mull over his words as I get ready.

Half an hour later I’ve got a bag of essentials slung over my back, my phone in my pocket, and I’m heading to Boston on the private jet. I have to do this. I fucking have to.

The minutes turn into hours as we fly west, but I stay in touch with Tiernan the whole time. He’s made it to her hotel room. She’s alright. But no one’s found her guard.

When I’m an hour away from landing, Tiernan sends me a text.

We need to check on Aisling, but I won’t leave Fiona to do it.

He bloody well won’t.

Aisling’s not our concern.

I know exactly who she is. Since she’s best friends with Fiona, I know every detail of her life. I’ve tracked her and her family for years.

Tiernan texts back. She is if she’s affiliated with us and someone took down our guard.

She isn’t our first priority.

Of course not. Bloody hell, I wish we had the brotherhood closer.

I know what he means. We’ve spent years surrounded in a sort of bubble, the protection of the Clan at our backs at all times. If one brother’s endangered, we sound the warning call. I’ve had an army of trained men at my back since I was a teen. It’s disconcerting not having that.

My eyes are sandy with lack of sleep, but my body is tense when we finally land in a safe zone just minutes away from the Boston Harbor. I text Keenan.

Landed. Going to get a ride to her hotel. Any word on the guard?

Keenan: Nothing yet. I’ll let you know soon as I find out.

This isn’t good. I know it. If a guard goes missing without any response to his superior, he’s likely dead. No guard would let more than five minutes pass between communicating with his boss. Any guard who made such an error without death as an excuse would be severely punished or summarily fired. Maybe both.

Adrenaline courses through me when I see the hotel where she’s staying. I glance again at the tracker on my phone, blessedly relieved that the little dot showing her whereabouts is still right here, thank God.

I take my bag, careful to conceal the bevy of weapons I’ve brought. I wear a jacket to cover up my tats, not wanting to reveal myself as Irish mob seconds after landing on American soil.

I haven’t given much thought to my arrival, to seeing her, but as I draw nearer, my heartbeat races. God, I’ve missed her. The last phone conversation we had buried old wounds and brought us together again.

Will she be angry I’ve come trailing after her? She hates when I’m overbearing, and nearly every fight we’ve ever had was for just that reason.

Tiernan’s standing guard outside her room when I arrive.

“Why are you out here?” I ask, frowning at him. He’s too far from her.

“Gives me a better vantage point, and I didn’t want to wake her.”

“Did you check in on her?”

“Aye, of course. She’s fine. How’d you get here so fast?”

“Private jet.”

He raises his brows but doesn’t say anything in response.

I nod, take the flat key he hands me to the door, and slide it against the locking mechanism. It clicks open, and I give him a nod.