Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“Won't be long," I tell her, even though I have no idea if that's true or not.
"Hello?"
“Got a situation, brother, need you at the main house immediately.”
I sit straight up.
“What is it?”
“We’ve caught a spy.”
“Have you? Who is it?”
“Aitkens Clan.”
“Bloody hell!”
I look sharply to the sofa, and Bryn’s eyes go wide. “Everything alright?” she mouths. I shake my head and hold up a finger for her to wait.
“I’ll be right there.”
“You’ve got Bryn with you?” Leith asks.
“Aye.”
“Do not bring her. She stays at your place. I’ve sent a man to keep her safe, lock her in tight. I don’t want her knowing what’s going on.”
I don’t reply at first. I was afraid something like this would happen. I have to do what my loyalty to my family requires, but I fucking hate leaving her. I want to take her with me. I hate the idea of somebody coming to watch over her.
The days with her have given me false promise, a false high. I know the expectation of normalcy between us can’t ever happen.
But even if she were mine, irrevocably, I couldn’t take her on a job like this. I know exactly what I'm going to be asked to do. And she couldn't come with me even if she did belong to me.
A knock comes at the door as I hang up the phone.
“Mac?” she asks, pulling the blanket up around her, her beautiful eyes wide in surprise. “Everything alright?”
I shake my head. “It will be. And I have to go.” I lean over, cup her jaw, and kiss her forehead. “I’ll be back soon. Will you wait for me?”
She nods. “Of course. Can you tell me what's going on?"
I shake my head. "I'm sorry, baby. I can't. You'll have to trust me. Leith has sent a guard down to watch over you. We’ll lock every door and window, and I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can.”
Her eyes darken as she looks to the door, frowning. She doesn’t like this plan any more than I do.
“I can’t come?”
“No, Bryn. You stay here. Now go quickly, lass, get changed.”
I point to her bag with all her clothes. She nods, sighs, and quickly goes to get changed as I yell to the door, “Just a minute!”
A few minutes later, I open the door to let Clyde in. He looks sheepishly from me to Bryn. “Sorry, boss,” he says, shaking his head. “Cap’n made me come.”
“Aye, it isn’t your fault.” I look over at Bryn, who’s watching us in the living room while we’re still standing in the doorway. I lower my voice so she doesn’t hear. “I can’t have her knowing what I’m doing or where I am.”
He nods. “Aye, boss. Of course.”
I blow out a breath and glare at him. “And I’m tellin’ you now, Clyde…” my voice trails off as I think about how I want to phrase this. “She means something to me. Her safety’s fucking everything to me, do you understand me?”
He blanches, hearing the sincerity in my voice. “Aye, of course.”
“Leith’s forbidden me from taking her back with me, or she’d be tied to my bloody side. For all I fucking know, her father sent a scout, and there’s more than one here. What do you have for weapons on you?”
“Bloody everything,” he says, and I’m reminded why he was inducted in the Cowen Clan to begin with. Keenan McCarthy, our mate in Ireland, was the one who suggested him to us. Loyal and fierce, and one of the toughest in a fight one could imagine.
He opens his coat to reveal a vest with a bevy of weapons.
“Got me guns, packing a blade in my boot, and if it came down to it, I have my own bare hands that could do some serious damage as well.”
It’ll damn near kill me leaving her in the care of another.
“Excellent. I’m trusting you, brother.”
He nods, standing straighter. “And I won’t let you down.”
I’ve left my sisters and Mum in the care of my brothers before. I've been the one in charge of protection, making sure the younger and weaker in our clan were well cared for. Until Cairstina had her baby, we didn't have any bairns, but my sisters are younger than I am, and we have cousins as well. I know how important it is to keep the more vulnerable safe, and I know it's important to trust Clyde. But I fucking hate it.
I want to be the one that protects her. I want to be the one she leans on when she's afraid. I want to be the one that slays anything that will come to hurt her.
Still, I want it so fucking clear who I am and what she means to me. So before I leave, I go to her. She’s dressed in joggers and a hoodie, her feet bare and her hair arranged in an adorably messy bun.