Savage sighed and came to sit next to me on the edge of the bed. His warm hand was on my thigh, sending the wrong kind of signals to my horndog brain.
“My father is powerful…he’s done bad shit to get where he is now. He’s feared, and that’s what he lives off. His own brothers fear him, so much so they kicked him out of Russia and now he’s the President of a secret society known as the Onyx.”
I felt everything in me chill. I knew all about that society. They were no joke, and they were into everything.
“You’ve heard of it.”’
I nodded. “Yes, my father has been trying to get in league with them for some time, even before I left. I know some things about it, but not a lot.”
“No one truly knows the depth of depravity that comes with the Onyx. Unless you’re a member.”
“Okay…so your father doesn’t know about you…why are you so worried?”
“He does…he knows I’m alive, and he knows I’m in Ireland. He doesn’t know where, but that’s not going to take long to figure out if he truly wanted to.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Niall?”
“What if…he’s been planning on coming over here to claim me back?” he asked me. I heard the fear in his voice, and it startled me.
Nothing scared Savage.
Nothing.
“We wouldn’t let him take you. This is your family.”
“I think he’s in league with your father.”
“No way…if he had power like that, he wouldn’t need to skate around shit. He wouldn’t care about MC’s, he would try and overtake even your father. My dad is sadistic.”
“So is mine,” he replied quickly. “My father is Boris Markov. Third son to Pavel Markov, thepakhanof the Markov Bratva. He scared his own family so much that they shipped him off to run another country. Nothing scares the Bratva.”
“He’s not going to take you, Niall. I promise you. Nothing will ever come between you and the club. Why would he be interested in one son who hasn’t been raised under his roof?”
“I’m his only son,” he told me. “I have six sisters. Each time one of his women birthed a daughter and not a son, they were killed. Even his wives.”
Chills ran down my spine. No wonder he hated talking about him. I wouldn’t want that as a legacy either. I didn’t even like telling people who my own father was, and he was nothing compared to Boris. I ran my hand down his back, soothing him just as he had done in chapel.
“It’s so hard to believe you’re Russian.”
He chuckled, and his entire body relaxed. “I’m not. I am Irish with a Russian father.”
“Sure you are, buddy,” I said, pushing up off the bed. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down, so I was straddling his lap. Slowly, he pushed my hair over my shoulder and leaned down to kiss along mycollarbone. Every single touch of his sent fireworks through my veins. He was my drug of choice, my kryptonite, my absolute fucking everything. There were no words to convey how fucking much I loved this man. There were no words for what I felt.
“I wish I had told you how much I wanted you all those years ago.”
“You didn’t know…you thought I loved Zach.”
“I mean before that…before I spoke to you.”
Frowning, I looked down at him. “What do you mean?”
“Shona…I have wanted you since the day I met you. You smiled at me, handed me a beer and told me I looked good as a prospect and that I’d be patched-in in no time. Your smile fucking haunted me for weeks, because I wanted to see you smile at me like that all the time. Every time I saw Dog mistreat you, it took everything in me not to beat the ever loving shit out of him and go comfort you.”
His confession left me speechless. I remembered the day we met. He’d been lost and alone, scared because he and Viper were small fish in a large pond. I’d known instantly that they belonged with us andI had done everything to make them feel welcome, even giving them beer when they were underaged. No one cared in the clubhouse.
“That means you’ve been in love with me for…fifteen years.”
He nodded. “Yep.”
