“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 howimportant 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.
I stalk over to her, intent on making my point. To him. To her. To bloody fucking anyone who could be spying on us.
The look on my face makes her eyes widen, and she takes a step back involuntarily. Is she afraid I'll hurt her?
I reach for her bun, fisting the silky locks in the palm of my hand. I yank her head back, and when her mouth opens in a gasp, I slam my mouth on hers. Her hands come around my shoulders to anchor herself as I kiss her, my tongue meeting hers, demanding she yield to me, and when she does, I slide my hand along her lower back, yanking her flush against me as I kiss her.
I release her, loving the way her lips are swollen and slightly parted, her hair spilling out of her bun down the side of her face and in her eyes.
“Mac,” she whispers. I kiss her again to quiet her.
“Behave while I’m gone,” I whisper in her ear. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She nods dumbly, and I let her go with great reluctance.
Clyde looks away when I turn to him, as if embarrassed to see such an intimate moment. I don’t fucking care.
“Call me if you see or hear a single fucking move out of line, you understand me?”
“Aye,” he says, nodding. “Of course.”
I leave my house fueled with rage at whoever’s come to threaten us. If they’re here because of her, I’ll fucking kill them.
I call Leith. He answers on the first ring.
“Where the fuck is he?”
“Basement. We saved him for you.”
I hear muffled curses in the background as I increase my speed, jogging to the main house. I enter the house to find the fucking housekeeper, the girl called Aisla, watching me with large, wide eyes.
“What the fuck are you staring at?” I know I’m being a douchebag. I don’t usually treat any of them this way, but I’m so pissed I hope I get the chance to beat the crap out of someone tonight.
