“This place is compromised, and you’re really expecting us to believe that everything is fine?”
“I told you. Adrian and I reached an agreement.”
Cormac keeps his voice level, but I can see it’s costing him something to keep his cool from the tight set of his shoulders.
“An agreement,” Kieran repeats, letting out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Withhim.”
Ronan folds his arms, his gaze fixed on the floor like he’s thinking five steps ahead. “Cormac, you know as well as I do?—”
“I know exactly who Adrian Smirnov is. I also know what he wants, and right now, a ceasefire serves him just as much as it serves us.”
Kieran scowls. “And when has that ever stopped anyone in our world? Since when do men like him keep their word?”
Cormac turns on him. “Stop. Lower your voice.”
Kieran rounds on Cormac, his eyes blazing. “I’m not lowering anything while my house?—”
“—is still standing,” Brennan steps between them. “Mostly.”
No one laughs.
Kieran shakes his head. “It’s not safe to be here. We should send the girls and kids to a safehouse.”
Ronan nods. “I agree. At least, for the time being.”
My fists clench hard. “No. I won’t be separated from my son.”
Kieran throws his hands up. “Then go with him for all I care. Seeing as you’re the one with the target on your back.”
“No!” Scout suddenly cries, breaking out of my arms and running for Cormac. “I want to stay with Daddy!”
Cormac wraps him up in his arms in an instant, holding him so tightly I’m surprised Scout can even breathe. As I watch the two of them, something inside me snaps, and before I can talk myself out of it, I step forward.
“No one is taking Scout anywhere.”
Kieran opens his mouth again, but I cut him off. “Scout needs to stay with his family, which means, keeping him here where he feels safe.”
Ronan frowns. “Fiona has a point. Maybe?—”
Kieran rounds on Ronan. “No. We don’tmaybethis. We move him. Protocol exists for a reason.”
Scout lets out a small, broken sound and clings tighter to Cormac, and I feel his fear like it’s my own.
“No,” I repeat, louder this time. “That’s exactly how this gets worse.”
Everyone turns to me, but I don’t balk under the weight of their stares.
“You move him now and all Scout learns is that the world really isn’t safe. That every time something bad happens, he loses his home.”
Brennan shrugs. “She’s not wrong.”
This earns him a glare from Kieran.
Ronan nods. “Then we reinforce the boundary tonight. No one sleeps until it’s done.”
Kieran glares at me, but I don’t even blink.
Right now, Scout is my priority, and it’s going to take a lot more than his bad mood to get me to back down.
