“Of course. Thanks, Keenan.”
“Lachlan.”
“Mmm?”
“Has Tiernan told you what it is tonight?”
Wariness grows in my belly. “No, he hasn’t. Something I should know?”
“It isn’t a normal meeting, Lach. It’s an auction.”
My body stiffens, and I can feel Fiona’s eyes sharpen on me. “What kind of a fucking auction?”
He sighs. “You know what kind, Lach. Keep her safe. Mark her as yours.”
I can guarantee Nolan was nowhere near Keenan’s office during this conversation.
We’re not in Ballyhock anymore. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Why hasn’t Tiernan told me the work he’s done here? I can’t really blame him, though. We haven’t had time.
We hang up just as we get to the hotel room, and the irony isn’t lost on me, Keenan’s parting words in my ears.
Keep her safe.
Mark her as yours.
I’ve taken her from one potentially dangerous situation to another, only in this arena, I’m the bloody antagonist. Just when I’ve decided I won’t defile her, that I’ll keep her pure and innocent and not give into the temptation that threatens to break my resolve, my goddamn Chief tells me to mark her.
“Something wrong, Lachlan?”
“Like you said,” I tell her, leading her into the hotel. “We need to talk.”
I sweep my gaze over every detail, noting anything that might indicate we were followed or we’re in danger, but everything seems kosher. “I’ve got some business to attend to later and you’ll have to join me. We’ll talk of it upstairs.”
She nods, and we get on the elevator. She crooks a finger at me when the doors close. I bend down and put my ear to her mouth.
“There’s a guard at the door who saw us come in,” she says. “And I know I may be imagining things, but I swear, Lachlan, the second he saw you he picked up his phone and sent a message or something.”
Bloody hell. And I missed this?
“When I was talking to Keenan?”
She nods. The elevator door swings open and two men in suits enter. They nod courteously. I barely maintain civility. I sweep my gaze down the length of them. Neither are packing a weapon, and they seem almost fully disinterested in us.
But who to trust? The goddamn frat boys they hung out with last night could be conspiring against us, for Christ’s sake. The guard at the door. I need her safe. But am I enough?
The door to our floor opens, and the two businessmen stare disinterestedly at their phones. I don’t take her back to our hotel room, though, but make a quick left, open the exit to the stairwell, and take her down a flight of stairs.
“Where’re we going?” she whispers. I put my finger to my lips, and she follows in silence.
I send Keenan a brief message, and half a minute later Carson texts me. Clan hacker and chief brainiac, he gives me what I need. A few minutes later I slip into a vacant hotel room.
“Is this necessary?” Fiona asks.
“Aye,” I tell her with a sigh. “We have to, lass. If the guard’s conspiring against us, we’re not safe at all.”
She sighs. “Right.” I let her hand go, and she sits heavily on a stuffed chair. “Lachlan, I think I want to go home. But not… not home, home.”
“What do you mean?”
I pull out a swivel chair across from her and sit down heavily. I take one of her small hands in both of mine and hold her gaze. “Tell me what you mean.”
She nods. “I don’t… I don’t know if I belong with Sheena and Nolan anymore. You know? They’re raising a family. And I’m not a child anymore. But I don’t know if it’s right being here, either. I thought at first I just missed Ballyhock. That I was just homesick. And there are loads of reasons for me to stay here, but I don’t want you… or Tiernan…” her voice trails off and she curses under her breath.
I don’t want to take this from her, I bloody well don’t, but without knowing who our enemy is or who’s targeting us, it’s like putting a fucking target on our backs in a field surrounded by snipers.
“You don’t have to decide that tonight, lass. Alright? Not tonight. For now, we have plans this evening. And tomorrow, you’ll go to class. I’ll watch over you and protect you.”
She takes my hand and leans her cheek into my palm, closing her eyes. “I know you will,” she says. “Don’t I know it. The only problem is, safe is so overrated.”
Jesus fucking Christ, the woman will undo me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She doesn’t answer the question. “Lachlan, you’ll be bored to death babysitting me while I go to class.”
“And I’d lose my mind if I did anything but ensure your safety,” I respond.
She watches me for long moments, then nods.
“Do you ever feel like you don’t belong?” she asks, and her eyes wander over my shoulder. “I still don’t really understand why my safety’s so important to the men of the Clan.”