“So, they’re all going?”
His jaw tightens. “That’s the plan,” he says. “Though you’re my primary concern at the moment.”
I could kiss him.
I look out the window and hold his hand as he drives past the gate, down the street that takes us away from the shore and deep into the heart of the city. The church and graveyard fly by our windows, then the armory and castle. It’s a bright, blustery day, but sunlight dims when we swoop downhill, toward what looks like a cave. There’s a light on the wall outside the entrance that casts a yellowish, dim glow around it.
“What the hell is this?” I mutter. “Looks like we could’ve gotten here by magic more easily than by car. Flick of the wand, as it were.”
But he doesn’t speak. He parks the car and comes around to get me. When the door opens, the air here’s cooler. We really are in a cave of sorts. I can tell by the musty, damp smell in the air. I scream when I hear, then see, the flutter of wings just above me.
“Just bats, lass,” he says. “Relax.”
Just bats?
There’s a series of locks he unfastens before he opens the heavy door and ushers me in. I feel as if we’re going underground. Hell, I suppose we are, in a sort of hovel. It’s a small apartment, windowless and dark, with a thick, heavy door that looks as if it belongs on a castle. I look around the room and can tell it’s been expanded by an addition that goes further than this one small anteroom. There’s the smell of fresh paint, and brilliant, gleaming floors ahead of us.
Lachlan releases my arm long enough to lock the door behind him, while I look around. There’s a refrigerator, a small restroom, a sofa, and a cot in this room, and a very similar set-up in the room behind it.
“Come here,” Lachlan says, pulling me to him when he’s finally secured the door.
I turn to him and lift my brows in surprise. The anger’s gone and in its place, his eyes are furrowed with concern.
“I’m okay,” I tell him. “Relax.”
“You bloody well are for now,” he mutters. “To think how easily you could’ve been killed…”
I place my hand on his chest and look up at him plaintively.
“I’m fine,” I tell him again. “Do you need to get back to your brothers?”
“Aye, but not until I know you’re safe. So I’ll stay here until then. Normally we’d call the guard, but you know I can’t do that now.”
“Right.”
I look about the room. “So, this is a private room, a holding place, as it were?”
“Aye,” Lachlan says. “It’s the most iron-clad protection we can offer. There’s one way in, and very few know how to get here. Even fewer know the passcodes to the locks.
“Right.” I feel small yet important when I look around the room.
Finally, he lets out a breath, and I do the same. I didn’t realize I was as tense as I was.
“You’re safe,” he whispers, drawing me to his chest and holding me. I close my eyes and wrap my arms around his body, as if steeling myself with his devotion and protection.
“Of course I am,” I tell him. “I’m with you, aren’t I?”
He drags his hand down the back of my head and cups it in his hand, drawing me tighter to him. “You are,” he says. “You are.”
His phone rings, and he quickly answers, but he doesn’t let me go. Still tucked up against him, I can hear every word of their conversation. The other women of the Clan are waiting outside.
He sighs and walks to the door. “It’s part of my job to commit myself to the safety of all of you. But I must confess, it was easier for me to devote myself to the protection of all before you were mine.”
Before you were mine.
I entwine my fingers with his as he walks to the door, punches a series of numbers in, and opens the door. Maeve enters with Caitlin.
“Working on finding everyone else,” Maeve says. “Megan and Sheena are traveling today, with the children. Nowhere near home.”
“Jesus,” Lachlan mutters.
“It’s alright, isn’t it?” Maeve says with a gentle smile. “Carson’s with them.”
Lachlan nods. “I suppose.”
He wants all of us here, safe, under the protection of the Clan.
Maeve comes to me and reaches to embrace me. She hugs me even though it’s awkward that Lachlan won’t release my hand. I give her a strange, one-armed hug she doesn’t question.
“He’ll do anything to keep you safe,” she whispers in my ear. “Won’t he?”
“Aye,” I whisper back, “Anything. How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she says, but her face is pale and wan.
Lachlan gets a call, and he walks away, whispering angrily into the phone, then he lets out a labored breath and looks to me.