Keenan and Caitlin’s family sit at the large table, as do Cormac and Aileen. Carson’s just come in ahead of me, and when Breena sees Aunt Maeve, she makes a run for it. Maeve turns to catch her, her eyes filled with adoration as she picks the little girl up and fairly tosses her into the air.
“How’s my little princess, this morning?” she asks. “Ah, who did the wee braids? Did daddy?” She looks in surprise at Carson. He shakes his head no.
“Megan did.”
A few eyes come to me as I enter, but I feel Nolan and Keenan’s most powerfully. I can almost hear them thinking. Why was Megan with Breena so early in the morning? None of them are fools.
“They look lovely,” Maeve says, though even her look grows a bit distant. Am I imagining things? How odd.
“Thank you. She’s got the prettiest curls.”
The girls talk about their daughters, and their hair, and their own, and they’re going on and on as I walk back to the buffet line. We ate a good breakfast earlier, but I will literally never turn down a freshly baked house scone.
“Morning, Megan.”
Tully comes up beside me. He’s swiping at his phone with his large fingers.
“Morning,” I tell him. “Ah, so Carson’s fixed it already, has he?”
Tully looks at me in confusion. “Come again?”
“Wasn’t Carson fixing your phone?”
Am I going fucking mental? Should I be keeping my bloody mouth shut?
Tully shakes his head. “No, didn’t need his help with my phone. If I did, he’d be the first I’d ask, though. Feckin’ tech god, that man is.” Tully shoves his phone in his pocket before he loads a plate with eggs, scones, and fruit, and heads over to sit beside Lachlan.
Something cold rises in my chest, and my belly feels queasy. I stare at the scone on my plate I was salivating for only a moment ago, and my appetite’s gone.
Is he lying to me?
And if so, why would he lie about such trivial things as a broken phone? It doesn’t make sense to me, not at all.
I look up to see Carson beckoning me to come to him. Why is it that just an hour ago, everything felt right? So good and wholesome? And now, I’m questioning literally everything. I don’t even know if I want to sit with him right now, so I shake my head at him. When Aileen beckons to me, I go to her and slide in a seat beside her. I can feel Carson’s eyes on me, feel the heat of his gaze.
He’s an alpha male with a decidedly stern streak, and I wonder how he’ll react when he knows I’ve ignored him on purpose.
I chatter eagerly to Aileen about the book that she’s reading and the Clan birthdays we have coming up. There’s so many of us, we overlap months and even dates, so we often just celebrate all at once.
“Sounds lovely,” I say to her. “At the weekend, you say?”
“Aye,” she says with a smile.
I feel him come up behind me, feel his warmth before I see him. His mouth comes to my ear.
“Meeting room,” he says. “Now.”Chapter 13CarsonI don’t know what I’m bloody playing at. I don’t what she is.
I’m in a room with the members of my Clan, the brotherhood, and I can’t speak freely here. I gestured for her to come, and she ignored me.
Something isn’t right. Just this morning, it felt so natural being with her, and then again at the shooting range. I finally feel myself opening up for the first time since Eve died. Willing to maybe even love again.
But now… now she won’t even meet my eyes. And instead of the wide-eyed look she gives me when I give an instruction, she doesn’t look my way when I ask her to go to the meeting room. I want to talk to her.
With her belly-down over my knees.
Keenan clears his throat. “I need to see all men of the Clan in the meeting room after breakfast,” he says. “All who are present.”
We sit up straighter, and nod, murmurs of “yes, sir,” and “aye,” going up in the room. The women follow, taking the children down from highchairs and stools, chattering together. They’re planning a big celebration of sorts, some kind of birthday catch-all.
I try to meet Megan’s eyes, but she won’t look my way. I pull out my phone and shoot her a quick text.
We’ll have to postpone our talk, since Keenan’s called a meeting. Talk later today?
But if she sees the text, she doesn’t respond.
I take a step over to her, but Boner and Lachlan are blocking my way.
“Something’s come of the man murdered in Stone City,” Lachlan says gravely. “Father Finn came by this morning. He’ll join us today.”
Bloody hell.
“Aye,” Boner says. “I heard chatter at the Craic last night as well.”