Fergus - An Irish Mafia Shifter (Boston Bear Brothers 1)

“Are you going to kill him?” she asked quietly.

“I am,” he told her, not certain if that would change her mind about staying with him for a while.

She said nothing, just nodding and leaning against him. He reached down and pulled her closer to him, stroking her hair and just enjoying the way she felt against him. How he’d kidnapped a woman and managed to end up so enamored with her was beyond him, but damned if he wasn’t. Everything about her excited him: her look, her scent, the sounds she made when she climaxed. He could see himself with a woman like her, though his father would not be happy about her being human.

That was something he’d deal with if and when it became an issue. For now, he was content to just be with her and enjoy the time they had together. It was really all he could offer her right now anyway. His father was getting older and he’d be looking him to him as Alpha in the not too distant future. Fergus wasn’t sure what that would mean for him.

“Do you ever want to just walk away from all this? Just disappear and pretend you are someone else?” she asked him.

“I think about it from time to time.”

“Would you ever do it, though?”

“No. I would never leave my brothers behind to fight alone.”

She nodded and leaned back into him. After a while, he stepped back and reached down to her, lifting her up and carrying her to the bedroom upstairs, locking them in for another night that could be their last night here in a world where no one existed beyond each other. He watched across the bed as she stripped off her clothes and climbed naked between the covers. He was struck again by her beauty as he peeled off his own clothes and climbed in beside her.

They’d made love slowly, their bodies in perfect rhythm as he slipped in and out of her delicate center. He took his time, enjoying the way she felt and letting her climax a number of times before filling her with his own orgasm.

Afterward, they had drifted off to sleep in one another’s arms. Fergus felt something he couldn’t ever remember having felt before in his life. He felt fear. He knew it wasn’t for himself, at least not from a perspective of worrying about any harm coming to him physically.

No, he was afraid of not being able to protect her. More to the point, he was afraid of losing her, and that wasn’t good for a person in his position. He knew that women were a weakness of men, but he’d always fancied himself beyond that. He’d never loved a woman or even entertained the idea that he might, but now he found himself very aware that it had not so much been a choice, but a lack of opportunity.

The truth was, he’d just never met a woman that he felt he could love. He’d never met a woman who captivated him the way Eimear did. He might have kidnapped her, but she stole every inch of him. They belonged to her now, and whether he wanted to admit it, he wasn’t opposed. It felt good, but it also felt terrifying.

He loved his brothers, but if they died in a fight, he would know they invited in the possibility. They knew what could happen to them and chose to run into the fire head-on. Eimear had not asked for any of this, and yet she was right in the middle of the line of fire. She couldn’t protect herself. That was on him now. Falling in love with her didn’t scare him, but not being able to ensure that she was always safe frightened the hell out of him. He lay there in the dark, wide awake and thinking far more than he should.CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXEimear

Eimear had fallen asleep quickly, feeling a bit emotionally stressed and exhausted from another round of mind-blowing sex with Fergus. She’d rested her head in the crook of his arm and drifted right off, feeling secure and wanted. It was a good feeling, something she’d wanted but never quite found, not even with Ciaron before she’d known what he was. She was jolted out of her slumber by Fergus sitting straight up in bed, sending her floundering toward her own pillow.

“What...” she began, but he cut her off, reaching out to put his large hand over her mouth.

She started to protest, but then she heard it. It was faint, but definitely there—the sound of someone quietly turning the front doorknob. Silence followed and then returned again, this time from the direction of the back door. It was definitely not a raccoon this time. Someone was there. Had he known? Had he expected them?

Now, there was a clicking noise. She looked toward Fergus, his face barely visible in the moonlight streaming through the bedroom window. He was alert, listening intently as the clicking continued. A faint beep sounded, and then metal clanged. A voice could be heard cautioning someone to be quieter. Her eyes widened.