Page 68 of Monsters in the Dark

“Don’t move,” I ordered, and Desmond just glared up at me.

“We really should have made Lochlan come with us,” Brody hissed as he applied pressure to his left arm. “Why didn’t we invite him again?”

“He’s busy at work,” Noah answered. “The man actually has a job, you know.”

“There,” I said as I examined my handiwork. “That should get you by until Lochlan can tend to your wounds.”

After we’d made our way out of the cabin, Desmond and James had been the first to come upon a makeshift campsite, and one of Klive’s men had gotten a shot off before either man could start picking them off. From there, all hell had broken loose, and when Declan and I had finally made our way to the clearing, everyone had been dodging bullets, though Desmond and Brody hadn’t dodged them fast enough. Desmond had gotten shot in his left thigh, and Brody’s left arm had gotten grazed, though deep enough to be a concern.

Now, while we had managed to kill them all, there’d only been ten men at the cabin, leaving Klive and six others still alive. Luckily for us, Tearney hadn’t killed the canary right away, so we had ended up learning that there were no other campsites, and that they’d been hopping from territory to territory since they got to Maryland as a way to stay off everyone’s radar. However, once the others came back to see their campsite annihilated, it was going to put them on notice, and I imagined that they were probably going to go deep underground until they regrouped. He’d also sworn that he hadn’t known anything about a cabin, so it really could have been sheer coincidence that two of their men had stumbled upon the cabin, and the mention of Klive had just been a general reference to their thieving ways.

“What are we going to do with the bodies?” Tearney asked. “Leave them for the animals?”

“I have a fire pit out back for their belongings, and ten miles to the north, there’s a drop off cliff with nothing but rocky terrain at the bottom,” I told the room. “The drop is far enough to doubt what you’re seeing, and it’s also inaccessible by foot. The police would have to helicopter in, but who’s going to be looking for them? Truthfully, by the time that they’re reported missing-if they even are-the elements or the animals would have gotten to the bodies by then.”

“Why can’t we bury them next to the other two blokes?” Brody asked.

“That’s too much evidence in one place,” Declan answered.

“Then maybe I should just stay out here for a few days, dismembering the bodies, then scattering them about for the woodland critters,” James suggested. “It’s easier to eat a leg than it is an entire corpse.” He shrugged. “Plus, is anyone this far out going to really study a random bone if they come across one? They’ll just think that it’s a piece of some unfortunate animal.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” I muttered, thinking out loud.

“I’m full of solutions for the greater good, love,” James remarked, throwing a wink my way, and these O’Brien men really were lethal when it came to charming the fairer sex.

“Don’t call her that,” Declan chided. “You call her Keavy.”

“You’re no fun,” James sighed, though listened.

“I have a fire pit big enough to burn their stuff, but it can’t be burned all at once,” I said to anyone that was listening. “It might take a while, but I think that we can get rid of everything eventually.”

“Is the security here really as good as you say it is, Keavy?’ Declan asked me, and the question automatically had me suspicious.

“It’s the best available,” I answered. “Why?”

“It’s just…dangerous out here,” he said carefully, and I refused to argue with him about the cabin.

“Come with me,” I ordered. “I want to show you something.”

Leavin the rest of the men to recuperate from their injuries, I stormed out of the cabin, and I didn’t stop until I got to Cian’s grave. When I did, I turned to see that Declan had followed me, and he looked resigned when he saw the bed of flowers and the small cross camouflaged within the woodwork of the lattice that reached only a few feet high.

“I’m only going to say this once, Declan,” I told him, doing my best to keep my voice steady. “This is where Cian had wished to be laid to rest, and if you think that I will ever sell this land or not visit my father, then you’re sorely mistaken. This is the only place that brings me peace when nothing else works, and I will not let anyone take that from me. Despite my lineage, Cian O’Connell was the only family that I’d ever known, and I will not let you ruin the only piece of him that I have left.”

“Keavy-”

“No,” I bit out, refusing to let him speak. “I’ve agreed to being with you, and I’ve even agreed to working for you at Lir. I’m doing my best to meet you halfway with this thing between us, but this is the one thing that I will not compromise on, Declan. I’ll shoot you dead before I let you take this place from me. I’ll wipe out your entire organization if I have to, and if you think that I can’t, then I have news for you, O’Brien.”

His blue eyes flared as he raised his chin. “Donna eva call me O’Brien ‘gain, lass. Inna da O’Brien ta ye.”

“I love you, Declan,” I said, the words just coming out of their own accord. “However, not enough to let you take my memories from me.”

Declan was in my face before I could blink, and he looked down at me passionately as he took my face in his hands. “Say it again.”

“Declan-”

“Say it a-feckin’-gain,” he growled.

“I love you.”

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