Page 24 of King of the Cage

And tonight, I’d fucking failed.

I strode over to her and hugged her. I gripped her tightly, crushing her against my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here. You’re safe,” I said like a chant, holding her close.

She shook.

Someone was going to answer for this.

When Quinn had calmed, I sat next to her bed.

I wrapped my hand around hers. “What happened?”

Quinn took a few halting breaths and then melted into my side. I draped my arm around her shoulders, hoping she could take some strength from my presence

“I don’t know. I can’t remember,” she admitted. “It’s all a blur. I seriously don’t remember anything, not just tonight, but longer… this whole week, maybe even the last one, too. It’s all hazy. The last thing I really remember was visiting Mam together. We got takeout on the way home. I remember that, and then, this now, waking up in the hospital, Ion beside himself and calling everyone.” She smoothed her hands down the covers. “I don’t know what happened.”

I jerked my head toward Declan, who lounged by the wall, keeping everyone else out. “Get Ion.”

He nodded and moved away without a word.

“Did I get hurt?” Quinn wondered.

“I don’t know. We’ll have Doc come and see you.”

Doc, otherwise known as Keiran, one of my oldest friends, and my father’s second-in-command, was the family physician. He was the only one I trusted with Quinn.

She nodded and hugged herself.

“Does it hurt anywhere?” I asked, my hands curling into hard fists at the question. People would die answering for this, but if they’d touched her… not only would Ion die a death that would take weeks, but so would everyone involved in this.

“Only my head… and my pride. I’m an O’Connor.” She let out a long, defeated sigh. “I should be smarter than this.”

“You’re plenty smart. Never blame yourself for others’ evil. They are the guilty ones, and they’ll pay the price. You have my word.”

Quin nodded and looked over at me. “When did we go and see Mam?” she asked, returning to one of the most troubling parts of this entire thing.

“Nearly three weeks ago.”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she shook her head incredulously. “It’s so odd. It’s blank. Will my memories come back?”

“I’m sure they will, Quinnie. I’m sure they will. Don’t worry about it, anyhow. Doc will check everything is okay.” I sounded far more confident than I felt. What kind of drug caused memory loss that long? It was troubling.

Ion stumbled in, with Declan right behind.

Dec pointed at the floor. “Sit.” He sounded as pissed off as I was that Quinn had nearly been hurt.

Ion grunted, shifting himself. His mouth was already swollen, and his nose clearly broken, both eyes quickly turning a pleasing purple.

Quinn clamped her hand over her mouth in horror. “Bran! It’s my fault. I snuck away, didn’t I?”

“He’s supposed to stop you. That’s literally his job, and he failed at it.” I looked at Ion. “He’s lucky he’s still breathing. Tell her.” I inclined my head toward my sister.

Ion nodded hastily. “I’m lucky I’m still alive, seeing what I failed to do. I’m sorry you were hurt, I’m sorry I wasn’t there?—”

“Enough. Tell me what you saw, every single detail.”

Hours later,I sat in The Selkie’s Rest, the pub I lived above, and downed a shot of scotch.

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