Page 40 of Destroy Me
“I’ll go with her,” Lyse promised. “She knows me a little bit. I’ll help keep her safe.”
“And you’ll be safe here, mam,” Fionn pointed out.
Siobhan rocked Kyla gently in her arms, soothing the child. Her gaze glued to Mack like a lifeline. “Okay. Lyse, grab a blanket from upstairs. Her jumper’s gone; we’ll need to keep her warm.”
Chapter Eighteen
“They know we’re here. Why aren’t they attacking?”
Fionn glanced over at his mam, noting the lines of strain around her eyes and mouth. The tension in her body. He’d spent the afternoon staring out at the backyard from the safety of the computer in Mack’s study; she had spent it waiting, helpless, for something to happen. She was the kind of woman who felt responsible for everyone around her, from a small traumatized child to the man who’d protected her for the past couple of years. Doing nothing had to be killing her.
Abandoning the security screens, he crossed the room to stand beside her, an arm around her shoulders pulling her close. Comforting her. Letting his warmth ease the strain radiating from her body. Siobhan sighed, her head slowly coming to rest on his shoulder.
“Nerves,” King said in answer to her question. “They’ve sent their message, that Kyla wasn’t worth the trouble now that they know where you are, ma’am. They also know you’re not alone. They’re waiting for us to either get too tired or too wired to fight effectively.”
“They don’t know who they’re dealing with, do they?” Deacon chuckled.
King threw his friend a smile that was all teeth. Clearly both men were ready for a fight.
Fionn wished he was equally ready.
Normally he would joke the pressure off and not worry about the wait. But this wasn’t just any fight; his mam was the target this time. He needed her safe—now, not tomorrow or a week from now. Holding her in his arms brought home exactly how fragile she was, no matter how strong she seemed at every other moment of the day. She was his to protect.
And she wasn’t the only one.
Lyse had been caught in the crossfire once already. Now she was out there with Mack, somewhere he couldn’t defend her, couldn’t keep her safe, take care of her. And yeah, he knew Mack was more than capable. But Mack wasn’thim.
The instinct was there, no matter how much he tried to deny it—and he’d tried a helluva lot, for a very long time. Months back home. Every second since he’d arrived in Ireland. And yet, despite days of rejecting Lyse over and over with almost rabid fierceness, he’d had his ass in that seat all day today, not just looking for a threat—looking for Mack and Lyse’s return. It had his head spinning, but he couldn’t escape the truth.
Lyse meant something to him.
King’s hum where he stood at the window signaled a change just before Fionn caught a glimpse of a set of headlights on the computer screen. “Looks like they’re back.”
His mam was out of his arms and down the stairs in a rush. Heart in his throat, Fionn beat her to the door just as she reached to open it. “Not yet.”
“But—” She resisted his attempt to draw her away until his stern gaze connected with hers.
“Don’t risk them too, Mam. Let’s be getting ’em inside first, yeah?”
Siobhan’s eyes widened, then darted fearfully toward the door. It swung open.
Lyse was favoring her side as she came through first. A curse echoed in Fionn’s mind as he watched her shuffling into the living room, her face white as a sheet, dark circles lining her tired eyes.
“You forgot your pain meds, love,” Siobhan said, but waited until Mack had entered and secured the door behind him before hurrying forward.
“I took some this morning,” Lyse said tightly, but she didn’t fight as Siobhan led her straight down the hall toward the kitchen.
Fionn followed more slowly, battling the need to pick Lyse up and stop the excruciating hobble that was barely getting her down the hall. Mack fell in beside him.
“What’s the story?” Fionn asked. Anything for a distraction.
“Everything went fine. Kyla is safe and healthy. We placed her with relatives for now, while Aileen’s mess is situated.”
The young woman would likely be in the hospital for a bit. After that…well, that was up to the garda.
A cut-off groan escaped between Lyse’s clenched teeth as Siobhan helped her into a chair. It’d been a good four hours or so since she’d been scheduled for a dose of medicine. If she hadn’t been moving, if the wound was anywhere but along the muscles she used to get up and down, it might not be so bad, but as it was, he winced in sympathy. Siobhan had the pill bottle in hand, so he moved to the fridge to pour some juice to help buffer Lyse’s stomach.
“I’m fine,” she was saying. “Really.”
