by Sierra Rose
“Not my fault if two of my brothers are blind fools,” Ryan sipped but winced as Maggie kicked him under the table.
The red head from Mayo knew he was teasing and guessed that Mac had enough sense to know it. But she wasn’t sure how much their other brother would take and even she could see the attraction he had for the president of Hadley Industries.
“Miss Cavanaugh, I never got a chance to ask you why your newspaper was interested in my brother,” Kerry settled back in his chair to finally look at the petite redhead.
“Wondered how long it would take for this,” Mac muttered under his breath, giving his oldest brother a sour look but Maggie only laughed.
She was surprised it had taken this long since she knew how private these men were.
“My editor thought a story on Mac would be interesting since he’s so many things, not to mention he was one of the famous Fitzgerald brothers,” She smiled as Mac rolled his eyes again. “Though he really hates it when I say anything like that.”
“I hated it when your editor told you to ask me how I managed being a witch,” Mac corrected sourly. “Ry, now there’s someone you can play with.”
Seeing Ryan raise his cup cheerfully reminded Maggie of something. “Do you all believe in the rule of ‘and may it harm none’?”
“For the most part, we do,” Kerry replied after a moment’s thought, deciding to trust this woman. “It’s the basic rule we were taught when learning to use our powers that magic shouldn’t be used to harm others or for personal gain.”
“He’s looking at me, isn’t he?” Ryan snorted, noticing that Roarke was just picking at his food while Jessica sipped the juice Deirdre sat in front of her. “My luck runs hot or cold by nature. I don’t use my abilities to change it,” he eyed the reporter seriously. “As for the other, innocents are never harmed but I will defend my own against evil.”
A clattering as silverware dropped on china but Ian was quick to divert attention away from Roarke.
“How do we define evil?” he asked, being the one with probably the least experience.
“Human evil or magical evil, it’s all and the same,” Roarke spoke for the time since entering the dining room but his voice and accent were quiet.
Jessica looked at him hard for a second but gave up when he refused to look up at her. “Actually, evil’s defined on various levels,” she told Ian gently. “The one you face now is probably rated…”
“He’s an eight,” Mac and Ryan spoke at the same time then grinned.
That caused both of their younger brothers to look up but with various expressions of shock.
“There’s something worse than whatever this is?” Ian blinked at that, clearly surprised. “What?”
“Mostly our lives, this is just…” Roarke muttered but cut off, his emotions still raw even though he knew it wasn’t his younger brother’s fault.
Kerry just shifted a look down the table then stood with a look to Deirdre. “Could you bring some drinks into the living room when you get a chance?”
“Of course, though I could do it faster with Maggie’s help,” the older woman acknowledged.
Guessing this was a way to distract her, Maggie let it go since she figured this might not be a good time to be around.
“I’ll help ‘em,” Jessica started to move but a shake of Kerry’s head stopped her.
“Cam can help in the kitchen but you were in New Orleans so I need you for a moment,” he told her, also wanting to try to ease some of the tension between her and his brother.
Mac could feel the tension as well but he paused by Kerry. “He’s wired too tight,” he warned lowly.
Roarke wasn’t ready for a face-to-face about this yet and he didn’t want to bring back anything to his friend, so he didn’t like his brother including Jessica in this meeting.
However, what he really didn’t care for was the way Ryan was flirting with her. He knew how uneasy his friend could be at times and his older brother was a bit too close; which brought back other things.
“Darling, after all this drama is over, please say you’ll sail away with me to some distant land,” he was lightly running a hand down her shoulder in what appeared to be a flirtatious move but was actually gauging her injuries, both physical and emotional, for himself.
Of course, his tired and still wired brother didn’t see it like that. Ryan realized when he felt the slight zap go through the fingers of his hand. “Someone’s jealous,” he smiled, his usual cockiness clear. “That little tingle really supposed to scare me, brat?”
“Quit teasing him, Ryan,” Jessica urged, moving away from him to reach out for Roarke’s hand, but something flashed and she jerked back. “Roarke, what’s wrong?”
The sudden concern in her voice made Ryan turn just as his jaw exploded in pain as Roarke’s closed fist hit home just as Ian walked into the room.
“Ahh, boy!” he whistled lowly, not having to use his extra senses to feel the negative energy in this room. “I don’t think this is good.”
The blow had surprised Ryan so he’d taken it fully but after he landed on the floor, bumping into the ivory piano, he shook his head to clear it then looked up. “Little boy, if I didn’t know Kerry would yell for a bloody hour I’d remind you of why I could always beat you when we were lads,” he gritted.
“I told you not to ever touch her,” Roarke’s tone was low and dangerous but strained, and his eyes weren’t focused really as he took a step, but a hand grabbed his arm.
“Roarke, stop it,” Jessica snapped, feeling his power and not understanding his reaction. “Ryan didn’t mean…Roarke!”
Her friend’s reactions weren’t clear nor were his thoughts as he mistook her gentle hold as something else and he started to whirl and lash out and that was when Ryan moved.
“Get Kerry!” he snapped at Ian, moving between his brother and the girl before his blow could contact and they both hit the floor with Ryan doing as he had long ago in a fight with his brother and sitting on him, twisting an arm behind him. “Brat, you better knock this off and hope you didn’t touch that girl.”
Ian had only started out the door when Kerry and Mac came in, read the scene quickly and reacted.
“Ryan, get the hell off him,” Mac ordered, but saw how pale Jessica was and Ian quickly told them what he saw.
Kerry walked over and knelt down to where Roarke was struggling. “That’s enough, Roarke,” he urged quietly.
Jerking under his brother, Roarke tried to free himself from the hands holding him. “Let go!” he yelled, twisting, but years of fighting had let Ryan know how to restrain his brother without hurting him. “You won’t touch her! Do it to me but never…”
“Oh, no,” Jessica whispered as Mac laid a hand on her shoulder, keeping her back. “They’ll hurt him, Mac.”
“I’m the one bleeding, lass,” Ryan reminded her in a grousing tone, ducking an elbow and shoving his brother’s head hard into the floor. “He doesn’t have a mark. He doesn’t yet at least.”
Kerry reached out but hit a wall of fear, anger and shame so he resorted to means that are more basic. “Roarke Michael Quinn Fitzgerald!” he snapped in a tone perfected from breaking these two up as kids.
The sharp tone of his brother managed to slow some of Roarke’s struggles, but not all of them, until finally he stopped fighting under Ryan’s hold and stayed still.
“Let go,” Kerry ordered when he was sure the worst was over and he laid a hand on a shaking shoulder. “He’s almost back.”
“Then I can hurt him?” Ryan asked as he carefully let go and backed off slightly but not far, wiping blood from his mouth. “Even as lads, if I bled then he bled.”
Mac’s hand tightened on Jessica’s arm as Ian came in with a bag of ice and some water and towels. “You flirted too much, he flashed on something and you got it full force,” he shrugged. “Before this is over we may all go through this with him, depending on what he sees. Retrograde amnesia means he’s pushed a lot of the stuff t
hat’s happened to him back and they hit him in flashbacks and nightmares.
“Did he ever say if the Walshes or anyone threatened you or anything like that?” he asked, figuring that must have been what happened.
“He never talked much about it, either after it happened or now,” the girl shook her head, chewing her lip as she watched Kerry continue to work on getting through to his brother. “I only know what I do from his nightmares or visions.”
Ryan scowled as he took the icebag and placed it on his jaw. “So what the hell did I do?” he demanded sourly. “Jess talks to all of us including our baby-faced youngest brother, so why did I get picked to be first?”
As Mac began to gently rub his friend’s shoulder to soothe her upset emotions, he considered that. “Ian’s not a threat because he’s only eighteen and would be more like a little brother to Jessica,” he reasoned. “You’d be more of a threat since you’re only two years older and you flirt more.”
“Lucky me then, I guess,” Ryan muttered, shifting so he could sit down and watch the scene across from him.
Kerry was concentrating hard on his younger brother now, looking up. “Mac, come here.”
“Go get some tea, luv,” Mac urged Jessica, wanting the girl out of the room when he saw her mild fear. “He’ll be fine, Jessica,” he promised, going over to where Kerry was kneeling and already knowing what he wanted. “I can’t take all this at once.”
“I don’t want you to,” he replied, keeping a hand on Roarke’s arm and feeling the trembling. “Just ease this enough that we can get him over it.”
Ian crouched down so he could watch as Mac took a couple deep breaths before placing his hands gently on his younger brother. Keeping one hand on his hand and the other one on the small of his back, he was careful. “Hush, boyo,” he spoke softly, his voice dropping to the soft, musical lilt it always did when he played medic.
Roarke trembled as his brother slipped in the language of their birth, speaking Irish as he spoke the spells to ease his pain and his fears, and clearing his mind of the tormenting memories.
Once he was sure that Mac had done as much as he could at this time, Kerry began talking to bring his brother back.
“C’mon back now, Roarke. Come back now,” he urged, speaking Irish as they all did in certain times. “Roarke, listen to me. It’s Kerry and you’re safe in our house with me, Mac, Ry and Ian.”
Gasping, Roarke was able to roll on his side but didn’t open his eyes yet as his mind had a hard time reaching for his brother’s soothing voice. “Don’t hurt, please,” he whispered, hand trying to grip at something but not touching anything.
“Something’s blocking it,” Mac felt the intrusion and swore. “Kerry.”
His brother felt the same thing, reaching into his pocket to get something he’d removed from the family safe earlier. “Leave him in peace. No harm shall touch a son of this house.” He placed a silver Trinity medal in his brothers’ hand and closing the fingers tight.
As soon as Kerry closed his brother’s fingers around the medal, they all heard a loud noise from somewhere and everywhere, then Roarke’s eyes snapped open to stare at Kerry.
“Tog e goboge (Take it easy),” Kerry urged, keeping his hand loose on his shoulder. “Stay still and let it level off.”
Not moving right away, Roarke hated the blackouts when they came and he could tell this one had been bad just by the way his stomach was turning and his body hurt, though usually he didn’t come away from these hurt physically.
“Ow,” he groaned, lightly touching his head and frowned at the small bump. “I hit the ground hard or what?”
Mac sat back and snickered as Ian shook his head at Ryan who was opening his mouth to reply.
“No, actually you and Ryan hit the floor hard,” Kerry replied standing and extending a hand. “Let me help you up.”
Frowning, Roarke stared at the hand for a long moment then finally did reach out to accept it to allow him aid in getting up. “I’m fine,” he started to say but nearly fell forward if Kerry hadn’t caught him. “Fine, I’m fine. I’m just a little off balance.”
This time he tensed when his brother didn’t let go. “I’m alright. Let go, Kerry,” he met his brother’s eyes fully, “please.”
“We need to talk,” Kerry told him, watching his eyes to see the wariness return, “Now or later, you choose.”
Sighing, Roarke closed his eyes and knowing Kerry’s stubbornness knew he didn’t have a choice. “Later,” he muttered, looking at his brothers but frowning as he eyed Ryan. “What happened to you?”
Muttered, low curses could be heard as Ryan’s eyes flashed in a way that Ian thought he’d lunge at their brother.
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” he finally muttered, tossing Ian the icebag. “So, we have a new plan, bro?”
Kerry nodded. “Before we talk this through there is one place all of us should go,” he decided, figuring it was the only way to do the proper thing and to test some things. “Is this a good time?” Mac asked, figuring what he wanted.
“The five of us have to be united on this to beat Sebastian and by right the first thing the five of us should do is visit them,” Kerry replied, feeling Roarke go rigid. “Roarke, do you want to come or…?”
Shaking his head, he backed away slowly. “I can’t go to the cemetery yet, Kerry,” he refused, nearly panicked at the thought. “There are too many issues to cope with before I can face them. I will but not yet.”
“You still don’t…Ow!” Ryan had started to sneer when Mac dug his fingers into his neck to silence him.
“Alright, you don’t have to come,” Kerry accepted that, not being too surprised but he did raise a hand to keep his brother’s attention. “I would then ask you find Jessica and settle some things with her. She’s scared for you, Roarke, and whatever happened this time made it worse.”
Turning to stare at his brothers, he saw the way Ian was looking at the floor and Ryan’s look. “What did I do?”
“Just talk to her,” Kerry repeated as he moved to go to the back door with Mac and Ian following him.
Ryan hung back to consider something then finally spoke. “Roarke, wait.” It was rare for him to use his brother’s name so that got immediate attention. “I know you and I have issues but that’s us and we’ll handle that but…” he paused, hating to lose the arrogant attitude he’d always used but knowing this time he had to be serious. “She loves you, Roarke. Any blind fool could see that so I’m hoping you do ‘cause that lass is willing to take a lot of risks for you.”
“Loving me is a bad thing for anyone to do,” Roarke replied lowly, going to turn away but tensed when his brother grabbed his arm. “Ryan…”
“That’s bullshit, boyo,” Ryan snapped, using his anger to keep the tone to his voice when every part of him wanted to soothe this scared boy.
He had always known that he and Roarke would fight the most but that was fine with Ryan so long as no one else hurt his brother.
“You talk to the girl, then talk with Kerry, because what you believe is wrong with you is dead wrong,” he snapped, whirling on a heel to storm out but paused to look back. “Tell her, brat.”
Maggie had been helping Deirdre in the kitchen when Kerry and the others entered and she immediately caught the strain.
“We’ll take the drinks in the living room in awhile,” Kerry spoke to the housekeeper as he reached into a closet for a red and black linen cloak.
Deirdre had been turning with a large roast in a pan when she saw this and would have dropped the pan if Ian hadn’t been close to catch it. “I spoke with several locals and they’d like to pay their respects to the Lords of Fitzgaren.”
“Fitzgaren has an actual Lord?” Maggie blinked at that. “I thought that went out years ago.”
Mac grinned. “The title is symbolic but many of the townsfolk still hold by it and offer little respectful tributes.”
“It also helps when the Lord of Fitzgaren has always been a powerful witch w
ho can make rain when he gets ticked,” Ryan added, coming into the kitchen.
Deirdre sat the pan in the oven and wiped her hands on an apron as she looked at her helper in the kitchen. “Kerry inherited the title after his parents, Lord Toryn and Lady Brenna, passed. Though all five share the actual role of Lords of Fitzgaren.”
Maggie turned to stare at Mac. “You didn’t tell me that,” she hissed, annoyed by his grin.
“You didn’t ask me, luv,” he returned, sighing. “Let’s do this before I change my mind.”
As the four left by the back door, Maggie looked at the housekeeper. “Where are they going?”
“To the Fitzgerald family cemetery to pay their respects, but without young Roarke, I don’t think it’ll do what Kerry wants it to.” This left both women to wonder just where Roarke Fitzgerald was if not with his brothers.
CHAPTER SIX
“Nick, tell me there’s something you can do to speed this along so my life gets back to normal,” Cameron Young was sitting on his bike on the side of the manor talking to what was clearly an astral form of a light haired young man.
Nick O’Malley was one of Hadley Industries’ resident mystics and right then he was calming down an upset mercenary. “You’re dealing with things written centuries ago, Cam. Sean and I can’t speed that up.”
“Thank you very much,” Cam muttered, scowling as he looked up. “I really should shoot you.”
Chuckling as he got closer, Roarke spread his arms. “I asked you to do that a long time ago, mate,” he reminded his friend/part-time leader.
“Shut up,” Cam growled, motioning Nick to go away so he could focus on Roarke. “So, you want to tell me what the hell happened a little while ago?”
“I had a blackout, I’m guessing, ‘cause I don’t remember anything,” Roarke sighed, letting his fingers run through his long hair before reaching into his pocket for a cigarette; a sure sign that told Cam that his friend was too wired. “What she say?”
Cam knew that was an obvious set up so he stepped back from it. “She’s in the stables with the horses in case you’re interested,” he announced, pulling his jacket collar up to ward off the chill. “I’ll be inside and finding my team.”