Instead of what she and Kieran had planned, she was sitting in a motel room under an assumed name with Fionn sleeping innocently next to her. She could tell by the sound of the man’s voice who’d been on the other side of the door earlier, that whatever Kieran was involved in was bad news. The fact that they were looking for Fionn scared her to death. She leaned over and gave the boy a quick peck on the cheek. He was out cold and barely stirred at the feeling. She gently touched the top of his head, and then stroked him along his back. She would protect him no matter what. She’d grown so fiercely loyal toward the boy and Kieran in such a short amount of time that it surprised even her. It was like this was her own little family, and she had to defend it. That’s why she had refused to let Kieran leave her behind.
She leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. She thought about everything that had happened, and how her life seemed to have shifted in such a short amount of time. It seemed crazy to her. That was when she became aware of what sounded like a set of heavy boots moving around outside on the sidewalk.
For a moment, she thought that perhaps Kieran was back already, and felt a rush of relief before she realized that there was more than one set of boots. The relief was immediately swept away by a crushing wave of fear.
Millie slowly and silently slid from the bed. It seemed as if the boots went silent right outside her door. She froze in place wondering what was going to happen next. Then there was a rap on the door. “Housekeeping.” The voice on the other side of the door was rough. There was no way that Millie was going to open the door for it.
“We’re fine,” she called out softly hoping not to wake Fionn. That was all she could do. She wondered if the man had even heard her.
The hard series of knocks came again. “Housekeeping,” he said louder this time, as if she hadn’t heard him the first time.
Millie straightened, wondering if she didn’t say anything else, if he would assume that she wanted him to go away. She didn’t even open her mouth when the flimsy door burst open, and four men streamed into the room. When Millie finally gave a small cry of fright she woke up Fionn from his dead sleep.
The men were clearly goons. They were dressed in dark clothing and had harsh, unsympathetic looks on their faces. One stopped in front of her and looked her up and down before turning his attention to Fionn. “Grab the kid,” he said in a rumbling voice as he pointed at the bed.
Millie instantly turned and grabbed Fionn, pulling him against her. One of the other men tried to pry Fionn from her arms, but she struggled against him. Fionn began to cry.
“Leave us alone!” she said.
“Just give us the kid, lady,” the man in front of her said. Millie figured he must be the one in charge. “This will be a lot easier for you if you don’t put up a fight. If you put up a fight, you’re going to make it a whole lot more fun for me,” he said as his eyes slid down her body.
Millie instantly felt ill. She wished that Kieran would appear and kick their asses.
“Over my dead body. This boy’s mine,” Millie said again. Still, she struggled with the man who was trying to take Fionn away from her. All at once Fionn seemed to come to life on his own. He growled and sank his teeth deep into the hand of the man trying to grab him. The man gave a small howl of pain, and then he slapped Fionn across the face.
“How could you? He’s just a baby!” Millie could hardly believe what had happened. Fionn gave a wail of despair, and she wanted to join him. “Are you proud of yourself? Hitting a little boy? You’re despicable!”
This time, the man squared back and sent a brutal backhanded slap across Millie’s cheek. It was hard enough that she saw stars for a moment, and that was the opening they needed to scoop Fionn out of her suddenly limp arms.
“Change of plan. We’re taking the girl, too,” said the leader nodding at Millie.
The other two men surrounded her and gripped her upper arms. She struggled against them, but her head felt like it was going to explode from the throbbing headache the vicious strike had given her.
She barely was able to walk as the men hauled her and Fionn into the back of a full-size van that was parked right outside the room. Fionn was crying, but she couldn’t escape the death grip of the men holding her. She wanted to comfort him, but there was nothing that she could do. She felt herself wanting to cry, but she refused to let these men see her in a further vulnerable state.
“I told you it was better if you just gave the kid to us,” the leader said to her in an unapologetic tone.
She wanted to spit in his face, but instead, looked in the other direction. She wasn’t going to dignify him with a response.
It seemed as if they had been in the back of the van forever when suddenly the van stopped. When they hauled her and Fionn out of the back, she didn’t recognize anything about the place where they were. There was a looming dark structure in front of them, but everywhere else appeared to be devoid of any life.
The men shoved them both inside, and that was when Fionn was finally put down. She grabbed him and then found herself unceremoniously pushed into a corner. The men took Fionn away from her again despite her protests and tied her hands behind her back. Thankfully, they left Fionn sitting next to her. She tried to reassure Fionn with her eyes and with her words that everything was going to be okay. The toddler slid down against her and leaned against her side whimpering.
“You and the kid keep quiet, and I won’t have to use these,” the leader said as he leaned over her. He showed her two pieces of white cloth that clearly were meant to be gags.
The last thing that Millie wanted was one of those things in her mouth. If she could keep Fionn calm, she hoped that everything would turn out okay. She fervently hoped that Kieran would find them and take them away.
“I won’t yell. It would be easier for me to take care of him if you would take these off,” she said indicating the binding around her wrists.
“You may not be a tiger, but you still have claws,” the man said. “The two of you are going to stay here with me, and if you wanna stay in one piece you better hope your boyfriend does what he’s supposed to.”
For the first time, the reality of what Kieran had told her was finally taking hold. Millie leaned back against the cold wall and thought about what she would have to do if Kieran didn’t come for them.
*
Kieran glanced at the clock on the wall for what seemed like the hundredth time. He’d been waiting for more than half an hour for Aodhan to show up. Aodhan was usually extremely punctual, and Kieran had a bad feeling about the fact that the beta hadn’t appeared yet. Things seemed to be moving along at a rapid pace, and Kieran wasn’t sure what to make of it. It seemed as if he was being drawn back into the clan’s business, whether he wanted it or not.
He tried calling Aodhan’s phone again. It went straight to voicemail. He looked at his watch and decided to follow his instinct. Something had definitely gone wrong.
He made his way to the clan’s main manor house—the place where he had grown up. He hadn’t been there since his banishment. He parked in a small clearing in the woods about half a mile away. It was a place he had used often when he snuck out as a teenager. He knew just how to get into the manor without being seen, and figured he would just check and make sure that everything was okay. Perhaps Aodhan had decided to go back on the proposed deal. If that was the case, he would take Millie and Fionn, and he would disappear forever. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have enough money to make that happen.
He carefully made his way on the familiar trail through the woods. He emerged into the large backyard of the manor. The place looked deserted from the outside. There weren’t any guards stationed on the turrets of the manor. This was unusual in and of itself. Something was definitely wrong.
After checking his surroundings to make sure that no one was watching him, Kieran began to make his way across the expansive backyard. He stayed as close to the different shrubbery that lined the pathways leading to the pa
tio as he could. He wished he had thought to bring something more than just his fists. Even a length of metal pipe would be preferable to his bare hands when he didn’t know what he was going to be walking into.
As he got closer to the perimeter of the manor, his eyes started to pick out more minute details that he hadn’t been able to discern from the edge of the woods. There were signs of a scuffle. Kieran could see there were several smears of what appeared to be blood on the patio cement as he made his way toward the large glass doors that led inside the manor. This was even worse than he expected.
Inside the building, he saw a shadow start to move toward the door, and Kieran darted out of sight and pressed his back against the exterior wall. Carefully, he turned so that he could look through the glass. A man walked past the door, and Kieran recognized him immediately. It was one of Selena’s guardsmen.
As soon as the man passed the door, Kieran moved so he could look further into the manor. He saw more movement inside and realized with his keen sight that the men he could make out moving there were all Selena’s men. Something had happened that evening, and he needed to find out what it was.
He slowly made his way around the exterior wall hoping to find signs of anyone who wasn’t associated with Selena. It wasn’t until he reached the window of the formal drawing room that he finally saw what he was looking for. Inside, it was the only lighted room. He hadn’t been able to see it from the backyard. As he craned his eyes around the side of the windowsill, he saw Aodhan and several other members of the clan council. Something was definitely happening. Then a woman moved past the window.
Kieran could barely keep the hiss from escaping his lips. It was Selena. It was time to make his presence known. Something was happening inside, and it was something bad. Kieran refused to be in the dark any longer. He moved away from the window and sized it up. He wasn’t afraid of making an entrance—after all, he was the black sheep of the family. It was expected.
He moved back just enough to give himself a running start and then launched himself at the window. The glass shattered and came crashing down all around him even as he catapulted into the room. He was up onto his feet a second later. Immediately, he assumed a defensive stance.
Kieran did a quick check of the room and saw that in fact all of the council members were there along with Selena. He sensed a coup was happening. All of their mouths were wide open.
As soon as Selena realized who the intruder was, she called for her guards. “Guards! Get him!”
“Wait,” Aodhan said. “Kieran deserves to be here as much as anyone else.”
“He doesn’t belong here at all,” Selena said derisively. “He doesn’t belong to the clan anymore.”
Aodhan looked at him. Kieran could see there was an expression of anguish on his face. “Kieran, I hate to tell you this, but your father died tonight.”
Kieran felt a breaking inside of him. Although he hadn’t spoken to his father in five years, the reality of now knowing that he would never speak to him again felt almost too crushing to bear. “How?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“He passed in his sleep,” Aodhan said. “He didn’t suffer.”
Kieran didn’t believe that for a second. He knew that it had been just a matter of time before Selena positioned herself to be able to take over the clan. His father had been nothing but an obstacle in her way.
“Selena is asking the clan members to appoint her eldest daughter as the heir and rightful Alpha. That is why I am so glad that you are here.”
“I want to see my father,” Kieran said.
“You need to leave,” Selena said.
Aodhan put his hand up to silence her. “Despite what is happening at the moment, it is his right to see his father’s body. The situation is far from resolved, Selena, and you need to realize that you need everyone’s support here if you want us to consider your request.”
Kieran could see that Selena was wrestling with this information. Clearly, she’d been hoping to get agreement from everyone by any means possible. But as long as Aodhan and the rest of the clan council refused to approve her daughter as the heir, she had to play nice.
“Fine,” she said. “When this is done, I would like you to ask him to leave. This is clan business. He should not be here.”
The clan doctor, Dr. Leif, moved to Kieran’s side. “I’ll take you to him,” he said. Kieran had known Dr. Leif his entire life. He trusted the man and felt himself relaxing only slightly. Everything about the situation was wrong. He had been home in Grand Junction for two months, yet he had made no attempt to see his father. He realized now that he should have at least tried, even if his father had denied his request. Life was too short, and it was a regret he knew he would carry forever.
Dr. Leif led him upstairs. Kieran counted at least ten more of Selena’s men moving around the house, but he suddenly felt confident of a plan that was forming in his mind. When he entered his father’s room, he could smell the slight tinge of death in the air. He moved to his father’s side. He sniffed the air trying to determine if there was anything foul in it. He knelt down next to his father’s body and took his hand gingerly.
“I’m sorry for everything, father. I could have been a better son. But you could’ve been a better father, too. I forgive you and hope that wherever you are now, you are able to forgive me, too.”
He felt tears streaming down his face, and thought again about what Aodhan had asked of him when they met in the bar. Aodhan was his father’s beta. His father’s most trusted advisor. If Aodhan believed that it was possible that his father could forgive him, then Kieran would forgive as well. The plan continued to form in his mind, and he knew what he needed to do.
Kieran stood and looked at Dr. Leif. “You are sure that there is nothing amiss about his death? No signs of foul play?”
The doctor put his hand on Kieran’s shoulder. “His health has been failing for a couple of years now. He was an old man, and it was his time. Let us be grateful that he passed so peacefully.”
That was what Kieran needed to hear to be at peace.
He made his way out of the room and with each step, his determination grew for what he was about to do next. He was his father’s son. And as his father’s son, the clan now was his. He would make his father proud, whether his father was there or not.
Selena stood there waiting for him with her arms crossed when he re-entered the drawing room.
“I wish to address the Council on the matter of the Alpha succession. I am officially requesting that the Council nominate me as the new Alpha,” he said to Aodhan.
Aodhan’s smile appeared immediately.
He knew then that this was what his father would have wanted. Selena’s face darkened. She stepped closer to him, and she whispered words that shook him to his core.
“Take your little speech, and leave now. If you ever want to see your girlfriend or your nephew again, you will do as I say.”
Kieran felt the color drain from his face. “What are you saying?” he asked in a low growl. “What have you done?”
“Why don’t you try and call her? See if she’s okay,” Selena said in a venomous tone. Although he could see the question on Aodhan’s face, Kieran knew that he needed to confirm what Selena was saying. He turned away from the room and all of the confused looks and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed Millie’s number. There was no answer.
He sent the text desperately hoping that she would respond. He knew, though, that everything had changed now. Millie and Fionn were in danger. Selena had them, and that meant that she would use them against him no matter what. Selena could not be allowed to continue destroying people’s lives. She had to be stopped.
That bitch. How many lives had she ruined?
Kieran had had enough.
Ever since Selena had come into his father’s life, Kieran had been the one who had been most affected. He lost his mother, he lost the trust of his father, and then he lost his clan. Someone else had been hol
ding the reins of his destiny the entire time. He was no longer going to stand for it. He knew what he needed to do. If he walked away, he would never be the man that his father knew he could be. He had to do this right in order to remove any further threat from his clan and his family.
He swung forcefully back to face the Council members. “It is my birthright to be the Alpha. I ask that you vote now. Tell me with your votes, and show me that you will support me,” he said in a thunderous tone.
Before his sentence was even completed and in the air, there were howls and whoops of delight. It was obvious by the noise that the mood of the room had shifted. Kieran had come home.
He whirled on Selena, who took a step backward. “You will tell me where Millie and Fionn are right now. Otherwise, this will not go easily for you,” he threatened.
Selena shook her head. It was obvious that she was settling in for a fight, and a fight she would get.
Kieran put his hands up to address the Council. “My brothers, I ask that you fight for me and the future of our clan. Let us put down this woman and her interlopers. Take back what is rightfully ours.” And then Kieran shifted into his ferocious tiger form.
He heard the cracks of the bones as the others shifted around him as well. Selena’s guards appeared to surround her, and they all shifted as well. Marcus was at her side, and he was the only one that Kieran was truly eager to get his teeth into.
Even as Marcus catapulted in his tiger form toward him, Kieran was ready and waiting. He was born for this kind of combat and had been honing his skills over the years. He feared no one now that he was the Alpha.
He heard the sounds of fighting all around him and the howls and tears of flesh. Almost instantaneously, the smell of blood filled the air. That only stoked his own raging bloodlust for the fight.
Kieran swept to the side as Marcus landed right where he had just stood. He swiped at the side of Marcus’s face, drawing the first blood. Marcus howled and came after him again. This time, Kieran didn’t sideswipe him. Instead, he went low knowing that Marcus was expecting him to go high.
Lone Tiger And Cub: BBW Weretiger Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance Page 6