Chapter 58
Declan
Istood at the entrance to Thea’s opulent mansion, sweating bullets in the blistering sun, and rang the bell.
A minute later, the door swung open. An enormous dog sat staring at me.
The damn thing looked more lupine than canine, with its thick gray fur and yellow eyes.
A low growl escaped as a hairy lip curled up to reveal vicious teeth designed to tear flesh from bone.
What the actual fuck?
As the foul wolf-dog eyeballed me, a small child with a mop of red curls appeared from between its legs. The wolf-dog bent and licked the child’s cheek before fixing me with a glare that promised pain if I dared hurt the kid.
“Hi!” The kid beamed up at me like a little cherub.
“Hello, is your…” I took a cautious step back when the beast growled.
“Ferg! Where the fu— duck are you?”
Thea’s pretty-boy husband, heir to a rather decent whiskey distillery, shot around the corner wearing a pink apron over a pair of red shorts. He took one look at me and then grinned.
“Oh, I see, you’ve met the latest member of our family! Fergus Ducking Rothmore, how many times have I told you not to answer the door? You should always let Daddy answer the door!” He rolled his eyes and then smirked at me.
“Hey, Declan. How’s things? Still murdering people for the lolz?”
I stared at him, not appreciating his twisted sense of humor. Not that he gave a shit.
“Still playing house bitch?”
He snorted with amusement, apparently not offended, while the kid whispered things to the wolf-dog. I prayed the little shit wasn’t telling the beast to tear me limb from limb for insulting his daddy.
“What the actual fuck?” Ronan said what I’d been thinking when he rolled up the path carrying his bag and mine, Conal at his shoulder. The two of them wore much the same expression as me as they stared at the slavering hell hound guarding the entrance.
“Guys, meet Petal.”
Ronan choked on a laugh. “Petal?”
“We took Ferg to choose a dog from the shelter because he kept escaping to pet our neighbor’s Doberman.
We figured he’d pick some sweet mixed-breed ball of fluff, but nope, he chose the biggest, baddest dog in there.
The one everyone was terrified of.” Landon shook his head at the memory.
“Only the strangest thing happened. The minute Petal saw Ferg, she rolled over for him. It was love at first sight. They’re bloody inseparable now.
The damn dog follows him everywhere, but she’s so protective of him that it’s not a bad thing.
” He bent down and ruffled the kid’s head.
“Ferg, go into the kitchen with Petal. Dario put some cookies on a plate for you and Clemmie.”
“Cookies!” The beast woofed and threw one last baleful glare in our direction before trotting off after the kid.
“Don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe around Petal. As long as you don’t piss off Ferg, she won’t eat you.” Landon winked and stepped aside to let us in. “Good luck not pissing off my wife, though. Think you missed the boat there.” Then he laughed as the woman herself appeared behind him.
“You bastard!” Before I could react, she’d punched me in the dick hard enough to ruin my chances of ever siring kids. Then she turned her attention to the twins. I heard two pained yelps behind me.
“That’s for fucking my sister!”
The wolf-dog followed us with her creepy eyes as we crossed the family room, heading for the sliding doors into the outdoor seating area.
I noted how she always seemed to have one eye on the children and the other on us, like she hadn’t decided whether we were threats.
Having my throat torn out by a fur rug on legs was not how I intended to go, but I admired the animal’s single-minded determination to keep her charges safe.
While that monster protected them, those kids were in no danger. No-one in their right mind would attempt to hurt them in the presence of an apex predator.
Dario raised a beer in greeting as we stepped outside.
“Ciao, fratello. You met the dog, then?” He smirked as he saw me giving Petal some side-eye. In return, she growled menacingly while placing her bulk between me and the little boy.
I scoffed. “That’s not a fucking dog! Have you run a DNA test on it? Looks like a wolf to me.”
“Language!” Thea threw me a look that promised further pain and suffering while perching demurely on Kyril’s knee.
His tattooed hand curled possessively around her slim neck.
I wondered if he slept with one eye open when he pissed her off.
I fucking would. Being punched in the dick on arrival had left me feeling salty.
“Petal fucking wolf,” Ferg said with a gleeful grin.
“Oh, for fu—duck’s sake.” Landon groaned. “I’ve spent months trying to quit my bad language so Ferg didn’t pick up swear words. You come along and ruin it in one minute!”
“Kids are like sponges,” Milo told us. I hadn’t spotted the creepy little nerd, but there he was, hovering under a tree like a goddamn wraith. “They absorb language from exposure to it, which is why Ferg knows Italian, and also why Clemmie is fluent in Russian and Italian as well as English.”
Dario turned to the boy and barked something in Italian. The kid looked sad for a moment before he whispered in the wolf-dog’s ear. She fixed her eyes on Dario and bared her teeth.
“Petal eat Papa Dar,” the kid announced like a psycho in training, which he probably was.
“Then Petal won’t get to go for a trail run later,” Dario replied with an eye roll, clearly not at all concerned about the prospect of being eaten by a wolf-dog.
The animal grumbled and laid down, resting her head on giant paws, gold eyes half-closed.
“Drink?” Dario raised an eyebrow at me.
“Whiskey.”
“Beer,” Conal and Ronan replied in unison. They smiled and made small talk with Dario and Landon while the kid talked nonsense to the wolf-dog. But the tension in me grew thicker the longer our girl failed to appear.
By the time I’d finished my drink, my well of patience had officially run dry.
“Where is she?” I snapped, looking at Thea.
“Mind your manners, mudak,” Kyril growled. “My wife does not answer to you!”
“I don’t need you to protect me, dickhead,” Thea scoffed before she turned to me.
“Ver’s gone out. To some bar, I think.”
“She’s what?” Ronan choked before launching off the chair he’d been lounging in while pretending not to give a shit. “She better not be on a fucking date with a soon-to-be dead asshole!”
“Asshole!” The kid parroted, gleefully crowing in delight while Landon groaned.
"Ferg! Time out! Go to your room!" The little boy scowled and stomped off, the dog on his heels.
“No idea.” Thea smirked in response to Ronan while waving a dismissive hand in the air. “Eden said something about afternoon cocktails with hot guys. I didn’t pay any attention to the details.”
My fucking cousin better have life insurance. She knew damn well we were arriving today.
“Relax, bro,” Conal said, always the voice of reason. “She’s probably catching up on family gossip.” Of which there was plenty following the revelation about Saoirse’s new boyfriend. I still hadn’t processed that, but when I did, he was a dead man walking.
“Is it true?” Thea leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
“Is what true?” This wasn’t a line of questioning I wanted to pursue. The only reason we’d come was to bring our girl home. She’d had more than enough time to figure out what she wanted. Choosing anything other than me and my two idiot brothers was unacceptable.
“That Saoirse has been sleeping with the enemy.”
I shuffled awkwardly. I loved my little sister, but right now, I wanted to murder her.
“She didn’t know who he was,” I replied with a shrug. “And now she does it’s over.” She’d been told in no uncertain terms to end her relationship with Cian O’Rourke. That order had not gone down well, but Saoirse wasn’t stupid. She understood the security headache she’d inadvertently created.
We finally talked three nights ago. Naturally, she’d thrown a massive fit when I told her to end the relationship, but I had faith in her ability to put the family first. Blood was thicker than water, after all.
Thea snorted. “Yeah. And I bet she always does as she’s told.”
“Of course she does,” I huffed irritably. My sisters respected me and trusted my judgment in all things.
Landon coughed out a laugh as he stared at his phone. He glanced at me and then grinned.
“Err, you may wish to check her Instagram.”
Ronan and Conal exchanged looks before Conal checked his phone. I heard him groan.
“What has she done?” From Landon’s amused expression, something I wouldn’t like. I pulled up her page on Instagram and stared at the incriminating post before swearing loudly. Saoirse had uploaded a photo of her and Cian O’Rourke standing outside a wedding chapel in Vegas.
The gold band on the fourth finger of her left hand and the caption ‘Mr. & Mrs. O’Rourke’ left me in no doubt about her new marital status.
That and the DM that said: Fuck you, brother with a few creative emojis tacked on for good measure.
Landon showed Thea the post. She burst out laughing. Even Kyril chuckled, and he wasn’t exactly known for his sense of humor.
“That’s what happens when you try to tell a woman how to live her life, Declan,” she told me with a wink. “Maybe take that on board before you grovel to my sister. Or not.” She hopped off Kyril’s lap and tugged him up.
“Come, husband, I need a workout.” He smiled adoringly at her while I tried not to vomit.
“Join us. I haven’t kicked your asses for a while, mudaks,” Kyril taunted as he passed.
Honestly, it was tempting. Ringing the Russian bastard’s bell might help settle some of the anger burning me from the inside from knowing my baby sister had deliberately thrown gasoline on a fucking bonfire.
But before I could accept his barbed offer, the sliding door opened, and an angel walked out wearing an indecently short dress and a radiant smile.
A smile that disappeared the minute she clocked me glaring at her.