Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Kittens.
Was there anything more precious and wonderful to hold?
Tighe didn’t think so! Nothing was softer than kitten fur and Tighe loved the way they smelled and the sound of their purring.
He closed himself in the pantry with them, giggling as they crawled over his face and played in his hair.
Their tiny toe beans and little claws made his heart melt and Tighe wished he could keep all four of them.
Hikers often brought dogs and the occasional puppy with them when they visited the Trail, but it was rare to see a house cat. Mostly because there were bobcats and other predators on the Trail. Tighe had come across bobcat kittens but knew better than to play with them.
“Time for our new friends to go,” Arawn said when the meeting in the study concluded. “We’ll have another play date soon. Ashley wants them to be well-socialized by the time they’re ready to be adopted.”
Ashley was a friend of Arawn’s and a veterinarian.
Tighe really liked her and thought that seemed like the best job in the world.
He probably wasn’t smart enough to be a veterinarian but Tighe was going to ask Silas help him find the right books.
He wanted to be able to save any hurt animals he might come across in the future, like Ashley.
Tighe brought the kitten’s carrier to the door and saw Ashley off, sad to see them go but looking forward to their next play date.
As much as he wished he could keep them, Tighe accepted that his lifestyle wasn’t a good fit for curious little hunters.
Not in the mountains where bigger and faster things could get them, shuddering as he imagined an owl or a hawk snatching one of their precious fur balls.
It quickly became apparent that Ashley wasn’t the only one leaving as Silas and Nelson pulled on their coats at the door.
“What’s happening? Where are you going?” Tighe asked Silas, attempting to tow him away from the door. “Why do you need your coat?”
Silas swore under his breath and gestured for Tighe to remain calm. “I don’t want you to panic, but I’m going with Nelson. Stay inside with Merlin and Nox and you’ll be safe.”
“You’re leaving without me?” Tighe grabbed Silas’s hand. “Why can’t I go with you?” he asked, his panic rising when Silas gave his hand a squeeze and released it.
“We’re going to the Hoover Building. You won’t like it and you can’t just walk in without a badge and clearance. Nelson can get me in because I’m a federal agent and I’m helping him. We won’t be long, just a few hours.”
“A few hours? Why do you both have to go?” Tighe protested and Silas pulled him around the staircase to give them a little more privacy.
“Please, please, please don’t get upset,” Silas whispered, his expression tight with worry. “Nox is worried that Dùbhghlas might go after your brother so we’re going to see if we can learn anything about where he might be and if there’s any way we can protect him.”
Tighe saw red and he couldn’t breathe, he was so angry and wanted to scream and find Hugh Dùbhghlas. “Eoin?” he mouthed hoarsely.
“Shhh! We’re doing our best to find him first and we’ll do everything we can to keep him safe.
I swear, Tighe.” Silas gripped Tighe’s arms and ducked to find his eyes.
“We want to see if the FBI knows anything about the Ossors and active pack members. Nelson thinks we might be able to arrange surveillance without disturbing them.”
“You—! You can find my brother?” Tighe’s rage immediately cleared, replaced by a rush of desperate hope and longing.
For years he had yearned for news about Eoin.
He had been tempted to go back more times than he could count, just to take a look, but was too afraid of what would happen to him or Eoin if he was seen.
That would be a violation of the pack’s rules and Eoin could be beaten or even shunned by the Ossors if he had any contact with Tighe.
“I can’t promise anything but I want to try. Give me a few hours. Okay?” Silas said and Tighe nodded.
“Okay. I’ll stay here. Thank you!” He grabbed the front of Silas’s coat and kissed him hard.
“Mmm!” Silas laughed as he held onto Tighe’s face and kissed him back. “Don’t thank me yet. I might come back empty-handed.”
“I don’t care. I know you and Nelson will do your best.”
Tighe waved them off, not exactly pleased to be left behind but hopeful and proud of how skilled and resourceful his man was. He found Niall watching him, a knowing smile on his face.
“The two of you are already pretty serious.”
“We are,” Tighe confirmed, somewhat smug. “Silas is going to build a tiny house someplace where no one will bother us when all of this is over,” he boasted but Niall’s smile widened and filled his eyes.
“That sounds amazing. I’m happy for both of you,” he said, utterly sincere. “Shelby is the best and he deserves someone special.”
“You weren’t special enough?” Tighe asked with a skeptical hitch of his brow.
Niall shook his head. “Heck no! I’m pretty basic and I blew it with Shelby years ago, he just never knew it.”
“You blew it?” Tighe frowned, confused as Niall led him into the study.
“Big time. Shelby’s one of the most decent and honest men I’ve ever met but I was living a lie the whole time I was at Shenandoah.
I faked my death and I was never going to tell anyone the truth, not even Shelby.
It took a demon to get me to leave my summit, I was so afraid of my past and my abuser. ”
“You were hiding from an abuser?” Tighe repeated, suddenly sad and mad for Niall, and regretted the resentment and jealousy he’d felt before. And he could understand why Silas wouldn’t resent Niall or blame him for all that had happened between them and with Smoak.
“I was going to hide forever but Cenn helped me realize I didn’t need to.
I’m not afraid of that man anymore but it turns out, he had already moved to the other side of the country years ago.
He hurt a lot of people—not just me—and it caught up with him.
He took his own life and I’m sad that he died and he’ll never answer for his actions, but at least he can’t hurt anyone ever again. ”
“The sniveling shit got exactly what he deserved,” Smoak said as he wandered into the study.
“Did you have a hand in that?” Merlin asked, turning from one of the rolling boards.
“What?” Niall shook his head. “No way,” he said with a dismissive snort but Tighe caught the silent exchange between Merlin and Smoak and wasn’t as sure. He remembered Smoak’s threat to Bryn at dinner and wondered if the demon had possessed Niall’s abuser in some way.
“He isn’t worth anyone’s time or concern,” Smoak said simply and nodded at the board. “Figure out if Niall’s turning into a nephilim. Worry about that or werewolves,” he suggested as he headed for the teapot.
“On that we can agree,” Merlin replied as he went back to writing and Smoak poured two cups of tea.
“Did you learn anything useful yesterday, up in MacIlwraith’s magickal boudoir?” Smoak asked Merlin, passing one to Tighe, then one to Niall as he perched on the armrest next to him.
“I learned a great deal,” Merlin replied while searching around the room. He gasped when he spotted something, then went to Nox’s desk and opened a large, old, leather-bound book and began flipping pages.
“And?” Smoak demanded and Merlin cast him an imperious look.
“I’m still learning and I’ve yet to form a conclusion,” he said, making Smoak throw up his hands.
“What have you learned so far?” he asked and Merlin sighed at his board.
“You know what the Malleus Maleficarum says about cambion and changelings as well as I do and that a devil cannot mate with a living thing because it has no soul. I did a great deal of work with Niall’s soul yesterday and it is indeed stronger and purer than ever.
He is radiant—and I do not mean the glow of love—and his body is regenerating like yours or Nox’s would.
I’ve only seen this with Nox and Everly. ”
Tighe cleared his throat and raised his hand. “I heal frightfully fast when I’m injured. All Ossors are tough and mend fast, but not in a few hours or a day like I do.”
“I must write that down!” Merlin said as he hurried around to the other side of the board with Tighe’s dossier. “The fae in you is very strong, lad.”
“My mother said it’s because I was dead and the faeries brought me back,” Tighe recalled and there were gasps from Merlin and Smoak and they advanced on him with wide eyes.
“What do you mean, you were dead?” Smoak asked and Merlin nodded quickly.
“How did you die?”
“It was a difficult birth,” Tighe said slowly, not liking their intent expressions or the way they were leaning in.
“My mother was young and a small woman and I was a large baby and I came out the wrong way. I was blue and I wasn’t breathing so they left me in the woods for the animals to feed on.
But they didn’t touch me and when she went back the next morning, she heard me crying and I was strong and healthy.
The women of her village told her to leave me, that I was a changeling and would be trouble. ”
“That’s terrible, Tighe! How could she leave you? Why would they tell her that?” Niall asked but Tighe shrugged.
“That’s what Ossors and their women have always done if a bairn showed signs of weakness or illness. They can’t run with their pack and their offspring might not be strong,” he explained, causing Niall to recoil.
“You’re talking about child abuse and…worse!”
Merlin hummed sadly. “It is a very common theme throughout various mythological systems. Infant exposure was practiced in ancient Greece and Rome, and in Europe through the early Middle Ages, I’m afraid.
You have to remember that Tighe is from an extremely primitive and unspoiled community whose practices are based on ancient traditions and values. ”