Chapter 2
Ciar
The ringing in my ears hasn’t stopped, and every breath tastes like smoke and plaster dust. I lean heavily on the counter as I take in the wreckage of what used to be Axl’s pristine kitchen.
The explosion blew out the window entirely, leaving jagged glass scattered across the floor like deadly confetti.
“Professionals. They knew exactly where to hit to cause maximum chaos with minimal structural damage,” Axl says, surveying the gaping hole in the wall.
“Ahearne,” I growl. “He’s a dead man walking.”
“Must’ve been Cian who warned her,” Cillian says with more of a question in his tone than I’d like. “Bit late though.”
“Yeah,” I snarl. “This goes beyond a simple snatch-and-grab; they took a member of the Cerberus Order. They took what’s mine. Gannon or not, she’s ours now.”
Cillian kicks at a chunk of debris, his jaw tight enough to crack teeth. “We should’ve seen this coming. The second that Liam prick showed up, we should’ve moved her somewhere safer.”
“Where?” I snap. “This was supposed to be safe. This was our fucking territory.” I run my hands through my hair, plaster dust raining down. “I’m going to tear that bastard apart piece by piece.”
“We have to find them first,” Axl points out.
I nod and move to the back door. Yanking it open, I step out and move around to the side where the gate is flapping open in the wind. Stepping through, I see the skid marks left on the driveway. They veer off to the left. That doesn’t tell us much, though.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out.
“MacMahon,” I snap.
“It’s Cian Gannon.”
“She’s gone. The Ahearnes…”
“Wasn’t the Ahearnes. I’ve got her.”
My blood freezes. “What?” I spit out.
“I took her. She’s with me now.”
The words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest. “You fucking what?”
“She’s safe, MacMahon. That’s all that matters.”
“Safe? You blew up our kitchen and abducted her, and you think that makes her safe?”
“I saved her from a war she can’t win.”
“Where is she?”
“Somewhere you can’t find her.”
“Try me.”
There’s a pause on the line, and I can practically hear him weighing his options. “She needs to understand what she’s gotten herself into. What she’s gotten all of you into.”
“She knows exactly what world she’s in,” I spit. “She chose us.”
“But you didn’t choose her now, did you?”
The line goes dead.
I stare at my phone, my entire body vibrating with the need to put my fist through something solid. “What the actual fuck?”
“Who has her?” Axl asks.
“Her fucking brother.”
Cillian’s face goes from stone to something darker, more dangerous. “Cian? Why? Why this way?”
I pocket my phone, my hands already moving to the weapons I keep strapped to my body.
“We need to think strategically,” Cillian says, though his voice is tight with barely controlled rage.
He’s right, and it kills me to admit it. I want to storm out of here, tear apart every building in Ireland until I find her, but that’s exactly what Cian is counting on. He wants us emotional, reckless, making mistakes.
“He said we didn’t choose her,” I mutter.
“He’s talking shit,” Cillian growls.
“We need to move,” I say, forcing myself to focus. “Every second we waste here is another second she’s gone.”
“Where do we even start?” Axl asks. “Cian could have taken her anywhere.”
“We start with what we know. Cian Gannon doesn’t make moves without reason.”
“So what’s his endgame?” Cillian asks.
“He wants her under his protection, his authority. She’s a Gannon, and in his mind, that trumps everything else.”
“He’s not wrong,” Axl mutters.
I turn on Axl, a low growl building in my chest. “He abducts our girl, and you think he has a point?”
Axl doesn’t flinch. He never does. “I’m not saying I agree with his methods. I’m saying we need to understand his logic. To him, she’s a Gannon first. Unclaimed. Vulnerable. A lone female in a world of wolves.”
The word ‘unclaimed’ hits me in the chest. It’s the same sentiment Cian threw in my face.
Fuck him. Fuck them all.
“We claimed her. She’s a member of the Order,” Cillian growls. “We need to find her.”
My phone buzzes again. This time it’s a text from Cian. She’s safe. She has thinking to do. Don’t look for her, you’ll lead them straight to her.
I growl. “For fuck’s sake.”
“What?” Axl asks.
I show him the phone.
“Don’t look for her? Is he fucking having a laugh?”
I sigh. “He’s right, though, if they’re watching us.”
“Who says they weren’t watching him abduct her?”
“True, but that’s not the point. He said she’s safe, and be it on his head if that changes.
Do you really want to be the one to put her in danger?
” I hate being the voice of reason. I’m usually the one diving in headfirst with my fists and blades, hot-tempered and proactive. But not with her. Never with her.
Cillian slams his fist into the outer wall with a crunch that had to hurt. You’d never know, though. “So we just sit here? On our fucking hands? While he has her?”
“He’s not wrong about the Ahearnes watching. If we move, they’ll follow. We do this his way. For now. We trust that he won’t hurt his sister.”
“Jesus,” Axl says, breathing out slowly. “That is a big ask.”
“I know it is. But we have to. If we start plundering every bolthole in the greater Dublin area, we are exhausting ourselves and still leading the Ahearnes and anyone else watching straight to her.”
“So how did Cian move out without them following him?”
“Same principle as the police escape. No one wants a face-to-face war with Gannon over his sister. They will wait until we are transporting her back here.”
“This is a shitshow,” Cillian growls.
“It is. But whatever this thinking is that Sorcha has to do, we have to trust that she is still ours.”
The silence that falls is uneasy. We’ve known Sorcha for a week.
I knew the second I laid eyes on her that she was mine.
Does she feel the same way, or are we a stepping stone to pass the time while she plans for bigger things?
I hate that the doubt is creeping in. I hate that I think Cian might win.
The doubt tastes like acid in my throat.
We’ve barely had her, and now he’s trying to poison what little we’ve built.
“She won’t break,” Cillian grunts, flexing his bruised hand. “She chose us. She’ll choose us again.”
There’s a conviction in his voice I wish I fucking felt. I shove the feeling down, burying it under a fresh layer of rage.
“He’s right about one thing,” I say. “We can’t lead the Ahearnes to her. But that doesn’t mean we sit still.” I look at them both, the raw promise of violence in my eyes. “We can’t hunt her. But we can lure out the snake who thinks he has a claim on her.”
“A game of misdirection,” Axl says with a slow smile. “We let him think we’ve found her, bolt out of here and wait for them to make their move.”
“Pretty much.”
“Let’s just hope Sorcha doesn’t come back while we are out playing with this fucker,” Cillian mutters.
“I doubt it. Cian is probably giving her a lecture on why she should align with him. She won’t crack that easily.”
He nods and marches back into the house. We follow him, my mind racing over the best way to try and draw Liam out. If we leave now, it looks a bit suss. We are going to have to wait, pretend to be tracking her and then make our move in the morning.