EPILOGUE THREE
Balor- One Week Later
“ G ive the woman’s mouth a rest,” Lachlan says, passing Ella and me on Kieran’s jet.
“We’re on our honeymoon.” Ella defends how damn inappropriate we’re getting.
We’re taking things slow in the physical department while she heals. Every day she gets bigger with my babies, and I love her body more every day. She’s so inextricably mine.
“Must be nice to have a honeymoon. I didn’t get one,” Lachlan complains.
“Because you stole your bride on her wedding day and then had to hide her from her father.”
“What?” Ella slaps my chest. “Get out!”
Lachlan narrows his gray eyes at us.
I stand up. “How is Katya feeling?”
She’s due next month, but likely won’t make it given her size compared to Lachlan’s.
“Not good,” he growls. “She’s going on bed-rest the moment I get home.”
I blow out a breath when he turns around and struts to the front of the plane. Smooth as satin, he takes a seat next to Darragh.
Shea naps in a captain’s chair in the row behind them. Denton and Trace sit a few seats away.
I turn away, but notice Trace watching my sister.
Aw, fuck, I’ve seen that look in a man. Is he insane?
I’m about to give him a talkin’ to when my wife snags my arm, and I sit back down.
My sister is an adult. Just as I argued for Ella to make her own choices, Shea should get the same consideration.
We land in Ireland, a small airstrip in Dunbar Valley. Lachlan, Darragh, and Trace practically surround Shea like she’s a celebrity. They leave in one hired SUV, while Ella, Denton, and I wait for another.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go with your brothers and Shea?” Ella asks, touching my face. “I can wait for you at the hotel.”
I chuckle to myself. Hotel. “No, you don’t leave my sight around here.”
She glances around the hangar. “It’s dangerous?”
“Dunbar Valley is a torture camp. It’s mostly criminals. My father recruited assassins from the place back in the day.” I tense up. “When Lachlan was eighteen, Da sent him here.”
“To train as an assassin?” Her voice squeaks.
“And to be punished. This place is privately run. Someone dumps you here with instructions, you get whatever treatment your sponsor paid for.”
“Your brother Cormac is here.” She clutches her chest. “What did he—”
“There’s time to explain that.” I have to ease her mind because Lachlan is bringing him home.
He doesn’t think I know.
“But my brother, no brother will ever hurt you. You’re an O’Rourke. You are one of us now, Ella.”
She blushes as I help her into the SUV that arrives for us.
A twenty-minute ride later, I take out that red satin mask from my leather duffle.
“What is that for?” Her eyes widen.
Smiling, I slip it over her eyes. “I have another surprise for you.”
“Balor,” she says breathlessly. “First a plane. Then you put me on the deed to your house.”
“Our house. Our children are living in a house that both their parents own.” He kisses my nose.
“You do so much for me. You’ve given me everything. ”
“It’s nothing compared to what you’ve given me. Peace. Love. And the motivation to stop hating myself for only wanting one way to get off.”
I slide the mask on and put my arm around her.
The sun is ready to set over the green knolls of the vast property of our lodging .
Even I’m impressed. But I keep my excitement in check.
I open the car door and help Ella out.
Denton, who’s my bodyguard now, and mostly looks after Ella, takes our bags from the back.
Before the stone steps, I remove the blindfold.
Ella blinks and spins around like she doesn’t believe what she’s seeing. “We’re staying in a castle?”
I smile. “You’re my queen. You deserve to spend our honeymoon being treated like royalty.”
The staff slowly filters out a side entrance, and stand in front of the massive, ten-foot-tall dark wooden door. That’s the downside of honeymooning in a castle. There’s a household who will hear us have sex if Ella is ready.
We climb the steps and the valet, the head of the household, introduces the staff. Ella greets them all like she is royalty.
“We’re tired from the flight,” I say, steering my wife toward a set of dramatic carpeted stairs.
“Dinner is warming up for you, sir,” the valet says.
“We’d like dinner in our room tonight.” I turn to Denton. “My guard gets free reign. He goes where he wants. Eats when and where he wants.”
“Absolutely, sir. On both points.”
“Aye,” I say, thickening my accent.
In our bedroom, a classic medieval bedchamber updated with electric lights and outlets, I put our bags away. I smile at the USB ports in the wall and plug in my laptop.
I don’t travel without this thing .
In the sitting room outside the sleeping area, Ella and I eat a dinner of roast chicken, potatoes, and steamed figs.
That night I make gentle love to my wife all night.
The next day, we take a walk on vast grounds, enjoying the warm sun on our skin.
My phone rings and I plan to ignore it, but I also catch Denton running toward me.
My veins turn to ice. Something happened.
Ma. I planned to see her and my father tomorrow. Lachlan and Shea went today. God, am I too late?
“Lachlan,” I say into my phone choked up.
“Problem.”
Odd way to start a potential death notification.
“Talk to me.”
“There’s been a siege at Dunbar.”
Now my legs go weak. “Damage assessment.”
“There was a new batch of terrorists dropped off last month. No one fucking told me.”
“And?”
“They escaped.”
I close my eyes and look around. We’re almost fifty miles away, but Denton’s panic makes sense.
“Let’s get back to the castle,” I say through clenched teeth. My arm winds around my wife. “It’s okay,” I whisper, even though this castle stands out like a sore thumb. “Listen Lach, Ella and I will be at the airport to leave in—”
“We’re not leaving. We can’t,” Lachlan drawls, his voice deadly.
“Fuck. What about Cormac?”
“He’s with me. With us. Darragh and I.”
“Wait?” My legs go numb. “What about Shea-Lynne? She was with you.”
“She’s with Trace.”
Trace... Who’s ex-military .
And there are terrorists crawling around Dunbar.
“I’m glad Trace is with her, but where are they?” I ask, fury igniting in me.
“Shea and Trace are missing. He kidnapped her.”
ILLICIT TEMPTATION , Book 3 in the Astoria Royals Special Edition Series goes live November14, 2024.