Page 35

CHAPTER 34

M arty waited for shock, disbelief, something to hit her with that announcement, but sadly, she wasn’t really surprised.

Tristan was pretty damn stubborn and seemed to enjoy pushing people’s buttons. So, it really wasn’t all that surprising, at least not to her, that he would do something to piss someone off, even in another life, enough for them to want to kill him. Even her father, who loved Tristan like a son, had come close a few times to wringing Tristan’s neck. Not even a month ago, Tom and Denny were forced to tackle her father to ground to stop him from killing Tristan after he found out that they’d eloped.

Granted, Tristan had led everyone to believe that it had been all his idea. It hadn’t been, not completely. After she’d agreed to marry him, she’d decided that an engagement wasn’t going to work, not once Beth got involved. As much as they loved Beth, and they both adored her, they both knew that they would never survive a long engagement filled with parties, seating arrangements, and invitation samples.

So, they snuck off first thing in the morning for coffee and a quick visit to the courthouse. Forty-five minutes later, her father was being dragged away from Tristan as he swore up and down that he was going to kill the bastard for touching his daughter. By lunchtime, her father was over it and eating pizza with Tristan in their office and making plans to go fishing next month.

“It was only by the grace of God, and this one,” Shayne said, gesturing to her and confusing her even more, “that we didn’t lose our goddamn heads that day!”

“Me? What did I do?” Marty asked, still having a hard time believing that they were actually talking about her and Tristan like this.

“Ye stopped yer father’s man from taking his head when the dumb bastard didn’t have the good sense to shut the fuck up,” Shayne bit out as he glared at Tristan.

“My father…” Marty repeated slowly.

“Not Hank, lass,” Shayne said with a wince. “I’m sorry. This must be really confusing for ye. Maybe we should take a break.”

“No, I’m fine,” she said, afraid that if they stopped now that she would never find out what was going on. “Please continue.”

“Are you sure?” Tristan asked, giving her arm a comforting squeeze as he pulled her closer.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Marty lied, knowing that by the end of the night that she might very well be anything but fine once she found out what they had planned for them.

“Yer father was the king of our area,” Liam said, taking over the conversation and making it difficult for her to focus.

King?

Seriously?

“He doted on ye when ye were young, which was probably why he indulged ye when ye asked to have Tadgh’s life spared,” Liam explained as he leaned back in his chair and to the side, striking what a lot of women would probably consider a very sexy pose with his perfect muscles bulging in just the right way, but it didn’t do a damn thing for her except remind her of Tristan.

“The two of ye were about the same age when Tadgh went to yer father’s camp. Ye were already promised to another, which was probably why yer father turned a blind eye to the two of ye sneaking off to play together. He didn’t think that he had to worry about Tadgh doing anything foolish.”

“It also probably didn’t hurt that he knew that Shayne here,” Quinn said, gesturing with a nod towards Shayne, “never allowed our little brother out of his sight.”

“Ye had no playmates of yer own, so yer father didn’t see the harm in allowing ye to play with what would one day be one of yer personal guards,” Aidan explained.

“He probably thought that it would create loyalty for ye from Tadgh,” Connall pointed out before adding, “I doubt the man ever thought that he’d ever have to worry about the two of ye falling in love.”

“I don’t think any of us expected that,” Finn said softly.

She glanced at Tristan to find him watching the men in the room and had to wonder if it had been love at first sight then, too. It probably had been, Marty realized as she looked away. She’d probably taken one look at him and fallen head over heels in love with him even as he’d pissed her off, Marty thought with a sad smile. She didn’t have to ask to know that this love story didn’t have a happy ending.

“What happened next?” Marty asked when no one made a move to continue telling the story.

After a slight pause, Liam continued where Finn left off. “When Tadgh wasn’t training, which wasn’t often, he was sneaking off to see ye. At first, yer father thought nothing of it, but as the two of ye got older, he liked it less and less and made sure that Tadgh knew his place.”

“Whenever Tadgh disobeyed yer father, he was punished,” Quinn said.

“Which was often,” Shayne added quietly.

“I don’t think that any of us were really surprised when we found out that the two of ye had married in secret,” Liam said with a fond smile and a chuckle that was shared by the rest of the men.

“He was a sneaky little bastard,” Shayne said, laughing along with his brothers. “Hid it from us for two whole years before I caught them.”

“We knew that he would have never let her marry that prick,” Connall said, grinning.

“Nah, we’d have killed the bastard before he touched her,” Finn said with a firm nod that was quickly backed up by several “Ayes” and nods of agreement.

“What happened, then?” Tristan asked, making her wonder if she was the only one that noticed his words sounded slurred.

“Once her father found out, he wasn’t a happy man, but it was her choice. Back then, we didn’t force arranged marriages and in theory, she was free to pick her husband,” Connall explained even as she waited for the “ But. ”

“However, her father didn’t see it that way and neither did her betrothed,” Finn explained before Liam once again took over.

“With our help, Tadgh was able to take ye onto the safety of our lands and protect ye until we could figure out a way to get ye off our lands and move ye out of his territory. We thought we had enough time, but then we found out that ye were carrying a babe right around the time that we discovered that there was a bounty on Tadgh’s head.”

“It took some time, but we managed to get ye both out and we were taking ye up north when they caught up to us,” Liam said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“We would have made it, but that’s when the babe decided that it was time to make an appearance,” Shayne said with a shrug.

“Then, what happened?” she asked, already having a good idea.

For a moment, no one answered and just when she was about to beg, Finn spoke. “The details aren’t important, lass. What’s important is that all of our fates were sealed that night with a curse.”

“What was this curse?” Tristan asked.

“When he caught up to us,” Liam said instead of answering Tristan, “ye claimed that Macha was yer soulmate, yer one true love, lad. He mocked ye even as he cursed ye…as he cursed all of us.”

“He bound us to the earth to live a life of pure hell,” Connall bit out angrily. “We’re stuck in a game that we can never win.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Tristan demanded, sounding just as pissed, which usually didn’t take much, but she had a feeling that he was in a lot more pain than she’d thought.

“We’re stuck in this fucked-up existence until we can figure out a way to beat the bastard!” Connall snapped, his anger becoming more obvious with each word until he was practically shouting.

“Calm yerself!” Shayne yelled.

“Fuck that!” Connall snapped back. “They need to know what’s going on and what’s waiting for them!”

“Not like this,” Finn said evenly.

“Ye came to kill him, didn’t ye?” Connall said, sounding bitter as her worst fears were confirmed. “The polite bullshit never worked before, so let’s just put it all out there so that he knows exactly why we’re about to fuck him over!”

“Oh, and why’s that?” Tristan asked, sounding calm while she was doing her best not to panic.

“Shut the fuck up!” Quinn shouted, moving towards Connall, who looked more than willing to meet him head-on.

“Yer scaring her, ye dumb bastard!” Shayne yelled, moving to join them.

“She should be scared!” Connall shouted, shoving Quinn back. “She’s about to get her heart broken again and there’s not a fucking thing we can do about it!”

“It didn’t have to be like this!” Finn yelled, getting in Connall’s face and shoved him against the wall.

“Enough!” Tristan and Liam shouted.

“Cut the shit and just tell us what’s going on,” Tristan demanded even as he gave her arm a comforting squeeze.

“We’re all bound to this earth and so are our soulmates,” Finn said, shoving his fingers through his hair as he stepped away from Connall.

“While our soulmates are stuck being born over and over again,” Quinn said, taking over and sounding pissed. “We’re stuck in this fucked-up position where we’re forced to either live this bullshit existence or to take a chance and try to win a game that can never be won.”

“What are you talking about?” Marty asked, trying to ignore the chill that tore through her body as terror and disbelief fought for her attention.

“Every time that any of ye die, Macha, ye and all of our soulmates are forced to come back again, living a life of pain and heartbreak. Each time we’re left with the choice of sitting back and hoping that this time will be better for all of ye or take a chance by following after ye with the hopes that the curse will be broken this time,” Aidan explained.

“The only problem is that the rules are set up to fuck us over. Every time we take a chance to try and end this game, our memories are completely erased and we’re left starting fresh in a game that’s already in play,” Shayne added as he moved back to his spot by the wall.

“We’re born with targets on our asses,” Quinn bit out, and before she could ask what he meant by that, Liam provided her with an answer that horrified her.

“There’s no escaping the curse, lass. When we’re like this, we have the power to send the spirits where they need to be and the ability to protect each other. We also maintain all of our memories in this form, but when we’re born again, we lose all of that,” Liam said, sounding exhausted and making her wonder just how many times he’d been through this.

“The curse follows us each and every time we try to end it. We start attracting attention from spirits the moment that we’re born when we’re at our most vulnerable. We have no way to protect ourselves or any memories to help guide us,” Liam said, sending Tristan what could only be described as a look of regret.

“That’s why when we decide to attempt to break the curse that we make sure that at least one of us can stand in as our protector,” Liam explained softly, looking at Tristan for another moment before he forced himself to look away.

“We do it this way to keep each other safe and so that we’re not completely fucked by this curse,” Declean said while looking at Tristan until he also forced himself to look away.

“It helps to know that we’re not alone and that we’re not crazy,” Quinn quietly added.

As she tried her best to digest everything they were telling her, something occurred to her and made her wonder why Tristan had pushed her away if he knew that she was his soulmate. If the whole point of him being born was to break a curse with her, then why did he-

“He didn’t know what ye were to him, lass,” Shayne said, answering her question before she had a chance to finish the thought.

“Why not?”

She watched as Shayne leveled a glare on Tristan. “Because the stubborn bastard broke his promise,” he bit out angrily.

“Oh, and what promise was that?” Tristan asked, sounding every bit as pissed as Shayne.

“The one where ye promised to finally let her go.”