Page 24 of Coal (QUEENS WRAITHS MC #2)

COAL

“Fuck,” I groan as I sink into the chair. Every muscle I have protests at the movement.

“Yeah,” Copper grunts in agreement as he inches his way down until his ass hits the seat of the chair. “Holy fuck, man,” he groans out, “I used muscles today I didn’t even know I had. I thought we were fit, but this is a whole other level.”

Too tired to say anything, all I can do is grunt at him as an answer. Leaning my head back against my chair, I close my eyes.

Not only am I tired as fuck, but we’d been later than expected leaving the site, which meant I hadn’t got to spend time with Thea and Shea this afternoon like I’d wanted.

Instead, I’d had to shower and hustle us out onto the road to make it to the clubhouse in time for Church.

On the plus side, at least the road was nearly cleared.

There was maybe a hundred meters or so left to go, then we could grade and compact it.

Cross reckoned it would be ready in another two days or so.

Then we could get the barn set up for Thea.

If all went according to plan, she’d be in within three weeks.

The timing was good with Copper leaving us this weekend to meet up with his contact.

We’d be discussing that at Church this evening.

A knock on my office door breaks my contemplation of my mental list of all the things we still have to do to be ready for what’s coming. “Come in,” I call out.

The door opens, and Thea’s there with a couple of bottles of water and a box of painkillers.

“If the lot out there are anything to go by, I thought you two might need these,” she tells us, handing us each a bottle of water and then popping painkillers out for us to take.

“Thanks, baby,” I say, swallowing them down before snagging her hand and pulling her towards me and onto my lap.

This time, she curls up without me having to ask.

It makes me smile. I’m happy that she’s becoming more comfortable with her body.

Wrapping my arms around her, I rest my head against hers.

I’d watched my parents over the years and had always vowed that I’d not settle for less.

It had taken me longer than my dad to find my one, and I’d had to move countries to do it.

Now that I had, I’d go to war to ensure she was safe.

Aiden had been in contact to let me know people were looking for her.

He’d done what he could to cover her tracks, and I’d had Sterling work on her paperwork this side.

Soon she’d be untraceable except as my wife.

One good thing about her father keeping her hidden away is that very few people had met her, which meant that Aiden only had to make it very clear to a few that she was never to be mentioned, or it wouldn’t go over well for them.

Nobody knew about Shea at all, which made the paperwork on her easier.

As far as the world was concerned, she’d been born to Thea and me just over fourteen months ago, right here in Southampton Hospital.

I’m not sure how Sterling did all the shit he did, but I was fucking happy he was one of ours.

Another thing I loved about my wife was that she was content to just sit. She didn’t feel the need to fill the room with constant chatter.

It’s closing in on time for Church when my phone rings. I reach for it from where I’d laid it down on my desk earlier. Thea goes to move off my lap, but I stop her. “Stay, baby.”

She settles back on my lap. Turning the phone toward Copper, I show him who it is. Straightaway, he sits up straight, both feet now planted on the floor. “Cahir,” I answer.

“Coal,” he responds, “I hear congratulations are in order.”

Chuckling, I reply, “They are. How did you find out, or was it a vision?”

Cahir laughs out loud. “No vision. Word of mouth. Cai was booked in with Hawk, and he mentioned that you’d been around with your wife.

I’m not sure who was more surprised that we didn’t know—Hawk or Silas.

I told Silas his arse is getting old if he can’t see that our family is finding their one and only. And how is your wife?”

Smirking at his words, I tell him, “Here, ask her yourself.” Putting my phone on speaker, I put it on the desk, telling him, “You’re on speaker. I’ve got Thea and Copper in here with me.”

Turning toward Thea, I explain, “Cahir is a Cursed Skull, and he’s a distant family member. They are the ones organising and setting up everything. We’ll be taking most of our orders from them. Cahir, meet my wife, Thea. ”

With amusement clear in his tone at my possessiveness in introducing Thea like I did, he welcomes her, “Welcome to the family, Thea. I hope you will be very happy.”

Thea looks at me before responding, “Thank you.”

“Now I wish this was a catch-up call. But we are looking to move the person who has agreed to go undercover, and Copper will need to move into the flat with her, as they are posing as a couple to make it easier for him to keep an eye on her. It won’t look strange if he checks up on her at work or meets up for lunch.

We need to keep the relationship looking as normal as possible so that they don’t suspect anything. ”

“When do you need me, and when do I meet her?” Copper wants to know.

“That’s why I’m calling. You’ll need to move next weekend at the latest. We’ve set up new identities for you so that what we are doing doesn’t blow back on your family.

Not only to keep them safe, but also so that you can help with any victims we find.

Do you have somewhere for them to stay if we need them to go somewhere safe before moving them on? ”

“We have put aside five caravans for them. They are in the middle of all the brothers’ homes. Now I know this may freak some of the women and children out, but it’s to keep them safe. We can’t have them miles away from where we are and protect them fully,” I tell Cahir.

“I agree,” Cahir responds. “Hopefully your women can make them understand why it’s best. Now, did you get sorted with Kelly and get your weapons?”

My fingers tighten on Thea’s hip when she moves. “No, we didn’t get sorted with Kelly. Did you know he was the very thing we are fighting against?”

“What!” Cahir barked. “You’d better explain.”

Copper, Thea, and I exchange looks; it seemed that Silas really didn’t see everything.

“He wanted one of us to marry one of his daughters. He didn’t care about which brother, their ages, or his daughter’s treatment. The marriage was to be set up as a business arrangement.”

“What the fuck?” Cahir curses, then bellows out, “Silas, grab the others and come listen to this. Wait a minute, Coal, before telling me the rest. They won’t be long. I’m putting you on speakerphone. ”

Over the phone, we hear the heavy tread of boots on a wooden floor, then the scrape of chairs being pulled out as Cahir’s brothers get settled. Only when there’s silence does Cahir say, “Okay, we’re all here; start from the beginning.”

“Well, after our phone call, we did as you recommended and reached out to him, which is when he said he’d only do business with us if we married one of his daughters.

We weren’t impressed, and I told him we’d call back.

I had Sterling do his thing, and none of us were happy with what we found.

The daughters were young. One was only just fifteen, and the other was coming up for eighteen.

We went along with him because I wanted eyes on the girls to see what condition they were in.

” Taking a breath, I continue to tell him about what we’d found, my marriage to Thea, not because of what she was worth or what she could do for us, but to keep her and Shea safe.

There was a deep silence when I finished.

“Are Thea’s sisters safe?” Ramzi asks.

“As far as we are aware. Aiden only gets in touch when he can and always with a burner phone. He only has a handful of men he trusts implicitly. He sent the girls away. I did give Kara my number and told her to call me if she needed us. But for their safety, none of us know where they are, only Aiden. Thea trusts her brother, and he has kept them safe for years, so I imagine he knows what he’s doing. ”

“Fuck,” Silas utters, “I’m sorry, I’ve not seen anything about this.” Thea stiffens against me at his words. Gripping her hip tightly to get her attention, I mouth, “I’ll explain later.”

When she nods at me, I turn my attention back to Silas, who’s beating himself up for not seeing anything.

It’s Cai who stops him with a few soft words and reminds him, “Brother, you aren’t meant to see everything.

This wasn’t a problem for you to solve. It was for Coal, and he solved it as it should have been.

He now has the woman and child that were meant for him from the beginning.

You know as well as I do that even if you saw anything, we couldn’t interfere unless it was life or death.

The situation played out exactly as it should with Thea, safe with the family that is meant to be hers.

Her sisters will find their ways when it’s their time, as will her brother.

Although there is no harm in us taking a ride to Ireland and checking on him. ”

Thea lets out a relieved breath. “If you could, I’d be grateful. I’ve been fiercely worried about mo dheartháir ,” Thea pauses for a minute before apologising, “Sorry, I forget, not everyone understands Irish. I’m worried about my brother.”

“That’s okay, deirfiúr bheag, ” Cahir tells Thea. “We understand. And we’ll check on your brother for you. Have Sterling send Ramzi all the information you have, and we’ll take it from there.

“From our side, we’ll send the information of our undercover informant to Sterling.

You’ll need to keep who it is to yourselves.

You’ll understand why when you get the information.

It will include where you are to meet, the address of the flat you’ll share, your new documentation, and your new name.