Page 5

L achlan wanted to tie Apollo up and stop him from leaving.

The Ironwood estate was the safest place in Ireland, apart from Greatdrakes Manor, but he didn't like that big space between them that they would have to travel to get from one to the other.

Apollo was better off staying where he was, but he wouldn't do it.

He would just find a different way to escape, and Lachlan couldn't leave him alone.

Apollo looked small and pale and defeated, and Lachlan really fucking hated that too. He was oddly quiet as he sipped his coffee and followed Lachlan down the stairs from his room.

As they hit the main staircase, they encountered Imogen with a bell in her hand. She grinned and instantly started ringing it and chanting, "Shame! Shame! Shame!"

"Fuckkkk yooouu," Apollo groaned. "I didn't fuck your cousin. This isn't a walk of shame, you bitch."

"Just practicing for when all your dreams come true," Imogen said. She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and brought out a vial. "Here, I have one of the hangover cures you gave me. I'm going to need more because this is my last one."

Apollo took the vial and hugged her. "I love you so much, even if I want to shove your little bell up your ass."

"I'm not that kinky. Lachie will get you home safe and sound. Then we will find the assholes who tried to kidnap you and kill them, okay, baby?" Imogen said, patting his golden curls.

Lachlan couldn't help the jealousy that stabbed its way through him. He wanted to cuddle Apollo and pat his curls. He was struggling not to throw him over his shoulder and carry him back upstairs. He didn't want to let Apollo out of his sight.

"Are we going?" Apollo asked and downed his hangover cure.

"Have fun," Imogen said and winked at Lachlan. He wished he was going to have fun with Apollo. Seeing him disheveled and in his clothes made all kinds of dirty thoughts flicker through Lachlan's mind.

Outside, Apollo stared at the van that was still on the back of a tow truck. His brows scrunched up.

"That's the van you were being kidnapped in. I will go over it for clues. The body is still in there, but I was going to ask your dad to come look at it before it's moved. I've never seen magic like that before," Lachlan said, opening the passenger door of an SUV for Apollo.

"Ask Val instead. He's the only one of us who has studied blood magic," Apollo replied and climbed in. He still had his mug of coffee and didn't look like he was going to leave it behind. Lachlan would clean it up if it got spilled. At least Apollo was drinking something.

Apollo flinched when the seatbelt hit his bruise. "Fuck."

"I would say leave it off if it's bothering you, but I don't think that's a good idea." Lachlan looked in his bag in the back and found a clean sweatshirt. "Here, pad it with this."

"Thanks," Apollo grumbled, slipping the folded fabric between his chest and the seatbelt. "Suppose I should thank you for stopping that dickbag last night. Even though you were being a creepy stalker."

Lachlan put his own seatbelt on. "I wasn't being creepy. I was just worried about you. You seemed…upset. What was it? Don't like Bridget?"

"What? No! I mean, yes. I really like Bridget. No, it wasn't that they were mated," Apollo stammered out. "It was other stuff. I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Lachlan replied and turned the car on.

He wanted to push, but there was no point.

Apollo would talk when he was ready, and it wouldn't be with him.

Lachlan's hands tightened on the wheel because he really wanted Apollo to speak to him about everything—or anything really.

They drove out of the estate and onto the highway in silence.

"Lachie?" Apollo asked a few moments later.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for saving me."

Lachlan turned to smile at him. "Any time, Apollo. You're actually surprisingly cute when you're wasted."

"I am not," Apollo huffed.

"You were quoting Shrek 2 non-stop. And doing all the voices." Lachlan's smile widened when Apollo started to laugh.

"If you tell anyone about that, I will?—"

Something slammed into Lachlan's side of the car, and the world tipped upside down. He must have blacked out for a second because he came to with Apollo's panicked cries.

"Not again. Not again. Lachie! Oh, fuck. Open your eyes, Lachlan!" Apollo shouted. "If you die on me, I'll be so angry, you fucker!"

"I'm…'kay," Lachlan tried to say. He opened his eyes and found they were both hanging upside down. "'pollo."

"I'm okay too," Apollo said, despite the blood dripping down his face. His eyes were glowing gold and angry. "They fucking hit us."

Lachlan tried to reach for the seatbelt clip, but his arm was pinned awkwardly.

"Don't let them take you," he said urgently, panic waking him up.

People were talking outside the car before Apollo's door was ripped off its hinges.

"Let me go! Don't you stick that in me, you fucking…"

Apollo's cries were cut off, and Lachlan roared in anger. He pulled against his seatbelt straps, trying to reach for Apollo. Their attackers ignored him as they cut the seatbelt, holding an unconscious Apollo. They caught him before he could fall and dragged him out of the wreck.

No, no, no. Lachlan couldn't let this happen. He found the knife in his boot and cut his seatbelt. He slammed into the broken dash and tried to free his pinned legs. He tore his shins up but finally got them loose.

Cursing, he pulled his way out of Apollo's door and crawled free. Cars were piled up around them, and one van was zooming off into the distance. Lachlan managed to quote the number plate back to himself three times.

He found his phone with a cracked screen and pressed his contacts in frustration. The phone began to ring, but before anyone answered, darkness crept in around him, and he slumped to the wet asphalt.