Page 54 of This Blood that Bonds Us

I was smelling for anything dangerous, like blood or people in the trees. While walking around the car to Kimberly’s door, I focused harder, and the only sound was my footsteps crunching in the snow. Kilian and Dom were already out of their car. I worked on memorizing their patterns: the sounds of their feet and their heartbeats each had a specific cadence.

All I heard was the TV in the house mixed with faint whispering but not a crowd, just a few people. I noted a few other cars built for snow in their driveway.

Kimberly’s blue eyes steadied me as I opened her car door.

“Are you good?” I pressed my lips to the warmth of her hand.

She had that faraway look in her eyes, like she was trying to solve an impossible puzzle. Kim’s brain gave her questions with impossible answers. It was a never-ending list of possibilities in her head. She explained it to me like constantly being bombarded with every outcome there could ever be while simultaneously only believing in the bad ones.

I squeezed her shoulders to ground her back with me. She liked it when I did that.

“I’m okay.” The corners of her mouth tugged but never made it to a smile. Smiles weren’t as common as they used to be for us.

I leaned in to kiss her on the lips, and that did it.

She melted into me, and we walked hand in hand after Kilian and Dom into the house. I could see no one else from the outside. Just a living room with a leather couch and fireplace.

The house smelled of firewood and a candle that reminded me of the sauna back at BFU gym. It was a massive upgrade from his place in Blackheart. No wonder he’d spent all that time in our library. That dingy cabin was a shack in comparison.

“I thought you weren’t loaded with money,” I said.

“This is a friend’s. She let me use it for the time being.”

“What are the odds of that?”

He said nothing and continued showing us down a long hallway with freshly polished hardwood floors. It was kind of a red flag but not enough to make me bolt.

Halina and Felix stood in a dining room with a piano and a long mahogany table surrounded by chairs. They stared as we came through the door, and I wrapped my arm around Kimberly.

I had spoken little with Felix since our poker incident in Blackheart, but I remembered his words about Kimberly’s imminent death. He had a toothpick in his mouth and his hands behind his back, but he wasn’t scowling this time. He and his sister had white-blond hair. His was short on the sides andspikey at the top, and hers was long and straight and flowed down to her hips. Halina’s features were sharper, and her brow lowered as we entered.

They weren’t the only ones in the room, but the only ones I recognized. I spent little time learning names in Blackheart and was starting to see where I’d spent most of my attention—pursuing the girl under my arm. I didn’t regret it, but I needed to think differently going into this situation. There was no safety net. I was Kimberly’s protector. What would my brothers do?

They’d take charge. Zach would scowl. That was easy. Luke would square his shoulders and puff out his chest. He’d probably listen too.I should listen.

The TV in the other room played the local news and talked about the weather. More snow was coming. A few feet stomped around upstairs but nothing fast moving.

“Are we going to have that rematch round . . . cheater?” I smiled, trying to make it the right amount of standoffish. I wasn’t going for Zach’s level of antagonism, but just enough. Felix’s teeth snapped his toothpick.

“We’re happy to have you. You could sit. Make yourself at home here,” Kilian said.

“Not likely,” I whispered to Kimberly.

We were outnumbered, another new feeling I was still processing. Being one of four brothers was never lonely.

“Okay, we’re here. We’re listening. We need to know your plans,” Kimberly said.

Kilian stood next to a long window that stretched to the ceiling. I’d almost forgotten how tall he was until I saw him next to it. Halina and Felix chose to sit.

“Your disappearance was . . . unexpected. We’ve spent a considerable amount of effort in finding you all. I was surprised when we got such an obvious sign of where to find you. I’d been focusing most of our resources on not losing the leads we didhave on The Family. It was Felix’s idea to keep an eye out for outgoing flights in the area and to track it.”

Felix interjected. “You’re welcome.”

“Once we had that likely location, we focused on following your trail up the coast. Right now, I have employed scouts in Ireland surveying the area and using any means necessary to get a layout of the island. They appear to run tourism there, and we’re working diligently to see if we can get a detailed map of the town and the castle grounds.”

“My brothers are living in a castle?”

“Most likely. I have not confirmed appearances of anyone we’re looking for yet. But that is our hope. It appears they’ve owned the castle for centuries. It might be the original place where Cecily Dooley was born. We’d never been able to find the exact location. Though, we didn’tneedto find it before due to their location in the United States.”