Page 39

Lorcan

“ A my, please.” My voice strained with frustration as I ran my hand through my hair, my pulse hammering. “I’m sure she’s called you. I’m sure you know where she is. I need to know that she’s safe. We just need to find her.”

I hung up the phone after leaving yet another message.

I was sure she wouldn’t call me back. My fingers ached from holding on to the phone too hard.

I paced around the sofa in my sitting room before walking to the shelf.

I looked at the spot where, just a day ago, Briar’s blood had lain on the napkin.

Someone had collected the laundry. If only I had it now to give to Rory.

I poured myself a drink, wondering what to do next.

Patricia had kicked me out of the war room, which I had finally found.

She told me I was distracting her people.

It was a damn waiting game with no end in sight.

London might have the best closed-circuit coverage of any city in the world, but even for our people—Cormac’s people—it took time to obtain those videos and more time to scan through them.

But every second she was out there alone was a second too long, especially because they couldn’t find Aiden either.

I poured the whiskey down my throat. They had to find her before he did. A knock on my door startled me.

“Come in,” I called out before making my way to a chair and flopping into it.

Cormac stepped inside.

“Are you going to come out of here today?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Does it matter if I do?” I slumped down in my chair, rubbing my eyes. Both the anxiety and exhaustion clung to me like a second skin. I took a deep breath. “How is Rory this morning?”

Cormac pressed his lips into a thin line. “She’s doing better. Last night took a lot out of her.”

Cormac had been right to tell Rory to rest yesterday afternoon.

The memory of Rory, pale and shaking, flashed through my mind.

When she had taken blood from all four of us, combining it with her coven’s magic, it overwhelmed her.

Her determination had been unshakable, but we could all see the toll on her body and mind.

Cormac had forbidden her from trying again and sent her to bed.

“She’s in the library waiting for us,” he said. “We’re dealing with powerful magic that has lasted for a century. It’s going to take a lot to counteract it.”

My breath trickled out over my lips, the gravity of the situation settling over me. How were we going to break through a magic unwilling to come undone?

“But that isn’t what I came in here for.” He hesitated before continuing. “Patricia’s team has a lead on Briar. She stayed at a hotel near St. Pancras and left for Derby early yesterday morning.”

I shot out of the chair. “Then we need to go. Now.”

Cormac shook his head. “They’re trying to pinpoint exactly where she is. I have them starting at Harrowmont Hall and working out from there. They’ll let me know as soon as they find her.”

My jaw tightened. Every instinct in me screamed to run after her. “Can’t they just look up credit cards or something?”

Cormac pressed his lips together. “We have been monitoring her bank account and credit cards, but there’s been no activity. From the surveillance in St. Pancras, she’s using cash, making Patricia’s job significantly more difficult.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine. I’ll give them a little more time. But if I have to, I’ll take the train myself—I don’t need your jet.”

Cormac smirked. “Brother, I wouldn’t doubt you’d run to Derbyshire to find her.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Maybe I would too.”

I let out a breath, not quite a sigh. I needed to find her, but at least I had Cormac on my side, helping me reach her.

“Come, we have another task to attend to while Patricia does her job.”

I swallowed hard and bit my lips together, rubbing my hand across my brow. “Let’s go find our long-lost, distant cousin.”

Cormac smiled. “Are you talking about Rory or the Cure?” His voice chuckled as we walked down the hall.

“Were you talking about me?” asked Rory as we entered the library.

“No, starlight, we weren’t, although you fit Lorcan’s description.” He smiled at his mate before kissing her.

My heart thudded. I couldn’t remember ever seeing him so happy. I glanced toward the fireplace and nodded to Declan and Conall, who stood beside it, looking as though we had interrupted a conversation. I was about to ask when Rory spoke.

“I figured out what we were missing in the middle of the night last night. By the way, you need to thank Dani for thinking ahead.” Cormac tilted his head to her, his question unspoken. “She put the map on the jet.”

I followed her gesture toward the coffee table amid the circle of leather chairs. On it lay a map of the world, the O’Cillian crest at the top.

“Yes, well, I never really needed to see that again.” Cormac’s voice was tight.

“Like it or not, Aunt Amara infused it with some sort of magic that counteracts whatever is blocking our locator spells.”

He pressed his lips together. “Hopefully, this will be the last time we need it.”

Rory shook her head. “We’ll likely need it again, since this will only get us so close. Remember, we’re dealing with a human who will move. I’ll call Willow if this works and get the spell to create something for the specific area we’ll be looking in.”

Cormac nodded. “How does this work?”

Rory moved next to the map. “I’ll need each of you to donate a drop of blood onto the crest. We’ll add Aiden’s blood when it’s required. Cormac, you first.”

Cormac bit his wrist and allowed a drop of blood to fall onto the knotted heart before he looked at me. “Lorcan, you’re next.” I stepped forward and did the same.

Cormac looked toward the fireplace. “Declan, we need Aiden’s blood.” Our adopted brother stepped forward and poured just a drop into the growing pool.

Conall stepped forward and smirked. “Last, just like always?” He bit into his wrist and held it above the crest, which shimmered red with our combined essence.

Rory kneeled at the crest, removing the obsidian pendant from around her neck and a ruby ring from her finger. She threaded the pendant’s chain through the center of the ring before dipping the pendant into the blood.

“Well, that’s different from how it worked when she killed you,” said Conall, glancing at Cormac.

“Hush,” snapped Cormac. “Let her concentrate.” Power gathered in the room, an energy I hadn’t felt since standing in the clearing at Oak Leaf Hallow in 1855. The obsidian fell to the map with a clunk.

Rory’s lips broke into a grin. “I found him!”

Cormac looked at the map where the crystal fell. “The Highlands, on the Western shore. We’ll need to fly into Glasgow.”

Declan stepped forward. “Let me see that.” He wiped his hand across his mouth. “That is near where Isla and I were married. She should be there now, visiting her grandmother.”

“Fabulous, then you are coming with us. It makes sense anyway if Aiden is watching you.”

“What about Briar?” I asked, not caring to mask the alarm in my voice.

Cormac removed his phone from his jacket pocket and pressed a button. “Patricia, any word?” He glanced around the room haphazardly as he spoke.

Silence stretched between us as he listened to the response on the other end. The faint murmur of a voice crackled through the speaker, but I couldn’t tell if the news was good or bad from Cormac’s unchanged expression. I clenched my teeth together, wishing my brother kept his phone louder.

“Thank you,” he said, hanging up.

“Well?” I pressed.

“They found where Briar stayed last night,” he said. “It was right next to Harrowmont Hall, but she checked out early this morning.”

“Dammit.” I shook my head, angry that we had missed her. Even if I had left an hour ago, I wouldn’t have found her.

Cormac rested his hand on my shoulder. His voice was soft but determined. “They’ve requested video from the Derby train station, but it’s going to take them a while to get it and go through it—longer than the London station.”

“This can’t be happening,” I muttered, palming the back of my neck. My stomach bubbled. “How is it we have every resource at our disposal and still can’t find her?”

Cormac shook his head. “Patricia’s team is moving as fast as they can, Lorcan. In the meantime, we have everything else to worry about, and we don’t know which direction Aiden has gone.” He turned to Declan. “Did he give you any idea?”

Declan shook his head and shifted his weight between his legs. His voice dropped, and his hands flexed at his side. “Nothing at all. I’m worried he’s figured out I’m working with you.”

Cormac’s brows furrowed. “We’ll deal with that issue later. But even more of a reason for you to go with us. Text him and tell him we’ll collect Isla before we try to find the Cure.”

Declan nodded, removing his phone from his pocket.

Cormac continued. He glanced between Conall and me. “Rory, Declan, and I will go after the Cure. Conall, can you go with Lorcan and help him find Briar?”

Conall looked at me, his eyes searching before he broke into a genuine smile. “Yeah.”

The weight in my chest eased, just a little. I wasn’t alone in this. “Thank you, brother.”

Conall gave a firm nod. “It’ll be good to catch up. It’s been a while.”

A smile pulled at my lips, mirroring his. “Yes, it has.”

Cormac gave a curt nod. After a few clicks on his screen, he brought his phone to his ear. “Dani, get the jet ready to go to Glasgow. And let Joshua know Conall will call in a few minutes.”

Cormac caught Conall’s eye. “Where are you headed?”

“I think we should go to Derbyshire first,” Conall suggested. “See if we can get more information from the people there.”

I shook my head. “She’s already left. If she went to Harrowmont Hall, she probably headed to Lyons Hold next.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She came here to learn about her ancestor. Cormac let her know exactly where Lady Isobel lived. Harrowmont Hall is a logical stop when traveling north to Orkney—to Lyons Hold.”

Conall’s brows drew together, his arms crossing. “And you’re sure about that? Do you think we should wait for Patricia to see if they can find anything else out?”

I clenched my jaw. “They’re taking forever, and we know she’s left. It’s the only place that makes sense.”

Conall bit the inside of his cheek. “All right. We’ll head to Aberdeen, then. Let me get Joshua to prep the plane.”

“Thank you, brother,” I said. The irony wasn’t lost on me—how quickly my brothers moved to help me, even after all the times I told them I wanted no part of this life.

Less than an hour later, Conall sat in the car’s passenger seat as Joshua drove us to the airport.

The ride was quick and uneventful, which I was thankful for as we pulled alongside a jet almost identical to Cormac’s—blue waves cascading along the side, blending seamlessly into the heart and seal crest on the tail.

Inside, the cabin smelled of aged leather and expensive cologne. Two crystal tumblers of whiskey sat untouched, waiting on a table between the seats on the right-hand side of the cabin after we passed the berth, just as in Cormac’s plane.

Conall slid into the seat facing forward. He gestured back and forth between the other three seats. “Take whichever you like.” I slid into the one across the aisle from him, the soft off-white leather molding to my form.

“You know,” said Conall as he passed me a drink, “there is something I don’t understand.”

I took a sip from the glass. “What is that?”

Conall stared at the liquor in his glass. “How is it that Aiden always seems to know where we are? He’s always one step ahead…”

The muscles in my shoulders tensed. “I don’t know. Have you spoken to Cormac about it?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Hi.” A woman with shoulder-length brown hair who looked like she could have stepped from the pages of a 1940s pinup magazine smiled at us. “You must be Lorcan?”

I nodded.

“Great to know I don’t have the wrong passenger. I’m Zadie, the pilot. Conall, sir, are you ready to go?”

Conall nodded.

“Just so you know, we’re going to fly into Aberdeen, and then I’ve already contracted another plane to get you to Kirkwall. No way my baby is going to land there.”

“Thank you, Zadie,” said Conall with a smile. His eyes tracked the woman’s ass as she sashayed up the hallway.

I gave him a sly smile. “Anything I should know about her?”

“Other than she is a fun lay when there is no one else?” His eyes sparkled. “No.”

We laughed and sat back for the takeoff.

Several hours and two flights later, we stood on the docks in Kirkwall on Orkney, waiting for the nightly ferry.

If Briar had left Derby and gone to Aberdeen, she would have had to take this ferry to get here. There was only one a day.

As passengers disembarked, I scanned each face.

Nothing.

I didn’t see her. My stomach twisted, and my breath came faster, sharp against the cold sea air. I scanned again, sure I must have missed her. The last of the passengers left the dock. How could I have been incorrect?

My voice was tight as I looked at my youngest brother. “Where could she be? Why isn’t she here?”

Conall placed a firm hand on my arm. “I don’t know,” he said, “but we’ll find her.”

A deep unease settled in my chest as I stared at the empty dock. I swallowed hard, the cold salt air burning in my lungs. “What if we’re already too late? What if Aiden found her?”