Page 28 of Shattered Veil
My heart skips a beat, but I force my face to remain impassive.“I’m not interested in your games, Fiona. If you knew anything about my parents why didn’t you tell me before? Why now?”
Fiona tilts her head and looks at me.“Things are very different now, Brigid. You’re ready to hear what you might not have been.”
“Like I said, I’m not interested in hearing anything if it comes from you.”
It’s a struggle to keep my face impassive. Of course I want to know about my birth parents. I used to dream about finding out more about them. No one could ever tell me anything. After I turned eighteen and inherited the cottage, and everything in it, from my adoptive parents, I turned the place upside down looking for a record of anything, a scrap of paper, about them. About me. Never found a thing. Not even adoption records. All I knew what was what little I’d been told by my Uncle John—my parents had died when I was an infant. I’d been adopted by Uncle John’s younger brother and his wife shortly after. We’d been a family for five short years. Then they were gone too.
I stare at Fiona blankly.
She shrugs, the movement causing her garish jewelry to jingle.“Suit yourself. But remember, knowledge is power in this world.”
I step around her.“I’ll pass, thanks.”
As I walk away, Fiona calls after me,“I’m not your enemy, Brigid. Come find me when you want to know the truth.”
Her words echo in the empty hallway, chilling me. I quicken my pace, desperate to put distance between us. But even as I round another corner, her cryptic message lingers.
Focus, I tell myself. Find Marius. Save Rory. Everything else can wait.
But beneath it all, I feel myself spiraling. What does Fiona know about my birth parents? And why bring it up now?
I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. One problem at a time. Right now, Rory needs me.
Chapter Thirteen
Marius
I watch Brigid from the shadows, hardening as she searches for me. The sway of her hips, the curve of her full tits beneath her thin shirt—fuck, she’s driving me crazy without even trying. My cock strains against my jeans as I drink her in.
She’s mine. Or she should be. But those other bastards keep circling her like vultures.
I flex my hand, tamping down the urge to stride over and claim her right here. Callen, Lochan, Tiernan—those assholes don’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, let alone touch her.
I see her brow crease. She’s getting frustrated.
My lips curl into a smile. I love when she gets all worked up. Makes me want to work her up in other ways...
But beneath the lust, an unfamiliar protective instinct claws at my chest. Those other idiots, they’ll only hurt her in the end.They can’t help it. They don’t know who she really is, inside.
I may be a bastard, but at least I’m honest about it. Brigid needs someone who can handle the darkness inside her.
Someone who revels in it.
Someone like me.
I shift in the shadows, weighing whether to reveal myself. Part of me wants to keep watching. But the larger part craves her attention, her touch.
“Looking for something, little bird?”
Brigid whirls around, her eyes widening as they land on me.“Marius,” she breathes, relief and something else—flashing across her face.
I saunter towards her, drinking in every detail. The way her chest rises and falls with quickened breath. The slight parting of her lips. The heat in her gaze as it roams over me. She can’t hide it.
“I’ve been searching everywhere for you,” she says, a hint of accusation in her tone.
I smirk.“Maybe I didn’t want to be found.”
She rolls her eyes, but I catch the slight upward curve of her mouth.“I need to talk to you about something. Alone. Somewhere private.”
