Page 13 of Haunted Nights & Savage Sins
Now that she has spoken to me again, I can hear the clear Irish accent in her tone. I wonder if it gets more evident the more upset she gets. I can test that easily.
“Forward,” I order in a deep, quiet voice.
The dogs all take a few steps forward, their heads down and fierce growls pouring from their mouths.
“No! Stop!” she screams and all but scrambles up the tall grave marker.
She’s dirtying it up.
“Get off of that,” I snap at her.
“How? Where do you want me to go? They are going to try to kill me, and you’re worried about a grave marker?”
“Whose fault is that? I told you what would happen if you tried to leave the house. This is of your own doing.” I take a few more steps forward; now I’m ahead of the dogs. They make no move to go around me. All three of them are focused on Brenna and waiting for me to give the next order, which would be to attack.
The three of them don’t have a sexist bone in their body. They’d rip her apart the same way they would a man.
“You can’t expect me to abide by that.”
I take a large step in her direction, standing so close to her now that she has to crane her neck to look up at me. She doesn’t look away like I expect her to. Instead, she holds my gaze. I know better than to put my hands on her right now; it could give thedogs the wrong idea. If they see her as a threat, that will be good enough for them to attack too.
“I most definitely can expect you to abide by that. You will do exactly as I tell you without question.”
She gasps, and her mouth pops open as if I’d just cursed her name. “That’s barbaric. People don’t treat people this way. I’m not your slave. You can’t treat me this way.”
I’m all but waiting for her to stomp her foot.
“You must have missed the wedding ceremony we took part in. You’re my wife. I can treat you any way I want to. No one is coming to save you, and I refuse to let you inconvenience me in any way by having to cater to your whims. Now you have two options here, and that’s me being generous. You can take your disobedient ass back to the house into the room I so graciously gave to you, or you can spend the night out here with the dogs. They don’t sleep when they are on watch. If you try to harm them or run away, they will make you pay.”
I turn on my heel, ready to go back to the house.
After two steps away from her, she finally opens her mouth to say something worth hearing.
“Wait. I’ll come with you. Just make them go. Please. They scare me.” She whispers, and as much as I don’t want to, I can’t help but feel a little bad for her.
She’s in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, having to do something no one should be forced to do. I know for sure I don’t want to be doing it, but this is the hand life has dealt me.
“Post,” I snap, and in that very instance the three dogs turn and trot back in the direction of the house. “Let’s go,” I spit over my shoulder.
I can hear Brenna’s footsteps rushing in my direction, but she stops just behind me. I wait to see if she’s chosen to test her luck and take off in the opposite direction. Instead, she waits for me to move.
I shoot one last glance at my mother’s grave and wonder what she would’ve thought of this situation.
I can’t say she’d be proud of how I’m dealing with Brenna, but then again, she was the one who left me to be raised by my father.
Monsters don’t raise little angels.
This is as much her fault as it is his.
5
CORMAC
There isa knot in my neck the size of a softball. I’m so stressed.
It’s been three days since Brenna has come here to live with me, and I don’t think I’ve slept more than twelve hours the entire time. I keep waiting for the nightmare I’m living to be over. For me to go down the hall and not have her there.
I don’t want her in my space. Don’t want to have to hear any added noises in my space.
