Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Olcan laughed and shrugged. “I supposed you did, you little psychopath.”
“Olcan, we need to move them before they float out and someone finds them,” he said.
Olcan laughed and nodded toward Eimear again. “Aye. We’ll move them, but no huge rush. Your weird-ass girl over here tied them together like one of those little people cutouts we used to make in school. They are all holding hands, and the one closest to shore is tied to a tree to keep them from floating away.
Fergus turned to look back at Eimear, his eyes wide. “Well, fuck me. That might just be the most romantic thing a woman has ever done for me. Come here and kiss me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Eimear
Eimear stood in the hallway of the church, shaking hands with the visitors that had come to share the day with Fergus and his family. They stepped up one by one to shake hands in greeting. She glanced up at Fergus and smiled. He looked so handsome in his suit. She was a lucky girl. In fact, she couldn’t imagine being any luckier. He smiled back at her before looking toward a nearby door that opened beside him. The priest stepped out and walked over to speak to him.
“Are you ready to do this?” he asked.
“Yes. Thank you, Father.”
Fergus and Eimear followed him down the aisle of the church, motioning to his brothers that it was time. They all took their seat in the front pew and waited for the service to begin. The church was packed, some people were friends or family, some were business associates, and there were likely a few who had less sympathetic reasons for attending, but they had all gathered to pay their last respects to Cathal McNally, Alpha of the Boston Bears.
She held Fergus’s hand tightly as the service began, knowing he felt a great loss even though he’d never show it. This was going to be a tremendous change for them, and he’d seemed unsure that he was ready, but she knew he was. In the three years since she’d come home with him from that cabin on the lake where they’d fallen in love, she’d watched him overcome every obstacle put in his way. He’d been the one running his clan for years, his father having grown weaker as the years passed.
In that time, they had not talked much about where their relationship was going. They were both just content to know they loved one another and enjoy their time together. At first, she had been busy with the aftermath of what happened to Ciaron. He had told everyone that she had a breakdown and had to go away for a while. She’d learned that he had postponed their wedding right away, which told her he’d never been in any hurry to get her back. He’d only done so to save face.
When she had returned, she had reported him missing, stating that she’d had a change of heart and returned, only to find him gone. Given the nature of his business, the cops hadn’t spent any real time looking for him, as they knew it would only lead them into territory they were better staying clear of.
She’d moved all of her belongings out of his house and into Fergus’s place, still uncertain whether that was a good idea so soon after her experience with Ciaron and knowing him such a short time, but in retrospect, it had been the best thing she could ever do. Since then, they’d been comfortable to just be together, not worrying about what it meant or where that might take them.
Now, the death of his father had changed everything. Fergus faced a choice now, and it was no one’s to make but his own. Did he want to become the Alpha or let it pass down to Olcan and lose the opportunity forever—that was what he was faced with. They sat hand in hand as the priest spoke at length about Cathal McNally’s generosity to the community and the church.
Next, Fergus moved up to the podium, looking out over the crowd with a discerning eye before beginning to speak.
“My father came to this country with nothing in his pockets and four sons to feed. He found work in a local restaurant washing dishes, eeking out a meager wage in order to keep a roof over our heads. It was there that he met up with others like himself, men who wanted a better life and were willing to do whatever it took to get it.”
He took a moment, looking toward the casket that held his fathers’ body and drew in a sharp breath.
“My father was a kind, decent man in Ireland. His life was forever changed by people who wished harm upon him and his family. Men who drove us away from our land and forced us into hiding in this country. It forever changed him, and it forever changed our family. We make no apologies for who we have become, and we will make no apologies for who we continue to be. I fully intend to step into my father’s shoes and take this family to the next level. It is what he would have wanted.”