Across The Line. Amy Lee Burgess

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СКАЧАТЬ evil bastard father of yours and even last night when you were scared, I told you to suck it up and get over it instead of letting you talk about it like you wanted.”

      “I don’t like to talk about it,” I told her. “I haven’t talked about what happened with anybody. Not even Liam, so don’t blame yourself, Fee, please.”

      “When she drank the elixir that released her from the pack bond, it hit her hard.” Fee looked at Colm and Deirdre, her eyes wide with shame. “I think because it had never activated in her. She shifted totally on this plane. All the pain intensified. It was horrific, Paddy told me.” She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.

      “Paddy wasn’t there,” I reminded her. “Nobody from Mac Tire was there.”

      “Of course they weren’t, you poor thing, because we’ve been piss-poor pack mates to you. It’s a wonder you still want to belong to us. If Colm and Deirdre had known about this like they should have because I ought to have told them, this hunt wouldn’t be happening like this. They’ve been waiting and waiting for me to be ready to do it and I kept putting them off. This is my fault.”

      “I’m sorry, Stanzie.” Colm’s voice was soft and gentle. Totally at odds with his massively muscled body and harsh features. “We’d put this off entirely, but Deirdre needs it and she won’t be able to shift soon. One of the main reasons we want it done is for the babies. They need the help.”

      “Is something the matter?” My fears were forgotten and I turned to Deirdre in shock. She was so tiny and Colm was nearly seven feet tall. “You’re having twins?”

      “Triplets,” she said and a mix of anxiety and joy crossed her face. “Andrew says I’m going to end up spending at least the last two months on bed rest. This will be the last time I shift.”

      “And the pack isn’t recovering from the blow of losing Paddy,” said Colm.

      “Because of me. Because I’m not,” Fee whispered. Colm reached out a hand to touch her hair. His expression was affectionate and for a moment he looked like Paddy except with straight, red hair. They were half-brothers, but I’d never seen the resemblance until just now.

      “I’m sorry I’m so impatient, Fiona.”

      Fee’s mouth twisted. “I’m sorry I’m so awful. I’ve been so mean to you, Colm O’Reilly. And to you too, Deirdre. To everyone.” Tears slid down her cheeks, and Colm got up so he could pull her into his arms. Deirdre stood too and the swell of her pregnant belly made her arms and legs look stick-like. Triplets. Jesus.

      She wrapped her arms around Fee from the back and the three Alphas held each other. Which was how it should have been from the start, only Fee hadn’t let them get close.

      A measure of scared relief flooded me. I still was afraid of the pack bond, but knew my wolf would want to protect her Alpha and the babies. Even if it meant she wouldn’t be free anymore. Babies were treasures. Every pack member believed that.

      This pack bond was not forever. Not thirty years like Paul’s. This triad’s time as Alphas would be up in two years and a new Alpha duo or triad would step up. It might even be me and Murphy. It probably would be unless I completely blew everything and turned the pack against me. Which I just might, if I didn’t stop being a baby about the pack bond.

      What would it be like to give the pack bond instead of receive it? I knew I would never, ever abuse it. I looked at Fee, Colm and Deirdre and realized they wouldn’t either.

      No, the opportunity for control and domination was slight, but the chance for promoting good will and healing was great. The pack would stop looking to Murphy and start looking to Colm and everyone would move on from the grief.

      We wouldn’t be losing Paddy. He was already lost to us. We’d lose the mindless, soul-sucking grief. Maybe even be able to remember him with laughter instead of tears.

      Just a few feet away, he’d spilled his life’s blood on the gravel, victim of a stabbing. I’d knelt in his blood so I could smooth the curly hair from his pale, clammy forehead and hold his hand as he’d lain dying.

      The pack ring was cold on my finger. I twisted it, trying to find comfort. He’d presented it to me at my tribunal, He told me I was family and I belonged to him. I gave myself to him that day. A part of me would always be his.

      Would a part of me also be Colm’s? Deirdre’s? Fee already had me. We were best friends. She was my Alpha, no question.

      Deirdre sat beside me and put her arm around my shoulders. Colm continued to rock Fee as she sobbed against his muscled chest.

      Colm had been the first member of Mac Tire I’d met in person when I’d come to Dublin. Standing guard outside the pack’s pub, An Puca, he’d seemed all brawn and very little brain. He’d challenged me and denied me admittance to the pub, but I’d stood up to him at first before I retreated miserably. After that, he’d become my protector, but I’d been so wrapped up in Paddy and Murphy and their drama, I’d barely given Colm a second thought.

      Over the past three months in Ireland, I’d begun to know Deirdre. I spent a fair amount of time playing the harp at An Puca on nights Fee or Murphy wanted to get out of the stifling apartment. Between songs and on breaks, Deirdre always supplied me with cold cider or Guinness. Alannah Doyle, the bartender, wouldn’t spit in glasses she poured for Deirdre, but she had the one time I’d been rash enough to approach the bar on my own.

      Alannah Doyle had been bonded to Declan Byrne—traitor to the pack. He’d given Grandfather Mick the knife he’d used to gut Paddy. On directions from Glenn Murphy.

      Alannah occupied a unique and uncomfortable position in Mac Tire. On one hand, she was the ex-bond mate of the notorious and despised Declan Byrne. On the other, she was the half-sister of the beloved, dead Paddy O’Reilly. So people both reviled and revered her.

      She’d bonded with another duo who were said to be poised to be named contenders for the next Alpha election. The duo was obviously banking on Alannah’s status as half-sister to Paddy and full sister to the current Alpha male, Colm.

      An icy shiver slid down my spine. If Alannah became an Alpha female, I’d have to take a pack bond from her. She hated me. Blamed me for exposing Declan. She couldn’t hate him. He was dead. So she transferred all her malice to me, his accuser.

      I’d had such rosy thoughts of belonging to a pack again. But Mac Tire was full of rage, grief and churning confusion.

      The pack bond would help.

      “You can take the pack bond later, Stanzie.” Deirdre pressed her forehead to my cheek. Her skin was cold.

      “You ought to be inside. It’s freezing,” I said.

      “It would have to be after the babies are born.” Deirdre took a deep breath. The thought of giving birth obviously frightened her. No wonder. Triplets. Colm-sized triplets. “I can’t shift after today. Andrew’s not even happy about today.”

      Andrew Brody was the pack’s doctor. He was also bonded to Paddy’s mother, Maureen O’Shea, and now, Siobhan Carmichael as well.

      “When he was Alpha, his first bond mate almost died in childbirth. The babies did die.” Deirdre shivered, not from the cold. I took her hand in both of mine and squeezed. “I think he’s a little overprotective. I feel СКАЧАТЬ