Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“So, Trill then. No one in that clan is going to choose an Alpha who wants progress over someone wanting to continue their warlord mentality,” Ronan observed. “All those guys know are carnage and destruction. They’re a bunch of greedy twats. They aren’t about to stand for some peace-loving liberal taking over their clan and turning them into a bunch of pansies.”
“Very true and likely all accurate, and if that’s the case, we’re probably looking at reprisals once they track Sorley’s disappearance back to us,” Olcan said.
“And how would they do that?” Fergus asked.
“Same way we find out things—little shite birds who like to chirp too much.”
“So, what’s our plan of action then?” Carter asked.
“We do nothing. Any noticeable offensive action we take establishes more animosity and peaks their curiousity. We adopt a stance of mutual disrespect and continue the status quo. They are our enemy from afar, but we do nothing but keep an eye on them, same way they’ll be keeping an eye on us.”
“I don’t know. Shouldn’t we take the fight to them?” Fallon asked.
“Ordinarily, I’d say yes, but that means we go to Ireland and attack them on turf my brothers and I haven’t seen since we were boys. A few others among you have been there in more recent years, and still others have never laid eyes on the Emerald Isle. They have numbers that we don’t. Unless there comes a strong reason for us to go on the attack, we wait it out and see if they want to have the disadvantage here.”
“I just hate sitting around waiting to see what they’re going to do. I say we go in there and eliminate them like the pack of filthy vermin they are,” Lucius added.
“This guy. He kills one dragon and he thinks he can take out an entire clan of bears,” Fallon laughed.
“Hey, have you killed a dragon?” Lucius shot back playfully.
“No, mate. I was busy saving the princess,” Fallon told him, drawing laughter from the rest of the table.
“Someone else’s princess,” Lucius told him.
“Fair, but a princess, nonetheless,” he laughed.
“All right, while no one here is more grateful than I am for Fallon’s heroic act and Lucius the Dragon Slayer, let’s move on,” Olcan told them.
The rest of the meeting was just about various problems with local payouts and stubborn rivals who could be easily dealt with by using a little more force to get them back in line. It was nothing more than sharks smelling blood. They knew Fergus had been absent and that Olcan’s home had been burned. They deemed it a valuable time to make a play. They were wrong.
Things quickly became business as usual for the clan, but it wasn’t for Olcan. He still had a lot weighing on his mind. He had Niamh to protect and now, and he had children on the way. Remaining as Alpha would allow him some inlets he wouldn’t have if Fergus had taken back over, so he was content with remaining as such for now. Time would tell if he wanted to keep it once the danger had passed.
In the meantime, he intended to do whatever it took to make sure his future and that of the family was as safe as it could be. That was always subjective when you were the head of a major Irish mafia family in a rough city like Boston, but the trick was to be the biggest dog in the park and never let anyone near your people. In this scenario, he was Thor—completely laid back and devil may care unless you messed with his family, but definitely not an animal one wanted to see angry.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Niamh
MORE THAN TWO MONTHS had passed since the encounter with the dragon and the attack on Sorley. There had been no signs of any further attacks or even any news that one might be imminent. For all intents and purposes, it seemed that the Maguires had given up their quest to conquer McNally turf. Of course, as Olcan pointed out, it was dangerous to get too comfortable. He also told her that she needn’t worry with it, so she’d done her best to do that.
Niamh had stopped feeling like she was always on the edge and learned to trust in Olcan to protect her. It was hard, something she’d never been able to do before, not even with Sean. Though Sean had been kind to her and was her friend, he wasn’t exactly someone to stand up to his father, and it had only been the fact that he was the son of the Alpha that had kept her safe during their marriage.
Still, her trust in Olcan didn’t completely erase her fear that this wasn’t over. She was careful when she was alone, which was to say that he wasn’t with her. In all honestly, she was never alone. Though they stayed out of sight, there were always members of the family that tailed her everywhere. It might annoy some women, but she found comfort in it. She knew that they would be on anyone who got too close to her in a heartbeat.