Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke (12 page)

Roarke’s eyes were hazy but
still sparked slightly. “Back off, Ry. I’ve told you before,” he
warned evenly, body aching from the airport attack and everything
else that he couldn’t recall. “What happened at the
hospital?”

“You got your butt
possessed and used Mac, Kerry and the lass for target practice
until I got there,” Ryan replied easily, drinking the rest of his
Scotch down before standing slowly.

A professional gambler, he
could read the body language of others like a book and he could
read his baby brother as easily as before, except his brother’s way
of protecting himself now was the ‘back off’ signals he was
reading. “That was sloppy work on that one, brat, getting possessed
in the first five seconds of the job,” he jabbed, knowing that to
get what he wanted he needed to do this fast.

“Sorry, you try arguing
with Cam and getting hit with a cheap shot magical bird, then we’ll
talk,” Roarke threw back, easing down to the couch and wincing as
wounds pulled but he hid that. “Is Jess alright, Ryan?”

He heard the concern and
this time didn’t play as he answered. “Mac and her medic said she’s
weak but should be fine.” He watched as his brother eased forward
to rest his head in his hands. “What about you, brat, how are
you?”

“Fine, I’m just bloody
great.” However, Roarke’s tone was clipped and low as he looked at
his hands. “Why didn’t he stay gone?”

“Spells are only good for
so long at times,” Ryan shrugged, sitting on the back of the sofa
to eye his brother and looked for himself. “Sebastian’s too strong
for whatever they did to have worked forever.”

“No. Not forever, I never
wanted forever. I would have preferred until I was dead and
buried,” Roarke muttered, wincing as he felt the buzz. “Back off,
Ryan, I don’t need you…” he snapped, trying to close his mind but
knew he wasn’t quick enough when he heard the breath his brother
released blow out hard. “Damn it, Ryan!”

He started to move, not wanting to face this
yet but his brother was still quicker and Ryan moved like a snake,
rolling over the back of the couch and grabbing him by the back of
the neck.

“Stop it, brat,” Ryan
ordered lowly, knowing his brother was still too weak when his
feeble attempts to break free didn’t even budge him as he held him
still. “Roarke let me look.”

The more careful tone caused the younger man
to settle down but his mind wasn’t clear yet and being grabbed and
restrained, even slightly was causing his emotions to spike and his
mind to cloud more.

Keeping his fingers firm on
his neck, Ryan used his other hand to lift the T-shirt up to see
what had set Kerry off and felt his mouth go dry.

He’d been expecting some
casual scarring but hadn’t been expecting to see the massive amount
of scars on his younger brother’s tanned skin. He counted well over
thirty just on his upper back before he felt Roarke jerk under his
hand.

“Why’d they do this, brat?” he asked lowly,
letting go and expecting the boy to bolt but all he did was turn to
draw his legs up on the couch.

“I was bad,” the tone
caught Ryan off guard since it wasn’t his brother’s voice. This
tone was dull, flat and emotionless, almost a monotone. “Always
doing something stupid or wrong, just like you always said I did. I
brought it on myself or else Kerry wouldn’t have left
me.”

Ryan felt his anger burn
but got a swift kick in the leg along with a short snap mentally
before he could reply to that as Kerry’s eyes burned into his own
in warning.

The eldest Fitzgerald had entered the room
in the middle of this exchange and was now giving Ryan a very
familiar glare.

“You shouldn’t have done
this tonight,” he spoke lowly but they both knew their brother was
deep into his memories again as he laid his head on the couch arm.
“Roarke, let Mac take you upstairs. Stay with Jessica.”

He had to push this suggestion more than he
liked but knew none of them were stable enough that night to deal
with this any further.

“I killed them so maybe it
is right if I die,” Roarke yawned, rubbing his eyes as he had once,
but Mac had him then and was gently easing him back upstairs. He
paused on the steps going up the curving staircase. “She was right.
I was born evil or else I wouldn’t lose everyone I love, that’s why
I’ll never tell Jessie.”

“C’mon, boyo, let’s get you
back to bed before Jess wakes up and decides to fry us,” Mac urged
softly, using the last of his energy to ease the younger man’s
emotions so he could sleep again.

Ryan waved Kerry off,
expecting his anger. “I know, I know. We need to handle this
carefully and I rushed into it,” he sighed, flexing his fingers and
wishing it was someone’s face. “I just wanted to see for
myself.”

“I know but there are other
issues we need to deal with and I hope he sleeps through them,”
Kerry muttered, while now knowing who the first target of the
wizard would be and just hoped they could stay together long enough
to deal with him.

Struggling to keep his own
emotions level and his powers on to help his younger brother, but
it was getting harder.

The events of the day had left him tired so
much that Mac nearly tripped on the last step going up and would
have lost his grip if Maggie Cavanaugh hadn’t suddenly been
there.

“There’s a lad,” she eased
to Roarke’s other side and with a softer tone began murmuring lowly
to him while shifting a look to Mac that easily could be read as
‘Back it off some.’

Cameron Young was pacing in
the bedroom and muttering about losing people already when Maggie
got Roarke back in and with one look knew what he’d be
facing.

“Some nice relaxing sleep
is all you need to take it away,” she kept talking even as Cam saw
his friend’s eyes were normal but cloudy, which usually meant he
was near regression. “Perfectly safe here.”

Roarke was still under,
still seeing the past he’d rather forget, but Maggie’s gentle touch
and musical voice was keeping him calm. However, he shook his
head.

“Won’t be safe anywhere,”
he replied softly, lying down, but he curled into an almost fetal
position and only having Jessica move closer in her sleep kept him
from going into a total withdrawal. “Can’t sleep because it’s not
safe. One day, one day she said I’ll die like I should’ve,” he
yawned, burying his head into a pillow.

“Who said that, Roarke?” Mac asked from the
bottom of the bed, taking a slow breath before preparing to cast
one final spell that night.

His brother shifted
slightly, unknowingly reaching for his sleeping friend but did
finally answer Mac. “Gran.”

Cam nearly groaned but Mac
just nodded, kneeling at the side of the bed to place a hand on his
brother’s back but didn’t make contact, knowing he wasn’t ready for
that.

“Be careful,” Maggie urged
softly but saw the hand start to shimmer in a way she had never
seen before.

“Go to sleep, baby
brother,” he spoke softly, closing his eyes to focus. “You feel no
fear, no pain. You hear only the fairies singing to you from the
hill outside where we would play. Sleep now and take what you
need.”

Maggie’s eyes jerked at
this and started to grab his hand but Ian was there and she saw his
eyes were a darker gray-blue right then.

“He knows what to do,” he
spoke but the voice seemed stronger, then he blinked at her as if
in surprise. “That was weird.”

Before she could ask, she
was moving to catch Mac before he fell back and Cam and Ian were
there.

“You are pushing way too
far now.” the mercenary leader told him firmly, looking back to see
his friend was still and seemed to be at peace. “Let him rest and
you better get some too.”

Mac was about to object
when Ian crossed his arms, leaning on the bedroom door.

“Push too hard, push too
fast and you won’t be any good to them,” he chided lightly, causing
Maggie to frown and Cam to roll his eyes.

“I also know that Kerry’s
in no mood for me to tell him this,” Mac muttered, lightly smacking
his youngest brother on the forehead. “Snap back!”

Ian blinked and rubbed his
head. “What? I was just going to say I’ll hang out until we’re sure
he’s alright.”

“That’s a fine plan, lad,”
Maggie shot him a bright smile, pulling Mac out of the room before
he could argue. “You stay for an hour or so then turn it to Mr.
Young’s lot.”

Cam watched as the
red-haired reporter plunged ahead and scratched his head. “Yeah,
when he gets some sleep Mac will love the idea he got railroaded by
her. Considering Ryan’s around to rub it in his face at every
chance.”

“I don’t need a bloody
nursemaid,” Mac was tired and cranky but didn’t feel like putting
the strength in arguing with the woman.

“No, you need your bloody
head examined for pushing too much,” Maggie shot back as they
stopped by what she guessed was his room. “You’ve had your powers
for how long? Since childhood I’m guessing, so you should know not
to leave yourself this weak or open yourself up to too
much.”

Scowling at the mild lecture, Mac turned to
open the door to the guest room since Deirdre had known it would be
too hard on them to use the rooms they’d had as children.

“Because I do know that
I’ll apologize for snapping just now,” he replied, leaning against
the door to rest his eyes a second. “It’s never been easy to see
one of them hurting, especially Roarke.”

Mac paused as he looked
into the intense green eyes that were looking up at him. “If you
stay, you’ll see more than you’ll like,” he warned, hoping she’d
leave since he didn’t want to see anyone else hurt. “Aside from us
fighting, there’s clearly more going on than we know and then there
are things Kerry needs to come clean about.”

“I’ll cope, Doc,” Maggie
teased, wanting to relieve some of his tension and was pleased to
see his small smile as she stood on her tiptoes to lightly kiss his
cheek. “You know how to show a lass a good time.”

“Hang around long enough
and you’ll probably see a helluva lot more,” he countered, blaming
his tiredness for what he did next. Mac was never one to do spur of
the moment things but as she leaned up to give his cheek a light
peck he placed his hands on her waist before moving to lightly kiss
her lips.

Both knew it should have
been a casual, light gesture brought on from stress and the events
of the past days, but was expecting neither the friction nor desire
that hit and neither saw the lights that started to
flicker.

Mac broke the kiss, easing
back slowly but keeping a hand on the young woman’s shoulder as he
fought to regain a sort of balance. “I don’t normally do that type
of thing, Maggie,” he sought to assure her then added, “but I don’t
think I’m going to apologize for it either.”

“No, I don’t think you
should either,” she replied, stepping back but not immediately
breaking eye contact. “G’night, Mac.”

Mac stayed by his door
until she had walked away fully and he heard a door click on the
other side of the house. “Not what I need,” he muttered but didn’t
try to get the kiss or the woman out of his head as he just flopped
on the bed and drifted off.

On the outside the manor,
on the edge of the grounds, a massive black wolf stalked back and
forth in an agitated state. Once it stepped forward and then let
out a painful howl as a black smoke hissed from its paw and it
jumped back then ran away.

CHAPTER FIVE

Always an early riser, Kerry Fitzgerald rose
slightly earlier than normal.

Having showered, shaved and
dressed in his normal casual wear of slacks and shirt before going
downstairs, he could tell that none of his brothers were up yet,
and the few Mavericks that were had already started checking things
outside.

The low singing from the kitchen was a
relaxing normal activity that he had been hearing since childhood
as Deirdre prepared food for breakfast and got things ready for
meals all day since she had more to feed now.

After finally settling down for sleep, Kerry
had thought things through more and knew he owed the woman an
apology.

Humming as she rolled fresh dough for her
biscuits, Deirdre O’Connor looked up as Kerry entered.

“I wasn’t sure when anyone
would be up but the coffee’s ready and I can make you some
breakfast right quick enough,” she told him, careful to keep her
tone neutral since she expected his temper would still be
upset.

Pouring his own coffee,
Kerry walked behind the housekeeper and leaned around to gently
kiss her cheek. “I’m sorry I snapped last night, Deirdre. It wasn’t
you I should have taken my anger out on.”

Setting the rolling pin
aside, the older woman turned to lay a hand on his face. “I did
wrong for hiding those letters lad, but…”

“You could have destroyed
them and I’ll want the other stuff but for now I’ll handle my
grandmother,” Kerry replied, tensing as he felt something
approaching and it was only a feeling he got once or twice a year.
“Damn, she’s early.”

Deirdre frowned as she
realized what he meant. “Your Gran’s visit isn’t until another few
months.”