Page 167 of Ruined Wrath
He strokes my cheek. “I’m glad too. Now let’s get out of here.”
When we finally step through the front door, the house is initially quiet.
Cormac takes my hand and leads me through to the living room, where we find all of his brothers waiting for us.
At the sight of Cormac’s bloodied and bruised face, Brennan is on his feet, looking like he wants to explode.
“I knew I should have gone with you. I shouldn’t have listened. I—” His words stumble over themselves as he catches his breath. “Fuck, I just… I shouldn’t have let you do this alone.”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” Cormac says.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
Ronan steps forward. His eyes flick over his brother’s face, and I watch his gaze harden as he takes inventory of every wound. “Cormac, what happened?”
“We’ll talk tomorrow. Right now, I want to take a shower.”
“Cormac—”
“Not tonight,” Cormac says firmly.
Brennan opens his mouth again, then hesitates.
Kieran’s eyes flicker toward Ronan, silently asking if they should push further, but Ronan shakes his head.
“First thing in the morning,” Ronan says.
I reach out to squeeze Cormac’s arm gently, wanting to give him reassurance as well as myself.
“Where’s Scout?” he asks.
“He’s in the movie room with the girls,” Kieran replies.
“Good. I need him occupied. I don’t want him to see me like this.”
My chest tightens as I catch a flicker of regret in his eyes. Surely, he doesn’t blame himself for what happened?
“I’ll get some ice for your cheek,” I offer because I don’t know what else to do.
“Thanks.” He offers me a tired smile.
Then, without another word, he heads out of the room.
I watch him go, and only when Ronan exhales sharply do I turn around.
“Fiona… What happened?”
I turn to face him. “I don’t even know. One minute, we were walking to a meeting room, and the next, all hell breaks loose.”
Kieran frowns. “You didn’t see who started it?”
I shake my head. “It happened so fast. I tried to stay with Cormac, but I got dragged away. Next thing I know, I’m locked in a room. And when Cormac comes back, he looks like… Well, like that.”
My throat thickens with tears as I think of how much pain he must have been in.
“This isn’t your fault,” Ronan says firmly.
