I nod. Leith nods. “So we need one of us to actually read them, then. Put the pieces together. Figure things out.”
“Aye.”
He looks at me, and I groan. “Seriously, brother?”
“Aye, Tate. I want to find this writer. I want to find out who knows as much as they do and if it’s only in our minds that we’re tying them into our Clan.”
Cairstina shakes her head. “It isn’t just my imagination, Leith. Honest to God, I’d only come to you if I had concerns, you know that. I love these books… and I hate the idea of the author getting in any sort of trouble.”
It’s unusual for her to be so talkative. When she joined our Clan, she was Leith’s mute prisoner, unable to speak at all. Over time, she has healed, but even now she chooses to speak rarely, her words selective and careful.
I nod. “Aye. I understand. Right, then, I’ll read the books. Do you have them?”
Leith shakes his head. “It’s smarter for you to read them in e-book. More discreet that way.” He looks around him, as if the writer of the books will just materialize out of thin air and appear behind him holding a paper and quill.
“Aye,” I say soberly, nodding.
“And what exactly are we going to do with the information once we have it?
“After you read them… I want you to start investigating. Hell, start while you’re reading. You know I’ve got Mac and Clyde as full-time liaisons for Paris. All our business here in Scotland’s under tight wraps for now.” Cairstina yawns, and Leith looks from her to me, as if just realizing it’s the middle of the night. “We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.”
“Aye.”
“Night,” he says, taking Cairstina’s hand and leading her to the door. They don’t live here anymore. None of us do. Most of us live in private chalets that rim the outside of the main home, but we’re in the main lodge so often, it’s almost as if we live here.
Why’d I appoint myself Fran’s bloody keeper? I suppose it's a pretty easy answer because the thought of anyone else being this close to her and taking care of her makes me angry. I'm the one that saw her injured. I'm the one that will see this through.
Plus, everyone else here has a job to do. Our men have various tasks about the place, and my sisters have school and work. I have a job to do, too, but right now my biggest job is finding the writer who’s penning the Clan Chronicles. It's a mystery I'm bent on solving.
As I watch Fran sleep, I marvel at her beauty. She's such a bonnie lass. I've been attracted to her for as long as I can remember, though I've never allowed myself to act on it.
I’m like a brother to her, I know it.
A fucking brother.
I watch her sleep, as I settle down onto the couch with a folded blanket and scratchy pillow. I wanted to go back to the privacy of my place, but it didn't feel right leaving her here unattended. She hurt herself badly, bad enough that she barely remembered much of anything, and you can’t fuck around with head trauma. But it isn't just that. I don't like the fact that my father doesn't want her here and, knowing what I do about him, I fear that he could do something to hurt her. Years ago, he put hands on Leith’s wife Cairstina, and I haven’t trusted him since.
So I keep my place beside her. Pull up my phone, and download a bloody e-reader app. I'm not much of a reader, never have been. And the thought of reading a bloody romance… My brother is right though. Something’s amiss. We've suspected for a very long time that the writer of these books knew more than what was good for her, and now she's crossed a line.
I pull up the first book and quickly download it. It’s immediately engaging, more than I expected. The story starts off right off the bat with a marine biologist who's in the wrong place at the wrong time. As soon as I start reading the descriptions, it feels eerie. It's as if someone's looking over our shoulders, as if the very walls have eyes and ears.
For starters, the description of the location. It's in a remote part of Scotland, deep within the mountains. Snowcapped mountain ranges all around, and no one knows how to get there except the Clan itself. The marine biologist stumbles upon the Clan accidentally, thinking she's booked a holiday. She hasn't, though. She ended up at a lodge deep in the mountains, just like this.
Odd.
They were expecting a woman sent to them by arranged marriage, also something that is not outside of the realm of possibility in our family. We haven't had an arranged marriage in quite some time, but it certainly could and has happened.