“We’ll fix it. If I find out it isn’t safe for you here, we’ll get you moved.”
“I can’t just keep running, Niall.”
“You won’t have to. I promise you that. We’ll sort this out, and once things on the island are a bit more stable, you can come back home if you want.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure that Dublin was ever my home, really. All I ever had there was some sort of misery. I think I like the idea of disappearing and building a new life elsewhere.”
“I can’t blame you. I think that sometimes myself.”
“You could always join me,” she ventured.
Niall smiled at her and reached for her hand, holding it in his own.
“I think I’d like that, but I have a lot of responsibilities to my family. I’m going to have to take some time when I leave here to sort things out in Ireland and sort things out in America. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“I guess that’s the price of being the Alpha,” she replied.
“I’m not the Alpha, not anymore. I guess I forgot to mention that. It was only temporary for me to deal with the Trill situation. I’ve handed it back to my brother Olcan now. I’m not sure if he is even going to keep it. I figured that one day, he’d give it back to our oldest brother Fergus, but it hasn’t happened yet.
“I’ve never met a clan that passed the Alpha hat around as much as that,” she laughed.
“Most people haven’t, but we’ve been forced to handle things a little differently living among humans while still dealing with certain shifter issues.”
“What’s it like living in Boston? What’s it like living in America?”
“It’s different. You don’t have to deal with a lot of the old rituals and rules the clans in Ireland hold near and dear. We can forge our own destiny, but it can still be rough there. Too many people with grudges and guns make for a treacherous life.”
“I’m sure it’s different. It’s even different here in many ways, coming from Ireland to the UK proper. I’m getting used to it, I guess.”
Niall looked at her and then leaned forward to kiss her. When he pulled back, he maintained his gaze into her eyes and clicked his tongue slightly against the roof of his mouth.
“Perhaps once I get things sorted out in Ireland, you can come back with me for a while and find out first hand.”
“To Boston?”
“Yes. If you want.”
“I think I’d like that,” she told him with a smile.
“Let’s get back home. I think I’d like some dessert,” he told her playfully, standing up and pulling her to her feet.
“Do people usually have a dessert after they’ve had breakfast?” she joked.
“They would if they had any idea how delicious it is,” he said, smacking her on the backside as she turned to walk with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Niall
Niall threw his things into his suitcase. They’d been up all night enjoying one another thoroughly and he’d had to rush to get packed if he was going to make the train out in time to make his meeting with the Scouser.
Deidre stepped out of the shower, towel drying her hair. She had to get to work not long after he was leaving. He looked at how beautiful she was with beads of water still glistening on her unblemished skin. He wished he had time to take her again, and he wished he had time to take her with him.
For now, they had to part. He’d be back for her. If he’d been uncertain about that when he’d arrived, he had no doubts about it now that he had been there with her a few days. He wasn’t quite ready to go out and buy a ring, a house, and a dog just yet, but he knew that he wanted her in his life. Whatever he had to do in order to make that happen, he would.
“I’ve got to get out of here. I’ll call you as soon as I know something in Liverpool. I’m sure there is a logical explanation for all of this.”
“Okay. I will talk to you soon then?” she asked.
“As soon as I can. I know you can’t answer your phone at work, so I’ll wait to call after your shift. In the meantime, I’ll just send you a text to let you know when I’ve made it back to Dublin.”
Niall walked over and pulled her to him, kissing her like it might be the last time they ever saw one another. He felt like a sailor shipping out to sea or a corpsman headed to war. What other reasons could a man ever have for leaving a woman like her?
“Mmmph,” he groaned, feeling the tug toward her growing within him. “You’re addictive.”
“I know what you mean,” she sighed.