Chapter 30

Keavy~

M y hands felt clammy, and I knew that wasn't a good sign. Like every other subject under the sun, Cian had taught me biology, and I had also learned a lot about certain organs from our hunts together, so while the gunshot wasn't necessarily a life-ender, the loss of blood was a problem.

So, not ready to pull in the authorities because of Cooper Donaldson, I still couldn't go to a hospital just yet. Plus, with no car, I'd have to bring the police and ambulance here, and that was a bad idea for so many damn reasons. Nevertheless, the dressing on my shoulder wasn't doing shit to stop the bleeding entirely, and I still had two dead bodies in my goddamn kitchen. After trying to move the blonde guy, I had quickly given up when the pain in my shoulder had shot up my neck. It also hadn't helped when my wound had started bleeding harder.

Now, while I wasn't scared of dying, I didn't necessarily want to die this way. The plan had been to die an old lady, preferably nestled peacefully in my bed fifty years from now. By then, the arsenal in the cellar wouldn't be needed anymore, my inheritance would have had me living my golden years happily, and with no family in the picture, this cabin and everything else that I owned would benefit the ASPCA. At least, that'd been the plan before the two assholes in the kitchen had shown up to ruin my future.

My self-imposed pity party came to a stop when my phone alerted me with a notification. Since I was back on the floor, trying to get a hold of my bearings, I grabbed it from beside me, and it was the security app, informing me that there was more movement outside the cabin. I chuckled to myself, wondering if the mysterious Klive was here to see what was taking his men so long to report back.

Closing my eyes, I thought about the two men that I had killed that night at Kenneth's and the two currently in my kitchen, and I couldn't help but wonder why people couldn't just leave me the hell alone. I tried so hard to mind my own damn business, but it looked like I was going to have to take more people down with me before I finally met my maker.

Letting out a deep breath, I opened my eyes, then used the wall and my feet to help me back up. Luckily, I'd been shot in my left shoulder, so being right-handed made me lucky, indeed. While my aim might be off, it wouldn't be off by that much, so I could still get the job done, whatever the job was.

After slipping my phone into my back pocket, I made my way over to the house computer, then sat down to bring the monitors to life. The computer had two screens, and one always had the cameras active in real time. While I could pull the information up on my phone, this screen was bigger, and I really needed to be able to see everything that was coming at me. If I weren't injured, then I wouldn't be too concerned, but since I was, I needed to be prepared. Yeah, I could always lock myself down in the cellar with a military arsenal at my disposal, but that reeked too much of cowardice for my liking. Plus, I didn't need someone tearing this place apart, finding the cellar, then doing God knows what with all the firepower down there.

As I toggled back and forth between screens, my heart started pumping faster when I noticed who could only be Noah Murphy creeping up from the left side of the trees.

They'd found me.

Leaning back in the chair, I laughed. Here I'd been worried about the faceless Klive, but it should have been the O'Briens that I'd been worried about, and I was honestly too exhausted to even care about how they had managed to connect me to the cabin. They would have had to have done a deep ass dive to find out about Cian and The Bronntanas Dé Corporation, so they must have found themselves a hacker, and yay for me.

Even though I knew what my odds were, I still got up from the chair, then went to grab the two re-loaded guns off the kitchen table. Yeah, they might kill me after it was all said and done, but not without me taking some of them with me. Granted, if Declan and his men had any sense, then they'd be wearing vest for this little adventure, but the O'Briens didn't strike me as pussies.

Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I checked my guns, making sure that they were loaded enough, and though my phone was going off with surveillance notifications, I didn't bother looking at it. I knew this cabin and the lands like the back of my hand, so even though I was injured, I still felt like I had the advantage. We were no longer on O'Brien territory, and I was counting on that little bit of leverage to help me through whatever this was.

As I crept up on one of the windows, I could hear someone clearly say, "I see two dead bodies in the kitchen."

"O' course, ye do, laddie," Noah's voice grumbled like I was the biggest nuisance on the planet.

Before I could start shooting, I heard a sound coming from the back of the cabin, and I estimated that Declan would have sent at least five guys for this. Granted, after what I'd heard, this could all be Noah Murphy handling business that Declan had refused to handle, but I really couldn't see Noah going behind Declan's back like that. It could also be an inflated ego that had me counting the troops at five, but Declan and/or Noah would be stupid to underestimate me at this stage of the game.

Since I knew that Noah wouldn't go down easily, I decided to go for the easier kills, because that first guy had to be an easy kill, or else he would have known better than to speak so loudly, alerting me to their arrival. Honestly, had Declan and I been destined for more, the first thing that I'd have done was to teach his men some goddamn discipline.

When I heard the front door open, I raised my gun, ready to kill whoever came through the door. However, before I could fill anyone up with lead, Declan's voice rung out throughout the cabin, and I wasn't sure if I should feel pissed or relieved.

"Baby, put your guns down," he ordered. "We're not here to hurt you."

"You've got me confused with someone that trusts people at face value, Declan," I called back, my voice sounding more labored than I'd like.

After a moment of silence, Declan asked, "Keavy, why does your voice sound like that?"

I made my way over to the bearing wall that separated the kitchen and the living room, then with my back up against the edge, I raised both my guns in each direction, and my left shoulder burned with a pain that had me breaking out in a sweat, but I wasn't going to let them catch me off-guard.

"If you come in here, then I'm shooting," I warned him, saying it loud enough for Noah and the rest of his crew to hear. "And if you think that I'm bluffing, try me."

"Oh, baby, I know you're not bluffing," he huffed. "Trust me."

"Take your men and leave, Declan," I ordered. "Because if you think that I'm going to let you silence another witness, then you're mistaken."

"Well, fer feck's sakes," Noah drawled out. "Did no one teach ye no' ta eavesdrop, lass?"

I almost laughed.

Instead, I said, "Leave."

"I can't do that, baby," Declan said, his voice a little louder. "Now, tell me why you sound like you're struggling."

"Could have something to do with the two dead bodies in the kitchen," a fourth voice suggested, and while there might not be five of them, there was definitely four.

"Keavy, are you hurt?" Declan asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.

Instead of answering him, I said, "Leave before I'm forced to kill you, Declan."

"Answer da feckin' question," he snapped. "Ere ye hurt?"

"Come inside and find out," I taunted.

"Da lass probably has da place boobytrapped," Noah snorted. "Feck me."

"Keavy, I'm coming in," Declan warned. "Do not fucking shoot me."

The only good thing about Declan's accent was the dead giveaway of when he was really pissed or not. Granted, it didn't matter as far as our futures were concerned, but it gave me the edge in this particular situation.

"That depends on if your men come inside with you," I told him, laying out my stipulations.

"It'll just be me, baby," he replied. "I promise."

"You don't have to promise," I informed him. "Just know that if you're lying, then I'll kill every last one of you."

"Jesus Christ, who is this broad?" the first voice asked incredulously.

"She's Declan's girl," Noah answered.

"Does she know that?" the second voice snorted.

Ignoring them, I didn't lower my weapons, and it was a good thing that I didn't. As soon as I saw Declan coming around through the living room, I noticed that his gun was aimed directly at my head, and I couldn't help but admire that he wasn't as stupid as I'd given him credit for. He hadn't underestimated me this time, and he got points for that.

"Keavy, why are there two dead bodies in your kitchen?"

I shook my head. "A better question is what are you doing here?"

Before he could answer, I showed my hand by wincing, and taking everything back that I'd said about Declan not being stupid, the man put his gun down before rushing straight over to me.