Chapter One

 

After the events of the last few months, Sean was far behind on his book. His deadline was creeping up fast. He really had to get back on track. He needed another cruise similar to the one he was pulled from just before his niece, Megan’s twenty-fifth birthday. It seemed each time he tried to book the cruise since then all hell would break loose. He hoped everything would remain placid so he could finish his research. 

Pulling up the cruise line on the computer, he studied which cruise in the next two weeks would be best. As he went through the selections, his attention was drawn more than once to one leaving out of New Orleans, even though it did not have all the things he needed for his research. He started to dismiss it again when a demanding pull made him book that cruise. 

As he pushed send on the booking, his brother Donovan popped into the room.

“Oh, Goddess, Dono, please tell me everything is fine. I just booked my cruise yet again.”

“Aye, everything is quiet. I just had this feeling I needed to stop in to see you. I have no clue to why; it was as if you had called me.”

Sean felt a chill run down his spine. “That is a bit strange. While I was booking my cruise for the research for my new book, I felt so drawn to this particular one, I had to book it, even though it is not exactly what I needed. No matter how many other cruises I looked at that fit the bill better, I ended up booking the one out of New Orleans. Now you just pop in feeling you had to come?”

Donovan walked over to the window and stared out. “Sean, this is giving me a very unnerving sensation. Maybe it would be best if you waited a while before you went off on your own.”

“Oh for the Goddess’s sake, I have to get this research finished; I only have two more months to my deadline. My editor is calling me constantly because I am so far behind.”

“That is not the point, Sean. Something is going on, or you would not be so attracted to this particular cruise. In addition, I would not have had such a strong feeling to come to you at this moment. We need to look at this good and hard before you go sailing off and get into some kind of trouble without any of us there to intervene.”

Pushing back his chair and propping his feet up on the desk, Sean said, “Dono, I know you may be years my senior and have much more life experience, but I think I am pretty good at taking care of myself. Besides, any of you can be there within seconds of my call.”

Donovan started pacing the room, much to Sean’s amusement. Patrick and Megan were the ones who did that, not Donovan. He was almost as laid back as Sean himself. “Sean, I have an eerie feeling about this. Look at what happened to Bern and Megan all those years ago. Bern did not have time to contact one of us.”

He flashed back almost eighteen years. His sister Bernadette had taken an eight-year-old Megan for their customary afternoon walk. They disappeared that day. Days later they received word that Bernadette’s body had been found in the charred remains of a warehouse and the next day Megan showed up so weak she lapsed into a coma for five years. His thoughts were interrupted when Donovan spoke again.

“Could you at least talk to Seamus and Megan before you leave?”

He nodded. “Sure, I can do that if it would make you feel better.”

“It would greatly.”

As the words left Donovan’s mouth his niece, Megan and her mate, Seamus were standing in front of him. Sean cut a look at Donovan that would have turned most men into a puddle, but Donovan just shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, “I did not call them.”

 

Chapter Two

 

“Michael! Dammit, Michael, answer me.”

Deirdre Hanratty called her brother one more time. He should have been home two days ago. She had promised she would leave him alone for the week he was on the cruise. It was the first time he had ever been away from her for more than a few hours. He turned thirty and came into his powers the week before and he wanted to treat himself to the cruise away from his overbearing sister, as he so eloquently put it.

Sure, she had been a bit overprotective, but dammit, she had promised her mother she would take care of him.

Now he was not answering her at all. If he was playing games with her, thirty or not, she was going to slap him into the middle of next week.