This snippet isn’t last week’s #ThursdayThreads though it does contain the prompt: **”You’ll be fine.”** The TT snippet involved Maura and Dev but I featured Bowie and Fiona this past weekend on my FB author page. Therefore, y’all get a Bowie and Fiona snippet. I might have featured part of this scene for a previous Wednesday Words because I think a shorter version might have been the result of a TT exercise. I make no promises about my memory. This scene is pretty self-explanatory.

Ronan looked up from the paperwork he’d been studying. Brendan stood in the doorway, shifting foot-to-foot, looking everywhere but at him. He waited, knowing the kid wouldn’t have intruded without reason.

“Uh…boss?” Brendan still didn’t meet his eyes.

“What is it?”

“Well, ya see…” The younger man inhaled and finally met his gaze. 
“Finn came t’me because things have gone missin’.”

Ronan straightened. “Someone’s been stealin’ from the bar?”

“Well…sort of.”

“Sort of? Who?”

“Yeah, well. It’s been small stuff. And the girl, she’s been actin’ suspicious.”

“Which girl?”

“Bowie’s girl. Fee. Fiona. She’s been sneakin’ out of his place. Plus she’s been helpin’ Finn out in the back.”

“Helping how?”

“A bit of cleanin’ and such. And maybe counting inventory.”

“Where’s Bowie?”

“Downstairs.”

“And Fiona?”

“That’s the thing, boss. She slipped out the back door about five minutes ago. Bowie thought she’d gone to the loo.”

Ronan pushed out of his chair. “Let’s go.”

They found her behind the dumpster and confronted her.

Fiona, eyes brimming with tears, faced them down. “I can’t abandon them.” Her chin jutted at a stubborn angle despite the tremor in her voice.

The three men exchanged wary glances. Female tears plus a fiery temper boded ill for them. Something yowled, a pitifully weak sound. That’s when they saw the milk carton and the rag-filled wooden box at her feet.

Green eyes snapped at them as she squatted and snuggled four tiny kittens in her arms. “And I won’t let you hurt them.”

Bowie scrubbed the back of his neck. “Cats. It had to be cats.”

What were Wolves supposed to do?

Ronan smothered a laugh and clapped Bowie on the back. “We’ll be leavin’ you to deal with this, boyo. You’ll be fine.” He snagged Brendan by the scruff of the neck and gave him a small shove toward the back door. “You’n me are gonna have a chat with Finn. I doubt the girl’s been pilferin’ from the till.”

The door closed behind them, leaving a baffled Bowie and Fiona, who was torn between fear and anger. She wasn’t some china doll to be put up on a shelf and dusted once a month. She was a woman and had been capable of providing for herself long before Bowie walked into her life. Granted, she’d been a bit shell-shocked when he first rescued her but now? She wasn’t fragile. And she was his mate, or so he claimed. If he thought she’d be shy and demur, a rug to wipe his feet on when he came in at all hours of the night after doin’ the Blessed Mother Mary knew what, then he had another think coming.

There you have it. You know what Fiona looks like now so you can get a better picture of her standing there with kittens in her arms, facing down the scary Wolves. Poor Bowie. And I promise, Ronan is STILL laughing about this! In update news, I’m still making progress. It’s like slogging through the swamp but upward and onward. Writers, as always, take the prompt and run if you so desire. Readers, what’s fine in your life today?