Embrace the Highland Warrior

by Anita Clenney

  “It was nothing you did. For all we know, Ellis might have seen Renee first. She might have led him to you.”

  Shay yawned.

  “Are you still tired?” Cody asked, frowning.

  “I feel like I could sleep for a week.”

  “Let’s get some food first, and then you can rest.”

  “I don’t think I can eat. Maybe later.” They entered the castle, and two men approached. “Who is that?” she asked. One man was big, with a shiny head and arms thick as tree trunks. The other was tall and slim with long, dark hair to his waist and eyes like a hawk. Both men wore kilts, leaving Shay with the feeling that she had stepped back in time.

  “Shay, this is Niall, and that’s Shane behind him.”

  “Shay.” Niall shook her hand. His was so large it covered hers past the wrist. “We’re glad you’re here. Don’t worry; we’ve got two dozen warriors surrounding this castle. We’ll keep you safe.”

  Just like Sorcha, Duncan, Brodie, Anna, Ronan, Faelan, and Bree, these warriors were putting their lives on the line for her, when they didn’t even know her. But they would have known me, if I had been told who I really was. These strangers would have been her family and friends.

  “I’m off to raid the kitchen. Anyone want to join me?” Niall asked.

  “And face Coira’s wrath when she wakes up to an empty pantry and all these people to feed?” Shane shook his head. “Not me.”

  “Chicken,” Niall said.

  “You’re on your own. I’ve got to get Shay to bed,” Cody said.

  Niall grinned, and Shane’s eyes twinkled. “Aye? Well, have at it then,” the burly warrior said. Shay heard them chuckling as she and Cody left.

  “Sorry,” Cody said as he walked her to her room. “That didn’t come out right. Although…” he grinned.

  “Don’t you have work to do?”

  “Aye, I reckon I do.”

  “You have more of a brogue. Is that what happens when you put on a kilt? I haven’t seen you in one since you were thirteen.”

  “Want to see me out of it?” he asked.

  “Aye, I reckon I do.”

  “I’ll be back in a bit.” He kissed her gently, with such feeling that she wondered how she could have ever hated the man, how she could have lived for nine years without him.

  “Promise?” she asked, holding on to his kilt belt, reluctant to let him go.

  “I promise. I’ll never leave you.”

  ***

  Lucy Bell climbed the steps to Shay’s porch. She was glad to help Shay. Such a delightful girl, but with such deep-rooted pain behind her smile. She didn’t talk about it, and Lucy didn’t ask. Some things were too painful to relive. Lucy retrieved the hidden key and stepped inside. A tearing noise came from Shay’s bedroom. Surely she hadn’t come back and forgotten to call. Lucy tiptoed toward the bedroom and peeked inside. Furniture was upturned, and books lay scattered across the floor. A man leaned over the shredded mattress. He looked up at her and smiled, and she could see he wasn’t a man at all. She didn’t have time to register another thought before the thing flew across the bed at her.

  ***

  Someone tapped on Shay’s door. It was her sister. Her sister. Shay rolled the words around in her head, amazed at the thrill.

  “Hey,” Bree said. “I wanted to see how you’re feeling.”

  “Just tired. Come in. I wondered what you were doing, besides trying to eavesdrop on top-secret Council meetings.”

  Bree plopped down in a chair. “Cody told you?”

  Shay grinned and sat in the chair beside hers. “If I’d been awake, I would have joined you.”

  “I couldn’t hear a thing, but Faelan told me the Council is worried. They’re not happy with Cody for telling you, but they aren’t going to punish him. Not this time. I found out what they did to him before. I made Faelan tell me. They branded Cody’s arm.”

  “They branded him for telling me the truth?”

  “Calm down. It isn’t really a punishment, but a reminder. They branded a small sword on the inside of his wrist as a reminder of what’s at stake.”

  The mark Cody had called a scar. “I think that’s barbarous,” Shay said, clenching her fists.

  “So do I, but we have to remember that the entire world is at stake here. They take this stuff seriously. They could also remove his warrior status. Even though he’s retired, it would still be a big deal.” Bree settled back in the chair, resting her hands over her still-flat stomach. “Faelan said if they had, every warrior there would’ve told the Council where to stuff their robes. They all stood up in support of Cody.” Bree studied Shay. “Seems like you two have worked things out.”

  “I guess so.”

  “Why do you seem so worried, then?”

  “I did something stupid. I told Cody something I shouldn’t have, just like you’re worried about distracting Faelan. There was another reason that I ran away all those years ago. Right before Cody told me who I really was, something else happened…” Shay licked her lips and stared out the French doors. She had opened the curtain so she could see the night. There was something compelling, almost seductive about it lately. “I’d just turned eighteen, and Cody was home for a few days. He was hardly ever there, off fighting demons, I guess. We were in the hayloft one night, looking for something, and one thing led to another.” Shay sighed. “Nina came into the barn right after we’d finished. She didn’t know what we did, but it was just awful, scrambling to get dressed, afraid she would hear. Cody and I didn’t even have a chance to talk about it. He tried, later that night, but I was so embarrassed, thinking we’d committed incest or something, that I wouldn’t talk to him. He tried so hard, but I couldn’t even look at him. He finally caught me out on the back porch when Nina was gone. That’s when he told me about my past. He was frustrated, and I guess it slipped. When I left, it wasn’t just because they lied to me, that my best friend had deceived me. I wanted to get away from Cody because of what happened in the hayloft.” She had never confessed this much to anyone, not even Renee.

  “A few weeks after I left, I realized I was wrong. What we did wasn’t incest. He wasn’t my brother, just the hot guy who happened to live next door. I tried to call him, but a woman answered. I thought it was a girlfriend. Then I found out I was pregnant.”

  “Oh, Shay.” Bree took her hand and squeezed it.

  Shay remembered staring at the pregnancy strip in disbelief. “I was scared, but I thought he had a right to know, so I wrote to him. Twice, asking him to call me. Begging. But he never called, never wrote back. I assumed he was still angry with me for running away, or that for him, what happened between us was just a moment of teenage lust.” Shay swallowed with the memory. “I hated him after that, and I blamed him for what happened next.”

  “You lost the baby,” Bree said softly.

  Shay nodded. She didn’t want to go into detail, since Bree was pregnant. “But it was all a mistake. I hated him for nothing. He never got the letters. Remember when Renee called, she said something about letters? She was supposed to mail them.”

  “Oh no, she didn’t—”

  “I spent years hating him, but he never even got the letters. He had no idea. He even came after me, left in the middle of hunting an assigned demon to try to find me. Renee told him I didn’t want to see him. I know she thought she was trying to help, but she ruined everything, and I can’t be angry with her, because she’s dead. And it’s my fault she’s dead. I didn’t plan to tell him until this was over, but it slipped out.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He was devastated. Heartbroken. Guilty. I think the kidnapping took his mind off it, but I’m still afraid for him.”

  “Then comfort him, don’t hold anything back. If he already knows and he senses you’re withdrawn, it’ll make things worse.” Bree patted Shay’s hand. “He’ll be okay. A lot of warriors are here to help. You know it’s weird, we’re both strangers here, but this is our home too. Our father was part of
this clan.”

  “I’m torn between awe and anger,” Shay said. “I wish they’d told me before, but I understand why they didn’t. For the same reason I didn’t tell Cody about the baby after I came back. I guess we always try to protect those we love. Have you talked to your mother yet?”

  “No. I’m still too mad at her.” Bree leaned forward. “I just can’t grasp it. I was so much like my father—Robert. We did everything together. I had this incredible connection with him. Orla, ha, that’s more understandable. We never had anything in common. I loved her, but we were totally different.”

  “Can you remember anything about your real mother, Layla?”

  “No, I was young when she died.”

  Bree was only a few months older than Shay. She longed to know how her father managed to have children by two different women in such a short span of time. It didn’t sound very noble, but she had to believe there was more to the story.

  “Do you think your grandmother knew you weren’t Robert’s child?”

  “I don’t know. She went to see him just before he died. She seemed different when she came back. I wonder if he confided in her then. When I get home, I’m going to see if I can find Layla’s things. Grandma never threw anything away. Layla may have kept a journal. Most of the women in our family do.” Bree touched the tiny pearl bracelet on her wrist. “I think this was hers. My mother, Orla—I don’t even know what to call her anymore—she gave me this before the wedding. She said I needed something that belonged to my mother. I’d never seen Orla wear it before.”

  “I know you’re angry, Bree, but Orla loves you. She was really hurt when she left. If I had confronted my feelings back then, I would have realized Cody never got the letters. We wasted a lot of time. Talk to your mom. Listen to her side of things. Don’t waste time being angry.” The irony didn’t escape Shay, that she was defending someone who had perpetrated a lifetime of lies.

  “I know. I just need some time.”

  “Don’t take too long. You can’t get any of it back.”

  “You’re right,” Bree said, idly rubbing Edward’s cross.

  Shay felt the talisman, warm against her skin, and wondered how Edward had felt having little girls so close in age, but from different mothers. Did the women know about each other? “You’re welcome to share this talisman.”

  Bree smiled. “Keep it. That way we each have a piece of him.” She patted Edward’s necklace. “Later, maybe we’ll trade.”

  “You said your grandmother gave you the necklace?”

  “She did. The night my father died.”

  More often than not, Bree still referred to Robert as her father. He raised her from the time she was small, like Nina had raised Shay. Wasn’t that what a father, or an aunt, did?

  “I got locked in Faelan’s crypt,” Bree continued. “I’d always been scared of that crypt. I think Grandma thought the necklace would comfort me after the ordeal and help keep the nightmares away. I had terrible dreams growing up, about death and destruction and monsters.”

  “You must have been terrified,” Shay said.

  “At first. I screamed and clawed the door, and then I heard a voice. It was my shiny man. He used to come to me in dreams, I think to counter the nightmares. He told me I had something important to find. Then, in the crypt, he told me my father was dead, but he had sent me another protector, and he showed me a man’s eyes. Faelan’s eyes. I saw them just as plain as I can see yours now. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was so sure the necklace had kept the nightmares away and that someone would take it from me, that I hid it under a loose floorboard, where Faelan found it. It was only after I saw some sketches I’d drawn as a kid that the memories started to come back. I think Michael blocked them until it was time.”

  “Michael?”

  Bree’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  “Who’s behind all this, the warriors, the battles, the book. Think warrior angel.”

  “You mean Michael the Archangel? He’s your shiny man—” Shay gasped.

  “What is it?” Bree asked.

  “I think I’ve seen him too.”

  Chapter 15

  Tristol stepped deeper into the woods. He could feel her drawing closer to him, but it wasn’t working quickly enough. If she didn’t come to him soon, he would have to go inside and take her. If he was spotted, he’d have to kill everyone there, and he wasn’t ready to kill the warriors yet. He needed them to get rid of Malek first. He certainly didn’t want Shay killed. If she was Edward’s daughter, she was too valuable. Tristol waited until the moon shone full, and then he faded into a mist as black as his hair and vanished into the night.

  ***

  Cody tried to work the stiffness out of his shoulders as he climbed the stairs. He needed a shower, and his head felt like a grenade had gone off behind his eyes. The guards were in place, Sam was still trying to locate Ellis’s boss, and the warriors were using every contact and weapon they had, trying to find some trace of Malek. Sean was contacting other clans to see if anyone had spotted the demon. Bree was looking into Edward Rodgers’s past to see what the demon might be after Shay, the book, or both.

  He started to his room to shower first, changed his mind, and decided to see if she wanted to conserve water. As soon as he touched the doorknob, the hairs on his arm rose. His body went from tired to alert in an instant. He could feel the danger like a thick layer of fog. He didn’t bother knocking. Her bed was empty and the doors to the balcony were open. Shay stood at the ledge, staring into the night.

  “Shay? What are you doing out here?” The night air was chilly, but she wore only a thin nightgown.

  She didn’t answer. Usually her hearing was almost as keen as his.

  Cody stepped through the doors, but she didn’t turn. “Are you okay? Shay?” He grabbed her arm. “Shay!”

  She turned, her face blank, eyes vacant, and then she blinked. “Cody?” She looked at him, puzzled, then saw where she was and hugged her arms to her chest.

  “What are you doing out here?” he asked.

  She opened her mouth, her expression blank again. “I don’t know.”

  “Have you ever sleepwalked?”

  “No, not until tonight.”

  He would have to watch her closer. Couldn’t have her wandering about the castle at night. “Come on, you’re freezing.” He felt chilled himself, but it wasn’t from the Scottish night air.

  They walked into the room together.

  “I was dreaming… but I can’t remember what it was about.” She ran her hand over the silver candlestick on the bedside table. “Thank you for bringing it,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.” He didn’t know how long she’d had the picture taped to the bottom of the candlestick, but it gnawed at his stomach knowing the clan had stolen her history and her name. He couldn’t imagine finding out his life was a lie. Was he soothing his own guilt by bringing her parents’ picture to Scotland and letting her keep her father’s talisman, which he could see outlined under her gown? He could see more than the talisman through the thin material. “Would you like something to drink? A cup of tea?”

  “No, thank you.” She tilted her head. “But I would like to have you, sir.”

  His body warmed. “Aye, my lady. At your service.” He grinned and dropped his kilt.

  ***

  Shay touched the imprint on Cody’s pillow. Still warm. Her head was clear of nightmares for once. If she had them, she didn’t remember. After a quick shower—they’d showered once last night, but sweated profusely afterwards—she dressed and went downstairs. The smell of food drew her toward the kitchen. A white-haired man met her in the corridor. His eyes crinkled at the sight of her.

  “Ah, there you are,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Sean Connor, Faelan’s great-great-nephew. Coira’s in the kitchen. She’s been dying to meet you. Another body to fatten up. But don’t tell her I said so. Come along, now.” He took Shay’s arm, as if he
had known her all her life. “She’s been cooking for two hours, but she won’t hear of hiring a cook—Look who I’ve found,” he said to the red-haired woman bustling around the kitchen.

  “She’s awake,” the woman said, beaming. “We’ve been worried about you, sleeping so much, and you haven’t eaten a bite. We’ll fix that. You have to keep up your strength with the way things move around here. Sit, I’ll fix you a plate.” She scurried over and came back with a heaping plate, silverware, and a napkin.

  “What’d I tell you?” Sean whispered.

  “Thank you,” Shay said, charmed by the couple. “I’ve heard your names, but there have been so many faces to keep track of.” And she had slept a lot since she arrived. “You’re a nurse, aren’t you, Coira?”

  “And a bloody good one,” Sean said.

  “Thank you for the compliment, but watch your tongue,” she said to Sean. “There’s no excuse for rough language.”

  “She’s got a thing about cursing too,” Sean whispered. “Cursing and food. Woman’s obsessed with mouths. Always making us shove food in or walloping us if a rude word slips out.”

  “I hear you, dear.”

  “And she’s got ears like a warrior,” he said in an exaggerated whisper. “So be warned. Eat in here, if you’d like. The others have eaten and gone or haven’t come down yet.”

  “Have you seen Cody?” she asked as Coira filled two more plates. “We have to talk to the police, and then he’s going to take me by my house to get some things.” If there was enough time, she wanted to visit the place where her parents had lived. She had gone to Scotland searching for her roots, never suspecting that she settled so close by.

  “Saw Cody earlier,” Sean said. “He’s a good man. I think he was helping Ronan with something. Here’s Marcas. Have you seen your brother, Marcas?”

  Marcas kissed Shay on the head and stole a bite of her sausage. “He was headed to his room, I think. I’ve got to run. I’m trying to track down Anna.”

  Shay sat at an old wooden table, explaining her story as she ate. Sean and Coira asked questions and sympathized like grandparents. Shay had never had grandparents. Nina tried to cover all the bases; mother, father, grandmother, and aunt, but while she did a good job, Shay secretly longed for grandparents like her friends had, to make cookies for her and take her to the park or the zoo.