“What did she do to Jamie?” Tavis asked.
“What hasn’t she done to him?” Cody said. “She drugged him and carted him off in a wheelbarrow.” He grinned. “That was kind of funny. This latest disaster involved an assassination attempt on the president with the cat and Matilda loose in the White House. Jamie’s not speaking to Matilda at the moment.”
“It was just a little adventure,” Matilda said. “The Secret Service could take some lessons from you warriors.”
“Secret Service! Bloody hell.” Cody held up his hands. “If you don’t stop these little adventures, I’ll stick you in the time vault again before Tavis sends it back.”
Matilda turned a scornful eye on Cody. “Cody MacBain, I’m practically your aunt. Show some respect.”
Bloody woman. No wonder the cat was avoiding her.
Anna heard voices in the kitchen. She stood out of sight, trying to decide whether to go in.
“I wish I’d been there,” Brodie said.
“It wasn’t funny, but if you’d seen her pop out of there,” Shay said. “She looked just like a jack-in-the-box with her red hair and too much makeup. I thought Cody would choke her.”
“Where is she now?” Bree asked.
“Sleeping,” Shay said. “She still thinks the time vault did something to her.”
“I hope it took some of the sass out of her,” Bree said.
“Not too much,” Brodie said. “She’s growing on me.”
Anna stepped into the room, and everyone looked up.
“Anna.” Guilt was written all over Bree’s face.
Brodie was closer to the door. He walked over and patted Anna awkwardly on the arm. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
He looked at her stomach again. “So can we talk about the baby now?”
“Brodie!” Bree frowned at him.
“If she’s pregnant, she’s pregnant. We’re all thinking about it. It’s the elephant in the room.”
“Don’t you have someplace to be?” Bree asked.
Brodie shook his head. “No.”
“Then find someplace,” Shay said. “We need to have a little girl talk.”
“That rules you out,” Bree said. “Too many muscles.”
“That’s discrimination. You know I love babies.” He frowned and patted Anna’s arm again, then walked to the door. Anna wished she could go with him. She had a good idea what the girl talk would be about. She’d been avoiding Bree and Shay since Bree’s shocking revelation for just that reason. They would want to help. The men were easier, for the most part. They just looked awkward and scurried away. Except for nosy Brodie.
“And don’t listen,” Bree called as he left. “I know you’ve been avoiding me, Anna, and I don’t blame you. But we have to talk about it.”
“I’ve been avoiding everyone,” Anna said. “Not just you. I needed time to think.”
“I’m so sorry for blurting it out like that,” Bree said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s OK. Well, telling me in private would have been preferable, but you didn’t mean any harm.” She frowned. “But are you sure? It’s just been a few days.”
“As sure as I can be. That’s how I knew I was pregnant.”
Anna let out a heavy sigh.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Shay asked.
No. Yes. “I don’t know what to think, much less what to say. I don’t want a baby.”
“What about…” Bree glanced at Shay. “The father?”
“I think Tavis is as shocked as I am,” Anna said.
“It’s Tavis’s?” Bree’s face lit.
“I figured everyone knew,” Anna said.
“Anyone can see how things are between you, but Tavis told Faelan what happened in the dungeon with the other prisoner. How do you know who’s the father?”
“They took me to him, but he didn’t do anything.” Anna kept her face blank. She’d promised not to say anything. She didn’t go back on her promises.
“Then why did they take you to him?” Bree asked. “I thought it was a breeding program.”
“I guess he didn’t feel like playing stud.” Anna felt her face warm from the lie.
“I don’t mean to pry,” Shay said, “but what exactly happened with Tavis? I don’t mean…that, but the other stuff.”
Anna hadn’t talked to anyone about it. She saw the sympathy on their faces, and something inside her crumbled. Her eyes misted, and she started doing the whole girly thing that she hated. She spilled it all, everything except about the hybrid.
“Tavis didn’t have a choice,” Anna said. “The guard would have done it himself. And it wouldn’t have been pleasant.”
“So it was pleasant?” Bree asked.
“Not pleasant, but…not as bad as if the guard had done it. He would have killed me. And Tavis.”
“Tavis saved you,” Shay said.
“I’m surprised he could even perform,” Bree said.
“He was too,” Anna said. “That’s what bothers him, that he enjoyed it.”
“I can see why it would,” Shay said.
“He couldn’t help it,” Anna said. “He’d been locked in that time vault and hadn’t had sex in a long time.”
Bree and Shay shared a smile.
“What?”
“You’re defending him.”
“I’m not. It’s just the truth.”
“How do you feel about him?” Shay asked.
“I don’t know what I feel. We were close in the dungeon. We thought we would die. He was so hurt. If you could have seen what they did to him…”
“Do you love him?” Shay asked.
“How could I love him?”
“He’s gorgeous. You connected in the dungeon. That kind of intense atmosphere can tell you more about a person in two days than you could learn about them in two months.”
“I don’t want to marry and have a family.”
“You don’t have to marry him,” Bree said. “Though it’s best for the child if the mother and father are together.”
“Tavis and I haven’t even had a chance to talk about it. He’s upset. He saw me riding bareback and thought I was trying to lose the baby.”
“Were you?” Shay asked.
“No.” Anna’s hands clenched. What if she had been subconsciously? “I thought I saw someone in the woods, and I was in a hurry to check it out.”
“He knows you weren’t trying to hurt the baby now?” Shay asked.
“Yes, but he found out it’s his baby. He was stunned. He thought I’d been with the hybrid too. He rode off, and I haven’t seen him since.”
“You need to talk to him,” Bree said. “I know all this is hard, given the trouble you’ve had with men.”
“Which apparently Ronan told everyone about.”
“He was just concerned,” Shay said.
“Speaking of Ronan, is there anything you want to tell us?” Bree asked.
“No,” Anna said.
Bree sighed. “That’s the same thing he said. I’m curious about this hybrid. What was he like?”
Anna looked down at her hands and kept her voice steady. Bree had uncanny abilities, and she didn’t want her picking up on something Anna had sworn not to tell. “It was dark. It was hard to tell. He was strong.”
“A vampire?” Shay asked. “Or part vampire?”
“I’m not sure.” That much was true. She knew part of what he was, but not all.
“Why would he help you escape if he’s part vampire?” Bree asked.
“If he was a prisoner,” Shay said, “then he wasn’t there by choice, no matter what he was. You’re lucky he was there.”
“We were.” But he wasn’t. “Can we forget about my unpleasant pa
st and uncertain future and talk about this wedding?”
Tavis knocked on Anna’s door until she opened it. She wore a frown and some kind of little garment that exposed her long, smooth legs. He knew just how smooth they felt against his own legs. “What are you wearing?”
She tugged at the legs. “Sleeping shorts.”
“I like them. Can I come in?”
“Why?”
“We need to talk. That’s my bairn you’re carrying. I have a right to know what your plans are.”
Anna opened the door. “Come in.” She glanced at the bed. “Have a seat.”
He started to sit on the settee, but they might need something with a little more breathing room. They were like fire and dry kindling together, but right now they needed to settle things, not kiss. Maybe afterward, if things went well. So he sat on the chair, and they stared at each other. “What are we going to do?”
“I need some space, so I’m going to leave for a while.”
“No.”
“Did you just tell me no?”
Tavis cleared his throat. “I did. That’s my bairn.”
“It’s in my uterus. If it’s really there.”
“You think it might not be? Someone told me Bree’s never wrong about these things.”
“There’s always a first time. But it’s my body.”
“And my bairn. It’s mine as much as it’s yours. I’m sorry for the circumstances, but I won’t lose another child. I’ve already lost one.”
Anna’s eyes were wide, her lips parted. “I understand how you feel, but I have to get away so I can think.”
“You’re not going.”
“Tavis, you can’t control me.”
“No, but I…bloody hell, you’re carrying my bairn, and I love you—”
“What?”
“I love you.” What the hell was he doing? He jumped up and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. He was sick of jeans. He wanted to wear a damned kilt. “I need some space myself.” He hurried to the door and walked out. His forehead was sweating, and his battle marks were burning. In love. He couldn’t be in love.
He went to his room, stripped off his clothes, and headed for the shower. He passed the mirror and caught sight of his naked body. His battle marks had changed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
TAVIS LEANED CLOSER and studied his chest. His marks started near his collarbone and came down at an angle over his chest. Now there was a line intertwined through one of them. He tried to swallow, but his mouth felt like it was stuffed with straw. He grabbed up his jeans and put them on as he ran to the door. He stepped out and hurried to Faelan’s room. He tapped softly, and a moment later Faelan answered.
“I need to talk to you.”
“All right. Come in. Bree’s in the kitchen.”
When he stepped inside, Tavis opened his shirt. “What’s this?”
Faelan studied Tavis’s battle marks. “I’ve never seen anything like it. When did this happen?”
“I noticed them a while ago. I was about to take a shower.”
“I don’t know what to make of it.”
“It’s his mate mark,” Bree said, stepping into the room.
“How do you know that?” Faelan asked.
She walked over to Tavis and touched his chest.
Faelan frowned at her. “I don’t like you touching his chest.”
She ignored him and ran her fingers over Tavis’s marks. “His brother’s keeper will find his heart, and together they will put the past to rest.”
“That’s what his marks say?” Faelan asked.
Tavis touched his chest. “No one can read battle marks.”
“Bree’s not normal.”
“You have a way of making that sound like an insult.”
“Special, you’re very special. And not normal. If you’d just stop being so reckless.”
“We’re not here to discuss my recklessness. Tavis needs our help.”
“I don’t want a bloody mate mark.”
“You don’t want Anna?” Faelan asked.
Tavis ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t want your child?” Bree asked.
“Aye, I want my child. Damnation. I don’t know what I want.”
“Sleep.” Bree pulled his shirt together and patted his chest. “Everything makes more sense with a good night’s sleep.
He didn’t go to sleep. He walked to Ronan’s door and knocked.
Ronan opened the door, his eyes groggy.
“Anna’s not going to Montana.”
“I know. I never intended for her to go.” Ronan yawned. “Is that all you wanted?”
“Aye.”
“Good night.” Ronan shut the door.
Anna couldn’t sleep. Tavis loved her? He’d looked as surprised and sick as she felt after he blurted it out. She wanted to laugh and run away at the same time. She pulled out Angus’s notebook, wishing he was here so she could talk to him. She saw another entry that confused her.
“I’ve decided to tell Anna as soon as I return to Scotland. Other than me, I think Walter the Watcher is the only one who knows the truth. He won’t tell. He only told me because he knows I love her. But I can’t keep something this important from her. Even though it may destroy her.”
Walter the Watcher was the man she and Angus had met with before Angus left for America. Walter had known her mother. What was he talking about? She searched for several more minutes before she found the answer. And when she did, the bottom dropped out of her world.
“Bree!”
She opened her eyes and saw Faelan staring at her. “What’s wrong?”
He looked at her as if she’d been levitating on the bed. “I think you were dreaming.”
“So.” She dreamed a lot.
“This was strange.”
“More than usual?”
“You were chanting.”
“That’s new. What was I saying?”
“Darkness inside Anna. You said it over and over.”
“Darkness inside Anna? I think I was dreaming about her.”
“What does that mean, darkness inside Anna?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember the dream.”
“She’s been through hell. It’s no wonder she feels dark inside.”
“There is something about her. I sensed it when I first met her. Like a shadow inside her. I thought it was because she’s a loner. I hope that’s what it is.”
Faelan leaned up on his elbow. “You’d better not be saying she’s the traitor Angus was talking about. My brother’s bloody in love with her, and he’s suffered enough. Losing a son he didn’t know he even had. Captured and tortured by a demon who thought he was me.”
And now he was going to have another child, and the mother was miserable. Poor Tavis. Poor Anna.
Bree touched Faelan’s chest. “I’m sure I’m just sensing all the horrible things she’s been through.”
“This time you have my blessing to play matchmaker. We can’t let that bairn come into this world without a proper mother and father.”
“We won’t.”
“If that doesn’t work, I’ll shake some sense into both of them.”
“I’m glad Tavis is here.”
“Me too. It’s like he never left.”
“And he’s going to be a father too. Both of you, fathers. And Cody and Shay are getting married tomorrow. All this talk makes me want to have sex.”
Faelan groaned. “Did you have to go and say it? I’m trying not to think about it.”
“I don’t see the harm. I’m not under doctor’s orders to rest.”
“You’re under my orders to rest. I’m trying to take care of you. You’ve had a lot of stress and the shock of finding Tavis’s grave.
We should wait a couple more days. At least one.”
“You’d make a lousy doctor,” Bree said, and pulled off her gown.
With the moon shining in through the open window, Shay could see Cody standing with his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, and for a moment, she was seventeen again, secretly in love with her best friend. Terrified that someone would find out, never dreaming he’d felt the same way. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I saw something outside. Ah, it’s just Anna.”
“I feel so bad for both of them.”
“Yeah, me too. They should just get married and get it over with.” Cody turned and smiled at her. “Speaking of marriage, are you ready to become Mrs. Cody MacBain?”
The wedding would take place in a little chapel on the grounds of the Albany castle. “I already am. Remember our secret handfasting?”
“Aye. And I remember the way we celebrated in the hayloft. But this is for the world to see. Are you sure you don’t want to back out? I betrayed you with all those secrets and lies.”
“You were trying to protect me.” Shay climbed out of bed and walked over to Cody. She wrapped her arms around his waist, brushing her fingers along the top of his hips. “Just try to get away from me now.” She spent a few minutes proving that she had no intention of letting him go.
“I’m sorry it’s rushed, but I’ll be damned if I let the Council drag you away. Maybe we should have a baby, if that’ll get them off our backs.”
As always, the mention of a baby made her heart ache. Cody touched her stomach and leaned his forehead against hers. She knew he was thinking of the tiny grave they’d visited on the way here. They’d stood side by side gazing down on the gravestone, and both of them had cried.
“We’ll wait,” Cody said, his voice thick. “Give it more time.” He kissed her and stepped back. “I have something for you. We all—Nina, my parents and brothers—we thought you should have these.” He walked to the mantle and brought back a box. He opened it. Inside were two thin gold wedding bands. “We think they belonged to your parents.”
“Did you find their bodies?” Malek had dug up her parents’ graves searching for proof that Shay was alive, when the whole world had thought she was dead.
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