Embrace the Highland Warrior

by Anita Clenney

  Cody lay on his back, arms behind his head, watching her. The tiny rows of symbols on his chest fascinated her. They reminded her of an ancient scroll she once saw in a museum. “Now I know why you wouldn’t talk about your tattoos.”

  “They’re called battle marks.”

  “Yours are different from Marcas’s and Lachlan’s.” And Jamie’s.

  “No two are the same, just like our talismans. They’re sacred, like a written prayer of protection and blessing. We get them when we accept our duty as a warrior.”

  “You have a choice whether to accept?”

  “A warrior can choose to walk away.”

  “Were you ever tempted?”

  “Only once.” He didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t ask. No one could get answers out of Cody MacBain if he didn’t want to give them.

  “I’m sorry about your truck.”

  “I don’t care about the truck, I’m just glad you and Bree are okay. I don’t want you hurt. That’s why I handcuffed you to the bed. You still mad at me?”

  “Yes.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Well, get over it. I’m not going to let anything hurt you, and that includes you. You’re smart, and you’re the toughest girl I know, but you can be too brave for your own good. You can’t go up against a demon. He’ll rip you to shreds.”

  “I’m not going to sit back and do nothing. This threatens everything I love.”

  “Let us handle the demons.”

  “Are there female demons?”

  “There are, and you don’t want to tangle with them either. They’re as bad as the males. Sometimes worse.”

  “You didn’t tell me you’d destroyed an ancient demon.”

  He yawned. “We take our assignments as they come.”

  She’d brought him nothing but trouble. He got in trouble once already with the Council. What would they do if they found out he told her the whole truth? “What did the Council do to you for telling me about my past?”

  “You’ve been talking to Bree. They just… reminded me of my priorities.”

  “Thank you for helping me.”

  He pulled the covers up to his chest. “That’s what we’re here for.”

  “Your duty, right?”

  “It’s not duty when it’s someone you care about.” Cody looked at the rose again. “Get some sleep, pip-squeak.” He closed his eyes and curled his long legs on the sofa.

  He had to be exhausted, and it was her fault. He was too busy chasing stalkers and trying to protect her to sleep. “Cody, if you want to sleep on the bed, you can.”

  His eyes stayed shut. “If I get in that bed, I’ll do more than sleep.”

  ***

  The servant parked his car across the road and crept through the dark woods, trying to shake the feeling of being watched. He caught a flash of something off to the side of the house, but it disappeared. He wasn’t scared of the dark. It soothed him, quieted the gnawing in his head. The gnawing was strong now. Nothing was going according to plan. The warrior should be dead; instead, Shay almost died, and the warrior got to play the hero by rescuing her. If the warrior hadn’t followed her, she would already belong to the servant. She did anyway. She just didn’t know it yet. Neither did his master. Malek didn’t know everything about his servant. He didn’t know about them. His treasures.

  He climbed a sturdy maple and propped himself against a thick branch, settling in to wait. He had to get that book, or the master was going to get rid of him. He searched the house while she was at the hospital, no great feat for a security-systems expert, but the book wasn’t there. She must have hidden it somewhere else.

  He swung his binoculars toward Shay’s house. A light went off downstairs. She was going to bed. He would wait until she fell asleep, then sneak in and grab her. He let the anticipation build, planning all the things he would do to her. Three lights appeared upstairs. He sat up so fast he almost lost his perch. Did she have company? He couldn’t see her driveway. It was probably him. He should have died today, like that piece of scum in Scotland had, after the servant had caught him spying on Shay, messing with his plans.

  The anger started a slow burn, growing stronger, until it gnashed at his insides. He had to release it, or it would eat him alive. Bloodletting was the only way to control the fury. He took off his jacket and pulled the knife from his pocket. It clicked softly as the blade released, glimmering in the moonlight. He set the sharp edge against his skin, the metal cold, hard, biting. He pressed until soft flesh gave against the greater strength of the blade. He gave the knife a slow pull, welcoming the sting. He closed his eyes in ecstasy, imagining it was another arm, another throat.

  Chapter 7

  A scream sent Shay shooting off the bed. She collided with Cody.

  “Lock the door. Don’t leave.” He pulled a gun from somewhere and was gone before Shay could blink.

  She took off after him to Matilda’s room. Matilda was clutching the edges of her fuchsia robe, red hair stiff as a ball of wax. Nina rushed in behind them. “He was peeking in the window,” Matilda said, “his eyes filled with lust. Hurry, before he gets away.”

  Neither of the older women seemed concerned or surprised to see Cody in the house, wearing only underwear and carrying a gun.

  “Don’t leave this room,” Cody said, running out the door. “Please.”

  Matilda grabbed the phone and called to alert Marcas and Lachlan. Nina and Shay watched from the window as Cody made his way across the backyard, moving like a whisper. “Oh. There’s someone beside the barn.” She screamed for Cody to watch out, forgetting he couldn’t hear through the glass. Cody lunged, and the two figures went down in a tangle of shadows. They moved out of sight, and Shay raced from the bedroom, followed by Nina and Matilda.

  Seconds later, the back door crashed open. Cody stomped in, followed by another man, voices raised.

  Jamie.

  “I wasn’t looking in the windows. I was guarding the house. What the hell are you doing here?” His eyes narrowed, taking in Cody’s underwear. Jamie moved closer to Shay.

  “Why is he guarding the house? Is something wrong? Is Shay in trouble?” Nina asked.

  “Oh no,” Shay said. “This is my friend, Jamie Waters.”

  “Jamie? This is your Jamie? Oh dear.” Nina glanced at Matilda, who was putting on her bifocals.

  “Look at him, Nina. He’s a dish. Much better looking than the one we—Holy Mother of—you stepped on my bunion.”

  Nina made some gestures with her eyebrows.

  Matilda frowned, trying to interpret, and then settled into a look of dawning comprehension. “Oh… Cody’s a dish too. In fact, they look like they could be brothers. Cody has a nice job. He’s a PI. What do you do, Jeremy?”

  “His name is Jamie,” Nina said. “Shay, you’re pale. Is it your head?”

  “Just tired.” Shay looked at the two men standing side by side, both well over six feet, longish dark hair, both handsome. Until that moment, she hadn’t noticed how much Jamie resembled Cody, in fact how much all the men she dated resembled Cody.

  “It’s lovely to meet you, Jamie,” Nina said. “We wanted to before, but we were traveling. You’ll excuse us if we get back to bed. I think this has been too much excitement for Matilda. Shay, you should get some rest.”

  “Too much excitement? It’s just getting good,” Matilda huffed, still peering at Jamie and Cody as if inspecting turkeys for Thanksgiving.

  “Matilda, we have things to discuss.”

  Matilda’s eyes widened. “Of course, well good night, everyone. Nice meeting you, Jeremy.” They left in a flurry of whispers, much louder to everyone else, since both had terrible hearing. Shay caught the word plan.

  Lach appeared from the hallway. “What happened?”

  Where had he come from? Shay hadn’t even heard the front door open.

  “Your brother can’t tell the difference between a prowler and a guard,” Jamie said, scowling.

  “What was I suppos
ed to think? Matilda said she saw someone looking in her window,” Cody said.

  “I asked him to guard the house,” Lachlan said, rubbing his eyes. “I’m going home. I’d just fallen asleep when Matilda called and said a rapist was coming in the window. Marcas is right behind me. He can take the next guard. You coming, Jamie?”

  Jamie looked from Cody to Shay. “I’m staying here, if that’s okay,” he said to Shay.

  “There’s a bedroom across the hall,” she said, which didn’t make Cody happy. She shrugged at him. “You did say I needed protection.”

  Lachlan started back down the hall.

  “Lach.”

  “Yeah?”

  Cody nodded toward the back door.

  “Ah.” Lachlan gave Shay a kiss on the cheek and went out the back. “Don’t let them kill each other.”

  Shay settled Jamie in the bedroom near the sitting room. He helped her put fresh sheets on the bed. “I miss you,” he whispered, catching her fingers as she brushed by. He pulled her into a hug, lips brushing the soft hair at her forehead.

  Standing close to him brought back a flood of intimate memories. She’d spent almost a year with Jamie, even considered marrying him. Turning him down might be the biggest mistake of her life, but it was clear she had too many unresolved feelings for Cody. Jamie deserved a woman who loved him for himself, not because he subconsciously reminded her of someone else. She needed to settle things between Jamie and Cody before someone got distracted and died.

  “We have to talk, Jamie,” she said, pulling out of his hug. He left one arm around her shoulder, keeping contact.

  “Talk?” he said, the question hopeful, until he saw her face. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I’m a warrior, but I couldn’t.”

  Why did everyone keep saying that? They could have told her, but that wasn’t the point.

  He dropped his hand, capturing hers. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with you, if that makes any difference. By the time I realized it, it was too late. You were in my blood. I would have told you before we married, but I kept it a secret so long I wasn’t sure how to say it. I was trying to work up the nerve when you broke things off.”

  “There’s more to it than you not telling me you’re a warrior. You’re one of the best men I know, and I thought coming back here might help me see things more clearly, but… it’s no good… I love you, Jamie, I do.” She touched his face. “But not… not like that. Not like you should be loved.”

  His eyes looked flat. He glanced over her shoulder. “It’s him isn’t it? It’s always been him.”

  Shay turned and saw Cody in the hallway, body stiff, face shadowed. His gaze met hers before looking away. He disappeared toward the stairs. She wanted to run to him and apologize.

  “I… it’s not that… I don’t know—” her voice broke. She couldn’t deny it. “I’m sorry.” She had betrayed him every bit as much as he betrayed her. At least he did it because he loved her, wanted to protect her. She had used Jamie to replace a ghost.

  “I know, babe. I know,” he said, pulling her close again. They stayed that way for several moments, grieving over the hopelessness of love.

  “Friends?” she asked, her voice soft against his chest.

  “Always.” He kissed her hair, his lips lingering several seconds.

  She left him and headed back to her bedroom, her head and stomach churning over what Jamie had forced her to admit. She wasn’t over Cody. She never had been, and she feared she never would be. Should she let this thing play out between them and see where it stood? How could she ever move on and not second-guess her feelings if she didn’t know for sure?

  “That took long enough,” Cody said, without looking up as she walked in. “What’d you do? Tuck him in like a bloody baby?”

  She started to say something rude, but he glanced up, and she saw the hurt in his eyes, quickly disguised. She pushed the door closed so Jamie, Nina, and Matilda wouldn’t find out Cody was in her room. “You shouldn’t be so hard on him.” Shay settled in awkwardly and stared at the ceiling, wondering how she would ever sleep. She felt guilty over Jamie, confused over Cody, and angry at herself.

  “Do you love him?” Cody asked softly.

  “I thought I did.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “He’s a good guy. I cared for him. I still do, but something wasn’t… there.”

  Cody started to say something, hesitated, then started again. “He took advantage of you.”

  “You did worse. You stole something from me.”

  He looked confused for a moment. “Your father, you mean?”

  “My father, my mother, my life. I never even saw a picture of the woman who gave birth to me until I Googled her name and read her obituary. I believed some stranger named Nancy was my mother. Do you have any idea how it feels to find out the people you thought loved you were imposters sent to do a job?”

  She heard the sofa creak as Cody rose and moved to the bed. “It was more than a job,” he said, sitting next to her. “We did it because we loved you. We still do. How do you think we felt—how I felt—losing you? You wouldn’t see me or talk to me, and I had to go off and fight demons, when all I could think about was you. When I found out you’d left home, I dropped the demon I was hunting and rushed back. Caused a bloody uproar. My mentor had to kill the demon. My dad was ready to kill me. I almost walked away from being a warrior. My mentor grabbed me by the ears and told me I was a fool. Not only would I betray my family and my clan, but it would endanger you.”

  His voice sounded hollow, and Shay remembered a younger Cody pleading with her to understand, to stop and listen. Like the starved fool she was, she leaned against him, seeking comfort, as she had so many times before. He put his arms around her. Shay’s cheek tingled where it pressed against his chest. That sensation had never happened when she was with Jamie. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just confused. I didn’t know how to face you.”

  “What was in those letters that made you so angry when I didn’t answer?”

  “That I was sorry for shutting you out.” … I’m sorry for leaving angry, for not talking to you, but I need you now. Please call me. Please. It’s important…

  In the second letter she begged. Her heart had broken, and it hurt to breathe. She had needed him more than she needed air, but she couldn’t tell him that now. If he got distracted and didn’t focus on this threat, he could die. Oh God. She was doing exactly what the clan had done to her, hiding things to protect him.

  “I wasn’t at college. I was training in Scotland. I could see one letter getting lost, but two? It doesn’t make sense. Coira made sure we got our mail.”

  “I called too, before I sent the letters. A woman answered.”

  “One of the female warriors probably. I didn’t get your message.”

  “I didn’t leave one. I thought…”

  Cody leaned back and stared at her. “So all these years you thought I ignored you because I had a girlfriend?”

  “What else could I think, after what happened? I didn’t know you tried to see me.”

  “A lot more than that. You know me. You were my lif… my best friend.” He put an arm around her, pulling her close again. She leaned against his shoulder, her cheek next to his battle marks. She heard a whisper; the sound ancient, familiar, as if the marks called to her. In a matter of hours her life had become as intertwined with his as it had been before. Whether she craved him or wanted to kill him, her very soul seemed connected to his. He covered her hand with his, holding it tight against his heart as sleep slipped over her like a soft blanket.

  ***

  Cody tried to distract himself from Shay’s scent by thinking about the letters—what she could have written that would have made her so angry when he didn’t answer—and he thought about the rose on her dresser. It was a sad indication of how rattled he was, that at the moment the rose concerned him more. Who sent it? Jamie? Shay didn’t belong with Jamie. He couldn’t know her the way Cody did
, know that underneath the tough-girl exterior she was sensitive, that she cried when she laughed too hard. That she loved bubble baths, but was clumsy around water. How she felt wrapped around… he ground his teeth and moved his arm so he could slip back to the safety of the sofa, but she murmured something—he hoped it wasn’t Jamie’s name—and her hand dropped, curling around the waistband of his underwear. He talked himself out of nudging her hand lower. He managed to scoot both of them down in bed, so they didn’t get cricks in their necks, but he couldn’t sleep with that damned rose taunting him and Shay’s hand on his underwear.

  He tried counting sheep. He was at 123 when her ankle slid over his. He caught his breath, torn between leaping from the bed and hoping she was awake. A sleepy sigh killed that thought. He counted at least two hundred more sheep, naming several of them, when her calf eased over his, then her thigh. He groaned, and the hand clutching the band of his underwear tensed, and she quickly removed her thigh from his lap.

  “Sorry,” she said, sleepily. “I thought you…”

  Thought what? That he was Jamie. Did she think it was Jamie’s bloody underwear she was holding? Well, hell!

  He rolled over, half on top of her, and she let out a startled gasp. With no finesse at all, he kissed her neck. He wanted to bite her, like she’d bitten him, leave his mark on her, so she would know it was Cody MacBain she was in bed with and not Jamie Waters. At first she stiffened at the onslaught, and then her body melted under his. Her pulse pounded like a drum against his lips. He licked the pulsating skin, and she moaned. Her skin was softer than he remembered. Warmer. Fuller. He trailed kisses over every inch of flesh above her neck, and then moved lower to her breasts, stomach, and thighs. All that mattered was making sure Jamie Waters had no place in Shay’s heart or her head.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, locking her hands in his hair. Don’t let this be a damned dream like the others, he thought. Her hands moved down his back, caressing his skin, tugging at his underwear, the fabric catching on the part of him screaming for attention. He yanked off his boxer briefs, throwing them to the floor. In seconds, her clothes had joined them. He settled between her thighs, rubbed against her, then slipped inside. He tried to slow things down, but his hips wouldn’t stop moving. He was halfway to paradise when she froze. She pushed against his shoulders.