Embrace the Highland Warrior

Cody nodded. “The whole family came here, with the understanding that when my brothers and I grew up, it would be our mission too.”

She’d known Ewan was involved, which was part of the reason she left. She didn’t want to be anyone’s job. She hadn’t known Cody, her best friend, the boy she’d trusted with her heart and soul, had protected her because it was his job?

“The clan planned to tell you the truth after you graduated from high school, but you left before they met to see who would break the news. It probably would’ve been my father.”

“And they let me walk away, with a demon after me?”

“The demon your father had been hunting when all this happened had disappeared. Just before you left, the Watchers found out he was dead, so they thought you were safe.”

“Watchers? Demons? This sounds like something out of a movie,” Shay said, rubbing her throbbing temples. “They should have told me.”

“They couldn’t. You wanted nothing to do with us, and there was too much at stake. Outsiders can’t know about the clan. They had no choice but to let you go. Besides, you’d just turned eighteen. Nina couldn’t force you to come back here.”

“Did the clan know why I left?” she asked, braving a quick look at his face.

He rubbed the tattoo on his neck. “Not all of it.”

“You and your brothers are warriors too?”

“I’m retired. We’re active from age eighteen to twenty-eight. Marcas chose to stay active. Lachlan has another year and a half.”

What about the hayloft? Where did that fit into his mission? “You were never in Special Forces?”

“No.”

“And Marcas and Lachlan’s expeditions are a cover?”

He nodded.

“How long have you known about… me?”

His mouth twitched with indecision. “Since I was seventeen.”

Two years before it happened. “And you didn’t tell me? We never kept secrets from each other.”

Cody looked away, and when his eyes met hers again, they were sad. “I was afraid if I told you, you’d start looking into your past and on the off chance that this demon wasn’t dead, he would find you. I didn’t want you hurt. I wish I’d done a better job explaining it then; maybe things would have turned out different.” He hesitantly reached for her arm. “I don’t want to fight, Shay. Come on. I’ll help you clean up the mess.”

So much for leaving Virginia.

He followed her into the sitting room. She was still furious that he handcuffed her to the bed, but her anger was overshadowed by shock. Nothing about her world was what she thought. Her stalker had followed her here. Someone had broken into Nina’s house. Cody had a girlfriend. She didn’t have the surplus of emotion to ask him about her.

“So these demons, what do they want?”

Cody righted the bookshelf “They want to get rid of humans. They want the earth for themselves.”

“My God. I’m living in Lord of the Rings.” People usually told lies to make something seem believable. This was too bizarre to be a lie.

“This makes Lord of the Rings look like a lullaby.”

She picked up a photo album and put it on the bookshelf. “You’d think even a demon would have the decency to leave a person’s family photos alone.”

“Demons don’t care about anything but evil.”

She picked up a book and saw something white lying beside it.

“What’s that?” Cody asked.

“Looks like a piece of ivory,” she said, laying it on the shelf.

The cat appeared in the doorway, still as a statue, other than its swishing tail.

Cody frowned. “You brought a cat?”

“It’s not mine. It showed up this morning. I thought it might have been yours.”

“No. Maybe the Peterson’s.”

Shay gave a sarcastic laugh. “Maybe it belongs to the demon. It came inside the house and ran toward him. I tripped over it.”

Cody handed Shay a stack of books. “Not likely. Demons hate animals. That’s why they rarely take on an animal form.”