“Whatever, Coz,” the red-haired woman said, passing a plate of biscuits to another woman who had long, dark hair and a face so beautiful Shay wished she had taken time to put on makeup.
Cody made introductions. The redhead and the beauty were Sorcha and Anna, the female warriors Bree had told Shay about. Duncan was the one who resembled Faelan, and was in fact his descendent, as they all were.
“We thought you were still at the hospital,” Duncan told Shay. “Brodie forgot to leave his knife in the car, and we got chased by a security guard.”
“We ended up in the maternity wing and had to drag Brodie away,” Sorcha said. “He wanted to see the babies.”
“I like babies. What’s wrong with that?” Brodie grumbled.
Bree and Shay exchanged a knowing glance.
Sorcha pulled out a chair next to her. “No one’s sitting here, Cody.”
Shay wasn’t sure if the look Cody gave her was a plea for help or understanding.
“Better get food while there’s some left,” Bree said. Her plate was loaded with enough for two men. “We have bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, pancakes, doughnuts, and orange juice. Ronan went grocery shopping this morning.”
“A man’s gotta have meat,” Ronan said, holding a heaping plate.
“You’ll make some woman a good husband,” Shay said, taking a seat between him and Lachlan, which didn’t seem to please Cody.
“You proposing?” Ronan asked, grinning, “I hope you like long engagements. I have two more years of duty.”
“So?” Shay asked.
“Warriors can’t marry until they’ve finished their duty, according to clan law,” he said.
“There are clan laws about marriage?” Shay asked.
“Who a warrior marries is important to the clan,” Lachlan said, unusually sober. “I’m surprised Cody didn’t tell you that too. He told you everything else. Our mates are destined long before we’re born.”
Chapter 8
Shay’s stomach felt like a bag of rocks. “Your mates are destined?”
“You gonna talk all day or pass the food?” Cody asked.
Ronan grinned. “Hey, I may be getting a proposal here.”
“Won’t that put a kink in your
Ronan threw a biscuit at Cody. He snagged it and added it to his plate.
“Destined mates?” Shay repeated.
“Kind of like love at first sight,” Bree said, her green eyes softening as she gazed at Faelan. “But usually it happens after a warrior retires.”
Like Cody.
“Sometimes it happens before, but it doesn’t make the Council happy,” Lachlan said.
Brodie grabbed a piece of sausage as the plate passed him. “Does anything make the Council happy?”
“The mates have to be from one of the clans. They get a mate mark, something like Faelan’s.” Bree touched a round, jagged circle behind his ear, visible with his hair pulled back.
Shay glanced at Cody’s tattoo peeking out from under his hair. It was different from Faelan’s, larger, but were they all the same? Did it mean that somewhere out there was a woman destined to share Cody’s heart and his bed? Shay’s gaze swung to Sorcha, who was staring at Cody’s tattoo as well. She wasn’t married, and she was part of this clan. So was Anna. Did one of them bear a mate mark that Shay didn’t have?
“That’s an interesting place for a tattoo,” Sorcha said, running one red-tipped fingernail over Cody’s neck. Shay wanted to throw a biscuit at her, or maybe a fork. “I noticed it when you were in Scotland. Nice. Duncan has one there too.”
Duncan lowered his head and kept eating.
“Thanks. It’s just a tattoo,” Cody said. “We need to bring everyone up to date and figure out sleeping arrangements, now that we’re all here.”
Shay knew him well enough to recognize an evasion tactic. It was probably wishful thinking on her part to hope he just wanted Sorcha to stop touching him.
“I’ll sleep at Shay’s,” Ronan said.
“Over my dead body,” Cody declared, drawing several curious looks. He scowled. “I’m not even sure I want you sleeping next door.”
Ronan lifted an eyebrow. “What I meant was I’m sleeping wherever Faelan and Bree aren’t. You try sleeping in the room next to the honeymooners.”
Shay looked at Bree and Faelan, sharing passion-laced glances between bites of toast. Her own food was about as appealing as dirt. If Cody had a predestined mate, eventually he would find her, no matter what unresolved passion he and Shay shared. Jamie would find his mate too, and she would be alone, again.
“This is the only honeymoon I’ll get for a while,” Faelan said, digging into his breakfast.
“Well, have a little pity on the rest of us who’re sleeping alone,” Sorcha said, giving Cody a seductive glance.
