Embrace the Highland Warrior

“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