Cody shrugged. “Trying to come up with ways to destroy us.”

“Do they all live that long?”

“No. There are three orders. The first is eternal. Humans don’t see them. The second, they’re the ones who cause the most trouble, full demons. The third, the halflings, they live a couple hundred years.”

“Halflings? Like in half human?”

Cody nodded.

“Can only warriors kill demons?”

“For the most part,” he said. “And even then, the powerful ones have to be assigned to match the warrior’s strength or the warrior could die. A demon can kill a human in a heartbeat.”

“Good thing I didn’t have gun or a knife.”

“You scare me sometimes,” Cody said.

After the room was straight, the two started back to his house. The cat trailed along behind them. “You sure this cat’s just a cat?” Shay asked. “He has white fur, and that intruder was blond.”

Cody turned to look at it. “It showed up long before the demon did. Probably belongs to the Petersons.” Shay heard yelling even before Cody opened his front door. “Damn! I forgot to tell him,” he said, rushing in.

Faelan had a man pinned to the kitchen wall, while Lachlan, Marcas, and a beautiful woman Shay assumed was Cody’s girlfriend tried to drag Faelan away. Cody grabbed Faelan’s arm, and the group finally restrained him.

“I swear, if you weren’t my ancestor,” the new guy said, giving Faelan a hard shove, “I’d lock you in a time vault myself.”

“How could you drag her off on one of your adventures?” Faelan shouted, looking as fierce as an ancient Highland warrior with his kilt and angry face. “You were supposed to make sure she got safely from Scotland to New York.”

“My adventures? Have you lost your bloody mind? I came to protect her. Damned woman tried to sneak off and come to Virginia alone. You’re lucky I figured out what she was up to.”

The woman scowled. “Hey.”

“Are ye trying to drive me to madness?” Faelan said to the woman, his face hot with anger. “If you don’t start listening to me—”

The woman grabbed a loaf of bread off the counter and swung it at his head. Faelan ducked, and the loaf caught Cody on the ear. The woman planted her hands on her hips, glaring at Faelan. “You jackass! Sorry, Cody.” She glared at Faelan. “This isn’t the nineteenth century. You think I’m supposed to sit home bored, while you’re out having all the adventures? I don’t think so.”

“Told you,” the new guy said.

So she was with Faelan. Every muscle in Shay’s body sagged with relief. But why had the woman slept in Cody’s bed?

“I forgot to tell you they were here,” Cody said, flicking a slice of bread off his shoulder. “Shay and I had just gotten back from Leesburg.”

“What am I supposed to think?” Faelan asked the woman. “You’re supposed to be safe in New York, and I walk in and find you here. With him.” He pointed at Ronan. “I haven’t slept, and I need food.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “God help us.”

“There’s some food left over,” Lachlan said. “It’s probably cold.”

The woman turned and saw Shay near the door. Her eyes widened. She blinked several times and smiled. “I’m Bree Connor, this Neanderthal’s wife.” She nodded toward Faelan, who was lifting pot lids, still scowling. “You must be Shay. Sorry to stare, but you look just like you did in my vision.” The others in the room stopped talking and were watching her. “I get these… premonitions sometimes.”

Cody touched Shay’s back. “Bree had a vision that you were in danger. That’s why Faelan came to keep an eye on you.”

Now she had perfect strangers trying to protect her. “But you don’t even know me,” Shay said.

“I know. My premonitions aren’t normal. Usually they’re about family or friends, but lately I’ve been having them about strangers.”

The good-looking man chuckled and ruffled Bree’s hair. He seemed unfazed by Faelan’s attack. “Darlin’, there’s nothing normal about you.”

“This is Ronan,” Cody said. He surprised Shay by placing his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. Marcas watched the gesture, and Shay thought she saw a glimmer of a smile.

“Sorry about the scuffle.” Ronan grinned, and Shay’s heart skipped two beats. She could almost understand Faelan’s frustration. What man would want his wife going anywhere with someone who looked like that?

Ronan bumped Faelan with his shoulder and stepped up to shake Shay’s hand. “Glad you’re okay. We were worried.”

“Are you all part of this clan?” Shay asked.

“You told her?” Lachlan said. “Are you crazy? The Council’s gonna hang you this time.”

“I’ll deal with the Council,” Cody said, but his jaw tightened as he said it.

“We’re all from the same clan,” Ronan explained, “but we’re from Scotland, not far from where you live, I understand. I’m surprised we didn’t run into you over the years.”

She would have remembered if she had run into Ronan. “Guess that explains Faelan’s kilt,” Shay said. “It looks authentic.”

“It is authentic. Nineteenth century, him and the kilt. He’s my great-great-great-uncle, the Mighty Faelan. Bree found him in a time vault while she was searching for treasure. I think sometimes she wishes she hadn’t. I know I do.”

Faelan looked like he wanted to hit Ronan again. “If you don’t stop calling me that I’m going to stick you in a time vault,” he said, pulling off another slice of ham.

“Time vault? Are you saying he was born in the nineteenth century?” He couldn’t be.

“Aye,” Cody said, rubbing his neck. “He was born in 1833.”

“That’s impossible.”

“There are a lot of impossible things in this clan,” Bree said.

“More than demons and… what was it, a time vault?” Shay asked.

“You can’t imagine,” Bree said. “These time vaults imprison demons until Judgment. Time stops inside.”

Cody hadn’t told her that part. What else wasn’t he telling her?

“What happened to your neck?” Marcas asked Cody.

Cody touched a red mark just over his jugular vein. “Shay bit me.”

Everyone stared at her, cocked eyebrows leading to grins.

Shay’s face heated. “That’s what you get for handcuffing me to the bed.”

The grins grew wider, and Shay’s face hotter.

“Sorry,” Cody said looking at her lips. “Do you want something to eat?”

“Careful,” Ronan said. “She might take a chunk out of the other side.”

“No, thanks,” Shay said, spearing all the men with a glare.

“Good,” Lachlan said. “’Cause Faelan just took the rest of the food.”

“You wouldn’t believe how much that man can eat after being suspended in time for a hundred and fifty-one years,” Bree said. “Come on, let’s get away from all this testosterone before we choke.”

“Who brought the cat?” Lachlan asked, looking at the cat, who’d pushed through the cracked door.

“It showed up at Nina’s,” Cody said. “Probably belongs to the Petersons.”

Bree and Shay left the room. “Now,” Bree said, lifting one dark brow. “Why exactly did Cody handcuff you to the bed?”

***

Tristol hovered outside the window, watching Malek pace the floor, his ear to the phone. “When I get back from Scotland, you’d better have Shay and the book,” Malek hissed. He stopped, his face convulsing, but he controlled the shift. “She’s with Cody MacBain! He’s the one. Get her away from him. If she’s Edward Rodgers’s daughter, she and the warrior can’t be allowed to breed.”

Edward Rodgers? The shock of that name jerked Tristol upright from his hiding place. The woman who stole the book could be Edward’s daughter? Was this the real reason Malek wanted her? Did he know about the powerful emerald Edward Rodgers was supposed to possess? This shed new light on things, but he didn’t have time to investigate. The Dark One had summoned him again. It was getting tedious, continuing this thousand-year-old charade, when he needed to monitor his prisoner. Tristol found his lieutenant and issued new instructions. If this Shay woman was Edward’s daughter, she was more valuable than any stolen book.

Chapter 5

Shay woke to the smell of Cody and bacon. The bacon part she understood. The Cody part didn’t make sense. A suspicious dent was in the pillow next to hers. Had Cody slept there? She didn’t remember anything after that cup of tea he gave her. She sat up, and her head swam as if she had been drugged, or was it the dream of the glowing man again? No, this felt like drugs. Cody must have put something in her tea. She threw on her clothes, brushed her teeth, and stormed out of the room. He had put her in Ewan and Laura’s old bedroom, insisting she stay at his house where they could protect her. She found him in the kitchen with Faelan and Bree.

“You bastard! So you’ve gone from handcuffing me to the bed to drugging me?”

“You drugged her?” Bree asked.

Faelan’s eyebrows rose. “You handcuffed her to the bed? Damnation. I wish I’d thought of that.”

Bree pointed her finger at him. “Don’t even try it.”

Cody scowled. “It was just valerian root. You needed rest.”

“Rest? I was practically unconscious.”

“Maybe Cody was afraid you would bite him again,” Faelan said to Shay. Bree elbowed him. “Sorry,” he said, grinning.

Cody scooted past Shay. “We’re going out to check the woods again. I want to warn Old Elmer to be on the lookout.”

Faelan gave Bree a lingering kiss. Cody looked at Shay’s mouth, licked his lips, but kept his distance. “Be back before long. Stay here.”

Shay followed him to the door, itching to hit him… or something. “Why don’t you just tattoo that on your hand? Stay here.”

“You look like you want to bite him again.” Bree grinned. “Or maybe you want to handcuff him to the bed.”

Shay’s cell phone rang. She grabbed it, hoping it was Renee. It was Jamie. She hadn’t talked to him since he moved from Scotland to Virginia.