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. “Where’s Jamie?”

Duncan gave Sorcha a dark look but didn’t respond.

“Jamie’s sleeping. Matilda drugged him,” Lachlan said, forcing Cody to awkwardly explain that the women had been making a misguided matchmaking attempt and thought Jamie was in the way. He didn’t mention that it was to clear the way for him, but every eye was on the two of them.

“Maybe we need to recruit Matilda, if she can neutralize a warrior like Jamie,” Brodie said. “Have her slip the demons a sleeping pill.”

“Isn’t Jamie your boyfriend?” Sorcha asked.

“No,” Cody blurted out before Shay could shake her head.

“He used to be,” Lachlan said.

Cody frowned. “Anyone else think it’s odd how he watches Shay?”

Lachlan snorted, while Faelan and Ronan grinned.

“I find it interesting that Jamie wormed his way in here, claiming this table was shipped to him, when it’s obvious he’s obsessed with her,” Cody said.

“Are you saying Jamie could be her stalker?” Sorcha asked, slathering a blueberry muffin with butter. Shay doubted Sorcha worried about getting fat. Slaying demons probably melted off calories. “I thought the guy was blond.”

“I’m not accusing him, but we’ve got a mess of trouble and no one to blame. We shouldn’t rule out anyone.”

“He was injured,” Shay said. “You think he did that to himself?”

Cody shrugged. “Could have, if necessary.”

Lachlan broke off a piece of bacon and slipped it under the table. There was a soft meow. “Bro, I think you need more sleep.” He glanced at Shay. “Or something.”

“Have you got that cat under there?” Cody asked.

Shay lifted the edge if the tablecloth. The cat was sitting at Lachlan’s feet. “I thought you were going to call the Petersons.”

“I did. It’s not theirs,” Lachlan said. “Ronan’s going to take him to Montana if you don’t want him.”

“Go ahead,” Shay said to Ronan. She couldn’t take care of herself, much less a cat.

Sorcha raised an eyebrow at Ronan. “What are you going to do with a cat? You’re never home.”

“I’ll put him in the barn. I have someone watching the place.” He smiled at Shay. “Or we could share joint custody.”

“You’re not sharing anything with Shay,” Cody said. “Cat or otherwise.”

Ronan settled back in his chair, not bothering to hide his grin.

“You see what I have to put up with?” Faelan said to Cody.

“You live in Montana?” Shay asked Ronan.

Ronan nodded. “For now.”

“That’s where he goes when he gets sick of demons. And humans,” Brodie said. “He owns a mountain. It’s so isolated I doubt a demon could find it.”

“Think we could train the cat to be a guard cat?” Lachlan asked and then grew serious. “Whoever broke in, and it wasn’t Jamie, he knew how to avoid the cameras and get past the alarm.” That led to a discussion of the recent events with Shay’s stalker in Scotland and here.

“You think Jamie’s and Shay’s intruders are the same?” Duncan asked.

Lachlan swallowed his bite of egg and biscuit. “Shay’s was blond, but we thought there might have been another one in the woods. Jamie said there were three of them at his house, but he saw only two clearly, both brown-haired, average height, slim. Said they moved fast, hit him before he could even reach for his dagger.”

“Must have been some bad-ass demons,” Marcas said. “Jamie’s quick. He could take three humans blindfolded. Should’ve been able to take three demons.”

“You think my stalker is a demon?” Shay asked, eyes wide with alarm.

Cody shrugged. “I don’t know, but that intruder I fought seemed too strong and too fast for a human.”

“This probably has something to do with your father,” Anna said. “He believed someone was after him. Maybe that same someone wants you.”

“He’s definitely interested in your tables,” Sorcha added.

“They had to be after the book,” Cody said. “The only thing the intruder messed with at Nina’s was a bookshelf. He must have called his buddies and headed to Jamie’s after that.”

“So how did they know the book was inside the table?” Lachlan asked.

Faelan gave Bree a worried glance. “We know Russell stole the book and took it to Druan’s castle. Maybe we missed a demon who was working with Druan.”

“How could Renee be involved in all this?” Shay asked.

“Did she know anyone named Russell?” Brodie asked.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Since Renee’s laptop has vanished, could you make a list of contacts? Boyfriends, friends, clients.” Cody frowned. “I suspect someone isn’t who he’s pretending to be and doesn’t want his name seen.”

It was terrifying to think that her own clients, neighbors, banker, Realtor, or even the little old lady next door could be a demon in disguise. “Most of the Scotland and Leesburg clients are separate. I’m familiar with some of Renee’s, but not all.”

“There’s something I haven’t mentioned,” Cody said. “Someone dug up your grave.”

Brodie paused mid-chew. “Shay’s grave? Oh, the empty one.”

Lachlan raised an eyebrow. “Bloody hell.”

“They removed the casket and opened it,” Cody said. “I was going to tell you yesterday, Shay, but Nina and Matilda showed up.”

He could’ve mentioned it last night. “Why would someone do that?”

He pushed back his plate. “To see if it had a body inside.”

“So someone knows she’s not dead,” Duncan said. “When did this happen?”

“Sometime in the last day or two,” Cody said.

“It could be teenage vandals gearing up for Halloween,” Shay said, hopefully.

Cody shook his head. “I wish, but I suspect Anna’s right, and it’s something to do with your father.”

“I thought the demon the Watchers thought was responsible died,” Sorcha said.

“He did,” Cody said. “But someone knows about the secret.”

“Let’s hope the clan wasn’t wrong,” Brodie said. “That wouldn’t make the demon happy, finding out he’s been fooled all this time.”

Shay’s stomach started crawling toward her throat. This wasn’t normal stalker stuff, like on the news and TV, and Renee was in the middle of it.

“I think this is connected to the stuff with Druan,” Duncan said. “We got all the demons on Angus’s list, but even the Watchers suspected there was more happening than just Druan’s attempt to destroy the world.”

Sorcha studied her red nails, her gaze troubled. “What about Tristol and Malek and Voltar? Those dreams I had before. I couldn’t make out all the details, but I saw five men. One was Faelan and one was Druan in human form, but we never figured out who the other three were.”

“Don’t even think it,” Brodie said, crossing himself.

“Who are they?” Shay asked.

“Demons of old,” Bree said. “Faelan saw those three riding with Druan back in 1860 when he was sent to stop the Civil War. They disappeared.”

“Our Civil War?” Shay swung around to look at Faelan. Pain shadowed his face.

“I was sent to suspend Druan. He was stirring up strife and hatred that was turning this country toward war, trying to destroy it from the inside out. At least that’s what we thought, but I found out the war was just Druan’s distraction. He created a virus to destroy the world.”

“Good grief. Is anything what it seems?”

“Not much,” Faelan said. “Demons are involved in most everything bad. Human wars rarely start with humans.”

“What happened to the virus?” Shay asked.

“Faelan destroyed it when he destroyed Druan,” Bree said, her voice ringing with pride. “He saved the world.”

Faelan smiled. “Not without help. If it hadn’t been for Bree and Conall and the other warriors, there wouldn’t be any world.”