“Coira’s taking care of her. She’ll be fine.” He couldn’t consider anything else. “The three guards closest to where we found her were unconscious. All they remember is hearing the wind. Next thing they knew they were waking up. The other guards farther away were unaffected, but they didn’t see what was happening. Ronan and Niall are tracking it. I’m headed out now.”

Jamie swung his feet to the floor and went pale with the effort. “I’ll come with you.”

“You still need rest.”

“I’m sick of rest.”

“You need to heal,” Cody said, putting his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “You’re lucky to be alive. Not many can say they’ve battled one of the old demons hand-to-hand and lived to tell about it.”

“You said another warrior was killed before I was attacked. It must have weakened Malek. That’s probably the only reason I’m alive.”

“Maybe, but you are alive, and you’re a good warrior, and we’ll need you when you’ve recovered.” He hoped Jamie took the words for the apology it was. It wouldn’t make up for his jackass jealous behavior, but it was a start. “We have other warriors coming to help.”

“I feel like a bloody invalid, lying here while the castle is attacked. Are you sure Shay’s okay?” he asked stiffly. It was still awkward for the two of them to mention her.

“She’s okay, thanks to that damned cat. It darted between Shay and whoever was in the woods. It might’ve saved her life. Matilda’s too. You don’t know about Matilda. She said she killed a man in the secret passage. We found a pile of dust.”

“Vampires? Inside the castle!”

“Must have entered through the tunnel. Matilda thinks the cat attacked whatever she saw. Hell. That cat probably saved all our lives. If the vampire had waited until we were asleep, he could have killed us one by one.”

“Maybe it’s a vampire-killer cat. So a castle that’s remained a secret for centuries has been breached three times in a matter of days, by a demon and a vampire and who knows what else?”

“I don’t know what that was outside, but he must be powerful, to knock out three warriors without even touching them. I’m beginning to think the whole underworld has joined forces against us.”

“What’s next?” Jamie asked. “Werewolves?”

Cody’s mentor had told him about a creature he saw when he was a kid, a human that changed into an animal. Daniel swore it wasn’t a demon. He spoke of it only once, when he had too much whisky following a hard battle.

Jamie shifted, wincing. “Is someone guarding the tunnel?”

“Shane and Tomas checked it earlier, and we’ve posted two guards there.”

“Maybe we should move Shay to New York,” Jamie said.

“If we move her, we’ll risk having her out in the open until we can get her inside the castle walls there. Even though we’ve been breached here, more warriors are on the way. France has a dozen on the way, and Ireland’s sending twenty.” He hadn’t asked the clan in Ireland, not after sending one of their own back in a casket, but they had volunteered. “We can line them up shoulder to shoulder, if we have to.” Cody looked around the room, trying to decide how to ask Jamie what he wanted to ask. “I need a favor.”

Jamie looked surprised. “I’m listening.”

Cody held Jamie’s gaze and remembered staring at him across the body in the woods, thinking Shay was dead. “If something happens to me… I want you to take care of Shay.” His throat tightened at the words, but he had to make sure she would be okay. Jamie loved her. He would protect her. Give her a good life.

Jamie watched him for a minute and then he nodded. “You have my word.”

“Thank you.”

Duncan stuck his head in the door, his scowl even more pronounced than usual. “Has anyone seen Sorcha? Bloody woman’s never where she’s supposed to be.”

“She’s guarding the gate,” Cody said. He hadn’t seen Sorcha and Duncan together since Duncan kissed her during the Council meeting.

“I’m going to check on her,” Duncan said, passing Coira on the way out.

“Have you been to the bathroom tonight?” she asked Jamie.

He rolled his eyes. “Not yet.”

“Better do it while you have a man to help you, or I’ll have to stick a bedpan under you. I’m going to sleep in the infirmary so I can watch Shay. Don’t forget your pain pills. Won’t do anyone any good if you don’t rest so your body can heal.”

“Damn,” Jamie said, after she left.

“Uh… you need to go?” Cody asked.

Jamie nodded and slowly sat up. It took him a minute to stand. Cody put his arm around Jamie, supporting him, and helped him into the bathroom, wondering if this was some kind of karma or penance for acting like an asshole.

***

Ronan frowned as Bree stood over Shay’s bed. He and Niall had spent the night hunting that thing in the woods. Cody left minutes after they had. He hoped Cody had better luck. It was as if it had vanished into thin air with not even a track.

“What’s wrong?” Faelan asked Bree.

She leaned closer and touched the bandage on Shay’s arm. “Vampire,” she said, and blinked several times. “She’s been marked by a vampire.”

Chapter 18

Ronan felt as if he had swallowed a frog. “Are you sure?” he choked.

“I think so,” Bree said.

Faelan moved closer. “Marked by an ancient demon and a vampire? Damnation. Poor wee lass.”

Bree pressed her hand to her forehead. “I think I need to sit down.”

“You don’t need to sit down, you need to lie down,” Ronan scolded. To Faelan he said, “She’s been hanging off those ladders in the library like a monkey when you’re not watching.”

Bree gave Ronan the evil eye.

“I don’t need you to take care of my wife,” Faelan said to Ronan. He turned to Bree. “Are ye trying to drive me mad?” He swung her up in his arms and carried her sputtering from the room.

The whole clan couldn’t keep Bree out of trouble. Ronan wished he could just tell Faelan about the baby, so he didn’t have to worry about letting Bree’s secret slip.

“You think it’s a bite?” Coira asked, unwinding the bandage to check Shay’s scratch.

“Scratch, bite, it doesn’t matter,” Ronan said. “If her blood’s been tainted by a vampire, she needs a transfusion.”

“A transfusion? I don’t have enough blood. She’ll have to go to the hospital, and Cody will kill us if we take her outside these walls. You know how he feels about her.”

“There’s no time for the hospital. She’s his mate. What do you think he’ll do if we let a vampire lure her away? I think she’s been marked.”

“Cody said she got the scratch days ago. Why isn’t she dead? I thought vampire bites were supposed to kill, drain the blood, you know,” Coira said.

“I think marking a victim is different, like injecting a poison or drug. It makes you weak at first, and then if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.”

“And how do you know so much about it?”

Ronan looked away. “I’ve been researching.”

Shay opened her eyes. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the infirmary. You… passed out. Can you tell us what you were doing outside?” Coira asked.

She blinked slowly. “Him. I was going to him.”

“Who?” Ronan asked.

She looked puzzled. “I don’t know.”

“The vampire is trying to lure her to him,” Ronan said.

“What on God’s green earth do they want with her?” Coira asked.

“I don’t know, but we’re not going to let them have her. We’ll have to do it here,” Ronan said. “And it will have to be my blood.”

“Your blood?” Shay asked, her voice groggy. “What are you doing to me? I want Cody.”

“We’re going to give you blood,” Coira said.

“I’m O-pos—”

“O-positive, I know,” Ronan said. “All warriors are.”

“I’m no warrior,” Shay whispered.

“Aye, you are,” Ronan said. “Well, you most likely are.”

She slumped against the bed. “Cody lied to me again.” She passed out.

“Do it fast,” Ronan said, watching Shay’s breathing grow more shallow. “I’ll take responsibility.”

***

“You say she had red hair?” Cody asked. He’d run into Nick’s friend at the police station when the guy came to see if there were any new leads in his friend’s murder.

“That she did,” Nick’s roommate said, “but I couldn’t say what she wanted with him. Seemed all secretive like.”

“Was the woman young?” Sorcha immediately came to mind, but Sorcha wasn’t the only red-haired woman in the world. Maybe for Duncan…

“That’s what was so noticeable. She wasn’t young at all. She was old, and her hair…” the guy held his hands out over his head, “like the color of… you ever see a baboon’s nose?”

It couldn’t be. Cody tilted his head. “Nick didn’t mention her name?”

“No. Just said he was playing Cupid. He was a good bloke. We roomed together for a year. Treated me like a brother.”

“I’m sorry. Can you tell me what the woman was wearing?”

“Now that was bloody odd. Purple, and another thing…” he leaned closer, as if imparting national secrets. “She had cleavage.”

Matilda.

***

“They found what?” Cody had just returned to the castle when Sam caught up to him in the corridor.

“The neighbor, Lucy Bell, the bones belonged to her, but the fire didn’t kill her. She was already dead. Just wanted to give you a heads up that they’ll probably have some questions for Shay. Honestly, I think they suspect Ellis killed her, but you’d better use that super mojo you got and solve this thing fast. There’s some weird stuff going on.”

If Sam only knew.

“If anyone owes you favors, now’s the time to call them in. The cops are getting nervous about talking to me. If my superiors find out what I’ve done for you, I’m toast.”

Why kill an old woman, unless she interrupted something she shouldn’t have, like someone searching for a stolen book? A neighbor who lived behind Shay claimed she saw a man near Shay’s house the night before the fire. Maybe the fire wasn’t to lure Shay into a trap, but to hide a dead body.