“There’s one,” Ronan said, running to kneel by the prone form several feet away. “He’s unconscious.”

“Same here,” Shane called, on the other side.

“I see another one farther down,” Niall said.

“This one’s coming ’round,” Ronan said.

The young warrior jumped to his feet and drew his sword. Ronan fell back, narrowly avoiding losing an ear. The warrior’s gaze darted wildly. “What happened?” He blinked at Shay. “Where’d she come from?”

“It’s okay,” Ronan told the guard. “Something knocked you out.” Ronan looked at Cody. “I’m going after it.”

“You can’t go alone,” Cody said, but Ronan was already gone. “Niall, go after him before he gets himself killed.”

Niall took off after Ronan, lithe as a panther, for all his bulky size.

Cody kept a hand on Shay, who looked like she might collapse. “Lachlan, get every warrior we have out here. Barricade this place. Someone check the secret passages and the tunnel.”

Shay shook her head, looking around as wild-eyed as the guard. “Cody? What are you doing? Where are we?” She looked confused. “Where is… he?”

“Who?” Cody asked.

She looked toward the woods. “I don’t know,” she said, and her body slumped into a faint. Cody caught her, swinging her up into his arms. He ran with her toward the castle, shouting out to the warriors swarming the place.

Coira was waiting in the infirmary, readying her medical supplies. “Put her here,” Coira said.

Cody placed Shay on the bed and stood back as Coira checked Shay’s pulse. “She seemed fine an hour ago.” What the hell was happening?

“Pulse is slow. What’s this?” Coira asked, looking at the red scratch on Shay’s pale skin. It looked even angrier.

“She said she scratched it. I was going to get you to look at it.” He leaned down and sniffed. It didn’t smell sulfurous, like a demon scratch, but it probably wouldn’t, since it was several days old. “Is it infected?”

“I don’t think so, just inflamed. Her pupils are normal,” she said, shining a light into Shay’s eyes. “That’s good.” The blood pressure cuff beeped. “Blood pressure is low.”

“Maybe we should take her to the hospital,” Cody said. They tried to avoid hospitals if possible. It opened the door to too many questions they didn’t want to answer.

“I think she’ll be okay. Let’s let her rest for a bit. What was that out there, Cody?”

“All I saw was a shadow with black hair.”

“You think it was the same thing that attacked Jamie?”

“I don’t know.” Jamie hadn’t been able to remember much about the attack. “Why didn’t he hurt Shay? He just stood there, like he was waiting for her.”

“This is unnerving. Those things getting inside the castle wall, even inside the secret passages. I’m starting to wonder if Angus was right about the traitor.”

She wasn’t the only one wondering it. The castle had two lines of guards around the perimeter. How had this—whatever it was—found the place and gotten through?

“Go find it, Cody,” Coira said fiercely. “Before this thing finds Shay.”

Cody bent and pressed a lingering kiss to Shay’s forehead, and stood, his face set tight, prepared for the hunt. He knew what had to be done. He would destroy Malek, at least weaken him, even if it meant his own death. But there was one place he needed to stop first.

***

“Malek? Hell, are you sure?” Cody asked.

“My memory was cloudy before, but now I’m positive,” Jamie said, his face gray. “How did he find her?”

“He must have followed us from the airport or from Shay’s house. I suspect the fire was a trap to draw Shay into the open, but if someone followed us, he was invisible. We had another breach earlier. Someone tried to lure Shay outside, but it wasn’t Malek. This guy had black hair.”

Jamie threw back his covers. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“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?”