Heart Of A Highland Warrior (22 page)

“I’m your sister-in-law,” Bree said. “Your family. That’s all that matters now.”

There was a scratching at the door, and Faelan walked to the double doors leading to the balcony. “How
’d
you get out there?”

A large white cat walked into the room. It looked at Tavis with green eyes that were oddly like Bree’s and Shay’s.

“Matilda’s been looking everywhere for you,” Bree said to the cat as if it could hear her. Was his brother’s wife a little barmy?

The cat walked over and jumped up on the foot of the bed.

Faelan watched it, his brows pulled together like he did when he was unsure about something. “Guess you’ve got the cat tonight.”

“Strange-looking cat.”

“You’re telling me,” Faelan said.

“He’s special,” Bree said.

“She thinks he can understand us.”

Bree shrugged.

“I feel like it’s reading my mind,” Faelan said. “We can’t seem to get rid of it. It’s adopted us. Matilda thinks it wards off vampires. And she swears it saved the President.”

“You jest?”

“I wish,” Faelan said, looking suspiciously at the cat. “But there was a strange incident…never mind about that now. You need rest. And quiet. I know you have a lot on your mind.”

“Thank you, brother. And Bree. I’m glad to be here.”

He and Faelan shared a long look. Each of them knew how much he
’d
sacrificed. Then Bree and Faelan walked to the door. “Oh, and Anna’s in the next room if you need anything,” Bree said.

“Are you bloody matchmaking?” Faelan asked as the door closed.

“Me?” was Bree’s muffled reply.

“I think Ronan’s right about you.”

Tavis looked at the wall that joined his and Anna’s room. Far different than the bars of a cell. He had no wish to go back, unless it was to kill Voltar and Tristol, but he missed the closeness he and Anna had shared. She was barely speaking to him now. He started to pull off his clothes and remembered the cat. It wasn’t watching him. It had turned its back as if giving him privacy. Damned odd cat. Tavis went to the fancy bathroom and undressed, and then used the shower—a marvel of an invention—before crawling into bed. The cat was still there, paying no attention to him.

He climbed into bed naked. The underthings—underwear—Faelan called them, were too confining. The cat had again turned its back. The sheets felt cool against Tavis’s skin, but his mind was spinning. Not just the drink. With the quiet, the revelation set in. He had a son. A little boy. Had Ian told him that Tavis was his father? Or had Ian let him believe he was his father? If Ian died three years after Tavis went into the time vault, the boy would have been young. Perhaps too young to be told his father was in a time vault and his mother dead. Poor Marna. She
’d
loved him, he believed, and though he couldn’t honestly say he had returned that love, fondness yes, it made him sad to think of her sweet eyes, her quietly pleasant face.

Tavis’s eyes stung with grief and regret, and his head throbbed with too much drink. The cat watched him from the bottom of the bed, but strangely enough, he wasn’t bothered by its presence. Instead, it was comforting, and he fell asleep dreaming of Anna. The dream had turned decidedly erotic when a noise pulled him from sleep. He opened his eyes and saw a creature above him, leaning over his bed. He threw back the covers and grabbed the dagger und
erneath his pillow as he leapt from the bed. With an ungodly screech, the creature ran for the door. Tavis followed, hurrying after the intruder, who was running for the door. He followed the howls and raced down the hallway, heedless of his nakedness. One door slammed as others opened, and faces peered out at him. Faelan and Bree, Shay, Cody, Ronan, Nina, Duncan, Sorcha—had she come from Duncan’s room?—and, oh God. Anna.

“There’s something in my room,” he said, and then realized everyone was staring at his groin, so he dropped his hands to cover those parts.

“Well now,” Sorcha said, smiling.

Duncan stepped in front of her to obscure her view.

“Who was it?” Faelan asked. “Did you get a look?”

“I couldn’t see well. It was leaning over my bed.”

“Search the castle,” Duncan said.

A loud screech sounded from one of the nearby rooms, followed by a crash.

Nina clasped a hand to her mouth. “That’s Matilda’s room.”

“Stay back,” Faelan said when Bree followed on his heels. Faelan opened the door, and they stared at the awful sight. The red-haired woman, the barmy one, not Sorcha, stood near the door, red hair sticking up and her eyes wide, black smeared underneath like a raccoon’s, and she held the cat in her arms. Held, as in restrained. It was obvious from the extended claws and puffed fur that the cat was trying to get away.

“Did someone come in here?” Faelan asked.

Matilda shook her head and held on to the cat.

“Wait,” Faelan said. “How did you get the cat? It was in Tavis’s room.”

Nina pushed through the others and faced Matilda. “Matilda, did you go to Tavis’s room to get the cat?”

“I needed it,” Matilda said. “I couldn’t sleep. I had dreams.”

“Matilda!” Nina gave her an exasperated look. “That cat can’t protect you against vampires. There aren’t any vampires in here anyway.”

“You don’t know that,” Matilda said. “No one knew the one was in the castle in Scotland either. They might have followed us here.”

“We have guards,” Shay said.

Matilda caught sight of Tavis, still standing naked, with only his hands covering his front. Her eyes widened. “Oh my.”

Tavis starting backing up toward his room and bumped into someone. He turned. It was Anna. Her beautiful eyes ran up and down his body. “Sorry.” He backed away toward his door and opened it, hurrying inside. He shut the door and grimaced. Darn near everyone in the castle had seen his cock now. The door opened behind him. Anna stepped inside. Said cock surged, and his heart pounded. Had seeing his body made her decide to treat him more kindly? He knew that she was attracted to him in the dungeon.

“You’re in my room,” Anna said.

“What?”

“My room. You’re in it.”

Tavis looked at the scattered covers on the bed and saw that in fact he was in the wrong room. “Damn. I thought this was my room.”

Anna flicked a glance over him again. “You can wait a moment until the crowd thins. I think they’re ripping Matilda a new one. That woman needs a babysitter.”

That would explain the raised voice in the hallway. Nina sounded furious. “I swear I thought she was a demon when I saw her over my bed. And the screeching. I guess that was the cat.”

“She’s obsessed with the cat.” Anna glanced down again and grabbed a small blanket from her bed. “Here, cover up.”

Tavis took the blanket and arranged it around him, and then looked awkwardly around the room.

“You can sit if you
’d
like.” Anna walked to her balcony and looked out.

“I think I
’d
rather go out in the hallway naked and be scorned.”

She turned back to him. “Why?”

“It’s a sight better than being ignored.”

“I’m not ignoring you.”

“Yes you are.”

“Well, maybe I am. I’m not good with situations like this.”

“Being cordial? Mere hospitality?”

She scowled. “You know what I mean. We…we…you know.”

“Aye, I do.” And he
’d
been thinking about it far too much. “I’m ashamed that I’ve added to your pain, after what happened to your mother and to you.”

“You know about that?”

“Ronan told me. He was concerned about you. Can’t we start over? Pretend we’ve just met and that I didn’t do what I did?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, you saved me. I
don’t blame you.”

“Then why the hell are you acting like I’m poxed?” He
’d
been driving himself barmy with guilt.

“I told you in the dungeon that it wasn’t your fault. If you hadn’t done it, the guard would have.” Anna shuddered. “And he pr
obably would have killed us.”

“But I…I shouldn’t have…”

“You’re upset because you had an orgasm?”

Her words shocked him. Did all women speak so forward? “I have no excuse except that I hadn’t been with a woman in a long time.”

There were questions in her eyes, but she didn’t ask them. “It
was just your body’s reaction. Bree said Faelan was insatiable when he came out of the time vault. I guess even though time stops, some emotions and functions build. It doesn’t make sense, but then again, we’re talking about a box that stops time. That shouldn’t exist either by normal standards.”

“I
’d
better get back to my room and try to rest. I have to meet with the Council tomorrow.” He looked down at his blanket.

“Keep it. I’ll get it later.”

Tavis’s stomach knotted as he and Faelan walked to the library. He couldn’t put off meeting with the Council any longer, but he didn’t know if he could trust them. Not after what he and Ian had read in Nigel’s letter. One hundred and fifty years had passed since Tavis and Ian had discovered that letter—far longer since Nigel’s accusations—and Tavis knew no more now than he had then. Didn’t know what conclusion Ian had drawn. If the threat had passed. If others were involved. Quinn hadn’t told anyone what his father had done, so at least two had been involved. Quinn’s silence on the matter had been almost as atrocious as his father’s deeds. Selling warriors’ names to demons so they could be destroyed before they grew up. Like Liam. Nothing could be more despicable.

Anna and several of the warriors were already seated in the library. It was supposed to be an informal gathering, but the Council was seated apart, as if they were better than the others. And they had on their ceremonial robes. He
’d
always felt they were a little holier-than-thou, and this generation of elders looked just the same. Put them on a battlefield facing down a bunch of demons and then see what they thought about their rules.

Tavis took a seat near Faelan, one with a view of Anna, who was sitting next to Lachlan and Ronan, of course, and the Council called the meeting to order. Informal, his bloody arse. He told them everything he knew from the time they had followed Faelan to America to help him battle Druan until he and Anna had broken free from the fortress.

“You support this tale?” the Chief Elder asked Anna.

“Yes. I don’t know about the part before I arrived at Tristol’s fortress, but that’s what happened after I got there.” They asked her a few more questions, which she answered.

“So it is your opinion that Tristol owned the fortress and was operating some sort of breeding program?”

Anna looked at her own hands. “Yes.”

“And Tristol was under the assumption that he had captured Faelan?”

“Yes,” Anna said.

“Was anyone else part of this program?” the Elder asked.

“There was another prisoner there. They called him a hybrid.” Anna stopped, took a breath, and shot Tavis a glance. “I don’t know if he was involved.”

“And what about yourself, Anna? Was anything said about involving you in the program?”

Anna’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“We understand that you spent some time with the hybrid.”

Anna’s mouth opened. She glanced at Tavis, her eyes glittering with anger. “I saw him.”

“Can you tell us about that?”

“I just glimpsed him,” Anna said, her back stiff. “He had escaped and had gotten into the cell where they were keeping me.”

She wasn’t going to mention the guard taking her to the hybrid. And how the hell had they found out? Had Faelan told? Tavis hadn’t told him not to mention it. Dammit.

They asked her more about the hybrid. When she had answered their questions, the Chief Elder stared at her, his heavy-lidded gaze quite pointed. “Do you have anything else to add?”

Anna kept her chin up, but she wasn’t breathing. Tavis could see that her shoulders weren’t moving. “No. Nothing.”

Tavis wanted to help her, to take the attention off her, and in his enthusiasm he blurted out something he
’d
spent over a century trying to hide. “I hope to return the Book of Battles to the Keeper within a day or so.” Bloody hell. Why did he say that? He didn’t know if the Council could be trusted yet.

Everyone looked at him much as they had when he
’d
chased Matilda out into the hallway naked. He glanced down to make sure some of his strange clothing hadn’t come undone, but everything looked in order, similar to the other men’s.

“What do you mean?” the Chief Elder asked.

It was too late to come up with a lie now. “I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t remember where I hid it.”

“You’re the one who hid it?” Faelan asked. “We wondered how it had gotten in the chapel.”

“The chapel?” Had he hidden it in the chapel? “My memory is still cloudy on some things.”

“Well, it was a long time ago,” Bree said.

“You’re doing well if you can remember where you put something over a century ago,” Brodie said. “Sometimes I forget where I put things a few hours before.”

“It was just a fortnight ago, or thereabouts,” Tavis said.