Mac’s eyes snapped open hours later. There had been no knock, but he felt the approaching presence as if someone were pounding on his soul. He slid out of bed without waking Sloane, sparing only one long glance at the spill of blond hair over his pillow, the careless elegance of that sprawled naked body he’d ravished so thoroughly and that had ravished him in return.

With a smile on his face, he slipped on a pair of sweats and headed for the door.

Bav stood outside, her bloodred curls blowing in the morning wind, her head cocked as she regarded him with those bright green eyes. “Good day, Brother.”

With a curse, he shut the door behind him.

“What do ye want?”

It was Fand’s constant nagging that had convinced her to come, but Bav could hardly tell Mac that. He hadn’t spoken to the fairy for years.

“I am concerned about things I’ve seen in the scrying pool,” she said with as much delicacy as she was capable of. “Things about the woman currently sleeping in your bed.”

“Concerned, is it? About Sloane?” Mac’s lip curled.

“No. About you.”

He blinked at her, clearly not expecting that one.

“Believe it or not, I’ve some family feeling,” she said with a sigh.

“Since when?” he muttered.

Bav shrugged. It was true their bond consisted mostly of despising and trying to outdo one another. The last maybe more on her part than Mac’s, but in the end, he was her brother. Her twin. And the future she’d seen disturbed her. She may hate him most days, but that didn’t mean she wanted to consider eternity without him in it. “You know what I’ve seen?”

“I’ve an idea,” he muttered.

“And?”

He looked at her, then away, at the sea that sparkled to the left of them. “I plan to do it anyway. I am going to keep her, he won’t stop me.”

She stared at him, her mouth half open. “Keep her? Are you mad? What of the law?”

When he said nothing, only folded his arms over that massive chest, she blinked.

“It isn’t done, Mac. And you know it. Hell, you’re the one who pushed Lugh to make that decree about mortals in the first place!”

“That was two millennia ago.” His voice had gained an edge, one that was fraying her already abused nerves. “And ye know the circumstances as well as I. This is different.”

“Why, because it’s you doing the wanting now? Danu, have you lost your senses entirely? Fuck her all you like, but show some restraint.”

“I canna,” he said simply. “It’s nae enough. I love her, Bav.”

She swallowed at the quiet, but shocking admission, lifting a hand to her throat to quell the fluttering there. Belatedly, she realized it was sheer terror. “Lugh will never allow you to claim her,” she whispered. “Never.”

“I’ve a plan for tha’.” Bav was taken aback by the grim look on her brother’s face. She’d never seen him look so ruthless. Well, except maybe once. “As you said, she’s mortal, and I am no’. What if tha’ were to change?”

Bav sucked in a breath, her eyes widening. “You are mad.”

“Nae,” he replied. Just in love.

Though, Mac admitted to himself, it might be the same thing.

She glared at him. “Isn’t that exactly what I did? And you called me a self-serving bitch for it, if memory serves.”

“This is no’ the same thing at all.” And it wasn’t. Bav hadn’t loved O’Neill, not in the way she needed to, not even close. At least until it was far too late.

For reasons he didn’t quite understand himself, he laid out the bones of his recently revised plan.

“Are you sure about this?” Bav stared when he was done, her thoughts obviously straying to a certain vampire as well. “Her father might well kill you.”

Mac frowned. “O’Neill has no power to harm me, at least at present, and while he might take issue at first, I doona see why he should be fussed once he gets used to the idea.”

“Do you not?” Bav shook her head helplessly. “Mac, even if your plan succeeds, Lugh will still not have it. Especially after what I did to that family. This is not a fight I see even you winning. You’d be better off to let the chit go.” She said the last gently, remembering when he had told her almost exactly the same thing, on a hill not far from here.

“Never. She’s mine now. And mine she stays.”

“Have you asked her what she thinks about your plan? Does she even know what you are?” The lift of Bav’s eyebrow was mocking but Mac only smiled.

“She’ll know what she needs to in time. And tis my choice in the end.”

“Oh Brother mine,” Bav spoke softly, “you may be a god, but you have a lot to learn about women.”