After all, that was an important part of understanding exactly how insane her life was becoming, and the toll it was taking on her and her sisters when it came to dealing with their brother and his related sidekicks.

“Your perception is amazingly accurate.” Graham spoke up for them with a hint of mockery from where he stood with his shoulder braced at the side of the fireplace. “And your self-control is astounding under the circumstances.”

Shooting him a silencing glare, she turned to her brother again. “And you knew all along that the whole ‘mistaken identity’ thing was bullshit. So much so that you had a bodyguard who was supposed to be following me? Except he wasn’t following me tonight as I left home because whatever floozy he’d picked up knocked him out and left him unconscious by the side of the road. How am I doing so far?”

“Your sarcasm excels, as always,” Natches pointed out as Dawg wiped his hands over his face and blew out a weary breath. “It even rivals your exceptional memory skills, it seems.”

“Natches, stop,” Rowdy hissed.

“And you. I thought better of you.” She flicked Rowdy a scornful look. “I never imagined you would allow yourself to become mired in the schemes those two manage to get themselves stuck in.” She flicked her fingers at Dawg and Natches as she leaned forward, anger burning hot inside her as understanding hit her like a slap in the face and seriously undermined her trust in her family. “All three of you were hiding the fact that you didn’t believe that bullshit mistaken identity story any more than Graham did, yet you still let me skip along as though I were as safe as ever.”

“Oh hell no, that’s not how it worked,” Dawg protested instantly, his expression creasing in angry defense. “Instinct and evidence are two different things, little sister. And if you recall, I tried to get you to either move in with me or stay with your mother and Timothy. You insisted on returning to your apartment.”

“Did you tell me you didn’t believe it?” she demanded, glaring back at him fiercely. “Did you even warn me?”

“And terrify you on the off chance I was wrong?” he argued, the strong, determined lines of his face tightening in conviction. “It’s been a lot of years since my gut has had to guide my life, little girl, and I’m getting older. How was I to know it wasn’t indigestion?”

She blinked back at him in disbelief.

“Indigestion?” She was amazed that he’d even come up with such a far-fetched excuse.

“It could have been,” he growled in defense. “You remember Natches had that acid reflux thing year before last? He was convinced it was his gut warning him something was wrong and he all but boarded up the house until Chaya and Bliss threatened to shoot him with his own rifle.”

“That wasn’t acid reflux,” she snapped, shooting Natches a disgusted smirk. “That was because he found that hunters’ stand in his woods and he was convinced everyone in the known world knew better than to hunt on his property, so of course it had to be a sniper instead. His own paranoia was his damned problem.”

Her cousin straightened in his chair in outrage, emerald eyes gleaming like hard, cold gems between lashes so thick and lush most men would be embarrassed by them. Instead, Natches used them shamelessly, whether he was charming his wife or issuing one of his icy promises.

“The acid reflux thing is the reason I was out in the woods to begin with,” Natches pointed out—and she so knew better than to trust that innocent expression on his face. “I felt the need to check out the property just in case it was a warning of danger. I’ve made a few enemies, you know.”

“Deliberately,” she charged sharply.

“Deliberately?” Those thick lashes surrounded eyes that widened in supposed outrage. “Come on, Lyrica, I’ve been a good boy for a lot of years now. Chaya’s a damned good keeper, I’ll have you know. I can even move about in society without too much trouble,” he informed her with deliberately insulting amusement.

“You’re a fucking menace to society, Natches,” she retorted furiously. “Don’t pull that with me.”

“Hey, that was a lot of years ago.” Natches glared back at her. “I haven’t been a menace to anyone but my wife and child since Bliss was born, I’ll have you know.”

“What do you call torturing me and my sisters?”

“My god-given right as Dawg’s cousin,” he said with a heavy frown, his expression filled with conviction. “And don’t think he wouldn’t do the same if you were my sister. You and your sisters belong to us, just like our kids do. We can torture you all we like. That doesn’t mean we’ll allow anyone else that privilege.”

He was making her crazy. Dawg and Rowdy just sat with their heads lowered, the expression on their faces one of long-suffering patience as Natches demanded attention. Brogan Campbell was watching with narrow-eyed curiosity, while Graham watched with simple, astounded disbelief.

Evidently, he’d just not had enough experience dealing with the three Mackays at once. This was an education for him. And no doubt the death of any chance she might have had at a relationship with him.

“I might as well be your daughter for all the peace I get,” she pointed out, almost shaking in anger now. “Your poor child will likely join a convent just to find some peace.”

Natches’s eyes narrowed on her, the emerald gleaming between his heavy lashes in venomous contempt.

“Oh hell, come on, Lyrica,” he drawled bitterly. “Stop fucking teasing me here. You and I both know I’ll never get that damned lucky.”

The F-bomb? He dared to use a word he knew would have his wife chewing his ass for hours, just to distract her from the situation?

Oh, classic Natches, and she so wasn’t fooled.

“Whoa! Time out here, kids.” Chaya jumped in at that point, her husband’s use of the F-bomb clearly concerning her, just as Natches had anticipated.

“She started it.” Natches turned on his wife, his arm flying out as he pointed a finger at Lyrica as though he were five years old.

Chaya rolled her eyes. “No doubt, sweetheart,” she agreed with placating patience. “Could you put aside the inner child now and let the man out to play again?”

His lips twisted into a little snarl, but his arm lowered as he settled back in his chair with a glare in Lyrica’s direction.

God, could this get any more incredible?

“You know, the three of you are going to cause me to move to Lexington just to get some peace,” she informed them all as she rose from her chair. “I think I’ve had enough Mackay explanations for the night. You’ve exhausted me more than both attempts on my life have managed to do so far.”

It was no more than the truth.

“Well, look on the bright side—I promised not to hit Graham again, even knowing you’re going to be sharing his bed here,” Natches stated sarcastically as she turned to leave. “You have a free pass to be bad for letting him protect you for us.”

She froze.

She heard Graham’s muttered curse and Chaya’s groan clearly, and she tried counting to ten before turning back to Natches.

She made it to five.

“Letting him protect me for you?” She swung around on him furiously. “No, cousin of mine, I don’t have a free pass to any damned thing. Both of us know exactly where it’s going to end, just as we know you’ll wait until all this is over then think you can hit him again just because the danger is gone, then stick your nose right back into my life again. And don’t even bother thinking that I believe this magnanimous gesture toward Graham is anything more than it is. It’s just your own inability to force him out of the situation and your knowledge that I’ll probably only end up doing what both Eve and Piper did and try to hide the fact that I’m sleeping with him from the three of you once it happens.”

Natches just rolled his eyes at her. “You think you know us all so well.” He flicked his fingers at Dawg and Rowdy, and the other two men covered their faces with their hands in defeat as he ignored their hushed orders to just “shut the fuck up, Natches.”