Hard Mated

  “You follow me anyway. Why should I bother?”

  “I scented you fighting the shift even as you drove away. It’s getting harder, isn’t it?”

  Iona tried to ignore the stab of fear his words gave her. “Why can’t you leave me alone? If anyone finds out I’m Shifter . . .”

  She knew exactly what they’d do. The human Shifter bureau would slap a Collar on her without listening to her protests, strip Iona of all her rights, and keep her in quarantine before releasing her to whatever Shifter they assigned to keep her under control. Three guesses as to who that Shifter would be.

  And who the hell knew what they’d do to Iona’s mother, who’d kept the fact that Iona was half Shifter quiet all this time.

  “I can’t leave you alone. You’re in my jurisdiction, my responsibility. And you’re losing control, aren’t you?”

  Iona shivered with more than anger. His long body was hard on hers, muscles gleaming with sweat in the moonlight. Eric’s living strength made the wild thing in her want to respond.

  “I was hung over,” she said. “I’m not like this every day.”

  Eric lowered his head and inhaled, his nose touching her throat. “You will be soon. Your mating need is high and getting stronger.”

  That need pounded through her, tried to make Iona’s body rise to his. A male, ready for you—take him!

  “What I do is none of your business,” Iona managed to say. “Leave me the hell alone. My life has been fine so far without you in it.”

  “But I’m in it now.” His voice was deep and rumbling, almost a purr. The tattoo that wound down his arm kept drawing her gaze, and she so much wanted to touch it . . .

  For Eric’s part, he was barely holding on to his self-control. Iona’s scent was that of a female Feline who’d reached her fertile years, a little over thirty by human standards, a few years past cub by Shifter.

  This female Feline didn’t know how to control her pheromones, didn’t realize she was broadcasting her availability to every Shifter male far and wide. She might as well hold up a flashing sign.

  Good thing Eric was so disciplined, still mourning his mate lost long ago, so uninterested in mating. Right?

  Or he’d be hard as a rock, wanting to say to hell with it and take her. They were alone in the middle of nowhere, and Eric was within his rights to take whatever stray adult female wandered into his territory.

  He didn’t necessarily have to mate-claim her. As clan leader as well as pride leader, he could father cubs on a lone female belonging to no pride or clan if he wanted to. For the good of the clan, for the strength of his pride. So he could say.

  But those had been the rules in the wild. Shifters were tamer, now, civilized. Living together in a community, in harmony. And all that crap.

  Eric’s instincts said, Screw the rules. She’s unmated and unclaimed. By rights, she’s fair game, and I found her. That makes her mine.

  Wouldn’t that be sweet? Iona Duncan had a face that was pure Celtic, her hair black as the night sky, her eyes the light ice blue of her ancestors. Shifters had been created about the time the Nordic invaders would have been subduing Celts in northern Scotland, and some of that mixture had gotten into Iona.

  Now her soft but strong body was under his, and her blue eyes held longing, oceans of it.

  “Does it hurt?” Eric asked in a gentler tone.

  “Having a big Shifter male resting his weight on my wrists? I’d say yes.”

  Eric wanted to laugh. He liked the challenge in her, liked that she wasn’t cringing, timid, and submissive. Untrained, yes; terrified, no.

  “I mean the mating need,” Eric said. “It’s rising in you, and you can’t stop it. That’s why you’re out here, why you’ve been running around like a crazy thing. You want to be wild, to taste the wind. To hunt. To feel the fear in you flow to the innocent creatures out there, to make them fear you.”

  Iona stopped squirming, her eyes going still. Eric read the hunger in her, the need to find a male, to mate in wild frenzy for days. Iona wasn’t stopped by a Collar. Her instincts would flow like fire. Untamed.

  Eric’s own need rose in response. He wanted to kiss that fire, to taste the freedom in her that was now only a memory to him.

  He nuzzled the line of her hair, already knowing her scent, already familiar with it.

  “I’ll take care of you,” he said. “You’ll become part of my pride, and I’ll look after you. Me and my sister and my son. We’ll take care of you from now on.”

  Iona’s glare returned. “I don’t want to be part of your pride. They’d put that Collar on me.” Her frenzied gaze went to the chain fused to Eric’s neck, the Celtic knot resting on his throat. “It’s painful, isn’t it? When the Collar goes on?”

  “Yes.” Eric couldn’t lie. He remembered the agony when the Collar had locked around his throat, every second of it, though it had been twenty years ago now. The Collars hurt anew whenever a Shifter’s violent nature rose within him—the Collar shocked so hard it knocked said Shifter flat on his ass for a while.

  “Why would you want me to experience that?” Iona asked. “You say you want to take care of me, but you want me to go through taking the Collar?”

  “No, I don’t.” And if Eric did things right, she wouldn’t have to wear a Collar, ever.

  The urge to take Iona far away, to hide her somewhere from prying eyes, to protect her from the world was making him crazy. Protect the mate was the instinct that drove all males.

  Eric caressed her wrists where he held them down. “If you don’t acknowledge the Shifter, if you don’t learn how to control what’s going on inside you, you’re going to go feral.”

  “Feral?” Her sable brows drew down. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means what it sounds like. The beast in you takes over, and you forget what it is to be human, even in your human form. You’ll live only to kill and to mate. You’ll start resenting your family for trying to keep you home. You’ll try to get away from them. You might even hurt them.”

  Iona looked stunned. “I’d never do that.”

  “You won’t mean to, but you will. You can keep them safe if you learn how to be Shifter and live with Shifters. I won’t let humans know anything about you until the Collar is on you, and you’re ready.”

  “My point is that humans should never have to know I’m Shifter. No one’s ever suspected, but they will if an asshole Shifter keeps following me around.”

  Eric clamped down on her wrists, at the end of his patience. “If you go feral, they might not bother Collaring you. They’ll just shoot you like an animal, and your mother will go to prison for not reporting your existence. Is that really what you want?”

  He felt her fear reaction, but Iona kept up her glare. “I’m half human. Won’t that keep me from going feral?”

  “Not necessarily. Sometimes the human side helps. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

  “I’m not giving up my entire life to live with you in a ghetto because you say I might go crazy,” Iona said. “I’ll risk it.”

  Eric growled. “I can’t let you go on living without protection.”

  Her eyes widened. “How do you plan to protect me? Abduct me and lock me in your house? What would the human police say to that?”

  Taking her home and keeping her there was exactly what Eric wanted to do. At any other time, he’d simply do it. Iona was getting out of control, and she needed help.

  But Shiftertown might not be the safest place for her at the moment, now that the idiot human government had decided—to save money—to shut down a northern Nevada Shiftertown and relocate all those Shifters to Eric’s Shiftertown. The humans, in their ignorance, had decided that the new Shifters would simply be absorbed under Eric’s leadership.

  What the humans didn’t understand—in spite of Eric talking himself blue to explain—was that Shifters of both Shiftertowns were used to a certain hierarchy and couldn’t change it overnight. The other Shiftertown leader was being forced t
o step down a few rungs under Eric, which wasn’t going over well, especially since that leader was a Feline-hating Lupine.

  Eric at least had persuaded the humans to let him meet the other leader, Graham McNeil, face-to-face before the new Shifters moved down here. Eric had found McNeil to be a disgruntled, old-fashioned Shifter, furious that the humans were forcing him to submit to Eric’s rule.

  McNeil was going to be trouble. He already had been, demanding more meetings with humans without Eric, insisting that Eric’s Shifters got turned out of their houses and crammed in with others so McNeil’s Shifters wouldn’t have to wait for the new housing to be built.

  McNeil was going to challenge for leadership—Eric had known that before the man opened his mouth. McNeil’s Shiftertown had been all Lupine, and his Lupines were less than thrilled to learn that they had to adapt to living with bears and Felines.

  And in the middle of all this, a young, fertile female with the rising need to mate was running around loose and unprotected.

  Iona struggled to sit up again. It went against Eric’s every instinct to lift himself from the cushion of her body, but he did it.

  She leaned against the rock wall and scraped her hair back from her face. Goddess, she was sexy, bare breasted in the moonlight, lifting midnight hair from her sharp-boned face.

  Naked and beautiful, filling Eric’s brain with wanting. And if he did this right, she might provide the answer to some of his Shiftertown problems.

  “I was coming to see you tonight for a reason,” Eric said. “Not just to track you down. I came to ask you to have Duncan Construction bid on the housing project to expand Shiftertown.”

  Iona stared at him in surprise, letting go of the hair she’d been smoothing. “Why would I want to do that?”

  “Because I need someone I can trust to build these houses. Shifter houses aren’t just places for Shifters to live. I need them constructed in a way that’s best for Shifters. It’s important.”

  She looked curious in spite of her caution. “What do you mean, in a way that’s best for Shifters?”

  Eric couldn’t explain—yet. He’d have to wait before he revealed to her that Shifter houses didn’t simply hold Shifter families. They held secrets of Shifter clans that humans could never know about.

  Even McNeil would need to protect the secrets of his pack, probably why the man wanted to move into the existing Shifter houses—they already had the necessary spaces. Eric had planned to modify the new houses the same way he and his Shifters had modified the old houses, a little bit, over time, so the humans never realized they were doing it. But Graham’s Shifters didn’t have the patience, and it would be smarter to do it right away. Using Iona’s company and guiding her through the process could get it done quicker, and help both her and Shiftertown.

  “I can’t tell you until you win the contract.” Eric said. He met her gaze, not disguising anything in his. “Please.”

  End of Chapter One

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  Pride Mates

  Shifters Unbound

  Book One

  by Jennifer Ashley

  Chapter One

  A girl walks into a bar . . .

  No. A human girl walks into a Shifter bar . . .

  The bar was empty, not yet open to customers. It looked normal--windowless walls painted black, rows of glass bottles, the smell of beer and stale air. But it wasn't normal, standing on the edge of Shiftertown like it did.

  Kim told herself she had nothing to be afraid of. They're tamed. Collared. They can't hurt you.

  "You the lawyer?" a man washing glasses asked her. He was human, not Shifter. No strange, slitted pupils, no Collar to control his aggression, no air of menace. When Kim nodded, he gestured with his cloth to a door at the end of the bar. "Knock him dead, sweetheart."

  "I'll try to keep him alive." Kim pivoted and stalked away, feeling his gaze on her back.

  She knocked on the door marked "Private," and a man on the other side growled, "Come."

  I just need to talk to him. Then I'm done, on my way home. A trickle of moisture rolled between Kim's shoulder blades as she made herself open the door and walk inside.

  A man leaned back in a chair behind a messy desk, a sheaf of papers in his hands. His booted feet were propped on the desk, his long legs a feast of blue jeans over muscle. He was a Shifter all right--thin black and silver Collar against his throat, hard, honed body, midnight-black hair, definite air of menace. When Kim entered, he stood, setting the papers aside.

  Damn. He rose to a height of well over six feet and gazed at Kim with eyes blue like the morning sky. His body wasn't only honed, it was hot--big chest, wide shoulders, tight abs, firm biceps against a form-fitting black T-shirt.

  "Kim Fraser?"

  "That's me."

  With old-fashioned courtesy, he placed a chair in front of the desk and motioned her to it. Kim felt the heat of his hand near the small of her back as she seated herself, smelled the scent of soap and male musk.

  "You're Mr. Morrissey?"

  The Shifter sat back down, returned his motorcycle boots to the top of the desk, and laced his hands behind his head. "Call me Liam."

  The lilt in his voice was unmistakable. Kim put that with his black hair, impossibly blue eyes, and exotic name. "You're Irish."

  He smiled a smile that could melt a woman at ten paces. "And who else would be running a pub?"

  "But you don't own it."

  Kim could have bitten out her tongue as soon as she said it. Of course he didn't own it. He was a Shifter.

  His voice went frosty, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothing out. "You're Brian Smith's lawyer, are you? I'm afraid I can't help you much. I don't know Brian well, and I don't know anything about what happened the night his girlfriend was murdered. It's a long time ago, now."

  Disappointment bit her, but Kim had learned not to let discouragement stop her when she needed to get a job done. "Brian called you the 'go-to' guy. As in, when Shifters are in trouble, Liam Morrissey helps them out."

  Liam shrugged, muscles moving the bar's logo on his T-shirt. "True. But Brian never came to me. He got into his troubles all by himself."

  "I know that. I'm trying to get him out of trouble."

  Liam's eyes narrowed, pupils flicking to slits as he retreated to the predator within him. Shifters liked to do that when assessing a situation, Brian had told her. Guess who was the prey?

  Brian had done the predator-prey thing with Kim at first. He'd stopped when he began to trust her, but Kim didn't think she'd ever get used to it. Brian was her first Shifter client, the first Shifter, in fact, she'd ever seen outside a television news story. Twenty years Shifters had been acknowledged to exist, but Kim had never met one.

  It was well known that they lived in their enclave on the east side of Austin, near the old airport, but she'd never come over to check them out. Some human women did, strolling the streets just outside Shiftertown, hoping for glimpses--and more--of the Shifter men who were reputed to be strong, gorgeous, and well endowed. Kim had once heard two women in a restaurant murmuring about their encounter with a Shifter male the night before. The phrase "Oh, my God," had been used repeatedly. Kim was as curious about them as anyone else, but she'd never summoned the courage to go near Shiftertown herself.

  Then suddenly she was assigned the case of the Shifter accused of murdering his human girlfriend ten months ago. This was the first time in twenty years Shifters had caused trouble, the first time one had been put on trial. The public, outraged by the killing, wanted Shifters punished, pointed fingers at those who'd claimed the Shifters were tamed.

  However, after Kim had met Brian, she'd determined that she wouldn't do a token defense. She believed his innocence, and she wanted to win. There wasn't much case law on Shifters because there'd never been any trials, at least none on record. This was to be a well-publicized trial, Kim's opportunity to make a mark, to set precedent.

  Liam's eyes stayed on her, p
upils still slitted. "You're a brave one, aren't you? To defend a Shifter?"

  "Brave, that's me." Kim crossed her legs, pretending to relax. They picked up on your nervousness, people said. They know when you're scared, and they use your fear. "I don't mind telling you, this case had been a pain in the ass from the get-go."

  "Humans think anything involving Shifters is a pain in the ass."

  Kim shook her head. "I mean, it's been a pain in the ass because of the way it's been handled. The cops nearly had Brian signing a confession before I could get to the interrogation. At least I put a stop to that, but I couldn't get bail for him, I've been blocked by the prosecutors right and left every time I want review the evidence. Talking to you is a long shot, but I'm getting desperate. So if you don't want to see a Shifter go down for this crime, Mr. Morrissey, a little cooperation would be appreciated."

  The way he pinned her with his eyes, never blinking, made her want to fold in on herself. Or run. That's what prey did--ran. And then predators chased them, cornered them.

  What did this man do when he cornered his prey? He wore the Collar; he could do nothing. Right?

  Kim imagined herself against a wall, his hands on either side of her, his hard body hemming her in . . . Heat curled down her spine.

  Liam took his feet down and leaned forward, arms on the desk. "I haven't said I won't help you, lass." His gaze flicked to her blouse, whose buttons had slipped out of their top holes during her journey through Austin traffic and July heat. "Is Brian happy with you defending him? You like Shifters that much?"

  Kim resisted reaching for the buttons. She could almost feel his fingers on them, undoing each one, and her heart beat faster.

  "It's nothing to do with who I like. I was assigned to him, but I happen to think Brian's innocent. He shouldn't go down for something he didn't do." Kim liked her anger, because it covered up how edgy this man made her. "Besides, Brian's the only Shifter I've ever met, so I don't know whether I like them, do I?"

  Liam smiled again. His eyes returned to normal, and now he looked like any other gorgeous, hard-bodied, blue-eyed Irishman. "You, love, are--"