Primal Bonds

“The first.” Sean drew a shuddering breath. His eyes changed again, the Shifter in him wanting to roar his triumph. He’d touched her first. Before any other male could claim her.

  Sean fought his way back to sanity. “Then why don’t you stop me?”

  Andrea’s foot glided up to his thigh, her light touch erotic. “Because I don’t want to.”

  “Sean?” Kim’s voice cut through the darkness, followed by Connor’s.

  “Sean! Is Andrea all right? Where are you? ... Oh.”

  Connor and Kim stopped, out of breath, to stare at the couple on the ground. Sean moved protectively to cover Andrea; she was small enough to be hidden under him. Kim clapped her hand to her mouth and spun around, her laughter snorting out of her, but Connor gave a happy whoop. “Did she accept the claim then, Sean? When’s the ceremony?”

  Sean growled. “Be off with you before you embarrass her.”

  “It’s all right.” Andrea said to Connor around the wall of Sean’s body. “We’re just playing, Connor. Be a love and fetch some clothes from my house?”

  “I’ll do it.” Kim started back across the yard. She was shaking as she walked, and when she was out of earshot—for a human—she shouted with laughter.

  “Stop gawping, lad,” Sean said.

  “Get a move on, Sean,” Connor said. “Our house needs more females. And cubs. Our family’s in danger of dying out.”

  “Don’t be daft, lad. I can’t very well persuade her to do the ceremony with you standing over us in the mud.”

  Connor heaved a sigh of aggrieved youth. “Fine, fine. Just hurry it up, will you?” He spun around and loped back toward the Morrissey house.

  “And get those burgers off the grill before they burn the house down.”

  “Already did it,” Connor sent back over his shoulder, and then the back door banged behind him. He’d probably already eaten one too.

  “Why don’t you shift back?” Sean asked Andrea. He was looking down at her, eyes glittering with the anger of a male interrupted from doing a favorite male thing. “You can shift back and run off home. You didn’t need Kim to fetch your clothes.”

  Andrea smiled at him. “Maybe I just wanted to have a few more minutes alone with you.”

  “Don’t tempt me, love.” Sean’s voice shook. He leaned to her, nuzzled her cheek, breath hot. “I want much more than a few minutes.”

  Andrea licked his chin. “Then don’t waste them,” she said, and kissed him.

  Sean let himself get buried in her kiss, his mouth roving her throat and neck, down to her soft, tight breasts. But Kim was far too swift in fetching Andrea’s clothes, and they had to part, Sean shifting to save himself embarrassment from just how damned desperately hard he was.

  “Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?” Andrea demanded half an hour later.

  Andrea had been hot and horny while Sean walked her the few steps home and accompanied her upstairs. Once in her bedroom, instead of pursuing their interrupted mating, Sean shifted back to his human form and dressed himself. He’d laid the Sword of the Guardian across the top of Andrea’s dresser, and now he’d opened a drawer and started removing her underwear.

  “Sean.” Andrea planted her hands on her hips. “I asked, what the hell are you doing? Trying to figure out what size I wear?”

  “I’m cleaning out a space for my own clothes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m moving in here, love. While you’re dreaming up Fae warriors, I need to be with you to stop the dreams.”

  Andrea huffed out a breath. “Glory can do that. I’ll have her sleep in here with me.”

  “Glory’s not here, is she? Trust me, she’s off looking for Dad, and when she finds him, she’ll hole up with him awhile.”

  “What? Leaving poor, helpless me all unprotected?”

  “She knows you’re protected. By me.”

  Andrea snapped her brows together. “You can sleep in the spare room.”

  “That’s not on, love. I can’t wake you up if I’m not sleeping with you. If you’re summoning things or they’re using your dreams to make a hole from Faerie, I’m going to be right next to you to stop it.”

  Goddess help me. Sean cuddling up to her the last couple of nights had warmed and soothed her, but what they’d done in the clearing had left her burning. The memory of his firm arousal pressing to her so-slick opening hadn’t faded, and in fact excited her even through her anger. If he got into bed with her tonight, she’d never be able to hold herself back. She’d give in to him completely, and then the mating ceremony would be a mere formality. Shifters did have casual sex without mating—all the time—but this wouldn’t be casual, and both of them knew it.

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  Sean turned from the dresser. “To keep you safe. What else? And to figure out that’s going on. That Fae appeared in the trees while I was home grilling burgers. No warnings—he was just there.”

  “Don’t look at me; I don’t know why.”

  “That’s why I’m going to hang around you, to find out why.”

  Andrea sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands.

  One second later, she sagged against him on the mattress, his thigh against hers, his arm around her shoulder. “We’ll figure this out, love,” he said. “I won’t let you be hurt.”

  “That’s not it. I mean, that’s partly it. I thought that when I came here, my troubles would be over. Instead, I’m more confused than ever. I have a Feline who likes to climb through my window and go through my underwear, I have nightmares that scare the shit out of me, and now a Faerie creature pops into existence because I dream his voice. Instead of peace and quiet and shopping with my aunt, I’m shot at by humans and pursued by a Feline who’s on the edge of mating frenzy.”

  “Welcome to Shiftertown,” Sean said. “And I don’t want to force you, love, no matter how frenzied I am.”

  “You’re a Shifter male. It’s what Shifter males do.”

  Sean raised his brows instead of growling in rage, showing her once again that the unreadable Sean wasn’t behaving like he was supposed to. He took away his comforting embrace and rose from the bed. “Those bloody Lupines that raised you must have been right a piece of work.”

  “My stepfather is a kind man.” A dart of pain pierced her heart. Her stepfather, Terry, wasn’t strong; Andrea knew that, and yet he’d been simple and loving. She missed his warm smile, his embrace, even the way he liked to put onions on absolutely everything he ate. She’d cried and clung to him when he’d put her on the bus in Colorado, leaving behind the only Shifter who loved her. But Terry hadn’t been allowed to come with her, by both human and Shifter law.

  “The fact that you didn’t run to this Jared, tail between your legs, makes you remarkable, love,” Sean was saying.

  “Huh. According to my pack, it made me ungrateful, untrustworthy, defiant, and bitchy. They thought my mating with Jared would be good for me, because I’d be moving up. The fact that Jared is a sexist, sadistic pig didn’t matter very much. Except to me.”

  “Andrea.”

  Andrea looked up in surprise. Usually Sean called her love or lass, and never spoke to her in that quiet voice. “What?”

  Sean watched her with a guarded expression. “You shouldn’t have been able to resist Jared at all. Not with you so low in the pack. Not with him so high in the hierarchy and that determined. And you’re not afraid of me, are you?”

  Not in the way he meant. Andrea was afraid of the way she reacted to Sean—the wanting that beat through her blood whenever he was near. Sean brought out the playful side of her as no other male ever had. She wanted to tease him, flirt with him, buy him underwear, tumble with him in the woods. She wanted him to chase her; she wanted to turn the tables on him when he caught her and take him down. Then she wanted to make love to him—deep, passionate, longing love, which she would have done in the clearing if they hadn’t been interrupted.

  Sean was trying to pin her with his dominant
stare, his blue eyes hard and hot. She met that stare, which—he was right—she shouldn’t have been able to. Not according to all Shifter instincts and laws of the pack.

  “No,” she said. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  “And that’s what makes you unusual. And dangerous.”

  “I’m not dangerous.” Andrea drew her legs up under her.

  “It made you dangerous to them. To all packs in your old Shiftertown.”

  “All I know is that I don’t want anything to do with them. Ever again.”

  “So you invoked a Shifter law that says a woman can refuse an insistent mate-claim by leaving the pack and heading off on her own. Clever, love.”

  “Jared still thinks it’s the old days, when a female didn’t have much chance of making it outside her pack. But these days it just means moving to a different Shiftertown. Jared didn’t think of that.”

  “Smart of you.”

  “More like desperate.”

  Sean sat down beside her again. The bed felt so right with him on it with her, as though it had been missing something until he arrived. “You have no more need to be desperate,” he said. “I wish you’d believe you’re safe here.”

  Andrea slanted him a smile. “Except for the second-in-command who is obsessed with my underwear.”

  An answering spark lit his eyes. “I’d say you were obsessed with mine, sweetheart.” He cocked a brow. “Smiley faces?”

  “Hey, I thought they’d look good on you.”

  “And you think my ass is fine, do you?”

  “Oh, yeah. There’s a reason all those women rub themselves on something when you walk by.”

  Sean blinked in surprise. “You’re dreaming that.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m jealous and possessive.” She mimed scratching with her claws.

  Sean smiled. “I’m liking the sound of that.”

  “Of course you do, feral cat.”

  Sean pulled her up to him and gave her a deep, heartrending kiss before he got to his feet. “Don’t go anywhere, love. I’m off home to grab my stuff; then I’m coming back here and locking us in.”

  “Promise?”

  Sean’s next kiss curled her toes. “That’s a definite promise, love.”

  Later in the night, with Sean curled behind her in the bed—wearing the cupid’s arrow briefs and a black T-shirt—a twig scraped across Andrea’s window.

  Andrea. Come to me.

  Andrea lifted her head and looked across the room. The window was tightly closed, the curtains shut, but moonlight streamed through a gap in the fabric.

  The voice whispered in her head. Andrea.

  Andrea looked down at Sean. He was frowning in his sleep, but he didn’t move. Slowly and carefully, Andrea slipped out of the bed, grabbed her clothes, and left the room.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Sean woke, knowing Andrea was gone. It wasn’t only the empty bed that gave him the clue; it was the absence of warmth, of the feel of her, the scent of her.

  Not only that, she’d left the house. The glow of the clock next to the bed told him it was a little before three in the morning, and the tingle that had announced the presence of the Fae was back in a big way.

  Sean stripped out of his underwear on the way down the stairs and shifted as soon as he unlocked and opened the back door. Andrea’s scent was clear as soon as he was a wildcat, her scent trail glowing like moonlight.

  He tracked her to the precise spot where he’d found the Fae earlier today. The Fae warrior was back, and Andrea stood in front of him. She’d dressed in jeans and a sweater—looking very human—and she was reaching out to touch the Fae man’s hand.

  A snarl left Sean’s throat as he leapt at Andrea and knocked her away. She yelled as she went down, and she started fighting. Sean shifted back to human form so he could lock his hands around her wrists.

  “Get off me, Sean.”

  “What the hell is the matter with you? If you touch him, he can cross. He’s a fucking Fae.”

  “He’s my father.”

  Sean stopped, staring openmouthed. Andrea glowered up at him, gray eyes beautiful and enraged.

  “That’s right,” she said. “The man who sired me.”

  Sean snapped his head up to look at the Fae, but he was gone, the clearing empty. Sean softened his hold on Andrea. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that before?”

  “I didn’t know before. He’d just revealed it before you came blundering in. Now, will you please let me up?”

  Sean got lithely to his feet and pulled her up beside him. “Why the bloody hell did you run out here to see him alone?”

  “I wanted to know why a Fae wanted to talk to me so bad. I knew you’d never let me out if I woke you.”

  “Damn right I wouldn’t have. What else did he tell you?”

  “Nothing. You interrupted.”

  Her anger was strong, but so was Sean’s. “Just because a Fae says he’s your dad doesn’t make it true. You can’t trust the bastards.”

  Andrea jerked from his grasp. “Watch it. I’m one of those bastards.”

  “Not what I meant, and you know it. I don’t think of you as Fae anyway.”

  Now her gray eyes became chips of ice. “Well, I am Fae. You want to mate with me and sleep with me, but you’ve only seen the Shifter side of me. There’s another side, and it’s as much a part of me as the Shifter is. You don’t get one part or the other; you get the whole package.”

  Sean gentled his voice. “I know that, love.”

  “Are you going to run to Liam now, tell him everything?”

  “He’ll need to know.”

  “Go on then.” She spun around and marched back to the house without waiting for him.

  “Damn it, Andrea.”

  Andrea heard the frustration in Sean’s voice but didn’t look back. She couldn’t. If she stayed near Sean, he’d see the worry in her, which had sprung there the moment her father—if he was her father—had spoken to her. The Fae had not only claimed to be her father, but he’d asked Andrea to bring him the Sword of the Guardian.

  Under roiling clouds and cold the next day, Andrea studied her ley line maps with renewed intensity.

  She was alone to do it. Sean had left as soon as it was light, kissing her good-bye but not bothering to tell her what he was off to do. Glory had appeared after breakfast, but she’d been moody and unhappy, Dylan nowhere in sight. After lunch, Glory had reemerged from her bedroom in tight black leather pants, a lacy blouse, mile-high shoes, and perfectly coiffed hair, her body doused with perfume. She told Andrea with a sweet smile not to wait up and drove off in her small car.

  The day was full of clouds and wind and rain, which matched Andrea’s mood. Andrea’s ley line maps weren’t helping—she had traced the line through the river valley that wound through Austin but not the offshoots of that line. Since she didn’t have the transportation to do it herself, the next best thing would be to see whether someone else had mapped them, but she’d need a computer to find that out. Though Glory had an old PC, not all Shifters were approved for Internet access, and then they were only allowed dial-up. But if Andrea used Sean’s computer, she’d have to tell him why she wanted to and get into explanations that made her uncomfortable.

  Then again, Sean wasn’t home. Liam had ridden off to do whatever Shiftertown leaders did, and Connor was at school. Andrea put everything back into her folder and went next door.

  Kim was home by herself, working in the kitchen. She’d started a law firm to represent Shifters and also to study human-Shifter law and try to change some of the inequities Shifters had gotten stuck with. It was a slow process, but Kim and her friends were trying. Kim had an office, but some days Kim found it easier to work from home.

  Kim was happy to lead Andrea upstairs to Sean’s bedroom and his computer. Sean’s room was small, compact, and neat, except for a pile of clothes crumpled near the bed. Andrea felt a tingle of Fae magic from the polished wooden sword case on his dresser, but she knew without look
ing that the sword wasn’t in it. Sean had taken it with him wherever he’d gone.

  The computer was old, and Andrea expected it to be of limited use, but the connection went through quickly and the Internet was open for business. Andrea blinked in surprise at the speed. Shifters were only allowed dial-up connections, no cable, no DSL.

  Kim smiled at her confusion. “Last year I helped out a Shifter who is very good at computers. He and Sean ‘enhanced’ this one.”

  “That’s Shifters for you,” Andrea said, typing in her search strings. “They won’t break laws, but they’ll bend them into all kinds of weird shapes.”

  Kim laughed. “A good way of putting it.” She patted Andrea’s shoulders and left her to it.

  Some local Wiccans had mapped ley lines in the Austin area. The lines veined out from the riverbed, one running straight down Lamar, one snaking under the university’s main campus. Long ago, another had followed what was now Mopac, but that one had withered and died when the railroad with its iron rails that had been laid there.

  Andrea enlarged and printed out maps, tucking them into her file folder.

  “Don’t forget to delete your search history,” Kim said from the door, as Andrea finished up.

  “Sorry?” Andrea stared at the computer. She’d used the Internet before, but her access to computers had been limited to the two at the community center in her Shiftertown, a place she hadn’t visited often.

  “If you don’t, Sean will know what you were looking up. I take it you don’t want him to?”

  “I can erase that?”

  “Yes, but if you simply erase the whole thing, he’ll know you were looking for stuff you don’t want him to know about. And then he’ll bug you to tell him.”

  “No kidding.” Andrea glared at the plastic box. “Where is Sean, anyway?”

  Kim looked surprised as she slid into the chair and started clicking things. “He left early this morning, I supposed on Shifter business. He didn’t tell you?”

  “He sleeps with me, but he’s not exactly verbose. He expects full disclosure from me but doesn’t return the favor.”