Primal Bonds

  “That’s a Shifter for you. Liam talks and talks and talks, and tells you nothing at all. The gift of Blarney, he calls it.” Kim smiled at the computer, her eyes filled with love for her talkative mate. “This will be fun. I’ll delete your trail and load it with legal questions. Sean’s eyes glaze over when I talk about legal issues. Or I can fill in with searches for shoes. Or baby furniture.”

  “You’re a treasure, Kim.”

  “So they tell me. I won’t ask you what you’re trying to keep from Sean, but take some advice.” Kim looked up at Andrea with dark blue eyes that had seen and accepted much. “Trust Sean. He’s an amazing man, and there’s much more to him than he lets anyone see. He feels things, deeply.”

  Andrea had seen that already. “I know his brother’s death hit him hard and that Sean blames himself for it.”

  “It didn’t so much hit him hard as change his life. Sean was close to Kenny, and having to watch him die makes Sean doubly protective of everyone he cares about. Sean’s never said all this to me; but you live in the same house with someone a while, and you notice things.”

  And now Sean was trying to move in with Andrea. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  Kim and Andrea shared a hug, and Andrea departed with her maps.

  The most interesting thing she’d found, she thought as she descended, was that a ley line streaked right through the heart of Shiftertown.

  Not surprising, really. This entire area had fallen into disuse and urban decay long before it had become a Shiftertown. The Shifters had been put here precisely because no one wanted the real estate. In the twenty years since then, real estate a mile away had shot sky high, then dived again when the market crashed. But Shiftertown remained unchanged.

  A half-Fae human had worked with human governments to devise the Collars that kept Shifters tamed. Had he also advised humans where to put the Shiftertowns? Maybe he thought a bit of Fae magic running through it would keep Shifters quiet?

  It also could open a gate to Faerie.

  Andrea stashed her file in her room and then went back out to the place where she’d seen the Fae.

  The ley line, according to the maps, ran in a more or less straight line behind the houses on this street. Walnut trees, which caught the mists on still, wet days, towered overhead.

  Gates to Faerie were rare. There were places in the world, Andrea had learned, where the gates could always be found—in stone circles in northern Europe, near temples and other sacred places in South America, in deep canyons of the American Southwest, in the soaring mountains of Asia. Fae who knew the spells could cross between standing stones and other thin places in the fabric of the universe, but this ley line wasn’t that strong.

  But gates could be created with a burst of very strong magic along a ley line, or possibly through the dreams of someone loaded with Fae magic. The link to this Fae was Andrea and her nightmares.

  Andrea stood on the very spot the Fae man had appeared, closed her eyes and concentrated. Nothing. If there had been a gate here last night, it wasn’t here now.

  What had the Fae wanted? Was he really her father, and had he, after so many years, had a sudden jones to see his daughter?

  Not likely. He’d wanted the sword, and now Andrea was in a position to steal it for him.

  As a child, Andrea had envisioned her Fae father as a great prince, a beautiful man who would one day reach out from Faerie and take Andrea into his kingdom. There, she’d become a princess at his side. She’d wear gossamer robes and ride a beautiful white horse and be loved by one and all.

  As Andrea had grown older and learned more about the Fae, her childish dreams had died. As poorly as the other Shifters treated her, the Fae likely would be even more vicious to a half breed. Fae apparently didn’t like diluted blood, being very snobbish about breeding with “lesser” beings. Besides, Andrea had grown to love her stepfather deeply and couldn’t imagine him not being part of her life.

  So here she was, standing in a grove of trees in a Shiftertown far away from her beloved stepfather, trying to figure out whether the man she’d seen last night was her true father.

  Not likely. And damned if she would simply hand the Sword of the Guardian to a complete stranger because he claimed to be her long-lost papa.

  “Hey, Fae-girl.”

  Andrea snapped her eyes open to see four male Shifters drifting her way. One of them was a guy called Nate, who had a military haircut and build. He worked for Liam as a bodyguard and tracker or in situations when Liam needed extra muscle. Nate didn’t have much in the way of brains, but he was fiercely loyal to his clan leader, whoever it might be.

  He was also a shit who shared Jared’s idea that females should be kept shut away to be screwed as often as the male Shifter wanted, plus he thought half breeds should be neutered. He let his opinions be known to Andrea, though never in Sean’s hearing. Nate was at least that smart.

  Andrea hadn’t mentioned his shit-ness to Sean, because she refused to go running to him every time someone said something mean to her. Nate couldn’t do anything to her, because the mate-claim made Andrea off limits, and Nate knew it.

  Andrea folded her arms and stood her ground. She had a perfect right to wander back here, no need to scramble home because Nate and his bully-boys showed up.

  Nate didn’t like her blatant eye contact, but she refused to look away. “I heard you brought Ely Barry back from the dead,” he said.

  “He wasn’t dead,” Andrea said coolly. “He was almost dead. Big difference.”

  “I heard you stuck your hand above his crotch, and wham, he was all better.” Nate held up his finger. “I cut myself this morning. Want to touch my crotch and see if you can heal me?”

  Yuck. “Sorry. Not interested.”

  “Why not, sweetheart? Because the healing magic thing is all bullshit?”

  “No,” Andrea said. “Because you’re a dickhead.”

  Nate’s friends guffawed, and Nate’s look turned ugly. “You need to learn your place, Fae-bitch.”

  His eyes went white blue, but Andrea held her ground. If she broke gaze first, he’d establish his dominance over her, and then she’d never have any peace from him.

  “This is my place,” she said.

  Nate’s Collar emitted tiny sparks in his fury. “Morrissey only made the mate-claim to make himself look generous. The minute he dumps your ass, you are so screwed. Once he cuts you loose, I’ll fuck you until you remember you’re nothing but a submissive Lupine Fae-get.”

  Don’t look away. Glory wouldn’t look away. “A Lupine Fae-get whose healing ability might be your only hope for fixing your very small penis.”

  More snickers from his friends. They were enjoying the show, but Andrea had no illusion that they wouldn’t help him beat her if they thought they needed to.

  Nate’s Feline fangs extended. “I don’t care if you are the Guardian’s. You need to be taught who’s in charge, bitch.”

  Andrea still didn’t step back. In her old Shiftertown, if a dominant smacked a submissive, it was considered the submissive’s fault for provoking one higher in the food chain. So Andrea’s pack leader would say while Andrea’s ears rang with his hit. Andrea had never had learned to respect the hierarchy. But this was the Morrisseys’ Shiftertown, and she already knew the rules were a little different here. If Nate tried to discipline her, he’d be toast.

  That didn’t mean him starting for her, his eyes white, didn’t scare the crap out of her. She got ready to run.

  But Nate’s snarls abruptly broke off, and his friends moved a few paces back, sudden fear shining in their eyes. Released from Nate’s glare, Andrea whirled to see what had scared them.

  Dylan watched from a few yards behind her, the man doing nothing but standing there with his hands in his jacket pockets. The breeze ruffled his hair, but Dylan didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to.

  Nate swallowed. Without defiance, without offering words of explanation, he and his friends quietly turned around and walked ba
ck the way they came, the smell of their fear sharp.

  Of course, this left Andrea alone with the most frightening Shifter in Shiftertown, the man who could rip Andrea to pieces and walk away without breaking a sweat. She knew deep in her bones that if Dylan ever wanted to kill her, he would, never mind the Collar, never mind the rules, never mind his own son having claimed her. No piece of Fae technology or Shifter custom could stop Dylan Morrissey from doing whatever he damn-well pleased.

  Before she could speak, Dylan said to her, “I was looking for Glory. Have you seen her?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Andrea blew out her breath. “Glory? No, I thought she was meeting you.”

  Dylan’s eyes sharpened, and Andrea regretted her hasty answer. “Why did you think that?” he asked, voice edged.

  Because she went out all dressed up, like she was meeting a lover.

  “I don’t know. I just assumed ...”

  Dylan flicked his gaze down the row of trees but not before Andrea saw the flash of pain in his eyes. That surprised her. The way Glory told it, Dylan was the one with the casual interest in their relationship. He could take it or leave it, according to Glory.

  “Has she gone to see someone else?” he asked, not looking at Andrea.

  “Dylan, this is so not my business.”

  The predatory gaze fixed on her again. “Just answer the question.”

  “I haven’t the faintest idea. I swear to you.”

  “Then why did you think she was meeting me?”

  Goddess, he wasn’t going to let go of this. “Why not call her? I’m sure she’s just shopping or something.”

  “I did call. She didn’t pick up.”

  Andrea’s worry overrode any concern about herself. Humans were randomly shooting at Shifters; Glory had gone out alone; Glory wasn’t answering her phone.

  Andrea pulled her cell from her belt and tapped in Glory’s number. Glory answered after the first ring. “Hey, there!” she sang.

  Andrea turned around, walking a little away from Dylan. “Glory? Where are you? Dylan’s looking for you.”

  “Is he? Too bad. I’m busy.”

  Through the phone, Andrea heard music and laughter—deep, male, throaty laughter.

  “Where the hell are you?”

  “Having a good time.”

  “What am I supposed to tell Dylan?”

  Glory’s voice was muffled as though she’d turned to talk to someone else, then she said, “You tell Dylan that I’m not going to wait for him to get around to seeing me. Until he makes a mate-claim, I’ll go out as much as I want with whoever I want.”

  “I’m not telling him that! Do it yourself.”

  “Sorry, honey, gotta go.” Glory laughed at a male voice in the background, and the phone went quiet.

  “Glory. Shit.” Andrea clicked off, her heart sinking. She pivoted to face Dylan, wondering how much he’d overheard, and found Dylan gone. The clearing was empty, quiet, as though Dylan had never been there.

  Andrea scented him, though, male musk and anger. So much anger.

  Damn it. Andrea tried to tamp down her worry and went back to the Morrisseys to find Kim.

  “I’m pregnant, not an invalid,” Kim snapped. “I’m in better shape than I’ve been in years.”

  Andrea eyed the car keys in Kim’s hand, wondering if she could snatch them without hurting the woman. “I know that. But you have to understand. We’ve watched so many Shifter women die trying to have babies that we’re a little paranoid about it.”

  “I’m perfectly healthy. My gynecologist is amazed at how healthy I am.”

  “Yes, but, Kim, if you get sick or hurt on this little expedition—if you so much as skin your knee—Liam will disembowel me and play jump rope with my guts.” Andrea assessed the distance to the keys again. “Don’t make me wrestle you for them.”

  Kim heaved a sigh. “Liam has become so protective, it’s incredible. I mean, I like being cherished, but, sheesh.”

  “Liam’s terrified of losing you. My mother died trying to have another child. Trust me, I know how awful that is.”

  Kim deflated. She blew out another sigh and handed over the keys to her Mustang. “Fine. Go get her. But not a scratch on that car, do you hear me? I’ve seen the way Shifters drive.”

  “Sweet.” Andrea closed her hand over the keys. “I won’t hurt it a bit.”

  “What do I tell Sean when he comes home?”

  “That I stole your car and went joy riding. Or you can tell him the truth. I don’t care.” Andrea caught Kim in a hard hug. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.”

  She danced down the porch steps to the driveway and slid into the little sports car she’d been dying to try out since she’d arrived.

  Now to find Glory. Andrea didn’t have much to go on except Kim remembering Glory talking about a bar called Bronco’s in north Austin that she liked to go to. Kim had looked it up on Sean’s computer and printed a map to it.

  Andrea studied the map before she pulled out. Since coming to Austin, she had realized that directions to places here could consist of a bewildering array of turns and little jogs down tiny streets that connected to giant thoroughfares. In her old Shiftertown, “down the highway to the first left” had been the extent of the complication. Here, she needed a list of directions to get to the nearest gas station.

  She sped through downtown Austin and turned off on Lamar to head north. She tried to follow the map’s directions, but somewhere she took a wrong turn and found herself going back south on the wrong road. She cursed and looked for a street sign, but the next intersection was small, the street sign for some reason missing.

  A car full of human males pulled up next to her. She gave them a nervous glance, but though they were youngish, in their twenties, they looked more inclined to wear colorful shirts and party than shoot Shifters. They were probably from the university, taking a day off, legit or not. When they saw Andrea look at them, they began the male ritual of showing off.

  Peacocks. They were good-looking in a human way, and they obviously didn’t realize that Andrea was a Shifter. With her jacket zipped high against the cold, her sunglasses hiding her eyes from the glare, she could pass for human. She wondered what these guys would think if they knew she’d been alive for forty years already. Forty for a Shifter was still very young, the equivalent of a human in her early twenties. Plenty ripe for mating. Sean at nearly a hundred was in his prime, his thirties as humans would measure things.

  To her, these guys were still cubs. Older than Connor, yes, but not by much.

  “Nice car,” one in the backseat called to her.

  “Hey,” another said. “Want to go to Red’s with us?”

  Andrea smiled sweetly. “Sorry, I’m meeting a friend.”

  “Where? We’ll go there instead.”

  Glory would eat these guys alive. “Do you know how to get to Bronco’s?”

  The two in the back looked blank, but the guy in the front passenger seat became suddenly grim-faced. “You don’t want to go there. That’s a Shifter place.”

  Andrea shrugged. “I’m curious.”

  “You meeting your friend there?” Front-seat guy gave her a onceover. “What are you, a Shifter groupie?”

  “Not hardly,” Andrea said.

  “Those places are bad, girl. Y’all shouldn’t go.”

  Andrea shrugged again. “Just tell me how to get back to Lamar?”

  “Not from around here?” The young man patted the car as the light changed. “Follow us.”

  Andrea let them pull ahead. If they led her back to the right street, fine. If they tried to get her lost, she’d drive away and call Kim for help. The day she couldn’t handle herself against four puny human males—unarmed—would be a bad day, indeed.

  They were at least honest and took her back to Lamar. They signaled her to follow them north on it, and she pulled in behind them. A couple of turns later, and she found a small square building with a sign above its door that read “Bronco’s.?
??

  Bronco’s was low-key, no beer signs in the windows, no advertising that this was a good place to get fine drinks. According to Andrea’s map, the bar was about a mile from the small Shiftertown that lay on the north edge of Austin. Like the bar where Liam worked, this one was probably human-owned but didn’t turn away Shifter clientele.

  Andrea pulled into the tiny parking lot and the guys stopped their car behind her. Two got out with her.

  “You really don’t want to go in there,” the one from the front seat said. He was tall and lanky with brown eyes that looked as though they could be intelligent and kind. “Shifters can be weird.”

  No kidding. Two Shifters were talking to each other just outside the front door, Ursine from the look of them. They’d be able to scent that she was Shifter and that the young men weren’t. They’d also be aware of Andrea’s Fae scent. The Ursines’ Shifter hearing had picked up on the word weird, and they stopped talking.

  “I need to look for someone in there,” Andrea told the young human man, aware of the Ursines’ gazes hard on her. “That’s all.”

  “But this bar is really bad,” he said. “So I hear. Really. We’ll take you somewhere else. Somewhere nice.”

  He seemed very distressed she wanted to go inside, which made Andrea all the more curious and determined. She smiled at him and approached the Ursines.

  The two bear-men closed together, staring down at her from their nearly seven-foot height. Andrea had gotten used to Ronan, who was one of the nicest guys imaginable, but these two made her feel like a lost hiker approaching a pair of grizzlies.

  Show no fear. They’d smell it on her, but she bravely removed her sunglasses and met their gazes. “I’m looking for Glory,” she said.

  The two bears relaxed. One rolled his eyes, and the other grinned. “Yeah, she’s in there.”

  Andrea gave them a warm smile. “Thank you.” She shoved her sunglasses back on and approached the door. The brown-eyed student caught the door handle.

  “Really. Let’s go someplace else.” He looked anxious, terrified even.