Primal Bonds

  “Hey, we’re closed,” someone yelled.

  Sean didn’t stop. The bar was thick with cigarette smoke, which meant humans. Shifters didn’t smoke. A knot of people sat around a table in the back, and a human worked behind the bar, likely prepping to open the place later that afternoon. The bartender had been the one who’d yelled.

  From the scent beneath the gagging smoke, three of the men at the table were human. They wore jeans and biker vests, their guns in shoulder or belt holsters evident. But it wasn’t just their scent that betrayed them as the ones who’d been responsible for all the shootings. One human rose as Sean came in and pointed a black pistol at him.

  Sean drew his sword, the silver glittering, the blade ringing as it swept out of its sheath. The human laughed, but one of the Shifters knocked the gun from his hand with the swipe of a claw.

  “He’s a Guardian,” the Shifter snarled.

  The human opened his mouth to jeer, looked at the Shifter faces gone hard and cold, and sat back down. He retrieved his pistol from where it had landed on the other side of the table and shoved it into a shoulder holster.

  Sean brought the sword around and rested the point of it on the table, the hilt rising like a cross. He scanned the faces that turned to him, Sean quiet and unafraid, the Shifters tense and worried. Sean’s gaze stopped as he picked out a Shifter to address, and that Shifter shrank back in his chair, looking like he wanted to wet himself.

  “So tell me, Ben O’Callaghan, of me own clan,” Sean said to him. “What exactly have you been up to?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Sean smelled Ben’s fear even before the man spoke. “You should leave, Sean.”

  Sean rested his hands on his sword hilt, driving the point a little way into the table. “Now, why would I be wanting to do that? We had some humans shooting at Shifters, and then I walk in here and find humans with pistols sitting at this very table. A suspicious man might make a connection.”

  Ben’s blue eyes clouded with worry. “You really need to go. Pretend you never walked in.”

  “I’m not good at playing pretend, me.” Sean caressed the hilt while he scanned the faces of the other Shifters. “Why don’t I join you, and we’ll have a nice little chat?”

  “No one’s talking about anything,” another Shifter said. He was a Feline Sean recognized, but he wasn’t from Sean’s clan, and he wasn’t from Austin. “Especially not with you,” the Feline finished.

  “She can stay,” another of the human men said. He grinned at Andrea, showing unnaturally straight teeth.

  The Feline growled. “She’s Fae.”

  “Half Fae,” Andrea shot back.

  The Shifter’s brows lowered. “Abomination.”

  “I’ve heard that before.” Andrea looked right at the furball, not dropping her gaze like a good submissive should. It pissed off the Feline and made Sean want to laugh.

  “Callum Fitzgerald, isn’t it?” Sean asked him. Callum was an alpha, a pride leader. Sean knew this from the database he maintained of information on all Shifters but nothing much about him.

  “The great Sean Morrissey knows my name,” Callum said. “I’m honored.”

  He couldn’t meet Sean’s eyes, though. “The honor’s all mine,” Sean said. “Or it will be if you tell me what the hell is going on.”

  “So you can run back to your brother and tell on me?”

  Sean reached into his pocket. The humans tensed, but Sean only pulled out his cell phone. “If you’d like me to have Liam and my father join us, I’m happy to call them.”

  A ripple of discomfort circled through the Shifters. Dealing with Sean was bad enough; dealing with Dylan was nothing any Shifter wanted to do on a good day. Callum didn’t look worried at all, which was a bad sign.

  “You’d summon the might of your clan to interrupt Shifters having a private drink on a Sunday morning?” Callum asked. “I’d heard you Morrisseys liked to abuse your power.”

  “Having a beer, is it?” Sean picked up a half-empty bottle on the table, looked at the label, shook his head, and put the bottle back down. “I don’t call this much of a beer. And just yesterday my friends heard you saying you thought Shifters should have nothing to do with humans, but here they are. So, which is it, Callum?”

  “Your friends are mistaken.”

  Sean glanced at Andrea, who gave him the barest nod. These were the assholes she and Glory had overheard, all right.

  “I trust them.” Sean looked up and down the table again. “Tell me, Callum, which one of these is the man who shot Ely Barry?”

  The wave of fear that came off the humans made Sean’s nose curl. “Hey, we didn’t aim to hit anyone,” the one sitting right next to Sean said. He had long hair pulled into a ponytail and a scar across his jaw. “He jumped in the way.”

  “So you think it’s not your fault that my cousin lay dying?” Sean asked him. “Thinking he’d not live to see his grandchildren born? But that’s all right, because you weren’t aiming for him?”

  Sean watched fear dive deep inside the man and erupt as wild fury. His face went red, his scar white. “Fucking Shifters.” The man jumped to his feet, drew his pistol, and jammed it, cold and hard, against Sean’s jaw. “What are you afraid of?” he snarled at the other humans. “They can’t hurt us. Those Collars will hurt them worse.”

  Sean heard Andrea’s growl, a sound that built into a wall of vibrating rage.

  “Shit,” Ben whispered.

  Shit was right.

  Sean let go of the sword. It stayed upright, in the table. When the human with the pistol glanced at it in surprise, Sean whipped around and crushed the pistol from the man’s grasp. The breaking metal bit into Sean’s skin, bloodying it, but he didn’t feel a thing.

  Sean also didn’t feel the sparks that burst from his Collar as he wrapped his hand around the human’s throat and lifted him high. The human made choking noise and clawed at Sean’s fingers. Sean casually threw him across the room.

  The other two humans sprang to their feet. Shifters weren’t supposed to be able to hurt humans; the Collars were in place to prevent that. Sean’s Collar was sparking, but he ignored it as another human yanked out his gun and opened fire.

  The bullets went wide as Ben plowed into the man. Callum shifted, his clothes ripping, and he launched himself at Sean. Sean met him, his hands changing to claws as Callum’s wildcat landed on him. Callum’s Collar went off, but he went for Sean’s face with his fangs

  The shouts of the other Shifters were drowned by the fearsome snarl of the huge wolf that hurtled at Callum. The wildcat was knocked aside by a hundred and fifty pounds of wolf, her fangs bared, aiming right for Callum’s throat. Andrea’s Collar went off, blue arcs of electricity whipping around her neck, but it didn’t slow her a nanosecond.

  Andrea went down with Callum, Callum fighting and clawing. Still Andrea didn’t stop. She was within a heartbeat of ripping out Callum’s throat when Sean wrapped both arms around her and dragged her back.

  “No. Don’t kill him. Don’t, love. You’ve got to stop.”

  Andrea snarled and fought. Her Collar snapped and sparked and sizzled, but it might have been an inert piece of metal for all her reaction.

  “Andrea!” Sean put every ounce of force he had into the word. “Stop! Now!”

  Andrea finally went slack in Sean’s arms but breathed hard, wolf eyes hot with rage. Sean let her go, and she sank to her haunches next to him, pressing her shoulder hard into his hip.

  Callum morphed slowly back to human. Blood dripped from his face, his throat blackened from his Collar’s sparks. “Bloody Lupine,” he grated.

  “I want no Shifters dying,” Sean said. “Not today.”

  “To hell with what you want,” Callum said.

  Andrea growled and jerked forward, but Sean stopped her with his hand on her back. He drew out his cell phone again. “I’m not letting Shifters die,” Sean repeated. “But the cops get the humans. They’re paying for Ely. I suggest all Shifters
clear out, unless you’re wanting to explain your presence to the human police.”

  He punched numbers, then paused with his thumb over the button that would send the call.

  “Bloody hell, Sean,” Ben rumbled.

  Callum spat blood. “Just like a Morrissey to only believe one side of a story.”

  Sean snarled at him, feeling his eyes change. “Humans are shooting at Shifters, and you’re getting cozy with the same humans. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you’re in on it with them.”

  “Because mixing ourselves with them and their world makes us weak,” Callum said with heat. “Going to their bars and shops, our cubs wanting their toys like stupid cell phones and satellite dishes. They’ve forgotten that Shifters are supposed to be fighters, warriors, a hell of a lot better than humans.”

  “So you’re putting Shifters in danger because your son’s been bothering you for a nicer computer, are you now?” Sean asked. “Good logic, that. Now, Callum, are you going to run or stay and pay the price?”

  “Don’t be an idiot. You won’t call the police.”

  Sean rotated his thumb over the button. “But I will. This human toy, you see, lets me talk to people from far away.”

  “He’s right, Sean,” Ben broke in. “If the cops take the humans, they’ll just tell them we hired them. The police will come after us then. You’ll make it even worse for us.”

  Sean knew that, had known it, hated that. In retrospect, it was a good thing that Kim and Silas, and Sean, hadn’t been able to convince the human police to take the problem more seriously. The detectives would have found Shifters at the end of the trail. Shifters would be rounded up, guilty and innocent alike, interrogated, not likely to be let go in a hurry, probably punished, which mean being put to death. Shifters did not need a lockdown and arbitrary arrests, especially not just now with Liam and Dylan performing their experiments on the Collars. Callum’s little plot to keep Shifters pure could be the death of them all.

  Sean smiled, thumb still poised. “What do you suggest then, Callum. We kill your humans?”

  Callum liked that solution, Sean could see, and the humans saw that he liked it too. But as much as Sean wanted to tear off their heads, he knew that dead humans were another risk they couldn’t take.

  “You want it too much, Callum,” Sean said in a quiet voice. “So what I’ll do is call my dad. He and my brother’s trackers will escort these humans out of town, somewhere far, far away, where we won’t ever see them again. Ben, why don’t you and some of the Shifters you trust here help with that? Take them somewhere that I or my brother won’t happen on them. Either that or I take them to San Antonio and let them face Ely’s mate.”

  Andrea growled in agreement. Female Shifters defending their mates were the most dangerous Shifters of all. They didn’t care who died, as long as those who’d attacked their mates bled. A lot.

  “We’ll help your dad take care of it,” Ben said quickly.

  Two of the other Shifters disarmed the humans so fast they didn’t have time to react. Sean’s adrenaline eased the slightest bit. Ben would be smart enough to see the wisdom of hiding the mess and throwing the police off the scent. Whatever evil deed they’d been planning here today wouldn’t happen.

  Callum, on the other hand, wasn’t about to obey. “I think it’s time the Morrissey clan had a new Guardian.”

  He leapt at Sean, shifting to his wildcat in midair. Sean blocked Andrea from attacking, at the same time half shifting so that he caught Callum in a claw-filled embrace. Callum’s Collar was sparking, the electricity from it singeing Sean’s skin, but it didn’t slow Callum much.

  Sean’s own Collar bit shocks deep into him, but he clenched his jaw and kept the pain at bay, as he’d trained himself to. Andrea was snarling in fury, barely holding herself back. Sean fought himself away from Callum’s vicious teeth, and in a lightning-swift move, he hurled Callum across the room. Callum crunched into the wall and slid down it.

  Breathing hard, Sean dialed his cell phone again and got Spike, one of Liam’s trackers, loyal and the smartest of the bunch. Spike had been waiting for the call, in fact, Liam telling him to stand by in case Sean needed backup. He was there in a few minutes, followed by the other trackers and Dylan. Dylan looked white and almost ill, but he ignored Sean’s look of concern as he pulled Callum off the floor.

  Andrea remained a wolf, still growling at Callum. Sean retrieved his sword and swept the remaining Shifters a stony look.

  “Go home. It’s over.”

  Sean deliberately turned his back, showing he didn’t need to keep them in his sights to make sure they obeyed. He also knew none of them would try to take on Dylan. They were at least that smart.

  Andrea had left her clothes in an almost tidy pile on the bar. Sean scooped them up and stared down the human bartender, who cowered in a corner.

  “My advice?” Sean said. “Find another job.”

  He yanked open the door and walked out at a deliberate pace, Andrea, still in her wolf form, trotting beside him.

  “My underwear, Sean?”

  Andrea unfolded herself from her cramped position on the floor of the car. Normally she wouldn’t worry about her nakedness after shifting, but like hell she’d let those gun-toting humans see her in all her glory. She’d waited until Sean had driven out of the parking lot to shift to human form, and now she didn’t feel like flashing greater Austin while Sean sped them home.

  Sean pulled a tiny pair of panties out of his jacket pocket. He looked good for a Shifter whose Collar had just shocked the hell out of him, very good, even better dangling her underwear just out of reach.

  “The black lace again,” he said. “I like these.”

  Andrea snatched them. “Great. I’ll buy you a pair.”

  “Have you taken over all my underwear shopping now?”

  Andrea had pulled on her shirt and now wormed her way up to the seat, which was cold to her bare behind. She lifted her hips to get the panties up over her butt. “I never said that.”

  “But you rushed to defend your mate from attack in there. That was sweet.”

  Andrea’s face heated. “Of course I did. Callum is an asshole. He’s responsible for Ely almost dying, and I wanted to kill him.”

  “Agreed. But no one’s ever leapt to my rescue like that, not since I was a cub. It felt good.”

  Andrea looked at him in surprise. “Never?”

  “Never.” His words were emphatic.

  “I probably didn’t need to,” Andrea said. “You could have torn Callum apart. Your Collar wasn’t stopping you.”

  “Could have, yes. Did I think it wise? No. Shifter deaths, they’ll only cause problems. That’s a certainty.”

  “You’re evading the question, Sean. Why didn’t your Collar bother you?”

  “Why didn’t yours?”

  Andrea shrugged. “The Collar doesn’t work on me.”

  He gave her a swift, startled look, sunglasses hiding his eyes. “Why? Is it defective?”

  “No. I mean it’s never worked on me. I don’t know why.”

  Sean looked back at the road, his face still. “And how many people know this fact?”

  “No one but me. And now you. I decided it would be wise not to mention it.”

  “Very wise, I agree. Is it to do with your Fae blood?”

  “I haven’t the faintest idea.” Andrea looked out the window as she zipped up her jeans, but she barely saw the picturesque sight of downtown Austin floating toward them. “All I know is, the day the Collars were put on us twenty years ago, I didn’t understand why the Shifters around me were screaming in pain. It took me ten seconds to realize I’d better start moaning and writhing with everyone else.” She remembered the terrible agony of the Shifters around her, how she’d grabbed her stepfather’s hand and tried to ease his hurting while pretending to be in pain herself.

  “Aye, I remember the blissful day we took the Collar. They made Connor’s mum put one on, even though she was so close t
o term with Con. I think it’s why he came early, that pain, and why she died giving birth to him.”

  Andrea heard the sad anger in Sean’s voice, and she covered his hand on the wheel with hers. It was a terrible thing for young mothers to die, and until recent years, it had happened to Shifters all too often, including Andrea’s own mother, who’d died trying to deliver a son.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “Aye.” He caught her fingers between his. “Let me tell Liam about your Collar.”

  “Why?” Sean was the first person she’d ever told apart from her stepfather.

  “He’ll keep it a secret, I promise you,” Sean said. “But he’ll want to know. And I can’t tell you why until I talk to him.”

  Andrea gave him a shrewd look. “Does it have anything to do with why your Collar didn’t work?”

  “Oh, it did work, Andy-love. In time, I’ll pay, and pay like hell.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Sean flinched, body jerking. Andrea didn’t need to see his eyes to know they’d gone Shifter white behind the sunglasses.

  “Damn, I thought I’d have time to get home,” he said softly. “But I was worried about you, and Callum and his humans enraged me.”

  “Sean, what the hell are you talking about? What’s wrong?”

  Sean swerved the car, and Andrea grabbed the seat as they careened off the main road and down a street that headed toward the river. They flashed past the entrance to a park, to which hundreds of people had flocked this fine Sunday afternoon.

  “We’re not allowed down here,” Andrea said. Glory had showed her a map when Andrea had arrived, with “no-Shifter” zones marked in red. This park was one of the reddest.

  Sean kept driving, leaving the park behind. A few miles ahead, he turned down a quiet road that snaked along the river. Trees closed overhead, blotting out the glare of the day. Sean halted the car on the very banks of the river and turned off the engine.

  He nearly threw himself out of the car, and Andrea scrambled out as well. She had taken two steps when she found herself pinned against the car by a large, virile Shifter with white blue eyes, sunglasses gone. He was half shifting, snarling in pain.