She took Liam’s T-shirt from his hands, giving him a watery smile as she shook it out and folded it.
The only one not pleased was Connor. When the last of the Shifters had left the room, Connor launched himself at Liam.
“Why did you do that? I could have taken it. I didn’t ask you to stand in for me.”
Tears of rage and frustration streamed from Connor’s eyes as he beat on Liam’s chest.
Liam grabbed his fists, his voice incredibly gentle. “Connor, lad, stop that now.”
Connor jerked away from him. He started to strike at Dylan, then probably realizing that was a bad idea, rounded on Sean. Sean responded by wrapping his arms around Connor and pulling him close.
Liam moved behind Connor and stroked the young man’s hair. “The punishment wasn’t for you, Con. Fergus was pissed at me for not groveling enough. He couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason to have me beaten, so he picked on you. It wasn’t your transgression, lad, it was mine.”
Kim saw Connor relax, the young man leaning into Sean. “Why’d you let him? Grandda’, why didn’t you fight him?”
“Not the time and place,” Dylan said. “Come on, we have to go.”
He turned and left the room without waiting for them, his boots clicking on the tiles of the hall. Connor finally unwound his arms from Sean and went after Dylan, wiping his eyes, and the other three followed.
“You are going to explain what the hell just happened, aren’t you?” Kim asked, as she started up the stairs ahead of Liam. After the elegant surroundings in the basement, the stairs were dingy and musty. She thought about spiders again.
Liam ruffled her hair. “Kim, who likes everything nice and neat. What a woman.”
He caressed her neck under her hair. He might have just gotten skin whipped off his back, but his touch still raised goose bumps on Kim’s flesh. It was the touch of a man desiring a woman, nothing less.
Damn if she didn’t want to turn around right there and jump his bones. Never mind that his father, brother, and nephew were only a few steps ahead of them. Kim wanted to kiss Liam as she had last night, maybe have him lift her so she could wrap her legs around his waist.
Liam kissed the corner of her mouth. “Come on, love. Let’s go out to the sunshine.”
Kim kissed him back, which did not dampen her fires; then she made herself turn and follow Sean up. They clattered through the silent house, then out the front door.
The Shifters were waiting for them, all of them, arranged in a semicircle between them and Kim’s car. Kim’s heart started to pound.
“Aren’t they going to let us leave?”
“Not yet,” Dylan said.
Doors around the group of houses were opening, and female Shifters emerged. With kids. Happy to be released from whatever confinement had been imposed on them, the kids raced to the playground, making the sad patch of grass suddenly come alive. The entire dog population joined them, tails waving.
Fergus had clipped his cat-o’-nine back to his belt, and now stood with arms folded, talking to some of the male Shifters. Kim almost fell over with shock when a woman moved through the crowd and slid her arm around Fergus’s waist. She wasn’t some wimpy thing, either—she was tall, strong, muscular, with a hard but beautiful face. Like Glory, though not as flamboyantly dressed.
“Who is that?” Kim asked Liam.
“His mate,” Liam said. “Andrea.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Kim waved her hands. “He was going on about taking me as his mate. Why, if he already has one?”
“Clan leaders can mate with more than one woman, and Fergus has two already. Selfish, because there aren’t many females to go around, but it’s true that mixed offspring have a better chance of surviving.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Kim rounded on Liam. “Can you have more than one mate? Do you have three wives tucked away in Shiftertowns around the state?”
Liam burst out laughing, and Sean followed suit. Their laughter held a note of tension, as if they were happy they had something to laugh about. Liam put his arm around Kim. “I couldn’t handle more than you, love. And I hope you can handle me.”
His smile gave the double entendre impact. Kim flushed. “We need to talk.”
“Not yet.” Liam walked Kim out to the semicircle of Shifters. He didn’t retrieve his shirt; his back had to be killing him under the burning sun.
Fergus faced them as they approached, Andrea letting go of him but remaining only inches from his side.
“Why would she want him?” Kim whispered. “Especially when he has another?”
“Because he is the most powerful man in the clan. Only Dad comes close to him for dominance. And I should have mentioned that Shifters have terrific hearing.”
“Thanks.”
“Liam.” Fergus’s voice rolled across those of the other Shifters and the kids playing. “Stand here.”
Liam stopped in front of Fergus and turned Kim to face him. He brushed a finger over Kim’s cheek, then held up her left hand in his right, twining their fingers.
Without waiting for everyone to quiet down, Fergus said, “Under the light of the sun, I recognize this mating.”
He spoke in a monotone, the words rapid, as though he wanted to get this over with. He was ready to move on to the next thing, and Kim wondered what that next thing was.
Liam smiled at Kim. The other Shifters started clapping and cheering, and Connor threw his arms around Kim and gave her a breath-stealing hug.
“Thank you, Kim.”
Before Kim could ask, “For what?” Connor was leaping away, whooping and yelling with the others. Fergus twined his arm around Andrea’s waist and walked away with her.
Kim never knew where it came from, but all of a sudden beer foam showered the air. Sean shook a bottle and sprayed it over them, laughing hysterically. He’d gotten his sword back, she saw, the hilt protruding over his shoulder.
“Just what I wanted, beer in my hair,” Kim said.
Liam rubbed his thumb across her chin. “We’ll have time to wash it out later.” He leaned down and pressed dry, warm lips to her mouth. “Is this kiss up to your standards? I’m still learning.”
He smiled, but his skin was hot under her fingertips, his chest still sweating. “Are you all right?” Kim asked. “I saw the Collar shock you.”
“I’ll live.” Another light kiss, Liam’s hand stealing to her waist. “I’m thinking of another ache right now.”
The stiff thing pressing her abdomen left no doubt about what he meant. “You’re back’s a mess,” she said.
“So we’ll be washing that along with your hair.”
Liam kissed her again. Around them, the Shifters partied, a complete change from the cold resentment in the basement. They could have been at a block party, friends and neighbors coming together to celebrate. Dylan struck up conversation with some of the Shifter men, and Sean had been lured away by a couple of females. Sean and the ladies were flirting pretty fiercely, although Shifters liked to touch a lot, so maybe they were discussing movies or something while hands ran along arms and shoulders and backs.
Questions swam in Kim’s brain—she’d thought she’d researched everything about Shifters, but she realized she’d only learned what they’d let humans learn. There was too much she didn’t know, too many nuances she needed to understand. She hadn’t argued about this “mating” with Liam because she saw that it let Liam walk away from Fergus, and Fergus stop trying to beat up on Connor and Dylan. And she definitely hadn’t wanted to do any kind of mating with Fergus.
She’d smile and laugh with them, go along with their pretense that everything was all right, but once they got back to Austin, she and Liam were going to have a long talk.
A shadow fell over her, and Kim looked up to see Fergus looming next to them. “You accept the mating?” he asked Liam.
He asked Liam, not Kim. Asshole.
Liam’s expression remained cool. “I do.”
“You know what it
means, then?” Fergus kept his voice soft, turning away from the other Shifters. “You are responsible for everything she does. She steps a toe out of line, it’s you who pays. Your father won’t interfere; he knows the rules.”
Kim’s anger flared. “You—”
She found Liam’s fingers over her lips. “Not now,” he said. “I know what it means, Fergus. You forgo the claim forever, then?”
“I do, but I have a condition.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Kim muttered behind Liam’s fingers.
“Brian goes down,” Fergus said. “You, woman, will let him, and Liam, you’ll make sure she does it. He pleads guilty and takes the punishment. Those are my terms.”
Without waiting for their answer, he turned from them and walked away.
Chapter Twelve
Liam knew that Kim didn’t understand. He held her hand as she drove, and sensed the confusion pouring off her. He’d explain everything to her soon, but right now he just wanted to have her pull the car over so he could drag her off and sex her.
He burned with it. When a Shifter claimed a mate, the urge to procreate released. He’d always known that in theory but never realized it would be this much of a flood. It was all he could do to stop at holding Kim’s hand. He wanted to slide his fingers under the waistband of her jeans, lean over and press kisses to her neck, unbutton her blouse and dip his hand inside.
The little sweetheart hadn’t let him get into the car until she’d dragged a towel and a first-aid kit out of her trunk, demanded a bottle of clean water from one of the Shifters, and doctored Liam’s back. She’d rinsed and dried the wounds, then applied antiseptic, which had stung a little.
Liam had tried to tell her he’d heal quickly, but she only clenched her teeth and doctored him anyway. He also couldn’t tell her, with Sean and Connor hovering, that her touch fired his longing to open his pants and have a go with her right there.
The others must have sensed his craving, because the teasing had begun.
“So does a mate’s touch really heal, Liam?” Sean had asked.
“I don’t think he’s going to last until we get home.” Connor snickered beside him.
“You’ll live, son,” Dylan had said, clapping Liam on the shoulder. “It’s worth it.”
Kim hadn’t known what the hell they were talking about, but from her blush, she’d suspected.
He squeezed Kim’s thigh now, and she responded with a smile, albeit a nervous one. Not disgust, not, “Keep your hands off me, Shifter.” Kim liked him. Would she like him after she fully understood what was happening?
“Damnation,” Connor said from the backseat.
Liam looked over his shoulder. Connor’s nose was buried in a magazine Kim had grabbed for him at the convenience store where they’d stopped for gas. Though Kim had offered to pay for gas, magazine, and cold sodas, Dylan had silently fished out some cash and pressed it into her hand.
It was a sports magazine, because the only thing Connor liked better than cars was sports, football in particular. Not American football with pigskin and pads, but real football, what Americans called soccer. Connor had never been to a true football game, in a stadium overflowing with raving crowds that made American fans look like a pack of knitting grannies. Connor watched it on telly when he could and avidly followed the Republic of Ireland national football team in the sports news.
“Ireland is playing today,” Connor mourned. “Tonight for them, but today over here.”
“Never on a major network,” Sean said. “That would be a bloody miracle.”
“Sportz 3.” Connor lifted the magazine sideways, studying the grid of sports offerings for the week. “Satellite channel. Game starts in an hour.” He sounded glum.
“Never mind, Con,” Dylan said. He leaned against the window and closed his eyes. “It’s a human game, anyway.”
Dylan had never understood Connor’s obsession with sports. But then Dylan had grown up two centuries ago, far from human society, while Connor had spent his entire young life immersed in it. Connor was what Shifters were trying to create by taking the Collar, a generation comfortable with human culture. Maybe in a few generations, the Collars could become a thing of the past, forgotten, Shifters fully integrated into human society.
Dylan wanted that. But it didn’t mean he understood Connor’s addiction.
“Ellison has a friend in Shiftertown North,” Sean said. “He can sometimes get satellite channels. Maybe we can get you up there to see it.”
“In an hour?” Connor shook his head. “And I’ve seen that jury-rigged TV. You have to turn off all the lights, tilt your head sideways, and squint. If he’s lucky and can get a signal at all.”
“There’s bound to be a recording somewhere,” Sean said. “Me and Liam will look around for it.”
Connor threw down the magazine. “Stop babying me, Sean. I’ll not see it, and you know it. It’s not like the local DVD stores have a huge section on Irish football.”
“Or you can watch it at my house,” Kim said.
All four Shifters stopped and stared at her. “I have every satellite channel known to man,” Kim went on. “Plus a new flat-screen. No beer, though. Sorry.”
Connor shoved himself between the seats, eyes alight. “Are you serious? You’d let me watch your telly at your house?”
“Sure, why not?”
Dylan answered. “Because your neighbors might object to you with a houseful of Shifters. Police might be called.”
“It’s not against the law for a human to invite over Shifters. Unusual, maybe. And anyway, we’ll go in through the garage and no one will see us.”
“’Twould be an imposition we can’t ask,” Dylan said, his tone holding finality.
Connor made a frustrated noise. Liam sympathized with his frustration but for a different reason. He’d pictured taking Kim to Shiftertown and locking them both in his bedroom for three days. But he understood that Kim was offering this hospitality to try to make up for Fergus dragging Connor into this mess—a mess she thought she’d caused.
Kim didn’t know that the mess with Fergus was ongoing, that the incident today was a drop in the vast ocean of their struggle with the clan leader. Fergus had gotten what he’d wanted—control of Kim and how she managed Brian’s case. Or so Fergus believed. Kim hadn’t said anything after Fergus had given her his “terms.” She’d scowled but kept her lips pressed together, which Liam didn’t think boded well. Fergus seriously underestimated Kim if he thought she’d simply fall into line.
However, in theory, now Fergus could threaten Liam and the rest of the Morrisseys if Kim didn’t cooperate. Plus Fergus’s capitulation had made him look generous to the rest of the clan—he’d been unwilling to stand between a Shifter and his true mate. Wasn’t that noble of him?
“But trying to hold me prisoner in Shiftertown isn’t an imposition?” Kim demanded. “I’m driving the car, and we’re going to my house so Connor can watch Irish football.”
Connor hooted with joy and kissed Kim’s cheek. “I love you, Kim. I’m so glad Liam claimed you.”
Kim looked startled but said nothing. Connor thumped happily back in his seat, and Dylan made a “Whatever” gesture.
Of course, Liam thought as the Austin exits started to glide by, Kim’s house also had a bedroom.
An hour later, Kim had four Shifters in her living room avidly watching guys in shorts running across a soccer field in rainy Ireland.
I could grow to like this game, Kim thought. No helmets or padding, just tight-fitting shirts, enticing glimpses of chest hair, and socks and shorts that emphasized muscular legs.
Not that the Shifters gave a damn what the men looked like. Not five minutes into the game, they were shouting and cheering, cursing or high-fiving. At least Sean and Connor were. Dylan watched with interest if not enthusiasm, and Liam restlessly left the room and followed Kim to the kitchen.
“You made them very happy.” Liam leaned on the counter while Kim looked at her
mostly empty refrigerator. She wasn’t equipped to entertain men, that was certain. No beer, no chips, or whatever men chowed down on when they watched sports. She was pretty sure Abel watched sports, but she’d never caught him doing it.
“They won’t be happy when they get hungry.”
“They won’t care.” Liam slid his arms around her from behind. “Now, about that shower?”
“Liam. Your dad’s in the living room.”
“And likely to stay while the game’s going. Your bathroom’s upstairs, if I remember.” He kissed her neck under her hair.
“It’s true I’d like to take a look at your back again.”
“Just my back?” Liam nuzzled her cheek. “Damn, woman, have mercy on a poor Shifter.”
He licked her neck, his tongue hot and wet. Kim closed her eyes, a shiver traveling from her breastbone to the cleft between her legs.
He wanted sex, and she knew it. Wanted it, craved it, and wasn’t ashamed of it. Kim couldn’t lie to herself. She wanted Liam back, with her whole body.
The crowd on TV roared, and Sean, Connor, and even Dylan were on their feet, shouting. Through the open door to the living room, Kim saw Sean and Connor slam together in a joyful hug.
Liam nipped Kim’s ear. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“You can’t be real. There’s sports on TV, and you want to go off with a woman instead.”
He slanted her a hot smile. “What you call soccer isn’t my thing. Now if it had been Gaelic football…” He laughed. Kim had no idea what the difference was, but she liked the sound of his laughter.
Liam took Kim’s hand and led her to the staircase. As they ascended, the others continued to relive the glory moment of the goal.
Kim’s main bathroom was huge—when she’d gone through her redecorating frenzy, she’d combined a hall bathroom with the master bath for one giant bathroom fest. She had a two-person tub in the middle, a large stone-tiled shower on one end, and a gigantic vanity on the other.