Pride Mates

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Ellison looked shocked. “Liam, haven’t you touched her yet? What’s the matter with you? You’re already sun-blessed. Are you waiting for Christmas?”

  “We’ve done it, trust me.” Liam handed Kim back her meal. “It will be soon.”

  Kim’s face went hot. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “Not my business? Hon, it’s every Shifter’s business whether a Shifter male can do the job. We have to be good at making babies, so we practice a lot.” He balled his fists and thrust his hips in a parody of sex.

  “Ignore him, Kim. Lupines are disgusting.”

  “Thank you,” Glory said. She stepped past Ellison, tall and sleek in skin-tight black pants and silk top, every blonde hair in place. “Fucking Felines.”

  “Gobshite Lupines,” Liam said cheerfully.

  Dylan approached. “Kim.”

  Kim watched him in trepidation, but Dylan folded his arms around her and squeezed her in a very tight hug. She sensed something different in his hug than she had in the others’. Not happy exuberance—relief. Dylan held her close, and she smelled the damp cotton of his shirt and his shaving soap. But Dylan’s hold wasn’t in any way sexual. He held her as he’d cradle a child, as he might soothe Connor.

  Dylan held Kim a long time, and his eyes were wet when he pulled away. He wiped them, unashamed, then turned and wrapped his arms around Liam.

  Father and son stood still in the embrace, while Kim took her burger back from Ellison. To stem the tears that insisted on filling her eyes, she reflected that she needed to eat fast, before more people wanted to greet her with hugs.

  Kim noticed that Glory didn’t try to hug her—the woman sauntered away to get food with Dylan when Dylan finally released Liam. Kim wondered whether Glory was showing her disapproval for Liam taking a human mate, or whether the woman didn’t feel like she was close enough to the family to join the hug-fest. Glory and Dylan might be hard at it, but sex did not necessarily mean intimacy, Kim knew from experience. The woman was a puzzle.

  It took a while for the summer night to darken, but Liam and Dylan seemed in no hurry. Liam introduced Kim to all present, holding her hand or with his arm around her waist as they strolled from group to group. Kim met Lupines and other Felines, and bears.

  The bear Shifters fascinated her, large-boned men and women who sported long manes of hair. Many of the bear-men were bearded, and both men and women obviously liked tattoos. They, too, welcomed Kim with hugs, though they were less intimate than the family’s hugs. Not all of them looked happy that Liam was bringing a human into their midst, but they were cordial.

  By the time Liam walked Kim back to the center of the yard, the night was dark and mercifully cooler. The moon rose rapidly, and as it reached its zenith, the crowd grew quiet.

  Liam’s neighbors silently formed two concentric circles, putting Liam, Kim, and Dylan in the middle of the inner one. The smaller, inner circle contained Liam’s immediate family and friends, along with Fergus’s two henchmen. The outer circle held the rest of Shiftertown.

  Cool moonlight filtered through the trees, touching Kim’s face as Liam turned her toward him. As he had when they’d stood before Fergus in the San Antonio Shiftertown, Liam held his left hand up, palm out, and pressed it to Kim’s right one. He twined his fingers through hers and met her gaze with steady eyes.

  Dylan closed both his hands around theirs and began chanting something in a language Kim didn’t recognize. Irish—Gaelic? Or some kind of Shifter language? The circles of Shifters answered, chanting in slow rhythm. The Shifters began circling around them, the first circle moving clockwise, the second one counterclockwise. They stepped in deliberate, slow movements, an ancient-looking dance that was simple and powerful.

  Dylan finally stopped chanting. “By the light of the moon,” he said in a loud, grave voice, “I recognize this mating.”

  Ellison howled. Soon all the wolves joined in, followed by wildcat roars and the loud growling of the bears. Liam drew Kim against him and buried her in a kiss.

  “Thank you, love,” he grated. “Thank you.”

  In the San Antonio Shiftertown, the Shifters had gone nuts with beer and an impromptu party, but that had been nothing compared to the revelry that exploded here. Shifters grabbed one another, hugging, laughing, dancing around like maniacs. Beer flowed, kids ran around shrieking, couples kissed. More than one shed clothes and Shifted, and soon the yard was filled with wildcats, wolves, and bears.

  Kim looked around for Silas, wondering what he’d make of all this. The tall man stood with Annie, a bottle of beer in his hand. Annie and he were the same height, and Annie had draped her arm around his shoulders.

  “Great party, Kim.” Silas grinned. He looked happy, not angry or scared. Good.

  Glory approached, looking a little more relaxed. “Annie,” she said. “Caught a human? Liam’s starting a trend.”

  Annie pressed herself closer to Silas. “He’s all right.”

  “He’s my friend,” Kim said. “I invited him.”

  “I know.” Glory stepped away from Dylan and actually enfolded Kim in a well-perfumed hug. “They need you, honey. Be good to them.”

  Connor came hurtling toward her, followed closely by Sean, and Kim backed up against Liam. “More hugging? I’m going to be bruised all over.”

  “They’re happy,” Liam said in her ear. “We haven’t had a joining in a long time. In our family, we thought we’d not have another for many years. If ever.”

  Kim’s reply was cut off by first Connor, then Sean embracing her, then Connor again. “I have an aunt,” Connor shouted. “I have an aunt, and I’ll have a cousin soon.”

  “Something you want to tell me, Kim?” Silas said, grinning.

  “Go along with it,” Kim told him. “They like babies. They like even the possibility of babies, no matter how remote. They’ve had a hard time with infant mortality.”

  She’d piqued his interest. Again, good. Liam talked conversationally to Silas about the low ratio of females to males and the fact that it used to be sadly common for Shifter women to die in childbirth. “But it’s getting better,” Liam finished. “That’s one thing taking the Collar gave us, a bit of peace in which to take care of our families.”

  Silas looked curiously at Liam’s Collar. “What are those made of? I heard that they have magic in them, but that’s just a story, isn’t it?”

  Liam’s eyes were clear and innocent. “Don’t you believe in magic?”

  “Shifters aren’t magic,” Silas said, smiling to acknowledge Liam’s teasing. “You have some genetic quirk that allows you to shift to animal form, right? An ancient ancestor that we knew nothing about until Shifters were discovered.”

  “It’s genetics partly, yes,” Liam answered. “We were bred long ago to be playthings and hunters. Until our breeders discovered that hunters bite.” He smiled, showing all his teeth.

  “You were bred deliberately?” Silas asked. “I hadn’t heard that.”

  “Aye. And our creators used magic to do it. What other explanation is there for us?”

  “Genetic manipulation?” Silas shrugged. “Could ancient cultures do that?”

  Kim wondered how much Liam would explain, but Liam kept talking. “The Fae could. That’s the Fair Folk of Celtic and Gaelic legend, I’m meaning. Their magic made us, but our strength kept us alive when the Fae started disappearing from the world. Shifters were good at survival; Fae were good at running away. So which of us was stronger?”

  The Shifters around them smiled and nodded.

  Silas looked interested. “So the story that magic is in your Collars…?”

  “Is true,” Liam answered. “Not that humans believe it, but it doesn’t matter, does it? All they know is that the Collars keep us tame. That’s why you can stand so close to Annie without her eating you. Yet.”

  “The night’s young,” Annie purred.

  Silas grinned. “Are you tr
ying to terrify the human and make him run away?”

  “Now, would we do that?” Annie asked him.

  Liam’s teeth were getting a little pointed. “How about a demonstration of what the Collars do? Would that put you at your ease?”

  The Shifters looked uncomfortable. Kim knew Liam brought this up for Silas’s benefit, the perfect opportunity to prove that the Collars worked, to show that Brian couldn’t possibly have murdered a human. But the Shifters, including Dylan, started frowning.

  “I read that the Collars send deep pain along the nervous system,” Silas said, not noticing. “I couldn’t ask you to show me that.”

  “But humans want to know everything about Shifters, don’t they?” Liam continued, his voice silky. “The good, the bad, the underbelly.”

  A wolf loped up to them and threw himself on his back at Kim’s feet, squirming happily.

  “Underbelly,” she repeated nervously. “Ha.”

  “Very funny, Ellison,” Liam said. “Get on with you, now.”

  “That’s Ellison?” Silas asked in surprise.

  The wolf rolled to his feet, gave them a roguish look, and loped off again.

  “In his glory.” Liam turned back to Silas. “You’re right, lad. The Collars are bloody painful. That’s why none of us are violent, including the notorious Brian sitting in his jail cell. And no, none of us want to show you that.”

  “Speak for yourself, Liam.” Glory put her hands on her hips, her skin-tight outfit stretching in interesting ways. “The human isn’t going to believe the Collars work until he sees it for himself. You want a demo, I’ll give you one.”

  She fixed her gaze on Silas, her eyes going Shifter white. Her face didn’t change, but the wild wolf she was shone out through the sex kitten she pretended to be. Annie and Liam moved to protect Silas, and as they did, Glory spun, caught Kim in a headlock, and started to strangle her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  So this was what it was like to die. No thought of martial arts, just Kim clawing at Glory’s hands. She flashed back to the feral Shifter trying to kill her in her bedroom, her fear spiking.

  Kim had no breath. Her vision went dark, her lungs burned, and her heart pumped frantically, desperate for oxygen. Dimly, she heard Liam roar.

  Sparks flew out into the night, Glory’s Collar going off. Air poured back into Kim’s lungs, and she sat down hard as Glory flung her aside to face the wildcat leaping at them.

  Liam.

  Glory half changed, trying to meet the attack, but her Collar kept sparking, her body jerking with pain.

  Dylan knocked into Liam’s side, shifting as he went. Liam’s clothes ripped as the wildcat burst out of them. Then the two were rolling over each other with savage intensity, snarling, raking claws, biting. Their Collars triggered, muscles and fur shuddering with the shocks, but they didn’t stop.

  “Mate,” Glory rasped. Her hands were at her neck, the Collar stark black against her white throat. “Stupid. I attacked his mate. He couldn’t help it. He had to defend…”

  The rest of the Shifters moved back to give the fighting wildcats room. Sean watched, white-faced, looking poised to run back into the house.

  “Stop them,” Kim shouted at him.

  He answered, tight-lipped. “I can’t. I’m the Guardian.”

  “So guard something!”

  Connor shrieked. Shifters jumped, turned his way. Connor balled his fists. “No,” he yelled. “No!”

  Sean grabbed for him, but Connor shook him off and leapt for the two snarling wildcats. He’d half changed to a gangly young wildcat when his Collar went off in midleap. His scream echoed through the clearing.

  “Connor,” Kim shouted.

  Glory dragged herself up and ran to him. Still Sean hung back, watching, waiting.

  Connor’s Collar kept sparking, and he keened as he had when Fergus had done the Summoning. He shifted back to human, his clothes in shreds.

  Glory pulled him into her arms. “Kim, help me,” she called.

  One of the wildcats rolled away from the other and landed against a tree. Its limbs distorted, and Liam emerged, naked, dirt and long, bloody scratches streaking his body. The other cat became Dylan, lying flat on his back in the mud, panting.

  “Kim!” Glory yelled.

  Glory was rocking Connor on her lap. Kim went to them and dropped to her knees behind Connor, feeling ineffectual.

  “He needs your touch,” Glory said. “You’re family now.”

  Kim put her hands on Connor’s bare back. “It’s all right, Con.”

  “He needs more than that. Goddess, how do you humans survive?”

  Because being human is all about personal space? Shifters’ personal space was different. Kim had thought she understood—Shifters liked to touch, the same way cats rubbed against other cats they knew and liked.

  But she realized now that there was more to it. The Shifters’ need to touch wasn’t simply for affection; it was comfort and reassurance. And maybe release from pain? Kim remembered how Sean and Liam had held Sandra between them to calm her the first day Kim had come to Shiftertown. Kim had thought that the three were being sexual, but she knew now that there hadn’t been anything sexual about their group huddle.

  Kim slid her arms around Connor and leaned onto his back. “It’s all right, sweetie,” she said. “They’ve stopped.”

  Glory had Connor’s head on her shoulder, her arm around him. Connor had stopped his horrible keening, but he shivered violently.

  He really was young, Kim had realized when he’d shifted. As a wildcat, Connor was underdeveloped, little more than a cub, never mind he was twenty in human years and attending college. The gulf between his world and Kim’s gaped wide.

  Gulf. Oh, hell, Silas.

  Kim looked up. Silas remained with Annie, who’d taken a protective stance in front of him. Silas’s eyes were wide, but the man had seen the worst areas of Iraq and Afghanistan. Two Shifter-cats battling it out shouldn’t faze him. She hoped.

  “Why didn’t your Collars work?” he asked into the silence.

  Dylan still lay on his back with his eyes closed, his face ashen. Liam answered, “They did. This is pain you’re looking at, lad. Dad was teaching me a bit of a lesson, is all.”

  Liam’s answer was evasive, but he wasn’t lying about the pain. He looked awful, and so did Dylan.

  Ellison had shifted back to human form but hadn’t resumed his clothes. He went to Liam, helped him to his feet, put an arm around him. Sean stepped to Liam’s other side, wrapped his arm around Liam’s shoulder, nuzzled his cheek.

  “Go to him, Kim,” Glory said. “I’ve got Connor.”

  “What about Dylan?” Dylan lay alone, breathing hard, his body white and gleaming with sweat.

  “Leave Dylan be. Liam’s your mate. He needs you.”

  Kim gave Connor one last hug and unfolded to her feet. She never could decide whether Glory was a complete bitch or a complicated woman. Glory’s tongue was sharp, but she looked up at Kim with such anguish in her eyes that Kim suddenly wanted to hug her.

  She resisted and went to Liam.

  Ellison relinquished his place at Liam’s side to Kim. Kim kept her eyes averted from Ellison’s very naked body, but Ellison didn’t seem to notice or care.

  “We need to get him to the house, away from everyone,” Sean said from Liam’s other side.

  Kim nodded. She and Sean helped Liam walk, step by shaky step, to the back porch, and inside the quiet Morrissey house. It was dark, no one having been inside since sunset, but neither she nor Sean bothered to turn on the light.

  “Get me to the couch,” Liam said. “I’ll be all right.”

  Kim and Sean lowered him gently. Kim took Liam’s hand between hers, and Sean started to sit down next to him.

  “Stop fussing like old biddies,” Liam growled. “It’s not that bad. You need to make sure Connor’s all right.”

  “What about your dad?” Kim asked.

  “Glory will see to him.”
Liam reached for her. “Poor Kim. We’ve given you a fright.”

  “Now you’re patronizing me.” Kim climbed to her feet and glared at both of them. “That was some serious shit out there, wasn’t it?”

  “It’s over now.”

  “You can barely talk, Liam. So be quiet. And you.” Kim pointed at Sean. “You just stood there. Like you did in San Antonio when Fergus went crazy with his whip. You stood there and let them fight each other, let Connor rush in and get hurt. I thought you were supposed to be the big Guardian of the clan. Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to protect them?”

  “Kim,” Liam said. “Don’t.”

  “It’s all right, Liam,” Sean answered. “She doesn’t understand.”

  “So make me understand.”

  Sean looked at her a few moments, then lifted the sword from where it rested beside the couch. He drew it from its sheath and held the sword toward her in both hands, letting Kim see the interwoven Celtic designs etched into the hilt and blade. The workmanship was amazing, the lines featherlight, every single one part of the intricate pattern.

  “It’s Shifter forged and Fae spelled. Very old, not meant for fighting.”

  “For what, then?”

  “The Guardian doesn’t guard the clan,” Sean said softly. “I’m the Guardian of the Gate. The Gate to the afterworld.”

  Kim dragged her gaze from the sword to look into Sean’s quiet eyes. “You’ve lost me.”

  “It used to be that the Guardian was for his pride only. But now that we’ve taken the Collar, I’m responsible for every Shifter in this Shiftertown. When a Shifter dies or is without hope of survival, I bring the sword. The sword frees the soul, allowing it to enter the Summerland. The Guardian makes sure the souls aren’t stranded, which makes them vulnerable to be enslaved again by the Fae. I save them from that.”

  Kim tried to understand, to make her very practical mind believe. “So, when you stand there, watching a fight…”