After Shifters had banded together and defeated their Fae masters, they’d walked away from Faerie, choosing to live—covertly—with their human counterparts. Fae had started abandoning the human world by then, hating its cold iron, which for some reason weakened their metabolisms and killed them. Fae loathing for the human world had been the point of Shifters staying in it. No Fae to worry about equaled good times. Peace. Cubs. Life.
Of course, neither the Fae nor the humans could leave them alone. Both were constantly doing something to get in the way of Shifter happiness, such as humans herding them into Shiftertowns and slapping shock Collars on them—the Collars had been invented by a half Fae.
Shifters now had figured out a way out of the Collars, but it was a deep, dark secret. Removing Collars and replacing them with fake ones took a special process and was slow going.
Bowman had tried to get Kenzie out of her Collar, but she was being stubborn about it. She’d argued that it was better to let the cubs and the weaker Shifters swap theirs out first. She could take the pain.
And she could. She was strong, his mate.
“What about this cop?” Bowman asked her.
Kenzie lifted her head, her eyes dark in the sunlight filtering through half-closed curtains. “He seems all right. He wants to talk to you. I told him he could come over this afternoon.”
“This afternoon?” Bowman half sat up, then ground his teeth as his leg throbbed. “Shit, Kenzie . . .”
“I think he can help us. Cops have resources that we don’t.”
“I don’t want humans in Shiftertown until I heal.” He couldn’t protect his mate, his cub, and his Shifters from cops with guns while his leg was in a splint.
“No humans except cute veterinarians?” Kenzie asked with a sly look.
“Give it a rest, Kenz.”
Kenzie broke into a big, beautiful smile. “I can’t. I’m never letting you off the hook for anything, Bowman O’Donnell. The privilege of a mate.”
“What is? Being a serious pain in my ass?”
“Hell, yeah,” Kenzie said lightly. “I do it better than anyone.”
“Not going to argue with you about that.”
She looked seriously good too, sitting up and smiling at him, the clinging sheet falling from her. Kenzie had borne a cub, and her breasts were full and mature, her belly marked where it had stretched to carry his son. Bowman traced one of the stretch marks to where it disappeared on her side, then cupped her heavy breast in his hand.
He’d gone through the mating ceremonies with her to keep her unruly clan from battling with his, but he’d have gone to her anyway, no matter what. Bowman couldn’t imagine having any mate but her.
The ends of her silky hair brushed his fingers as he cupped her, Kenzie’s breath lifting her breast into his palm. Her eyes were half closed, gleaming gold beneath her dark lashes. Her nipple tightened, responding to Bowman’s thumb as he rubbed the smooth point.
A knock on the door made Kenzie jump. Bowman slowly let her go and tucked his hand behind his head. “What?” he called.
The door remained closed, but they both knew who it was. Ryan’s scent came to them, wrapping them both, completing them.
Ryan was impatient, not distressed, so they waited to see what he needed. Being a Shifter cub, he’d never open the door without their invitation, knowing exactly what his parents were getting up to in the bedroom. He also had zero interest. The fact that his parents—and all adult Shifters—loved sex was to Ryan a character flaw he would put off acquiring as long as he could.
“Dad,” he called through the door. “Can I go with my friends to Cade’s? He’s got the zip line done, and he says we can start riding it today.”
CHAPTER TEN
Zip line? Goddess give him strength.
Bowman started out of bed, was brought up short by his splint, let out a frustrated groan, and said loudly, “No!”
“Aw, come on. Everyone’s going. Cade’s careful. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt us little cubs.”
No, he wouldn’t. Cade was good with cubs, and all Shifters knew it. Bowman also knew that Ryan was playing up the cute cub angle to get his way. At age twelve, he was a master manipulator.
“You’re leader’s son,” Bowman said, dropping back to the mattress. “No one will think less of you if you don’t go. They’ll think you’re smart for not doing something stupidly dangerous.”
“No, they won’t.” Ryan’s voice came firmly through the door. “They’ll say I’m a coward. Leader’s son should be the first one on.”
“Leader’s son shouldn’t be pushed around by a bunch of cubs,” Bowman called back.
Kenzie was up, her naked body touched by winter sunshine. Bowman fell silent as he watched her lean over to sweep up her clothes. A stretch of her arms, and her shirt skimmed down her body, Kenzie glancing at him as she settled it over her breasts. Another bend, and her jeans slid up her thighs, over her smooth ass, hiding herself from him.
“I’ll walk him over,” she said. “He’s right—leader’s son shouldn’t hold back from new things.”
“Leader’s son shouldn’t break his bloody neck on a stupid idea of Cade’s.”