Primal Bonds

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 a*sholes 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. “F*cking 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 a*shole. 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 to 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.

“Sean, is it the Collar?”

“You should go,” he rasped. “You should run from me.”

Not that she had a choice smashed against the car by his body weight. She lifted her chin. “No. I’m not afraid, and you’re obviously hurting.”

“I know you’re not afraid. And you should be.” Sean’s hands closed on her shoulders with fingers that could crush her bones. “You should be terrified of me, love. Low in your pack, here at the mercy of the most powerful Shifters in Hill Country. You’re bound to us, obligated. You should be groveling, grateful that you have your Fae healing gift to give us in return.”

Andrea gave him a little smile. “Forget that.”

“Aye, and here I stand, worried that I’ll hurt you, a Lupine, a half Fae, a woman I’d never met until she turned up at a bus station and looked me with the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen.” He leaned closer, his body hard against hers. “What are you, Andrea Gray, that you make me feel like this?”

Trapped between the metal car and Sean’s strength, she knew he was right—she should be afraid—but fear was the last thing on her mind. “Maybe it’s the mating frenzy talking.”

“It’s more than that.” Behind his anger, Andrea sensed Sean’s confusion, his struggle to understand the one thing that didn’t fit his world—her. “In that bar just now, you should have been hiding behind me in terror, letting me protect you, and yet you attacked Callum, a pride leader, without hesitation. He should be way out of your league.”

“He messed with you.” When Callum had gone for Sean, Andrea’s emotions had snapped. Her wolf had answered a primal need, and she’d pulled off her clothes with only one thought ringing in her head. Protect the mate.

She ran restless hands up Sean’s arms. “He wanted to kill you. I couldn’t let him do that.”

Instinct was a hell of a thing. Her rage at Callum for attacking Sean had overridden all fear, all reason. She’d only wanted to taste Callum’s blood and make him pay.

If her fighting instincts had overwhelmed her, her mating ones were now filling her with fire. Sean bent her back against the car, his growl animal-like as he brought his mouth down to hers. His hands slid, warm, under her shirt, touching, molding, sliding around her waist and under her breasts, bare because Andrea hadn’t bothered to put her bra back on. His mouth opened hers, the kiss claiming her, possessing.

They were so alone down here, with only the chatter of birds filling the air and the swish of water rushing past trees. No one might come back here for hours.

Sean broke the fierce kiss to nip Andrea’s cheek. He thrust her shirt down to nibble his way to her shoulder, his thighs hard against hers, his arousal even harder.

“Sean.”

“Don’t stop me.” His words were whispered, savage. “I need this. Don’t stop me.”

She wouldn’t dream of it. “I just like saying your name,” she said.

Sean raised his head. His eyes were almost white, the beautiful blue swallowed. Every line of his face was tight, his mouth pulling in pain.

“F*cking hell,” he whispered. “No. Let me have this.”

“Sean?”

Sean collapsed to his knees, his hands so tight on her wrists that Andrea went down with him. They ended up in the mud near the wheel of the car, Andrea crouching, Sean folding in on himself.

“Where do you hurt? Let me see.”

Sean curled one arm across his belly. “Everywhere. You’re right, it’s the Collar.”

Andrea stared at Sean’s Collar, but it was a silent silverblack streak on his neck. She’d seen it shock him deeply in the bar, but he’d fought first the human and then Callum, as though he felt nothing. And then he’d said, I’ll pay, and pay like hell.

“Delayed reaction?” she asked. “But Collars don’t work like that. Do they?”

“We’ve learned.” The words jerked out of him. “We can use ... adrenaline ... to keep the pain away. But only for so long. Then ... payback.” His words faded, the Shifter in him fighting the hurt.

Andrea wrapped her arms around him. His skin was slick with sweat, his breath coming fast, his heart going in rapid-fire beats.

“You should go home, love,” he whispered. “This won’t be pretty.”

Andrea didn’t bother to answer. She kissed his damp hair, rested her head against his, and closed her eyes.

The pain wove through Sean in bright, hot lines that streaked from his Collar and around his body like fishing line—strong, tight, strangling. It was somewhat like what caught her in the nightmares, though not as arbitrary and terrifying. This was almost organized, technology making the magic threads ruler-straight.

Andrea eased her concentration under the threads and slowly, slowly started to loosen them. The pain clamped Sean hard, the Fae magic almost gleeful. He’d cheated the magic, and now the magic wanted its revenge.

No, Andrea told it. You will obey me.

Magic wasn’t an entity. It was a force, without intelligence. But Andrea fought it now, and it fought back like an enemy.

In her mind’s eye, Sean’s Collar gleamed on his throat like a white-hot band, the Celtic knot a tangle of bright energy. When fighting adrenaline flowed through a Shifter, the Fae magic sensed it and triggered the shocks. The manmade electricity was enhanced by the magic to make the pain excruciating, plus the magic also made certain the Collar never ran out of power and could never be removed. Andrea knew all this intellectually, but seeing the pain with her mind, feeling it with her fingers, made her very, very angry.

The Collar’s spells were strong, locked hard in place. Andrea knew she couldn’t negate the power, but she could at least ease its intensity.

It took longer than she’d have liked, but Andrea managed to snake her healing magic beneath the Collar and loosen the wires of pain. Sean’s body began to relax, as, one by one, the bright wires unwound themselves from him and retreated.

Sean drew a long breath. When Andrea opened her eyes, he was looking at her, his irises calmed back to lake blue.

Andrea exhaled in relief. “Better?”

Sean’s answer was a growl. He dragged Andrea into his arms and brought his hard mouth down on hers.