Primal Bonds

chapter SIX





Andrea yelped and yanked the covers up to her shoulders. “Sean, what the hell are you doing in here?”

“I heard you yelling,” Sean said, as calmly as though they stood in the middle of a park. “My window, it faces yours. And you left yours unlocked.” He turned and pulled down the sash, closing off the frigid air.

“I’m on the second floor. In the middle of a well-patrolled Shiftertown.”

“A second floor easy to reach by climbing onto the porch roof. Piece of cake to a cat.”

As he came closer to the bed, Andrea saw fully what he was wearing. Or not wearing. A T-shirt and underwear, easy to peel off for the shift, to slide back on once he made it to the roof.

“Briefs,” Andrea said. “I knew it.”

“Have you got a blanket I can wrap myself in, love? It’s bloody cold in here.”

“You’re the one who decided to turn into a cat and climb in through my window.”

“I did. Had to leave most of my clothes behind to do it too.”

He sounded so nonchalant, as though this were nothing unusual. And maybe it wasn’t to Sean. Not that Andrea could imagine any ladies locking the window to keep him out. He stood tall and tight, his hands on his hips, silhouetted against the light outside. His body made the wolf in her want to howl.

Hurried footsteps sounded in the hall, and the door of her bedroom swung open to reveal Glory, resplendent in silver pants, camisole, and gauzy robe. She was tense, poised to shift, but she relaxed when she saw Sean.

“Ah.” She gave a throaty laugh. “I guess it’s Felines for both of us tonight.”

“Sean and I are just chatting,” Andrea said before he could speak. “Everything’s under control.”

Glory’s smile spoke volumes. “Of course it is. Good night.” She turned, robe floating, and closed the door behind her.

“About the blanket,” Sean said. “It’s still bloody cold.”

“I thought you were a big, bad Feline Shifter.”

“I am. Now I’m a cold one.”

“I also thought you were leaving.”

“I never said that.” Sean sat on the edge of her bed. “You’re shaking like a leaf and you smell of fear. Tell me about these nightmares, love. After you lend me a blanket.”

He was right about the fear. Sean waking her abruptly had sent the nightmare fleeing, but Andrea couldn’t stop shivering, even though her skin was clammy with sweat. The dreams were incoherent but at the same time terrifying as hell.

Sean might say he was cold, but his body radiated warmth. So much warmth. She wanted it. Her libido noted every line of his strong, hard body; the curl of his hair at the base of his neck; the sensual mouth that had kissed her so masterfully today. Twice. But right now, she longed even more for his Shifter touch, his comfort.

She eased down a corner of the covers and moved over, inviting him in.

Sean’s eyes glittered as they flicked to her, his chest rising with a quick intake of breath. Just when Andrea thought he’d refuse, Sean took hold of the covers, lifted them, and slid into the bed with her.

Sean laid himself down next to Andrea, wondering if this weren’t the biggest mistake of his life. She had a double bed, so there was room for him, but the damn bed wasn’t that big. Not big enough that his legs didn’t touch hers, that when he put his head on the pillow, her face wasn’t inches away from his.

Her breath was warm on his cheek, her hair mussed and spilling over her pillow. She smelled of sleep, damp and sultry, and the bed was a fine place of heat, where a Shifter male could curl up and be touched by his sweetheart of a mate.

“You’re a dangerous one,” Sean said. He thought about what Dylan had said about Andrea not respecting the hierarchy, and sure enough, Andrea was gazing straight into his eyes. No evasion of the submissive, no awkwardness, no hesitancy.

“Me? Dangerous?” Andrea shrugged. “It’s cold, and if you want to talk, this is the warmest place. Anyway, there’s nothing dangerous about me.”

“You’re dangerous, because you can make the Shiftertown leader’s baby brother dance to your bidding.”

A smile touched her mouth. “Do you? Dance to my bidding?”

“I’m dancing a jig right now, love.”

Her red lips curved. “You’re the dangerous one, Sean Morrissey. Here you are climbing through my bedroom window.”

“Because I was worried about you.”

“That’s what makes you dangerous.”

Her eyes were silver in the moonlight, her face a curve of marble. Her beauty did something to Sean’s soul, and her eyes looked deep into his heart. He was never going to survive her.

Sean smoothed a lock of hair from her cheek. “Tell me about the nightmares. Do you dream about Jared? The things he did? He can’t touch you by law, Andrea, you know that, now that you’ve been mate-claimed by me. Besides, I’ll kill him if he comes near you.”

“No.” Andrea’s mouth went tight, the pucker of the word remaining as she frowned. “The nightmares aren’t about Jared. They’re about—I think about what happened today.”

That surprised him. “What, you mean with Ely? The healing?”

“I think so. But ... I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you tell me, and I’ll be the judge.”

Andrea wet her lips, the moisture gleaming in the dim light. Sean remembered kissing those lips and the warmth and pressure of her mouth in return. Her breasts pushed at the neckline of her pajama top, and his legs told him she wore no pajama bottoms.

“I see threads,” she said. “No, that’s not right. They’re more like wires, tangling me up, trying to smother me. I can’t get away. But whenever I heal someone, I also see threads. I’m not sure if I really see them or I just picture them to help me focus. Today I saw them coming from your sword, and I used them to help heal your cousin.”

Interesting. “But the dreams, they’re nothing about healing?”

“No. I don’t know what they are.”

From the worry in her eyes, he feared she did know, and that it wasn’t good.

“Something to do with the Fae?” Sean asked.

“I don’t know,” she repeated, voice sharp. She smelled of fear, anger, distrust.

Sean stroked her hair, calming her with his touch. He didn’t mind doing that for her, running his fingers through her silky hair, finishing the stroke on her cheekbone.

“You can trust me, sweetheart,” he said.

“Can I really?”

“Yes. My dad is shagging your aunt, probably right now. That makes us almost family.”

A slight smile rewarded him. “If we’re related, you can’t claim me as mate.”

“I didn’t say blood relation. I said family. Mate is the best kind of family.”

A sigh. “I wouldn’t know. My stepfather loved my mother, but his people never took to her. They were relieved when she died.”

“All deaths are grief,” Sean said, running his fingertips across her lashes. “For all Shifters. We all grieve.”

“You do, maybe.”

Goddess, she was so brittle. That was Andrea, brittle and fragile at the same time. She’d been hurt, and Sean wanted to erase that hurt. He wanted to wipe out her nightmares and destroy everyone who had ever caused her pain.

“You can trust us, Andrea,” Sean said. “You can trust me. Whenever you think you’re alone, you won’t be.”

Her expression softened, and she grinned. “Fine words from a man who climbed in through my window and got into my bed.”

Sean propped himself on his elbow. “You invited me to do the last bit, love.”

He let his fingers trail down her cheek to her neck, around the neckline of her pajama top, which came to a V below her Collar. He touched the Collar’s Celtic knot that rested against the hollow of her throat. He wished he could have seen her before the Collar had been fused to her skin to keep her tamed for humans. He could have pressed kisses down her neck to her shoulders, nuzzling in under her hair. He still could, but he longed to taste her, not the metal bite of the Collar.

She watched him while he touched her, gray eyes big. Many Lupines had gray eyes, but they were light gray, like Glory’s. Andrea’s were the color of deep smoke, of leaden skies over an Irish sea. Her lashes were dark, thick, and full, which went with her lush black hair. Black Irish, she’d be called where he came from. Dark hair and creamy skin, gray eyes that recalled the Sidhe, the Fae, the Fair Folk.

Fair bloody bastards. They’d created Shifters for their own pleasure, so Shifters could hunt for the Fae and entertain them. Animals that could turn human and back again, Oh what fun we can have with them! But they made Shifters too strong. Shifter had allied with Shifter, and they’d turned on their Fae masters and driven them back to Faerie. Good riddance.

Once in a while, a Fae emerged and coupled with a Shifter or a human to produce a half-Fae offspring. Those were the dangerous kind. The half Fae could live among humans—they weren’t as fragile as the full-blooded Fae who weren’t easy with all the iron now in use in the human world. Half Fae weren’t affected by iron, and they had that Fae charm. It had been a half-Fae human and his son who’d helped convince the human government that Shifters were dangerous and needed to be kept on a leash—the Collars had been the half-Fae human’s idea.

And now there was this half Fae, half Shifter. Andrea Gray, scared and angry, the Shifter-Fae war being fought inside her own body.

You can trust us, Sean had said. He’d really meant, You can trust me.

Andrea touched his throat, tracing Sean’s own Collar. Sean closed his eyes to enjoy. The feel of her light fingers around the edges of the Collar was erotic and enticing, and yet, he also loved simply bathing in her warmth and the scent of her.

Sean jumped when her lips brushed his chin. He opened his eyes to find her face an inch from his, and then she closed the space between them and kissed him.

A slow, leisurely kiss. A slide of lips, moist with heat. She smelled good, like honey and that bite of mint that was the Fae in her.

Her mouth moved on his, and Sean answered, licking, stroking. He caught her tongue and gently suckled it, and she made a sound in her throat that made his already hard cock lift.

But this wasn’t a night for mating frenzy. It was cool in the room, they were warm snuggled under the blankets. This was a time to kiss, touch, nip, getting to know each other. Shifters mated for life. If Andrea accepted his claim, there would be time. So much time.

Andrea nipped and tasted Sean back, her touch light on his shoulders. She was fragile and strong at the same time, her body honed but fine boned, her curves round and delicious. Shifter but different.

Sean nuzzled Andrea’s cheek, and he feathered kisses along her jaw. Her hair smelled good, a fine place to bury his nose and inhale.

“Dylan will know you’re here,” she whispered.

He bit her earlobe. “Of course he knows I’m here. Even if Glory didn’t tell him, he can scent his own son.”

“He doesn’t like me.”

Another bite. “He likes you fine, love. He’s uncertain, but he was clan leader for all his life. It’s his job to be suspicious of anything different.”

“Different like me.”

“Give him a chance. He’s giving you one.”

“Is he?”

Sean left off the enticing fun of licking the shell of her ear. “Love, if Dad didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here. Never mind that Liam’s now Shiftertown leader. If Dad thought you a true threat, your request would never have been approved, no matter what your pack leader wanted, no matter how many times I insisted on making the mate-claim.”

Andrea looked puzzled. “Dylan doesn’t have say over Glory’s pack leader. He’s Feline and not the leader of Shiftertown.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Sean wanted to laugh. “You think power only flows within a pack or a clan? That nothing outside can influence it? Living in a Shiftertown has taught me a lot about dominance and power, leadership and control. It’s not who wins in the pecking order, it’s who has true dominance. And my father has it. Liam’s leader now, but he still listens to Dad.”

“What about you?” Andrea’s mouth softened into a smile. “Do you listen to your father?”

“Mostly.” Sean traced her lips. “But he also listens to me. If I say you’re the one for me, he’ll concede. Eventually.”

“I never know what to make of you, Sean Morrissey.”

“Not many do. Come here.” Sean kissed her again, soft touches, his hand stealing around her back. She responded by nibbling his lip, running fingers through his hair.

Sean kissed her lips and face and throat, then he gently rolled her so that she faced away from him. He spooned up against her back, arm around her waist. “You sleep now. No more nightmares. I’m here to drive them off.”

“With your big stick?”

Sean chuckled and moved his hips, his hardness through his briefs finding the cleave in her panties. “Bikinis,” he said. “I knew it.”

“We’re strangely fond of each other’s underwear.”

“I promise not to wear yours if you don’t wear mine.”

Andrea started to laugh, her body shaking in a wonderful way. Sean hid a groan. He had to be crazy, lying here with her, promising himself he’d leave her alone.

“The big, bad Guardian in women’s underwear,” she said.

“You hush now.” Sean kissed the soft skin behind her ear. “Sleep.”

She giggled some more, a sound that drove heat into his bones. “I’ll dream about that. You big, strong Shifter, you.”

Sean turned the kiss to a nip. “Hush.”

“No doubt about who’s the dominant in this room.”

Andrea laughed again, the sound softer as she relaxed back into him. Sean held her in a safe embrace, cradling her like a cub until she fell into limp, dreamless slumber.





When Andrea awoke in the morning, Sean was gone. She didn’t like the bite of disappointment that gave her.

Last night, Sean had held her like a mate would, kissing and cuddling, touching, nuzzling. Shifters did that in their animal forms, curving around each other and basking in the safe joy of being together. Her stepfather had done so when she was little, holding her after her mother died, the two of them united in grief.

She’d not had the comfort of such a thing in a long time. Sean was tearing down the walls Andrea had built against the world, and she wasn’t certain whether to embrace that or cower in terror.

Andrea showered, dressed, and went downstairs to find Dylan in the kitchen drinking coffee, alone. Cowering in terror started to sound good. Glory’s scent was all over Dylan, and from the way his eyes flicked to Shifter white and back to blue, Andrea knew that he could smell Sean’s scent all over her.

“Nothing happened,” she said as she moved to the coffeepot.

“Sean is almost at his century mark,” Dylan said in a dry voice. “He can sleep with whatever female he likes.”

Andrea poured herself coffee from an old-fashioned percolator pot, carried the cup to the table, and sat down across from Dylan, making herself face him. Andrea remembered how he’d looked at her the night Glory had brought her home, with a white-hot stare that Sean must have learned from him. Dylan had blue eyes, like his sons’, and a touch of gray in otherwise black hair, but he possessed a grim darkness that Liam and Sean both lacked. Dylan was a few centuries old, born long before the Shifters ever considered making themselves tame for humans. His eyes carried the weight of his years, and he hadn’t hidden the fact that a half-Fae Lupine was not someone he wanted living in the same house with him.

“You know, I didn’t come here to make trouble,” Andrea said. “Not between you and Sean, or you and Glory. Honestly. I just wanted somewhere to lick my wounds, somewhere to find my equilibrium.”

Dylan nodded, eyes settling again to human blue. “And this is a fine place to do it. You’re safe here, Andrea. I promise you.”

Andrea turned her coffee cup on the placemat, breathing the coffee smell to keep up her courage. Dylan might not be Shiftertown leader anymore, but that didn’t mean he’d run off with his tail between his legs. Slipping in the hierarchy meant that he was only a little less powerful than Liam.

She drew a breath. “Sean told me that if you hadn’t wanted me to come here, I wouldn’t have been allowed.”

“True.”

“Then what made you let me?” Andrea sipped the coffee, cool enough to drink now. It was rich and good; Glory’s coffee always was.

“Glory. She’s fond of you and thought it would be best if you came here. I trust her judgment.”

Oh really? “Then why did you take off the minute I walked into the house?” That still bothered her. “I didn’t even know you lived here. Glory sprang that on me when I was walking up the porch steps. ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve shacked up with the most powerful Feline in South Texas.’ ”

Dylan didn’t smile. “Liam is the most powerful Feline in South Texas. Sean and I are neck and neck for second, though Sean will pull ahead soon. He’s younger, and I’m tired of the game.”

Andrea traced the rim of her coffee cup and made herself look into his intense blue eyes. “You didn’t answer the question. Why did you leave the moment I arrived?”

“Clan business.” Dylan raised his cup, took a sip. “Nothing to do with you.”

“And it’s coincidence that this business happened the same night I got here?”

His smile was so quick she would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking hard at him. “Yes.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“You will, yes.”

Glory clicked down the stairs and into the kitchen at that moment, tall and slim and dressed from head to toe in hot pink. “Oh, good, you’re chatting. Sean went home?”

“Apparently,” Andrea said.

Glory smiled. “But you didn’t have any more nightmares, did you?”

“No.” Something tight loosened inside Andrea. “No, I didn’t.”

“Good. Dylan’s going to make breakfast, then we’re having a pride meeting at Liam’s bar. About the shootings.”

Andrea looked at her in surprise. “Do you want me there? I’m not part of the pride.” Neither was Glory.

Dylan rose and headed for the stove. “You’re a witness. You and Glory and Ronan. So, yes, Liam and I want you there.”

He proceeded to clatter frying pans and cook up an amazing concoction of sausage, eggs, and potatoes. Discussion over.

An hour or so later, Andrea found herself seated next to Kim Morrissey in the closed bar. Liam lounged on a chair next to Kim, his long legs up, feet propped on the table. Like Sean, Liam wore motorcycle boots, although Sean’s were hooked around the legs of his chair as he sat backward, arms on the slats.

Remembering how good Sean had felt curled up behind her made Andrea flush. She didn’t know why—they hadn’t done anything sexual. Kim caught sight of her flush and smiled knowingly, which made Andrea blush even harder.

Ronan was there too, the big Ursine giving Andrea a wave. Ellison came in behind him. Ellison, as usual, had dressed in cowboy boots, a black shirt, a big silver belt buckle, and a black hat, which he hung up near the bar, smoothing out his honey-colored hair.

Annie, the other waitress, was there, with a tall human man that Annie had her arm around. Annie had mentioned her human boyfriend in passing, a friend of Kim’s, she’d said, but Andrea hadn’t met him yet. The thin man didn’t look frightened to be in a roomful of Shifters, but Annie’s stance was protective. Hurt him and you’re toast, her body language said.

“The owner of the bar wanted to close it because of the shooting,” Liam began without preliminary. “I convinced him to keep it open and not give in to terror tactics. Besides, how would poor Shifter bar managers and the waitresses make any money?”

Liam flashed his charming Irish smile, and the Shifters smiled with him. Silas, Annie’s human, looked a little confused, but Andrea understood Liam’s joke. If humans were too short-sighted to catch on to how Shifters could survive on part-time pittance, then they deserved to be duped.

“But this is a serious situation,” Liam went on. “Sean’s been talking to the police. Sean?”

“I had another chat with the detective yesterday morning,” Sean said. “She didn’t have much more to tell me.”

“She?” Andrea asked.

Sean didn’t seem to notice Andrea’s sudden possessive growl. “The woman didn’t look happy to have our problem dumped on her, but I managed to talk her around.”

I’ll bet. Andrea imagined him smiling his quiet smile, and the female detective being unable to resist his charming blue eyes. She wondered if the detective had realized that Sean had gone commando that morning, and she wanted to growl again.

“She said she’d continue to look into it,” Sean said. “But she suspects it’s gang kids who have decided to make Shifters their target. Sort of counting coup, she said. She looked up the license number of the car, and as you suspected, Liam, it was stolen. In her opinion, it’s kids up to no good. The shooting in San Antonio yesterday didn’t change her mind, at least it hadn’t when I spoke to her again this morning. Random, she said. No one seems very interested in our little problem.”

Sean delivered the story in a calm voice, but Andrea sensed his simmering anger.

Liam listened without changing his expression. “Ronan, what’s your assessment?”

Ronan shrugged his big shoulders. “At first glance, a lowrider full of gang kids, like the cop said.”

“And at second glance?”

“It was too organized, and they weren’t kids. In human terms, adults. The attack was exactly timed when there weren’t a lot of people outside the bar and when I went off to use the gents’. I kinda do that every night at about the same time. Usually there isn’t anyone but Shifters in here then, although we got some humans out barhopping that night.”

Liam took this in. “So a planned hit at a time there would be only Shifters inside—they thought—when they know the guard steps away from the door.”

“Sorry, Liam,” Ronan said. He no longer looked mournful, but his eyes held shame.

Dylan, standing behind him, put a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. “Not to worry, my friend. No one blames you.”

“Dad’s right,” Liam said. “You chased them off, Ronan, before they could do more damage. Well done.” He flicked his gaze to Dylan. “Now, we move on to the shooting in San Antonio. Dad?”

“I’ve been down in San Antonio for a while, cleaning up clan business,” Dylan said. There were knowing nods around the table, indicating that everyone but Andrea and Annie’s friend knew what he was talking about. “Ely Barry, one of our clan, and his family were at a café in Alamo Heights. He was having lunch—a double cheeseburger, he made sure to mention. A car drives up, two young men get out, unload their weapons, jump back in, and roar away. Most of the Shifters hit the deck, but Ely had to be a hero and pull a cub out of the way. Cub was fine; Ely took four shots to the stomach.”

Andrea was aware of the glances in her direction. Ely had been dying, and Andrea and her Fae magic had ensured that he’d live to eat another double cheeseburger.

“Good for Ely,” Ronan said.

“Don’t worry, he’s milking it for all it’s worth.”

The Shifters laughed, happy that tragedy had been dodged.

“The point, my friends,” Liam said when the laughter trailed off, “is that we have someone targeting Shifter establishments—that is to say, human establishments that have a large Shifter clientele. Is their goal to punish the human owners or to frighten Shifters away from said establishments?”

“Does it matter?” Kim asked. She moved her hand to her abdomen. “They’re shooting and maiming people. Killing them but for luck and Andrea.”

Sean rested his arm across the back of Andrea’s chair. “And Andrea can’t be everywhere.”

“The question is what are we going to do about it?” Kim continued. She had been a courtroom lawyer, and though she was seated, in a loose dress with her Shifter mate at her side, her voice was still crisp and lawyerlike. “Stay home and lock the doors? Or figure out who is doing this and put a stop to it?”

“That’s my girl.” Liam grinned at the others. “Didn’t I pick out a fighter?”

“We’ll just have to convince the police this is serious,” Kim went on.

“Good luck with that,” Ronan muttered.

“I know people,” Kim said.

Annie’s human boyfriend, Silas, spoke up for the first time. “So do I. I can put a word in with my police contacts if you want.”

Andrea leaned in to Sean. “Who is he?”

“Friend of mine,” Kim answered for him. “He’s a journalist.”

“A reporter?” Andrea stared in disbelief. “You let a reporter in here?”

“Silas likes Shifters.”

Andrea met Silas’s gaze—briefly; he had to look away.

Andrea’s experience with reporters had been all bad. One had once come out to the Colorado Shiftertown to nose around, and the next thing they knew, the reporter had hinted that the Shifter males, because of a lack of females, kidnapped human women and made slaves of them. This told to the reporters by a human Shifter groupie who’d been dumped by her Shifter boyfriend. Humans had been so outraged, they’d wanted Shifters rounded up and shot, and Shifters had to scramble around to prove that wasn’t true. That had been ten years ago, but the worry of it still hung like a pall.

“Silas is fine,” Sean said, with a glance at Silas that told the tall man he’d better be fine.

“I don’t mind you trying,” Liam said. “Not that I have much hope for your chances, but it can’t hurt. In the meantime, the bar is open for business. I’ve convinced the owner to hire a second bouncer to help out Ronan.”

“The café in San Antonio is now barred to Shifters,” Dylan said. “I couldn’t convince them not to do that. But I can’t really blame them. They’re scared.”

“I’ll keep the bar owner as calm as I can,” Liam said. “If we can find the perpetrators, so much the better.”

“I disagree.”

Sean’s voice was so quiet that Andrea almost missed it. But at his words, the bar went silent.

“Sean?” Liam looked over at him, eyes still. “What do you want to say?”

All gazes turned to Sean, sitting strong and quiet beside Andrea with an air of power that matched Liam’s.

“It’s fine for us to find these gobshites and stop them,” Sean said. “And by all means, we will. But you’re saying you’d risk lives—the lives of Andrea, Kim, the life of your unborn cub—to prove that you’re not afraid of humans? I’m thinking that’s not wise, Liam. We shut the bar and find the bastards, while we keep our families safe.”