Pride Mates

by Jennifer Ashley

  “But Shifters aren’t supposed to have much money.”

  “No.” Liam took a calming sip of coffee. Trust Kim to pry at their most basic secrets, leaving Liam to have to think of ways of explaining. He didn’t want to lie, not to the woman he’d chosen as mate, but at the same time she wanted to rip the lid off everything they desperately needed to keep protected.

  “How do you think we live, sweetheart?” he asked her, keeping his voice down. “We’re only allowed low-wage jobs, and yet we’re expected to feed our families, pay the rent. You don’t think I live on what I make as a part-time bar manager, do you?”

  “I did notice you had a casual attitude about going to work. As in, you never go.”

  “But I have the job. So the human committees can mark down on their sheets that I have employment and be happy that they’ve done well by me.”

  “So you do have money?”

  “Now then, Kim, a man would think you didn’t want him for his looks and his fine personality.”

  Kim flushed again. “You obviously don’t want me prying, but you expect me to be your mate—for life—without explaining what’s really going on with you.”

  Liam laid his hand lightly over hers. “I was teasing. Let’s just say my family is provided for. As will be my mate and my offspring.”

  “Offspring. Now we’re back in dangerous territory.”

  “I thought all women would want to know that their mate can take care of the cubs. But all right.” Liam withdrew his hands. “Let’s talk about Brian.”

  Kim looked surprised at the change of subject. “All right, let’s talk about why Fergus doesn’t want me to save him. Why he wants Brian to plead guilty.”

  “I wish I knew, love. Brian’s no threat to Fergus, nowhere near challenging for leadership. Fergus has helped Brian and his family in the past. They aren’t close, but not enemies.”

  “Maybe Brian pissed him off somehow.”

  “If he did, I never heard about it. I would have heard.” It bothered him that he knew little of what had gone on between Brian and Fergus. Liam had always thought he had his finger firmly on the pulse of Shiftertown. He knew everyone, and they knew him. If a Shifter were in trouble, someone would tell him or Sean. That was the way it worked. In Brian’s case, it hadn’t.

  Kim said, “When I first came to see you, you told me you didn’t know much about Brian.”

  “I was trying to put you off. A human poking around in Shiftertown is dangerous.”

  “But you took me to see his mother.”

  “I liked you.” That liking was growing into something far deeper, perilously deeper. The joy that flashed through him every time he saw Kim’s beautiful eyes and sassy smile grew stronger each day. The thought should dismay him, yet it didn’t.

  Mating could start off as nothing more than a drive to reproduce, and some Shifters never moved beyond that. But others, like his father and mother, his brother Kenny and mate Sinead, had developed a relationship that went beyond mating, even beyond love. It was a bond humans couldn’t understand, and Liam felt it forging between himself and Kim.

  It was a heady feeling, and one he feared would turn into worse pain than any he’d ever experienced. The Collar’s torture would be nothing compared to Kim breaking his heart.

  Kim frowned at her coffee. “I can’t believe that now that I have good questions to ask Brian, you won’t let me near him. You’re not making my job easy.” She looked up, an idea lighting her eyes. “But wait a sec, I can’t believe Fergus wouldn’t let Brian’s mother talk to him.”

  “Possibly. Clan rules are one thing; maternal ties are another. Sacred, you could say.”

  “The same way Fergus can’t mess with me if I’m your mate.”

  Liam nodded. “He can’t unless I let him.”

  “Let him? What’s all this ‘let’ shit? Shifters don’t understand the term ‘feminism,’ do they?”

  “I wouldn’t say that, love. Shifter females are no pushovers. But realize that Shifters have lived in small groups for thousands of years, the males protecting the females and the cubs. It’s instinctive for us. This is the first time we’ve dwelled in close communities—we still had the clans, but we rarely saw others in our clan. It’s taking us a little bit of time to adjust.”

  She watched him in curiosity, one finger still rubbing the rim of her cup. Liam thought about her sweeping the same finger over his cock and instantly got hard again.

  “Where did you live before?” she asked. “I mean in Ireland, before you came to Shiftertown? You told Abel you had a castle.”

  “A castle. That we did.”

  “With battlements and everything?”

  “It was mostly a ruin by the time we moved in, but we fixed it up and made it livable.”

  “What did the Irish think of you? This was before Shifters came out, right?”

  “Oh, they had all kinds of explanations for us. The ones inclined to believe in ghost stories thought we were the Fae, and that wasn’t far off. Lucky for them, Shifters are ten times kinder than the Fae. Others thought we were former IRA come to hide out. The more skeptical just said we were crazy. But everyone knew we kept the village protected, so no one tried to drive us out.”

  Kim was watching him now, a bit like her office colleagues had, but Liam didn’t mind so much being subjected to her blue-eyed scrutiny. “Why did you come to Austin if you had a fine castle in Ireland, and everyone loved you?”

  Liam shrugged. “Once the traitorous bastard Shifter in England sold his story and demonstrated that he could shape-shift, Ireland got a little dangerous for us. People who needed money started taking bounties on Shifters, dead or alive. Kenny’s mate, Sinead, was pregnant, and we couldn’t risk her getting hunted. We heard that in this country, Shifters were being herded into camps rather than exterminated, but allowed to live in safety. So we packed up, and here we are.”

  “But Sinead—Connor’s mom—died anyway.”

  “That she did.” The sadness of her death had never gone away. “But if we’d stayed in Ireland, we’d likely have lost Connor too. He came early and was so weak. He needed quiet and medical care. Here, me and Dad, Sean and Kenny, we were able to look after him without having to worry about fighting off villagers with pitchforks.”

  “Are you saying that you took the Collar to save him?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “And then a feral Shifter killed Kenny.” Kim’s eyes flashed with rage. “Bastard.”

  Liam’s heart warmed at her anger. She understood. “May hell rot all feral Shifters.”

  “Ferals are the ones who refused the Collar, right? Why do they kill other Shifters?”

  Liam’s deep anger stirred. “Because in their eyes, we betrayed them. Instead of waiting to get slaughtered or watching our children die, we chose to sacrifice our freedom and band together. What infuriates them most is that we now live with other species of Shifters—which, to ferals, is even worse than letting humans believe they tell us what to do.”

  “Safety in numbers?”

  “And strength.” Liam smiled. “When we buried our cross-species hatred, we got stronger. We helped each other instead of fighting. Shifters were scattered and dying out. Now we’re growing in number again. And growing stronger.”

  “Are you telling me that Shiftertowns aren’t so much places of captivity as they are fortresses? No matter what humans think they are?”

  “I’d say sanctuaries, but you’re not far from wrong.” He lost his smile. “Do you understand now why Fergus doesn’t want a human learning all our secrets?”

  Kim glanced around, but still, no one had come to sit near them. The coffee shop was pretty much deserted, the lunch crowd not yet surging through Austin’s streets. “Then why are you telling me?”

  A nonchalant shrug. “You’re my mate. I tell you everything.”

  “Sure you do. You’re saying that you live in Shiftertowns for your own ends and that you don’t care about the things humans keep you fro
m having—like cable and new cars and high-paying jobs. I sort of understand that. But the Collars are still cruel.”

  “They are. Invented by a half-Fae with no love for Shifters. The truth is Shifters weren’t all that violent in the wild. We used to hunt animals to eat—now we get our meat from the supermarket. But then, same with humans. We fight among ourselves for dominance or to protect the pride, but no indiscriminate slaughter.”

  “This from a man who killed a Shifter in my bedroom and was about to battle his clan leader yesterday morning.”

  He shrugged. “Extenuating circumstances.”

  “And you are supposed to hate other Shifter species?”

  “We’ve learned to suppress our prejudices for the health of us all. Mostly. I count Ellison my friend, but I can still call him dog breath.”

  Kim’s eyes sparkled. “What does he call you?”

  “Cat shit.”

  She burst into nervous laughter. “I thought it would be ‘Hairball.’ ”

  “Glory calls us that sometimes. That or ‘Cock-sucking Feline Irish bastards’.”

  Her brows rose. “And your father sleeps with this woman?”

  The relationship between Glory and Dylan was unexplainable. “I’m glad to see him take an interest,” Liam said. “I give him a break. He lost his mate.”

  “Your mom.”

  “Yes.” Liam didn’t fight his memories of his mother anymore. He had for a long time, not wanting to examine the hole in his heart. Dylan’s taking off for a year had, in retrospect, been a good thing, even though at the time Liam had been furious with his father. But he realized now that Dylan had needed room to grieve, and Sean, Liam, and Kenny had needed to figure out how to live without a guiding hand.

  “She was a fine woman,” Liam said softly. “Beautiful, with green eyes and red hair. The wildcat she turned into was amazing—graceful and deadly—you didn’t mess with her. She and Dad loved each other so much, it got embarrassing sometimes. You’d walk into a room, and they’d be kissing, with their hands all over each other. Imagine. At their age.”

  “I have a hard time thinking of your dad as old. Yes, I know you told me he’s like two hundred. Do all Shifters age so well?”

  “If they don’t die young, yes.”

  “Do many die young?”

  She was asking painful questions again. “They do. Or at least they did.”

  “Another reason you took the Collar.”

  Three people sat down in the booth behind them, humans, who must have been used to Shifters, because they didn’t look too nervous. Liam changed the subject. “I should talk to Sandra on my own.”

  “Want me to drive you? Before I head back to my office?”

  “Not now. After you get off work tonight.” Liam pushed aside his coffee cup and stood, reaching to help her to her feet. “And after we stop by your house and get the things you want.”

  “You expect me to spend the night with you again?”

  Kim said it a little too loudly. The diners in the next booth looked around, startled, curious, knowing.

  “I meant at your house,” Kim amended. “I don’t need to stay there. I have my own house.”

  “But my nephew will be heartbroken if you don’t come.”

  She gave him her annoyed look. “We’ll talk about it later.” She spun on her high heels and marched to the door, her sexy ass moving provocatively.

  Liam took money from his pocket and dropped it on the table, thinking he could watch Kim’s fine backside all day and never get tired of it. And after the day was done, he could lie next to her and her fine backside all night. He’d not get tired of that, either.

  Kim decided she’d never have let Liam win the argument of her returning with him to Shiftertown that evening if she hadn’t spied the shaved-headed Shifter from San Antonio sitting at a bus stop outside her house. He wore a turtleneck to cover his Collar—in this heat, what an idiot—but she recognized him and knew he wasn’t waiting for any bus.

  The thought of Liam leaving her alone in the house while Fergus’s Thug Number One lurked outside made her cold with worry. Ironic, Kim thought as she drove through the city, heading back toward Shiftertown, that she felt safer in a house full of Shifters with a crazed woman next door than in her own neighborhood. Everything about her life since she’d met Liam was upside down.

  Shiftertown was as lively as ever as she followed Liam on his bike through it. Kids were being called in from playing to have dinner. Kim smelled barbeques firing up and burgers on the grill. Men and women alike looked up as Kim’s Mustang rolled past. Liam, ahead of her, sexy on his Harley, lifted his hand in greeting time and again.

  Liam’s yard was quiet, no barbeque going here. Kim wondered whose turn it was to cook and hoped the men inside hadn’t decided it was hers. But something seemed wrong; the door was shut too tightly, the windows too dark.

  Liam sensed it too, stepping silently in front of her as they went up the porch steps. He opened the door to reveal Dylan and Sean in the living room, facing each other in livid anger, their eyes feral white. Connor huddled in the kitchen, as far away from the other two as he could get and still be downstairs.

  Liam’s voice was very quiet as he asked, “What’s the trouble, Sean?”

  Sean swung from Dylan, his body so tight with rage Kim wondered that he didn’t flow into his wildcat form. Claws extended from his fingers as he grabbed a paper from the table and shoved it in Liam’s face.

  “That’s the trouble.”

  It was a printed e-mail. Kim rose on tiptoe to read it with Liam.

  After the mate-bonding at the full moon, it has been decided by clan council that Dylan Morrissey shall step down as leader of the East Austin Shiftertown and another Feline of the council’s choosing be put into his place. Authorized by Fergus Leary, leader of the South Texas Feline clan.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kim had never seen Liam less than completely self-assured, never at a loss for words. Not her Irish Shifter with his gift of blarney.

  Now Liam stared at the paper while his face flooded with color and his eyes changed to white-blue.

  “I told Dad”—Sean’s voice was strained—“that he needs to confront Fergus and get it over with. Dad refused.”

  Kim folded chilled fingers into her palms, deciding for once to keep silent. She remembered Liam telling her that he didn’t know why Dylan never fought Fergus for dominance, but that he thought it was so the Shifters could live in peace.

  “Son of a bitch,” Liam said. “Dad, why?”

  Dylan’s voice was tight, his hands clenched. His fingers had changed to claws, and blood smeared his fists. “Leave it alone, Liam.”

  “I can’t. Fergus wants you to step down? To put one of his lackeys in your place? Our lives won’t be worth shite if that happens. He’s undercutting your position in your own pride, not to mention the clan.”

  “I said, leave it alone!”

  Liam didn’t flinch. “Dad, this is a blatant smack in the face, an invitation to challenge him.”

  Dylan’s eyes were red with rage, but Kim saw anguish behind the animal fury. “Don’t you think I know that? But I won’t. Not now.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “I have my fucking reasons!” Dylan roared.

  If he’d directed that anger at Kim, she knew she’d run like hell. Liam stood his ground, his own hands showing claws. “If you think you’re giving in for the good of Shiftertown, you’re crazy. This will be his first step to drive us out of here. He’ll make sure we end up in a Shiftertown far from here, where we’re clanless and at the bottom of the pile. Kim will have to abandon Brian, and Brian will go down for the murder.”

  Kim noted Liam’s big assumption—that if the Morrisseys had to go, she’d go with them—but she decided this was not the time to bring it up.

  Dylan’s eyes were bleak. “I know.”

  Liam’s claws shredded the paper, which fell to the floor. “I can’t go after Fergus myself. You know
that.”

  “Yes,” Dylan said quietly. “I do.”

  “Then why…”

  His words trailed off as the back door banged open and hot wind flooded past them. Glory charged in, dressed in hot pink with silver sandals, her finger-and toenails painted in matching pink. “Dylan, what the hell is going on?”

  Dylan gave her a weary look. “Glory. Not now.”

  “Fergus wants Grandda’ to step down from leading Shiftertown,” Connor babbled from the kitchen.

  Glory’s mouth opened in shock. “What? We won’t stand for that. The asshole.”

  “You said it,” Kim agreed.

  The males in the room, except Connor, ignored both women. Sean met Dylan’s gaze, his face quiet. “I’ll do it. I’ll fight Fergus.”

  A chorus of shouting drowned him out. Liam huffed a bitter laugh. “What, Sean, you’ll kill me, then Dad, then go after Fergus?”

  “No.” Sean’s face was white. “I’ll just kill the gob-shite. I can shoot him, can’t I, and then stick him with the sword. Fergus is dust, no more problem.”

  “And then by Shifter law I’ll have to take you out,” Liam said in a hard voice. “Bad plan.”

  “What does it matter?” Sean asked.

  The others fell silent, and Kim couldn’t contain herself. “Are you all crazy? Why would you let Sean even think of that?”

  “Stay out of this, Kim,” Dylan said without looking at her.

  “No, Kim has a point.” Glory folded her arms, her perfect breasts straining against her pink shirt. “Sean, why should you sacrifice yourself?”

  “To keep the peace,” Sean said in a tired voice. “I would be the logical choice to be the assassin and pay the price. Because I’m mateless.” Sean shot Liam a hard look, and Liam, surprisingly, dropped his gaze.

  Glory said, “Listen to the human girl. If anyone should pay for this, it’s Fergus himself. Let him be the sacrifice.”

  “Good idea,” Connor echoed.

  Dylan let his voice roar through. “There will be no argument. We do what Fergus says.”

  Kim opened her mouth to protest, and so did Glory, but suddenly Glory shut hers, as though she understood something. Dylan was staring hard at Liam, those nonverbal cues flying between them. Dylan’s eyes were feral white, Liam’s not much better.