She called to them, “He put the Collar back on and the pain is tearing him up.”
Dylan approached, but the others hung back. Liam managed to lift his head, his eyes filled with incredible pain. “Dad.”
Dylan stopped just shy of Liam, eyes troubled. “Do you want me, son?”
“Of course he wants you,” Kim said. “You’re his dad.”
“He’s clan leader now,” Dylan said. “And pride leader. He can reject me if he wants.”
“He won’t.” Kim shook her head. “He told me once that he wouldn’t fight you because he loves you.”
“That was before,” Dylan said.
“Doesn’t matter. People’s status might change, but love stays the same.”
Dylan opened his mouth to argue, but Connor jerked away from Ellison, who was trying to hold him back. The lanky boy charged past Dylan and threw his arms around both Liam and Kim. “Damn it, we thought Fergus would kill you,” he sobbed.
The others tensed, Dylan taking a step back.
Liam looked up at Connor, his eyes wet. Connor held him tighter, and Liam’s eyes flicked from feral white to beautiful blue. He wrapped an arm around Connor and pulled him close.
Like water released from a dam, the others flowed to them. Dylan clamped his arms around Liam and Connor, gathering them in. Sean laid down his sword and joined the group hug, followed by Glory, Ellison, and to Kim’s astonishment, both of Fergus’s thugs.
Kim’s eyes filled as Sean leaned his head into Liam’s neck. Kim could feel the warmth, the caring, in the huddle, heard the soothing words they whispered to each other. She was squished between Dylan and Liam, Ellison and Connor. She started to giggle. “A Kim sandwich.”
Ellison laughed his big, booming Texas laughter. “Sounds good. Let’s eat.”
“You are so disgusting,” Glory said to him. She had her arms firmly around Dylan’s waist.
Ellison gave Glory a big kiss on the cheek. “You love it, darling. I say we all blow this place and go get shit-faced drunk.”
“Damn straight,” Spike said.
Liam’s immediate family remained silent. Kim felt the energy flowing between them, love that had kept them alive and together all these years. And now they wanted her to be part of it.
“Drunk,” Liam rasped. “You don’t know how good that sounds.”
The group began to part, slowly, smiling the unembarrassed smiles of people who’d shared a happy experience. Sean rubbed Liam lightly on the back and moved to pick up first his sword and then Liam’s clothes.
Connor gave Liam one last squeeze, then backed off, wiping his eyes. Dylan was the last to leave. He held Liam’s arms and looked straight into his eyes.
“Are you all right, Liam?”
“I will be.”
“I know you will. You’ve been moving toward this moment all your life. It’s yours now.”
Liam put his hands on his father’s shoulders. “With you at my back, Dad, there’s nothing we can’t do.”
Dylan relaxed, as though he’d still been waiting for Liam’s acceptance. “I’ll be there.” He pulled Liam down to him and pressed a kiss to Liam’s forehead. He finally turned away, eyes full.
Liam reached for Kim’s hand. “Are you all right? Did I hurt you, love?”
“I’m resilient.” Kim kissed his lips, and Liam crushed her to him in a long, satisfying hug. “Let’s go home,” she whispered.
“Are you up to the walk?” Sean asked, handing Liam his clothes.
Liam hugged his T-shirt and jeans to his chest and looked around at the assembly, a hint of the old glint in his eye. “Are you telling me that none of you thought to bring wheels?”
“No,” Connor said. “As soon as the storm let up, we ran out here.”
“What, you were thinking you’d trundle me back in a wheelbarrow, all hurt and bloody? This is the planning of my friends and family.”
“I’ll run and get my car,” Kim said. “There isn’t room for everyone, but that’s all right. I can take Liam home, at least.”
Liam gripped her wrist. “No. Don’t go yet.”
His eyes were desperate. Kim gave him a reassuring smile and a little hug. “I won’t leave you.”
Glory swayed forward. She was wearing sturdy boots for once, though they had three-inch heels. “I’ll get it.” She plucked the keys out of Kim’s fingers and gave Kim a big tooth-filled smile. “I’ll take good care of it. Promise.”
Liam lay in his bed in heavy sleep next to Kim for about four hours after they got home. Then he woke up, threw back the covers, and declared he needed to go to the bar.
“What for?” Kim demanded, not liking the absence of his warmth in the small bed.
“I’ve taken too many days off. The paperwork in the office must be a mess.”
“Liam.”
Liam stopped in the act of leaning over for his pants, his delectable backside in full view. “I’m all right, love. Shifters heal fast.”
Maybe their bodies did. “Why do you work at the bar at all? You don’t seem to live paycheck to paycheck. And how did Fergus afford all that artwork in his basement? How did he even afford that huge basement?”
Liam sat back down, his eyes a mystery. “Shifters live a long time. We accumulate things.”
“Like money and Old Masters paintings?”
“Like money and Old Masters paintings. Which Dad thinks should be sold to a museum.”
“How are you going to explain where you got them?”
“We won’t.” Liam reached for his jeans again and pulled them up. “There are dealers who will work with us discreetly.”
Kim sat cross-legged against the headboard. “Before I came down here the first time, I thought I knew every little thing about Shifters. I didn’t know jack, did I?”
“No.” Liam’s smile flashed in the harsh lamplight. “I thought I knew all about humans. You taught me so much.” He stopped. “I’m going to miss you, love.”
Kim’s heart skipped a beat, then gave a hard bang. “What do you mean, ‘miss me’?”
Liam sank to the bed again, one blue-jeaned leg folded under him. The red gashes on his torso had closed, the heavy bruising already fading. A dark swirl of hair covered his chest and pointed to his navel, the indentation into which she’d slid her finger the night he’d first brought her up to his room.
“I want you to go home,” he said. “Go back to living your own life.”
She stared. “Hold on. For days you insist I stay here, whether I like it or not. Tonight, after all that’s happened, not to mention the incredible sex, you’re telling me to go?”
“Fergus is dead. His followers have gone home. His threat is removed. No one will be taking off any more Shifter Collars.”
“You sound very sure.”
“I am sure. I lead the clan now, which means our pride is now first. No other Shifter will dare harm you, whether they approve of you or not. My protection is on you, and no other Shifter can override that.”
Kim slid out of bed. She wasn’t wearing anything, but at the moment, it didn’t seem important. “What about this mate thing? That’s all gone now too?”
Liam smiled. “That will never be gone. We’ve been mated under the sun and moon, the mating recognized by the clan. We’ll always be mated.”
“So what does that mean?”
“For Shifters, it means I take no other mate. For humans, it means—nothing. A Shifter mating isn’t valid in the human world; it’s not marriage. I remember you telling me that.”
“I meant, what does it mean to you?”
Liam looked away. “It means everything to me.”
“Then why are you telling me to leave?”
Liam got to his feet, looked across the bed at her. “Because you can’t stay. You’ve tried to pound it into my brain all this time why you can’t. I’m a Shifter. I can love you with everything I’ve got, but I’ll ruin you, and you know it. You’ll lose your job, your friends, your respectability. I’m from the wrong side of the tracks, darling. Not from your world.”
“It’s not that simple—Shifters bad, humans good. I know that.”
“You do. But the rest of the world doesn’t. Not yet. Maybe in another twenty years, when people are used to us. Right now, I love you enough not to keep you here.”
Suddenly cold, Kim reached for a long T-shirt and dragged it over her head. It was one of Liam’s, too big for her and carrying his scent.
“Don’t come over all altruistic on me, Liam Morrissey. Like you haven’t put me through enough hell already. You made me love you, damn it. Really love you. Now you’re saying, ‘Thanks, Kim, go away’?”
“Do you think this is easy for me?” Liam asked. “When my Collar was off, I wanted nothing more than to lock you away upstairs and never let you go. No matter how much you screamed or begged or told me off, which is more likely what you’d do. I wanted to imprison you here with me. Mine. Forever.”
“Your Collar is back on, now,” Kim said.
“And that fact cancels everything out? It doesn’t. I’m still feral. I always have been, always will be.” Liam tapped the Collar around his bruised neck. “This keeps it down so I don’t destroy myself, my people, and everyone I love. All Shifters are like me. Wild beasts in captivity. Not domesticated. There’s a difference.”
Kim folded her arms. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Then you’re foolish. You saw me. I was ready to kill a child, my own brother, my father.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Only because Fergus distracted me, love. Thank the Goddess he did, because he drew my fury. If he hadn’t been there for me to fight, I would have destroyed everyone I loved.”
“So you won’t take your Collar off again,” Kim said. “End of worry.”
“But Fergus was right. We need to be free of the Collars someday. He was in too much of a hurry, but he wasn’t wrong.”
Kim balled her fists. “Make up your mind. Do you want the Collar on or off?”
“Shifters are getting stronger, love. We were dying off before, which is why we needed to capitulate with the humans and take the Collars. To let us live again, regroup, regain our strength. When we’re powerful enough again, we’ll rid ourselves of our chains, and be who we are supposed to be.”
“And you think I have no place in that world?”
“No.” Liam stood with his hands on his hips, his body still, eyes dark.
“You’re lying to me,” Kim said.
“I’m not.”
“I’m not as good as you are at reading body language, but even I can tell you’re coming up with excuses for sending me away. You think it’s for my own good.”
Liam whirled suddenly and punched the headboard. It cracked, wood splintering. “You’re maddening, Kim, did you know that? Of course it’s for your own good. You have your career, your life, your pretty house, your friends. I want you to have that. Find yourself a normal man, not one who might go crazy on you, not one who has to pretend to be a bar manager while he runs Shiftertown. Go home and be human.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes. Go, Kim. Please.”
“Doesn’t it matter that I love you?” she asked, throat hurting.
“Yes, that matters. It matters a lot.” Liam reached across the bed and touched the bruise on her lip. “And it’s all the more reason I want you gone. I need to know I can’t hurt you, ever again.”