Pride Mates

Chapter Nineteen

Kim found Liam in a sorry excuse for a park on the far side of Shiftertown. He sat on a low brick wall next to the only trees in the somewhat bare strip of land, hands braced on the top of the wall.

The park had one swing set for kids, no picnic tables, and bald patches where grass should grow. The city had tacked the park onto Shiftertown as an afterthought, then forgotten about it. The Shifters didn't use it much, from what she'd seen, seeming to prefer the common greens behind their houses.

Kim approached Liam slowly but determinedly, wondering if he'd stand up and walk away. He didn't. Liam didn't look at her, either, as she sat down next to him and stretched out her bare legs. The summer warmth felt good on them, though she knew the day soon would turn excruciatingly hot.

"Is this your place?" she asked him.

He glanced at her. "Mmm?"

"The place you go when you want to think. My place is a coffeehouse on the river that sits right on the water. You can suck down a latte and watch the river go by. It's soothing."

Liam looked into the distance. "I'm thinking they wouldn't be letting Shifters in."

"Maybe not. But this is your place, isn't it?"

"No, it was a convenient spot to sit my sorry ass down."

Kim let it go. She wasn't sure she should have followed Liam, but what she'd overheard of his conversation with Dylan confused and bothered her. She didn't understand fully what Liam had explained about him knowing he was now dominant to Dylan, but she sensed the tension, the violence simmering below the surface. A person didn't have to be a Shifter to feel it.

She argued with herself that maybe Liam wanted to be alone, but something inside told her she shouldn't leave him by himself. His shoulders were tight, arms knotted, his mouth a rigid line. As usual, Liam kept his words light, almost careless, but the darkness in his eyes spoke volumes.

Kim sat in silence with him. Birds chattered in the trees, but otherwise, the park was quiet. No kids came to swing, and no cars turned down the quiet street beyond it. She heard faint sounds of the city on the other side of the derelict block beyond Shiftertown, Austinites heading to the city to make money or play politics. Here in Shiftertown, power that humans didn't understand ebbed and flowed in ways they'd never realize.

"Are you all right?" she ventured. "I mean from having your Collar go off and...well, everything."

"You're referring to the exuberant and athletic sex we had later?" A ghost of a smile touched Liam's mouth. "That's why I had to sit down."

Kim covered his hand, feeling the tension in it. "Liam, last night was my fault. I was the one who wanted to bring Silas here. There never would have been a Collar demonstration if I hadn't."

Liam touched her fingers to his lips. "Don't fret yourself, sweetheart. I agreed to invite Silas. It's my fault for encouraging his questions about the Collars. I didn't anticipate Glory jumping in, damn the lass, or that Conner would get hurt or that anything very dramatic would happen. My thought was that I'd grab for Silas, let my Collar spark, and have everyone laugh at me."

"Laugh at you in pain?"

"I've been in pain before, and I've gotten over it."

"Liam..."

"What's between me and Dad would have happened sooner or later, love, and maybe it was best the fight occurred with you and Connor and your journalist watching so avidly. You all gave me the strength to break it off. If me and Dad had been alone, it might have turned deadly before I could shut down my instincts." He smiled, a little shaky. "So maybe I should be thanking you instead."

Kim caressed his fingers with her thumb. "Don't make me feel worse, damn it." She sighed. "And on top of it all, I have to go to work."

"I know."

"Come with me?"

"No fear I'd let you go alone, darling. Not with you flagrantly disobeying Fergus every second."

"I thought you wanted me to keep helping Brian."

"I do. I was referring to your lack of stealth. I know why you're such a good defender. You're so honest it glows from you. When you say the man didn't do it, everyone wants to believe he didn't do it."

"I wish it were that simple. Every i has to be dotted and every t crossed. You miss one, the case goes the other way."

"Sandra is visiting Brian this morning, and she's going to ask if he was ready to take Michelle as mate. Sandra's grateful to you for believing in him."

"Really?" Kim asked. "Her looks of hatred are false impressions, are they?"

"She's afraid. Fergus has put fear into her, and she doesn't know why. All she knows is that she's been told to sacrifice her son." He shook his head. "For a mother to lose her child--I can only imagine how it feels. If it's anything like losing a brother..."

"Then it's pretty shitty."

Liam ran a hand through Kim's hair. "It would be like losing you."

Her pulse sped. "Not the same thing at all. We barely know each other."

"We know a lot about each other. I know you have a little mole on the inside of your right thigh."

"I wasn't talking about sex."

"Neither was I." Liam turned and straddled the wall, pulling her between his thighs. "Mating doesn't mean going at it until we have a litter of cubs. It means a bond that no one breaks. Ever."

"It's not a marriage humans would recognize or sanction," Kim pointed out.

"Damn, woman, will you stop shoving everything into your legal terms? I'm not talking about the bits of paper humans love so much. It's a bond inside us, stretching between us. Nothing can sever it, not human law or my family, or bloody Fergus. Are you telling me you don't feel it?"

His eyes held anger, fear, hope, and something raw--all fighting inside him.

Did Kim feel the bond? Of course she did. This man was compelling and mesmerizing, with his blue eyes and lilting voice, not to mention his hot body. But it was more than his sexiness and his strength.

Liam dominated any room he walked into without saying a word. Every Shifter Kim met was drawn to Liam, every Shifter hero-worshipped him, even if they might not admit it. Anyone who had troubles went to him. Even the kids did, like little Michael in his pool. Michael had called out to Liam, had been excited to tell Liam of his achievements. He'd wanted Liam's approval.

Kim remembered Liam's words to the boy--"you look after your brother, now." Kim realized now he'd not been making an offhand remark. Liam, who had lost a brother, knew the importance of taking care of those you loved.

Liam took care of everyone in Shiftertown, even more than Dylan did. Kim had always sensed that, and she knew that Dylan had too, and had let it happen. Not because Dylan feared losing to Liam, but because Dylan loved him.

"I wish I'd never come here," she said.

Liam stroked her bare leg, his fingers sliding beneath the hem of her skirt. "Why is that, love? Me, I'm glad you walked into my bar."

"Because you've messed up my mind. I was independent, didn't worry about anyone but myself. When I went home at the end of the day, I could do whatever I wanted. Hang out with friends, watch TV, be alone, whatever. And now I'm worried about you--and Sean, and Connor, and your father, and Brian and Sandra, and every other Shifter in this damned Shiftertown. Even Glory." She glared at him. "Stop making me care. It's annoying."

Liam's fingers moved farther under the skirt. "Then you do care?" His eyes held heat. "I'm not dreaming that?"

"Of course I care. Who could help caring about you? But we're still not married."

"No," he said softly. "Not in the marriage license kind of way. You're my mate, Kim. I have you and no other." Liam rubbed the small of her back, his body warmer than the Texas sunshine. "Will you have me, and no other?"

Kim's heart pounded. Forsaking all others, as long as you both shall live. "There is no other for me."

"Maybe not now. But what if some human male, some high-powered lawyer in your firm, decides to make you his wife? His prize? So you can flash your beautiful legs at his parties and draw people to his side?"

Kim shook with nervous laughter. "His prize? Thanks a lot. Besides, I don't like high-powered lawyers. They take credit for cases I win."

"Good."

"I liked you when I met you, Liam, but what I feel now, it's gone far beyond like." Kim leaned against his chest as his seeking fingers found the elastic of her underwear. "But you're asking me for commitment."

"I don't need to ask. The mate-bond does it for us."

"Maybe it does for Shifters. Not for humans."

"Shifter-human pairings happen sometimes. We'd never have survived all these centuries if the gene pool had remained pure. Inbreeding makes for weakness. Mongrels survive."

"Mongrels. You sweet talker."

"I think we're doing too much of the talking."

The leg band of her panties moved aside, and strong fingers touched the moisture between her legs.

Kim glanced around. "We're outside."

"Are we?" He sounded amazed.

Kim didn't object to sex, and in college she'd once done it in a car, but that had been late at night in a deserted parking lot. This was broad daylight in the middle of thriving Shiftertown.

Liam leaned down and pressed an openmouthed kiss to her throat, making Kim's body hotter. She was wet, she was naughty, and she loved it.

Liam drew his tongue up her chin and kissed her mouth. His kissing skills had certainly progressed. He knew how to part her lips, how to stroke his tongue inside her, how to make her mouth tingle.

"This is bad," she whispered.

"No. It's good."

"I want to unbutton your pants right here on the street," she said. "I'd call that bad."

"Our notions of bad and good are the exact opposite, then."

Kim gave in and popped the button of his jeans. His cock was hard behind his underwear, the tip reaching past the waistband. Kim slid her fingers inside the elastic and grasped the full shaft.

Liam groaned. "You've got the touch, love."

Kim slid her thumb over the crown, and Liam's fingers moved between her legs. She'd never thought she could get turned on sitting on a wall, but Liam also had the touch. More than the touch. She found herself rocking back, closing her eyes.

"Liam."

"I'm right here, baby."

He was, all eleven inches of him. Not that she'd measured, but she could guess. She ran her hand along Liam's penis, gripping it all the way down. He moved his hips, face softening in pleasure.

"Love, you don't know what you do to me."

"I have a pretty good idea. I make you stiff and hard, and when I touch you, you want to screw me."

His eyes were slits. "You're close."

"You mean you don't want to screw me?"

"I mean I want to screw you all the time, whether you're touching me or not. I want to lift your pretty skirt and do you right now."

Excitement spiked through her. "Right here on the wall?" she asked in an innocent voice.

"Right here on the wall."

Liam half stood, and she lost her hold of him. The next thing she knew, his jeans were around his thighs, her underwear was gone, he was sitting on the wall again, and he'd pulled her down to straddle him. Her skirt hid their mutual bareness, but only just.

She opened her mouth to admonish him, but he kissed her. The wicked look in his eyes both excited her and made her want to laugh.

She'd never gone out with a man as in-your-face as Liam. He was a Shifter, restricted and shunned, but he was better at doing whatever he damn well pleased than anyone she'd ever met.

Right now, he was doing her on a wall in the middle of a park. In broad daylight. As he went deep, he pulled her close and kissed her.

Words flew through Kim's mind, then dissolved. This wasn't about words. It was feeling, pure, basic, raw feeling.

Liam was opening her like he never had before. The sun on her thighs excited her as much as his hardness inside her, a hardness that stretched and widened her. This was free and wild and strange. Sweat rolled in a bead between her breasts, and he leaned forward and licked it away.

His breath came fast, and so did hers. Liam's fingers were hard points on her thighs, then her back, her buttocks, her face. He pressed into her, fast, faster, his mouth twisting in pleasure.

Kim's head dropped back. She bit back her scream, not wanting people to come rushing out to see what was going on. Liam licked between her breasts again, his breath scalding. "I'm coming," he whispered into her skin.

So was she. White-hot waves of excitement poured through her, blotting out everything but the feeling of Liam joined to her.

He took her face between his hands. His eyes had gone Shifter, the predator wanting her. Then he gave a strangled groan and shot everything he had into her.

Shaking and sweaty, Kim clasped him to her breasts and kissed his hair. I love you, Liam, she wanted to whisper, but she kissed his hair again and rested her cheek on his head.

Liam insisted on accompanying her to work, and Kim was fine with that today. Having him next to her in her car, though, his dark sunglasses trained at the world going by, distracted her.

Kim's body felt warm and supple, aching slightly from having to spread so far for him. Liam caught Kim looking at him, and he reached over and laid his hand on her thigh. He didn't have to say a word. Kim felt the connection between them, the warmth that wouldn't go away.

Kim earned a few stares when they walked in. She was: one, late; two, not in a suit; and three, shadowed by her tall Shifter with menacing eyes.

She was starting to dress like a Shifter woman, she realized as she sat down and sorted through her messages. She never came to work outside of a skirt suit, stockings, and black pumps. She'd changed out of the clothes she'd made love in, but had put on another loose skirt and blouse and high-heeled sandals. Clothing easy to remove.

She sensed that the last thing Liam had wanted to do this morning was leave Shiftertown, but he'd been adamant about not letting her go to work alone. Last night he and his father had switched places in Shifter hierarchy, which meant he could go one-on-one with Fergus now--a fight that might end in Liam's death.

The entire balance of Shifter power in South Texas was at stake. Liam showed how torn he was about this by stretching out on her sofa and catching up on the latest issue of Angler Today.

"Will you stop that?" she asked in irritation.

"Stop what? Reading's good for you. You learn things."

"Sitting there like nothing's wrong. I might have made a breakthrough in the case. Your dad might have to leave Shiftertown. Fergus might try to kick your ass into the next county. And you read about fishing. Do Shifters fish?"

"Kim, sweetheart, if I didn't absorb myself in fishing lures, I'd either tear down the building or come over there and screw you senseless on your desk. Maybe both. Is that what you want? I can oblige."

Kim scrubbed her hand through her hair. "Never mind. You have me on edge. I guess the Shifter pheromone thing really works."

Liam was off the couch and on his feet, the magazine falling to the floor. "And yours are pouring over me, enticing me to come and slide my hands up your skirt."

"You've already done that."

"That was two hours ago. I want to do it again. And again. All day and all night. It burns like fury."

Kim's blood heated. "I can't say I'm turned off by that."

"You're lucky you're not Shifter. You can't feel the mating frenzy like I do. If you were Shifter, we'd have been doing it constantly since San Antonio. To hell with work or family, or eating and sleeping." Tension rippled through his big body.

"You've been feeling that since San Antonio?"

"Hell yes. I want to be inside you every second. Fergus and his demands, your case, and even my father can go to hell."

"Oh." Kim moved closer to him. She was in her office, her very formal, law-firm office in its nice building in downtown Austin, and she wanted nothing more than for Liam to throw everything off the desk and lay her back on it. Or maybe sit her on the edge. Or against the wall. She wasn't particular.

Liam's smile was feral. "Don't play with fire, Kim."

"I think I have a little of this mating frenzy too." Kim pressed her hands to his chest to feel his heart pounding beneath her fingertips. "I want to touch you all the time, have you kiss me, have you be with me. I didn't say that, because I was afraid you'd think I was clingy."

"My love, what gobshite wouldn't want you clinging to him?"

"Pretty much everything male."

Liam drew her against him. "Bloody fools can't see what's in front of their own noses. It means you're all mine."

Kim rose to meet his kiss, not caring that her secretary could pop in any moment, not to mention all the lawyers in the building. But what the hell? She'd already done it outside on a wall, and her colleagues probably thought she was shagging the Shifter in here anyway.

The kiss turned deep. Kim tasted his need, the frenzy inside him, and his conflicted emotions. Likely his heartbreak was fueling his sexual needs, and Kim would be the one fulfilling those needs. She somehow couldn't be sorry about that.

Liam's cell phone buzzed. He kept kissing her a few seconds, then reluctantly reached for the phone. "Damn it." He flipped it open. "What?"

His expression changed, and he turned away, shutting Kim out. She thought the voice she could barely hear was Sean's, and from the stiffening of Liam's body, something had happened.

Her heart froze. Dylan? Or Connor?

Liam snapped the phone shut and turned to her with a grim look. "Michael's mum says he's missing. She can't find him anywhere."

Kim blinked. "Michael? The little kid with the pool?"

"Yes. Dad and Sean are organizing a search."

Kim's blood went cold. "Fergus?"

Liam shook his head. "I don't think so, and neither does Dad. Fergus's head would come off if he tried to hurt a cub, or even use him as a diversion. Fergus has power, but cubs are sacrosanct."

Kim wasn't sure she took Liam's word for it. "Call the police," she said quickly. "They'll do one of those alerts..."

Liam shook his head. "Shifters can find him a hell of a lot faster than your police can. We know his scent." Liam slid his phone back into his belt. "I have to be there. His mum and dad..."

"Will need you." Kim thought of the way Liam and Sean had done everything to calm Sandra, how the woman had relaxed somewhat under their mutual touch. The parents would be terrified, need reassurance. "Go then. I'll be fine."

More conflict. Liam looked uncertain, and Kim had never seen him uncertain. "Really," she said. "I have a hell of a lot to do here. You know, Brian's butt to save. I'll be fine."

Liam came to her, his hard body against hers the best thing in the world. "You stay in this office, all right? Have someone bring you lunch; don't go out. And after work get into your car and drive straight to my house. No stopping, no lingering. All right?"

Uneasiness stole through her. "Fine. I can do that."

Liam pulled her into an embrace. A Shifter embrace, tight, long, warm, comforting and drawing comfort at the same time. "I hate to leave you."

Kim hated for him to leave her too. When did she get so needy? "I'm fine. Go."

Liam kissed her again, lips lingering on hers. "You call me," he said. "Every hour if you have to."

"It will be all right, Liam."

Liam gave her a hint of a smile. "I wish I could believe that, love." And then he was gone.

Kim tried to concentrate on work but found her attention wandering to Shiftertown. She had much to catch up on, phone calls to return, reports from her investigator on Michelle's ex to go through, letters to compose. But she worried about Michael--had he merely wandered off or had something more sinister happened? Was he exploring some place exciting to small Shifter boys; was there another feral Shifter on the loose?

Liam hadn't been gone an hour before she was on the phone to him. He told her, his voice warm as ever, that he had nothing to report. Apparently, Michael's mother had stepped inside for a minute, when his little brother had come running to the front porch to tell her that Michael was gone. Early searches had turned up nothing. All Shiftertown was now about to start a serious one.

Kim heard the worry in Liam's voice. This happening, on top of his fight with his father and Fergus's threats, couldn't be easy on him.

When had she started caring so much? Her fascination with Shifters, her first attraction to Liam, her growing physical need for him had blossomed into something much deeper. It was more than the mating frenzy Liam kept talking about. There was something about Liam that made her want to be near him, to hold him when he hurt, to laugh with him when he was happy.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Damn it all, I've fallen in love with him. When did I get so stupid?

Kim tried to return to work. She couldn't bother Liam; he'd have his hands full. But she couldn't help calling him back as she ate lunch at her desk. Nothing, Liam reported.

He sounded even grimmer. Kim assured him that she was all right--no need to worry about her. He told her to take care, warmth in every word. When Liam said the trite phrase, he really meant it.

Kim called Liam back at two, but he didn't answer.

Leave him alone, she told herself. He's busy doing his job.

To think she'd once assumed his job was managing a bar.

By three, Kim couldn't take it anymore. She packed her briefcase and told Jeanne, her secretary, that she'd work the rest of the day at home.

Kim hurried out into the parking lot to nearly run into Abel, who was returning from a day in court. "Kim," he said.

"Hey, Abel. I gotta go. See you tomorrow."

Abel stepped in front of her. He was perspiring, his face red and shiny above his tight suit coat. He looked furious, which meant he must have lost his case.

"I heard that you dumped me for a Shifter."

The boy wonder had finally caught on. "That's none of your business. I have to go."

He stepped in front of her again. "Where to? Your Shifter? That stinking animal you dragged in here? You're screwing him, aren't you? You're screwing an animal."

Kim rolled her eyes. "You were always so clueless."

"I'll have you fired. I'll get you disbarred."

"It's not against the law to go out with a Shifter. Or even to go to bed with one. Grow up, Abel."

Kim tried to go around him again, and again, Abel barred her way. After meeting Fergus, Abel frightened Kim about as much as a gnat, but she wondered what he was going to do. Deck her in the parking lot? Great PR for the law firm.

"Would you get out of the way?"

"Were you doing him while you were going out with me? Tell me the truth. You were already screwing him then, weren't you? You were double-dipping."

"Obviously you want me to say yes."

"Shifter-whore," Abel said. "I'll tell everyone I know that you're nothing but a Shifter-whore."

"Abel, you moron..."

She broke off as two Shifters materialized on either side of Abel. Fergus's thugs--bald Tattoo Guy and Military Man. Their Collars glinted in the hot sunlight. Military Man wore sunglasses and looked like the Terminator.

"Everything all right, Ms. Fraser?" Tattoo Guy asked.

"Everything's fine. I'm heading to my car."

"We'll walk you there."

Kim's heart started to pound. "No need, I can make it."

Military Man stepped to block Abel, while Tattoo Guy motioned for Kim to go. "Want us to teach him some manners?" Tattoo Guy asked her.

"No, leave him alone," Kim said. "He's just a dickhead."

Tattoo Guy shrugged as if he didn't care one way or another. Abel beat a retreat into the building, and Kim started for her car, which was only a few feet away. The two of them fell into step beside her.

"When Shifters don't wear Collars," Tattoo Guy said, "assholes like that will be wetting themselves to be nice to us."

Sure. Kim quickened her pace, but she reached the car without incident. The two men didn't try to grab her or drag her off; in fact, they acted more as though they were protecting her. Whose side were they on? Military Man opened her car door for her, shutting it again once she was settled. "Drive carefully, now."

"Right," Kim said as she started up.

"Hey, no one messes with our females," Military Man said. "You're Liam's now."

She wasn't sure whether to be reassured or irritated. "Thank you, gentlemen," she said. "I appreciate your help."

She firmly rolled up the windows and backed out of her parking space. The two followed her to Shiftertown on their motorcycles, keeping pace with her, again, protectively.

Kim was halfway to Shiftertown when Tattoo Guy's words struck her. When Shifters don't wear Collars. What the hell did that mean? He'd said the words as though it was a real time to come, not wishful thinking.

Kim gripped the steering wheel and kept driving. She'd have to ask Liam whether the man was simply blowing off steam--if Liam would ever answer his damn phone.