Unbound

CHAPTER ONE

A bear needs her beauty sleep.

Nell stifled a groan as a rhythmic banging dragged her out of profound slumber, the kind she found only in the depths of wintertime. Never mind that she lived now in a city in a desert rather than deep woods—in winter, her wild nature let her submerge into long, dark sleeps.

But the rest of her family wasn’t going to cooperate this morning. The headache that had begun in her dreams penetrated to her waking life, and she cracked open her eyes.

Who in the hell was doing all the pounding out in her kitchen at . . . five o’clock in the morning?

Nell dropped the clock with a clatter, swung out of bed, grabbed her pink terrycloth robe, and jammed her feet into some kind of footgear—whatever happened to be on the floor; she couldn’t see through bleary eyes in the dark.

If Shane or Brody were working on motorcycle parts in her kitchen or some idiotic thing like that, she’d whack her cubs up the sides of both their heads. It was winter. The boys knew to leave Nell alone in the dark of night in winter.

She stomped out of the bedroom, down the short hall, and into the kitchen.

A huge Shifter male she’d never seen before perched on top of a short stepladder, reaching up to nail a strip of wood onto the wall. The hammer banged, banged, banged into her headache.

Nell’s kitchen was a wreck—the counters and cabinets had been ripped out, the drywall broken, wires and pipes sticking forlornly out of the walls. In the middle was this Shifter—a bear—she didn’t know, his hammering jamming pain through her already throbbing head.

He stopped, mercifully, and laid the hammer on the one counter that was still intact. Not seeing her, he picked up his next weapon—a power drill—and prepared to attack the innocent wall.

Nell ducked back down the hall to her bedroom, silently scooped up her keys, stepped into the back hall that ran between bedrooms and kitchen to the laundry room, and unlocked the padlocked broom cupboard. She removed the double-barreled shotgun from its place, snapped in cartridges, and headed for the kitchen.

The Shifter in the kitchen had turned on his power drill, its whine cutting into Nell’s brain. He never heard her until she slammed the shotgun closed, aimed it at him, and said in a loud voice, “You have ten seconds to tell me who you are and what the hell you’re doing.”

The drill stopped. The bear Shifter glanced at her, blinked once, and carefully set the drill onto the counter. Then he smiled.

It was blinding, that smile. The man was big, like all bear Shifters, solid muscle under a torso-hugging shirt and paint-stained jeans. His arms were huge, like her son Shane’s, this man’s covered with wiry black hair. The Collar around his throat, black and silver, winked under the overhead fluorescent light.

His hair, which he’d tried to tame by cutting it short, was a mess of a mottled black, brown, and lighter brown strands. A grizzly.

Instead of having dark eyes, like Nell and her sons, this man’s eyes were a brilliant blue. Paired with the smile, the scrutiny of his blue eyes sent Nell’s heart pounding, which did nothing good for her headache.

“I’m Cormac,” the man said. His voice rumbled like a low wave of thunder, one far off enough to be comforting, not worrying. The sound filled the room and wrapped around everything in it. “You must be Nell.”

Nell tightened her grip on the shotgun. “This is my house. Who else would I be?”

“Shane gave me the key and told me to get started.” He waved a hand at the empty walls but never took his gaze from Nell. “He wanted to surprise you.”

“Consider me surprised. You still haven’t told me who you are. As in, where did you come from? What clan? What are you doing in our Shiftertown? How does my cub know you, and why don’t I? I’m ranking bear in this town, and no new bears come here without my say-so. Or didn’t Shane bother to tell you that?”

His look was unworried. “I got here last night. I’m from the Wisconsin Shiftertown, but I’m transferring here. Eric introduced me to Shane. Shane was excited about putting in the kitchen, and he told me to go ahead and start.”

Logical answers, perfectly straightforward, coming from an intoxicatingly good-looking Shifter who never lost his smile or the sparkle in his eyes.

“Eric introduced you to my cub? Without telling me first?” Questions blared through Nell’s mind, which was still clouded with sleep and pain. “And what do you mean, you transferred here?”

“Paperwork went through,” Cormac said. “Guess I’m the new bear in town.”

Again the wonderful rumble, with a hint of laughter. Nell wanted to hold on to the noise, to wrap it around her, and because of that, she clutched the gun a little tighter.

“Oh yeah? I haven’t been asleep that long. No new bears transfer here without Eric our fine Shiftertown leader discussing it with me first.”

Cormac reached to the counter and lifted a screwdriver—a quiet tool at least. “Eric said he didn’t want to bother you with it.”

“He did, did he? That smug little pain-in-the-ass Feline . . .”

Nell trailed off, hurting too much to think of some really good names to call her next-door neighbor, a wildcat and the leader of the Southern Nevada Shiftertown. Feline Shifters always thought they were smarter than anyone else, probably because the damn cats never went to sleep.

Nell opened her mouth to launch another string of questions at Cormac, who wasn’t bothered in the slightest that he was staring down a loaded shotgun, but the back door burst open to admit both her sons.

The door really did burst—it flew back into the wall, the glass in the upper half rattling alarmingly.

Shane stopped, taking in Nell, Cormac on the stool, the shotgun in Nell’s hands. Brody, his younger brother, nearly ran into the back of him.

“Mom,” Shane said in the voice Nell had come to know meant Come on, Brody, we need to calm down our crazy mother. “Please don’t shoot Cormac. He’s all right.”

“Fine, I’ll shoot you instead.” But Nell didn’t move the gun, because she’d never, ever do anything that might come close to harming her cubs, even if her cubs were full-grown, seven feet tall, pains in her behind, and could shape-shift into powerful grizzlies.

“You’re not even supposed to have that gun,” Brody said from around Shane’s back. He wisely hadn’t come all the way inside. “Eric told you to return it. Remember?”

Yes, but what Eric didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. “Obviously I need it for defense, since you two insist on handing out the keys to our back door.”

“Didn’t need them after all,” Cormac said. “The door was unlocked.”

“That’s not the point!” Nell yelled. Most Shifters didn’t lock their doors. “The point everyone’s missing is that there’s a new bear in town, and no one consulted me about it. That’s never supposed to happen. Why are you new in town? Did the other Shiftertown kick you out? Why did you want to come here? Tell me your story, handyman.”

Cormac settled in comfortably on top of the stepladder and rested his arms on his thighs, the screwdriver hanging from his relaxed grasp. He looked like the kind of man who could be comfortable anywhere—on a stepladder, on a lawn chair in a backyard, on a rock on the edge of the woods, overlooking the beauty of an endless lake.

“I requested the transfer,” he said. “I’m looking for something. I visited the Austin Shiftertown, because I had clan there. The leader there told Eric about me, and Eric said I could try my luck out here.”

“Looking for what?” Nell asked, her eyes narrowing. “And why couldn’t you move to the Austin Shiftertown? What’s so special about the Nevada one?”

Brody laughed. Maybe he wasn’t so wise after all. “Oh, you’re gonna love this.”

Cormac looked Nell full in the eyes. He wasn’t supposed to do that, because she was dominant, but this smart-ass bear held her gaze and refused to look away.

“I’m looking for a mate,” he said. “The Wisconsin Shiftertown didn’t have any more unmated bear females not related to me, and the only bear females of mateable age in Austin are in my clan.” Cormac spread his hands, still holding the screwdriver, his shirt moving with his muscles. “So, here I am, continuing my search.”

Nell lowered the gun, still angry, and broke it open. She wouldn’t shoot Cormac. Much more satisfying to go at him tooth and claw when it was time to teach him who was top bear around here.

“Don’t know why Eric told you to come here then,” she said. “There are no unmated female bear Shifters in this Shiftertown.”

Cormac just looked at her, his sunshiny smile getting wider. Brody guffawed from his relative safety behind Shane’s back, and Shane’s face was painfully straight.

“No?” Cormac’s question was soft.

“No,” Nell said firmly. “Except for . . .” Her heart plummeted, down through the shoes she’d managed to slip on—combat boots, she now realized. Her headache flared with a vengeance.

“Except for me,” she finished.

Cormac kept his casual position on the stepladder so he wouldn’t leap down, embrace Shane and Brody, then grab Nell, throw her over his shoulder, and run next door to demand that Eric perform the sun and moon mating ceremonies then and there. It was nearly dawn—there would still be a moon, and the sun would be up soon.

He’d found her. At last, at long last.

Even with the shotgun, Nell was perfect. Her hair, mussed from sleep, was black streaked with light brown, not a thread of gray in it. All bear Shifter females were tall, and Nell, at six feet and change, was no exception. But she had fine curves to go with her height. Nothing in Cormac’s experience ever looked more sexy than the towel-like pink bathrobe embroidered with dark pink roses, hastily belted over those flowing curves.

Even more sexy were the round-toed combat boots that rose halfway up her shapely calves. She’d put them on the wrong feet. She was adorable.

He’d gotten the letter a hundred years or so too late. If Cormac had known about her all those years ago from his clansman who’d abandoned his clan, he would have gone to her, helped her, made her life—and his—more bearable all this time.

No matter. He’d found her now. He’d make up for the lost time, for Magnus’s sake, for Nell’s sake, and for his own.

“I’ll give you ten more seconds,” the siren beauty said, “and then you’re out of my kitchen.”

Nell’s eyes under her scowling brows were velvet brown, the flash in them, behind the temper, that of a desperately lonely woman. Nell had her cubs, and she had her position as alpha bear in this Shiftertown, but Cormac knew and understood resigned loneliness, and Nell possessed it.

“Mom, if he leaves, he can’t help put in the new cabinets,” Brody said. “Don’t make Shane and me do it all by ourselves.”

Nell switched her glare to her youngest. “You two are perfectly capable of . . . Wait a minute, what new cabinets? When did I have time to buy a new kitchen?”

“You didn’t,” Cormac answered. “It’s a gift from Eric.”

New rage blazed in her eyes. “Eric again? What the hell is he up to? Brody, go next door and tell Eric to get over here. I want to talk to him. Now.”

“Are you kidding me?” Brody’s brown eyes widened. “You want me to go tell Eric what he needs to do? I’d like to keep my head on my body, thank you very much.”

Nell growled, the flash of her Shifter beast curving her fingers into claws. Cormac watched her fight her instinctive alpha temper, watched her tell herself that her cub was right. Shifters didn’t rush to a dominant and give him commands, or even make requests, even on behalf of another dominant Shifter.

“Fine,” Nell said, her voice guttural with her bear beast. “I’ll tell him myself.”

She shoved the shotgun at Shane, then stomped past Brody, who moved hastily aside, and out the kitchen door into the dark morning. The porch lights shone on her hair, moving in a sudden January wind, and the pink embroidery of the roses on her robe.

“How far before she realizes what she’s wearing?” Brody asked Shane.

“All the way into Eric’s house,” Shane said.

“Nah,” Brody said. “Bottom of Eric’s porch.” They shook on it, then watched. “Ha. Too bad, Shane. I win.”

Nell appeared again in the light of her own porch, though Cormac’s Shifter sight had let him observe her entire journey to Eric’s porch and back again. Nell pushed past her sons, snarling low in her throat, and made for her bedroom, slamming the door so hard that flakes of loose drywall fluttered to the kitchen floor.

Eric made the problem of who would fetch him moot by walking over the next minute.

Cormac hadn’t known Eric long enough to make a full assessment of the man, but so far Cormac was impressed with what he’d seen. Eric was a Feline whose family tended to snow leopard. Leopards were not the largest of wildcats, but they were fast and smart, which made them dangerous fighters. Cormac had fought leopards in the rings at Shifter fight clubs, and while Cormac had been several times their size, they’d made him work to win the match.

Eric walked unhurriedly across the yard toward Nell’s house, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, gaze on the ground, as though he didn’t much care how fast he got anywhere. He looked up as he hopped onto the back porch and stopped just outside the open back door, not offering to come in without invitation.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

He directed the question to all of them, but Cormac knew Eric addressed him personally. Eric’s jade green eyes showed no rancor—in fact, his stance was so laid-back that any human might dismiss him as harmless, despite his height and obvious physical strength.

Deceptive. Cormac was a little older than Eric, but not by much, and he could see how Eric had carefully crafted his nonchalant bearing to hide razor-sharp awareness. As Shiftertown leader, Eric needed to engender trust across species, and he’d never be able to use force to do it. He was dominant, but if a bear like Shane really wanted to take him out, the leopard in Eric would be hard-pressed to survive. Fighting in the ring was one thing—the fight club had rules. Battles in real life were a different story.

The door down the hall slammed open again, and Nell came out, this time dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans. She still wore the combat boots, but she’d put them on the correct feet.

Nell shoved her dark hair from her eyes and focused her glare on Eric. “You’d better have a damn good explanation for this.”

“I do,” Eric said, his tone mild. He remained on the porch, despite the cold wind, carefully coming no farther into Nell’s territory. “I need Cormac to be here, and I need you to go along with it. You two mating will help me, and help you, and help all the other bears as well.” He relaxed enough to smile, but his green eyes were watchful. “In fact, Nell, you’ll be doing it for the good of all Shiftertown.”

CHAPTER TWO

On a narrow street off Charleston Boulevard, in a twenty-four-hour club that was much more like the old, seedy Las Vegas than the slick new one, a man studied four snapshots he’d laid out on a somewhat damp table. His beer bottle, along with another empty, stood beside them. Across the room, a stripper—a tall, well-built Shifter woman, complete with Collar—danced her provocative dance.

Shifter strippers were popular, because Shifter women, apparently, never minded stripping all the way down to what was legal. They were also tall and curvaceous, with large breasts that were all natural, and equally great asses.

Josiah Doyle—Joe to his friends—occasionally watched the stripper, but confined himself mostly to memorizing the photos, which he’d burn tonight.

The first was of a man, Hispanic or Latino, with black hair and brown eyes. Joe’s notes on the back of the picture said that the man was a former cop who now ran a security company. Probably a dangerous guy to screw with. Joe was pretty dangerous himself, but he wasn’t completely stupid.

He sipped beer and set the still-cold bottle down again. The next photo was of a gorgeous honey of a Shifter woman, blond with light green eyes, tall and sweet like the stripper. She was the wife—or mate as they called them—to the Latino. Another potentially dangerous target, because the ex-cop Latino would protect his wife.

The third photo was another human, this one tall and thinner than the first man, with pale skin, black hair, and eyes so dark they might as well be black too. Joe flipped over the photo and reread what he’d written: Stuart Reid, another former cop, now employed by DX Security—the Latino ex-cop’s firm—and living in Shiftertown.

Joe let out his breath in a slow sigh. That Shifter bear from Mexico who’d contacted Joe had to be crazy to go after these targets. But a job was a job, money was money, and Joe had promised himself he’d look into it.

The first three were no-goes, however. Joe didn’t kill humans, no matter how high the price. Killing humans was murder, and murder brought with it a long prison sentence. Joe had never gone to prison in his life, and he never intended to. He’d never even received a speeding ticket, and all his weapons were licensed and legal.

Besides, if he stooped to murdering humans, his mother would freak. Any break in the Ten Commandments meant a long lecture over Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, or Easter dinner—whichever holiday happened to be closest to the offense. For Joe, the breach was usually taking the Lord’s name in vain or coveting something. Joe had learned to keep his mother happy so he could eat his bird and stuffing or ham and greens in peace.

The stripper up on the little stage was baring it gladly, and Shifter females could bend. His mother didn’t have to worry about Joe committing adultery with her, though, or even coveting. She was a Shifter, for crying out loud. He might get fleas or something.

He bent to the photos again. The female Shifter in the photo was a better target, but again, if the Latino guy and maybe even Reid, who worked with her husband, protected her, then hunting her would be too risky. Joe might have to kill the two humans to get to her, or kill them to defend himself if it came to it. Nope. Best stay away from them.

Joe pushed their photos away and drew the fourth one to him. This one, now . . . This one had potential.

The photo showed a huge male with muscle on muscle and dark hair streaked with brown. The Collar around his neck proclaimed him Shifter, as did the look in his brown eyes. Shifters always had a certain look, as though they really did want to knock you down and kill you the first chance they got, never mind the Collar programmed to shock them if they became violent.

This Shifter wasn’t married to any human, and he’d never been a cop—Shifters weren’t allowed to join law enforcement. He wasn’t related to the Shifter woman target either. She was a wildcat and he was a bear, and from what Joe had heard, different Shifter species didn’t get along that well with each other.

Shifters could be killed without a stain in the eyes of God, or even in the eyes of Joe’s mother. Shifters were animals. Sure, they walked around in human guise, but how did that make them different from circus animals dressed up and paraded around in front of kiddies?

The bounty on the Shifter male was set at twenty thousand. A hundred thousand for the four, or twenty thousand for single kills. The Shifter doing the hiring obviously wanted to encourage Joe to go for the collection.

But then, Joe had never been greedy. An honest day’s living was better than six figures earned by deeds on the other side of legal. If he could pay his bills, help out his mom, and enjoy his life, he was happy.

Twenty thousand was a nice chunk of change. The target looked tough, but Joe liked a challenge.

He turned the photo over and studied the info on the back. The bear seemed to have only one name, but Joe had heard that the bear Shifters never took last names. Weird, but whatever.

This bear lived in the heart of Shiftertown, with his mother and younger brother, and his name was Shane.

“See, Mom?” Shane said. “You’ll be doing us all a favor.”

Cormac watched the stare-down between Nell and Eric. Nell could have invited Eric inside at any time, but she stood with her arms folded and kept him outside the door. Cormac liked that, because the arrangement put him between the two of them, Cormac in a good place to protect her.

“For the good of Shiftertown,” Nell repeated, ignoring Shane. “Go on, Eric. Explain that.”

“I’ve put in for a grant,” Eric said calmly. “You know we’re still cramped for housing. We have all the new Lupines plus the extras we can’t tell the humans about.”

Cormac didn’t know who these extras were, but the others seemed to, so he kept silent.

Eric went on. “We need more space for the Lupines alone, but the humans will pay for only so much housing. Even with Iona—she’s my mate, Cormac—cutting costs for us at her mom’s construction company, it’s tough to get more funding approved. Bears are the most difficult Shifters to place. If I show I’m willing to have more bears live here, I can qualify for a grant for more housing. So when I heard that Cormac wanted to come here, I figured it was a good start. He can help me bring in more bears from his clan, I can get my grant, and we solve the housing squeeze.”

Officially, he meant. Unofficially, Shifters had more room than they let on. Still, Eric’s Shiftertown had recently had another Shiftertown-full of Lupines shoved in with them, the humans having closed one in northern Nevada to save costs. Even with the extra underground rooms humans didn’t know about, ten Shifters to a small house was still a tight fit.

“Speaking of housing,” Nell said. “Tell me he’s bunking with you.” She jerked her chin at Cormac.

Eric gave her a smile. “Nope.”

Nell’s brown eyes widened with anger. “Oh, no, you don’t, Eric. I have barely any room as it is. Shane and Brody take up a lot of space, and I have Reid staying here.”

“Yeah, Mom, but notice Reid’s not here,” Shane said. “He’s spending nights down the block with his girlfriend, and you know it. We can give Cormac Reid’s room—good incentive for Reid to move in permanently with his sweetie. Who’s a bear,” Shane added to Cormac. “In fact, she lives with the Shifter females we rescued from a crazy Shifter down in Mexico. Peigi is the only bear, but I know the others must be ready to find new mates—mates who are sane, that is. So if it doesn’t work out with my mom . . .”

“Shane,” Nell snarled. “Zip it.”

“I’m just giving the poor guy options,” Shane said, undeterred. “Since you’re not welcoming him with open arms.”

“Cormac stays in your house, Nell,” Eric said. “It’s a good plan. Reid can move in with Peigi and her roommates—he can help protect them against unwanted attention, and I’m guessing I’ll be doing a mating ceremony for him and Peigi soon.” He gestured at the torn-up kitchen. “Besides, looks like Cormac’s handy for putting up the new cabinets.”

“Why do I even have new cabinets?” Nell asked. “Are you trying to bribe me with a spontaneous kitchen makeover?”

“This is courtesy of Iona’s construction company,” Eric said. “Your old kitchen was falling apart. Iona got the new cabinets and the countertops at cost. You can thank her later.”

“I’m sure your mate and I will have a big talk later,” Nell said.

“Yeah, well, you and Cormac talk it out first.” Eric stuck his hands back into his pockets. “Then come see us.”

Eric turned around, an alpha’s signal that the conversation was over. He walked away, back into the growing dawn, and no one said a word or tried to stop him.

The others watched Eric, but Cormac kept his gaze on Nell. Behind the anger in her eyes, he saw confusion and even terror. He’d have to go slowly with her, reveal the other reasons he’d been looking for her when the time was right. The letter in his back pocket burned him, but Nell could only take so much. The letter had been hidden this long. What was another few hours?

Nell had retreated into a hard shell, and Cormac would have to crack it, little by little, to show her how warm it could be outside. But he could be patient. He’d learned patience at an early age, because patience meant survival.

Nell didn’t look at him. “Shut the door, Brody,” she said. “It’s cold.”

She turned on her heel and walked back into her bedroom, once more slamming the door.

Nell was going to skin Eric, and then Cormac. Maybe even her sons, the grinning idiots.

The banging and drilling had resumed in the kitchen, Shane’s and Brody’s voices added to Cormac’s. Since when were her two terrors so anxious for their mother to mate again? They’d pretty much driven off any other male Nell had cast her eyes on since they’d all moved here.

No, to be honest, Nell had driven them off. But she’d had her sons’ approval every time.

Of course, all the males she’d tried to date had been Felines, Lupines, or even humans, when she could meet a human tall enough. No bears, because this Shiftertown had a shortage of unmated bears. Eric hadn’t been wrong about that.

A grant, my ass. Eric did what he wanted and didn’t wait for humans to give him the money to do so.

Nell peered into the mirror as she brushed her unmanageable hair. At least she didn’t have many lines on her face, in spite of having raised her sons on her own, alone for most of that time. She didn’t look a day over a hundred.

Shifters didn’t show age much until close to the end, and many never made it that far—at least, they hadn’t in the wild. Hunters, starvation, and death in childbirth had taken out most Shifters before they ever reached their third century.

Nell was nearing her hundred and fifty year mark, her sons both just at their first century. Cormac was younger than she was. While Shifter bodies didn’t show age, there were other ways to tell. Scent, body language, and the eyes.

Cormac’s eyes said he was older than Shane but not as old as Nell. About halfway in between probably—say a hundred and thirty. And he was mateless. She wondered if he’d had a mate before and had lost her, but she hadn’t had time to look at him long enough to search for traces of a broken mate bond.

Another way Shifters died in the wild was by giving up. Surviving became too much for them, especially for a male who’d decided to forsake his clan. Young Nell had found it romantic at first—she and Magnus hiding from humans, fighting to stay alive, relying on each other as mates.

Bears were pretty solitary anyway, but Magnus had quarreled with his clan, and so was completely alone. Nell had been too far from her own clan to be able to rely on them. No good roads or airplane travel in those days, and trains came nowhere near where Nell and Magnus hid themselves, and so they’d strived to make it on their own.

Fine until the stress and fear had wearied Magnus. And so he’d found a way to end his pain, leaving behind a frightened female grizzly, only ten years past her Transition, to raise two small cubs all on her own, hundreds of miles from anywhere.

Nell’s anger and grief at Magnus’s betrayal was as sharp today as it had been a hundred and thirteen years ago. Nell remembered her wails of despair when she’d stumbled across his body, how the bear in her had come out without her being aware that she’d shifted. She’d howled long into the night, holding her dead mate, thinking nothing would ever stop the pain that flooded her.

Nothing, that is, until she’d heard the terrified cries of her cubs, hunting for her, calling for her. Brody and Shane had given Nell a reason to live, a reason to bury her grief and get on with life.

Nell thunked down the hairbrush and scowled at herself. She was getting maudlin, and she didn’t have time to wallow in the pain of the past.

She left the bedroom, striding down the hall again, pretending to ignore everyone in the kitchen, even when the three stopped and silently watched her go by. She walked out the back door into winter sunshine, the air cold but not icy, and turned her steps down the common land that ran behind the houses, heading for Peigi’s.

She sensed as well as heard Cormac come out the back door and follow her. He didn’t bother to be stealthy about it. Cormac’s even stride told her he was coming after her because he wanted to, and he didn’t care if she knew it.

“Thought you were anxious to get my kitchen fixed up,” she said when he reached her.

“Plenty of time to get it done today, with your sons’ help. I wanted to see more of Shiftertown.”

“Why? This place isn’t much different from any other Shiftertown.”

“Sure it is,” Cormac said. “The one in Austin is full of bungalows about a hundred years old. In Wisconsin, half the Shiftertown is in thick woods. More bears and wolves up there than Felines. All this open desert makes me crazy.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Nell scowled at him. “Why’d you really come here?”

“Told you. Looking for a mate.”

“Humans don’t like Shifters moving from state to state on a whim. Did you get kicked out of your Shiftertown?”

Cormac didn’t answer. Nell glanced at him again, to find him looking around at the houses, which were small rectangular homes built in the ’70s, common in towns in the west. Cormac’s face was a careful blank, but something in his eyes made Nell uneasy.

“Does Eric know the real reason?” Nell asked him. “Or only what you told him?”

Cormac’s blue eyes flicked to her for a brief instant. “You know, jeans look sexy on you.”

Nell didn’t hide her snort. “Do you say that to all the bears whose pants you want to get into?”

“No.” Cormac had such an expressionless face, guileless. He must have practiced a long time to achieve that look. “What do you call those pants I see women wear, the ones that stop just below the knee?”

“Capris.”

“Capris. I bet you’d look sexy in those too.”

“It’s too cold for capris. It’s January.”

“Compared to Wisconsin, this is a balmy summer day.”

“Well, not for me. I left cold winters behind twenty years ago, when I got rounded up and transported here.”

“Eric says you came from Canada. The Rockies.”

“Eric talks too damn much.”

“Only because I asked him,” Cormac said. “I want to know all about you.”

Nell faced him, and they both stopped. Gray dawn was turning to pink, the undersides of the few high clouds stained brilliant fuchsia. “I’m not looking for a mate,” Nell said in a hard voice. “I’m sorry you’re lonely, and I’m sorry you came all this way, but I’m done with all that. I have my boys, I take care of the other bears here, and I don’t need a change.”

“Don’t need it, or don’t want it?”

Nell made an exasperated noise. “Goddess, this is why I don’t go out with bears anymore. All of you think you’re so big and strong, so you expect everyone to do what you say. I have news, grizzly.” She tapped his chest. “I’m plenty strong myself. Plenty strong without you. Without anyone.”

Cormac looked down at the fiery woman poking his chest. She truly believed what she said.

Eric had told him, Nell’s been alone since she got here, finding every excuse not to connect. She’d gone out with other Shifters and a few humans, but nothing had come of it, no matter how hopeful the male might have been.

Cormac had searched the country for Nell and her cubs, and he wasn’t about to stop now that he’d found them. He had a mission to fulfill, one too long in the making.

“I can see that you’re a big, strong woman on your own,” Cormac said. “Where are you heading, by the way? Or are you just walking around in a snit?”

The flash in her eyes could have burned down a building. “I’m doing my job. I look in on the females and cubs we rescued to make sure they’re all right. They went through a rough time.”

“Shane said something about them being taken from a Shifter in Mexico?”

“Yep. An un-Collared Shifter mate-claimed these females and kept them sequestered in the basement of an abandoned factory. Trying to set up his own little Shiftertown. Eric’s sister Cassidy with her mate Diego, Diego’s brother, and Reid and Shane, rescued them. The poor cubs the Shifter fathered on the females never saw the light of day until they were brought here. They’re still traumatized.” The lines around her eyes relaxed. “But getting better.”

“Because of you.”

“Because of me, and Cassidy, and Iona, and others helping out. I’m not some Lady Bountiful. Like I said, I’m just doing my job.”

“Sure you are.” Cormac grinned at her.

Nell growled, the rumble of an annoyed she-bear, before she turned her back on him and kept walking.

Cormac followed, chuckling to himself. Nell was prickly, but he’d get past her spines. He’d made the promise. Just because his old clansman was in the Summerland—the afterlife—and couldn’t hear him didn’t matter.

Nell headed for a house that didn’t look much different from any of the others around it. The house had a long back porch with a sliding glass door that looked into a kitchen and family room. A cluster of kids—six, seven?—were sitting around a table in the family room. One of the cubs jumped up when he saw them and slid open the patio door.

“Aunt Nell!” the cub shouted, and flung his arms around her waist.

Nell rumpled the little boy’s hair as she hugged him back. He was a bear cub, brown bear possibly, though Cormac found it hard to tell bears other than grizzlies until they shifted.

“How are you, Donny?” Nell asked.

Donny started to open his mouth and eagerly answer, but then he caught sight of Cormac behind her. The other cubs at the table, who’d been digging into a pile of breakfast, also froze, forks and spoons halfway to their mouths.

Donny ripped himself from Nell and fled blindly to the kitchen, where he dove into the small space between refrigerator and kitchen wall. He squeezed himself as far into the shadows as he could and cowered there, making whimpering noises.

Two of the other kids started to yowl, the remaining three sitting motionless with terror.

Nell raised her hands. “No, it’s all right. He’s not—”

A female bear Shifter, as tall as but not as curvaceous as Nell, ran into the room, her eyes wide in a fear not far removed from Donny’s. A man followed her—a tall, thin man with black hair and eyes so dark they looked as though they’d sucked the blackness of every moonless night into them. His scent slammed its way into Cormac’s nose and triggered a primal and long-buried instinct.

Cormac snarled, his hands sprouting the razor claws of his grizzly. He had to fight to keep himself from changing to the beast, the best form in which to fight the . . .

“Fae,” he spat. “You have a Fae here—with cubs?”

“Dokk alfar,” the tall man said immediately. “Dark Fae. Not high Fae.”

“What the hell is the difference?” Cormac’s rage surged. He shouted at Nell, “What is he doing here? Why hasn’t someone killed him yet?”

“This is Stuart Reid,” Nell said, cutting across his words. “It’s his bedroom you’re taking over, so show some gratitude.”

“This is the Reid you said was living in your house? Are you insane?”

Nell put her hands on her shapely hips. “You are the one terrorizing the cubs at the moment, not Reid. Stifle it.” She turned to the kids at the table, her body language relaxed so they’d calm down. “It’s all right. This isn’t Miguel. He won’t hurt you. I promise he won’t, because if he does, I’ll smack him over the head with a frying pan.”

The girl cubs at the table started to giggle. The males, more wary, didn’t laugh, but they settled a little, forks moving back to pancakes. Only Donny stayed wedged beside the refrigerator, the scent of his terror sharp. This feral bear—Miguel—must have scared the shit out of him.

Poor kid. Sympathy made Cormac withdraw his claws, shutting away the in-between beast. Whatever nefarious reason had brought the Fae here wasn’t as important as reassuring the cubs. Cubs came first.

“You see what you’re doing?” Nell said to Cormac as the other female Shifter went to coax Donny out from behind the refrigerator. “You charge in here unannounced and scare the cubs half to death. Where did you learn to be Shifter?”

“From myself,” Cormac said. “I had to raise myself, in the wilds of northern Wisconsin. Been alone since I was about an eight-year-old cub.” Not much older than these kids.

The female Shifter looked around. “Since you were a cub?”

“Yep. My parents were killed by hunters, and it was just me left. I had to learn to get by on my own. Never even saw another Shifter for almost a decade and a half after that.”

Nell stared at him in shock that Cormac pretended to ignore. He didn’t want to win her on the pity card. But it had been rough, a bear cub wandering by himself not sure whether he was beast or human.

“The blessings of the Goddess on you,” the female Shifter said. “I’m Peigi. This Fae, as you call him, helped rescue me and the other females Miguel had stolen, plus all our cubs. So Stuart’s welcome in my house.”

Hmm. The Fae man looked defiant, and Cormac decided to let it go for now. Weird shit happened in Shiftertowns, and Shane had indicated that Reid and Peigi were now a couple.

“In case everyone was wondering, this is Cormac,” Nell said. “He’s a grizzly, he moved to this Shiftertown, he thinks he needs a mate, and he thinks that mate is me.”

The whole room perked up. Donny finally came out from his hiding place, though he stayed behind Peigi.

One of the girls at the table said, “Are you going to have a mating ceremony, Aunt Nell? I love mating ceremonies. I can’t wait until mine.”

“That’ll be years from now,” Donny scoffed from behind Peigi’s legs. “Aunt Nell is much, much older than you, so she’ll have to have hers right away.”

“Do we get to dance in the inner circle?” the girl-cub asked. “I know Aunt Nell’s not our real aunt, but she takes care of us, and we’re practically family.”

Shifters formed two circles at rituals and ceremonies—immediate family and close friends on the inside, the rest of Shiftertown on the outside. The slow dancing, each circle moving the opposite direction, called the Goddess and the God to be present at the festivities. Or so it was said. The stately dancing usually degenerated into a raunchy party within minutes of the mating.

“Fine by me,” Cormac said. “You can all be in the inner circle. Maybe even the Fae.” Cormac’s nose wrinkled. Reid’s slightly acrid scent was stirring his killing instincts.

“Uncle Stuart is okay,” the girl said. “Even if he stinks.”

“Excuse me!” Nell lifted her hands, and everyone stared at her. “No one’s doing any mating here. Cormac barged into my house this morning declaring he wants a mate—that he wants me—and he still hasn’t told me why.”

It was time to tell her the truth. Cormac caught and held Nell’s gaze. “Magnus sent me.”

Cormac watched the shock course through Nell’s body, her pupils swiftly contracting to pinpricks. He knew he’d dealt her an unfair blow, but he didn’t have time to woo her gently. Eric had said Nell would be tough, but Cormac saw that unless he broke through, and broke through quickly, she’d shut him out forever.

He’d broken through all right. Nell came for him, claws sprouting from her hands. Her body met his with an audible slam and took him backward through the open sliding door.

The two of them tumbled off the porch to land in the dirt and dried grass below, Nell’s huge claws going for Cormac’s throat.

CHAPTER THREE

Nell pummeled him blindly, old anger and grief surging from the past, wrapped in Magnus’s name. Cormac couldn’t have known him, had no business saying he had.

She was shouting that as she bashed at his face, but Cormac blocked every blow with rapid efficiency.

Finally Cormac grabbed her wrists and rolled over with her, pinning her against the cold ground with formidable strength. His blue eyes had darkened into near-blackness; Shifter eyes, willing her to be still.

Nell scented the distress of the others on the porch, Reid’s Fae scent heightening as he debated what to do. Cormac held Nell down without quarter, but his hands on her wrists were surprisingly gentle.

“You never knew Magnus,” Nell snapped at him. Her mate had never mentioned anyone called Cormac—not that he’d mentioned many people from his past. Magnus had liked isolation.

“I didn’t say I had,” Cormac said. Damn him, he wasn’t even breathing hard. “He was of my clan, but he was gone from them by the time I found them. He’d abandoned them.”

“I know.” Nell couldn’t stop growling.

Shifters, especially bears, could live apart from their clans, and often did in the wild, but they still had deep ties, and the clan leader could call on them when he needed to. Clan leaders even had a spell that could drag clan members to him in times of desperation—useful in the days before cell phones.

A Shifter who cut all ties, including the blood bonds that made the spell work, was unusual, and the clan declared said Shifter dead to them. Magnus had cut ties, because he disagreed with his clan leader’s very old-fashioned and rather severe form of ruling.

Nell had been young and so soppily in love she’d thought it romantic that he’d decided to strike out on his own. She’d had no trouble traveling with him until they’d found a place where they could be utterly alone—herself and him—to start a new clan.

The problem was, when a Shifter severed himself from his clan, he lost part of himself. Magnus had regretted his action almost at once, but hadn’t known how to undo it. He’d certainly have been punished if he’d gone back, maybe even with death. He hadn’t been wrong that his clan leader had a cruel side.

If Magnus had lived long enough, he might have found a way to reconcile and bring Nell with him, but he’d grown more and more remote and depressed. Nell had seen the signs, but hadn’t really understood them until too late.

“They didn’t know about you,” Cormac said. His hands softened on her wrists, his eyes returning to the deep blue. “Magnus never told anyone he’d taken a mate or had cubs. No one knew until about six months ago. Then I knew I had to find you.”

“What do you mean, you knew you had to find me? If Magnus never told anyone, how did you know?”

“He wrote a letter before he died, all about you, but it was lost. Not until a Shifter I knew in Canada found it, in a museum in Winnipeg of all places, and sent it to me, did any of the clan know of your existence. Magnus confessed he’d taken you as mate, and asked one of us to look after you when he was gone. So I decided to find you and carry out his wishes. Better late than never.”

“So that bullshit about searching for a mate was just . . . bullshit?”

“No.” Cormac’s smile came back. “But it was a good excuse to get transferred out here. I didn’t tell my clan leader about you or the letter, because he’s still old-school. Now that Shifters are civilized, he might not try to kill a cast-off Shifter’s cubs and mate, but he might make life very hard for you. If I take you under my protection, that won’t happen. And I didn’t lie about wanting you as mate. After I read that letter, and Magnus’s description of the incredible woman you are, I knew you’d be the perfect one for me.”

“You are so full of . . . Get off me.”

Cormac climbed to his feet so quickly that Nell was left, stunned, in the dirt, on her back. Then he reached down with his big hand and pulled her up, strengthening the tug at the last minute so she landed against him.

He was warm, solid, comforting. Her emotions were in turmoil—Magnus, abandoning her as he’d abandoned his clan, but permanently. Magnus writing a letter, telling his clan all about her, begging someone to come and take her as mate so she’d be cared for when he was gone. The letter lost so no one had come, and Nell had been alone. Now Cormac was here, proclaiming he’d come for her. A hundred years after she’d needed him.

But it was tempting to lean against him, to let him take her weight. She’d carried so much weight on her shoulders for so long.

Nell started to pull away. Cormac tightened his arm behind the small of her back and pressed her closer, his mouth coming down on hers for a searing kiss.

Cormac knew how to kiss. Knew how to tease her lips open, how to soften on the corners of her mouth. He gently drew her lower lip between his teeth, tugging it a little, a hint that he could take her with wildness if he let himself go.

The cubs on the porch cheered. Nell jerked away. She took a step back, missed her footing, and started to fall. But Cormac’s arm was there, keeping her on her feet.

Peigi looked a little more concerned than the kids she took care of—none of them hers, because she’d never conceived with Miguel. Reid simply watched with his enigmatic expression.

“Do you and Cormac have the mate bond, Aunt Nell?” Donny asked.

Nell suppressed another growl. She didn’t want to talk about the mate bond, or mate-claims, or mating at all.

She yanked herself away from Cormac. “Don’t even try to follow me,” she said, and marched away down the green.

Behind her, she heard the cubs asking questions in concern, and Cormac’s rich voice rumbling in answer.

He didn’t try to follow her. Now why was she disappointed?

Screw this. Nell kept walking, going nowhere, her feet taking her there fast.

Joe started stalking the bear Shane by going to another bar. This one was called Coolers, popular with Shifter groupies—humans who wanted everything from the opportunity to gaze at Shifters to multiple-partner sex with them in the parking lot.

Not all groupies dressed up with fake Collars or wore fake cat’s ears or whiskers, thank God. Many looked normal, and Joe pretty much blended in.

Joe was good at blending in. He’d observed the people who came here, and had bought clothes they’d wear—in this case, jeans from a higher-end shop at the mall and a Harley T-shirt.

He knew from careful observation that Shane came to this bar quite often. Sometimes Shane left with a woman; sometimes he left with his brother or Shifter friends; sometimes he worked here as a bouncer. Only a matter of time before Joe would have the chance to corner Shane, maybe when the bear snuck out for a bit with one of the groupies. A drunk groupie woman could be taken out with a mild tranq before Joe tackled the harder job of tranquing and hauling away the bear.

Hardest of all would be lugging the bear carcass someplace out into the desert to dump it after the kill. He’d slay the bear in one of his cabins, which he’d already prepared, complete with plastic for keeping the blood off the floor and walls.

The Shifter paying the bounty said he’d take the head as proof of death. Joe would make sure Shane was in bear form when the bullets went into him. He knew a taxidermist who didn’t ask questions, so he could get the bear head stuffed before he tried to drive it across the border into Mexico. Less messy.

Shane walked into the club while Joe was going over his plans for about the hundredth time. He’d come with his brother, plus another bear Shifter Joe hadn’t seen before and a dark-haired Shifter woman who didn’t look too happy.

The table next to Joe’s had cleared out moments ago, and Joe kept his gaze on his beer bottle while Shane and friends approached that very table. Shane’s brother peeled away to go to the bar, and the Shifter woman sat heavily on the chair that the third Shifter man pulled out for her.

Joe took up his beer and concentrated on two sexy human women in tight red dresses gyrating on the dance floor, pretending not to notice the bears at all.

“I don’t even know why I’m here,” the Shifter woman was growling.

“Because Cormac wanted to see the place,” Shane said, sitting down. His back was about three inches from Joe’s chair. “You like Coolers, Mom. You come here all the time.”

“Sure, to talk to my friends. Not to get all dolled up like I’m just past my Transition. Why did you want me to wear this? You wanted to see if a large woman could stuff herself into a tight dress?”

She was glaring at the Shifter who must be Cormac. If she was Shane’s mother, Joe’s research put her as the bear Shifter Nell.

Nell didn’t look bad in her black, slinky dress. She called herself large, but she meant she had breasts the stripper he’d watched early this morning would envy, and hips that drew attention to her nicely shaped ass. If Joe were into Shifters, he might give Nell another look.

Nell’s entire attention was on Cormac, and Cormac’s on her. Shane got to his feet. “I’ll just go help Brody with the drinks.”

“You stay right where you are, Shane,” Nell said, in the tone of a person using anger to cover fear.

“If Brody has to carry more than two drinks, he’ll spill something. Better this way.”

Shane shoved his chair aside, backed up a step, and ran straight into Joe. Joe’s beer jolted, but Shane grabbed the bottle out of Joe’s hand in a swift move and set the beer down before it could spill.

“Sorry, man,” Shane said. “Want me to get you another?”

Joe shook his head, waving to indicate everything was fine. He didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to give the bear too many points of recognition. Shane shrugged and went across the floor in search of his brother.

“This isn’t going to work,” Nell said, as soon as Shane was gone.

The blue-eyed Shifter leaned back and sent her a smile. “Having Shane and Brody get the drinks?”

“Don’t pretend to be obtuse. I’ve been thinking about this all day, while you and my sons made so much noise in my kitchen. You felt some kind of obligation to find me when you read Magnus’s letter? It’s irrelevant now. He’s been gone for more than a century, and I didn’t even know about the stupid letter. It doesn’t mean you need to be my mate. Even if you are good at putting up shelves.”

Cormac listened to her adamant words, his expression one of interest and concern. When she finished, he casually draped his arm over the back of her chair. “When he died, why didn’t you go back to your own clan? You must have been out of your mind with grief, and scared witless.”

“Because they were about eight hundred miles away, and I had two little cubs and no money. All I could think about was survival, right then and there. Besides, no one had been happy with me accepting Magnus’s mate-claim, and we’d never gone through the sun and moon ceremonies. Magnus didn’t think they were necessary.” She sighed. “You know what it means that I couldn’t go back to my clan? Means I couldn’t have a Guardian send his body to dust. I had to burn him.”

Joe knew that when Shifters died, a Shifter called a Guardian stuck a sword through the dead Shifter’s heart. Apparently, they believed that this released the soul to the next life. Burial or cremation in the human form was anathema to them. Joe imagined the poor woman, two little kids clinging to her, having to make a decision to dispose of the body that went against all her beliefs. Must have been rough.

Cormac came forward and put his hands over both of Nell’s, his engulfing hers. “I am so, so sorry. I wish I could have found you then. But at least I’ve found you now.”

“Yeah? Well you’re about a hundred and thirteen years too late.”

“No.” Cormac’s voice was steady. “It’s never too late to not be alone.”

Nell studied Cormac with a kind of wide-eyed daze that was almost panic. “I’m used to being alone. I’ve done everything alone.”

“You might be used to it, but you don’t like it. You can’t lie to me, Nell. I can read you, and I can scent you. What I’m sensing is a Shifter who likes to take care of everyone, but doesn’t do many things for herself.”

“Hey, I get out. I come here. I’ve had a sex life, thank you very much. My boys are embarrassed about it.”

“Not the same thing as letting yourself look for happiness. Before you kick me out on my ass, give me a chance to help you find that happiness.”

Nell went silent. Shane and Brody sure were taking a long time fetching the drinks, and Joe saw the pain in Nell’s eyes when she glanced at the bar as though looking for her sons.

The guy Cormac was pouring out his heart. In Joe’s opinion, he was rushing Nell a little—sounded like he’d read some letter her mate had written and he’d showed up here because of it. Amazing how they talked about a century here, a century there, like humans talked about years. Must have been hard on her, being Shifter way back then, when Shifters had hidden their true natures, especially with kids to take care of.

Joe watched them out of the corner of his eye as he took another sip of beer. Both the Shifters wore Collars, and both were larger than humans, but they looked right together. They fit. With their fingers entwined, Nell looking at their joined hands, Cormac’s gaze fixed on Nell, Joe figured it was only a matter of time.

Cormac tugged Nell a little closer. “Tell you what. Why don’t we dance a little?”

Nell looked up, not liking that. “If we leave before Brody and Shane get back, we’ll lose the table.”

“There are other tables.” Cormac laughed. “You know half the people here. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind sharing.”

“I do know half the people here. And they’ll see me dancing around like a fool.”

“Not like a fool.” Cormac pressed a kiss to her hair. “Come on. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Nell looked up at him, then took on a look of defiance. “All right. See if you can keep up.”

“I love a challenge, darlin’.”

Cormac led her away, walking in front of her—Shifter males always went first to scope out any danger. But he held her hand all the way.

Joe lifted his beer in a silent toast. He hoped they worked it out. They made a good couple.

As they disappeared into the mass of dancers on the floor, Joe’s thoughts returned to his plans to kill Shane. Nell’s story was heartbreaking, but twenty thousand dollars was twenty thousand dollars.

CHAPTER FOUR

Cormac could dance. He could dance, he could kiss, and he had a smile that lit up the room. It wasn’t fair.

The dance was a quick one. But instead of shaking himself around like the humans or the younger Shifters, Cormac kept hold of Nell’s hands, pulled her close, and spun around with her. He swung her out and then back to him, never missing a step.

Nell found herself against his chest again, with his hands on the small of her back. He was a solid wall of male, strong and steady, a rock in a whirling maelstrom.

Raking up her pain about Magnus was breaking something open inside her. It was too long ago—she’d moved on. She’d managed to survive after Magnus’s death because she’d had to. Shane and Brody had needed her.

Once humans had discovered that shape-shifters existed and herded them into Shiftertowns, Nell’s past had receded, becoming a distant world. She’d found a new life, her sons had better chances of finding mates, and she looked forward to settling down and dandling her grandkids on her knees.

Now Cormac was messing with her head. She hated thinking about Magnus lying dead, shot multiple times through the head with the large revolver he’d bought. One shot wasn’t always enough to kill a Shifter. Magnus had shot himself until he’d collapsed, and then he’d bled to death on the bank of a river.

The pain of that was nothing Nell wanted to remember.

Cormac swung her around again in the dance, then she ended up once more against his chest.

He smelled of perspiration and himself, warmth and spice. Nell’s anger wound through her still, and she wanted to lash out at him, claws and all, for causing it.

At the same time, she wanted to sink into his warmth, where nothing mattered but the music and the dance. The noise was a cushion of sound, isolating them, the darkness keeping everyone else in shadow.

Nell risked everything and let her head rest on his shoulder.

Cormac rubbed his hand through her hair, slowing the dance. Nell moved with him, closing her eyes.

Nice to have someone to lean on. Nell had relied on herself alone for too long.

The music faded, segued into another song, and blared again. Faster this time. Shifters yelled and started whirling, including her son Brody, who’d snagged a young Feline for the dance.

It was too much. Too much sound, too many scents, too many bodies.

Bears were meant to live in the quiet of deep woods, near the cool of a mountain river. What the hell was Nell doing in Las Vegas, in the middle of a pile of Shifters, dancing at a club?

“Want to get out of here?” Cormac said, his voice warm in her ear.

“Please,” Nell said breathlessly.

His hand closed over hers, sure and comforting, taking her out of this place into the chill darkness and blessed quiet of the winter night.

“You all right?”

The parking lot outside the club was freezing, and Nell had nothing but the little wrap that came with the dress, but Cormac was beside her, his warmth cutting the cold of the January wind. This was the Mojave desert, blistering in the summer, but it could turn bone-cold in the winter.

“What do you think?” Nell asked.

“I know what you need.”

“Don’t you dare say a good roll in the hay.”

Cormac frowned, as though that had been the last thing on his mind. “No, you need to get away and go for a run. Come on. I know a place.”

“How can you know a place? You just got here.”

He shrugged. “Eric and his mate told me about a place. In case we needed somewhere to be alone.”

“Eric is an interfering pain in the ass.”

“He’s Shiftertown leader. Being an interfering pain in the ass is kind of his job.”

Cormac kept hold of Nell’s hand but walked her on toward his truck, a secondhand F-150 he’d picked up just today. Shane had insisted they all come here in it. They’d looked ridiculous, three large bear Shifters in the cab, Shane lounging in the back. Nell was sure the drivers they’d passed had laughed their asses off.

“How will Shane and Brody get home?” Nell asked as Cormac unlocked the door.

“Somehow, I think your sons will be just fine. Half of Shiftertown is here. They’ll catch a ride.”

Yes, Shane and Brody were pretty good at taking care of themselves. Brody was one of Eric’s trackers—he helped Eric look into problems and acted as a bodyguard if necessary. Shane performed similar tasks for Nell, the highest ranking bear in Shiftertown.

Where would Cormac come into the hierarchy? Dominance shifts were a huge problem when new Shifters moved into Shiftertowns. Things still hadn’t shaken down from the Lupines moving in. The Lupine leader was a big wolf Shifter called Graham, who’d been his Shiftertown leader before that Shiftertown was closed. Graham and Eric had come to an agreement not to battle for dominance, but the tension still ran through Shiftertown.

Cormac didn’t seem worried about dominance, hierarchy, or any other annoyances of Shifter life. He drove confidently away from Coolers and up the Boulder Highway to 95 and north out of town, before turning onto a smaller highway that led toward the mountains.

In January, Mount Charleston and the surrounding peaks would be packed with snow, and Nell was in a close-fitting black party dress with a tiny shawl, and heels. She was already shivering.

“I didn’t bring my skis,” she said as Cormac started winding to higher elevations.

“Bears don’t ski.” Cormac laughed, a warm sound that filled the truck. “But I’d love to see it. Wouldn’t that video go around the Internet?”

“Don’t be stupid.” Nell growled because she wanted to laugh. The vivid picture of Shane, in his bear form, his Collar around his neck, skiing downhill with poles and everything—maybe a little woolly hat on his head—flashed through her thoughts. Knowing Shane, he’d wave a big bear paw at her as he went by. Look at me, Ma! He’d always been such a show-off.

Nell folded her arms over her chest and pretended to be grumpy. “You haven’t told me exactly where we’re going.”

The pickup bumped over ruts, the piles of snow on the side of the plowed road growing larger as they climbed. “Cabin that belongs to Eric’s mate. Iona said if we needed to get away and be alone, I could grab the key from her and come up here anytime. I like her.”

“Yes, Iona is very generous.”

Cormac looked sideways at her. “You know, someday, you’re going to break down and enjoy yourself.”

“I enjoy myself all the time. I’m the queen of enjoying myself. Driving up the mountain in a deep freeze while I’m wearing a small dress isn’t my definition of enjoyment.”

“You’re a bear, Nell. You love the cold. Don’t tell me you don’t miss northern winters.” He let his hands relax on the wheel, head back on the headrest. “Snow like a layer of cloud, unbroken, untracked. Stillness so vast you can hear snow sliding from a tree branch two miles away. Curling up in a den in blissful solitude, warm and safe, while the world falls silent around you. I love hibernation—great time to catch up on reading.”

Nell did remember the emptiness of the land in northern Canada, the cold that destroyed and yet was beautiful at the same time. She’d lead Shane and Brody through the winter wonderland, where they’d ice fish and then cook it in the little brick house they’d built themselves. In spite of Nell having no mate to help her out, there still had been some good times. Her sons were bundles of love, and as little cubs, they’d been adorable.

They still were adorable, and didn’t they get embarrassed when she said so?

Cormac left the main road behind and drove along a half-plowed road, his tires spinning a bit about every ten yards. He finally pulled into a clearing, parked in front of a cabin with large windows and a deep porch, and turned off the truck. All was darkness and silence. Peaceful.

Nell followed Cormac into the cabin, where he adjusted the heat settings and built a fire in the fireplace.

The cabin had a large living area and one bedroom downstairs, and a second floor with two doors—bedrooms with a bathroom between them. She knew that Eric and Iona often drove up here for privacy, which was hard to come by in Shifter houses, and he invited others up here when they needed quiet time, but Nell had never come. This was Eric’s territory, and Nell wouldn’t invade it.

Apparently, Cormac had no such worries. He coaxed the fire to start, then rummaged in the refrigerator and freezer, finding beer, water, and plenty of frozen dinners.

“Iona keeps the place well stocked,” he said admiringly.

“Iona and Eric come up here a lot, as do Cassidy and Diego, and Iona’s human family. In fact, I’m surprised to find the place empty.”

“Eric said he’d keep everyone away.”

Nell planted her hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to yell at him, then she exhaled, letting her body unclench. Why bother? Cormac and Eric had obviously planned this little excursion, probably had laughed about how Nell would react.

“Eric is going to be picking his teeth out of the carpet for a long time,” Nell said.

“Eric’s a good guy, for a Feline.”

“Felines are sneaky,” Nell growled. “Too sneaky for their own good.”

“That’s why I prefer bears.” Cormac came around the kitchen counter to her and rested his hands on her waist. “Especially a sweet, lovely, warm female bear who tells it like it is.”

“No one tells it plainer than I do,” Nell said.

“Glad to hear it.”

His hands on her waist were warm, distracting. Somehow there was less distance between them, his body an inch from hers. Nell’s breasts touched his chest when she took a deep breath.

“I don’t want to talk about anything,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about Magnus, or why he killed himself, or what happened to me after that. Or the letter, or why you decided to find me. All right?”

Cormac’s eyes had darkened to his bear’s, his smile gone but his mouth still soft. “All right.”

“You agreed easily.”

“I know when to shut up.”

Nell swallowed, her voice softening. “All this digging up the past, it hurts me.”

“I know.” Cormac skimmed his hands up her arms to her shoulders, his face now closer to hers. Unshaved whiskers, black against his tanned skin, glistened in the growing firelight.

“I don’t want to have sex with you,” Nell said, the words difficult. “Not right now. I’m too upset.”

“I know.”

Cormac’s hands warmed her, and so did his eyes. The heating system came on, brushing toasty air through the cabin, and the fire started to crackle.

Cormac’s lips warmed her even more. Nell let him kiss her, not fighting, not pulling away. Kissing was fine. Not dangerous. Not heartbreaking.

At least, it never had been before.

Cormac coaxed her lips open as his hands moved to her back. Nell clenched her fists at her sides as his skilled tongue dipped inside her mouth, licking the moisture from behind her lower lip.

The taste of him, a new sensation, heated her, opened her. Her body warmed as the room lost its edge of cold, her muscles relaxing whether she liked it or not.

She was too old for this. Nell was in command of her body, her mind, her emotions. Always. She had to be. Fun was one thing. Becoming a blubbering idiot was something else.

As he kissed her, Cormac’s hands closed over hers, caressing, easing them open. He twined his fingers through hers—blunt, callused fingers that held the strength of ages.

Heat gathered at the base of her spine. She wanted to flow against him, to reach for him with her whole body.

“No,” she whispered.

“I’m only kissing you.” Cormac’s breath was hot on her lips. “That’s all, Nell.”

She liked how he said her name. A plain, short syllable, but his voice rumbled it and filled the empty spaces.

“All right,” she said softly. “Kissing only.”

Cormac smiled, his eyes glittering in triumph, and Nell’s heart squeezed.

Cormac kissed like he danced. He started a rhythm of small kisses across her lower lip, gentle ones on the corners of her mouth, nibbles where he’d kissed her.

His whiskers rubbed her chin, then her cheek when he took the kisses to her cheekbone, the bridge of her nose. Nell struggled to breathe. When she inhaled, she got the scent of him, a male wanting a female, and the nice, clean smell of his breath.

He kissed her cheek again, and she felt the touch of his tongue. He brushed kisses and little licks all the way to her earlobe, then came the small prick of his teeth.

She sucked in another breath. “Kissing only, I said.”

“This is kissing.” His voice tickled deep inside her ear. “And this.” He touched kisses to the shell of her ear, then her temple, her forehead.

Nell closed her eyes. He’d released her hands somewhere during the kissing, and she now clutched the fabric of his shirt. She tried to make herself let go and couldn’t.

Cormac kissed the tip of her nose, smiling as he did it. The man smiled too much. He had to stop that, because he made her want to smile back.

He touched kisses to her mouth again, this time interspersing them with little licks. Every lick sent a stream of fire through her, her female spaces responding with answering fire.

Nell’s mouth opened for him, her lips shaping to his. Cormac swept his tongue into her mouth, continuing the dance. He licked behind her teeth and under her tongue, tangling with her, tasting her.

He gently pulled back, taking away his talented mouth, leaving Nell bereft.

“Now you kiss me,” Cormac said.

“What?” Since when did her voice shake so much? “I have been.”

“No. I kissed you. It’s your turn.”

“We aren’t cubs,” Nell tried.

Cormac’s laugh was soft and low. “Do you see anyone here who cares?”

They were alone. Quite alone. Up here on the mountain, shielded by a blanket of snow, there was no one to see them, no one coming. Eric, the rat, had probably warned everyone in Shiftertown to stay away.

Cormac waited. He had laughter in his eyes, which crinkled in the corners. Nell read loneliness in those blue eyes, remembered how he’d described being left brutally alone as a cub. But she also saw that his loneliness had not defeated him.

Nell drew a breath, put her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him hard on the mouth. Cormac’s lips firmed under her brief assault, and he chuckled when she drew back.

“That the best you can do?” he asked.

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet, honey.”

Nell wrapped her arms around his neck. She opened his mouth with hers, darting her tongue inside. She licked him, tasted him, played with him, nipped him. She slanted her mouth across his, taking him in, their lips meeting and parting, the soft sounds of kissing blending with the crackle of the fire.

Cormac’s large hands pressed the small of her back then moved down to her buttocks. He scooped her up to him, his mouth strengthening on hers, as she kept on kissing him.

More sliding of lips, tangling tongues, biting, kissing. When Nell started to back off, Cormac pulled her closer, his mouth commanding.

Something changed in that kiss. The playful Cormac became serious, a Shifter male commanding a female. Nell felt the change, scented it . . . wanted it.

If she knew what was good for her, she’d push him away, storm back to the truck, and drive it down the mountain, leaving Cormac behind. If he and Eric were so chummy, Eric could come and get Cormac.

All right, so Cormac probably had the truck’s keys in his front pocket, and Nell digging into the pocket to take them out would be dangerous. Good thing she knew how to hotwire a pickup.

She shivered. His pocket would be a warm place, and his cock would be just within reach.

Nell broke away, struggling for breath. “Kissing only.”

Cormac’s eyes held less laughter and more desire. “Was anyone doing anything else?”

“You were thinking about it.”

“Of course I’m thinking about it. I’m here alone with you, and you’re wearing that sexy dress. I want to peel it off you and lick every inch of your body. I want you down on that soft rug in front of the fire, so you and I can do what Shifters were meant to do.”

“Fight off the enemies of the Fae?”

“Yeah, funny.”

“If I give in and make love to you, you’ll use it to persist with this idea that you want me as your mate.”

Cormac shrugged. “I’m going to persist anyway, so we might as well have some fun.”

“I can’t have sex with you!” Nell’s words rang up to the high ceiling of the cabin, circled around the balcony on the second floor, and came back down.

“If you’ve forgotten how, I’m happy to teach you. You put your arms around me . . .” Cormac demonstrated.

“Will you stop joking? I have full-grown cubs, for the Goddess’s sake.”

“Why should I stop joking because you have full-grown cubs? They both have good senses of humor. Shane, in particular.”

“I barely know you.”

“Nell.” Cormac slid his hands under her hair, closing the few inches of space between them. “I know I scared you. I know I upset you. I should have been more careful. But reading that letter tore me up inside. I needed to find you—I couldn’t rest until I found you. It was like the Goddess had sent me straight to you. When you walked out in that pink fluffy bathrobe with your shotgun and your boots on the wrong feet, I knew I’d been right to search for you.”

“I wanted to plant one of those boots right up your ass. Still do.”

“No, you don’t.” Cormac massaged the back of her neck. “If you did, you wouldn’t be kissing me.”

“Can’t I want both?”

His smile returned. “Then you admit you want to kiss me? Good.”

“Kissing you has its good points.” Nell hadn’t felt so thoroughly kissed in a long, long time.

Cormac closed more space between them again, still gently kneading the back of her neck. “What else are you willing to do? Besides kiss me and boot me in the ass?”

“No sex.”

“You keep insisting. All right, I can live with that for now.”

“And take off your shirt.”

Cormac’s eyes widened, and his hands stilled. “What?”

“I said, take off your shirt. If you’re talking about becoming my mate, I want to see what I’d get.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Cormac thought his heart would stop. The lady of his dreams was looking at him with her fine dark eyes and telling him to undress.

No problem. Shifters were used to getting rid of clothes to become beast. If they didn’t, clothes ripped to shreds as bodies expanded, and that could hurt.

Cormac unbuttoned his shirt, slid it off, and tossed it to the couch. His T-shirt followed. He put his hands on his hips and faced Nell, pretending he wasn’t quivering like a cub nearing his Transition.

Nell stood with one hand on her waist and let her gaze rove slowly down his torso. She took in his pectorals and abdomen, the black hair on his chest, the indent of his navel. She traversed every inch of him, and Cormac itched as though she’d run her fingers very lightly over his skin.

“What happened there?” Nell stepped close and touched the long scar that ran from Cormac’s abdomen to his back.

He found it difficult to breathe. “Hunter. A long time ago, in the wild. Just grazed me.”

Concern flickered in her dark eyes. “You got away. What happened?”

“I ran back behind some trees, shifted to human, and then charged out, yelling at him. I thought the guy would shit himself. He figured his bullet had gone wide and winged some crazy kid screwing his girlfriend in the woods. I laughed my ass off.”

Nell stroked the line of the scar. “You laughed while you were standing there bleeding?”

“I found a doctor who stitched it up. Healed fast. Like I said, the bullet only grazed me.”

Nell kept stroking the scar. Her fingers were warm, gentle. His fiery woman could be sweet.

She drew her hand from the scar and put her palms on his chest, pulling her fingers together over his flat nipples. The fire of the movement made him shift his weight.

“Everything all right?” she asked.

“I have a hot woman touching me, driving me crazy.”

“Yeah? Deal with it.”

Her voice went low and throaty, a warm contralto that wound heat through Cormac’s bones. When he loved her, it would be good. It would be incandescent.

Nell tugged his nipples with the tips of her fingers. Cormac balled his fists and made himself not touch her. From the little smile on her face, she was enjoying making him insane.

She moved her hands again, this time to smooth them all the way down his front. “Good muscle tone.”

“I like to keep in shape.” Hard for Shifters not to be in shape, but Cormac could play along.

Nell fanned out her hands around his abdomen, then came back to poke his navel gently with one fingertip. Cormac jumped. “Devil woman.”

She tickled him, while he grunted a laugh, then she took her hands around to his back and stepped close. Nell ran her hands up his spine, then drew her fingers around his waist again, retracing the scar.

Cormac held still, not wanting to scare her away. His cock was firm inside his jeans; the bulge must be more than obvious.

But though the mating frenzy had called him from the moment Nell had laid her head on his shoulder on the dance floor, Cormac wouldn’t push himself on her. Nell was like a wild bird—tough in many ways, but too fragile in others.

His fragile bird skimmed her fingers around his navel again, then popped open the button of his jeans. “I mean I really want to see what’s in the package.”

Nell’s eyes sparkled with wickedness. Behind the wickedness, though, Cormac saw fear. She wanted to play but didn’t want it to burn.

Fair enough. He could play.

“So, unwrap it,” he said. He touched an openmouthed kiss to her cheek, following it with a little lick.

“You sure?”

“We’re alone, the fire is warm, and my best girl wants to undo my pants. Of course, I’m sure.”

Her eyes flickered again when he said best girl, but she tugged his zipper down. Then in one swift move, Nell opened the jeans all the way and slid them down Cormac’s hips.

“Hmm,” she said. “Boxers.”

“Disappointed?” The thin cloth of the boxers hid nothing, the fabric tenting straight out with his arousal.

“Thought you’d be commando,” she said.

“I was dancing, and it’s cold. Didn’t want to chafe.”

“It’s promising.” Nell lifted her gaze from his cock. “But I need to be certain.”

“Woman, you’re killing me.”

Cormac ended the game by shoving his boxers down with the jeans. He ended up with everything pooled around his ankles, but before he could kick anything away, Nell gave him a little shove. Cormac overbalanced and went back onto the sofa.

Nell stood above him, her hair spilling forward, her breasts pushing up from the confines of the tight dress. Cormac held still, folding his hands over his stomach. She had to notice how much he was shaking.

Nell roved his body with her gaze again, lingering on his cock. “That might be satisfactory.”

“But you’re not sure.”

“As my grandma used to say, the proof is in the pudding.”

“Fresh out of pudding, love,” Cormac said.

“Not from where I’m standing.”

Nell slid her fingers down his chest, his abdomen, over his hands in the way, and down to the base of his cock.

Cormac closed his eyes, his own fingers digging into his stomach as Nell closed her hand around his hardness. He clenched even tighter when she squeezed his cock and started to stroke.

“No,” Cormac said, voice strangled.

She paused. “No?”

“I mean, no, don’t do that while you’re standing over me. Come here.” He reached up and took her arms, tugging her down to him. She overbalanced as he had done, and fell full length on top of him.

Didn’t hurt a bit. Cormac found himself with his arms full of lush, full-bodied woman, his hands finding every curve.

She squirmed at first, but that only added to his joy. Cormac kissed her lips, and Nell stopped to slide into the kiss.

Let me stay here forever with you. Not alone anymore. You and me, we were meant to be.

Cormac wanted to say the words out loud, but not yet. He wouldn’t rush her.

The dress proved to be supple for its clinginess. The top eased downward without much effort on Cormac’s part. Sweet rounds of Nell’s breasts came into view, no bra in sight.

“So you are commando,” Cormac said, his hands full of warm weight.

“Only on top. The dress looked lumpy with a bra.”

“Good thing for me.” He drew his thumbs over her nipples, which hardened nicely under his touch. He wanted to lower his head to them, to suckle, but later. He slid his hands up under the skirt and found the elastic of panties.

Nell didn’t fight him pulling them off. The skirt shimmied upward as he did, and then Nell stilled. His cock lay between her legs, he feeling the tickle of her wiry hair and the liquid heat there. But he made no move to slide inside.

Nell’s throat worked. The look in her eyes was one of almost panic. Cormac watched her fight to master it, and then she slid one hand between them and found his cock, forming her fingers around it.

Cormac couldn’t stop his noise of pleasure. Nell fixed him with her gaze, eyes daring him to do anything but lie there and let her pleasure him.

Hey, if that’s what she wanted . . .

Cormac wrapped his arms around Nell and drew her down for another long kiss. He tasted her mouth, played over her lips, held her while she stroked him, her hand bringing him to life.

His vision began to cloud. All he saw was Nell’s beautiful face, her lovely brown eyes, her full lips, red with his kisses. Cormac pulled her closer still, wanting to drown in her softness. He kissed her throat, her clavicle, then down between her breasts.

He kissed her breasts, one at a time, pausing to lick, then nibble. Nell went on playing, pulling, stroking, every touch bringing Cormac closer to ecstasy. He heard the noises coming from his throat, but he could only revel in the taste of her, the warmth of her on his body, her hand on his cock, palm cupping his balls.

A groan filled the room. Cormac thrust against Nell’s hand, catching part of her heat under the skirt. His arms were full of gorgeous woman, his mouth full of her too.

“Holy shit.” The hoarse words were his. He was coming, holding her, thrusting, smiling, kissing. The panicked light had gone from Nell’s eyes, and now she smiled back, a woman knowing her power.

Cormac dragged her down to him, kissing her lips, biting her mouth, his cries of joy turning to growls. He crushed her lush body to his, never wanting to let her go.

“I thought you said no sex,” he rumbled as his wild ride eased down to a relaxed, wonderful glow.

“And there wasn’t.”

No, Nell had grabbed him and unmanned him before he could throw her to the ground and force himself onto her. Not that he’d intended to do that. He knew he had to go slowly with her, to bring her to tenderness over time.

He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “But you didn’t get any pleasure, darlin’.”

“Yes, I did. That was fun.” Nell’s big smile and shining eyes told him so.

“Don’t play with fire, sugar.” Cormac slid himself off the couch out from under her, leaving her half sitting up and staring at him, startled.

He showed her then how strong he was. In a few seconds, Cormac had Nell flat on her back on the sofa, her skirt pooled on her belly, his hands parting her legs, thumbs stroking the petals of her opening.

“What are you doing?” she asked, sucking in a breath.

“I thought that was obvious.” Cormac grinned at her before he bent down to kiss her damp hair. “I’m giving back.”

Nell gasped again as Cormac gently blew on the curls at her opening, then licked her. Sweet, amazing taste of woman poured into his mouth. Cormac’s heart pounded for joy as he fastened his mouth over her and proceeded to drink.

It didn’t last long. Nell’s frenzy began soon, she bucking against his mouth while Cormac savored all he could of her. Then he was back on the sofa, in her arms, both of them kissing and touching, stroking, licking, growling, laughing.

No sex. Not at all. But oh, such intense and astonishing pleasure. Cormac was in love.

A cell phone pealed loudly in the darkness. Nell jumped awake, finding herself lying across a hard male body, his arms around her. His cock, not ramrod-stiff any longer, lay heavily against her bare thigh.

Clarity hit her, and Nell tried to roll to her feet. Jeans tangled her—Cormac’s—then her bare feet hit the carpet and her skirt slithered back down her legs.

Her cell phone kept ringing from the tiny purse Cassidy had lent her. Nell usually relied on pockets, but this slinky dress had none. She was breathless by the time she wrestled the purse open and snatched out the phone.

Shifters weren’t allowed to have voice mail, so they either answered the phone or missed the call. But almost all phones had caller ID these days, so she could see that it was Brody’s number.

“What?” she bellowed into the phone.

“Mom, seriously, I don’t want to bother you, but I think there’s a problem.”

“Problem? What problem?” Shiftertown burning down? Eric dead in a dominance battle? Rogue Shifters trying to take over?

“I can’t find Shane,” Brody said.

Nell flashed back to when she’d been a scared thirtysomething, barely into adulthood for a Shifter, with small cubs who kept getting lost. Mama, I can’t find Shane had been a common refrain. Those little bears had gotten themselves into so much trouble.

She let out a long breath, holding on to her patience. “We’re talking about Shane. He probably ran off with something female. Where are you?”

“Still at Coolers. He’s not with a woman. I’d know that. I mean, he’s really gone. You didn’t send him on an assignment, did you?”

“When would I have found time to do that?”

“I don’t know. I’m asking on the off chance. I’m worried.”

He sounded it, and Brody wasn’t often worried. Nell felt Cormac behind her, his body heat on her back. He’d put on his jeans, but not his shirt.

“When did you last see him?” she asked Brody.

“Sitting at the table we all snagged in the first place. You and Cormac were dancing by the time Shane and I got back with the drinks. Then you two left, and Jace and a human girl came to sit with us. The human girl was way more interested in Jace than us. Shane went off to see if he could find someone for himself, and Jace and the girl went to dance. I sat there for a long time. Shane never came back, so I started looking for him. He was just gone.”

“How do you know he didn’t find someone to be with? Or a friend to talk to? Or didn’t give up and go back home?”

“Because he would have told me. Plus, he would have had to catch a ride, since you and Cormac took off in the pickup. I never saw him leave with anyone, and neither did anyone I asked.”

Nell’s concern started to pick up, but she tried to stay calm. “He could have gone out to find a bus. Or a taxi.”

“I’d have picked up the scent if he’d walked to a bus stop or even got into a taxi in front. There’s nothing. I can’t find his scent at all, but there’s so many here it’s confusing. He’s not in any of the back rooms, or in any of the cars in the parking lot. I looked. He vanished into thin air, and Shane’s pretty big. Hard for him to do that.”

Nell’s palm sweated where she clutched the phone. She knew Cormac had heard every word, Shifter hearing being what it was—not that Brody was being quiet.

“Don’t worry yet,” Nell said. “There’s no reason anything should have happened.”

Even as she said it, her heart squeezed with fear. Human hunters were allowed to hunt and kill un-Collared Shifters for bounty, and sometimes they didn’t bother checking whether the Shifter they’d caught had a Collar or not.

Then again, most hunters went out to the wild places, where feral Shifters were more likely to be found eking out an existence. Hunters didn’t hang around parking lots of dance clubs in the middle of the city.

“Who’s there with you?” Nell asked.

“Jace, for now. Looks like Graham and that girl he likes, plus a couple of his Lupines. I don’t see anyone ranking except Graham and Jace.”

“Well, don’t raise the alarm for now. We can’t start a major panic and then find out Shane’s in a broom closet making out with his latest conquest.”

“I know. But I thought I should tell you, even though I know you’re . . . busy.”

“I’m not writhing in a naked sexual frenzy, Brody.”

“Goddess, Mom, please don’t talk about naked sexual frenzies. I’m upset enough about Shane without that picture in my head.”

“Tough. I have a life. But my cubs come first. I’ll be right there.”

“No, no.” Brody’s words came in swift distress. “You don’t have to. I’ll find him. Don’t interrupt your date. I just thought you’d want to know.”

“Why do you assume I’m on a date? I could have dumped Cormac by the side of the road and be home alone in a bubble bath.”

“I know you didn’t, because I saw how you were looking at him when you two were dancing.” He raised his voice a little. “Good job, Cormac.”

Cormac leaned over Nell’s shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll come back with her. I think you’re right that we need to find Shane.” He looked at Nell, his blue eyes close. “Even if he’s only making out in a broom closet.”

“No, really . . .” Brody began.

“We’re coming,” Nell said firmly, and clicked off the phone. She looked up at Cormac, who hadn’t moved an inch. “Sorry.”

“You’re right. Cubs come first.”

“Shane’s a hundred years old and bigger than I am. When am I going to believe he can take care of himself?”

Cormac slid an arm around her waist. “Not until he’s taking care of you.” He kissed her cheek. “Come on. I’ll drive you down.”

CHAPTER SIX

A light snow had fallen while they’d been in the cabin, and white dusted the roads. Cormac took it slowly, the narrow ribbon of road with its hairpin turns and no guardrail at times heart-stopping.

They made it back to the main road, the snow vanishing as they wound down to the desert floor. The air was still cold when they made the turn to the 95, but less icy.

The parking lot at Coolers was still full. The place closed at two, and it was one thirty, but Shifters would linger until the last minute, before taking their party back to Shiftertown.

Brody came out the front door when Cormac pulled up before it. The bouncer—tonight a large Lupine who worked for Graham—watched as Brody half-dragged, half-helped Nell from the truck.

“I seriously can’t find him, Mom. And yes, I checked the broom closets.”

“I never saw him leave,” the bouncer said. “Ma’am.”

“Let’s not panic,” Nell said, adjusting her wrap. “We’re talking about Shane. He’s not stupid.”

She walked inside past the bouncer as Cormac roared off to park the truck. The club was still going strong—plenty of dancers, loud music, and Shifters at the bar.

After the safe, snug cabin alone with Cormac, the weight of all the people crashed into Nell’s senses. Too many sights, scents, sounds. She wanted to find a nice quiet den somewhere and hole up to think about what had just happened with Cormac.

She kept walking, scanning the dark crowd, hoping she’d spot her tall oldest son dancing in slow interest with a female. She knew that Brody would have been thorough, though, or he wouldn’t have called.

Nell smelled wolf before she saw him—Graham, the leader of the large group of Lupines who’d joined their Shiftertown in November.

“Haven’t seen him,” Graham said before Nell could speak. “We’ve all looked. Brody’s pretty sure he didn’t leave with a woman.”

“What if he left with a man?” the young woman who’d walked up to Graham’s side asked. She had brown hair in a French braid and wore a dress similar to Nell’s, except it was bright red. Graham slid an arm around her waist, and the Lupines who had approached with Graham subtly widened the space between themselves and the young woman.

Graham answered, “If you mean Shane decided he’s gay, I doubt it.”

“I meant, maybe he didn’t necessarily leave for nookie,” the girl—Misty—said. “People can talk to each other without having sex.”

Graham grunted a laugh. “People, sure. Shifters, not always. Mating frenzies hit hard.”

Misty shrugged. “Still, you should find out who he was talking to before he left. Maybe he went off to another bar to play pool with someone.”

Brody heaved a long sigh. “I thought of that. I’ve been asking. No one noticed. I didn’t notice.”

Nell sensed a tingling warmth at her back, and she looked over her shoulder, expecting Cormac to be right behind her.

No, he’d only walked in the front door. Holy Mother Goddess. She felt his presence all the way across a crowded room, over blaring music, and above the scents of Shifters who’d been sweating on the dance floor. Nell was aware of every step Cormac took from the door to her, the tingle growing the nearer he came.

Bad sign. Very bad sign.

Cormac stopped an inch behind Nell and slightly to her right, his warmth encompassing her. His position would let him easily move in front of her to block an attack by Graham, or swing around to guard her back if necessary. Protective and efficient.

The significance of his stance wasn’t lost on Graham, who raised his brows and looked at Cormac then Nell with new assessment.

“Get them to close the club a little early,” Cormac suggested. “Easier to look for Shane if the place empties out.”

“You want to tell Shifters and Shifter groupies that they have to go home early?” Graham asked, his voice a grating rumble. “You value your life?”

“If they think Shane might be in trouble, they can help,” Cormac said. “Recruit them to look.”

Nell adjusted her wrap, Cormac making her too warm. “Shane will be so embarrassed.”

“Better embarrassed than dead,” Cormac said. “Did anyone call Eric?”

Brody shook his head. “I didn’t want to bother him if it turned out to be nothing.”

Graham glowered down at them, but he didn’t growl that he was as good as Eric, that they didn’t need the Feline. The fact that Graham didn’t snarl and complain worried Nell. When things mattered, Graham took the chip off his shoulder and got the job done. Which meant that Graham was concerned about Shane too.

“I got this.” Jace, Eric’s full-grown son, pushed past them and wove his way to the sound system. A moment later, he was standing on the small stage, microphone in hand. The music died away, the lights came on, and Shifters and humans looked up from the shadows, blinking.

“Hey,” Jace said.

The Shifters began to growl and mutter, but Jace stared back at them without worry. His stance was as easygoing as his father’s, and his presence started to fill the room. Nell felt it as the Shifters quieted, watching him—the need to notice this man, young as he was, and find out what he wanted them to do.

“I’m looking for Shane.” Jace’s tone said both We’re all friends here and Shut up and listen at the same time. “I want everyone to look at the person beside them and check that it’s not Shane. And then leave—slowly. And if you see Shane on your way out, tell him his mom’s looking for him.”

Soft laughter rippled over the crowd, but they obeyed him.

Jace had them filing out without rushing or snarling. Nowhere did Nell see Shane.

Once the club was empty, and the humans who worked there started closing for the night, Jace returned to Nell. “We can sweep the place for scent now.”

He broke them into several groups—Graham with Misty to check the front, the Lupine bouncer to help Jace check the far reaches of the parking lot. Brody would take the rooms inside the club, and Cormac and Nell would check outside the back door.

“He’s going to be challenging his father for leadership one day,” Graham said as Jace took off to search. He showed his teeth in a cold smile. “I want to be there to watch.”

“I’ll make sure you have a front-row seat,” Nell said. “For now, can we find my son? I hope we do embarrass him. He can work it off for the next twenty years.”

Cormac said nothing as he led her away to start their search. Nell found his silence comforting. No condescending reassurances—no We’ll find him, don’t worry. Cormac knew they wouldn’t have emptied out the club to comb it for scent if everything was fine.

The hall that led to the back door behind the kitchen was full of conflicting odors. The human workers and many Shifters had been this way, and one of the humans had dragged a large amount of garbage out here.

Cormac opened the heavy back door and led the way outside. The frigid air struck Nell, seeming even colder after the overheated club than it had on the snowy mountain.

Plenty of people had come this way as well, including the human with the garbage. The scent trail of bathroom and bar trash blazed brightly to the Dumpster, so brightly that Nell had to turn away from its obvious path and concentrate on the less intense scents.

Cormac crouched down and examined something on the broken asphalt. A feeble light above the back door didn’t help much.

“What is it?” Nell asked.

“Not sure.” Cormac stood up and scanned the now mostly empty parking lot. “I’m going to go bear. I can scent better.”

“Makes sense.”

“Want to join me?”

“No,” Nell said. Her bear wasn’t as sensible as Nell in human form, at least when it came to males. She might find Cormac irresistible and do something stupid like agree to curl up with him for the rest of her life. “I can think better in this form.”

“Suit yourself. But I bet I’d love your bear.”

“Don’t say I’ll be sexy.”

Cormac’s grin widened. “I’ll keep it to myself then.”

He toed off his boots as he spoke, then stripped out of his leather coat and shirt beneath. He didn’t flinch from the January air, but unbuckled his pants and slid them off, letting his underwear follow.

He was breathtaking. Nell didn’t pretend not to look as Cormac straightened to his full height under the yellowish glow of the backdoor light. Shadows played on his tall, naked body, and the light glistened on his unshaved whiskers and dark hair. He was a beautiful man, full of strength.

Cormac stretched his arms above his head, and let his bear take over.

Cormac always wondered how humans could stand seeing the world from only one perspective. Maybe that’s why they had such short lives, and why so many lived those short lives in misery. Wouldn’t hurt humans to be able to see things from an animal’s point of view once in a while.

The power of the bear flowed through him, giving Cormac confidence in strength. He was very aware of Nell standing near him in her slinky dress under the weak light. Aware of the warmth of her, and the scent of a woman who’d found pleasure this night.

The light haloed her, as though the Mother Goddess touched her. His bear didn’t feel the erotic connection to her as he had in human form, but Cormac saw to the heart of her—a strong woman who’d endured much and yet never let it break her.

He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

But if something had truly happened to Shane, Nell would spend the rest of that life grieving. Cormac could not let that happen.

He butted Nell with his head, and she gave his back a stroke. She didn’t hide what was in her eyes, which she tried to do when they were both in human form. She was scared, and she was vulnerable, but she was also determined.

Cormac put his head down to sniff what had puzzled him. At Nell’s feet, the patch of asphalt had long since broken and never been repaired. In the dry gravel, he’d scented a drop of something he couldn’t place.

His bear nostrils widened as he sniffed, and gravel dust went up his nose. He sneezed, but in that moment, he understood the scent.

Tranquilizer.

The tiniest drop, which might have fallen from a hypodermic. A shot from a tranq rifle might be heard, even over the din of the club. But someone coming up to an unsuspecting Shane and sticking a needle into him—that would make no noise. The perpetrator could have done it in the hall, or right here outside the back door.

And then what? Cormac lifted his head and scanned the parking lot. Once that human or Shifter had tranqued Shane, he or she would have to lug Shane’s unconscious body out to a vehicle to get him away. Someone would have seen him do that.

Or would anyone have? If the tranq had only had enough juice to put Shane mostly out, then Shane would stumble around like he was drunk, not unusual at a bar, even if it took a lot to get Shifters drunk. Any observers in the parking lot would assume they were seeing a human or Shifter taking home a blotto Shane.

Not that anyone had reported seeing them, but witnesses might have gone home before Brody had become alarmed, and therefore wouldn’t know there’d been need to report it.

Cormac lowered his head and snuffled around again. There were many footprints and many scents, but now that he was in bear form, he could take the time to sort them out.

Nell waited beside him while he worked. Her warmth gave him an anchor, and his human senses, buried deep, observed that the view of her legs wasn’t bad either.

Not far from the back door, Shane’s scent suddenly unfolded from the others, a layer that smelled a bit like Nell, even more like his brother Brody. The scent held the fiery hint of Shifter bear, and a bite that was all Shane’s own.

Now to figure out where the scent went.

He felt Nell come alert. “Have you got him?” she asked.

Cormac grunted. He very carefully traced Shane from the scent pool, in a line that moved from the back door toward the Dumpster.

Cormac followed, one step at a time. The trail of the garbage was cloying and distracting. Cormac closed his eyes and forced himself to focus on Shane alone.

If someone had put him into the Dumpster . . . No, the trail moved beyond that.

A vehicle had been parked behind the garbage containers. Cormac smelled exhaust and oil, a drip of antifreeze. The car or truck had been parked here, away from the bulk of the parking lot, in a place with easy access to the alley that ran behind the club. Whether the driver had understood that stopping the truck near garbage would confuse the scent, Cormac couldn’t tell.

Cormac inhaled at a spot on the pavement where he calculated the driver’s side door might have been, then moved from there in an expanding circle, nose to the ground. Nell walked next to him, carefully keeping her heeled shoes out of the noisome puddles around the trash containers.

He caught scent of someone else, froze. Wait . . .

Cormac lifted his head. The scent was familiar. Wasn’t it? No, he couldn’t place it.

Cormac stretched his body, willed himself to rise again to his human form, muscles and sinews crackling.

“What?” Nell demanded.

“Shane was tranquilized and brought out here to a car or small truck. By a human.” Cormac inhaled again. “I swear I’ve smelled the human before.”

“Where?”

Cormac knew what she meant. He guided her to stand where the vehicle had been and kept his hand on her arm as she inhaled. Nell tested the cold scents a good long time before she shook her head.

“No one I recognize.”

“But it’s familiar.”

“Lots of humans come to this club. Maybe we brushed by them on the dance floor.”

Cormac thought about that, playing over his scent memory of the night. The problem was, he’d filled every one of his senses with Nell, especially on the dance floor—her warmth, her scent, the feeling of her body against his.

Cormac still scented her on himself. He took a step closer, right against her back, and wrapped his arms around her.

“I can’t remember,” Nell said. He heard the tears in her voice.

“It will come.”

Cormac closed his eyes, not fighting his need to melt into her. Fighting the senses only clouded them.

They stood together, locked as one, comfort and need twining them. Nell’s scent filled him again, covering the stench of the garbage, and everything else but Shane and the . . . Ah.

Cormac opened his eyes. “He was here. In the club with us. The guy at the next table.”

Nell’s eyes also came open, and she looked up and back at him. “I remember. He was sitting alone, and Shane bumped into him. Nearly spilled his beer. Please don’t tell me he’s out for revenge because a Shifter almost spilled his beer.”

“I don’t think so. This was well planned. The guy didn’t just happen to have a syringe full of tranquilizer in his pocket.”

“But why Shane?” Nell’s voice rose toward panic. “Or is he a hunter who’ll take any Shifter?”

“Hunting Collared Shifters is highly illegal. Even the human cops wouldn’t look the other way for that. Too touchy.”

“Then he wanted Shane specifically.”

“That’s my guess.”

“Why?”

Cormac closed his arms more tightly around her. “We’ll find him, and we’ll ask.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?” Nell said, worried.

“Yes. Every detail.”

Nell looked at him in surprise. “Every detail? I barely noticed the guy.”

“Habit I picked up growing up. I notice everything around me at all times, every scent, sight, sound, feel—taste if necessary. I learned to live like an animal long before I understood what it was like to live as a human. I was nearly twenty before I found the rest of my clan.”

Life had been . . . interesting. The true bears had given him a wide berth because he’d smelled wrong.

Cormac had wandered alone, a cub calling for someone, anyone to help him, and realizing finally that there was no one to come. He’d learned survival on his own, hunting and killing his own food, eating it raw.

“I’m sorry,” Nell said.

“What I learned comes in handy,” Cormac said without self-pity. He released her from his arms but took her hand. “Let’s use it to find your cub.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The human employees still inside the club went bug-eyed when Cormac walked in naked, but the Shifters didn’t notice.

Nell noticed, but then, she’d become hyperaware of Cormac. His scent was on her and hers on him. Scent-marked—the first step in the mating game.

Cormac became bear again to sniff around inside, and he was joined by Jace in his Feline form. Jace and Cormac hunted around the tables, while Graham looked on, his human girlfriend watching with her fingers steepled at her lips.

They found nothing at the table. The guy had left no trace of himself but his scent.

Nell vaguely remembered the man nursing a bottle of beer while she’d sat at the next table trying not to pour out her heart to Cormac. But the bartender confirmed that the table had been cleared a long time ago, any beer bottles left there now in the gigantic pile in the recycle bin.

“We could get fingerprints from the chair and table,” Brody suggested. “See if he’s got a record, anyway.”

Cormac shifted into his human form as Brody spoke. “Then we’d have to involve the police.” He looked at Nell. “You want to do that?” Cormac knew from experience that getting human police interested in Shifter problems complicated matters more than they helped.

“We don’t have to,” Nell said. “We have a secret weapon.”

Cormac raised his brows, unsure what she meant, but Brody relaxed. “Diego and Xavier,” he said. “I’ll call them.”

“Take it easy,” Joe said. “You’re groggy.”

The Shifter-man’s eyelids fluttered as he tried to open them, then Shane gave up and slumped back into the chair—the sturdiest chair Joe possessed.

Joe had been driving out to his cabin, keeping with his plan to kill the bear there then decapitate him, when his cell phone buzzed. The man on the other end had been Miguel, the Shifter who’d hired him.

“How’s it going?” Miguel had asked.

“I got one,” Joe answered. “You’ll have proof in the morning. Twenty grand, right?”

The voice took on a Shifter snarl. “I want them all.”

“Can’t promise that. Too problematic. I think a hundred grand’s even too low for all four. I can give you this one, and you hire someone else to go after the others.”

“I want all of them, especially the Shifter bitch and her mate. I’ll give you the hundred thousand for just those two.”

“No thanks. If I capture and kill a cop, even an ex-cop, even one who’s shacked up with a Shifter, I’ll never live to enjoy the money.”

There was a moment of intense, furious silence. “I hired you because you were good. Or said you were.”

“I am good. I’m just not stupid. You’ll get one of the four. I have him right here.” Shane had been out, slumped against the truck’s door, his hands and feet chained. The second tranq, delivered when Joe had gotten him into the truck, had knocked him cold.

“Keep him for me,” Miguel said. “I want to make the kill myself. And then I’ll go after the other three, and you will help me.”

No way. But Joe didn’t argue with him. People who hired bounty hunters or ordered hits weren’t always stable.

“Now you want me to keep him alive?” Joe asked. “For how long? I only have so much tranquilizer.”

“For as long as it takes. I’ll call you when I make it to town.”

Joe had hung up in irritation. He’d really wanted to get some sleep tonight.

Joe had continued to the cabin he’d already set up for the kill. Easiest to keep Shane there, and it was far enough out of town that if the Shifter gave him too much trouble, Joe could simply shoot to kill without any neighbors hearing. Miguel would have to suck it up. The money Miguel offered wasn’t good enough for Joe to take extra risks.

Shane’s eyelids fluttered again. Joe shoved a sports bottle of water between Shane’s lips and upended it. Shane coughed, but Joe didn’t relent.

“Don’t need you dehydrating. He wants you alive.”

Shane swallowed the water and licked droplets from his lips. “Who the hell are you?” His voice was still scratchy with dryness. “Wait, I saw you at the club, didn’t I?”

“The name’s Josiah. My friends call me Joe. Now I have a little dilemma. I’m starting to think I’m not going to come out of this very well, no matter if I give you to the nut-job who wants you or negotiate with you for your release. So do me a favor and don’t ask me any more questions while I sit here and think about what to do.”

“Huh,” Shane said, letting his eyes close again. “If you think your only problems are me and the nut-job, it just means you don’t know my mother.”

Joe didn’t laugh. “You say that because you haven’t met my mother. Your mom was the Shifter lady sitting at the table with you tonight?”

Shane opened his eyes again. This time they were more focused. “Yeah, that was her.”

“Nice-looking woman. Hope it works out for her and that other bear Shifter. It’s tough for widows to find someone new.”

“Ain’t you sweet?” Shane’s hands moved under the chains that wrapped his body, and one spark leapt from the Collar around his neck. “How about we talk about this on more even terms?”

Joe lifted his tranq rifle, loaded and ready to go. Another rifle lay next to it, that one with .30-06 bullets. “If you sit there calmly, I’ll let you stay awake,” Joe said. “If you move too much, I’ll put you out again, or shoot you with real bullets. Either way I wouldn’t be able to let you in on the decision-making process.” He smiled at Shane, who didn’t smile back. “So shut up, and let me think.”

Diego Escobar, the mate of Eric’s sister, and Diego’s brother, Xavier, ran a security firm called DX Security. They showed up in response to Brody’s call for help, along with Reid, the guy who called himself a dark Fae. Apparently Reid worked at the security firm with the two humans. Weird.

Cormac liked Diego, who looked over the scene without fuss, listening to Brody, Nell, and Cormac tell him what they’d found. Xavier said fingerprints were a long shot—there’d be a lot of them, if they could even get clear ones, plus the waitress would have wiped down the table when she’d cleaned up. Even so, Xavier got started checking out the chair in which the guy had been sitting.

Diego opened a laptop at another table and had Cormac describe the man. Brody and Nell put in what they remembered, but Cormac gave Diego the most detailed description.

“I’m impressed,” Diego said. “How long have you had perfect recall?”

“It’s not perfect recall,” Cormac said. “I just notice things.”

Not that he didn’t recall every touch, every kiss, every breath of himself and Nell up at the cabin. The time with her had eased his heart, allowing a new spark of warmth to grow. Cormac hung on to that spark in hope. Mate bonds were precious and didn’t happen to everybody.

Diego had software that quickly rendered an image, then he and Cormac made adjustments. Another laptop with more software let Xavier scan the fingerprints he’d managed to lift and look for a match. He didn’t find anything, but said he wasn’t surprised. If the man had been careful, he’d have touched as little as possible and wiped everything off before he left.

Diego’s facial recognition program had more luck.

“He doesn’t have a police record,” Diego announced. “Or an FBI file. But I have access to more information than that.” He tapped keys and brought up a photograph of their man. It was a casual snapshot, a man of average human height with brown hair, standing in a hunting vest in the woods. “His name is Josiah Doyle.” Diego tapped the arrow key to move to more information. “He’s a bounty hunter. Goes after bail jumpers, escaped convicts, and un-Collared Shifters.”

Nell’s hand tightened on the back of Cormac’s chair. “Why would a bounty hunter go after Shane? He’s not an un-Collared Shifter.”

“I think we should ask him,” Diego said. “I have the addresses of his house and a couple of cabins. I’d bet he took Shane to one of them.”

“To kill him?” Nell asked, her lips white.

Cormac squeezed her hand between his. “I’ll never let that happen. We’ll find him and bring him home.”

“Don’t worry, Nell,” Diego said. “Xav and I have plenty of firepower and know how to use it. And we have Reid.”

“And me,” Graham rumbled.

“Don’t even think about it,” Nell said. “I don’t want my cub getting caught in the cross fire.”

“And he won’t,” Diego said. He had a kind voice, soothing, even with his overtone of authority. That the human man wasn’t intimidated by Shifters like Graham, Nell, and Jace said a lot about him. “We know what we’re doing, Nell. We’ll go, we’ll get Shane, and we’ll bring him back.”

“I’m going with you,” Nell said. “I’m not sitting at home waiting and wondering if you’ll find him before it’s too late.”

“Graham sent Misty home,” Diego pointed out.

“She’s human,” Nell returned. She fixed Diego with a steely stare. “Don’t argue with me, Diego. I know what you did when it was your mate and cub in trouble.”

“Yeah, and I also took the help I was offered,” Diego said.

“But you didn’t wait at home.”

“No,” Diego admitted. “I didn’t.”

“Well, then.”

“Nell’s right,” Cormac broke in. “We need her. We’ll have to split up and check each location—we don’t have time to check them all in turn.” He pointed at the locator map on Diego’s computer. “I think his house is the least likely place. We should check it in case but put most of our might on the cabins. Graham and Jace can scope out one cabin with Xavier; and Nell, Brody, and I will scope out the other.”

“While I grab backup and go to the house?” Diego asked. He grinned. “You’re good at giving orders, but I’m modifying them. Xav and I will go to the house. Less fuss if only humans drive up to see Mr. Doyle, no Shifters in sight. Two teams of Shifters will check out the cabins, but I’m sending Reid with one.”

Cormac blinked. “The Fae? Why?”

“It’s all right,” Nell said. “Reid is useful, and he likes Shane. I trust him.”

Interesting. But whatever.

“Good,” Brody said. “Let’s head out. Anything’s better than hanging around here sweating.”

Nell put her arm around her son. Cormac rose and joined them, and the three closed into a warm, comforting huddle. Cormac had no inclination to step away, to let Nell and Brody be private. The encompassing hug meant they accepted him, that Cormac was part of them now.

Cormac brushed his hand over Brody’s hair and kissed Nell briefly on the lips. Then they broke apart to go hunt for Shane.

Nell knew Shane was in the cabin at the end of the track as soon as Cormac stopped the truck out of sight on the mountain road.

The sun was rising, touching the folds of land flowing down from the woods that all but hid the cabin at the end of a clearing. The tiny cabin had a wide front porch that overlooked the clearing, its back wall shadowed by ponderosa pines.

Josiah’s second cabin, the one Graham, Jace, and Reid were checking, was a small house in the middle of a desert valley, reachable only by a narrow dirt road. Such a setup, Nell had noted when Xavier showed them the map, would allow the bounty hunter to spot anyone approaching from miles away. On the other hand, Josiah would never be able to get himself away from that cabin without being seen.

No, this cabin was the better candidate, with its escape route into the woods, which was why Nell insisted that her group come to check it out. Graham had understood that and hadn’t protested, and Nell had been silently grateful to him.

“We should shift,” Brody said. “Come at him from three sides.”

“So that way he can shoot only one of us?” Cormac asked dryly. “I would guess he has a good rifle with a scope, plus rounds big enough to take out a Shifter. One of us would be very dead.”

“You have a better idea?” Brody asked.

“I go myself. I’m good at woodcraft.”

“I’m a grizzly who grew up in the northern Rockies,” Brody countered. “I know from woodcraft. And that’s my brother in there.”

“You lived in a house and wore clothes,” Cormac said. “I assure you, I spent most of my growing-up years sleeping on leaves and eating raw fish. He’ll never see me coming.”

Nell briskly stepped between them. “Will you two stop playing king of the woods? I have the best chance. I can walk right up and knock on the door. The bounty hunter is human, and the majority of human males have taboos against shooting or hurting a female.”

Cormac turned on her. “And some humans see females as beings who should be treated like crap. Even if he doesn’t shoot you, he might take you hostage.”

“And then we’d have two of you to rescue,” Brody said.

“No, he’d have a snarling mama bear ready to kill for her cub,” Nell said. “I hope I rip this stupid dress when I shift to beat his ass.”

“Aw, Mom, you look pretty.”

Nell ground her teeth. “I don’t know who I thought I was kidding, wearing this thing. It’s not me.”

The look Cormac gave her would have seared her to her toes if she hadn’t been so scared for Shane. “I for one prefer you out of the dress, but we’ll talk about that later.”

Brody briefly closed his eyes and shuddered. “Goddess,” he said. “They don’t stop.”

Cormac stripped off his coat and shirt. “I can get behind the cabin and inside before the hunter knows there’s a danger.”

“Want us to provide a distraction?” Brody asked.

Cormac slid out of his jeans. “What, dancing up and down saying Shoot me, shoot me? I don’t want him knowing anyone is out here yet. You’ll know when to come assist.”

“When he hangs your dead bearskin out the window?” Nell demanded.

“Nell, honey.” Cormac came to her in nothing but his boxers, the cold not concerning him. He slid his arms around her waist, his skin so roasting hot he warmed the January morning. “You’ll know. I already know everything you feel.”

Nell went cold, then hot again. She’d felt it, though she’d been trying to deny it, the tiny seed in her heart, the minute tether that could grow into something amazing if she let it.

“Cormac.” She shook her head. “Too soon. Too fast.”

Cormac smiled at her. “Nell, under the Father God and before a witness . . . I claim you as mate.”

Brody stared at them a second then broke into a wide grin. “Yes!” He pumped both fists, but his shout was a whisper.

Nell’s throat closed up in panic. “That’s a dirty trick, Cormac.”

“I’ve waited too many years to find a mate of my heart,” Cormac said, his hands warm on hers. “But there’s no time like the present. I’ve mate-claimed you, love. Promise you’ll at least think about it?”

“This isn’t the time or place,” Nell said.

“Stop arguing with him, Mom,” Brody said. “Just go with it for now.” His huge grin broke through again. “This is awesome. Now we need to get Shane, so we can celebrate.”

Cormac moved with newfound speed. He knew the mate bond was forming between him and Nell—it had started in Cormac when he’d found the letter from Magnus and read the words across the decades. Find Nell. Care for her in the way I haven’t been able to.

Cormac had felt the bond grow when he and Nell had been alone in the cabin—the spark had jumped like the flames that had leapt from the kindling in the fireplace.

The mate-claim was the first real step in making her his. A mate-claim meant Cormac had declared his intentions to fully mate with her, that he wanted her to join with him in the official ceremonies under sun and moon, which would bind them together forever. It meant that all other males had to back off, that Nell was his.

Cormac wished he could have found her all those years ago, so she wouldn’t have had to make her way in the world alone, truly alone. But at least he was here now, and he could get Shane back for her.

Whether Nell refused his mate-claim later, or denied that she felt the mate bond, Cormac could at least make sure her cub was safe. He’d been too late to help Nell in the past, but he could help her now.

Cormac skirted the clearing under the cover of the trees, keeping to the shadows and making his way around to the back of the cabin. This low in the mountains, the snow had melted, but clouds hung over the peaks, and the cold breeze from them said that snow was on its way.

The cabin looked quiet, but Cormac knew that two living beings were inside. He could scent them clearly—one human, the other Shifter, injured and overlaid with the strong scent of unhappy grizzly.

The porch wrapped all the way around the cabin, the interior one story. Probably two rooms—kitchen and living room combo and one bedroom with a small bathroom. Compact, tidy, great summer getaway.

The cabin had too many windows. Cormac couldn’t be certain in which room the hunter and Shane waited—living room or bedroom. Bathroom might work as an entrance if Cormac went in human. That is, if he could figure out which window led to the bathroom, and if the bathroom had a window at all.

He kept to the shadows as he drew as near to the cabin as he dared. One corner was shaded by a huge pine, but that corner also could fully be seen by the wide windows across the back porch.

The side of the house was more exposed to the clearing but had fewer windows. Cormac shifted back into human, lowered himself to a crouch, and ran from the edge of the trees to the house, pressing himself down under the windows.

The bare ground beneath the windows was littered with junk, but nothing as helpful as a periscope or even a mirror presented itself. There was, however, broken glass and rusty nails to cut Cormac’s bare feet.

He risked a quick look into the first window, but a shade had been drawn, showing him only a blank white. A window shade would mask what was inside, but if Cormac stood up outside it, his silhouette might show. A shooter needed only the silhouette.

He went at a crouch to the next window and darted another look inside. A shade had been drawn down on this window as well, but one inch above the sill had been left exposed. Through that gap, Cormac saw a dim bedroom with junk strewn across the floor and piled on the bed.

The room was empty of people, though. No Shane, no bounty hunter.

Cormac checked the windows for wiring that would mean an alarm system. Nothing. The windows were newer than the cabin itself, panels of thick glass that slid sideways to open, screened to keep out bugs.

Cormac carefully removed the screen from the bedroom window. The window itself was sturdy, double-paned, and though there wasn’t a lock or alarm system, the window was definitely latched.

Old windows in decent condition were much easier to pry open than new windows engineered to withstand fire, high winds, and burglars. On the other hand, windows could be taken apart from their frames if a person knew how, and Cormac knew how. The one job the humans had let him have in Wisconsin had been construction. He hadn’t been allowed to use the big boys’ tools, but he’d been very good at carpentry and component installation.

Cormac fished around the litter on the ground for nails that weren’t too far gone, and pushed these around the frame as shims. He’d need to find something flat and sturdy to use as a crowbar. He had a tire iron back at the truck but running there and returning unseen was too much of a gamble.

He also had to work as quietly as possible so no one would hear the snick, snick of him trying to remove the window. He would have to—

Boom!

The window shoved itself outward under his hands. Cormac dropped the nails and covered his face as fire lit up the room inside. Fire engulfed the front windows of the house as well, and a line of flame zipped down from the porch and headed for the propane tank, used for the cabin’s winter heat.

Cormac was shifting to bear even as he ran for the propane tank and its safety valve, his half-shifted claw-hand slamming off the propane just before the fire reached it.

He lunged away from the tank and back to the house, which was burning merrily. Another explosion rocked it deep inside, the roof now in flames.

Coming across the clearing were Nell and Brody, both in bear form, both running all out.

Nell would try to burst in there to save her cub. She’d get herself burned all to hell, and maybe shot by the hunter, if he was still alive.

Before Nell and Brody made it halfway across the clearing, Cormac turned and dove through the broken front windows and into the fiery room.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cormac couldn’t see anything. Fire raged, and smoke choked the room. Cormac’s full grizzly body had shoved the broken window out of the frame, and glass cut through his fur, but he barely felt it.

His claws snagged on a rug on the floor. Shifting to the beast between human and bear, Cormac seized the rug and flung it across the sill, creating a temporary break in the flames.

Something moved in the shadows of a corner. Cormac ran that way, blinded by smoke. He found chains, too strong to break, a limp body on a chair, the hot liquid of blood.

Cormac stayed his bear-beast, a creature nearly eight feet tall, head bumping what remained of the low ceiling’s beams. He grabbed the body, chair and all, and half carried, half dragged it to the window and the rug across it.

He heaved the chair and Shane outside. The chair landed on its back on the porch, breaking the porch’s boards. Shane lay unconscious, covered with blood.

One of the grizzlies running toward the house shifted to become Brody. He seized his brother and pulled him off the porch and away from the house.

The second grizzly came barreling into the cabin after Cormac.

“Nell!” Cormac tried to yell, but there was too much smoke for a breath.

The hunter was in a corner in the living room, his rifle in his hands. As Nell charged him, her Collar arced electricity around her neck, trying to slow her down. The hunter’s rifle came up, the barrel pointing at the center of Nell’s chest.

Cormac bellowed. He became grizzly all the way as he leapt at Nell, shoving her hard aside. The gun went off, the bullet catching Cormac full in the belly.

As pain erupted in his stomach, Cormac heard Nell roar. She reared on her hind legs, mouth open to flash her insanely huge teeth, an enraged grizzly ready to kill.

When she came down a second later, her great paws broke the rifle into three pieces. Then Nell went for the hunter, her Collar sparking like crazy.

She would have savaged him, killed him, and ripped apart his body, if a tranq dart hadn’t thwacked into her side.

Nell screamed a horrible snarling scream. She came down, missing the hunter, her form swallowed by flame and smoke.

Cormac leapt after her, feeling like his insides were falling out. He found Nell’s slow-moving body in the smoke as she tried to heave herself to her feet.

The tall form of the Fae called Reid stood just outside the front window, a tranq rifle in his hands. Diego and Xavier flanked Reid, and behind them were Graham and Jace.

Reid handed Diego the tranq rifle, swung in through the window, and moved to the human hunter. Reid grasped the hunter by the shoulders, and then he and the human . . . disappeared.

Cormac’s bear blinked, then coughed, pain buckling his legs.

“Out!” Diego shouted. “Before it comes down on you.” Cormac tried to climb to his feet, slipping again to the floor. Xavier whipped inside, wrapped wiry arms around Cormac’s backside, and hauled him up.

“Move your ass,” Xavier shouted. “Before I move it for you.”

Graham and Jace went for Nell. Nell swatted at Graham, but Cormac growled at her.

Nell wouldn’t go with Graham. She staggered to Cormac, her muzzle dripping blood, her eyes as red as the flames around them. Cormac put his shoulder to hers, leaning on her strength.

Together, supporting each other, encouraged by Jace and the cursing Graham, Cormac and Nell pushed through the rug-draped broken window, half tearing out the wall with them, and staggered out into the cold, fresh breeze of the mountain morning.

Brody made sure everyone had shifted back to human before the fire trucks arrived. The cabin was beyond saving, but the danger that the fire could spread to the forest beyond had multiple fire trucks there within minutes.

Diego and Xavier stayed in the clearing to talk to the firemen. Brody and Graham had gotten the rest of them all into the pickups a little way up the road, out of sight of the fire.

Graham did some quick first aid on Cormac’s gunshot wound, saying it had been a clean shot, and Cormac should be all right if he didn’t move around too much. It hurt like hell, but Cormac knew it could have been worse.

Nell was fine except for coughing up smoke, but Shane was more of a worry. He was still out, lying flat in the bed of Cormac’s pickup. Graham had picked the padlock on Shane’s chains and was now performing his quick patch-up on the bear, but Shane didn’t wake.

Reid had the human hunter locked in a pair of handcuffs and now stood over him, training a pistol on him. Dimly Cormac reflected that pistols and handcuffs were made of steel, and Reid, a Fae, shouldn’t be able to touch either of them. Iron made Fae sick, could kill them even. Reid showed no sign of weakness, however, as he continued to point the semiautomatic at Joe Doyle.

Nell had squeezed back into her little black dress. She had to be freezing now that light snow was starting to fall. But instead of huddling in the pickup’s cab with the heater on, she sat in the bed next to Cormac, very close to him.

Cormac put his hand on her warm thigh and let it stay there. They needed to talk, but not now.

Now was not the time for words. It was time to let the mate bond silently grow while Cormac and Nell healed and took care of Shane. They’d speak of forever later.

“Last time I work for a Shifter,” the bounty hunter muttered. He shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable in the cuffs, but he made no move to run away. “How’d you get me out of there?” he asked Reid. “Did I pass out?”

“Yes,” Reid said.

He lied. Cormac smelled the lie, plus he’d witnessed Reid grab Joe and vanish. Another thing to talk about later.

“A Shifter hired you?” Nell asked sharply. Her voice grated with inhaled smoke, but Cormac’s throat didn’t work at all.

“He must have rigged my place to blow up,” Joe said. “Then called me and told me to stash the bear and wait for him, so he could make the kill himself. But he never intended to pay the bounty. He just wanted to slaughter. Didn’t care if I went up too. Bastard.”

“What Shifter?” Brody prodded, voice hard.

“Dick-wad who calls himself Miguel.”

Graham looked up from where he was bandaging Shane, eyes narrowing. “Isn’t Miguel the Shifter who kept Peigi and the others sequestered in the old factory in Mexico? Until Diego blew it up?” He chuckled. “I’d have paid money to see Diego do that.”

“I thought Miguel had been caught,” Brody said.

Reid shook his head. “About half those Shifters got away. The Austin Shifters have been trying to round them up, but they’ve only caught a few of them. Miguel is resourceful.”

“So he’s taking out his frustration by putting a bounty out on Shane?” Nell demanded.

“Not just Shane,” Joe answered. “He also wanted Reid here, plus Diego Escobar and Cassidy Warden. I guess he blames them for his problems. If Escobar blew up Miguel’s home base, I’m guessing Miguel thought he’d blow up the perpetrators in return. He has a serious screw loose.”

Reid gave him a hard stare. “What about you? You nabbed Shane and were going to hunt me, Diego, and Cass.”

“No, I’d pretty much decided on just the bear. You and the other two were too risky, even though the money was good.”

Cormac felt Nell tense, ready to come off the truck bed. “Just the bear?” Her voice held a warning snarl.

“He seemed like the easiest target,” Joe said without worry. “I don’t kill humans. Guess I was wrong about the bear being easy though. No way I would have gotten through all of you to collect the bounty, even if Miguel hadn’t exploded my place all to hell.”

“Where is Miguel now?” Graham asked.

Joe shrugged. “Don’t know. We only communicated by cell phone, and I bet his is a burner.”

“If my son dies,” Nell said clearly. “I’m taking it out of your hide.”

“I think he’ll be all right,” Graham said, tucking in Shane’s bandage. “Anyone got any booze? I’m going to try to wake him up, and he’ll need something for the pain.”

“We’re fresh out,” Jace said, coming back from Diego’s truck, where he’d been on the phone. “Reid, can you get Shane home safe? My dad can look after him. Tell Dad everything that happened, but assure him that Graham and I have got it on this end.”

Reid nodded. He handed Jace the pistol, climbed up on the truck bed next to Shane, wrapped his arms around the unconscious bear-man, and vanished. Displaced air stirred the ends of Nell’s hair.

“Shit,” Cormac croaked, at the same time Joe’s eyes widened. Joe stared at where Shane and Reid had been. “Hey, did anyone else see that?” he asked.

Reid, Cormac decided, for some reason could teleport. He’d never heard of a Fae being able to do that, but then, they weren’t supposed to be able to touch iron either. Cormac shuddered. “Do you ever get used to him doing that?”

“No,” Graham said.

Nell ignored them. She was twitching, fighting her instincts to kill Joe and rush off to be with Shane. Cormac gave her thigh a weak squeeze, trying to soothe her. Nell’s face was smeared with soot, her hair wild, her neck singed by her Collar going off. Cormac thought she’d never looked more beautiful.

“Tell me what happened in there,” Nell said to Joe in a hard voice. “How did Shane get hurt?”

“A little homemade bomb under the kitchen counter,” Joe said. “I spotted it right before it went off. It had a cell phone trigger—Miguel called me. The second bomb was in my fireplace, and Shane was sitting right next to it. I guess a lot of shit flew into him. Not my intention. My instructions were to keep Shane alive.”

“So that Miguel could kill him?” Nell’s Collar emitted three bright sparks. “I’ll make you pay for that in so many ways, little human.”

“Settle down,” Jace said, an edge to his voice. “We can’t murder a human, much as we want to.” He looked at Joe. “Do you have a way of getting in touch with Miguel?”

“If my cell phone isn’t fried, his number will be on it. I have another phone in my truck—would be on that one too.”

“You’re nice and cooperative,” Jace said.

“I’m a businessman. And this deal was a bad business decision—I get that now. If you want to take down Miguel, you go for it. He’s too crazy for me.”

Graham went in search of one of the phones while Jace continued to watch Joe. Brody climbed into the truck bed to hunker on the other side of Nell. Surrounded by the warmth of Cormac and her second son, Nell began to relax, a little at a time. But her eyes still held rage and terrible fear.

“Shane’s in good hands,” Cormac said to her. “As soon as Diego and Xav are done here, we’ll go to him.”

“I know that.” Nell gave him an impatient look. “Shane’s resilient, and Eric knows what he’s doing. I’m worried about you, you idiot. Why did you push me away like that and get shot?”

Cormac growled. “So I wouldn’t have to watch you be mowed down by a rifle, woman. Why do you think?”

“I can take care of myself.”

Cormac heaved himself onto his elbows, anger giving him strength. “Don’t spout that bullshit at me. Of course you can take care of yourself—under normal circumstances. But don’t stand in a burning building with the Goddess knows how many more incendiary devices in it, with a bullet coming at you, and scream, I can take care of myself. The bullet doesn’t care. Sometimes we can’t do it all by ourselves. Sometimes we need other people. Doesn’t mean you’re helpless. Just means you’re alive.”

Nell blinked at him, her Shifter fury still in her brown eyes. “Since when are you an expert at togetherness? You decided to sneak into a cabin to find a Shifter bounty hunter who had who knew how many weapons—by yourself.”

“Best way at the time.”

“Well, jumping in there and dragging out your ass and Shane’s was the best way for me.”

“You almost died!” Cormac roared, which hurt his throat like hell.

“So did you!”

“Sheesh,” Brody said, half rising, his hands up. “Could you keep it down? Explosions give me a headache.”

“They can’t help it,” Jace said. “They’re mates. The ceremonies will be only formalities at this point.”

“He is not my mate!” Nell shouted.

“Yes, he is,” Jace, Brody, and the bounty hunter said together.

Nell growled and snapped her mouth shut, but at least her terror had left her.

Graham returned with a phone, plus Diego and Xavier. Diego studied Joe without expression. “Miguel, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Wonder why he didn’t take out a bounty on me,” Xavier said, looking a little hurt. “I was there too.”

“You were unconscious, with a broken arm,” Diego said.

“True,” Xavier said. “Now I remember. All the pain, the thirst, the stink. Good times.”

“I should have shot him when I had the chance.” Diego took the phone from Graham. Joe indicated which of the unnamed numbers was Miguel’s, and Diego tapped it.

“Miguel,” Diego said in a cheerful voice when someone clicked on at the other end. “This is Diego Escobar.” He went into a string of Spanish Cormac didn’t understand. Diego was still smiling, but his eyes were hard. Joe must have understood the words, because he winced.

“The easy way would have been to surrender to the Shifters looking for you earlier this year,” Diego said to Miguel, switching to English. “The hard way is going to be me and every Shifter I know coming after you. You’d better keep an eye over your shoulder, day and night, waking and sleeping, because we’ll be right behind you, Miguel. And when we find you this time, we’re not going to be so nice. No, that’s it. You don’t get to talk.” Diego clicked off the phone, tucked it into his leather coat, and kept his smile as he turned to look at Joe.

Joe’s body tightened under Diego’s scrutiny. “Let it be known I was cooperative,” the man said quickly.

“I haven’t decided what to do with you yet,” Diego said. “The human police can be obtuse, which is why I started my private firm. DX Security is more open-minded. I don’t think any of us want a bounty hunter willing to kill Shifters running around loose, do we?”

“Nope,” Graham said. He smiled too, and his smile held evil.

“I could let Graham explain a few things to you,” Diego said to Joe. “He’s thorough. I don’t know Cormac well, but I expect that when he gets a little better, he’ll be just as thorough. But I think I’ll have you talk to Eric. He’ll be nice and let you have a beer, but Eric’s little chat will stick with you. Forever.”

Jace grinned, looking much like Eric at the moment. “Good idea.”

Joe had gone pale. The man still didn’t fear Shifters enough, but Cormac suspected that after today, he’d learn to fear them as he should.

“We done here?” Cormac asked, his voice scraping. “I love a good early morning woodland snowfall, but right now I’d rather have a roof over my head and a mattress under my back. And then a good breakfast. Pancakes. With honey. Lots and lots of honey.”

“Bleh,” Graham said, the big man’s nose wrinkling. “Bears.”

“Brody can cook,” Nell said. She slid down next to Cormac, snuggling up to him, the tension easing from her again. “Take us home, Diego.”

Nell knew that Cormac was worse off than he claimed. When she and Brody got him out of the pickup and into Nell’s house—and onto her bed—he collapsed against the pillows. His eyes half closed, he remained motionless for a long time.

Nell got him undressed—he’d resumed a shirt and jeans in case any humans saw them after the rescue. Exhausted, she sank down onto the bed next to him. She still wore the black party dress, now torn, burned, and stained with soot and blood.

Cormac had refused to go to a clinic, and said Graham’s patching up would do. The wound had been clean, the bullet exiting without touching anything major, and Shifters were good at healing. Plus his Collar had never gone off, he said, because he hadn’t attacked anyone. He’d have no Collar fatigue to slow down his recovery.

Stupid bear.

Nell closed her eyes, but the image of Cormac leaping inside the burning cabin had seared into her. She’d thought her heart would stop. Then Cormac had found Shane and shoved him out—had done everything to keep Shane safe.

If Cormac hadn’t been there, if he’d never come out to this Shiftertown looking for Nell, he wouldn’t have been in place to save Shane. The enormity of that made Nell open her eyes again, and they stung with tears.

The house was quiet now. Shane had come out of his stupor when they’d returned, annoyed he’d missed everything. He was hurt, but not as bad as everyone had feared, and was already demanding food.

Nell lay down next to Cormac on the small bed and pulled a quilt over them both. She should ask Cassidy or Iona to watch Cormac while she showered and ate breakfast. But she didn’t move.

Brody had appointed himself Shane’s caretaker, and Reid had gone to Eric’s to help deal with the bounty hunter. Last Nell understood from Reid, they planned to use the bounty hunter to assist them in finding Miguel. Eric was already scaring Joe into working for them voluntarily.

Eric had said that Nell and Cormac had done enough for now—the hunt for Miguel would go on, and Eric wanted Peigi and Reid to be there to confront Miguel when they found him. Peigi had earned the right to decide what was to be done with Miguel herself.

Now Cormac needed to heal, and Nell had a need not to leave his side. The new bond wouldn’t let her.

“Stupid bear,” she whispered out loud.

Cormac’s eyes opened a slit and blue gleamed out. “Could say the same about you.”

“Don’t start in again that I should have stayed home knitting.”

“I never mentioned knitting. Knitting never came up.” Cormac’s voice sounded terrible, so far from its pleasant rumble that Nell wanted to cry.

“Stayed home cleaning my shotgun then.” She faltered. “Which I’m giving back to Xavier. I never want to see a gun again.”

“I’ll be fine, woman.”

“And stop calling me woman.”

Cormac opened his eyes a little more. They were red from the smoke and exhaustion, but Cormac managed to look bright and alert. “Do you know why I’ll be fine?”

“No, but I know you’re going to tell me.”

Cormac moved his arm over Nell’s abdomen, warm strength. “The touch of a mate. It speeds up the healing.” His voice grew softer. “At least, I’ve always heard that. Never had the chance to try it until now.”

CHAPTER NINE

Nell swallowed on dryness. “Neither have I.”

They lay shoulder to shoulder, faces turned to each other. Cormac caressed her waist. “I’m sorry about Magnus, love.”

“Can we talk about it later?”

“We can talk about anything you want, anytime you want. For the rest of our lives.”

“Stop.” Nell touched his lips. “You made that mate-claim when I couldn’t deny it.”

“Yep,” Cormac said. “No time like the present.”

“I haven’t accepted it yet.”

“I know.”

He didn’t insist, didn’t do the dominant thing and try to beat her down with his stare. Cormac lay quietly and simply watched her, his eyes heartbreakingly blue.

“You can deny it if you want to,” he said.

She clung to that safety line. “I do deny it. I’m not ready yet. Please, don’t rush me.”

Cormac’s eyes darkened to his bear’s color, and his arm tightened around her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Nell was confused, stunned by the events of the day, worried about Shane, and scared to death that she was forming the mate bond in her heart for Cormac.

The mate bond meant they’d be bound together forever, ceremony or no ceremony, and pulling the bond apart would mean unimaginable grief. Nell had already gone through grief, and she’d almost had to go through it again today. She never wanted to know grief again.

“Are you very sure?” Cormac asked.

“For now. Later. When you’re healed, we can sit down and talk about it . . .”

He stopped her words by touching his hurt hand to her lips. “I don’t want to talk about it later.” Cormac exhaled, warm breath on her cheek, then he raised his head and bellowed, “Brody!”

His voice was broken, but he could still be loud.

Nell half sat up. “What are you doing?”

Brody nearly fell into the room, his eyes round with fear. “What? What’s the matter?”

Behind him, down the hall, Nell heard Shane ask, “What’s going on?”

“Nell refused my mate-claim,” Cormac said. He sounded calm. Too calm.

“What?” Brody said, dismayed.

“Mom,” Shane called, “the guy saved my life. Give him a break.”

“And you need someone to be with,” Brody said. “You know, for the next half of your life.”

Nell sent him a glare. “Thank you very much for your concern.”

Brody raised his hands. “I’m just saying.”

Cormac was the only one who’d remained silent. “It’s your decision, Nell.”

“I know it’s my decision. You all need to stop badgering me. I need time to think.”

“That’s your final word?” Cormac asked.

Was he trying to drive her straight to insanity? “It is.”

Cormac drew a long breath. “In that case . . . Nell, under the light of the sun, the Father God, and in front of witnesses, I claim you as mate.”

The words weren’t loud, but they moved full force. Brody started to laugh.

“What?” Nell half shouted.

Cormac kept his gaze intent on her. “Is that a refusal?”

“Yes!”

Cormac shrugged, the movement tired. “It’s your decision.” He looked at Brody, who was grinning like a fool, then back at Nell. “Nell, under the light of the sun, the Father God, and in front of witnesses I claim you . . .”

Nell screamed and sat up. She slammed her hands over her ears. “Out!”

“Get back here, Brody,” Shane said from down the hall. “Obviously, those two need to talk.”

“And shut the door behind you.” Nell took her hands from her ears to point at the door.

“. . . as mate,” Cormac finished.

Nell balled her fists. “You double-crossing, sneaky . . . bear.”

“Go on,” Cormac said to Brody, who didn’t bother to hide his laughter. “We need some privacy.”

“Take all the time you need,” Brody said. “Hang a sock on the door or something. We’ll keep away until it’s gone.”

“Brody,” Nell said in a furious voice.

“Good luck,” Brody said to Cormac. He started to go, then he swung back and came to the bed, leaning down to enclose Cormac in a careful embrace. Cormac returned it the best he could. “Thank you,” Brody said. “Seriously.”

“Anytime, cub of my mate. I know you and Shane are the most important things in the world to her.”

Now Brody looked embarrassed. “Yeah, well.” He broke the embrace and headed for the door. “Have fun, kids.”

And he was gone, a giant draft and house-rattling door slam in his wake.

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” Nell asked, her heart fluttering with the beginnings of panic.

“Nope.”

“You’re not following the rules.”

“I’m following the rules to the letter.” Cormac put his arm around her shoulders and eased her back down to him. “You don’t need time, Nell,” he said. “You’ve had too much time. So have I. I know you’re scared. I am too. But we’ll go into it together, figure it out together. No more games, no more time alone. Let’s take the rest of time . . . together.”

Yes! Nell wanted that. Someone to live with, someone to laugh with. Shane and Brody might have mates soon, their own families. She and Cormac could be here, anchoring them.

“You’ve done nothing but rush me and confuse me since you came into my house,” she said. “You started banging in my kitchen at five in the morning to get my attention, didn’t you? You could have waited for a civilized hour.”

“I believe in being direct.”

“Direct this, bear brain.” Nell growled at him, a she-bear at her most formidable. At the same time, she slid the torn dress off over her head and dropped it on the floor. “You need to finish what you started.”

His eyes sparkled with interest. “Yeah?”

“I’m talking about my kitchen. I want it finished, and looking as good as the ones in those fancy magazines. And then I want you in it with me, cooking my cubs dinner, or giving our friends a party, or taking me in a mating frenzy on the countertop. Got it?”

Cormac gave her a quiet smile. “I think I do.”

Nell drew a breath. “In that case, Cormac—I accept your mate-claim.”

He caressed her cheek. “But there aren’t any witnesses.”

“My ass. They’re listening outside the door.” Nell raised her voice. “Did you hear me? Cormac, mate of my heart, in front of my nosy, can’t-mind-their-own-businesses sons, I accept your mate-claim.”

The cheer from the hall and the bedroom beyond confirmed that her cubs were there and listening hard. Then they were laughing, their rumbling filling the house. Brody moved off, back to Shane’s bedroom.

Cormac caught Nell in a kiss that stole her breath. She held him, her lips warming with his, while the rest of her body trembled.

Cormac eased back from the kiss, his eyes beautiful blue again. He ran his fingertip down her nose, then he turned away and rolled out of the bed.

Nell gaped up at him from the quilts. Cormac was stark naked, the bandages white on his dark skin. His cock, uncaring about wounds, lifted in readiness.

He started to bend to the floor, then he grunted and tossed something up with his foot to catch in his hand.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Putting a sock on the door.” Cormac opened the door, quickly draped the sock over the doorknob, and closed it again. “I don’t want anyone in here until I’m done.”

“But you’re still hurt. We can’t possibly . . .”

Cormac grinned. “No time like the present.”

He came back to the bed and looked down at Nell where she lay on the quilt in nothing but her panties. His sinful look made her shiver.

“I’d love to dive right into you,” he said. “As it is . . .” He lifted the quilt and slid carefully under it, grunting again.

“You should sleep,” Nell said. “We’ll celebrate later.”

“No.” Cormac lost his smile, the word sharp. “I almost lost you today. I almost lost me. I’m not waiting another second.” He jerked the quilt out from under her, enclosing her in it with him, and moved himself on top of her. “Mmm,” he said, lowering his head to kiss her. “This doesn’t hurt.”

“But you could start bleeding again.”

“I don’t think so.” He took her hand and put it on his abdomen. “Graham is good, and I’ve been lying here basking in the warmth of my mate. I think I’ll be fine.”

She exhaled. “Thank the Goddess.”

“Yes, the Goddess sure has been good to me.”

Cormac stopped talking then, his smile leaving him, his eyes stilling. Nell touched his cheek, but he simply looked at her.

Their bodies wanted to come together, the mate frenzy rising in Nell and beginning to blot out other thoughts. She moved against him, rewarded by the weight of his cock slipping between her legs.

Cormac’s jaw tightened, as though he held himself back, as though he feared hurting her.

“My love,” she whispered, hands moving to the small of his back. “Yes.”

Cormac growled. And he let himself go.

His kisses fell on her flesh, brands of fire, then he took her mouth in a kiss that broke her, lightened her, and seared into her heart. At the same time, Cormac slid inside her, opening her with his thick, blunt cock.

Nell pulled him down to her, excitement taking her swiftly.

In her heart, the mate bond flared—a sweet, dark pain that made her drag him closer, closer. She drove up to him, and he came down to her with his hands, his mouth, his body loving her as it should.

“The mate bond,” he said softly, his broken voice holding triumph. “I knew it would save me.”

The note of joy made his voice sound better already. In time, it would heal again, and Cormac would speak her name with the beautiful rumble she’d first started to love.

“Nell,” he said, the word caressing. “Mate of my heart. Mate of my life. I love you.”

“I love you,” Nell said, her own voice breaking. The words were the truest she’d ever spoken.

Cormac brushed the mouth that said them with a long kiss, then he held her in his arms and kept on loving her, first swiftly, then—after a long time—more slowly.

Her touch certainly was healing him. After their first climax, he rested only a few moments before his smile turned wicked again.

Cormac’s mouth came down, landing on her breast in an open-mouthed kiss. He licked his way to one nipple, making it stand up in a tight peak, before he suckled it into his mouth. He skimmed hands under Nell to cup her buttocks, raising her hips a little.

He dropped kisses down her abdomen, his mouth hot, pausing at her navel to lick it. Then he pressed his mouth over her belly, and blew, lips sealed to her skin, making a raspberry noise.

“You shit.” Nell laughed and pushed at his head.

Cormac laughed with her, deep and dark, before he licked his way between her legs and did the same trick with his mouth there. This time Nell rocked her hips, a moan escaping her. “What are you doing now?”

“Savoring you.”

No more laughter. Cormac’s voice caressed her name, then his tongue caressed her. Nell’s thoughts dissolved on a wave of intense pleasure.

“Cormac. I love you.”

He answered by plying her with his tongue—licking, nipping, kissing, suckling—her hips moving in rhythm. Nell was rising to him, needing him, wanting him.

He licked until another climax swept over her in rolling waves. She cried his name again, savoring the word as he savored her.

Cormac rose up over her, his strength returning, and entered her in one firm stroke. His hardness opened her, satisfied, felt so right. He belonged with her, and she with him.

The mate bond began in warmth as he loved her, then it wove around them, binding them as they spun again to climax. Nell skimmed her hands to his buttocks and pulled him to her, feeling herself whole for the first time in such a very long time.

The splinters of herself solidified, Cormac’s weight on her, his body in her arms, sealing her into herself, and into him.

Two hearts, two mates, one bond.