Shifters Unbound 1 - Pride mates

by Ashley Jennifer

  Damn it all, Liam wasn’t supposed to like her. He’d expected the usual human woman, sticks-up-their-asses, all of them, but there was something different about Kim Fraser. It wasn’t just that she was small and compact, while Shifter women were tall and willowy. He liked the way her dark blue eyes regarded him without fear, liked the riot of black curls that beckoned his fingers. She’d had the sense to leave her hair alone, not force it into some unnatural shape.

  On the other hand, she tried to hide her sweetly curvaceous body under a stiff gray business suit, although her body had other ideas. Her breasts wanted to burst out of the button-up blouse, and the stiletto heels only enhanced wickedly sexy legs.

  No Shifter woman would dress as she did. Shifter women wore loose clothes they could quickly shed if they needed to change forms. Shorts and T-shirts were popular. So were gypsy skirts and sarongs in the summer.

  Liam imagined this lady in a sarong. Her melon-firm breasts would fill out the top, and the skirt would bare her smooth thighs.

  She’d be even prettier in a bikini, lolling around some rich man’s pool, sipping a complicated drink. She was a lawyer—there was probably a boss in her firm who had already made her his. Or perhaps she was using said boss to climb the success ladder. Humans did that all the time. Either the bastard would break her heart, or she’d walk away happy with what she’d got out of it.

  That’s why we stay the hell away from humans. Brian Smith had taken up with a human woman, and look where he was now.

  So why did this female raise Liam’s protective instincts? Why did she make him want to move closer, inside the radius of her body heat? She wouldn’t like that; humans tried to stay a few feet apart from each other unless they couldn’t help it. Even lovers might do nothing more than hold hands in public.

  Liam had no business thinking about passion and this woman in the same heartbeat. Fergus’s instructions had been to listen to Kim, sway her, then send her home. Not that Liam was in the habit of blindly obeying Fergus.

  “So why do you want to help him, love?” he asked. “You’re only defending him because you drew the short straw, am I right?”

  “I’m the junior in the firm, so it was handed to me, yes. But the prosecutor’s office and the police have done a shitty job with this case. Rights violations all over the place, but the courts won’t dismiss it, no matter how much I argue. Everyone wants a Shifter to go down, innocent or guilty.”

  “And why do you believe Brian didn’t do it?”

  “Why do you think?” Kim tapped her throat. “Because of these.”

  Liam resisted touching the strand of black and silver metal fused to his own neck, a small Celtic knot at the base of his throat. The Collars contained tiny programmed chips enhanced by powerful Fae magic to keep Shifters in check, though the humans didn’t want to acknowledge the magic part. The Collar shot an electric charge into a Shifter when his violent tendencies rose to the surface. If the Shifter persisted, the next dose was one of debilitating pain. A Shifter couldn’t attack anyone if he was rolling around on the ground, writhing in agony.

  Liam wasn’t sure entirely how the Collars worked; he only knew that each became bonded to its wearer’s skin and adapted to their animal form when they shifted. All Shifters living in human communities were required to wear Collars, which were irremovable once put on. Refusing the Collar meant execution. If the Shifter tried to escape, he or she was hunted down and killed.

  “You know Brian couldn’t have committed a violent crime,” Kim was saying. “His Collar would have stopped him.”

  “Let me guess. Your police claim the Collar malfunctioned?”

  “Yep. When I suggest having it tested, I’m greeted with all kinds of reasons it can’t be. The Collar can’t be removed, and anyway it would be too dangerous to have Brian Collarless if he could be. Also too dangerous to provoke him to violence and see if the Collar stops him. Brian’s been calm since he was brought in. Like he’s given up.” She looked glum. “I hate to see someone give up like that.”

  “You like the underdog?”

  She grinned at him with red lips. “You could say that, Mr. Morrissey. Me and the underdog go back a long way.”

  Liam liked her mouth. He liked imagining it on his body, on certain parts of his anatomy in particular. He had no business thinking that, but the thoughts triggered a physical reaction below the belt.

  Weird. He’d never even considered having sex with a human before. He didn’t find human women attractive; Liam preferred to be in his big cat form for sex. He found sex that way much more satisfying. With Kim, he’d have to remain human.

  His gaze strayed to her unbuttoned collar. Of course, it might not be so bad to be human with her . . .

  What the hell am I thinking? Fergus’s instructions had been clear, and Liam agreeing to them had been the only way Fergus had allowed Kim to come to Shiftertown at all. Fergus wasn’t keen on a human woman being in charge of Brian’s case, not that they had any choice. Fergus had been pissed about Brian’s arrest from the beginning and thought the Shifters should back off and stay out of it. Almost as though he believed Brian was guilty.

  But Fergus lived down on the other side of San Antonio, and what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Liam would handle this his own way.

  “So what do you expect from me, love?” he asked Kim. “Want to test my Collar?”

  “No, I want to know more about Brian, about Shifters and the Shifter community. Who Brian’s people are, how he grew up, what it’s like to live in a Shifter enclave.” She smiled again. “Finding six independent witnesses who swear he was nowhere near the victim at the time in question wouldn’t hurt either.”

  “Oh, is that all? Bloody miracles is what you want, darling.”

  She wrapped a dark curl around her finger. “Brian said that you’re the Shifter people talk to most. Shifters and humans alike.”

  It was true that Shifters came to Liam with their troubles. His father, Dylan Morrissey, was master of this Shiftertown, second in power in the whole clan.

  Humans knew little about the careful hierarchy of the Shifter clans and prides—packs for Lupines—and still less about how informally but efficiently everything got done. Dylan was the Morrissey pride leader and the leader of this Shiftertown, and Fergus was the clan leader for the Felines of South Texas, but Shifters with a problem sought out Liam or his brother Sean for a chat. They’d meet in the bar or at the coffee shop around the corner. So, Liam, can you ask your father to look into it for me?

  No one would petition Dylan or Fergus directly. That wasn’t done. But chatting about things to Liam over coffee, that was fine and didn’t draw attention to the fact that the person in question had troubles.

  Everyone would know anyway, of course. Life in a Shiftertown reminded Liam very much of life in the Irish village he’d lived near until they’d come to Texas twenty years ago. Everyone knew everything about everyone, and news traveled, lightning-swift, from one side of the village to the other.

  “Brian never came to me,” he said. “I never knew anything about this human girl until suddenly the police swoop in here and arrest him. His mother struggled out of bed to watch her son be dragged away. She didn’t even know why for days.”

  Kim watched Liam’s blue eyes harden. The Shifters were angry about Brian’s arrest, that was certain. Citizens of Austin had tensely waited for the Shifters to make trouble after the arrest, to break free and try to retaliate with violence, but Shiftertown remained quiet. Kim wondered why, but she wasn’t about to ask right now and risk angering the one person who might help her.

  “Exactly my point,” she said. “This case has been handled badly from start to finish. If you help me, I can spring Brian and make a point at the same time. You don’t mess with people’s rights, not even Shifters’.”

  Liam’s eyes grew harder, if that were possible. It was like looking at living sapphire. “I don’t give a damn about making a point. I give a damn about Brian’s family.”
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br />   All right, so she’d miscalculated about what would motivate him. “In that case, Brian’s family will be happier with him outside prison, not inside.”

  “He won’t go to prison, love. He’ll be executed, and you know it. No waiting twenty years on death row, either. They’ll kill him, and they’ll kill him fast.”

  That was true. The prosecutor, the county sheriff, the attorney general, and even the governor wanted an example made of Brian. There hadn’t been a Shifter attack in twenty years, and the Texas government wanted to assure the world that they weren’t going to allow one now.

  “So are you going to help me save him?” Kim asked. If he wanted to be direct and to the point, fine. So could she. “Or let him die?”

  Anger flickered through Liam’s eyes again, then sorrow and frustration. Shifters were emotional people from what she’d seen in Brian, not bothering to hide what they felt. Brian had lashed out at Kim many times before he’d grudgingly acknowledged that she was on his side.

  If Liam decided to stonewall her, Brian had said, Kim had no hope of getting cooperation from the other Shifters. Even Brian’s own mother would take her cue from Liam.

  Liam had the look of a man who didn’t take shit from anyone. A man used to giving the orders himself, but so far he hadn’t seemed brutal. He could make his voice soft and lilting, reassuring, friendly. He was a defender, she guessed. A protector of his people.

  Was he deciding whether to protect Brian or turn his back?

  Liam’s gaze flicked past her to the door, every line of his body coming alert. Kim’s nerves made her jump. “What is it?”

  Liam got out of his chair and started around the desk at the same time the door scraped open and another man—another Shifter—walked in.

  Liam’s expression changed. “Sean.” He clasped the other Shifter’s arms and pulled him into a hug.

  More than a hug. Kim watched, open-mouthed, as Liam wrapped his arms around the other man, gathered him close, and nuzzled his cheek.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kim made herself close her gaping mouth and turn away. None of her business if Liam Morrissey was gay. Seriously disappointing, but none of her business.

  The second man held Liam in a tight hug, then with a thump of fists on backs, they released each other. Liam smiled—man, how gorgeous was he when he smiled? He had his arm around the second man’s shoulders.

  “Sean, this is Kim,” Liam said. “She wants me to help her with Brian.”

  Sean had dark hair and blue eyes like Liam, and a body as honed, but his face was harder, his look sterner. He had a stillness in him that wasn’t in Liam, as though something had happened to him that he’d never quite gotten over.

  “Does she now?” Sean was saying. “And what did you tell her?”

  “I was about to explain when you barged in without warning me. What if I’d thought you were a Lupine? I’d have taken your head off.”

  “Your sense of smell’s that bad, Liam, that you’d mistake your own brother for a wolfman?”

  “He’s your brother?” Kim asked in a shaky voice.

  “My brother, Sean Morrissey.”

  Kim’s face heated. “Oh.”

  Liam still had his arm firmly around the other man. “Why? Who’d you think he was?”

  Kim tried to control her embarrassment. “I thought you were a couple.”

  Liam burst out laughing, a warm sound. Sean smiled slightly. “Are all humans this crazy?” he asked Liam.

  “They’re all that ignorant,” Liam said. “I’ve decided to let her talk to Brian’s mum.”

  Sean’s smile faded, and he and Liam exchanged a look that held caution, warning. Because they didn’t trust humans? Or something more?

  Both men focused on Kim again. No one could look at someone like a Shifter. They saw everything, missed nothing. She found that having two equally good-looking men give her the once-over wasn’t bad, even if they were Shifters, potentially dangerous and potentially deadly.

  “Sounds good,” she made herself say. “Here’s my card. Call me when you’ve set something up with her.”

  “I meant I’d take you around now,” Liam said. “No time like the present.”

  “Right now? Without warning? Not always a good idea.”

  “She’ll know we’re coming.”

  Kim shrugged, pretending to share their nonchalance. Her years as a lawyer had made her anal—make appointments, keep detailed records, cover your ass on everything. Their casualness unnerved her.

  And yet she sensed these men weren’t relaxed at all. Liam and Sean shared another look, an unspoken warning, as if they were communicating something she couldn’t hear.

  But whatever. Kim had a job to do, and Brian had said that getting Liam’s help was key.

  She walked out the door Liam held open, her head up, trying not to melt when she passed between the two men’s extraordinary heat.

  They walked to Brian’s house. Kim had been preparing to share the close space of her car with two Shifters, but found herself walking slightly behind Liam, with Sean behind her.

  The house wasn’t far. A couple of blocks, that was all, Liam assured her. He wasn’t the one in the four-inch heels, she wanted to growl. Kim’s shiny black pumps were great for office meetings, bad for hiking.

  It wasn’t a hardship following Liam, though. The man had a fine ass cupped by snug jeans, and he walked easily in the heat. No wonder people came to Liam with their problems—he looked like a man who’d invite you to rest your head on his shoulder while he made everything bad go away. His brother had the same height and build, the same strength, the same blue eyes, but Kim would gravitate to Liam if she had to choose. Sean had a wariness, a pulling back that she didn’t sense in Liam.

  The first block had a convenience store with a littered parking lot on one corner; another bar, closed, on the opposite end; and a boarded-up store and two bungalows left over from better times crammed in the middle. No one but the three of them walked here, and any street traffic sped through to newer and more prosperous parts of town.

  Liam led Kim around the corner behind the derelict buildings. They passed through a wide-open gate in a chain-link fence and crossed a field. Kim winced and watched where she stepped, knowing her legs and feet would be open season for Texas chiggers.

  When they reached the other end of the field, Kim stopped so quickly that Sean almost ran into her.

  “This is Shiftertown?”

  Liam grinned. “Not what you expected, eh, love?”

  Kim had thought Shiftertown would be a slum, a ghetto of people not wanted in other parts of town. The houses were small and old, yes. The street itself was cracked and potholed because the city deemed repairs there a low priority. But Kim looked down the street at what appeared to be a beautiful and comfortable suburb. Every yard was green, with gardens or flower boxes running riot with summer flowers. The buildings were painted and in good repair, and most houses had deep porches filled with plants and furniture.

  There were no fences anywhere. Kids played in yards and ran between houses without fear. One front yard sported a plastic wading pool filled with kids and a couple of dogs, while two moms watched from the porch steps. They were young women, casual in shorts and baggy T-shirts, legs stretched to the sun while the kids played. Everyone in the yard and on the porch, including the dogs, wore collars.

  One of the women looked up and waved. “Good day to you, Liam,” she called. “Hello, Sean.” The other woman raised her hand in greeting but didn’t speak. Kim felt the gazes of both Shifter women on her dark gray suit and stupidly high heels.

  Liam and Sean gave them a casual wave back. The kids jumped up and down, and one sent a big splash of water over the edge of the pool.

  “Look, Liam, I’ve got my own swimming pool.”

  “It’s grand, Michael. You look after your brother now.”

  Michael turned to the littlest child in the pool, who was splashing happily. “I will,” the older boy said seriously.


  They moved on. The Shifters didn’t hide in their houses, the way residents did in Kim’s neighborhood. They roamed outside in the hot weather, working in the yard, looking after kids, talking to their neighbors. Everyone they passed waved or smiled at Liam and Sean, some greeting them, “Now then, Liam. How’s your dad?”

  By the time they reached the end of the block, Kim understood how Brian’s mother would know they were on their way without Liam calling ahead. Every Shifter they passed noted Liam and Sean, every Shifter recognized Kim for the human stranger she was. Someone would be on the phone or running through the backyards to alert Brian’s mother.

  Brian had been living with his mother, Sandra Smith, at 445B Marble Lane, Kim knew from her files. She’d assumed the address meant an apartment or duplex, but it turned out to be a house set behind another house. A driveway ran past 445A and stopped at the garage of 445B.

  Both houses had the look of the 1920s or ’30s, low-roofed bungalows with brick-pillared porches, dormer windows, and separate garages. The front screen door opened as they approached, and a slender woman leaned against the doorframe.

  “You’ve brought her then,” she said.

  Kim had never met Sandra Smith. When Kim first started putting together the case, she had requested that Sandra come to Kim’s office and talk to her. Sandra had refused, and after a while had stopped answering the phone when Kim called. That was part of the reason Kim wanted to talk to Liam, to find someone who could help her build a solid defense for Brian.

  “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion, Mrs. Smith,” Kim began as they approached the porch.

  Sandra abruptly turned and went inside, the screen door banging behind her. Kim winced. This interview was not going to be easy.

  Liam and Sean pushed past Kim to enter the house, no human custom of standing back to let a lady through a door first. Brian had explained the apparent rudeness to her. To a Shifter, letting a female enter a room or building ahead of a male was ludicrous. You couldn’t be sure what danger lurked on the other side. The male checked it out and then gave the all clear for the female to enter. How could you protect your mate otherwise?