“That she did.” The sadness of her death had never gone away. “But if we’d stayed in Ireland, we’d likely have lost Connor too. He came early and was so weak. He needed quiet and medical care. Here, me and Dad, Sean and Kenny, we were able to look after him without having to worry about fighting off villagers with pitchforks.”
“Are you saying that you took the Collar to save him?”
“Pretty much.”
“And then a feral Shifter killed Kenny.” Kim’s eyes flashed with rage. “Bastard.”
Liam’s heart warmed at her anger. She understood. “May hell rot all feral Shifters.”
“Ferals are the ones who refused the Collar, right? Why do they kill other Shifters?”
Liam’s deep anger stirred. “Because in their eyes, we betrayed them. Instead of waiting to get slaughtered or watching our children die, we chose to sacrifice our freedom and band together. What infuriates them most is that we now live with other species of Shifters—which, to ferals, is even worse than letting humans believe they tell us what to do.”
“Safety in numbers?”
“And strength.” Liam smiled. “When we buried our cross-species hatred, we got stronger. We helped each other instead of fighting. Shifters were scattered and dying out. Now we’re growing in number again. And growing stronger.”
“Are you telling me that Shiftertowns aren’t so much places of captivity as they are fortresses? No matter what humans think they are?”
“I’d say sanctuaries, but you’re not far from wrong.” He lost his smile. “Do you understand now why Fergus doesn’t want a human learning all our secrets?”
Kim glanced around, but still, no one had come to sit near them. The coffee shop was pretty much deserted, the lunch crowd not yet surging through Austin’s streets. “Then why are you telling me?”
A nonchalant shrug. “You’re my mate. I tell you everything.”
“Sure you do. You’re saying that you live in Shiftertowns for your own ends and that you don’t care about the things humans keep you from having—like cable and new cars and high-paying jobs. I sort of understand that. But the Collars are still cruel.”
“They are. Invented by a half-Fae with no love for Shifters. The truth is Shifters weren’t all that violent in the wild. We used to hunt animals to eat—now we get our meat from the supermarket. But then, same with humans. We fight among ourselves for dominance or to protect the pride, but no indiscriminate slaughter.”
“This from a man who killed a Shifter in my bedroom and was about to battle his clan leader yesterday morning.”
He shrugged. “Extenuating circumstances.”
“And you are supposed to hate other Shifter species?”
“We’ve learned to suppress our prejudices for the health of us all. Mostly. I count Ellison my friend, but I can still call him dog breath.”
Kim’s eyes sparkled. “What does he call you?”
“Cat shit.”
She burst into nervous laughter. “I thought it would be ‘Hairball.’ ”
“Glory calls us that sometimes. That or ‘Cock-sucking Feline Irish bastards’.”
Her brows rose. “And your father sleeps with this woman?”
The relationship between Glory and Dylan was unexplainable. “I’m glad to see him take an interest,” Liam said. “I give him a break. He lost his mate.”
“Your mom.”
“Yes.” Liam didn’t fight his memories of his mother anymore. He had for a long time, not wanting to examine the hole in his heart. Dylan’s taking off for a year had, in retrospect, been a good thing, even though at the time Liam had been furious with his father. But he realized now that Dylan had needed room to grieve, and Sean, Liam, and Kenny had needed to figure out how to live without a guiding hand.
“She was a fine woman,” Liam said softly. “Beautiful, with green eyes and red hair. The wildcat she turned into was amazing—graceful and deadly—you didn’t mess with her. She and Dad loved each other so much, it got embarrassing sometimes. You’d walk into a room, and they’d be kissing, with their hands all over each other. Imagine. At their age.”
“I have a hard time thinking of your dad as old. Yes, I know you told me he’s like two hundred. Do all Shifters age so well?”
“If they don’t die young, yes.”
“Do many die young?”
She was asking painful questions again. “They do. Or at least they did.”
“Another reason you took the Collar.”
Three people sat down in the booth behind them, humans, who must have been used to Shifters, because they didn’t look too nervous. Liam changed the subject. “I should talk to Sandra on my own.”
“Want me to drive you? Before I head back to my office?”
“Not now. After you get off work tonight.” Liam pushed aside his coffee cup and stood, reaching to help her to her feet. “And after we stop by your house and get the things you want.”
“You expect me to spend the night with you again?”
Kim said it a little too loudly. The diners in the next booth looked around, startled, curious, knowing.
“I meant at your house,” Kim amended. “I don’t need to stay there. I have my own house.”
“But my nephew will be heartbroken if you don’t come.”
She gave him her annoyed look. “We’ll talk about it later.” She spun on her high heels and marched to the door, her sexy ass moving provocatively.
Liam took money from his pocket and dropped it on the table, thinking he could watch Kim’s fine backside all day and never get tired of it. And after the day was done, he could lie next to her and her fine backside all night. He’d not get tired of that, either.
Kim decided she’d never have let Liam win the argument of her returning with him to Shiftertown that evening if she hadn’t spied the shaved-headed Shifter from San Antonio sitting at a bus stop outside her house. He wore a turtleneck to cover his Collar—in this heat, what an idiot—but she recognized him and knew he wasn’t waiting for any bus.
The thought of Liam leaving her alone in the house while Fergus’s Thug Number One lurked outside made her cold with worry. Ironic, Kim thought as she drove through the city, heading back toward Shiftertown, that she felt safer in a house full of Shifters with a crazed woman next door than in her own neighborhood. Everything about her life since she’d met Liam was upside down.