Dylan disentangled himself from Glory and sat up, breathing hard. He ran his hands through his sweaty hair.
She loved his hair. He kept it fairly short, and it was going gray at the temples, which complemented the fine lines around his eyes. If this man could be hers…
“I won’t ask if you’re all right,” Glory said. Her lips were swollen, and she winced as her tongue found a cut. “You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”
Dylan didn’t answer. He sat back, still catching his breath. Glory got up and went to the kitchen, gratified that when she came back with a wet towel his gaze was fixed on her naked body.
She sat next to him and started dabbing blood from his face.
“Thank you,” Dylan said. “Are you all right?”
Now she worried. Dylan never reverted to politeness unless things were truly bad. “My Collar gave me only one burst. It went away fast.” A lie, but Glory knew that Dylan’s hurting when it came would be far greater than hers. Staving off the consequences of the Collar brought worse hurt than going along with it.
“I’m sorry, Dylan,” she said. “I didn’t realize Liam would react so strongly. I thought my Collar would stop me, and he’d laugh at me for being foolish.”
Dylan looked away. “I didn’t think he’d react like that, either.”
“And then you leapt in to save me. My hero.”
Dylan shot her a look. Glory went back to dabbing his wounds. “It’s over now,” she said. “You wrestled, you stopped the fight. I’m sorry about Connor.”
“Connor needs to learn to back off until he’s fully grown.” Dylan paused. “And I didn’t stop the fight. Liam did.”
“Liam backed down. I saw him.”
“No.” Dylan’s words were flat. “Liam stopped the fight, because he was winning it.”
Glory froze, and the cloth dripped water on her bare thighs. “Goddess, are you sure?”
“Very sure, love. Liam stopped before he could hurt me. If this had happened before the Collar, he’d have killed me.” Dylan closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the sofa.
“What are you going to do to him?”
Dylan gave a mirthless laugh. “I’m not going to do anything to him. I can’t. He’s my son, and he’s mated now. It’s up to him.” He opened his eyes. “If you say anything, tell anyone, I’ll…”
She liked that he didn’t finish the sentence. When a Shifter said, “I’ll kill you,” he meant it. Dylan wouldn’t say it casually. “Like I would. I keep your secrets, Dylan.”
Dylan’s look softened, and he closed his eyes again. “Thank you. I know you do. The Collar’s going to pay me back now. You might want to go out to the party. This won’t be pretty.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Dylan reached out and took her hand. Glory twined her fingers through his, her heart thumping. Dylan’s body shuddered as the pain started to flow. A tear slid from his tightly closed eyes.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“It’s bad,” Liam said. As though all the agony in the world was twisting his body to one fine point.
“What can I do?” Kim knelt on his bed next to him.
“You being here with me is good.” Liam broke off as a spasm rocked him. “Damn.”
Kim put her arms around him. Liam loved that she instinctively knew he needed her warmth and closeness. Nothing else would get him through this.
“That was one hell of a fight,” Kim said. “Why did you have it?”
“Glory attacked my mate. The beast inside me had to stop her.” He grimaced as another wave rocketed through him.
“Her Collar activated right away. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hurt me.”
“Sure, my brain reasons that now. But at the time, the feral Shifter in me wanted nothing more than to protect you.”
“And your father tried to protect Glory. Is that it?”
“That’s it in one, love.” Liam tried to smile, though the muscles of his mouth didn’t want to move. “The big liar. I knew Dad cared about her more than he let on.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Even though you two had to tear each other up to learn it?”
Liam looked into her honest eyes and felt something break inside him. He knew what had happened in the fight, something far more significant than learning that his father liked Glory more than he admitted.
Dylan had felt it too. Liam had seen what was in his father’s eyes when they pulled apart.
Defeat.
The wildcat inside Liam wanted to roar his triumph. The pride was his. Liam was mated, powerful, and he’d just bested the only one in Shiftertown stronger than himself.
“Crap,” he whispered. “Goddess help me.”
Kim kneaded his shoulders. “Does it hurt?”
She thought he meant the Collar. The Collar was nothing compared to the grief that now twisted him, warring with the fierce joy of his victory. It was nothing to the heartbreak of what he’d seen in his father.
Fear. Dylan feared him.
“Kim. I’ve just screwed everything all to hell.” Liam pulled her down on top of him, held her close, and explained in a low, rapid voice what had happened.
Liam’s descent to breakfast the next morning was difficult for three reasons. First because he was sore as hell—from the fight with his father and the Collar’s payback, then from sex with Kim, as gentle as it had been. Second, because Kim lay snuggled and cute in his bed, sound asleep. Third, because he’d have to face Dylan.
In the space of a few seconds last night, Liam’s entire life had changed. He didn’t know what to do about it, or even how he felt about it. The turmoil of emotions and thoughts nauseated him.
He descended the stairs, scrubbing his hand through his wet hair. He’d showered twice, once last night with Kim while she washed his cuts, which had led to water all over the bathroom floor. There was something about bathrooms and Kim. The second time was this morning after he’d left the bed.
Dylan leaned on his elbows on the breakfast bar, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. Morning sunlight winked on his Collar.
“Did Fergus oust you yet?” Liam asked, as he headed for the coffeepot. They didn’t have a coffee-maker, not because it was forbidden to Shifters, but because they’d never taken to anything but coffee brewed right in the pot.