Sean nodded to Jace’s question. “Dad’s still in jail. They wanted to keep him overnight. Kim’s working on it.”

“She’s good, is my mate,” Liam said. “She’ll make them see reason, or at least shove legalese at them until they choke.”

Sean and Liam, in spite of their hopeful words, were worried, Jace saw. Both men had deep shadows under their eyes and moved a bit stiffly. They’d probably been up all night.

“Sure you want to be experimenting on my neck when you’ve had no sleep?” he asked, only half joking.

“Don’t worry, lad. We won’t do much today.”

Sean unbuckled the Sword of the Guardian from his back, slid the blade out of its leather sheath, and laid the sword on the table. Runes that looked ancient and powerful were traced all over the sword, blade and hilt alike.

Jace had seen the sword belonging to the Guardian in his own Shiftertown, but this one, he knew, was the original. The first, made by Shifter sword maker Niall O’Connell and woven with spells by the Fae woman Alanna, had been passed down through the generations to Sean—the men of the Morrissey family were O’Connell’s heirs.

Shifters didn’t much go in for magic, but Jace knew the tingle of it when he felt it. There was magic in the sword, and its vibration permeated the air of the room.

“Collars,” Liam said, seating himself on one of the stools. “Fae magic and human technology woven together. Cracking that code is the toughest thing.”

“How’s it going?” Jace asked. “Any progress?”

“Some,” Liam continued while Sean sat down, laid a few pieces of silver together on the jeweler’s anvil, and clicked on the light of the magnifier above it.

“We can get to the Collar’s chip.” Liam tapped the round black-and-silver piece that was a Celtic cross resting on his throat. “It’s in there, wired up and ready to go. The magic part is in the silver that weaves through the Collar—most of the magic is in there, that is. What we haven’t figured out is how the magic and technology tie together. That’s important, because what fuses them is also, we think, what fuses the Collar to the Shifter’s neck. It bites into our nervous system and stays there. That’s why, when the first experimenters simply ripped Collars from necks, the Shifter’s adrenaline system kicked into high gear, sending that Shifter feral. It was as though years of instincts being suppressed by the Collars suddenly sprang out, with twenty years of rage fueling them.”

Jace had heard about the experiments of a few years ago, done by an idiot who hadn’t cared that the Shifters went crazy when the Collars came off. He’d only wanted the Shifters free of Collars and under his thumb. Liam had been caught up in the battle to stop it. Liam, his father, and Sean had taken over the experimenting and were being much more careful about it.

Liam continued, “We have to figure out what it is that makes the Collars work as one piece. What that third element is, so to speak. Magic, technology . . . and something that slides in between.”

“And I’m the guinea pig?” Jace asked.

“Only if you want to be, lad. We won’t force you.”

But this was why Jace had come. He’d learned, slowly over the last year, how to control his Collar. He’d been teaching his father and others in his Shiftertown how to do it, and preparing himself for Collar removal. The Morrisseys had learned to make fake Collars that would fool humans, but only two Shifters thus far wore them—Andrea, Sean’s mate, and Tiger, a Shifter who’d been created by humans. Tiger had never worn a Collar before he came to Shiftertown, and when they’d tried to put one on, he’d gone even crazier than he already was. Liam had decided a fake Collar for Tiger was the best solution.

Andrea had worn a real Collar most of her life, but strangely, it had never worked on her. Andrea was half Fae. Sean’s theory was that her Fae-ness somehow counteracted the magic inside the Collar. Or else her healing magic did—Andrea was a healer. Andrea’s Collar had come off easily, in any case.

The Morrisseys were trying to apply what they’d learned from Andrea to other Shifters, but they still hadn’t figured out the details. It was tough to find Shifters stable enough, trustworthy enough, and willing enough to let themselves be lab rats for the Collar experiments. Hence, Jace’s trips to Austin.

Jace opened his arms and shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”

Sean picked up a soldering iron. “Be best if you held still.”

Jace looked at the pencil-thin device, which hummed a little as Sean turned it on. The tip would be turning brutally hot.

“Seriously?” Jace asked him.

Sean attempted to keep a worried look off his face as he approached, which didn’t make Jace feel any better. “We’re trying to both find a safe way to remove the Collars and discover their secret at the same time,” Sean said. “I volunteered myself, but Dad and Liam won’t let me.”

“Because you’re the Guardian,” Jace said as sweat broke out on his face. “If this kills you, ripples will be felt throughout Shiftertown—the Shifter world, even. Kill me, and the ripples will be smaller.”

“No killing,” Sean said quickly. “We’ll stop short of killing.”

“Whew.” Jace’s heart beat faster, but he kept his voice light. “Thank the Goddess for small favors.”

“I’d love to tell you this won’t hurt,” Sean said. He raised the soldering iron.