Ellison growled, a long, low sound. Stop. I’m your brother. Those are your cubs. Come on, Den.

Deni snarled again, then she blinked once, twice, and her eyes cleared. She drew a breath through her wolf muzzle, and her Collar went silent.

Ellison snatched his teeth away from her throat as Deni shifted to human, lifting himself away from her before he could hurt her. Tears filled Deni’s eyes. “Jackson?”

“Mom.”

Jackson fell on his knees beside Deni as Ellison shifted back to his human form. Ellison’s arms went around his sister, and she relaxed into his strong embrace.

Ellison kissed her hair, holding her, rocking her. Deni reached for Jackson, who came into the embrace with them, her son openly crying. Will knelt on Deni’s other side, sliding his arms around his mother’s waist.

Ellison didn’t get up, knowing that Deni needed his comfort, his forgiveness, his understanding. Her cubs gave her love, and Ellison gave her strength.

“So,” Glory said. Ellison heard the butt of the tranquilizer rifle click softly on the floor. “We won’t be needing the tranq, then.”

“No,” Andrea said. “Just me.”

She came to kneel beside Ellison, careful not to break the family huddle. Ellison couldn’t have let Deni go for anything right now, in any case. Andrea reached between them, laid her hand on Deni’s forearm, and let her healing magic trickle into Deni to soothe her better than any man-made tranquilizer ever could.

Ellison felt the small pulse of magic flowing into him through Deni. Though Glory was the leader of the rival Lupine pack in this Shiftertown—Broderick’s pack—and Andrea her niece, Ellison had nothing but gratitude for them.

***

Maria finished her shift without any more asshats harassing her, or drinks spilling, or glasses breaking.

Liam had cleaned up the mess by the time she emerged from his office, the floor pristinely clean. He said nothing to her about the incident, only winked at her as she walked back to the bar to fill her next order. The rest of the Shifters had gone back to drinking, laughing, and talking, the excitement over.

Maria’s shift that night finished before the bar closed. She let Ronan walk her partway home, but he had to get back to help Liam close, and she told him to go. Shiftertown lay before her, with its small bungalows and neat yards, quiet under the cool of the night. Summer would hit soon, with sticky weather that only Austin and its river and creeks could bring.

Ellison had gone before Maria emerged from the office, long gone, Spike told her. Jackson had called, and Ellison had raced home.

Spike, a man of few words, of course hadn’t been that effusive. What he’d said was: “Ellison went. Jackson called. While ago.”

Maria knew why. Poor Deni, and her poor sons. Jackson and Will were grown men in human terms but still considered cubs to Shifters.

She hoped everything was all right. She’d have to visit Deni tomorrow if all was well, maybe cook her something. Buñuelos. Deni liked those, and they were fairly easy to put together. Sean always kept flour, sugar, and honey around for making his pancakes, and never minded when Maria used the ingredients. Maria helped pay for groceries with her tips from the bar, in any case.

Her tips had been pretty good tonight. Maria’s pockets were full of coins and bills, more for her jar of savings.

A shadow rose beside her, and a Shifter fell into step with her. “I liked how you stood up to that human,” the Lupine called Broderick said. “Took guts.”

“Thank you.” Maria kept walking, though her calm had shattered again. Broderick liked to follow her home, to walk to close to her. Though he’d never done anything inappropriate in Shifter terms, he violated her personal space all the time, doing everything but rubbing against her.

“No one would do that to you if you had a mate,” Broderick said.

His constant argument. “I don’t want a mate,” Maria said quickly. She’d been mate-claimed by one of the Lupines in Miguel’s Shifter pack, and at first, she’d been stupidly enchanted with Luis, which was how she’d been stolen from home in the first place. She’d learned quickly about the things Miguel expected from females brought in by his feral males.

At first, Maria had blamed herself for falling for tall, handsome Luis, but she knew now that if she hadn’t have run away with Luis willingly, he’d have kidnapped her. Miguel and his Shifters had dominated Maria’s little town, and there had been nothing her family or any of the other townspeople could do.

“Yeah, you keep going on that you don’t want anything to do with Shifters,” Broderick said. “But you live here, honey. You can’t be wriggling your ass at us and then telling us we can’t have any. Not when male Shifters are dying to mate.”

Maria shivered, and not from the breeze. She was too alone out here, the first houses of Shiftertown half a block away. If she tried to run, Broderick would be on her before she took two steps.

“Maybe someday,” Maria said. But not if she could help it. She had her plan, and she would be free.

“Maybe now.” Broderick grabbed her arm and leaned close, breathing into her face. Maria cringed back from the scent of stale beer. “Maria Ortega, I mate-claim you under the light of the mother goddess.”

Maria tried to break free, but his hand was strong. “There’s no moon tonight, and you have to do it in front of witnesses.” She knew that much.

Broderick’s grip bore down. “Then let’s go find us some witnesses.”