Liam’s grip tightened. “Good night, Glory.”

Glory smiled a knowing smile, her lipstick coral pink. “All right, I won’t pry.” She gave Kim another assessing look. “Big cats are sensational, sweetie. I keep some extra-large condoms handy if you need them.” She spun on the toes of her shiny shoes and sauntered out, blackclad hips swaying.

“I can see why you worry about your neighbors,” Kim said as Sean closed the door again. “She’s really something.”

“Glory’s a Lupine,” Connor said. “She’s always giving us grief. Why she wants to live in a big cat neighborhood, I don’t know.”

“She doesn’t have a choice, does she?” Liam looked out the window, probably making sure that Glory went back to her own house and stayed there. “I’m taking Kim up to my room—alone. We need to have a chat.”

“To your room?” Kim stared. “Why?” She wished she weren’t so intrigued at the thought. She needed to be afraid of these men, to flee them, to not let them keep her here.

Then she thought of the feral Shifter in her bedroom and her big empty house with the dusty Shifter remains on her carpet. Contrasted with this bright, warm house, her own place suddenly had too many ghosts.

“You’ll sleep up in my room,” Liam was saying. “It’s the cleanest. I even do hospital corners.” He picked up Kim’s bag, then put his arm around her waist again. He liked doing that, as though she naturally belonged in his embrace.

“Wait a minute. You expect me to stay overnight in a house with four single men?”

Sean grinned. “We’re perfect gentlemen, Kim. Everyone knows that. Don’t let us worry you.”

“I’m not worried about my reputation, I’m worried about the state of the bathrooms.”

Liam laughed softly, his warm breath tickling her ear. “They did a cleanup when I told them you were coming. And if they didn’t, they’ll be doing it now, won’t they? This way, love.”

Liam took her to a roomy upstairs hall with three bedrooms and bath and a stair that led to an attic. Kim had to admit everything looked nice. Polished wood, freshly painted walls, clean carpets. But the house was definitely missing feminine touches, which made it a little sad and incomplete.

Liam led her into a large bedroom with only one picture on the wall, a travel poster of a green vista in Ireland.

“Interesting neighbors you have,” Kim said. “Do she and your dad have something going on? I noticed a lot of tension there.”

Liam closed the door and dumped Kim’s bag on the floor. “She and Dad have an on-again, off-again affair. When they get along, it’s a beautiful thing.”

“And when they don’t?”

“We head for the hills. Right now they’re in neutral.”

“That was neutral? I see what you mean about heading for the hills. She’s a wolf Shifter, Connor said, but your dad is a big cat like you?”

“Not exactly a match that would have happened before we took the Collar. But they care about each other. Deep down inside.”

Must be very deep down inside. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Liam laughed his warm, throaty laugh. “I’m skeptical too, love, but it works for them. Come here.” He sat on the bed, putting his back against the headboard, and patted the mattress beside him.

“On the bed. Of course.” Kim put her hands on her hips. “If kidnapping and arguing don’t work, try seduction.”

“No seduction.” How Liam could claim that while looking at her with those sinful baby blues, she didn’t know.

Why did no seduction sound so disappointing? Maybe because Kim had felt a tingle of attraction for him since the moment she’d met him? As she’d talked to him throughout the day, she’d been lulled by his deep voice with its Irish lilt, softened by the warm blue of his eyes. Even him turning into a wildcat and killing a wolf on her bedroom floor hadn’t quite brought her to her senses.

Kim gave up and sat down beside him, stretching her legs out next to his. His hard thigh warmed hers.

“What did Glory mean when she said you ‘scent-marked’ me? That sounds disturbing.” Kim didn’t smell anything different about herself, but then she wasn’t a Shifter.

“Protection, love. Shifters know their families and friends faster by scent first, then sight. I made sure that when they smell you now they smell me and know to leave you alone.”

“I don’t remember you spraying me or anything.” She wrinkled her nose.

“When I hugged you outside Sandra’s house, I let my scent twine with yours.”

“Oh.” She’d remembered that hug all day, his body hard and strong against hers, his arms so comforting. She’d thought it part of the Shifter’s strange need to touch. “But I went home and took a shower.”

Liam gave her the smile that made his eyes sparkle. “It’s more than smell—the scent-mark is a little bit magic as well. It fades with time if you never see the Shifter again, but for now, everyone in Shiftertown knows I’m taking care of you.”

Kim was uncertain how to feel about that. She didn’t like being “protected,” but then again, having Liam charge in to save her from the feral had been a good thing. She’d also noted how the Shifters at the bar had sized her up. Without Liam’s mark, would she have been fair game? Unnerving thought.