“Sean’s almost as good a cook as me. Come and sit.”

Connor got out of his chair as Kim approached, and Liam gave him a nod. Kim looked startled as Connor wrapped his lanky arms around her, ending his sloppy hug with a kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning, Kim,” he said as he released her.

“Good morning to you too. I—” Her speech cut off as Sean stepped up and gave her a more practiced hug, tight squeeze, a rub on the back, a kiss to her hair.

“You like blueberry, Kim?” Sean asked, as he released her and turned back to the stove.

“Sure. Blueberry. Great.”

Liam caressed the back of Kim’s neck and led her to her place at the table. “Sleep well, did you?”

“No.” Kim plopped down, reached for the pitcher of juice in the middle of the table. “But you know that. Sean, Connor, are you trying to comfort me for having to spend the night with Liam?”

Connor hooted with laughter. Even Sean broke out of his sour mood to grin. “Are you in need of comfort, Kim?” Sean asked. “Is he that bad?”

“Shut it,” Liam growled, but he was too full of afterglow to care about their teasing. “They’re acknowledging you as my mate, love. Welcoming you to the family.”

“I forgot. Shifters like to hug. A lot.”

Liam ran his hand up Kim’s arm, her silken skin a joy beneath his fingertips. “Is there something wrong with that? Touching and hugging is a good thing.”

“It’s unusual,” Kim said. “For humans, I mean.”

“Touching is reassurance, keeping the bonds between family intact. It’s more than love; it’s necessary.”

“Humans do it too,” Sean said from the stove. “Except they get embarrassed. So they invent strange rituals, like giving flowers and candy to ladies. Human men punch each other when they like each other. I’ve seen them do it.”

“Sean has made a study of humans and their behavior,” Liam said. “It gives him something to do.”

Kim gave Sean a look of respect. “Well, if you can figure out human behavior, more power to you. Even humans can’t figure it out.”

“But I’m outside looking in,” Sean said. “It’s different.”

“So are Shifters to humans.” Kim accepted her plate of pancakes and dug in. “I know you all don’t want to talk about this, but I don’t want to hear any more discussion about you giving in to Fergus. He’s just trying to sow dissention. I’ve been thinking it over, and I think what y’all really need is a good lawyer, and one just happens to be eating pancakes with you. I’m going to dig into Shifter law and see if Fergus really can tell your dad to step down, or try to find some loophole to keep him from succeeding. So I’ll need to know what rules and customs or whatever aren’t written down. I need to know everything.”

With his mate so near, with her scent and his all over her, Liam didn’t much care about Fergus, Brian, and the screwed-up mess they’d gotten the rest of Shiftertown into. “That’s fine, Kim. I won’t stop you trying. Just don’t be getting your hopes up, love.”

Kim finished the last of her pancakes and got to her feet. “It beats letting Fergus win.”

“He won’t,” Liam said, watching her hips sway as she took her plate to the sink. “I won’t let him.”

Sean gave him a dark look. “I still think my way is best.” He didn’t mean it like he had yesterday, Liam could tell, because Sean’s tension had eased a long way. But Sean was still angry.

“We need you as the Guardian, Sean,” Liam said softly. “Connor’s not yet ready to take up the sword.”

“No-ho,” Connor said, from deep in his car magazine. “Don’t you dare die on me, Sean.”

Kim looked confused again. Liam gestured her out to the back porch and followed her down the steps to the fenceless backyard and the Austin summer sunshine. It would be another hot one, but later tonight, the cool moon would cover the yard in silver light.

“I have to go to work,” Kim said.

“I know.”

“You’ll try to come with me, won’t you?”

“I will be coming with you. I’m not letting you out of my sight, not with Fergus’s thugs wandering about and Fergus mad as hell at the Morrisseys. He’s not above making an example of disobedient clan members.”

“I’m going to fix this, Liam.”

Liam just gave her a nod. “Even so—not out of my sight, love.”

“What’s with Sean?” she asked, glancing back at the house.

It took Kim a while to voice questions, Liam noticed. Must be the lawyer in her, thinking carefully before she pried out the information she wanted.

Liam rubbed his hair, not liking to think about it. “Sean has always blamed himself for Kenny’s death. I blame myself, because I was stupidly obeying orders when I should have been protecting them both. But Sean was right there beside Kenny. Sean fought and survived, but he couldn’t save Kenny. It eats at him, it does.”

Kim gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, please. I know damn well Sean didn’t simply stand aside and watch Kenny get killed. He must have fought.”

“As the Guardian, his first duty is to the sword, and he couldn’t risk letting the feral get it. Kenny knew that. He was fighting to protect the Guardian and the sword.”