“He’s my friend,” Kim said. “I invited him.”

“I know.” Glory stepped away from Dylan and actually enfolded Kim in a well-perfumed hug. “They need you, honey. Be good to them.”

Connor came hurtling toward her, followed closely by Sean, and Kim backed up against Liam. “More hugging? I’m going to be bruised all over.”

“They’re happy,” Liam said in her ear. “We haven’t had a joining in a long time. In our family, we thought we’d not have another for many years. If ever.”

Kim’s reply was cut off by first Connor, then Sean embracing her, then Connor again. “I have an aunt,” Connor shouted. “I have an aunt, and I’ll have a cousin soon.”

“Something you want to tell me, Kim?” Silas said, grinning.

“Go along with it,” Kim told him. “They like babies. They like even the possibility of babies, no matter how remote. They’ve had a hard time with infant mortality.”

She’d piqued his interest. Again, good. Liam talked conversationally to Silas about the low ratio of females to males and the fact that it used to be sadly common for Shifter women to die in childbirth. “But it’s getting better,” Liam finished. “That’s one thing taking the Collar gave us, a bit of peace in which to take care of our families.”

Silas looked curiously at Liam’s Collar. “What are those made of? I heard that they have magic in them, but that’s just a story, isn’t it?”

Liam’s eyes were clear and innocent. “Don’t you believe in magic?”

“Shifters aren’t magic,” Silas said, smiling to acknowledge Liam’s teasing. “You have some genetic quirk that allows you to shift to animal form, right? An ancient ancestor that we knew nothing about until Shifters were discovered.”

“It’s genetics partly, yes,” Liam answered. “We were bred long ago to be playthings and hunters. Until our breeders discovered that hunters bite.” He smiled, showing all his teeth.

“You were bred deliberately?” Silas asked. “I hadn’t heard that.”

“Aye. And our creators used magic to do it. What other explanation is there for us?”

“Genetic manipulation?” Silas shrugged. “Could ancient cultures do that?”

Kim wondered how much Liam would explain, but Liam kept talking. “The Fae could. That’s the Fair Folk of Celtic and Gaelic legend, I’m meaning. Their magic made us, but our strength kept us alive when the Fae started disappearing from the world. Shifters were good at survival; Fae were good at running away. So which of us was stronger?”

The Shifters around them smiled and nodded.

Silas looked interested. “So the story that magic is in your Collars…?”

“Is true,” Liam answered. “Not that humans believe it, but it doesn’t matter, does it? All they know is that the Collars keep us tame. That’s why you can stand so close to Annie without her eating you. Yet.”

“The night’s young,” Annie purred.

Silas grinned. “Are you trying to terrify the human and make him run away?”

“Now, would we do that?” Annie asked him.

Liam’s teeth were getting a little pointed. “How about a demonstration of what the Collars do? Would that put you at your ease?”

The Shifters looked uncomfortable. Kim knew Liam brought this up for Silas’s benefit, the perfect opportunity to prove that the Collars worked, to show that Brian couldn’t possibly have murdered a human. But the Shifters, including Dylan, started frowning.

“I read that the Collars send deep pain along the nervous system,” Silas said, not noticing. “I couldn’t ask you to show me that.”

“But humans want to know everything about Shifters, don’t they?” Liam continued, his voice silky. “The good, the bad, the underbelly.”

A wolf loped up to them and threw himself on his back at Kim’s feet, squirming happily.

“Underbelly,” she repeated nervously. “Ha.”

“Very funny, Ellison,” Liam said. “Get on with you, now.”

“That’s Ellison?” Silas asked in surprise.

The wolf rolled to his feet, gave them a roguish look, and loped off again.

“In his glory.” Liam turned back to Silas. “You’re right, lad. The Collars are bloody painful. That’s why none of us are violent, including the notorious Brian sitting in his jail cell. And no, none of us want to show you that.”

“Speak for yourself, Liam.” Glory put her hands on her hips, her skin-tight outfit stretching in interesting ways. “The human isn’t going to believe the Collars work until he sees it for himself. You want a demo, I’ll give you one.”

She fixed her gaze on Silas, her eyes going Shifter white. Her face didn’t change, but the wild wolf she was shone out through the sex kitten she pretended to be. Annie and Liam moved to protect Silas, and as they did, Glory spun, caught Kim in a headlock, and started to strangle her.

Chapter Eighteen

So this was what it was like to die. No thought of martial arts, just Kim clawing at Glory’s hands. She flashed back to the feral Shifter trying to kill her in her bedroom, her fear spiking.

Kim had no breath. Her vision went dark, her lungs burned, and her heart pumped frantically, desperate for oxygen. Dimly, she heard Liam roar.

Sparks flew out into the night, Glory’s Collar going off. Air poured back into Kim’s lungs, and she sat down hard as Glory flung her aside to face the wildcat leaping at them.