“It’s not that simple—Shifters bad, humans good. I know that.”

“You do. But the rest of the world doesn’t. Not yet. Maybe in another twenty years, when people are used to us. Right now, I love you enough not to keep you here.”

Suddenly cold, Kim reached for a long T-shirt and dragged it over her head. It was one of Liam’s, too big for her and carrying his scent.

“Don’t come over all altruistic on me, Liam Morrissey. Like you haven’t put me through enough hell already. You made me love you, damn it. Really love you. Now you’re saying, ‘Thanks, Kim, go away’?”

“Do you think this is easy for me?” Liam asked. “When my Collar was off, I wanted nothing more than to lock you away upstairs and never let you go. No matter how much you screamed or begged or told me off, which is more likely what you’d do. I wanted to imprison you here with me. Mine. Forever.”

“Your Collar is back on, now,” Kim said.

“And that fact cancels everything out? It doesn’t. I’m still feral. I always have been, always will be.” Liam tapped the Collar around his bruised neck. “This keeps it down so I don’t destroy myself, my people, and everyone I love. All Shifters are like me. Wild beasts in captivity. Not domesticated. There’s a difference.”

Kim folded her arms. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Then you’re foolish. You saw me. I was ready to kill a child, my own brother, my father.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Only because Fergus distracted me, love. Thank the Goddess he did, because he drew my fury. If he hadn’t been there for me to fight, I would have destroyed everyone I loved.”

“So you won’t take your Collar off again,” Kim said. “End of worry.”

“But Fergus was right. We need to be free of the Collars someday. He was in too much of a hurry, but he wasn’t wrong.”

Kim balled her fists. “Make up your mind. Do you want the Collar on or off?”

“Shifters are getting stronger, love. We were dying off before, which is why we needed to capitulate with the humans and take the Collars. To let us live again, regroup, regain our strength. When we’re powerful enough again, we’ll rid ourselves of our chains, and be who we are supposed to be.”

“And you think I have no place in that world?”

“No.” Liam stood with his hands on his hips, his body still, eyes dark.

“You’re lying to me,” Kim said.

“I’m not.”

“I’m not as good as you are at reading body language, but even I can tell you’re coming up with excuses for sending me away. You think it’s for my own good.”

Liam whirled suddenly and punched the headboard. It cracked, wood splintering. “You’re maddening, Kim, did you know that? Of course it’s for your own good. You have your career, your life, your pretty house, your friends. I want you to have that. Find yourself a normal man, not one who might go crazy on you, not one who has to pretend to be a bar manager while he runs Shiftertown. Go home and be human.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes. Go, Kim. Please.”

“Doesn’t it matter that I love you?” she asked, throat hurting.

“Yes, that matters. It matters a lot.” Liam reached across the bed and touched the bruise on her lip. “And it’s all the more reason I want you gone. I need to know I can’t hurt you, ever again.”

Kim stood still under his touch, her heart constricting. She’d broken up with men before, had sometimes done the breaking herself. She recognized Liam’s look, the implacable expression of someone who’d made the painful decision to walk away and wouldn’t be talked out of it.

“I don’t want to go,” she said. Kim knew how pathetic she sounded, but she couldn’t stop herself.

“It makes me glad that you don’t want to.” Liam touched her lip once more, then took up his shirt and boots from the floor. “But it’s all the more reason you need to.”

He gave her another long look, as though he were memorizing her, then turned and walked out. He shut the door behind him, and a few minutes later, the front door’s banging shook the house. Kim heard his motorcycle rev, heard its throb as he drove off down the street, the noise dying into the distance.

Kim stood by the bed for a long time, staring at the closed door. Tears choked her throat, but her burning eyes wouldn’t shed any.

She heard the others downstairs, talking, their voices inquiring. Wondering where Liam was off to? Or had he told them he was sending Kim home?

Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to get out of there. Kim dressed with numb fingers, packed what things she’d brought here, and carried them down to her Mustang.

The last thing she saw as she backed out of the Morrissey driveway was Connor standing under the glow of the front porch light, his arms folded, a look of vast sadness on his face.

Kim arrived at her office early the next morning, dressed in a conservative gray suit.

“No Shifters today?” her secretary asked innocently.

“No, Jeanne.” Kim’s voice had gone cold and hard, the take-no-shit defense lawyer returning. “No more Shifters in the office. Sorry.”

Jeanne, used to years of Kim’s ups and downs, smiled at her. “Too bad. He sure was hot.”

Kim had to admit that yes, he sure was. Her gut was so churned up that she didn’t know what she was feeling. Loss, pain, sorrow, anger. Liam had thrown her out. That hurt. But hadn’t Kim told Liam repeatedly that she couldn’t stay? She wasn’t certain who provoked the most anger, herself or Liam.