She watched Diego walk to the house, pause and say good night to Eric then Nell, who sat on the Wardens’ back porch in an Adirondack chair, and duck inside. As Cassidy reached the porch she heard Diego’s Thunderbird roar to life then rumble away down the street.

Eric gave Cassidy a brief, one-armed hug as Cassidy passed him. She returned the hug then sank down into the chair next to Nell’s. Cassidy’s mouth was still hot from Diego’s kisses, and her entire body throbbed.

“You look unhappy, Cass,” Nell said. “What did the human do? Or, wait, maybe it’s something he didn’t do.”

Cassidy shrugged. “Not his fault. He has a demanding job.”

Nell crossed her strong legs and sipped from her beer bottle. “Don’t hit me with your bullshit, sweetie. You’re upset about it. But you need to remember, he’s not Shifter. Most humans hold themselves back, no matter how much their needs scream at them. That’s why they have so many psychologists.”

“Some Shifters are holding back too,” Cassidy said.

Nell patted her hand with her large one. “I know it’s tough, Cass. I lost a mate myself. I know what you’re going through.”

“I know. Thanks, Nell.”

So much loss. That was why Shifters had agreed to human strictures, so they could recuperate from all the loss of their past. To recover, lick their wounds, strengthen. The humans thought they’d confined Shifters and controlled them with the Collars, but Shifters had learned to find strength in communities. They were rebuilding themselves behind the fences humans had erected for them.

Nell lifted her beer bottle. “Doesn’t stop me from wanting a good shag, though. Embarrasses Shane and Brody, but too bad for them.”

Cassidy had to laugh. “They’ll get over it.”

“My boys try to intimidate the hell out of any male I show interest in. Not that males aren’t intimidated by me already. Damn, I wish I were petite.”

Cassidy squeezed Nell’s hand. “Males don’t like alpha females.”

“I know that, the shits. Until there’s a fight. Then they want us to save their asses.”

Cassidy shook her head. “Males.”

“That human of yours is no submissive himself, you know.”

“I figured that out the day I met him,” Cassidy said. “I saved his life, and it seriously pissed him off.”

“Yeah, I heard the story. Alphas don’t like to show weakness, especially to their females.”

Cassidy thought about that for a while, and also about the phone call that had made Diego back away from her, away from Shiftertown. He’d said it had nothing to do with Reid, but Cassidy wanted to know what it was about. Whatever it was had upset him, though Diego had tried not to show it. She’d scented his distress.

“Is Brody busy, Nell?” she asked.

“Brody? Sure you don’t want Shane?” Nell gave her a hopeful look, one she’d been giving Cassidy since they’d all moved to Shiftertown.

Cassidy sighed. “Nell, you know I like Shane, but…”

“But you aren’t interested in him as a mate. I know. I wouldn’t mind having you for a daughter-in-law, Cass, that’s a fact. But I understand. The mate bond can’t be forced, and now this human has caught your eye.”

“Diego was good to me when he didn’t have to be.”

Nell snorted with laughter. “Oh, please. You mean he’s majorly hot. I have eyes, sweetie.”

Cassidy couldn’t help her grin. “Well, that too.”

“Go. Get Brody. Do what you have to.”

Cassidy leaned down, kissed Nell on her smooth cheek, and walked through the darkness to the house next door.

Diego drove around the last corner and felt like he’d traveled backward in time. The same houses were still there, the same liquor store with men and women standing idly in front of it, slot machines inside flashing white and red lights into the night. He could swear the same homeless guys hung around the Dumpster on the other side.

Diego had left this street fourteen years ago when he’d enlisted in the Marines, vowing he wouldn’t be back. He had to come back, of course, from time to time. First to move his mother and brother out to the house his mom lived in now. Then, once he’d become a cop, his job had brought him back. Diego knew the streets and the people, which made him an asset to the LVPD.

One person Diego knew was Enrique Gonzales, a former gang leader who had made the young Diego’s life an unmerciful terror. Diego now approached the one-story row apartments where Enrique lived with a feeling of pity.

Enrique was dying. He’d contracted HIV from a shared needle a while back, and pancreatic cancer was taking him. Not long now, probably. A month or so at most.

The man lived in the same apartment his parents had, they having succumbed to disease years ago, bodies worn down by drugs. Enrique’s sister had fled the neighborhood the night she’d tried to kill him.

Enrique lived alone, getting money to pay for his needed medication by selling information to the police. Enrique knew everyone and had many connections, and he’d stopped worrying about people killing him for being a nark.

Diego took a step back when Enrique opened the door. Enrique had never been the cleanest of guys, and the house had always smelled. Now with Enrique alone and uncaring, the stink was bad.

A Shifter would run away howling. Maybe that was why Shiftertown was so damn clean—anything else offended their superior senses of smell.