Primal Bonds su-2 Page 2

  She remembered thinking, I wonder if he’s black-haired all the way down?

  Sean, being the alpha he was, had sensed her distress and exhaustion and pulled her into his arms, knowing she needed his touch. He’d smelled of leather, maleness, sweat, and cold February air, and Andrea had wanted to curl up in a little ball against him like a wounded cub. “You’re all right now,” Sean had murmured against her hair. “I’m here to look after you.”

  Now Sean stood patiently, waiting for her explanation. The damn stubborn Feline would stand there all night until she gave him one.

  “I wasn’t allowed to talk about it in Colorado,” Andrea said. “The Shiftertown leader gave my stepfather permission to let me use it, but they didn’t want me telling people how I healed them. I understand why. Everyone would have freaked if they thought I was using Fae magic on them.”

  “That’s a point,” Sean conceded. “But we’re not as easily, as you say, freaked, around here. You should have told me, or Glory at least.”

  Andrea put one hand on her hip. “My life as a half-breed illegitimate orphan hasn’t exactly been pleasant, you know. I’ve learned to keep things to myself.”

  “And you thought we’d treat you the same, did you, love?”

  Damn it, why did he insist on calling her love? And why did it sizzle fire all the way through her? This was crazy. He was a Feline. If Sean Morrissey knew little about her, Andrea knew still less about him.

  “Well, you’re part of us now.” Sean came to her, again stepping into her space, a dominant male wanting to make her aware just what her place was. “You’re right that not all Shifters are comfortable with Fae magic, but my brother has to know about your healing gift, and my father. And Glory has a right too.”

  “Fine,” Andrea said, as though it made no difference. “Tell them.” She moved to the door, again deliberately turning her back on him. Alphas didn’t like that. “We should go help clean up out there. Does the bar get shot up often? I should get hazardous duty pay.”

  “Andrea.”

  He was right behind her, his warmth like sunshine on her back. Andrea stopped with her hand on the doorknob. Sean rested his palm on the doorframe above her, his tall body hemming her in. She remembered the feel of him on top of her on the floor, the tactile memory strong.

  “Glory says something’s been troubling you,” Sean said. “Troubling you bad. I want you to tell me about it.”

  Andrea shivered. Damn Glory, damn Sean, and no, she didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Not now. Can we go?”

  “It’s my job to listen to troubles,” he said, breath hot in her ear. “Whether I’m your mate yet or not. And you will tell me yours.”

  Andrea’s tongue felt loose, her pent-up emotions suddenly wanting to spill out to this man and his warm voice. She clamped her mouth shut, but Sean stunned her by saying, “Is it about the nightmares?”

  She hadn’t told anyone about the nightmares, not Glory, not Sean, not anyone, though Glory might have heard her crying out in her sleep. The nightmares had started a week after she’d moved in with Glory, when they’d risen in her head like a many-tentacled monster. She didn’t know what they meant or why she was having them; she only knew they scared the hell out of her. “How do you know about my nightmares?”

  “Because my bedroom window faces yours, love, and I have good hearing.”

  The thought of Sean sitting in his bedroom, watching over her while she slept, made her shiver with warmth. “There’s nothing to tell. When I wake up, I can’t remember anything.” Except fear. She had no idea what the images that flashed through her head meant, but they terrified her. “I really don’t want to talk about it right now,” she said. “All right?”

  Sean ran a soothing hand down her arm, stirring more fires. “That’s all right, love. You let me know when you’re good and ready.”

  From the feel of the very firm thing lodged against her backside, Sean was good and ready now. One part of him had definitely shifted.

  Andrea deliberately leaned on the door and pressed back into him. A jolt of heat shot through her, the fear of the nightmares dissolving. After Jared, Andrea thought she’d be afraid of Sean, turned off, ready to run. Instead, Sean made her feel, for the first time in years ... playful.

  “So, tell me, Guardian,” she said, lowering her voice to a purr. “Is that where you carry your sword, or are you just happy to see me?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Damn but the woman could ignite the mating frenzy without even trying.

  Andrea’s backside fit right into Sean’s groin, her wriggle of hips teasing his hard-on for all she was worth. She smelled good, better than good. Even her overlying Fae scent couldn’t change the sensory goodness that was Andrea.

  The frenzy wasn’t supposed to start until they were officially mated in ceremony, blessed by the clan leader under sun and under moon. Then they would be a recognized mate-pair, similar to a human marriage, together until death. The mate-claim alone shouldn’t be enough to start the frenzy. But Sean’s libido and instincts were busily overriding the stringent Shifter rules drilled into his head since before he could talk.

  Andrea had pulled her ringlets of dark hair into a ponytail tonight, baring her slim neck to his delectation. Sean leaned down and bit her skin, right above her Collar.

  “Not now,” he growled.

  “Are you implying that there will be a later, Feline?” she asked in that throaty, sexy voice.

  “If you want one.” His own voice sounded thick, his tongue wanting only to taste her.

  She had no right to smell this good. She was a bloody Lupine, like Glory. Sean had never understood his father’s fixation with Glory, but damn it, Andrea was getting under his skin. He couldn’t make himself stay away from the bloody woman. And then she did things like this.

  Sean wanted to jerk Andrea back into him, peel off her clothes, make love to her on the sagging sofa or maybe the desk. He wanted to lift her in his arms, rush her home, and tell Liam he was ready for the mate blessing. Under sun and under moon; get on with it, man.

  “Not now,” he said again, directing the words to himself.

  Andrea straightened and turned, putting her back against the door, her stormy eyes making him wild with wanting. “You know I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me, Sean.”

  “Aye, and your undying gratitude is what I live for.”

  “Really?” She looked him up and down with a hint of a smile.

  “Sure it is.” He heard the bitterness in his tone, but he couldn’t keep it out.

  Her brows moved upward, her smoke-colored eyes looking straight into his heart. He had to wonder what she saw there.

  Sean had pictured her, before he’d met her, as a submissive little she-wolf—shy and scared, grateful to him for making it possible for her to relocate to Austin. But what he saw in front of him now was a sensual, curvaceous female with eyes the color of smoke, who lifted her head and met his gaze without flinching. She didn’t glance to the side or bow her head, as someone low in a pack should. It was as though Andrea couldn’t be bothered to remember she was supposed to be a submissive little she-wolf.

  “We should go,” Sean heard himself saying. “They’ll be wondering what we’re doing back here. You know how Shifter gossip is.”

  “Rampant,” Andrea said.

  So was Sean, at the moment. He leaned down and nipped her cheek. “I’ll walk you home.”

  “That’s sweet, but Glory’s walking me home. She’s plenty scary. I’ll be fine.”

  “And tonight, with humans running about shooting up places, I go with you.”

  Andrea squarely met his gaze. She always did that, making it clear that she knew that Sean was dominant to her but she didn’t give a damn. Her mouth softened into a smile. “What an offer. A walk with something that worships a scratching post.”

  Her teasing made him want to pin her against the door and nip her until she couldn’t speak for laughing. “Lupine humor, as inventive as ever,” he said, exaggerating his Irish lilt. “I’d offer you a doggie biscuit, but I don’t want to soil me dignity.”

  “Not a rawhide bone? Stingy.”

  He leaned toward her again, heart pounding. “If I were to offer you a bone, that’s not the type I’d be thinking of.”

  Her answering smile fanned the fires all through Sean’s body. “Good answer, Guardian. There’s hope for you yet.” She turned the knob behind her, and Sean forced himself to let her go.

  Sean did walk home with Andrea and Glory, letting the two females stride ahead, the pair of them talking like they hadn’t seen each other in days. The bloody women lived together; you’d think they’d have had enough time to talk about shoes and things without having to go on and on about them now.

  Mostly Sean walked behind them so he could watch Andrea’s sexy rear end sway beneath her jacket. The feeling of it rubbing against him in Liam’s office still tingled across his crotch, guaranteeing ’twould be another sleepless night.

  He was trying to go slowly with Andrea, knowing that she was worried and uncertain after what that bastard in her old Shiftertown, Jared Barnett, had done to her. When Andrea had rejected his mate-claim, as was a female’s right, Jared, amazed and affronted, had terrorized the hell out of her. He’d followed her around, threatened her and her stepfather, had his friends leave roadkill or lighted rags on her doorstep, and even had them beat up her stepfather. It got to be so bad that Andrea hadn’t been able to leave the house. Her stepfather’s pack refused to extend her protection: first, because she was not related to them by blood, and second, because they thought she should take Jared’s offer. Jared was giving Andrea, a nobody Lupine half Fae, a chance to be safely mated, and she’d had the gall to refuse.

  Andrea had finally managed, with her stepfather’s help, to sneak away to Colorado Springs to the human government’s Shifter oversight office and request a transfer to the Austin Shiftertown. A lot of paperwork and calls to Texas later, and Andrea had their approval. Which had led to the problem of Glory’s pack accepting her, and then Sean’s mate-claim.

  And now his wanting for the woman was driving him insane.

  Andrea and Glory said good-bye to Sean in front of Glory’s house. Sean pulled Andrea into a full embrace, inhaling her scent. He liked that Andrea hugged him back, not fighting the Shifter way of saying good night. Her body felt good and warm, the strength and softness of her making him want to hold her for hours. Glory’s hug wasn’t nearly as intoxicating, and her embraces were always accompanied by a flood of perfume.

  Sean waited until Andrea had safely shut the front door behind herself and Glory before he jogged next door and up the steps to the Morrissey house. Sean went straight to his room to put away the sword and from there heard Liam come in and up the stairs. In the hall, Sean found his sister-in-law, Kim, Liam’s human mate, in the doorway to the master bedroom, arms folded over her pregnant abdomen.

  Kim was petite by Shifter terms, though humans might consider her about average, maybe a little smaller. She always insisted that she was fat, which baffled Liam and equally baffled Sean. Women should have generous breasts and nice bums. If Kim was a little plumper now, it was because she was carrying Liam’s cub. That made her beautiful. Sean suddenly imagined what Andrea would look like, thickening with Sean’s child.

  Kim caught sight of Sean and transferred her glare to him. “Sean,” she said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Tell Liam that he is not to don a bullet-proof vest and go off chasing the bad guys.”

  Liam looked aggrieved, but Sean agreed with Kim. Liam was hotheaded enough to do something daft like hunt down a carload of trigger-happy humans by himself.

  “Liam,” Sean said. “You are not to don a bullet-proof vest and go off chasing the bad guys.”

  “Don’t start, little brother,” Liam growled.

  “She has a point. Your cub in there will need his dad.”

  Liam slid his large hand lovingly over Kim’s protruding abdomen. Ever since Kim’s announcement that she was pregnant, Liam had been perpetually worried. He ought to be. Though Kim was robust and though Shifter-human pairings were not unknown, having the child would be tough on her.

  “We have good people,” Sean went on. “Including me. Use them.”

  This shooting hadn’t been the first one. A similar incident had occurred just prior to Andrea’s arrival in Austin, humans driving up to a Shifter bar, unloading bullets, and screaming off again. No one had been hurt, thank the Goddess. Sean had talked to the police, but they’d put it down to gang violence and didn’t seem very interested, not when the potential victims were only Shifters.

  “Fine.” Liam frowned, and Sean knew that the preliminary round of this argument had been won. By Kim. Again. “Kim, go back to bed,” Liam said.

  Kim’s blue eyes sparkled. “You come to bed.”

  “I will. I need to chat with Sean a bit, then I’ll be up.”

  Kim slid his hand from her belly but gave him a smoldering smile. “I’ll still be awake.”

  “I’m counting on that, love.”

  Sean rolled his eyes in mock irritation. “Don’t tell me the two of you will be keeping the rest of us awake again.”

  Kim blushed, but Liam only grinned, his good humor restored. The two brothers went downstairs as Kim retreated into the bedroom.

  “Andrea all right?” Liam asked Sean when they reached the kitchen. Liam opened the pantry, extracted two bottles of Guinness, and handed one to Sean. Though they’d learned to drink lager cold after twenty years of living among Americans, they still agreed that stout was best at room temperature. “She wasn’t hurt?”

  “No, she’s fine,” Sean said absently. He knew he needed to tell Liam about Andrea’s healing gift, but he didn’t want to yet. Sean’s newfound protectiveness of Andrea exerted itself even against his own brother. Besides, at the moment, he was remembering Andrea doing a little booty dance for fun behind the bar earlier that evening. Andrea’s body had moved in a sinuous rhythm, and every unmated male in the place, including Sean, had gone alert and hard.

  “Sean.” Liam snapped his fingers in front of Sean’s face. “Dreaming are you? Anyone would think you were smitten.”

  He was laughing, and Sean started to answer, but they were interrupted by Connor banging in the back door.

  Connor, their late brother’s son, had recently turned twenty-one. While that made him an adult by human standards, by Shifter standards he was still a cub, still waiting to find his place in the clan. In a few more years, though, Connor would be a formidable contender for dominance and ready to find a mate. Connor had enough of his father, Kenny, in him to make him tough, strong, and a force to be reckoned with.

  “Hey, Liam. Sean,” Connor said. “Ellison wants to know when we can go hunt down the humans and kick some gobshite ass.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Sean started to grin, doubting that Ellison, a steadfast Texan who lived across the street, had used the term gobshite, but Liam growled. “Ellison can keep his Stetson on and his mouth shut.”

  Connor went to the refrigerator and helped himself to a chilled beer. His movements were restless, angry, a young Shifter impatient to make his place in the world. “They invaded our territory, or as good as. They put our females in danger. I say Ellison’s right. We fight.”

  “Since when do you listen to Lupine assholes like Ellison?” Liam’s voice had an edge to it. “We’ll get them, lad.”

  “By sitting around drinking Guinness?” Connor took a swig of his beer, swallowed, and wiped his mouth. “Fine leaders you are.”

  “I talked to the human cops before I closed up,” Liam said. “Sean’s going back downtown tomorrow morning to speak to the detective he talked to last time. Ronan at least remembered the license plate of the car. Not that it will help much—the last car turned out to be stolen.”

  Connor swung a punch at air. “The police should let us track them. And then take them down.”

  “Sure, lad,” Liam said. “We’ll find the humans and jump on them, and then our Collars will go off, and won’t we look like fools rolling around, screaming in pain? We’ll get them, Con, but another way.”

  Connor thumped down on a chair. “Why can’t we just get these damned Collars off of us?”

  Liam and Sean exchanged a glance. Last summer, secret experiments by Shifters on removing the Collars had produced some horrifying results, and Liam had declared that the experiments were to be terminated. But Sean knew full well that Liam and their father, Dylan, were still working on it, looking for a safer way for removal. They hadn’t told Connor about it, or Andrea, though Glory and Kim knew, because they’d been involved. But it was strictly a need-to-know basis.

  Connor shrugged, a picture of youth frustrated. “Sometimes it looks to me like you’re not doing anything.”

  “That’s when I’m most dangerous, lad,” Liam said. “Anyway, what were you doing rushing off with Ellison? You were supposed to stay here and guard Kim.”

  “I was only across the street. I could see the house the whole time.” Connor wriggled on his chair, too energetic to keep still. “It’s not fair, is it? The humans snap Collars on us and make us work shit jobs—they make it so we can’t fight back, and then they try to shoot us. We were just lucky no one got killed.”

  Liam only nodded, but Sean was pulled to Connor’s distress. Sometimes Liam’s stoic “don’t worry, I have it” attitude wasn’t exactly reassuring. Sean moved behind Connor and wrapped his arms around his nephew.

  “We have the luck of the Goddess on our side,” he told him. “And the Irish.”