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  Addie balled her fists into the bed to keep herself from falling, and let him.

  * * *

  Kendrick walked out of the bedroom an hour later—stiffly—to find Dimitri exiting Jaycee’s room, buckling his jeans, a T-shirt resting on his shoulders but not pulled down.

  Dimitri saw Kendrick and froze. They stared at each other for a few heartbeats. “K-Kendrick. This is . . .” Dimitri’s mouth worked, his agitation stealing his words.

  “Not what it looks like?” Kendrick finished for him.

  “No.” Dimitri shook his head. “It’s exactly what it l-looks like.”

  Kendrick waited while Dimitri settled the shirt on his torso and followed him down the hall toward the kitchen.

  “How is she?” Kendrick asked in a low voice.

  “Jaycee?” Dimitri paused a moment, then a beatific smile bloomed on his face. “She’s fantastic.”

  Kendrick made himself not laugh. “Not what I meant, shithead.”

  “In all ways,” Dimitri said. “Though she might try to k-kill me when she w-wakes up.”

  Kendrick and Dimitri made it through the living room and into the big kitchen. Seamus and several other dominant Shifters were grouped around the table, along with Zander and Ben. They looked up from eating when Kendrick came in, and burst into applause and hooting. Robbie and Kendrick’s boys were there, and they cheered just as hard.

  Dimitri went bright red, then he caught on and started clapping. “That’s for you.”

  “Stop.” Kendrick lifted his hands and swept them all with a severe look. “Don’t embarrass Addison.”

  “I think you were the one embarrassing her,” Zander said, drowning his waffles in syrup. “I’m surprised you can still talk. And that the windows stayed in one piece.”

  The only one not smiling was Charlie. Kendrick sat down in the empty chair at the head of the table, pushed there by Dimitri, who wouldn’t let him serve himself. Charlie clumped over with a plate of eggs and sausage and clattered it in front of Kendrick.

  “You do right by that little girl,” Charlie said. “Or you’ll hear it from me.”

  “Don’t worry,” Seamus said smoothly. “If he doesn’t mate with her under sun and moon, we’ll kick his ass.”

  “She has the right to say no,” Kendrick reminded him.

  “She won’t,” Dimitri said with confidence.

  Seamus shrugged. “If she refuses, then we’ll let her go with our blessing. If she accepts you, we’ll make sure you make her happy for the rest of her life.”

  “Or,” Zander said. “You know, the ass kicking.”

  Interesting that Zander thought he’d be looking in on Kendrick’s Shifters. Well, they could use a healer these days.

  Robbie, who’d finished his breakfast and slipped outside, now came running back in. “Dad. He’s here.”

  “Who?” Kendrick was on his feet, expecting the twisted face of Lachlan to appear at the door, but the man who came in was Dylan Morrissey.

  The Shifters around the table tensed until the air crackled with it. Seamus rose, both to confront Dylan and to keep the other Shifters from charging the man.

  Kendrick got himself up and around Seamus. He needed to make it clear this was a leader-to-leader meeting, not an attack. There was no way Dylan had come out here without backup, and the situation could escalate into a pitched battle if Kendrick didn’t keep things calm.

  Kendrick spoke before Dylan could. “Welcome. Thank you for your help at the fight club.”

  His Shifters relaxed a fraction, though only a fraction. Kendrick was indicating to all present that this was his territory, Dylan was a guest, and so far, he would be tolerated.

  The alpha in Kendrick couldn’t help a touch of triumph. He’d been under Dylan’s thumb for a while. Knowing he could throw Dylan off his turf anytime made him want to do a victory dance, like Brett did when he won a tussle.

  Kendrick restrained himself. “What’s up?”

  Dylan gave him a conceding nod. The man was three hundred years old, venerable even for a Shifter, but he was strong, with the energy of his sons. His blue eyes were clear, his hair bearing only a touch of gray, and the lion in him could still win every fight in the fight club.

  With the nod, he acknowledged that this was indeed Kendrick’s territory, and Kendrick was master here.

  “Tell me about this Shifter,” Dylan said. “The one who tried to kill you last night.” He shot a blue gaze past Seamus and around the table, knowing these were Kendrick’s top men, who would defend their leader to the death. “And I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee, if you have it to spare.”

  * * *

  Kendrick launched into his tale.

  Twenty years before, Kendrick had joined forces with a half-human Shifter called Lachlan. They’d agreed, after the Shifters had been outed, that letting themselves be rounded up into Shiftertowns was a bad idea.

  Though Lachlan was Lupine and only a half-blood Shifter and Kendrick was Feline, they had a common cause, and they became good friends. They wanted their families to remain free and without Collars.

  They’d escaped from the humans rounding up Shifters and hidden out together in the wilds of the Yukon, staying far away from any human settlements. They’d realized that if they could find a place remote enough, they could live without detection.

  If they didn’t allow themselves to be Collared, with a record at Shifter Bureau and all that crap, most humans wouldn’t even know they were Shifters. Lachlan, especially, could blend in, proving Shifters could live alongside humans—holding jobs, buying property, opening bank accounts—with no one being the wiser.

  Since Kendrick was a Guardian, and Guardians by tradition weren’t leaders, they agreed that Lachlan would be Shifter leader, with Kendrick as his second and the group’s Guardian.

  All went well at first. Kendrick found like-minded Shifters, helped them get away from the humans rounding them up and saving all the family members they could. It was tough—the humans ruthlessly herded Shifters into holding areas where they’d be processed. Cubs were separated from parents. Shifters young and old were taken away for experiments. By the time humans who were horrified at the treatment of Shifters had enough influence to stop the abuse, too much damage had been done.

  In the meantime, Lachlan and Kendrick set up their hidden Shiftertown, chose trackers, established a hierarchy, made sure cubs were kept with parents, and that orphaned cubs were matched with adults who would care for them.

  Different species who hated each other in the wild came together, willing to work to keep their families safe.

  It was a heady feeling in the early days, Shifters joining together to be stronger, without having to surrender themselves and their entire lives. They made plans to grow the community, and in time, rescue every single Shifter from captivity.

  And then Lachlan turned out to be insane.

  It started with small things. Lachlan would make decisions—about whether a mate-claim would stand or a cub would or wouldn’t accompany his parents into town—without consulting Kendrick. The decisions were arbitrary, and Kendrick received complaints.

  Then Lachlan began to change his stance in the matter of Shifters breaking rules.

  It had been agreed that a Shifter who broke one of the small laws of the community, such as taking a step into another’s territory or getting into a fight, would be brought before Lachlan, who’d mete out justice.

  At first Lachlan was reasonable—a territory violation meant an apology and the offending Shifter owing the offended a favor, to be called in at any time. An unwarranted fight had the two parties agreeing to let Lachlan or Kendrick listen to grievances and settle the question. Or, set up a controlled fight if the two Shifters simply had to battle it out.

  Worse transgressions—hurting a cub, trying to force a female, robbery, assault—rarely happened, but
when they did, the Shifter in question was banished on threat of death if he or she returned.

  The simple justice worked. Then Lachlan decided to punish a Shifter who had borrowed another Shifter’s motorcycle and then wrecked it, with a flogging. Kendrick had been away and had only learned about the flogging when he returned the next day. The punished man’s family had cornered Kendrick about it, and Kendrick had confronted Lachlan.

  Lachlan argued that making the transgressing Shifter buy the other another motorcycle was too tame. They needed to learn to take care of each other’s things or there would be chaos.

  Kendrick argued with him, until Lachlan became angry and said that Kendrick should be judge and jury by himself for a while, see how he liked it.

  Things settled down, until a wolf cub got lost in the dead of winter. A search was made, the cub finally found deep in the frozen woods, and restored home alive and well. Lachlan decided that the father of the cub should be put to death for not watching him better.

  Lachlan backed down quickly when Kendrick countermanded his decision, Lachlan explaining that he’d been very angry and worried about the cub. Now all was well, but in Lachlan’s opinion, another Shifter should move in with the family to watch the cub.

  As the winter wore on, Lachlan kept inventing transgressions that the cub’s father had done, and finally claimed that he himself was the cub’s sire. This was why he’d been so angry when the cub had gotten lost.

  The cub’s mother wasn’t there—she’d been taken, Collared, and they’d been unable to rescue her. Therefore, she wasn’t able to say whether Lachlan had fathered him. A DNA test was out of the question, because when a human lab saw Shifter DNA, they’d be betrayed.

  Lachlan wanted to settle it with a fight—winner took the cub. The father protested that he was the true father but agreed to the fight. Kendrick forbade it but when Lachlan and the other Lupine met in secret and the Lupine was killed, Lachlan claimed the cub for his own.

  When Kendrick confronted Lachlan, Lachlan said that the fight was just a battle for hierarchy. From now on, he said, claims on cubs and females should be settled by this method, which had worked for centuries. What bothered Kendrick was that other Shifters agreed with him.

  Then had begun the split. Lachlan wanted to go back to the old ways—why should they follow human rules if they lived far from cities and towns? Shifters should be Shifters.

  Kendrick had calmed things down and for a while there was no violence, but it simmered under the surface.

  Then came the mate Challenges. Females were scarce and males who were lucky enough to make a mate-claim had to face Challenges from other males. Lachlan did not like the new rule that females could refuse the claim—their group didn’t have enough cubs for females to be choosy, he said. Males claimed, and other males Challenged, whoever won the Challenge kept the mate, and that was the way it was.

  Lachlan, of course, Challenged the first mate-claim that came after that. Being dominant, he won the fight, killing the other male, and Kendrick had to send the defeated Shifter to dust. The female, a feisty Feline, had refused Lachlan’s claim, vowing to kill him instead. So, Lachlan abducted and imprisoned her, along with the cub he’d previously taken.

  Kendrick and the Shifters he trusted most, including Seamus and Dimitri, went after him.

  They cornered Lachlan in the mountains as a storm was beginning. Lachlan attacked before they could reach him, shooting one of the trackers with an automatic pistol. They’d been shocked—Shifters didn’t use human weapons—which had allowed him time to shoot another.

  Kendrick had gone tiger and attacked him, so swiftly that Lachlan had been forced to drop the gun and meet Kendrick as wolf. Seamus and Dimitri had joined in, and Jaycee had circled around them to find the female Shifter and cub.

  But both were dead. From all evidence, they’d tried to get away from Lachlan, probably when they saw help coming, and Lachlan had killed them. The female had been holding the cub, trying to protect him, the child of another.

  When Jaycee had shouted this information to him, Kendrick had thrown off any control and gone for the kill. Lachlan understood that and prepared to fight to the death. Seamus and Dimitri had let Kendrick lead, standing back to interfere only if necessary.

  In the driving snow, Kendrick had slashed Lachlan to bloody shreds. Lachlan had fought to the last, finally falling in a bleeding, dead mess, staining the white ground around him.

  Kendrick had been so furious that he’d violated his vow as Guardian, and instead of dusting Lachlan after he killed him, left the man for the animals to feed on. If Lachlan wanted to return to wild ways, let him return to nature as they’d originally done. If his soul was stolen by a Fae, he’d pay for the torment he’d given to the Shifters he’d killed.

  Kendrick had sent the female and cub to dust, blown their ashes to the wind with a prayer to the Goddess, and gone home.

  Later, Kendrick had second thoughts about not sending Lachlan to dust—not for Lachlan’s sake, but so the Fae wouldn’t be able to claim a Shifter. Kendrick’s job was to not allow Fae to take even the worst of the Shifters—though Kendrick wondered if he shouldn’t feel more sorry for any Fae who got stuck with Lachlan’s soul.

  But when Kendrick went out into the night to complete his task, he couldn’t find Lachlan. The blizzard had been a bad one, covering all traces of the fight. Kendrick had never been sure whether animals had dragged Lachlan away to feast on him or if the heavy snowfall and ice had simply buried him. Either way, no one had ever found trace of him.

  Kendrick had moved the Shifters after that, relocating farther south, near the Canadian-US border, and taking over as leader. Even the Shifters who’d agreed with Lachlan welcomed him as leader, and everything calmed. Or so Kendrick thought.

  Kendrick finished the tale and bowed his head in the silence of the room. Remembering the details of Lachlan’s crimes had dredged up memories of death and fear he’d wanted to forget.

  He became aware of Addison, leaning on the doorframe, listening. When Kendrick looked up at her, he read shock and sympathy in her eyes.

  Dylan spoke into the quiet. “So you didn’t dust him.”

  “No.” Kendrick let out a breath. “I should have, but I didn’t. I fucked up.”

  “He was dead.” Seamus leaned forward to emphasize his words. “No one could survive being ripped up like that. He had no more flesh on his bones. I was there. I saw him.”

  “Dead as a d-doornail,” Dimitri added.

  “Apparently not,” Dylan said dryly. “Though the odds of his survival were not good. Not unless he found himself a Shifter healer.” His unnerving blue gaze went straight to Zander and stayed there.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Zander looked around with a start as everyone stared at him. He raised his hands. “Hey, there are more Shifter healers in the world besides me.”

  “There are.” Kendrick agreed, but Addie saw him give Zander a thoughtful look.

  “And what would I have been doing in Canada anyway?” Zander went on, his eyes snapping. “I was trekking the polar ice back then.”

  “You still could have done it,” Dylan said.

  “Could have,” Zander returned. “Or a passing Shifter might have helped him out, not knowing who he was. Or a passing human—same thing. Or a mama bear dragged this Lachy to her den and nursed him back to health.”

  “Was he feral?” Dylan asked Kendrick. “Being confined, even voluntarily, can do that.”

  Kendrick shook his head. “No, this was different. Lachlan never lost himself to his animal. He remained clearheaded the whole time.”

  Zander nodded, his expression grim. “There are other ways to go insane.”

  “I plan to ask him,” Kendrick said. “Right before I dust him for certain this time. Any idea where he went last night?”

  Seamus broke in. “I followed him, w
ith some of Dylan’s trackers, including Tiger. We lost him.”

  “Tiger lost him?” Kendrick asked, surprised. “I thought he was some kind of tracking genius.”

  “He is,” Dylan said in a hard voice. “This Lachlan is apparently tricky. But we’ll find him. Tiger won’t give up. Lachlan has met his match in him.” Dylan paused. “If I find Lachlan first, do you want me to save him for you?”

  Addie watched Kendrick ponder Dylan’s question, emotions flickering rapidly behind his eyes. “Make the kill,” he said finally, his voice quiet. “We can’t risk him hurting others. That’s more important than me facing Lachlan personally to gloat. But I’ll send him to dust. I’m his Guardian.”

  “And the others?” Dylan asked. “His followers?”

  More emotions. These kinds of decisions were hurting Kendrick, Addie saw, but there was no one else who could make them. “Contain them. I’ll speak to them. But be careful. Lachlan’s followers have been using guns and knives.”

  “That’s all we need,” Seamus said. “Shifters with guns. I hate the things, meself.”

  “That’s because you’re s-sane,” Dimitri said. “Don’t know how humans can st-stand them.”

  “Don’t be so hard on humans,” Ben said quickly. “They can’t turn into ferocious beasts to fight their enemies. They’ve had to invent ways to defend themselves.”

  Kendrick ended the discussion. “Whatever the philosophy on human weapons, Shifters shouldn’t have them. It would be the end of us.”

  “Agreed,” Zander said. “We’ll rip the guns out of Lachlan’s hands and stomp them into little pieces. But we need to find him, first.”

  “So glad you volunteered,” Kendrick said, his tone dry. “A bear would be handy, as would a healer.”

  Zander made a face but didn’t argue.

  Addie noticed that Kendrick had told the tale and discussed Lachlan’s demise with his cubs in the room, without sending them away. They listened even now, eyes on their father. Addie knew Kendrick hadn’t forgotten they were there—he’d included them in his eye contact as he told his story. He must have decided that they deserved to know about their enemies and the danger.