“Easy, lad,” Liam said, no fear in his voice. “I won’t touch her. I respect the pride.” He gave Myka another look, this one a little softer. “Besides, I know how headstrong human women can be. Trust me.” The smile came back, and he tipped Myka a wink.
“You haven’t answered his question,” Myka said. He could keep his wink, no matter how charming he was.
Liam focused on Spike again. “I came to find out why you didn’t report right away to me. Now I know. But you need to tell me what happened with Gavan.”
“Ellison was there.”
“Ellison didn’t hear all what you said. He said Gavan moved close to you and got chatty at the last, but the ambient noise from the bar was enough to confound even Shifter hearing. Makes me think Gavan chose that spot on purpose because of that. What did he say to you?”
Spike didn’t unclench, but he glanced behind him to Ella, still hovering worriedly in the foyer. “I’ll be inside in a minute,” he said.
Ella nodded and withdrew. Myka looked up at Spike. “Are you waiting for me to go too? Is this man talk?”
“It’s Shifter talk,” Liam said. “Shifter business.”
“Oh, yeah?” No way Myka could stop these two men tearing each other apart if they started something, but she didn’t feel easy leaving Spike alone with this guy. Whatever Spike had done, or not done, Liam was annoyed about it—dangerously annoyed.
Liam kept his gaze on Spike. “Myka, why don’t you wake up the cub and take him along to meet my mate? She’s human too. I think she’ll like you. Ella will show you the way.”
He spoke casually, but Myka knew it wasn’t a suggestion. She did
not
want to go, but it was clear that they’d stand like statues until she went.
Myka made a show of nodding and turning away, but not before sending Liam a look that warned that if he tried to hurt Spike, she’d . . .
Well, she didn’t know what she could do. She’d seen the way Spike had fought that bear-man at the Shifter fights, and knew Spike could take care of himself. And Myka could always call the police on Liam’s ass if he tried anything.
Even that didn’t make her feel better, but she went inside to find Ella and wake up Jordan.
*** *** ***
“Dad wanted to come over here and talk to you himself,” Liam said to Spike once they were alone. “I talked him out of it. I’ll take your thanks for that any time.”
“What did that shithead Ellison say to you?” They were still on the porch. Hierarchy dictated that Spike should invite Liam inside, showing him trust, and politeness dictated that he should get the man a beer. But Spike remained stubbornly in place, not wanting Liam in his house.
“The shithead Ellison didn’t tell me more than I’ve already said,” Liam answered. “But you wouldn’t tell him everything about Gavan, and you hightailed it home instead of talking to me. He’s worried.”
“He’s worried I betrayed you. I didn’t. I wanted to get home to my cub.”
“I understand that.” Liam had a cub too now, a cute little half-Shifter girl. “But I sent you to gather intel, and you didn’t give me any intel.”
“Nothing to say. Gavan is a crazy Feline—you know him. He thinks Shifters are losing the instincts that make us strong, that we shouldn’t suppress the ones that tell us to kill.” Stupid. Gavan didn’t get that strength and fighting were two different things.
“You mean like at the fight club,” Liam said with canny perception. “Shifters fight, but then suppress the instinct to take the fight to its natural conclusion.”
“Something like that.”
“You think anyone else at the fight club agrees with him?”
Spike shrugged. “No one’s mentioned it.”
“Aye, but you win all your fights, don’t you? The Shifters you beat aren’t going to be telling you they’re in favor of letting it go to the death, are they? No, Gavan must just be talking shite. I’m guessing he’s in favor of not suppressing instinct and letting others kill off the weak so he can move up in dominance.”
“Maybe.”
“He ever go to the fight club? Apart from last night?”
“Not that I’ve seen,” Spike said.
Liam never went to the fights himself, because the fight clubs weren’t sanctioned by Shiftertown leaders. Technically the matches violated both Shifter and human laws.
But Shiftertown leaders understood that their Shifters needed to blow off steam, and so looked the other way. Fight club fights also had two very strict rules. First—no killing. Second—the results of fights didn’t change anything in dominance in day-to-day life. What happened at the fight club stayed at the fight club.
Spike knew, however, that the fights
did
change things, even if the changes weren’t acknowledged. Hard to forget that the dominant clan member telling you what to do today had lain flattened at your feet in the ring the night before. True dominance battles didn’t happen among Shifters very often, but when the next one occurred, Spike suspected there’d be many, many adjustments.
“All right, lad,” Liam said, his shoulders going down a fraction, which meant he believed Spike and had decided to trust him. “Keep an eye on Gavan for me, eh? If he wants to meet again, don’t say no. Get what you can out of him. If more Shifters at the fight club start thinking he’s right, you tell me that too.”
Spike gave him a nod. He decided not to mention that Gavan already had asked to set up a second meeting. Spike would assess the Feline one more time, without Liam breathing down his neck, and then decide what to do.
“Congratulations on your cub,” Liam said, business over. He stepped forward, ready to pull Spike into an embrace.
Spike didn’t want it. He’d withdrawn in a huge way since he’d turned around in the hospital room last night to see Jordan waiting for him. Right now Spike didn’t want to touch anyone except Jordan, his grandmother . . . and Myka.
Not mate-claimed,
Liam had said, and Spike’s answer had come out instantly.
Not yet.
Which meant that something in Spike wanted it to happen, sensed it would happen, was impatient for it to happen.
Not yet. But soon.
However, Spike denying his leader a congratulatory hug would scream to Liam that Spike was challenging him. Spike didn’t have time right now for the big hairy deal that would bring down on him.
Spike let his body go slack as Liam wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. Spike put his hands on Liam’s back, returning the embrace, but not as soothed as he usually was by his leader’s body heat.
Male Shifters hugged each other in a different way than they hugged females. Males didn’t hold back their strength from other males—the embrace contained a warning as much as acceptance.
Spike let his hands harden on Liam’s back, and Liam responded by pulling Spike even closer. Spike’s body read every muscle in Liam, and he knew Liam was reading him back.
Liam nuzzled Spike’s cheek, tilted Spike’s head forward and kissed the top of it, then released him.
“Come on,” Liam said. “Take me to meet your little one.”
*** *** ***
Kim Fraser, Liam’s mate, greeted Myka with enthusiasm, gave her a big hug, and introduced her around.
“Don’t mind the touchy-feely,” Kim said. “You’ll get used to it. It’s a Shifter thing. Took me a while to learn, but I’m liking it now.”
Kim lifted her dark-haired baby from her outdoor playpen, and little Katriona regarded Myka and Jordan with great interest. Jordan, held by Ella, reached out and touched Katriona’s silky hair, and Katriona cooed and kicked her feet.
“A mate-claim in the making, are you thinking?” A man who resembled Liam, complete with dark hair and blue eyes, came to them. “A few decades from now . . . look out.”
He was Sean, Liam’s brother, and he had his mate with him, a slender Shifter called Andrea, who was very pregnant. About to drop, Sean said proudly, his Irish baritone as pronounced as his brother’s. Sean patted Jordan on the head, grinning when Jordan growled and took a swing at him.
Myka also met Connor, Liam and Sean’s nephew. Connor was twenty-one but still considered a cub. It was Connor who suggested Myka stay for lunch, and he started getting the grill ready so Sean could make his famous cheeseburgers with sautéed mushrooms and onions.
Apparently, cooking out was a common thing for Shifters, as well as inviting any friends who happened to be passing. Myka had to take a step back from the huge Ronan, who arrived with a teenaged Shifter girl and a little boy with white hair. His adopted kids, Ronan said. Ronan was a Kodiak bear, but the girl with variegated hair—Cherie—was a grizzly, the boy Olaf a polar bear cub.
Myka watched Ronan’s family as she sat down with Kim, Myka still wary of men who fostered kids. But Cherie started a spirited gossip session with Connor, and Olaf helped Sean prep the grill. Olaf was a little quieter than the others, but he grinned with Sean, relaxed and happy.
By the time Liam and Spike arrived together—walking side-by-side, Myka noted, neither letting the other get in front—the burgers were nearing completion.
A growl from Jordan made Myka look around. Jordan stood in the middle of the backyard, which was part of an unfenced green space that ran behind all the houses. Facing him was a tiny polar bear, and Jordan was snarling like crazy as he flung off the last of his clothes, already shifting and ready to attack.
Chapter Nine
Myka sprang to her feet, but the others didn’t look alarmed. Olaf, the nine-year-old boy, had turned into an adorable polar bear cub. Jordan was the only one who obviously
didn’t
find him adorable. Olaf watched in mild curiosity as the small jaguar kicked off the last of his clothes and launched himself at Olaf’s head.
Olaf reached out a big, black-padded paw and whacked Jordan aside. Jordan did a somersault in mid-air—exactly as the full-grown Spike had done at the fight club—and charged Olaf again, coming up under the bear’s throat.
Olaf blinked in surprise then howled as Jordan latched his teeth into Olaf’s fur. Olaf’s howl turned to rumbling snarls as he batted at Jordan with his paws, trying to dislodge him.
The family stopped laughing. Liam, Spike, and Ronan moved forward at the same time, their expressions grim. Jordan hung on, and blood started spotting Olaf’s white neck.
Ronan went for Olaf, and Spike went for Jordan. Jordan writhed and fought as Spike pulled him of Olaf. Jordan’s oversized feel flailed as he tried to scratch and bite his father, the jaguar cub yowling and snarling all the while.
Finally Spike leaned down to Jordan and made an animal sound—one loud beat. Jordan swung his head around in surprise, then coiled his tail around Spike’s arm and subsided.
Olaf was already quiet under Ronan’s big arm, his dark eyes wide. Fortunately, Jordan hadn’t hurt him much, only a surface wound, which had already stopped bleeding.
Everyone went back to what they’d been doing, but Myka sensed a change. The Shifters weren’t alarmed exactly—they behaved more as if they were filing away information for use at a later date. The conversations began again, Sean announced the burgers were done, and everyone ate.
Jordan was asleep again, in his wildcat form, when Spike carried him home. Liam gave Spike a look before they went, which Spike acknowledged with a nod.
“Something happened,” Myka said once she, Ella, and Spike with Jordan were down the block. “When Jordan and Olaf started to fight—something made everyone stop. And not just because Olaf was bleeding.”
Spike hefted Jordan higher on his shoulder. “Jordan showed dominant behavior.”
“What does that mean? Is it a problem?”
Ella answered. “Our family isn’t supposed to be very dominant. There’s only Spike and me left. But Jordan’s behavior showed that maybe we aren’t as far down the food chain as everyone thinks. Jordan’s acting on instinct, because he doesn’t know any better, but it shows that Spike has been holding himself back all these years.”
“When Jordan gets a little older, he’ll seriously start fighting,” Spike said. He sounded as though he didn’t know what to make of that—be proud? Or worried?
Ella chuckled. “Welcome to my world. Bringing up a warrior Shifter on my own was no picnic, especially in the wild.”
Spike remained silent, face betraying no emotion, or maybe that was the shadows because it was growing dark.
When they reached the house, Ella took Jordan and said she’d put him to bed. The kid was so out of it that Ella simply slung the ball of fur across her shoulder and carried him to his room.
She went because she wanted Myka and Spike to talk. Myka read that in every line of her retreating back.
Myka had been reliving the hot kiss every second since Spike had pulled her against him. The nearness of him, now that they were alone again, brought the thoughts pounding to the front of her brain.
Whatever Spike was thinking about took him to the front window to look out at the lawn that was fading to brown for the coming winter. The dragon on his back hid under his shirt, its wings snaking down his arms to flow around the jaguars coming the other way. Before he’d walked to the Morrissey house with Liam, Spike had changed clothes again, and Myka had to wonder if this time he’d put on underwear.
“I should go home,” she said, surprised at her reluctance.
Spike swung around. “Why? You said you’d stay.”
The vehemence in his tone made her take a step back. “I thought you meant help out when you needed someone to watch Jordan. Your grandma’s here, and you’re not as bad at taking care of him as I feared. I need to go to the stables tomorrow.”
“But I need to go somewhere tonight.”
“Oh. Where? Something for Liam?”
“Sort of for Liam.” He went quiet and distant again. “Sort of not.”
Myka hooked her thumbs in her front pockets. “Leaving you here today with Liam made me nervous. Why was he so mad at you? For wanting to come home to your cub?”
“For not reporting to him right away. My first loyalty is supposed to be to the Shiftertown leader, no matter what. But I’ve been thinking since last night . . . screw that.”
“Because of Jordan.”
“Because of him.” Spike touched his chest. “Something opened up in here when I saw him. Something . . . I don’t know.”