Primal Bonds (22 page)

And with his mate smiling that sultry smile, sliding arms around Sean and groaning his name with her beautiful red lips, he never would.

Both Sean and Andrea were panting as they wound down, the residual warmth of the engine keeping the cold from their bodies. Not that Sean would ever feel cold again. The mate bond, and Andrea, would see to that.

He looked into Andrea’s stormy gray eyes and saw the mate bond reflected there. She was going to break his heart.

“Andrea,” he whispered, just to say her name. “Andy-love.”

“Feeling better?” Andrea drew her nails lightly down his chest.

“I don’t think I’ll ever feel better than this.”

“Is that right?” She smiled up at him, so hot and good, and then her fingers squeezed one of his nipples, and she bit his neck.

Sean growled long and low as the mating frenzy reared up, hard, and he drove into her once again, until they were both crying out in joy.

T
he best place for talking about serious shit was on the front porch with beer. Sean and Liam sat alone that night as the moon rose, bottles in hand. Liam had his booted feet up, but Sean rocked back on the porch swing, trying to focus on the problem at hand and not the fact that Andrea was in the house next door, warm and waiting in her bed.

Sean had reported all to Liam on their return home, but Liam had listened, nodded, and said nothing. Not until after dinner was over and the world was dark had Liam indicated that he and Sean should talk. Sean understood how Liam worked—he listened, digested, thought, and then made decisions. Andrea had gone home, perceiving that Liam wanted to talk to Sean alone, but the promising look she’d given Sean made him very impatient to be done.

“This is not good,” Liam said.

“No,” Sean agreed.

They drank in silence.

“The humans are taken care of?” Sean asked after a time.

“Dad reported. They’re gone.”

“Dead?”

“Alive,” Liam said. “Shitting themselves to do whatever Dad wanted, so he said.”

Sean nodded, and they went back to the beer.

“That’s not the end of it,” Liam said.

“Aye.”

“Callum, who claims to want nothing to do with humans, hired humans to shoot up bars and restaurants,” Liam said, spinning it out. “I told the other clan leaders in his Shiftertown what he’s been up to, and they’re not happy. His clan is protecting him from me and them. As long as they sit on him and keep him quiet, fine, though I’d love to kill him over Ely.”

“So would I. Not to mention his family.”

Liam shook his head, his eyes flicking to cat slits and back again. “If we start a clan war, there will be too much bloodshed, and the humans will come down on us, and all Shifters will suffer. Damn it.” He drank his beer, a leader unhappy that the simple solution wasn’t going to work. “If this was the wild, he’d be dead.”

“If this was the wild, it wouldn’t have happened at all,” Sean said. “Shifters hiring humans to terrorize Shifters? Never. This is a problem that could have only happened after the Collar.”

“Which brings me back to why he bothered. He had his humans shoot up bars and restaurants where Shifters like to go. Causing the human owners to get jittery and forbid Shifters entry, and causing other Shifter-friendly businesses to start banning Shifters. Widening the divide between Shifters and humans.” Liam took a thoughtful sip of beer. “Why?”

Sean shrugged. His heart thrummed with the mate bond, distracting him, his body pounded with the mating frenzy. His mind was reliving Andrea lying against the hood of the white car, smiling at him, sunshine on her bare breasts while her black curls spread across the hood.

“Humans to Callum are nothing,” Sean said. “Tools to be used and discarded.”

“It’s more than disdain of humans though, isn’t it?”

Sean knew without expressing it, and Liam knew too, that they’d stirred the surface of a current that ran deep. “I can see Callum’s way of thinking. We’re stronger now, healthier, better organized. He’s wondering why Shifters try to integrate with humans when we can kill them instead.”

“They were all Felines at that bar, you said,” Liam mused. “I’m guessing they don’t want Lupines or bears joining their little party.”

“Didn’t seem that way. They looked at my bringing in Andrea as an insult, and not just because she’s half Fae.” Sean grinned. “You should have seen their faces when she attacked Callum and took him down. It was priceless.”

Liam shared his smile. “Next time, take a picture and show me. She’s a treasure, that one.”

“I know.” Sean’s entire body sang, thinking about her. She’d soothed his hurts and made all the pain go away. “I treasure her.”

Sean’s gaze wandered to the house next door, and he caught Liam watching him with a knowing smile. “She’s good for you, Sean. I’ve not seen you this interested in—well, anything—in a long time.”

Not since Kenny died, he meant. Sean shrugged. “I’m not fooling myself that Andrea hasn’t rejected the mate-claim because she adores me. She doesn’t have much of a bloody choice.”

“So let her go. Tell her you release her. We can keep it to ourselves so Jared will stay away from her, and Wade won’t give her hell.”

Sean’s deep-seated rage flared. For some reason he wanted to launch himself at Liam, to slam his brother to the ground for even suggesting Sean release the mate already bound to his heart. Andrea’s scent was so mixed with his that he couldn’t separate them anymore.

When Sean’s vision cleared, he saw Liam laughing. Laughing hard.

“Damn it, Liam.”

Liam kept chuckling. “I’d react the same if you told me to let Kim go back and live among her people.”

Sean sat back and took another drink of beer. “I’m thinking I’m so screwed.”

“That’s the mate bond, that is. You know you’d die if she went away. You’ll fight the world to keep her at your side and keep her safe.”

“Exactly.”

Sean thought about what he’d explained to Andrea, that his father still struggled with the pain of his broken mate bond. Dylan hadn’t been able to keep his first mate safe, and recently he’d slipped in the hierarchy, so what made him think he could protect a second one? That must eat him up.

“Kim told me Glory kicked Dad out,” Sean said.

Liam nodded. “And he hasn’t come back here.”

Sean started peeling the label from his beer bottle. “Dad can take care of himself. He’s damn good at it.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“Someday we’ll believe it?”

Liam laughed. “He’ll expect us to take care of this Shifter problem without asking him for advice.”

“That bites.” Sean savored the dark taste of another sip of beer. “Why do we get stuck doing the hard work?”

“Because Dad raised us well, and now it’s up to us not to shame him.”

“Sure, no pressure.” Sean took another drink, sank back into the swing. “Callum and his friends, they at least haven’t figured out how to override the Collars. How’s that going, then?”

Liam glanced off into the dark, nostrils widening as he searched the wind for scent. “Slowly,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not letting anyone else be hurt because of it.”

Sean leaned forward, and very quietly told Liam about Andrea’s Collar. A spark danced in Liam’s eyes, and he traced the lip of his beer bottle. “Does she know why?” Liam asked.

“She says not. I believe her. But she pulled magic from my Fae sword to heal Ely, and she eased the pain of my Collar. Something about her healing touch, maybe, that makes her Collar not hurt her.”

“I wonder if any other half-Fae Shifters have the same immunity.”

Sean shrugged. “If they do, I’m not thinking they plan to tell anyone.”

“I wouldn’t.” Liam gazed off into the night again, winter cold returning with bite. “Would she help us, do you think?”

“She might. If we asked her nice.”

Liam’s eyes crinkled in the corners. “Is that your other sword talking? Does she draw magic from that one too?”

“You’re a funny man, Liam Morrissey. I think she will help us, in time. As long as you don’t piss her off. She’s kept the secret of her own Collar forever; I think she’d be amenable to keeping ours.”

“Let me think on it, talk to Dad.”

“In the meantime, what about Callum?” Sean asked. “His clan might be sitting on him, but who knows how many of them agree with him?”

“Aye, I’ve got my eye on him and his friends.” He scowled. “The idiots. Their impatience will only bring human wrath down on Shifters, set us back another twenty years.”

Sean couldn’t help looking at Glory’s house again, at Andrea’s bedroom window. “Dad could help. All he has to do is look at them, and they’ll be properly terrified.”

“Don’t I know it.”

The brothers shared a grin. They both would have been dead long ago without Dylan, that was certain. Sean thought back to long winters on the lonely coast of Ireland, when food and fuel ran short, and they’d curl together in their cat forms to warm each other—three brothers with their father. Dylan would disappear and return with food; not kills or stolen potatoes, but fresh vegetables and pheasant and fish prepared for rich men’s tables. He wouldn’t say how he’d obtained them, and Liam, Sean, and Kenny had decided it was wiser not to ask.

“I guess Dad’s decided it’s time to stop saving our asses,” Sean said.

“It’s high time we started saving his.”

“You have the right of it.” Sean rose and set his beer bottle on the table. “I’ll be off home, then.”

Liam grinned. “You might want to try actually sleeping, tonight.”

“It’s overrated, sleep. Far more fun things to do in bed.”

The twinkle in Liam’s eyes told Sean that he agreed. Liam rose and the brothers shared a tight hug. Then Sean walked next door, his frenzy mounting with every step.

S
leeping with Sean was supposed to keep away the nightmares. Andrea snuggled down against Sean’s warm body as they both drifted off that night, limbs heavy with afterglow, and found herself instantly tangled in the white threads of her dreams.

This time, Andrea couldn’t move, couldn’t make a sound. She was bound in a cocoon, breathless, dying.

Fight it, Andrea.

The voice of the Fae cut through her panic. She punched her fists into the white threads and started to break them. When she’d ripped enough away to see through the cocoon, she found herself not safe in bed with Sean, but in a gray misty place that was neither one world or the other.

Wake yourself, but quietly, and come to me. I need to speak with you, daughter.

The white threads started to tangle her again. Oh, right, how was she supposed to fight them
quietly
?

She heard whispering music, familiar now, like dozens of voices calling to her. The Sword of the Guardian, which she knew gleamed like flame where Sean had left it on the dresser. Andrea envisioned using it to slice through the white threads, and instantly, the cocoon cringed away and vanished.

Ah, wise choice.

Andrea opened her eyes to silence. Sean was sound asleep beside her, his head pillowed on one muscular arm. Her heart caught as she looked down at him, a damn sexy man curled up in bed with her. Even with his blue eyes closed, his face relaxed in sleep, he was strong, and the memory of his weight on top of her body made Andrea warm. He was awakening deep emotions inside her, emotions that threatened to tear her apart.

Andrea slid silently out of bed, her movements so fluid that Sean never stirred. She retrieved her clothing and carried it downstairs to dress in the living room. The house was pitch-black, but Andrea had never had trouble seeing in the dark.

The Fae waited for her in the clearing, in the precise spot he’d stood two nights ago. He was tall, his face thinner and longer than a human’s or Shifter’s, and his white braid fell down his back, thick like silk rope. The silver mail he wore shimmered in light that didn’t come from this world. The moon over Austin was hidden by a thick layer of clouds. In Faerie, the moon shone brilliant and white.

“Daughter.” The Fae looked at her empty hands and frowned. “You did not bring it.”

“No, I didn’t bring it,” Andrea said. “If you’re going to insist on invading my dreams, let’s start with a few questions, all right?” She counted off on her fingers. “Who are you? What’s your name? Why do you insist on calling yourself my father? And why do you want the sword? I want your answers, in that order. You can start right now.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN