Pride Mates

Chapter Twenty-three

How long they stood like that--arms locked around each other, Liam rocking in pain--Kim didn't know. She held him while his hot tears dropped to her shoulder, while he kissed her neck and held her as if he'd never let her go.

Kim heard shouting outside. She lifted her head to see that the warehouse had grown darker, the rain still pelting but more softly now, the storm over. Flashlights cut through the gloom, and then the tall forms of Sean and Dylan emerged out of the darkness. Others trailed behind them--Glory, Ellison, Connor, Nate, and Spike.

Dylan played his flashlight on the two of them in the middle of the warehouse, Liam filthy and naked, Kim in rumpled clothes and probably just as filthy.

She called to them, "He put the Collar back on and the pain is tearing him up."

Dylan approached, but the others hung back. Liam managed to lift his head, his eyes filled with incredible pain. "Dad."

Dylan stopped just shy of Liam, eyes troubled. "Do you want me, son?"

"Of course he wants you," Kim said. "You're his dad."

"He's clan leader now," Dylan said. "And pride leader. He can reject me if he wants."

"He won't." Kim shook her head. "He told me once that he wouldn't fight you because he loves you."

"That was before," Dylan said.

"Doesn't matter. People's status might change, but love stays the same."

Dylan opened his mouth to argue, but Connor jerked away from Ellison, who was trying to hold him back. The lanky boy charged past Dylan and threw his arms around both Liam and Kim. "Damn it, we thought Fergus would kill you," he sobbed.

The others tensed, Dylan taking a step back.

Liam looked up at Connor, his eyes wet. Connor held him tighter, and Liam's eyes flicked from feral white to beautiful blue. He wrapped an arm around Connor and pulled him close.

Like water released from a dam, the others flowed to them. Dylan clamped his arms around Liam and Connor, gathering them in. Sean laid down his sword and joined the group hug, followed by Glory, Ellison, and to Kim's astonishment, both of Fergus's thugs.

Kim's eyes filled as Sean leaned his head into Liam's neck. Kim could feel the warmth, the caring, in the huddle, heard the soothing words they whispered to each other. She was squished between Dylan and Liam, Ellison and Connor. She started to giggle. "A Kim sandwich."

Ellison laughed his big, booming Texas laughter. "Sounds good. Let's eat."

"You are so disgusting," Glory said to him. She had her arms firmly around Dylan's waist.

Ellison gave Glory a big kiss on the cheek. "You love it, darling. I say we all blow this place and go get shit-faced drunk."

"Damn straight," Spike said.

Liam's immediate family remained silent. Kim felt the energy flowing between them, love that had kept them alive and together all these years. And now they wanted her to be part of it.

"Drunk," Liam rasped. "You don't know how good that sounds."

The group began to part, slowly, smiling the unembarrassed smiles of people who'd shared a happy experience. Sean rubbed Liam lightly on the back and moved to pick up first his sword and then Liam's clothes.

Connor gave Liam one last squeeze, then backed off, wiping his eyes. Dylan was the last to leave. He held Liam's arms and looked straight into his eyes.

"Are you all right, Liam?"

"I will be."

"I know you will. You've been moving toward this moment all your life. It's yours now."

Liam put his hands on his father's shoulders. "With you at my back, Dad, there's nothing we can't do."

Dylan relaxed, as though he'd still been waiting for Liam's acceptance. "I'll be there." He pulled Liam down to him and pressed a kiss to Liam's forehead. He finally turned away, eyes full.

Liam reached for Kim's hand. "Are you all right? Did I hurt you, love?"

"I'm resilient." Kim kissed his lips, and Liam crushed her to him in a long, satisfying hug. "Let's go home," she whispered.

"Are you up to the walk?" Sean asked, handing Liam his clothes.

Liam hugged his T-shirt and jeans to his chest and looked around at the assembly, a hint of the old glint in his eye. "Are you telling me that none of you thought to bring wheels?"

"No," Connor said. "As soon as the storm let up, we ran out here."

"What, you were thinking you'd trundle me back in a wheelbarrow, all hurt and bloody? This is the planning of my friends and family."

"I'll run and get my car," Kim said. "There isn't room for everyone, but that's all right. I can take Liam home, at least."

Liam gripped her wrist. "No. Don't go yet."

His eyes were desperate. Kim gave him a reassuring smile and a little hug. "I won't leave you."

Glory swayed forward. She was wearing sturdy boots for once, though they had three-inch heels. "I'll get it." She plucked the keys out of Kim's fingers and gave Kim a big tooth-filled smile. "I'll take good care of it. Promise."

Liam lay in his bed in heavy sleep next to Kim for about four hours after they got home. Then he woke up, threw back the covers, and declared he needed to go to the bar.

"What for?" Kim demanded, not liking the absence of his warmth in the small bed.

"I've taken too many days off. The paperwork in the office must be a mess."

"Liam."

Liam stopped in the act of leaning over for his pants, his delectable backside in full view. "I'm all right, love. Shifters heal fast."

Maybe their bodies did. "Why do you work at the bar at all? You don't seem to live paycheck to paycheck. And how did Fergus afford all that artwork in his basement? How did he even afford that huge basement?"

Liam sat back down, his eyes a mystery. "Shifters live a long time. We accumulate things."

"Like money and Old Masters paintings?"

"Like money and Old Masters paintings. Which Dad thinks should be sold to a museum."

"How are you going to explain where you got them?"

"We won't." Liam reached for his jeans again and pulled them up. "There are dealers who will work with us discreetly."

Kim sat cross-legged against the headboard. "Before I came down here the first time, I thought I knew every little thing about Shifters. I didn't know jack, did I?"

"No." Liam's smile flashed in the harsh lamplight. "I thought I knew all about humans. You taught me so much." He stopped. "I'm going to miss you, love."

Kim's heart skipped a beat, then gave a hard bang. "What do you mean, 'miss me'?"

Liam sank to the bed again, one blue-jeaned leg folded under him. The red gashes on his torso had closed, the heavy bruising already fading. A dark swirl of hair covered his chest and pointed to his navel, the indentation into which she'd slid her finger the night he'd first brought her up to his room.

"I want you to go home," he said. "Go back to living your own life."

She stared. "Hold on. For days you insist I stay here, whether I like it or not. Tonight, after all that's happened, not to mention the incredible sex, you're telling me to go?"

"Fergus is dead. His followers have gone home. His threat is removed. No one will be taking off any more Shifter Collars."

"You sound very sure."

"I am sure. I lead the clan now, which means our pride is now first. No other Shifter will dare harm you, whether they approve of you or not. My protection is on you, and no other Shifter can override that."

Kim slid out of bed. She wasn't wearing anything, but at the moment, it didn't seem important. "What about this mate thing? That's all gone now too?"

Liam smiled. "That will never be gone. We've been mated under the sun and moon, the mating recognized by the clan. We'll always be mated."

"So what does that mean?"

"For Shifters, it means I take no other mate. For humans, it means--nothing. A Shifter mating isn't valid in the human world; it's not marriage. I remember you telling me that."

"I meant, what does it mean to you?"

Liam looked away. "It means everything to me."

"Then why are you telling me to leave?"

Liam got to his feet, looked across the bed at her. "Because you can't stay. You've tried to pound it into my brain all this time why you can't. I'm a Shifter. I can love you with everything I've got, but I'll ruin you, and you know it. You'll lose your job, your friends, your respectability. I'm from the wrong side of the tracks, darling. Not from your world."

"It's not that simple--Shifters bad, humans good. I know that."

"You do. But the rest of the world doesn't. Not yet. Maybe in another twenty years, when people are used to us. Right now, I love you enough not to keep you here."

Suddenly cold, Kim reached for a long T-shirt and dragged it over her head. It was one of Liam's, too big for her and carrying his scent.

"Don't come over all altruistic on me, Liam Morrissey. Like you haven't put me through enough hell already. You made me love you, damn it. Really love you. Now you're saying, 'Thanks, Kim, go away'?"

"Do you think this is easy for me?" Liam asked. "When my Collar was off, I wanted nothing more than to lock you away upstairs and never let you go. No matter how much you screamed or begged or told me off, which is more likely what you'd do. I wanted to imprison you here with me. Mine. Forever."

"Your Collar is back on, now," Kim said.

"And that fact cancels everything out? It doesn't. I'm still feral. I always have been, always will be." Liam tapped the Collar around his bruised neck. "This keeps it down so I don't destroy myself, my people, and everyone I love. All Shifters are like me. Wild beasts in captivity. Not domesticated. There's a difference."

Kim folded her arms. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Then you're foolish. You saw me. I was ready to kill a child, my own brother, my father."

"But you didn't."

"Only because Fergus distracted me, love. Thank the Goddess he did, because he drew my fury. If he hadn't been there for me to fight, I would have destroyed everyone I loved."

"So you won't take your Collar off again," Kim said. "End of worry."

"But Fergus was right. We need to be free of the Collars someday. He was in too much of a hurry, but he wasn't wrong."

Kim balled her fists. "Make up your mind. Do you want the Collar on or off?"

"Shifters are getting stronger, love. We were dying off before, which is why we needed to capitulate with the humans and take the Collars. To let us live again, regroup, regain our strength. When we're powerful enough again, we'll rid ourselves of our chains, and be who we are supposed to be."

"And you think I have no place in that world?"

"No." Liam stood with his hands on his hips, his body still, eyes dark.

"You're lying to me," Kim said.

"I'm not."

"I'm not as good as you are at reading body language, but even I can tell you're coming up with excuses for sending me away. You think it's for my own good."

Liam whirled suddenly and punched the headboard. It cracked, wood splintering. "You're maddening, Kim, did you know that? Of course it's for your own good. You have your career, your life, your pretty house, your friends. I want you to have that. Find yourself a normal man, not one who might go crazy on you, not one who has to pretend to be a bar manager while he runs Shiftertown. Go home and be human."

"Just like that?"

"Yes. Go, Kim. Please."

"Doesn't it matter that I love you?" she asked, throat hurting.

"Yes, that matters. It matters a lot." Liam reached across the bed and touched the bruise on her lip. "And it's all the more reason I want you gone. I need to know I can't hurt you, ever again."

Kim stood still under his touch, her heart constricting. She'd broken up with men before, had sometimes done the breaking herself. She recognized Liam's look, the implacable expression of someone who'd made the painful decision to walk away and wouldn't be talked out of it.

"I don't want to go," she said. Kim knew how pathetic she sounded, but she couldn't stop herself.

"It makes me glad that you don't want to." Liam touched her lip once more, then took up his shirt and boots from the floor. "But it's all the more reason you need to."

He gave her another long look, as though he were memorizing her, then turned and walked out. He shut the door behind him, and a few minutes later, the front door's banging shook the house. Kim heard his motorcycle rev, heard its throb as he drove off down the street, the noise dying into the distance.

Kim stood by the bed for a long time, staring at the closed door. Tears choked her throat, but her burning eyes wouldn't shed any.

She heard the others downstairs, talking, their voices inquiring. Wondering where Liam was off to? Or had he told them he was sending Kim home?

Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to get out of there. Kim dressed with numb fingers, packed what things she'd brought here, and carried them down to her Mustang.

The last thing she saw as she backed out of the Morrissey driveway was Connor standing under the glow of the front porch light, his arms folded, a look of vast sadness on his face.

Kim arrived at her office early the next morning, dressed in a conservative gray suit.

"No Shifters today?" her secretary asked innocently.

"No, Jeanne." Kim's voice had gone cold and hard, the take-no-shit defense lawyer returning. "No more Shifters in the office. Sorry."

Jeanne, used to years of Kim's ups and downs, smiled at her. "Too bad. He sure was hot."

Kim had to admit that yes, he sure was. Her gut was so churned up that she didn't know what she was feeling. Loss, pain, sorrow, anger. Liam had thrown her out. That hurt. But hadn't Kim told Liam repeatedly that she couldn't stay? She wasn't certain who provoked the most anger, herself or Liam.

Once at her desk, Kim immediately dove into Brian's case. Arguing with the prosecutor's office helped keep her thoughts from Liam--from the traumatic fight in the warehouse, from the amazing sex afterward.

She worked all day, her businesslike suit and panty hose more confining by the hour. She'd gotten used to loose skirts and sandals far too quickly.

The next day wasn't any better, though the monotony was interrupted by a call from Silas.

"I talked to Liam," Silas told her. "He's agreed to let me interview him for the documentary, and for the feature stories for the newspaper. He's going to show me around Shiftertown himself."

"That's great." It really was great. Trust Liam to begin his rule of Shiftertown by doing what Fergus would have loathed. But Liam wanted the world to stop fearing Shifters, to move toward freedom. Showing the world what Shifters truly were was a first step.

A few weeks later, Kim's hard work and persistence finally paid off. With her tip on the jealous ex-boyfriend angle, her investigator had found out Michelle's ex had been boasting that he'd brought the Shifters to their knees and about his obsessive behavior toward Michelle before her death. He'd started calling her "the fucking Shifter-whore who'd got what she deserved." That was enough for police to reopen the case and bring the guy in again for further questioning. He'd been reluctant to talk about Michelle at all, until the detective revealed evidence of photos on the young man's digital camera of Michelle lying strangled on the floor. A vitriolic confession came pouring out. Michelle had betrayed him--with a Shifter. Michelle should die, and the Shifter should be ripped apart. If there were any justice in the world, he'd be given a medal for ridding the world of filth.

After that, it wasn't too difficult for Kim to get the prosecutors to dismiss the case against Brian, who was released to a surge of publicity. Kim walked with him, under the scrutiny of black camera lenses the day he was freed, to where Sandra waited in her old car. Mother and son had a tearful reunion, but Kim could see Brian's grief over Michelle. Sandra had confirmed that Brian had been prepared to take Michelle as his mate, and her loss was hard for him. He'd truly loved her.

After seeing Brian off, Kim returned to her office and went to see her boss.

The head of the firm was a large man with graying hair and pictures of his wife and four children on his desk. "Good work, Kim," he said, a man who rarely praised. "But I doubt we'll be getting any more Shifter cases. People wanted Shifter blood, and we just made the prosecutor's office look stupid."

Kim shrugged, not caring about the damned prosecutor's office right now. "It doesn't matter. I came to tender my resignation."

"What?" His thick brows shot up. "Why? You've just won the biggest case of the year."

"I'm contemplating a business venture of my own. Human advocate and legal liaison to Shifters in the Austin-San Antonio area. Want in?"

Her boss sat there with his mouth open, then moved his nameplate from one side of his desk to the other, which he did when he got nervous. "Are you crazy, Kim? You're a good attorney. One of my best. You're on your way to a terrific career. You throw in with Shifters and you'll be finished."

"Shifter-human law needs to be reevaluated and changed," Kim said. "It will be a challenge, something to live for. You could make your mark as a champion of Shifter rights. You love defending people's rights."

He glanced at the photos on his desk. "But Shifter-haters can be dangerous, and I wouldn't be risking just myself."

Kim nodded, understanding. "Well, I don't have anyone but myself to risk. I'm tired of living an empty life, so I'm going to fill it doing something crazy like helping Shifters wade through the morass of law. Jeanne's agreed to go with me. She's training as a paralegal, and she's excited about getting a chance for more experience."

"She's as crazy as you are."

"Maybe," Kim conceded. "But that's what we want to do. Thanks for taking me on when I was a green law-school graduate."

"No problem," her boss said faintly. "Good luck."

Kim dragged in a breath as she left her boss's office, the words Good luck ringing in her head. She knew she'd need it.

Kim spent the next weeks cleaning out her office and finding space to rent for her new office, a tiny one with enough room for herself and Jeanne. The others in the firm agreed with the head, that Kim was crazy. Some admired her; some openly castigated her, Abel in particular.

Kim ignored them and bought office furniture. Jeanne was an enthusiastic partner and even helped take Kim's mind off her sorrows for five minutes now and again.

The first day Kim spent at her new office, Silas e-mailed her some video files for the Shifter documentary he was working on, asking for her feedback.

Kim played the files, her heart aching. There was a lot of footage of Liam smiling his warm smile and speaking in his deep Irish lilt, telling Silas what he wanted the world to know about Shifters. Dylan spoke too, giving the same details but in a different enough way that it didn't sound as though they'd worked it out beforehand. Kim knew they had. She also knew exactly what they had decided to leave out.

There was footage of how the Shifters lived from day to day, shots of Michael playing in his front yard. Michael was photogenic, and his cuteness radiated from the screen. Silas also showed Connor and his friends kicking a soccer ball around the backyards, Connor talking about his love of "football" and what a fan he was of the Irish national team.

Silas didn't show only sparkles and smiles, however. He talked to Shifters about the darker side of their lives--the high death rate of Shifter children, which had started to come down only in the last decade, the low fecundity of the females. He talked about how the different Shifter species didn't get along "in the wild" but had made concessions to live together in harmony. Ellison was particularly eloquent in that segment, looking handsome with his big cowboy hat and wide smile.

A group of Shifters did a Collar "demonstration," which proved that Collars worked well, and Silas showed a meditation by some Shifter parents for children they'd lost.

Kim viewed the files again and again, pausing on Liam's smile, his blue eyes assuring the viewers that Shifters were little different from humans.

She watched the recording far too often. And far too often, she opened her cell phone and looked at Liam's number, wondering if she should tell him all the things she'd decided.

"Call me anytime, love," he'd said, when he'd programmed the number into it weeks ago.

Damn Shifters.

In the cool of late September, Kim came home from her new office on a Friday and spent the weekend packing.

Sunday afternoon, she put everything in her car that she could fit. She'd get help with the rest. She closed the trunk, started the car, and drove back to Shiftertown.