Mate Bond(65)

Liam wanted to laugh at the little-spitfire-but he kept his stare cool.  She had no idea what she was walking into; Fergus, the clan leader,  expected Liam to make sure it stayed that way.

Damn it all, Liam wasn't supposed to like her. He'd expected the usual  human woman, sticks-up-their-asses, all of them, but there was something  different about Kim Fraser. It wasn't just that she was small and  compact, while Shifter women were tall and willowy. He liked the way her  dark blue eyes regarded him without fear, liked the riot of black curls  that beckoned his fingers. She'd had the sense to leave her hair alone,  not force it into some unnatural shape.

On the other hand, she tried to hide her sweetly curvaceous body under a  stiff gray business suit, although her body had other ideas. Her  breasts wanted to burst out of the button-up blouse, and the stiletto  heels only enhanced wickedly sexy legs.

No Shifter woman would dress as she did. Shifter women wore loose  clothes they could quickly shed if they needed to change forms. Shorts  and T-shirts were popular. So were gypsy skirts and sarongs in the  summer.

Liam imagined this lady in a sarong. Her melon-firm breasts would fill out the top, and the skirt would bare her smooth thighs.

She'd be even prettier in a bikini, lolling around some rich man's pool,  sipping a complicated drink. She was a lawyer-there was probably a boss  in her firm who had already made her his. Or perhaps she was using said  boss to climb the success ladder. Humans did that all the time. Either  the bastard would break her heart, or she'd walk away happy with what  she'd gotten out of it.

That's why we stay the hell away from humans. Brian Smith had taken up with a human woman, and look where he was now.

So why did this female raise Liam's protective instincts? Why did she  make him want to move closer, inside the radius of her body heat? She  wouldn't like that; humans tried to stay a few feet apart from each  other unless they couldn't help it. Even lovers might do nothing more  than hold hands in public.

Liam had no business thinking about passion and this woman in the same  heartbeat. Fergus's instructions had been to listen to Kim, sway her,  then send her home. Not that Liam was in the habit of blindly obeying  Fergus.

"So why do you want to help him, love?" he asked. "You're only defending him because you drew the short straw, am I right?"                       
       
           



       

"I'm the junior in the firm, so it was handed to me, yes. But the  prosecutor's office and the police have done a shitty job with this  case. Rights violations all over the place, but the courts won't dismiss  it, no matter how much I argue. Everyone wants a Shifter to go down,  innocent or guilty."

"And why do you believe Brian didn't do it?"

"Why do you think?" Kim tapped her throat. "Because of these."

Liam resisted touching the strand of black and silver metal fused to his  own neck, a small Celtic knot at the base of his throat. The Collars  contained tiny programmed chips enhanced by powerful Fae magic to keep  Shifters in check, though the humans didn't want to acknowledge the  magic part. The Collar shot an electric charge into a Shifter when his  violent tendencies rose to the surface. If the Shifter persisted, the  next dose was one of debilitating pain. A Shifter couldn't attack anyone  if he was rolling around on the ground, writhing in agony.

Liam wasn't sure entirely how the Collars worked; he only knew that each  became bonded to its wearer's skin and adapted to their animal form  when they shifted. All Shifters living in human communities were  required to wear Collars, which were irremovable once put on. Refusing  the Collar meant execution. If the Shifter tried to escape, he or she  was hunted down and killed.

"You know Brian couldn't have committed a violent crime," Kim was saying. "His Collar would have stopped him."

"Let me guess. Your police claim the Collar malfunctioned?"

"Yep. When I suggest having it tested, I'm greeted with all kinds of  reasons it can't be. The Collar can't be removed, and anyway it would be  too dangerous to have Brian Collarless if he could be. Also too  dangerous to provoke him to violence and see if the Collar stops him.  Brian's been calm since he was brought in. Like he's given up." She  looked glum. "I hate to see someone give up like that."

"You like the underdog?"

She grinned at him with red lips. "You could say that, Mr. Morrissey. Me and the underdog go back a long way."

Liam liked her mouth. He liked imagining it on his body, on certain  parts of his anatomy in particular. He had no business thinking that,  but the thoughts triggered a physical reaction below the belt.

Weird. He'd never even considered having sex with a human before. He  didn't find human women attractive; Liam preferred to be in his big cat  form for sex. He found sex that way much more satisfying. With Kim, he'd  have to remain human.

His gaze strayed to her unbuttoned collar. Of course, it might not be so bad to be human with her . . .

What the hell am I thinking? Fergus's instructions had been clear, and  Liam agreeing to them had been the only way Fergus had allowed Kim to  come to Shiftertown at all. Fergus wasn't keen on a human woman being in  charge of Brian's case, not that they had any choice. Fergus had been  pissed about Brian's arrest from the beginning and thought the Shifters  should back off and stay out of it. Almost as though he believed Brian  was guilty.

But Fergus lived down on the other side of San Antonio, and what he  didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Liam would handle this his own way.

"So what do you expect from me, love?" he asked Kim. "Want to test my Collar?"

"No, I want to know more about Brian, about Shifters and the Shifter  community. Who Brian's people are, how he grew up, what it's like to  live in a Shifter enclave." She smiled again. "Finding six independent  witnesses who swear he was nowhere near the victim at the time in  question wouldn't hurt either."

"Oh, is that all? Bloody miracles is what you want, darling."

She wrapped a dark curl around her finger. "Brian said that you're the Shifter people talk to most. Shifters and humans alike."

It was true that Shifters came to Liam with their troubles. His father,  Dylan Morrissey, was master of this Shiftertown, second in power in the  whole clan.

Humans knew little about the careful hierarchy of the Shifter clans and  prides-packs for Lupines-and still less about how informally but  efficiently everything got done. Dylan was the Morrissey pride leader  and the leader of this Shiftertown, and Fergus was the clan leader for  the Felines of South Texas, but Shifters with a problem sought out Liam  or his brother Sean for a chat. They'd meet in the bar or at the coffee  shop around the corner. So, Liam, can you ask your father to look into  it for me?

No one would petition Dylan or Fergus directly. That wasn't done. But  chatting about things to Liam over coffee, that was fine and didn't draw  attention to the fact that the person in question had troubles.                       
       
           



       

Everyone would know anyway, of course. Life in a Shiftertown reminded  Liam very much of life in the Irish village he'd lived near until they'd  come to Texas twenty years ago. Everyone knew everything about  everyone, and news traveled, lightning-swift, from one side of the  village to the other.

"Brian never came to me," he said. "I never knew anything about this  human girl until suddenly the police swoop in here and arrest him. His  mother struggled out of bed to watch her son be dragged away. She didn't  even know why for days."

Kim watched Liam's blue eyes harden. The Shifters were angry about  Brian's arrest, that was certain. Citizens of Austin had tensely waited  for the Shifters to make trouble after the arrest, to break free and try  to retaliate with violence, but Shiftertown remained quiet. Kim  wondered why, but she wasn't about to ask right now and risk angering  the one person who might help her.

"Exactly my point," she said. "This case has been handled badly from  start to finish. If you help me, I can spring Brian and make a point at  the same time. You don't mess with people's rights, not even Shifters'."

Liam's eyes grew harder, if that were possible. It was like looking at  living sapphire. "I don't give a damn about making a point. I give a  damn about Brian's family."

All right, so she'd miscalculated about what would motivate him. "In  that case, Brian's family will be happier with him outside prison, not  inside."

"He won't go to prison, love. He'll be executed, and you know it. No  waiting twenty years on death row either. They'll kill him, and they'll  kill him fast."