“No, you’ll find yourselves another victim,” Deni said sharply. She sat up, but kept herself between Jace and the others.
“Not victim,” Sean said. “Volunteer.”
“I know what I said.” Deni glared at them, Lupine defiance in the face of powerful Felines. What a sweetheart. “Leave him alone and figure out your problem with someone else. Like me, for instance. I’m already half crazy, so I might not notice the difference.”
“No!” Jace came up off the floor to fold himself protectively around Deni. “No.” He still had to think about how to form words. “Won’t let you. Too much pain.”
Deni gave him a startled look, then a stubborn one. “Well, I won’t let them put you in too much pain either.” She switched her anger back to Sean and Dylan. “He’s not expendable.”
Both Sean and Dylan took a step away, as though sensing something had changed about Deni, and about Jace. Andrea unfolded to her feet and turned to the sink to run some water. The Sword of the Guardian had cut her hand. Brave woman, saying nothing.
“Interesting how the female defends the male,” Fionn said. “Fae women, on the other hand, can turn on their men in a heartbeat, running them through and joining their enemies if they find it expedient. Shifter females, I note, will stick with their mates even when the mate is defeated. She’ll die for him.”
“Isn’t that what attracted you to my mother?” Andrea asked from the sink.
Fionn went silent a moment, and when he spoke again, the arrogance had gone from his voice and a sad note entered it. “Yes. One of the many things.”
“Jace and Deni aren’t mated,” Sean said. He slid the Sword of the Guardian back into its scabbard and moved to Andrea as though drawn to her.
Fionn’s arrogance returned. “And I’m constantly amazed at how dense Shifters are about their own kind.”
“That’s enough, Father,” Andrea said firmly.
Jace pulled Deni back to him. He didn’t care anymore about the Collars, about freeing Shifters, about helping Liam. He wanted Deni—wanted to bury himself in her and not come out. Whether she felt the same about him, Jace didn’t know, but he would find out. If she didn’t care about him, if he’d simply been a way for her to defuse pressure, he’d let her go.
The thought of letting Deni go made his feral side want to burst out again. Jace kissed her shoulder, drawing in her scent until it calmed him a bit.
This was the wrong time and place for a mate-claim. He wanted it to be special, right, with his family present, and hers as well. They were from two different Shiftertowns, which would be a problem, but they could work it out somehow.
After they figured out this stupid Collar situation, Jace would get official permission to visit and mate-claim Deni. Deni could always turn him down, her choice, but Jace would take some time to persuade her.
He was busy thinking of fun ways to do the persuading when the workshop door slammed open to admit Connor Morrissey, agitated and out of breath.
“They’re back,” Connor said. “The cops. Liam says to shut down the workshop, and for the Goddess’s sake, hide Jace.”
Chapter Nine
Another thing Shifters could do, if Fionn was so interested, was galvanize themselves to move swiftly when need be. Dylan and Sean slid Collars and tools into hiding places with the smoothness of long practice, quickly placing the half-finished woodworking projects on the tables, scattering about tools and used sandpaper as though a woodworker had absently thrown them down.
Sean and Andrea departed without much of a good-bye, heading to wherever they’d prefer to be found. Deni helped Jace up from the floor, her touch the only thing keeping him from rushing out the door to confront the cops and keep them away from her.
“Where are they, Connor?” Deni was asking. “I need to get Jace back to my house.”
Connor shook his head. “No time. Too many cops between here and there.”
“I can hide the Shifter,” Fionn said. He was the calmest of all, as though the situation was one more interesting tidbit in his observation of humans and Shifters. “I don’t want humans to find me either.”
“Hide me how?” Jace asked, every nerve a line of fire. “I don’t trust Fae.”
“Very wise of you,” Fionn said. “Fae are treacherous bastards, every single one of us. I should know. Come with me now, or end up in a cage to be poked at by humans. Your choice.”
“Go.” Deni kissed his cheek. “Dylan will take care of me.”
Dylan, the powerful alpha Feline who liked to hug Deni. Jace would rather cave in Dylan’s face and pull Deni with him to wherever the Fae was taking him. But putting Deni under the Fae’s power wasn’t what he wanted either. Jace hugged his arms over his chest, his instincts tearing through him, warring with his common sense. It was hell going feral.
“Now,” Fionn said. He didn’t touch Jace, as though he knew Jace would attack him if he did, but his voice galvanized. Jace could well believe this man was a general.
Jace caught Deni around the waist. Her gray eyes were large, filled with fear, but behind the fear, Jace saw her mating frenzy answering his. He kissed her, savoring the taste of her warm lips, then he cupped her cheek, pulled on his jacket again, and followed Fionn into the night.
* * *
“And you are?” the female police officer asked Deni. The woman wore a bulletproof vest and a riot helmet and carried two pistols, while her male counterpart had a pistol and a tranq rifle. They’d come prepared to do battle against Shifters if need be. They found most Shifters peacefully cooking out, as Sean was doing behind Liam’s house.