Shifters Unbound: Mate Claimed Part 23

Kellerman raised his hands. "Boys."

"What happened to them?" Eric asked. "Where were they taken? What was done to them?"

"I swear to you, Mr. Warden, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then find out." Eric didn't move, didn't approach, but he might as well have picked up Kellerman by the lapels and slammed him into the nearest wall. "I want to know who did it, what was done, and why."

"Don't give me ultimatums, Mr. Warden. You're s.h.i.+ftertown leader by our sufferance."

Eric's eyes narrowed. "The deal is, we put on Collars and follow your rules. In return, you let our kids grow up safe, and you don't mess with them."

Kellerman met Eric's stare with one of his own. The man wasn't afraid, but not because he was brave, Iona decided. She guessed he'd lived so long without anyone challenging him that he considered himself invulnerable. Not very smart.

"Fine, I'll find out," Kellerman said. "But it was probably nothing. The bus must have broken down."

"Broken down, my a.s.s," Graham said. "Moving here wasn't my choice, but you and your little council promised me safe pa.s.sage for the females and cubs. Anything happens to them, and you'll find out how p.i.s.sed off I can truly get."

Kellerman reddened. "Are you threatening me, McNeil?"

"Sounds like a threat, doesn't it?"

"I can have you arrested for even speaking to me like that."

"Humans. When you have to call on your warriors every time you're in the least bit of danger, you know what happens?" Graham leaned to Kellerman. "You get weak."

Kellerman at last showed uneasiness, but he didn't step back. Graham grinned in his face, then turned his back on him.

Eric remained where he was, like a solid pillar, unmoving. Her hunger for him flared.

I need him...

"I'm sorry you're taking this stance, Mr. Warden," Kellerman said with the air of someone unjustly insulted. "I will look into the matter, but I can guarantee it was nothing dangerous. You've wasted a very good opportunity today to show the world that s.h.i.+fters and humans are working together. You need a lot of good PR on your side if you want to be fully accepted into human society."

Graham turned around at this and opened his mouth, but Iona glared at him. The Lupine actually gave her an acknowledging nod and kept quiet.

"Catch you next time," Eric said to Kellerman.

"There might not be a next time." Kellerman turned his attention to Penny and Iona. "I'm sorry that you had to witness this, ladies. Why don't we go, gentlemen, and leave them in peace?"

So, Kellerman saw himself as protecting Iona and her mother from the s.h.i.+fters. That was rich.

"Agreed," Eric said. He gestured at the door. "After you."

Graham looked meanly delighted. Ca.s.sidy had explained to Iona that s.h.i.+fters considered having the strongest s.h.i.+fter going first through a door the right thing to do-the s.h.i.+fter made sure all was safe on the other side for the weaker members of the party. A dominant s.h.i.+fter sending someone else out first was an insult, implying that the s.h.i.+fter didn't think the person worth protecting. Kellerman would a.s.sume Eric was deferring to him, when in reality, Eric was spitting in Kellerman's face.

Kellerman gave Eric a gracious nod. "Warden."

Eric walked out right after him, not saying good-bye to Iona or Penny. He wasn't being rude, Iona knew, but keeping Kellerman from knowing that Iona and her mother were important to him.

Graham, on the other hand, faced both of them full-on as the door closed behind Eric.

"So you're her mum," he said to Penny. "The human lady who couldn't resist a s.h.i.+fter. I get that."

Penny flushed, and Iona made an exasperated noise. "Your ego is the size of a city, did you know that?" Iona said Graham gave her a grin that wasn't friendly. "That's not the only thing super-sized, sweetheart. You should have found that out when you had the chance."

"Are you talking about your a.s.s or your head?"

Graham growled. "I was right-you are a mouthy b.i.t.c.h. Warden can have the joy of you. See you in s.h.i.+ftertown, babe."

He started to leave again, but Iona said, "Wait. Are they safe? The missing s.h.i.+fters. They're back?"

Graham's sarcasm left him. "All of them. They'd been tranqed. I think they'll be all right, but we won't really know until they wake up."

"The G.o.ddess go with them," Iona said, repeating what she'd heard the other s.h.i.+fters say.

Graham looked surprised at the blessing then gave her another nod. "Thanks," he said, and then he went.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

In the darkness of the night, Eric sat at the foot of his bed and touched the match to the last candle on the small table in front of him. The glow of candles surrounded the framed photograph of Kirsten, Eric's mate.

The photo had been taken more than thirty years ago, before digital cameras. The image was slightly yellowed, the paper s.h.i.+ny and stiff.

Eric and Kirsten had been walking along a loch on a rare sunny day in northern Scotland. She'd turned, laughing, and Eric had snapped her picture. Not long after that, Kirsten had discovered she was carrying her first cub, Jace.

In the photo, the wind and sun played in Kirsten's golden hair, her smile as warm as when Eric had first seen it. They'd both been excited and eager for life-by the time the photo had been taken, they'd started giving up on ever having young. The weekend by the loch had been a magical time.

The other thing on the table was a tiny stuffed leopard, black and gold, like Kirsten.

Eric dropped the spent match into an ashtray, rested his hands on his knees, and drew a long breath. Meditation and prayer were supposed to calm him, but Eric searched in vain for calmness.

He'd spent the bulk of the afternoon and evening helping Graham settle the new wolves. The ones that had been kidnapped had woken groggy, scared, and cranky. They hadn't wanted to see Eric, a Feline, in their midst, but he'd waded in, with Ca.s.sidy and Jace, and tried to soothe their fears.

Graham, Eric had seen, was a good leader. He knew how to get his s.h.i.+fters to do what was needed without bullying them. He had crude strength but common sense, and his wolves followed him willingly. They didn't mindlessly obey but looked to him for guidance.

Eric wasn't about to bow out and relinquish s.h.i.+ftertown to him, but he admitted that Graham knew what he was doing. Leading wasn't just about dominating everything in your path, and Graham appeared to know that.

At least the Lupines were settling down in their temporary quarters together, unpacking, beginning the adjustment. Eric had sent all his Felines home, gulped down a meal Diego and Jace put together, and retreated here.

To think.

His thoughts roiled and spun, the hunger in him uncontrollable.

He knew Iona had rejected his mate-claim only to stay ahead of Graham in the s.h.i.+fter game-she hadn't seen it as an emotional decision, but one to expedite things. h.e.l.l, Eric had told her that the mate-claim was a convenience, to protect her from other s.h.i.+fters while Eric decided what to do.

What a liar he was.

But Iona's rejection had kicked the s.h.i.+fter in him in the gut. The beast wanted Eric to go after Iona and carry her home by the scruff of her neck, or roar in an onslaught of pain. The big, bad s.h.i.+fter leader had been brought down by a half-human s.h.i.+fter with eyes the color of a deep Scottish loch.

He traced the outline of Kirsten's face. "I miss you."

Eric knew what he had to do, and he wanted Kirsten, somehow, to know.

She smiled, understanding.

The door opened so softly Eric barely heard it. Ca.s.sidy sat down next to him on the foot of the bed, her warm weight rolling against him. She looked at the photo of Kirsten, touched the little stuffed leopard, and breathed a prayer of her own.

"She would have liked Iona," Ca.s.sidy said.

Eric nodded and didn't answer.

"I think it's the right thing to do," Ca.s.s went on.

Eric let out a faint laugh. "I told Iona that I wanted to bring her in for her own protection, to keep her safe until she learned how to be s.h.i.+fter. That's total bulls.h.i.+t, isn't it?"

"Yeah." His sister nodded. "You saw her, you said, G.o.ddess, she's hot, and you tried to figure out how to get her into your bed."

Eric flicked his fingers over the nape of his neck. "Somewhere in the back of my brain."

"I'd say it was pretty much in the front of your brain. You haven't consummated anything yet though, no matter that she's spent the night in here a couple times. I'd know. No wonder you're twitchy."

"Mmph. s.h.i.+fters don't understand the meaning of privacy, do they?"

"Not in this family." Ca.s.sidy ran her fingers through Eric's short hair and kissed him above his ear. "Go, Eric. You deserve a little happiness. G.o.ddess knows you've given up so much of it for the rest of us. Jace thinks so too." She smiled. "Well, what he said was: When is Dad going to bring Iona home for good and get this done? He's driving us all crazy."

"Sounds like Jace." Eric rested his hand on Ca.s.sidy's knee. "I didn't want to go without saying good-bye."

Ca.s.sidy knew he didn't mean to her or Jace. "It's never good-bye when you had the mate bond. She'll still always be a part of us."

She would. Eric touched Kirsten's face again, then he and Ca.s.sidy blew out the candles.

The hunger was controlling her now. Iona paced the downstairs rooms of her house, shaking, sweating, and hoping like h.e.l.l she could hold herself together.

She'd done pretty well at the office while her mother demanded Iona tell her everything that had happened over the last few days. Her mother had listened, both alarmed and angry.

"So what are you going to do?" Penny had asked.

"I don't know." Iona's hunger had started to flare, and she'd known she needed to get out of that office and home where she wouldn't hurt anyone. "I can't keep it secret that I'm s.h.i.+fter forever. Eric says he can fix the records to show I've always been s.h.i.+fter, always been part of s.h.i.+ftertown. I didn't believe him before, but now that I've been there, and I've seen..."

She'd closed her mouth, knowing she couldn't betray the s.h.i.+fters' secret places under their houses and what they kept there, not even to her mother. Not yet.

"I think they can do it," Iona finished.

Penny's eyes filled. "I just don't want to lose you."

"You won't." Iona put her arms around the smaller woman. "No matter what, you won't."

Penny's hugs had always been able to comfort her. Not today. Iona was restless and worried, feeling trapped. She hadn't been this way in s.h.i.+ftertown-her hungers had been somewhat abated there.

What had Eric done to her? Addicted her to s.h.i.+fters?

But, no, this restlessness had begun before she'd met Eric, starting with what she now knew was called her Transition. She'd survived that only to have her frenzies flare again with mating hunger. If Eric hadn't found her that night in Coolers, she'd by now either be a puddle of quivering goo, or else out in the woods as a panther, unable to remember how to be human.

Iona had gone home after that, eaten everything in her refrigerator, and started on what was in the freezer. She stared at the low-calorie frozen meals she'd bought a few weeks ago, thinking herself virtuous. She couldn't believe her stupidity.

Snarling, Iona hauled all the boxes out of the freezer and threw them into the garbage.

No, wait. The spaghetti ones were pretty good. She grabbed all the spaghetti and tomato sauce dinner boxes back out of the trash, ripped them open, sc.r.a.ped them all into a bowl, and popped the bowl in the microwave. She waited impatiently for the stuff to heat up, then she gulped down the entire bowl of pasta, the red sauce sliding down to ruin her pristine white s.h.i.+rt.

Not enough. Iona tossed the empty bowl-which she'd licked clean-into the sink, tore off her sauce-stained clothes, showered, brushed her teeth, and dressed again in sweats and a tank top.

There. Civilized.

And still starving. Iona walked back through the dark house, not bothering with the lights. She could order pizza again, but she worried about what she'd do to the guy who brought it, in the state she was in.

She called Eric. He didn't answer. She knew he'd walked out of the office without saying good-bye because he was protecting her from Kellerman. He didn't want Kellerman to know Iona was anything to him, that he even noticed her in the room. Iona knew that, and still felt empty.

Iona threw the phone down. She s.h.i.+vered, so hungry. She had to get out.

And then he was there. Eric came out of the shadows of her back hall while Iona was reaching for her keys. She didn't bother wondering how he'd gotten in. Eric always found a way.

Without a word, Eric took the keys from her fingers and dropped them on the table, then he flowed against her, and their mouths met.

Eric twined his fingers through hers, lifting their hands out to their sides, and turned slowly with her as though they danced. All the while he kissed her in silence, his mouth a place of heat.

Their bodies fused, her sweatpants thin enough that she could feel his hardness in his jeans. She loved the ridge of it against her, remembered the feel of it in her hand, wanted it inside her.

"Eric," she whispered.

He caught the word on his lips. He opened her mouth and explored it in long, sultry strokes of his tongue, licking, then nipping. He still wore his leather coat, the scent of it mixing with his musk and his taste.

Eric drew their twined hands up between them, releasing her mouth to transfer hot, slow kisses to her fingers.

"Be my mate," he said. "Sun and moon. Say yes." He sucked the tip of her middle finger into his mouth. "I'm dying for you, Iona."

She was dying for him. "You want me to be s.h.i.+fter."

"You are s.h.i.+fter. Experience it with me, at my side."

"I want..." Heat and frustration warred within in her. "I don't know what I want."

"It doesn't matter. I need you." Eric touched his face to hers. "It's killing me."