"i can't go anywhere. my back door is broken."

two small panes had been smashed, the lock ripped out. "i'll take care of that."

liam unhooked his cell phone and made some calls. voices on the other end promised to come and replace the glass and fix the lock in half an hour. "does the human woman have any beer?"

"bring your own," liam growled and clicked off the phone.

kim had a stunned look on her face. "what are you doing?"

"i keep telling you, sweetheart, it's my fault the bastard attacked you. i have friends who will take care of things, as a favor to me."

"shifter friends."

"what other kind? come on, we'll leave them to it."

liam somehow convinced her to walk out of the house and open the garage, but he took the car keys from kim's shaking hands and drove her back to shiftertown himself.

sean was right, liam was effing crazy, but he had to do this. kim needed protecting, but then, so did the shifters. liam would have to combine the two needs. dylan would be livid, but liam also had the feeling that dylan would understand. fergus, now...well, liam would deal with fergus when he had to.

"this is where you work," kim said, as liam parked behind the bar in the tiny space reserved for him.

"well spotted, love. they do a mean chicken-fried steak."

kim's eyes flared with sudden hunger. did she starve herself, the little sweetheart? she had a man, she'd said. why didn't the idiot take care of her?

the bar was full when they walked in. shifters predominated the crowd, with a handful of humans who'd either become friends with shifters, had come in to gawk, or were shifter groupies. most patrons hovered at the long wraparound bar, but liam guided kim to an empty booth and sat her down.

liam's heart was thumping, his adrenaline still high. he'd have to endure the agony sooner or later, but he hoped it held off long enough for him to enjoy his meal.

"two chicken-fried steaks, annie, and a mess of chips."

the tall, svelte shifter woman who'd come to wait on them rolled her eyes. "we call them french fries over here, liam. i tell you all the time. not chips."

"i don't see anyone french in this bar," liam said, continuing the usual banter between himself and annie.

"the new cook is cajun. close enough."

"and we'll need something to drink," liam said. "what will you have, kim?"

"white wine?"

white wine. she was precious. "you don't want to drink the wine here. bring me a pint of plain, annie."

"guinness," annie said, noting it on her pad. "for you, miss?"

"a tecate," kim said. she glared at liam. "with a lime, please."

"you got it." annie whisked away, her tight barmaid shorts clinging to her trim behind. every male in the bar turned to watch her pass, but once she'd gone their gazes swiveled back to kim.

"why is everyone staring at me?" kim whispered. "i'm not the only human here."

but she was the only one scent-marked. every shifter, male and female, had caught what liam had done. nostrils widened, eyes flickered in acknowledgment. kim belonged to liam, and anyone who bothered her would answer to liam. message sent and received.

"i'm looking after you, and they know it."

"why did you want to come here? we passed two ihops on the way."

"it's safer."

kim glanced around. "for you or for me?"

"for both of us."

he quieted as annie set down one sweating bottle of guinness and one of tecate, lime firmly wedged into the opening.

"are you going to explain why you didn't call the police on that shifter?" kim shoved her lime entirely into the liquid and lifted the bottle to drink. her tongue came out and touched the bottle's opening before her lips closed around it.

goddess help me, it's hot in here.

liam clenched his beer bottle, but the cold bite on his palm did nothing to calm him. "what do you think would happen if your human police found out he was on the loose?" he asked. "shifters would be hunted, and the hunters not too worried about whether they brought down a collared shifter or a feral. just so long as they got one."

"all right, i can see that. with one shifter already on trial, people would freak if another one went crazy." kim leaned forward, letting liam see that this blouse didn't stay fastened any better than the last one had. "do you think he killed the girl brian is supposed to have murdered?"

"i wish it could be that easy. we weren't aware of him until a few nights ago, when he killed the shifter woman. he wasn't around before that. brian's girlfriend died months ago."

"how do you know he wasn't here?" she wrinkled her nose. "of course, you'd have remembered smelling him."

liam acknowledged that with a laugh.

"what did you mean by 'collared shifters'?" kim went on. "sounds like collard greens. before tonight, i thought all shifters wore collars. it's the law."

this was getting complicated. liam sifted through what was safe to tell her. hell, none of this was safe. "not all shifters took the collar. your human government knows that, but they keep it to themselves."

kim's slim fingers toyed with her beer bottle, but she didn't drink again. she watched him with intelligent eyes. beautiful eyes. damn, it's been way too long...

"you make it sound like wearing the collar is a choice."

"it is, love," liam said. "it's a choice we were given twenty years ago, and we made it. most of us. some shifters chose to remain wild."

"you mean free."

"hunted. dying. pushed out. we might have survived maybe five more years if we hadn't taken the collars."

"are you saying you chose subjugation to save yourselves?"

liam shrugged, pretending to agree. "our lines were dying out. we weren't fertile, and children that managed to get born often didn't last their first year. now look at us."

kim moved her gaze from him to the filled room. at the bar jordie ross stood with his four sons, all tall and bulky, talking and laughing loudly. their mother had survived their births-she was sitting in a booth on the other side of the room with a couple of friends.

another shifter woman held her hand on her swelling belly while her husband kept a protective arm around her. she was prudently drinking bottled water, leaning back against her husband.

"liam." a tall figure cut his vision. "nice human you've got there."

liam looked up and scowled. "ellison. get lost, man. i'm trying to convince her that shifters are civilized."

the tall man laughed. as usual, ellison wore a black button-up shirt and jeans, cowboy boots, and big hat. he loved texas, had adopted the state when his shifter clan relocated from colorado. some of his clan missed the cool air of the rockies, but ellison rowe embraced texas hill country, even with its humidity, mosquitoes, bad traffic, and state congressmen.

"don't believe him." ellison thunked into the booth next to liam and smiled at kim. "liam doesn't have a civilized bone in his body." even ellison's grin was wolfish.

"i'm sure she's comforted, hearing that from a lupine."

"lupine?" kim wrinkled her brow. "i heard you say that before."

"means i'm a wolf, baby," ellison said. "not a pu**ycat."

kim's eyes took on a touch of fear. liam reached across and touched her hand. "it's all right. he's a good wolf."

"don't tell her that. i'm the big, bad wolf."

"like the feral shifter," kim said softly.

ellison instantly lost his grin. "what?"

liam shot kim a warning look. "a rogue. i took care of it."

"he was a wolf? damn. i'm sorry, liam."

"i said i took care of it."

ellison frowned, his big body folding in on itself, his sunny nature dimming.

"two chicken-fried steaks, extra gravy," annie said, depositing the food in front of them. "and a mess of fries. anything else you need?"

"bring me a beer, honey." ellison glanced at kim's and liam's bottles. "a good old-fashioned american beer, nothing irish, mexican, or german."

"we got some strawberry blonde ale in the back," annie said. "made right here in austin."

she swished away before ellison could protest. "aw, i hate microbrew. yuppie beer."

"then i won't invite you to the annual microbrew tasting party," kim said, as liam munched a crispy, hot chip. they were chips, damn it. what ass**le came up with french fries? "brewers from around the county set up booths and give free tastings all day long. you have to be invited, but i'm allowed to bring guests."

ellison's face fell. "well, maybe it's not so bad. some of these brews are downright good."

liam laughed at him, but his heart warmed. kim was no wilting flower. she was scared, angry, uncertain, and unhappy, but she wasn't going to hunch in on herself and cry.

good. she needed to be strong to take shifters. she'd have to take the lot of them, now, because she wouldn't be going home tonight.

chapter six

kim ate hungrily. getting attacked and watching her attacker die did that to a girl.

this was all so weird. the cowboy sitting next to liam, sipping his pale beer while watching liam put away his chicken-fried steak, made jokes, but his eyes were wary, watchful-going from dark blue to light and back again as he and liam talked.

ellison seemed very upset that the feral had been a wolf shifter. why? because liam and sean, who'd killed him, were big cats? kim didn't understand what difference that made. a shifter was a shifter. wasn't he?

kim sensed that she'd stumbled upon something with layers and layers of complexity. she'd been so confident she could help brian, striking a blow for shifter rights at the same time, but now she wondered at her ego. the more she'd learned about shifters today, the more she realized how very little she knew.

ellison eventually moved off to talk to others, taking his microbrew with him. kim wiped her mouth with the extra napkins annie had brought. "thank you. i guess i needed the food."

"a good meal with a good friend is one of the joys of life," liam said, sounding like he meant it. "even if it's in a shifter bar."

kim's chest felt suddenly hollow. she yearned for this kind of simplicity, but her life was chaotic and stressful and so damned busy. how long had it been since she and her girlfriends had met for a meal, to talk and catch up? to laugh and wallow in memories of friendship? too long. one of them had moved out of state since the last time the group had met, and the others were caught up in their own lives. kim hadn't talked to most of her friends for more than a minute in months. silas was the only exception and that was only because of his interest in brian's case for his documentary. but even his e-mails were brief.

she put down her fork. "i really should get back home. your friends have probably repaired my door by now, and i have to work tomorrow."

"you're working on a sunday?"

"i'll work at home, but i have a lot to do. cases to prepare, appeals to file. brian's only one of my responsibilities."

liam piled his silverware on his plate, pushed his plate and hers aside, and clasped kim's hands. his movements were jerky, and his skin was hot. "you need to come home with me first."

"why?" not that, with his hands warm on hers and his sexy blue eyes gazing at her, she wanted to argue much.