kim set her can carefully on a tv tray. "want to tell me why? or do you have a fetish about stealing other people's luggage?"

it was dylan who answered. "because you're staying here, kim. liam knew you'd want your things."

"what do you mean, staying here? spending the night? i haven't had that much to drink."

liam slid his arm around her, strong, holding her there. "you need to stay."

"the shifter wolf is dead. you and sean killed him. i'm safe now." finally the thing niggling at her broke through the fog in her brain. "liam, how were you able to kill him? your collar should have stopped you from fighting, even against another shifter. right?"

liam said nothing. she felt sean standing above her, connor's awkward uneasiness, and dylan's strong silence.

"liam?"

liam's eyes were blue, hard, holding her gaze. "i'm sorry, love. that's why we can't let you go."

chapter seven

she took it well. liam had to give her that.

no screaming, no outraged swearing, no gibbering in terror. kim simply looked at him, her eyes unreadable.

"why not?" she asked steadily. "if i can prove that brian had nothing to do with the murder, it won't matter whether his collar can malfunction. i have no reason to share the information far and wide."

"you should let someone else take over brian's defense," dylan said.

now the anger came. "oh, no, no, no. this case is going to make my career. besides, i'm your best hope of springing him."

dylan's eyes were hard. "brian understands the need to protect the shifters."

kim struggled from liam's embrace and sprang to her feet. "are you saying you'd let him go down? make him pretend his collar malfunctioned to keep everyone from knowing the collars don't work at all?"

"this isn't about the collars," liam said. "and anyway, the collars do work."

"you're crazy. if brian's found guilty, he gets the death sentence for shifters. do you know what that means?"

"he won't die at the hands of the human government," dylan said. "if he's convicted, we'll take care that he doesn't face an executioner."

"what, you'll send sean to turn him to dust?"

sean looked away, unable to meet her eyes.

"no, not sean." liam stood up beside her. "it's not his job."

kim gave him an uncomprehending look; then her eyes widened. "you mean it's yours? oh, jesus effing christ, liam."

"it's a shifter problem," dylan said in his quiet voice.

"and now i'm a shifter problem? you can't take my word that i won't tell anyone? liam, you saved my life tonight. i owe you."

"it's not up to us," sean broke in. "we don't make the law."

"the oldest excuse in the book. aren't you the leader around here, dylan? can't you make, you know, an executive decision?"

dylan shook his head. "these are clan matters and shifter secrets. only fergus can override the law."

"who the hell is fergus?"

"the leader of the south texas clan," liam answered. "dad thinks you should have a hearing with him. i don't agree."

"why not? maybe this fergus will see reason."

"fergus? reason?" liam wanted to laugh. he thought about the big man with the long black braid, the thugs he surrounded himself with. fergus hadn't been happy when kim managed to get brian a jury trial. he'd wanted brian to plead guilty and be done, the human prodding into shifter business over. liam still didn't understand why fergus was so ready to wash his hands of brian, but brian had been ready to obey.

until kim had persuaded brian to fight. of course she had. kim was a fighter. fergus had been livid when he learned brian had a competent defense attorney.

"he's dangerous, kim," liam said, his voice sharp with worry. "all shifters are dangerous, fergus especially so. you shouldn't have come to see me at all."

"i owe it to my client to try to help him get free."

"and now you know too damned much."

"keep it quiet, liam," dylan growled. "i can contain this, but not if the neighbors hear you..."

kim looked wildly out the window to the house next door. "what? what happens if the neighbors hear?"

"they might go to fergus," sean said. "we might not be able to stop them. we're your best protection."

"you can't keep me here." she had good lung power for such a small woman.

"we can and we will," dylan said, eyes glittering. "we protect the clan."

connor looked distressed. "stop it, grandda'. you're scaring her. she's going to think we're all crazy."

she'd not be far from wrong, liam thought. kim quivered with rage and fear, and liam felt the overwhelming need to put his arms around her and soothe her. she needed to be held in the same way he and sean had held sandra, calming her nerves, easing her worry.

holding kim would calm liam as well. his adrenaline was wearing off-he could tell by the dull buzzing in his head. very soon now, he'd start to pay the price for killing the feral shifter. sean didn't look as bad, but then sean hadn't fought; he'd only dispatched the feral's soul.

"keeping you here is the safest thing," liam said to kim. "if fergus thinks we have you under control, he won't send anyone to make sure you are."

kim's anger would have knocked a weaker man sideways. she'd started to trust liam, and now she felt betrayed. "under control?"

"kim, love, when i said i'd protect you, i meant it. that means from everyone, my own father or my clan leader if necessary. if you go home tonight, fergus will send shifters after you. i'd have to stay with you, bodyguard you day and night." liam ran a finger along her chin. "not that i'd find that a bad thing."

kim stared at him without softening. he wished he could make her understand that she'd put herself in danger the minute she'd taken brian's case. dylan and fergus had argued long and hard when kim had sent word she wanted to talk to liam, and now kim was in greater peril than ever.

someone banged on the front door, and liam caught a scent of lupine overlaid with a large dose of oscar de la renta.

sean rolled his eyes. "perfect. she's all we're needing."

"your door's locked," a woman's voice called through the wood.

"let her in, sean," dylan said, resigned.

"about time." a tall woman dressed head to toe in black walked in when sean opened the door. she wore tight pants and a sleeveless silk shirt and had folded her blonde hair into an intricate french braid. silver high-heeled sandals studded with rhinestones completed her outfit. "why'd you lock the door? you never lock it." she fixed white-blue eyes on kim. "who's this human woman, and why are you all yelling?"

the newcomer was lithe, with athletic grace, the kind of female kim had despised when struggling with teen self-esteem. this shifter lady could be a model for a fashion doll, except that she exuded personality with a capital p. even her collar gleamed.

liam, sean, and connor viewed her with irritation. dylan looked downright uncomfortable and avoided her gaze. interesting.

the woman put a long-fingered hand on one hip. "i'm getting into bed when i hear my big cat neighbors trying to calm down a shouting woman. what am i supposed to think?" she pinned kim with her predatory stare. "what are you doing to them, honey?"

kim looked the woman up and down, pretending she wasn't unnerved. "that's what you wear to bed?"

"depends on who's in it with me." the woman's gaze slid sideways to dylan, who pretended not to notice. "who is she?"

"none of your business, glory," connor tried.

of all of them, connor seemed to be the most oblivious to her overt sexuality. but then, if this glory had something going on with dylan, his grandfather, connor would probably think her impossibly old. even if she looked thirty at most. damn, shifters had good genes.

glory sniffed the air, nostrils flaring. "liam's scent-marked her. i never knew your tastes ran to humans, liam."

liam slid an arm around kim's waist, and kim wished it didn't feel so good there. "i'm protecting her from nosy shifters."

"sure you are." glory's light blue gaze moved up and down kim with too much perception. "but who protects you from her?"

liam's grip tightened. "good night, glory."

glory smiled a knowing smile, her lipstick coral pink. "all right, i won't pry." she gave kim another assessing look. "big cats are sensational, sweetie. i keep some extra-large condoms handy if you need them." she spun on the toes of her shiny shoes and sauntered out, blackclad hips swaying.

"i can see why you worry about your neighbors," kim said as sean closed the door again. "she's really something."

"glory's a lupine," connor said. "she's always giving us grief. why she wants to live in a big cat neighborhood, i don't know."

"she doesn't have a choice, does she?" liam looked out the window, probably making sure that glory went back to her own house and stayed there. "i'm taking kim up to my room-alone. we need to have a chat."

"to your room?" kim stared. "why?" she wished she weren't so intrigued at the thought. she needed to be afraid of these men, to flee them, to not let them keep her here.

then she thought of the feral shifter in her bedroom and her big empty house with the dusty shifter remains on her carpet. contrasted with this bright, warm house, her own place suddenly had too many ghosts.

"you'll sleep up in my room," liam was saying. "it's the cleanest. i even do hospital corners." he picked up kim's bag, then put his arm around her waist again. he liked doing that, as though she naturally belonged in his embrace.

"wait a minute. you expect me to stay overnight in a house with four single men?"

sean grinned. "we're perfect gentlemen, kim. everyone knows that. don't let us worry you."

"i'm not worried about my reputation, i'm worried about the state of the bathrooms."

liam laughed softly, his warm breath tickling her ear. "they did a cleanup when i told them you were coming. and if they didn't, they'll be doing it now, won't they? this way, love."

liam took her to a roomy upstairs hall with three bedrooms and bath and a stair that led to an attic. kim had to admit everything looked nice. polished wood, freshly painted walls, clean carpets. but the house was definitely missing feminine touches, which made it a little sad and incomplete.

liam led her into a large bedroom with only one picture on the wall, a travel poster of a green vista in ireland.

"interesting neighbors you have," kim said. "do she and your dad have something going on? i noticed a lot of tension there."

liam closed the door and dumped kim's bag on the floor. "she and dad have an on-again, off-again affair. when they get along, it's a beautiful thing."

"and when they don't?"

"we head for the hills. right now they're in neutral."

"that was neutral? i see what you mean about heading for the hills. she's a wolf shifter, connor said, but your dad is a big cat like you?"