Jennifer Ashley: Feral Heat

Deni had wondered what Liam would do with the young woman. Dylan now went to her, and the woman’s defiance dissolved into terror. Dylan stopped a foot in front of her, in her personal space. “Tell my son what you told me,” Dylan said.

Her chin came up. “Why should I?”

She was young, even for a human. In her midtwenties, Deni guessed, if that. Connor, who was only a little younger than Joanne, shook his head. “I’d tell him. If you think Grandda’s scary, wait ’til you face Uncle Liam.”

Broderick squeezed her shoulder. “Best get it over with.” He sounded sympathetic, interestingly enough.

Joanne took a deep breath. “Because you took my sister,” she said.

Liam blinked in surprise, and so did most of the Shifters present. “Your sister?”

“My sister, Nancy,” Joanne said. “She’s the true Shifter groupie. Loves to chase Shifters. She was here, in Shiftertown. Then she disappeared. What did you do with her?”

Liam gave her a blank look. “We didn’t do anything with her, lass. Where was she last? With what Shifter?”

“I don’t know.” Joanne’s eyes flashed anger. “Does it matter what Shifter? She was at your bar, then she went to your fight club. That was a few weeks ago. She hasn’t come home since.”

“And the human police agree with you that a Shifter must have taken her?” Deni couldn’t help asking.

Joanne looked even angrier. “They say they have no evidence of harm. They think she ran off on her own.”

Dylan didn’t move any closer to Joanne, but his look of menace was hard. “And so you stir up trouble for all Shifters, endangering us, our mates, our cubs, without coming to us and asking about her first?”

Joanne stepped back in fear, bumping into Broderick, but she spoke in a clear voice. “Come to you? Why should I come to you ?”

Dylan started to answer, but Broderick took a step sideways, putting himself in a position where he could defend Joanne against the others if need be. “Go easy on her,” he said to Dylan. “She’s afraid for her sister. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if you lost track of someone you loved inside another Shiftertown.”

Dylan’s expression hardened. “No, what I would do is find the right culprit and shake him until he coughed up what he knew. And then decide whether to let him live.”

“She’s been telling me about it,” Broderick said, as Joanne gazed at Dylan in fear. “I don’t think a Shifter took her sister, but it looks like something happened around a Shifter event. You and Liam have all kinds of resources. Help her.”

Liam gave Broderick a thoughtful look. “Maybe we will. Dad.”

Dylan looked over Broderick and Joanne, then he turned away. Without a word, he walked out of the living room and then out the front door with an even stride. The bang of the door in his wake was loud, and for a moment, no one said anything. Dylan often did such things—keeping his own council and walking away to solve problems on his own. He was older than most Shifters in Shiftertown, and had experience and wisdom no one else had. The Shifters had learned to tolerate his abruptness.

Liam cleared his throat. “Since you like her so much, Broderick, you’re in charge of her,” he said. “I don’t want her talking to the police, or going anywhere or doing anything without me knowing. Got it?”

“Sure,” Broderick said. “Lighten up, Liam.”

Liam blinked again. Deni saw Liam deliberately let Broderick’s admonition go before he gave Joanne a slow nod. “We’re going to help you find out what happened to your sister. But you behave—understand?”

Joanne was bewildered—she must have thought the Shifters would kill her, or at least imprison her and do terrible things to her—but she nodded. Broderick stayed protectively in front of her, and Liam ended the meeting.

“I think he’s smitten,” Deni said to Jace as they walked back to her house across the street. “Broderick, I mean.”

They mounted the porch steps of Deni’s house, and Jace pushed Deni against a porch post. “So am I. Smitten is a good word for it.”

His kiss stirred fires that hadn’t gone out. Deni wound her arms around his neck and enjoyed him for a moment.

“I meant what I said,” she murmured as their mouths drew apart. “About the Collar. I’ll let Sean do what he needs to. I want it off.”

“I do too.” Jace touched the chain on her neck. “I’ll be with you, Den. And when you’re free, we’ll do some celebrating.”

“Why wait?” Deni smiled into his face, and Jace’s serious look dissolved into a wicked grin.

“Wild woman,” Jace said.

“Always.”

Jace led her into the empty house and to the basement, the two of them laughing as they stumbled down the stairs. Jace kicked the door closed at the bottom as he kissed her again. They waltzed their way into the bedroom they’d been using, hands stripping off each other’s clothes while their mouths locked into long, hot kisses.

“I love you, Jace Warden,” Deni said as they went down onto the bed.

“I love you too, Deni Rowe. So much.” Jace drew her up to him, stoking the fires inside her. “Thank you for finding me.”

“You found me ,” Deni said. “Healed me too.”

“Mmm.” Jace closed his eyes as he slid inside her. His voice went low. “You healed me. We healed each other.” He put his hand on hers, the streak where the bracelet had burned him already closed to a red scar. Their fingers touched, spread. “You and me. One.”

Jace laced his fingers through hers, and Deni closed their hands together. “One,” she said, then she let out a cry as Jace thrust into her with a firmer stroke. “Always.”

“Always,” Jace said, and then there was nothing but the sounds of lovemaking, and happiness.

Sorrow fled, and Deni proved to herself what a beautiful thing it was losing control in the arms of the Shifter she loved.

Deni and Jace were mated in the full-sun ceremony the next day, bringing down the blessings of the Father God on the union. The full-moon ceremony, the final sealing of the mates, happened a few nights later, after Deni had had her Collar removed, at her insistence.

It was severely painful, and how Sean got the remaining gold from the bracelet to blend with the Collar and loosen it, Deni wasn’t quite sure. She only knew that the Collar had come off, link by slow link. It had hurt, yes, but Deni knew her release had come with nowhere near the agony that had suffused Jace when they’d tried to take his Collar off him. She’d also not felt the need to shift to her beast to give in to her feral instincts, as Jace had. The Fae gold made the difference.

Jace had been there, right next to her, snarling at a nervous Sean every minute. When Sean had lifted the Collar free and Deni took a long breath, Jace had pulled her hard into his arms, his eyes wet.

Deni, now fitted with a fake silver Collar, stood with Jace in the grove behind the houses under the moonlight, with Eric and Liam in front of them. Both had decided they’d jointly perform the full-moon ceremony—Liam because it was his Shiftertown and he was fond of Deni; Eric because Jace was his son.

Shifters gathered in circles, the chanting already beginning. So was the drinking and partying. Ellison stood next to Deni, proud and grinning, Maria on his arm smiling her sweet smile. Behind Deni were Jackson and Will, deliriously happy for their mother, but plenty willing to tease both her and Jace.

Iona had come, standing next to Eric, with Eric’s sister, Cassidy, and her mate, a human named Diego, next to her. Marlo, recovered from his bang-up but lamenting about the loss of his beloved plane, had also come.