Jennifer Ashley - Pride Mates

"Do Shifters have belly buttons?" she asked.

Liam's preoccupied look dissolved into a smile. "You're a treasure, lass. The gods sent you to us, I think."

"It just occurred to me."

Liam eased his T-shirt upward. His jeans rode low on his waist, baring his flat stomach and the indentation of his navel.

"I'm human in every way when I'm in this form," he said. "It's not only our appearance that changes. It's everything. Bones, muscles, organs. It's hellacious painful when we first do it."

"How old were you when you shifted the first time?" Kim couldn't drag her gaze from his abdomen. She wanted to taste his belly button and slide her tongue down from there to his low-riding waistband.

"I was about five as humans count years. I was still a cub. I remember thinking I was dying."

"It must have been weird to suddenly be a wildcat--whatever kind of cat you are."

"It's called a Fae-cat. But you've got it the other way 'round, love. I lived as a wildcat for five years before I shifted to human. Standing up on two feet and having eyes that couldn't see so well in the dark--it scared the bejesus out of me."

"You were born a cat?"

"My parents were both full-blood Feline Shifters, so yes. When there's a mix--wolf and cat Shifter, or wolf and bear, say--then you're born a human babe. You shift to whatever is the dominant gene when you're about five or six."

Interesting. None of her research had told her any of this, which made her realize just how little humans knew about Shifters. "What is a Fae-cat, exactly? I couldn't decide if you were mountain lion or leopard or what."

"It's hard to explain to a non-Shifter. We're a unique breed, left over from times before humans populated the earth. The Fae made us. They bred in the strengths of all members of the big cat family, at least the big cats of ancient times, the ancestors of wildcats that exist now. We're fast like cheetahs, can see in the dark like leopards, have the power of lions, the cunning of tigers. That's why we call ourselves Felines, not a specific breed. The Lupines are wolves, but not exactly like any wolves you'd find in the wild."

"In other words, the best of the entire species."

"You could say that."

"So, if you can crossbreed, like you said, then your dad and your next-door neighbor could produce children. In theory."

"In theory, though cross-species fertility is not as high as fertility within a species. Dad's only about two hundred, so he can still father cubs. Glory won't tell her age, but she's still in the fertile range."

"Dylan is two hundred years old?" Kim asked in amazement. "He doesn't look much into his forties. How old are you?"

"I was born in 1898, as humans count years. Sean came along in 1900."

Holy shit. "You look damn good for a centenarian. What about Connor? Don't tell me he's eighty-two."

"He's twenty. Born right after we took the Collar. His mum died of bringing him in, poor lass."

Kim's thought of Connor downstairs, with his good-natured smile and his worry about them frightening her. "Oh, Liam, I'm sorry."

Liam shrugged, a shrug that meant he'd resigned himself to it. "It happened often enough when we lived outside of humankind. It's one of the reasons the clan leaders decided to take the Collar. We were a dying people."

"She was married to the brother you lost, wasn't she? Kenny? That sucks. Poor Connor."

"Aye. A feral got Kenny ten years ago. We've looked after Connor, but it's not the same for him."

Kim leaned against Liam's strong arm, suddenly wanting to comfort him. "And I thought I had it bad growing up. But I was always cared for, never had to worry. Even when my parents passed away, they'd taken care of me to the end. I was already working, but they'd left me the house and plenty of money. I never wanted for anything."

The corner of his mouth quirked up. "Poor little rich girl."

"It let me do work I believed in. I don't have to take cases based on how much they pay."

"No, you're free to help hapless Shifters."

Kim sat up. "You all sound like you don't take this seriously, like you don't want me to get Brian free. Brian's mother is barely holding it together. You and Sean had to do the comforting sandwich with her, remember?"

"Aye." Liam went silent. His T-shirt had slid down again, covering his honed body. Damn.

"Believe me, when I'm defending someone, I make certain he gets a fair trial," Kim said. "It's a right we all have that can get lost if we're not careful. And besides, I think Brian's innocent. I seem to be the only one who does."

"Kim." Liam cut through her diatribe. "Brian is innocent. He couldn't have killed that girl. But to prove it, you might reveal secrets that could destroy all Shifters, everywhere."

"Secrets like the fact that the Collars don't work? Or that some Shifters don't even wear them?"

Liam gazed into the distance. "It's not quite that simple."

"Then explain to me what's going on." She softened her tone. "Believe me, I'll do what I can to get Brian exonerated, but bringing down your family isn't what I had in mind."

"I'm glad to hear that," Liam said mildly.

"So how is it possible that you killed that Shifter?" Kim asked. "The Collars really don't work?"

"Oh, they work, love." His eyes were clouded. "They work."

"May I look?"

Liam nodded. Kim knelt back on her heels to examine the thin black and silver chain around his throat. She lifted his hair at the back of his neck, wishing it wasn't all warm and silky and distracting.

The chain had no clasp and was fused to his skin, the links snug but not tight. A Celtic knot rested at the base of his throat. When Liam had been in his wildcat form in her bedroom, she'd seen the glint of the Collar against his fur.

"How did it not strangle you when you shifted?"

"When the Collar goes on, it becomes a part of the Shifter. Don't ask me to explain the technology or the magic, because I don't understand it myself. The Collar allows us to change to our animal forms--because if we were denied that we'd die. Our animal form is part of us, with us at all times. So the chain adapts to it."

Kim ran her fingers around the Collar, feeling the cool contrast of the silver with his hot skin, the bump of the Celtic knot. "What do you mean by 'the magic'? It's triggered by your adrenal system, isn't it? To shock you or tranquilize you when your chemical balance changes, right?"

Liam chuckled. "You saw me shift from cat to man, and the wolf die away to dust under Sean's sword, and you still don't believe in magic?"

"Not really. There's an explanation for even the most bizarre things."

"Remind me to take you to Ireland someday. I'll show you magic. An Irishman made these chains, an old man who was permeated with magic himself."

"A leprechaun?"

Liam laid his head back and laughed. Kim's hand was still on his neck, and catching his head in her palm felt intimate and warm.

"No, sweetheart, no little men in green with shamrocks. The man who made the first Collars was half Fae. Your government--and others in the world where Shifters are allowed to live--agreed that the old mage could supply the chains that keep us weak."

"You keep talking about Fae . What's Fae?"

"Sometimes called Fair Folk or fairies, but they're not cute little people with wings. The Fae are ancient and arrogant beings who once regarded the earth as theirs. Terrifying, they are. They made Shifters to be their pets, their hunting beasts, but we weren't having any of that."

Kim wasn't certain how much of this she bought, and she couldn't tell if he believed it himself or was having her on. "You said the man who made the chains was half Fae. Do you mean he's dead now?"

"He is. But he passed the knowledge to his son. The son stays hidden away in Ireland and sends the Collars as they're needed."