Jennifer Ashley - Pride Mates

"She's as crazy as you are."

"Maybe," Kim conceded. "But that's what we want to do. Thanks for taking me on when I was a green law-school graduate."

"No problem," her boss said faintly. "Good luck."

Kim dragged in a breath as she left her boss's office, the words Good luck ringing in her head. She knew she'd need it.

Kim spent the next weeks cleaning out her office and finding space to rent for her new office, a tiny one with enough room for herself and Jeanne. The others in the firm agreed with the head, that Kim was crazy. Some admired her; some openly castigated her, Abel in particular.

Kim ignored them and bought office furniture. Jeanne was an enthusiastic partner and even helped take Kim's mind off her sorrows for five minutes now and again.

The first day Kim spent at her new office, Silas e-mailed her some video files for the Shifter documentary he was working on, asking for her feedback.

Kim played the files, her heart aching. There was a lot of footage of Liam smiling his warm smile and speaking in his deep Irish lilt, telling Silas what he wanted the world to know about Shifters. Dylan spoke too, giving the same details but in a different enough way that it didn't sound as though they'd worked it out beforehand. Kim knew they had. She also knew exactly what they had decided to leave out.

There was footage of how the Shifters lived from day to day, shots of Michael playing in his front yard. Michael was photogenic, and his cuteness radiated from the screen. Silas also showed Connor and his friends kicking a soccer ball around the backyards, Connor talking about his love of "football" and what a fan he was of the Irish national team.

Silas didn't show only sparkles and smiles, however. He talked to Shifters about the darker side of their lives--the high death rate of Shifter children, which had started to come down only in the last decade, the low fecundity of the females. He talked about how the different Shifter species didn't get along "in the wild" but had made concessions to live together in harmony. Ellison was particularly eloquent in that segment, looking handsome with his big cowboy hat and wide smile.

A group of Shifters did a Collar "demonstration," which proved that Collars worked well, and Silas showed a meditation by some Shifter parents for children they'd lost.

Kim viewed the files again and again, pausing on Liam's smile, his blue eyes assuring the viewers that Shifters were little different from humans.

She watched the recording far too often. And far too often, she opened her cell phone and looked at Liam's number, wondering if she should tell him all the things she'd decided.

"Call me anytime, love," he'd said, when he'd programmed the number into it weeks ago.

Damn Shifters.

In the cool of late September, Kim came home from her new office on a Friday and spent the weekend packing.

Sunday afternoon, she put everything in her car that she could fit. She'd get help with the rest. She closed the trunk, started the car, and drove back to Shiftertown.

Liam knew the car was Kim's without looking up. He crouched in the driveway beside his motorcycle, wrench in hand, completing a few tweaks to his bike.

He'd ridden this motorcycle to the posh neighborhood north of the river every night for the last two months, cutting the engine before he reached the hill above Kim's house. He'd sit there for a long time, the bike silent between his legs, watching her lighted bedroom window. When the light went out, Liam would kiss his fingertips to it, then coast back down the hill and ride home.

The hole in his heart wanted to close in hope as she stopped the Mustang and climbed out. She wore the high-heeled sandals he liked, ones that made her bare legs sexy as hell.

He watched the legs out of the corner of his eye as she strode up the driveway, letting her scent flow over him as she walked past him.

Walked past him?

Liam looked around to see Kim shove a cardboard box at Connor, who'd bounded out of the house.

"Will you carry that in for me?" Kim asked Connor sweetly. "Put it anywhere. I have a couple more in the trunk."

Kim returned to the car, again moving past Liam without speaking to him. She reached through the open passenger window, giving him a view of her nice ass, and pulled out an overnight bag.

"Hello, Sean." Kim smiled as Sean came out of the house behind Connor. "Can you grab the suitcases in my backseat? They're heavy."

She waltzed up the driveway, a determined smile on her face, bag slung over her shoulder.

Liam wiped his hands, stood, and planted himself in her path. "And what would you be doing here?"

"Moving in. Don't worry, I'll pay for my share of the groceries."

Kim started to go around him, and Liam stepped in front of her again. "Why?"

"Don't argue with her, Liam," Connor said, carrying the second box from the trunk. He rubbed Kim's shoulder as he went past her, like a cat to a litter mate. "She's back to stay, where she belongs."

"She belongs with her own kind," Liam said sternly.

"Not anymore," Connor said. "We need her, Liam, you especially. You've been pissed off for weeks. Don't mess this up."

Sean, Liam's dear supportive brother, didn't offer any comment. He silently removed Kim's suitcases from the backseat and carried them inside.

Liam's breath hurt. Gods, Kim was beautiful. Her dark hair looked shinier than ever, her eyes a deeper blue, her full breasts making his hands itch to cup them. If he did that right now, he'd leave greasy handprints on her pretty white shirt, and wouldn't everyone laugh?

"Why, love?" he asked. "Why are you back to tear out my heart?"

She smiled. "It's got nothing to do with you. I want our kid to know its father, and when it first changes into a wildcat, he or she will need someone who knows what to do standing by."

Liam stopped. "Kid?"

"A little half-Shifter boy or girl. I don't know which; haven't had an ultrasound yet."

"Ultrasound..."

Kim laughed in true mirth. "You knocked me up, Liam Morrissey. Now you have to live with the consequences."

Connor came running out of the house, whooped, and punched the air. "Kim's pregnant! Woo-hoo!" He hurtled toward Kim, caught her in a hug and swung her off her feet. "I'm going to be a cousin!"

Connor's shouting drew people outside. Glory emerged first, sauntering down her porch stairs, her tight leopard-print pants startling. Dylan strolled out behind her. He'd moved in with Glory the day after Kim left, further emptying the house.

"Did I hear that right?" Glory called. "You're up the spout?"

Kim drew a breath once Connor finally put her down. "Confirmed by my gynecologist last week."

Liam kept wiping his hands on the rag. "I thought you took contraceptives."

"I was coming up on the end of my dose, and we had a lot of sex, Liam, if you recall. And maybe Shifter sperm are livelier than human's."

"Shite," Liam said around the lump in his throat.

More neighbors emerged onto front porches, and Ellison came around from his backyard, shirtless, his jeans covered with dirt and grass stains. When Ellison understood what was going on, he put his hands on his hips, threw back his head, and howled. Answering howls came from up and down the street.

Great. How long before the news reached the other side of Shiftertown? Five minutes? Two?

"I'm staying, Liam," Kim said. "Whether you like it or not."

"Gods." Liam threw down the oily rag and caught Kim in his arms, damn the stains. He crushed Kim against him, lips finding her hair, her face, her mouth. "I love you, Kim. Don't ever leave me."

"That's the idea."

"I need you."

She rubbed his cheek. "I know."