“There could be another way,” Dylan said. He had the heaviest Irish accent of his family, and every word had a musical quality to it.

Ellison had the feeling he knew what Dylan meant, and Sean nodded. “You’re talking about Pablo Marquez,” Sean said.

“Didn’t y’all run him out of town?” Ellison asked. “After he nearly got Ronan’s mate killed?”

“He’s been proving himself a useful man,” Dylan answered in his quiet way. “He’s got a stranglehold on trade coming into South Texas, and keeps the more dangerous of the lot at bay. He knows what he’s doing.”

High praise from Dylan Morrissey. Made sense, though, that a man like Pablo, overseer of transactions not exactly legal, would know about anyone else trying to stay under the radar in his town.

“I say we go talk to him,” Ellison said.

“Aye,” Sean said, a sparkle in his blue eyes. “Be good to intimidate . . . I mean visit . . . Pablo again.”

“Agree,” Ellison said. “Let’s get Spike.”

Maria rose from the jumble of big white toy blocks. “We’ll wait for Ronan first. And then I’ll come with you.”

“No, you won’t,” Ellison said at once.

“If this Pablo knows who’s trying to take Olaf, I want to ask him questions,” Maria said, anger in her eyes. “I know a thing or two about people who snatch other people and take them away. I won’t sit at home waiting for you to bother to tell me what’s happening.”

The thought of Maria anywhere near Marquez made Ellison’s wolf start to snarl. “I’ll tell you,” he said, a growl in his voice. “I won’t keep you in the dark. But you wait here—or better yet, go across and stay with Den.”

Maria put her hands on her hips. “And wait how long? Besides, maybe I can ask him questions you won’t think of.”

“Maria.”

They were a foot apart, Maria’s eyes holding dark fire. She was scared, but not for herself. For Olaf. For the cubs. And that gave her the strength of angels.

“Ellison and Maria were kissing,” Olaf announced abruptly. He put another block on his three-foot-high robot then stood up as Sean and Dylan swung around and stared at Ellison. Olaf looked up at Maria, innocence in his dark eyes. “Maria, does that mean you’re mates?”

Chapter Seven

The room went still. Maria watched Sean and Dylan fix their blue gazes on Ellison, waiting for him to respond.

Ellison went as quiet as they did. He was the outsider here, on their territory. He contrasted the Morrisseys with his gray eyes and light-colored hair, his taller body more rangy than the broader-shouldered Felines. He’d resumed his shirt, black cotton stretching over the torso that had been warm and bare in the May sunshine.

The two Felines wanted Ellison to answer, to tell them exactly what he’d been doing with Maria, the woman who was under their protection. The friendly ease in the room changed in an instant to threat and the threatened.

Maria had gone through too many tense situations between Shifters to stay calm about this one. She’d seen Miguel face off often enough against one of his lesser Shifters, looking at him the same way Dylan looked at Ellison now. Then had come violence, more fear.

She stepped in front of Ellison and bravely faced Dylan. “If I decide to kiss Ellison, it’s my business.”

Dylan looked past her to Ellison. “Are you making a mate-claim then?”

“I wouldn’t have accepted if he had,” Maria said, raising her chin. She’d decided once she’d climbed out of that basement that she’d never let anyone talk over her again. “It’s only kissing.”

“Maria.” Ellison’s voice was low and warning.

“I don’t care. You all say it is the woman’s choice to accept a mate-claim, and then you talk like it’s decided for me. I’m not mating anyone.”

“Maria,” Ellison said again. He put a broad hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right. I’m not in their pack. I’m not about to let them bully me.”

“Pride,” Sean corrected. “Felines have prides. Lupines have packs.”

“Well, no shit,” Ellison said, his drawl broad.

“That was for Maria’s benefit.” Sean gave her a half smile, but Maria’s heart still pounded with the unspoken threats. “I like that she’s choosy. Makes good sense.”

Dylan alone remained silent. He was a hundred years older than the others, which made him more careful.

His gaze was for Maria now, not Ellison. Dylan had looked Maria over when she’d first been rescued, when she’d stood on a hot, dry airstrip in Mexico, understanding that she was to go away with more Shifters. Dylan’s gaze had been calm, holding the weight of ages. He’d not looked at Maria in hunger, as Luis and Miguel and his Shifters had, but in watchfulness.

Now Dylan’s watchfulness returned. But there was something new in his eyes—concern for Maria, and also respect.

She saw the same in Sean. The Morrisseys had watched Maria like the overbearing father and older brothers she no longer had. She was grateful to them for it, but she would not let them browbeat her.

“Are we going to go talk to this Pablo?” she asked.

She felt Ellison tense behind her, his hand still on her shoulder. Dylan, Maria knew, would not get one step closer to her, and neither would Sean.

Dylan looked from Maria to Ellison and back to Maria again. “Yes,” Dylan said, giving her a quiet nod. “Sean, fetch Spike, and we’ll go.”