Mate Claimed

“But he’s a threat,” Liam said. “To you, to Shiftertown, to Iona.”

“Yes.”

“What happened before the other attacks? Maybe not right before—say within the few hours before?”

“Whenever I fight,” Eric said, thinking back. But then, he’d had a huge attack after he’d gone to Iona’s house and seen her dancing at her sister’s bachelorette party. He’d taken Iona into her back hall and done many pleasant things. He told Liam this, omitting the glorious details. “The night after Graham Challenged for Iona as well,” he went on. “When I was remembering experiments done on me, I had a small attack, but it went away quickly.”

“Hmm,” Liam said. The man sat comfortably on the armchair Cassidy had brought into Jace’s bedroom, leaning back with his feet on the bed like he owned the place. Kim perched on the chair’s arm. “Seems to me like every attack came after an adrenaline spike. Fighting triggers it, sure, but when Graham Challenged, I bet the spike was a big one. And then when you thought about being experimented on, that had to be full of bad images.”

Iona broke in. “What about when he came to my house during the party? We were just kissing.” She flushed.

Eric’s smile was slow. From the twinkle in Liam’s eyes, the man guessed how much more they’d been doing.

“Ye said you saw her dancing with a male stripper,” Liam said. “I’m thinking that would raise the ire of a Shifter watching his mate.”

“You got that right,” Eric said. “I didn’t like it at all.”

“Stripper?” Kim asked in a bright voice. “What did he do? Did it all come off?”

“Most of it,” Iona said. “He came as a fireman. He got all the way down to his bright red thong.”

“Mmm. Did he have a hose?”

“A very long one,” Iona answered, and both women laughed.

“Tell me you took pictures,” Kim said.

“Oh yeah.”

Eric felt it immediately—the red rage of his possessiveness. He saw the same flare in Liam’s eyes.

“Ladies,” Liam said. “You want to get yourselves sequestered, do you?”

“Only if you bring us pizza,” Iona said.

“And dress as a fireman,” Kim added. She sent Iona a sly look. “With a big hose.”

“I think our mates don’t know their danger,” Liam said to Eric.

“They know,” Eric answered, feeling stronger by the minute. “But they don’t care.”

Liam growled at Kim. “Wait ’til I get you home, love.”

“Promises, promises.” Kim smiled.

“Adrenaline,” Eric said loudly. He pushed himself into a sitting position, the sheets bunching around his bare waist. He seemed to be naked under the covers, and sincerely hoped Iona had undressed him, not Diego. “Adrenaline is supposed to trigger the Collar. Maybe it’s triggering pain directly, bypassing the Collar?”

“Possibly,” Liam said. “When I stave off the Collar, I pay for it pretty bad later, but you’ve been suffering from triggers that wouldn’t necessarily have set off the Collar at all.”

“Which leaves me where?”

“I don’t know.” Liam frowned. “I’ll have to ponder.”

Outside the room came a loud cry, a child’s voice. A cub. Kim quickly slid off the arm of the chair. “I’d better go get Katy before she takes over your house, or the entire Shiftertown.”

“Katy?” Iona asked.

Liam answered. “Katriona Sinead Niamh Morrissey. Our firstborn cub.”

“He’s so proud,” Kim said. “Like he did it all himself.” She leaned down and gave Liam a fond kiss on the forehead, then went for the door. “Come and meet her, Iona.”

Iona scrambled up and followed Kim with only one glance back for Eric. The door closed, and Eric looked around for some clothes within reach.

“The ladies like the babies,” Liam said.

“And you don’t? Right.” Eric leaned to the chair on the other side of the bed and snagged his jeans. “Why didn’t you bring your cub in with you? She might have cheered me up. Cubs are good things.”

“Bring me only daughter into a room with a crazed, maybe feral Shifter? No, thanks.”

“Feral.” Eric paused. “You think that’s what happening?”

“I don’t know, my friend. I sincerely hope not. I know from experience it’s not a pleasant thing. Thank the Goddess for my mate sticking with me when it happened to me, or I’d not be here talking to you now.”

“I know how you feel,” Eric said, and slid out of bed to get dressed.

“You narrowed it down to three?” Eric asked Xavier several hours later.

Xavier Escobar tapped his laptop where it sat on his crossed legs and nodded. “Yep. Three Ross McRaes of seemingly the right age living in the northern Nevada, or western California, western Oregon, or southern Idaho areas at the time in question. Two of them definitely human, because I found pictures of them, and they’ve aged like humans. The third—don’t know, because I haven’t found him. He’s the one from western California, residence listed as Grass Valley. Locals still there from that time say he was a loner, came and went, and they haven’t seen him in thirty or so years.”

“Hmm,” Eric said. “I think we have a Shifter.”