“But there’s the age difference,” Cassidy said. “I worked the underground in World War Two. Your mom wasn’t even born then.”
“And I want to hear all those great stories. Jace told me this Fionn Cillian he met can do spells or whatever that lengthen a human life to match a Shifter. Maybe I don’t have as many inches as Shifters—yeah, I heard about that—but you can have every single one of mine.”
Cassidy’s look was stunned, as though someone had smacked her between the eyes, and she didn’t yet know how to react.
Diego slid his good arm around her shoulders. “This is something you might understand better. Cassidy Warden, second of Shiftertown, I claim you as mate.”
Her lips parted, as though to deny him again, and Diego kissed her. “Say yes,” he said. “Don’t push me away, Cassidy. I’ll keep coming back until you give me the answer I want.”
Cassidy stared up at him, eyes so deeply green. He loved her eyes, loved her shapely, strong body. All of her.
“Yes,” Cassidy whispered.
She still sounded stunned. “Good.” Diego licked across her lips, her taste making his need clench. “All kinds of good, mi ja.”
Cassidy’s eyes flicked to Shifter. “Stop. If I go into mating frenzy right now, we might not come out for days.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Cassidy smiled, her face lighting up in her beautiful way. “I wish you could know what it feels like.”
“I think I do.” Diego leaned closer. “I want you so bad, it’s killing me. With you in those shorts, showing me your hot ass, how can I hold it in? I’d take you bent over this car if I didn’t know that my mom and brother were watching us from the kitchen window.”
Cassidy ran her fingers down his chest. “We need to go somewhere. Now.”
“I have a friend with a cabin up on Mount Charleston. I’ll see if we can borrow it.”
“Hurry.”
Diego laughed and kissed her again. He pulled out his cell phone and called a fellow cop who had given Diego the standing invitation to use his cabin whenever. Cassidy chewing on his earlobe while he talked was distracting, but Diego made the arrangements.
It was dusk by the time they arrived at the cabin down an isolated road off the main highway. Diego’s friend lent out his cabin a lot, so there was a fire already laid in the fireplace, and Diego only had to light the tinder.
Then he and Cassidy were on the rug, Cassidy on top of Diego because of his hurt arm, their clothes scattered all over the place.
Cassidy loved his warmth under her, the feel of Diego strong beneath her.
Mine. My mate. Firelight sparkled on the diamond on her finger, reflecting her happiness.
My mate in all ways.
“Cass.” Diego’s voice was dark, and so were his eyes as he slid inside her.
Then they were joined. Cassidy ached for him, and at the same time, her body opened and drew him inside her. The mating frenzy began.
Cassidy moved against him, and Diego pushed up into her, both of them touching, kissing, hands everywhere.
“Mi ja, I love you,” he said.
“I love you, Diego,” Cassidy said, but she couldn’t keep her voice quiet. “Querido.”
Diego’s answering smile drove heat through her. Then he started loving her as though he’d never stop.
Their joined voices rang out into the night as mating frenzy played out then wound down into solid love. The mate bond wound around Cassidy’s heart, and she opened to it, and let it come.
EPILOGUE
Under the light of the next full moon, Eric blessed Cassidy and Diego as mates in the sight of the Goddess. The sun blessing had happened that afternoon, and the Shifters were still a little drunk from that ceremony.
Now the true partying began. Shifters howled and yowled, roared and shouted. A mating. Another joining, more cubs, Shifters continuing.
The dancing began. Xavier and Lindsay found each other, soon had arms around each other’s waists, holding beers and swaying. Nell and Diego’s mother were talking loudly together and laughing, probably at all the men present.
The new Shifter cubs ran around screaming with Torey and other Shiftertown cubs, already finding their places. Peigi and Reid sat together on Nell’s porch, very close together.
Eric watched Shane lift a beer bottle to Diego and Cassidy, who were kissing. Who had been kissing for about ten minutes now.
“You’re lucky I like you, Diego,” Shane said. “Take care of her.”
Diego looked around at him and grinned, then Cassidy turned Diego’s face back to hers for more kissing.
Eric silently saluted them, glad in his heart. Diego had given Cassidy back her life. Eric would love his new brother forever for that.
Only a couple more things left to do tonight. Eric turned from the revelry and approached Peigi, drawing the Collar out of his pocket.
Reid saw him coming and stood up. “No.”
“Sorry,” Eric said. “It’s got to be done. Peigi, if the others see you do it first, and that you aren’t afraid, they’ll follow you. They need someone to follow.”
Peigi nodded. She had guts, Eric gave her that.
Reid got in his face. “You leave her alone. I’m taking her away from here.”
“You can’t run,” Eric said. “You’d be running forever, and the humans will discover her sooner or later. You know that.” He looked into Reid’s dark Fae eyes. “Someday it won’t be like this. We’ll win in the end. Understand?”
Reid scowled. “But what about now? What about Peigi?”
“The good news is, this won’t hurt a bit. I found a loophole. Peigi? You ready?”
Peigi nodded and stood up. “Stuart. It’s all right.”
Reid still looked furious, but Peigi gently pushed him aside and faced Eric, head up. “They’re watching. Do it now.”
Eric sensed the tense gazes of the other Shifter women on them, smelled their fear. He stepped to Peigi, slid the Collar around her neck, and locked it in place.
Peigi tensed, eyes going Shifter white, then she blinked. She touched the Collar, at first hesitantly, then more boldly, and looked at Eric in confusion.
“Looks real, doesn’t it?” Eric asked. “I got a nice supply, courtesy of my friends in Austin. Jace brought them back.” His smile died. “But you have to help me. The other females have to behave as though the Collar is real, and you’ll have to help them adjust here so they can heal from what Miguel did to them. You’ll have to keep an eye on them, to make sure they recover and don’t go feral. Can you do that?”
Peigi stared at him wordlessly, then she nodded.
Eric embraced her and touched his cheek to hers. “Peigi, I release you from the mate-claim.” He let her go and gave Reid a grin. “Now, go party.”
He walked away, leaving the two of them staring at each other in shock.
Iona sat on her back porch, enjoying full moonlight on her face, her wildcat itching to come out.
No. The neighbors might see. Hear me. Call the zoo.
She’d just have to content herself with sitting out here to enjoy the feel of the moon. It made her happy somehow.
He came to her in silence, moving through shadows until suddenly he was in front of her, silhouetted against the silver light.
“Damn it, Eric,” Iona said after her heart came down from her throat. “Will you stop doing that?”
Eric didn’t bother to apologize. “You all right?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Good.” Eric sat down on the edge of her porch, swaying a little.
“Are you drunk?” she asked.
“My sister is fully mated tonight. Sun and moon. It’s a good party. You should come.”
“Not hardly.”
Eric laughed. A full-throated, deep laugh, one that made Iona’s stomach do flips and her blood burn.
Eric got to his feet with liquid grace, pulled Iona up with him, held her face between his hands, and kis
sed her. His mouth was hot, spicy, lips warm.
He eased back from the kiss, and Iona stopped herself from leaning to him, from silently begging for more.
“I’ll bring you in, Iona,” Eric said. “And when I do, that will be a good day. A very good day. I’m looking forward to it.”
He kissed her again, hands and mouth mastering.
Then Eric flowed away from her, melting into the shadows. The good scent of him lingered an instant before that too vanished, leaving Iona alone in the moonlight, and breathless.
Turn the page for a special preview of the next Shifters Unbound novel by Jennifer Ashley
MATE CLAIMED
Coming October 2012 from Berkley Sensation!
Iona smelled him long before she saw him—Eric Warden, the alpha Feline who ran the local Shiftertown and who’d decided to make Iona’s life hell.
She loped on down the desert canyon, sand grating on her paws. The Nevada night was hot, the sky a riot of stars, the glow of the city far behind. Out here, Iona could be what she was meant to be—a wildcat, a Feline Shifter, running free. Alone, where what she was wouldn’t hurt the human mother who’d helped her hide for more than thirty years.
For some reason, Eric wanted to end that.
Catch me if you can, Feline.
Iona ran on, the canyon’s rock walls rising around her. She knew by scent how far she was from Area 51, a place no Shifter was stupid enough to run to. The other direction, east and north, was safer.
Last night, Iona had stayed out until dawn, celebrating her sister’s engagement with about fifty friends—all human. They’d gone to a human bar, no Shifters allowed, thank God. They’d liberated the bar of plenty of margaritas before limping out in the light of early morning. Iona didn’t even remember how she’d gotten home.
The frenzy of that night out followed by the hangover of the day had triggered Iona’s need to shift. After work, despite her exhaustion, Iona had driven her red pickup out to her favorite spot in the middle of the desert, off-roading half an hour to get there. She’d barely shed her clothes before her wildcat had taken over.
And now Eric was following her.
He pounded behind her, a powerhouse Shifter Feline, his wildcat more snow leopard than anything else. Sleek, strong, cunning. Feline Shifters had been bred to be a mixture of all wildcats—lion, leopard, jaguar, cheetah, tiger, and others—but most Shifters leaned toward a certain type.
Iona’s wildcat tended toward panther, with a black pelt to match the hair she had while human. Her panther was long-legged, sure-footed, and a good jumper. This was her territory, and she’d leave Eric Warden far behind.
Iona dodged across a dry wash, kicking up dust in her wake, and scrambled up into the rocky crevices on the other side of it. She hopped from one sandstone ledge to the next, moving up the canyon wall, her paws scrabbling a little.
In spite of Eric’s pursuit, she loved this. The joy of being in wild country nearly impossible for humans to reach was heady. This is what I’m meant to be.
Damned if Eric didn’t follow right after her, faster than she’d thought possible. Iona crested the ridge at the top of the canyon and kept going.
She ran along a ledge and dropped into another wash that snaked down the other side of the mountain. Before she got to the bottom, she ducked into a shallow cave she knew was there from previous exploration. From the top of the ridge, it would look as though she’d vanished.
But Eric didn’t need to see her to find her. He’d scent her. Ever since he’d spotted her in Coolers, one of the few clubs that allowed in Shifters, Eric had tracked her. Not that Iona had gone to the club as a Shifter—no one knew she was Shifter. Her human friends had dragged her there so they could watch Shifters and Shifter groupies, fascinated by the whole scene for some reason.
Eric’s scent had triggered something in Iona from the moment he’d sat down next to her in the club’s dark corner and told her he knew what Iona was. He’d filled her senses with a spicy scent like cardamom and cloves, and a musk that made everything female in her aware of his maleness. Not that his tall, hard-muscled body and tatt swirling down his arm hadn’t dragged at her also.
His scent was stronger now, overlaid with that of his wildcat. He was coming.
Iona ducked into the cave’s black shadows, but Eric was at the entrance, his leopard filling the opening, looking straight at her.
Iona faced him, ears flat against her head, fur rising on her neck.
Eric didn’t move. Dominants didn’t need to show teeth or attack to tell another Shifter who was in charge. They just looked at you.
His wildcat was larger than a normal snow leopard, his head nearly square on heavy shoulders. His pelt was creamy white and branded with the black jagged pattern of a leopard. Eric’s eyes, fixed on her, were jade green.
Iona’s wildcat was more slender than Eric’s but no smaller, though it would be an interesting contest to see whether she matched him in strength. The biggest difference between them, though, was that Eric wore a silver and black Collar, and Iona didn’t.
Eric rose on his hind legs until his head nearly touched the roof of the cave, then his fur and cat limbs flowed into human bones and flesh. His face was hard and square, like the leopard’s, his chocolate brown hair close-cropped. A black tattoo swirled around his large shoulder and trailed down his arm in a jagged, stylized design. The tattoo wasn’t magical—Shifters didn’t need tatts. Eric simply liked it.
His green eyes saw everything. There was no escaping his gaze when it fixed on you, even across a packed Las Vegas club. Iona still remembered feeling the burn of his stare across the bar; Eric was the first person in Iona’s life besides her mother and sister who’d looked at her and recognized her as Shifter.
Iona’s hormones kicked in, even through her worry and anger. Eric was a delectable man. He put to shame all the guys who’d tried to dance with her last night.
What was between Eric’s legs would probably put them to shame too. The man was hung.
“You can’t keep this up,” Eric said. His voice, deep and fine, with the barest touch of Scots, had lately started invading her dreams.
Damned hormones. Iona needed to get away from him.
She gave Eric a snarl to let him know he didn’t worry her. Which was bullshit. He could take her in a heartbeat and both of them knew it.
“Can you, Iona?” Eric took one step forward.
Iona sprang past him for the mouth of the cave. His leopard she couldn’t outrun, but she could outrun him when he was human. She barreled out into the rocks…
And found two hundred pounds of leopard pinning her to the ledge. His breath was hot in her face, and she looked straight up into his jade green eyes.
Iona had never been able to shift that fast. Shifting took a while for her, and it could be painful. Eric had flowed into his wildcat so smoothly it made her sick.
Eric’s growl became bad-tempered as Iona struggled. He opened his terrifying jaws and locked his teeth around her throat.
Fur protected Iona from the prick of his fangs, but she panicked. He could kill her right now, rip out her throat or slice her belly wide open. Iona couldn’t fight him—he was too strong. She couldn’t get away—he was too fast. She’d die far from help, never see her mother and sister again.
Iona shifted. She didn’t want to, but some instinct took over, told her he wouldn’t hurt her if she became a human. She felt her paws sprout fingers and toes, her pelt fade and withdraw to become human flesh.
Eric lifted his mouth from her throat, but he didn’t do anything to stop her shifting. He simply waited and watched until Iona was a human woman with a large, soft-furred snow leopard draped across her bare body.
The large, soft-furred snow leopard suddenly became a man. Eric’s shift was so smooth it amazed her. Iona quickly ceased being amazed when Eric, the strong human male, pinned her to the ground with shocking strength.
She struggled, but Eric trapped her wrists and held them agai
nst the cold ground. He wanted her to look away as he stared her down, but she couldn’t look away. Somehow Iona knew that if she did, she’d lose—not just now, but always.
“I told you to call me when you needed to go out running,” Eric said.
“So? You followed me anyway. Why should I bother calling?”
Eric’s weight held her harder. “I found you tonight because I was on my way to talk to you. I saw you take off, scented you fighting the shift even as you drove away.”
Iona struggled again, but it was like trying to budge a large boulder. “Why can’t you leave me the hell alone? If anyone finds out I’m Shifter…”
She knew exactly what they’d do. The human Shifter bureau would slap a Collar on her without listening to her protests, strip Iona of all her rights, and keep her in quarantine before releasing her to whatever Shifter they designated to keep her under control. Three guesses as to who that Shifter would be.
On the other hand, they might simply kill her. And who the hell knew what they’d do to Iona’s mother, who’d kept the fact that Iona was half Shifter quiet all this time?
“I can’t leave you alone, because you’re in my jurisdiction,” Eric said. “And you’re losing control, aren’t you?”
Iona shivered with more than anger. His long body was hard on hers, muscles gleaming with sweat in the moonlight. Eric’s living strength made the wild thing in her want to respond with fire.
“I was hung over,” she said. “I’m not like this every day.”
Eric lowered his head and inhaled her scent, his nose touching her throat. “You will be soon. How did you survive the Transition?”