The silver threads of his being still wrapped Andrea, seeking her own. “I see it, the substance of your aura in mine,” she said. “Yours and my mother’s.”

Fionn’s eyes were fathomless. “Well, yes, child. ’Tis only natural.”

He was part of her, and she of him. Andrea had been conceived by this battle-hardened, proud warrior, and a gentle and loving Shifter woman.

Tears trickled from her eyes. At last, after years of shame and fear and withdrawing into herself, Andrea knew who she was. She belonged, both to the Fae holding her hands and to the Shifter at her back who’d just made her his mate, bound to her body and soul.

M y mate. Mine.

Sean shuddered with release in the darkness, surrounded by the feel, the scent, the warmth of Andrea. Her lips, her hands, her breath, touching his skin. She gasped along with him, her sexy little noises making him wild.

He kissed her face, her hair, her mouth. He’d lost his power of speech, and he kept silent, simply kissing and touching, arching his body to drive himself deeper inside her.

Her lips were soft with desire, as were her eyes, which were silver-gray in the moonlight. Fionn had looked at Sean with the same kind of determined arrogance Sean had so often seen on Andrea’s face. They were related, all right.

Andrea was so elegant, and Sean felt nothing but brutal frenzy. He’d spilled his seed but was hard again, ready, still inside where she could squeeze him.

Andrea touched his cheek, her fingers featherlight. “Sean,” she murmured. “You all right?”

Sean let the growl come, and with it, his words returned. “I’m buried inside my sweet, hot little mate. How are you thinking I am?”

“Horny. A mate-frenzied male.”

“You bet.”

“Now you sound like Ellison.”

Sean thrust again. “Don’t mention that Lupine idiot while I’m making love to you.”

Andrea laughed, the little beauty who teased him raw. “You’re so easy, Sean.”

“You’re mine. Mate blessed. Which means we get to screw until we both can’t walk.”

“Half mate blessed.” Andrea’s smile was languid as she ran fingers down his back. “I saw it, you know. While I was healing my father. The bond between you and me.”

Sean stopped, heart thumping. “The mate bond?”

“I don’t know. But I saw it. The blessing isn’t simply words and traditions. It’s real, the Father God binding us together.”

“Is it, now?”

Andrea smoothed his hair. “It is, now.”

“Are you going to become a true believer, like those Shifters who wear white and meditate in stone circles all the livelong day?”

Andrea’s foot caressed his bare calf. “I wasn’t thinking I would. I have plenty to do right here.”

“We do. Connor’s not going to be happy unless we tell him tomorrow that a cub is on its way.”

“Do you want children, Sean?” Andrea’s voice was hesitant. “I’m not Feline. The child will be born human, and we won’t know which animal it will become until later. Plus it will have Fae blood.”

“I know. It will be—entertaining—to see what our child will be.” He nuzzled her, finding her beautiful scent. “But, yes, I want cubs. With you.”

But pregnancy meant risk for Shifter women. Fear caught in Sean’s heart, so hard he couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. His logical mind told him that a female’s odds for survival were so much better now that they had access to medicine and doctors, and besides that, Andrea had healing magic. But Sean had seen too many females die bearing cubs or just after, sometimes the cubs dying as well, to be completely worry-free.

“I’ll be all right.” Andrea traced his cheek, sensing his fears. “We’re safe here, and I have so many people to look after me now.”

Sean knew the mating frenzy was pouring dire scenarios into his head, making him fear, so that he’d stay with Andrea and rut her all night and on into the next day. And the next night.

A biological drive, Liam had speculated once. Making the Shifter need to make cubs, giving him any excuse to have his woman under him. In the wild, Shifters had simply given in to it. Civilized Shifters felt the same mating frenzy, But we ponder about it a bit more, Liam had said. From what Sean had observed, Liam and Kim didn’t ponder about it much.

Sean touched her Collar. Liam wanted to try removing it, but Sean didn’t want him to now. Liam’s curiosity could put Andrea at far too much risk.

The smile Andrea gave him heated his blood. “So what do you want to do next, Sean? You’re my first, but I’m not innocent. I’ve heard about all kinds of interesting things we can do.”

Sean’s already fast pulse sped. A sudden vision flashed through his mind: Andrea on her hands and knees in the woods, he coming behind her, folding down over her while he drove inside her. The feel of her soft backside against his groin, smelling the fine silk of her hair, tasting her neck.

“Goddess, you make me want to do things to you,” he whispered. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m Shifter. I’m resilient.”

“You’re also Fae.” He touched her wrist, slim and dwarfed by his hand. “Smaller than most Shifter women.”

“Fae are pretty kick-ass too.” To demonstrate, she hooked her legs around his and rolled, landing on top of him. “See?”

Sean had let her do that. Not that he minded having his beautiful mate on top of him, her br**sts pressing his chest, her smile wide in the evening light. “Aren’t you the wicked one?”

Sean traced Andrea’s Collar again, letting his fingers drift down her chest. Would risking Andrea be worth getting all Shifters free? No. She was his mate, in all ways, and his instinct was to protect her with everything he had. Even if every other Shifter in the world had to die, it didn’t matter, so long as Andrea was safe. To a mate-frenzied, dominant Shifter male, that was right.

Sean growled. His fingers became claws, which he retracted before he could scratch her. Andrea’s growl answered. She leaned down and licked his throat.

The snarl that came out was pure feral. Reason, concern for all Shifters, even romance, went right out of Sean’s brain. He dragged her down to him, rolled over her, and entered her again with one swift thrust.