The hay was long gone, along with the livestock that had eaten it. Now the barn smelled rusty, musty, and muddy. But tonight, with fires blazing in barrels up and down its center, it was alive with animation and excitement.

Elizabeth tasted the anticipation as she walked in close behind Ronan. Behind her came Spike, wearing a muscle shirt that showed off his completely inked arms. He had beautiful tattoos, drawn by a true artist, colors bright and flowing. Ellison came behind him, in his usual cowboy boots, black button-down shirt, and Stetson.

Sean walked behind Ellison, minus his sword. But though he claimed he'd come "incognito," everyone recognized Sean. Elizabeth saw the Shifters back away as he walked by, the Shifters uneasy. Andrea had told Elizabeth that while Shifters respected Guardians, Guardians were reminders of death, which didn't sit well with them. Sean took it in stride, but Elizabeth had noticed the quietness in him, and how he drank in Andrea's love for him like a man who'd gone thirsty too long.

Andrea had stayed home because of her advanced pregnancy, but plenty of women mixed in with the crowd of males. Several of the females were tall Shifter women, but most were human. Shifter groupies were there, both men and women. Some wore fake wildcat or wolf ears, others had painted whiskers on their faces or made up their eyes to look feline. The female groupies wore scanty clothing; the males who wanted sex wore low-slung jeans and tight T-shirts or no shirts at all. The men who'd come simply to hang out with Shifters dressed more conservatively and eyed the female groupies--and some, the male groupies--with calculating stares.

The male humans took full notice of Elizabeth as she walked behind Ronan in her red top and jeans, gazes drifting to her tatt. Elizabeth had been sized up before, but never had she felt so much like a walking piece of meat. The Shifters were eyeing her too, she saw, but then they'd look at Ronan, look again at her, inhale, and slide their gazes away.

Not all of these Shifters were from Ronan's Shiftertown, she understood. The fight clubs drew Shifters from Shiftertowns in Austin, Hill Country, San Antonio, and from as far away as Houston to the east, Waco to the north, and San Angelo to the west. Humans did not like Shifters from different Shiftertowns mingling, but fight clubs had become a melting pot, according to Spike. And, the tattooed Shifter added, what humans didn't know wouldn't hurt Shifters.

The barn had been divided into thirds, plenty of room for three fights to take place simultaneously. A fight had already commenced in the far end, Shifters and humans alike shouting encouragement.

By the time Ronan and Elizabeth reached the last ring, the two Shifters, a wolf and a wildcat, were all over each other. The wildcat had a lot of lion in it, mane and all, but the wolf was just big. The wolf's Collar snapped and sparked, though the wildcat's remained strangely silent.

"Shit," Sean said behind her. "That's my dad."

The wildcat was winning. The wolf snarled and fought, its Collar going crazy. The wildcat finally got a large paw around the wolf and slammed it to the ground. The wildcat held the wolf there, the wolf's eyes white with rage and pain.

Five Shifter men leapt over the low circle of cinderblocks that marked out the ring, shouting and making waving motions with their arms. The referees, Elizabeth guessed. Ending the fight.

The wildcat backed away. The wolf rolled to its feet, shaking its body like a dog. The wolf's shape undulated as it shook, ending with the wolf becoming a young man with shaggy black hair. The young man rose upright and put his hands on his hips, breathing hard, Collar still sparking.

The wildcat morphed into the tall form of Dylan Morrissey. Ronan had told Elizabeth that Dylan was aging even by Shifter standards, but in human terms Dylan looked like a man in his late forties at most, one in fantastic shape. His Collar was quiet, and he didn't seem much the worse for wear.

The refs called Dylan the winner, and those who'd bet in his favor went crazy.

"Dad!" Sean called.

Dylan saw them, stepped over the cinderblocks, and came to them, completely unworried that he was naked in front of Elizabeth. But many of the Shifters were already naked, stretching, warming up, getting ready for their bouts.

"Since when do you take part in Shifter fights?" Sean asked him.

Dylan shrugged. "They keep me on my toes."

"Does Liam know?"

Dylan took a shirt from Glory, who'd materialized out of the crowd. "Not everything I do is Liam's business, son."

Glory hung on Dylan's shoulder. "You got that right. Dylan fighting is damn sexy. Gets my blood pumping."

Sean looked embarrassed. Glory gave Elizabeth a thumb's up behind Dylan's back. Dylan turned away, as though uncaring what anyone thought of him, and Glory followed him into the crowd.

"Parents, eh?" Sean said to Elizabeth. "But what can I do? I'm glad Glory's only me step-mum."

"Treasure it, Sean," Elizabeth said over the noise. "I never had a dad, embarrassing or otherwise."

Sean gave her a nod. "You have a point. Liam and I lost our mum a long time ago."

Elizabeth touched his shoulder in sympathy, then she stopped. "Wait a sec. Why didn't Dylan's Collar go off?" She remembered Kim standing proudly in the courtroom, proclaiming that Ronan's Collar remaining dark meant he hadn't intended to hurt anyone. "They were fighting pretty hard. It didn't look like your dad was holding back in there."

Sean's gaze flicked from hers. "Could be lots of reasons."

Elizabeth recognized evasiveness when she heard and saw it. Apparently information about the Collars was need-to-know.

"Come on," Sean said, pretending he'd answered the question to her satisfaction. "Ronan's spotted Marquez."

Sean pushed through the crowd that waited for the next fight, and Elizabeth followed in his wake. Behind her, women were shouting for the next two going into the ring. She also heard females she passed going crazy for Spike. They screamed his name or "There-he-is-oh-my-God-that's-him!"

Julio Marquez stood in a relatively empty space with three men around him, all human. No guns were visible, Shifters stationed at the entrance to check for them. No weapons were allowed inside the barn. There was no sign of Zach, either, though every tracker Liam employed was searching for him or here keeping a lookout for him.

"You showed up," Julio was saying when Elizabeth reached Ronan. "Good start. You should have left the chica at home, though."