Fair bloody bastards. They’d created Shifters for their own pleasure, so Shifters could hunt for the Fae and entertain them. Animals that could turn human and back again, Oh what fun we can have with them! But they made Shifters too strong. Shifter had allied with Shifter, and they’d turned on their Fae masters and driven them back to Faerie. Good riddance.

Once in a while, a Fae emerged and coupled with a Shifter or a human to produce a half-Fae offspring. Those were the dangerous kind. The half Fae could live among humans—they weren’t as fragile as the full-blooded Fae who weren’t easy with all the iron now in use in the human world. Half Fae weren’t affected by iron, and they had that Fae charm. It had been a half-Fae human and his son who’d helped convince the human government that Shifters were dangerous and needed to be kept on a leash—the Collars had been the half-Fae human’s idea.

And now there was this half Fae, half Shifter. Andrea Gray, scared and angry, the Shifter-Fae war being fought inside her own body.

You can trust us, Sean had said. He’d really meant, You can trust me.

Andrea touched his throat, tracing Sean’s own Collar. Sean closed his eyes to enjoy. The feel of her light fingers around the edges of the Collar was erotic and enticing, and yet, he also loved simply bathing in her warmth and the scent of her.

Sean jumped when her lips brushed his chin. He opened his eyes to find her face an inch from his, and then she closed the space between them and kissed him.

A slow, leisurely kiss. A slide of lips, moist with heat. She smelled good, like honey and that bite of mint that was the Fae in her.

Her mouth moved on his, and Sean answered, licking, stroking. He caught her tongue and gently suckled it, and she made a sound in her throat that made his already hard c**k lift.

But this wasn’t a night for mating frenzy. It was cool in the room, they were warm snuggled under the blankets. This was a time to kiss, touch, nip, getting to know each other. Shifters mated for life. If Andrea accepted his claim, there would be time. So much time.

Andrea nipped and tasted Sean back, her touch light on his shoulders. She was fragile and strong at the same time, her body honed but fine boned, her curves round and delicious. Shifter but different.

Sean nuzzled Andrea’s cheek, and he feathered kisses along her jaw. Her hair smelled good, a fine place to bury his nose and inhale.

“Dylan will know you’re here,” she whispered.

He bit her earlobe. “Of course he knows I’m here. Even if Glory didn’t tell him, he can scent his own son.”

“He doesn’t like me.”

Another bite. “He likes you fine, love. He’s uncertain, but he was clan leader for all his life. It’s his job to be suspicious of anything different.”

“Different like me.”

“Give him a chance. He’s giving you one.”

“Is he?”

Sean left off the enticing fun of licking the shell of her ear. “Love, if Dad didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here. Never mind that Liam’s now Shiftertown leader. If Dad thought you a true threat, your request would never have been approved, no matter what your pack leader wanted, no matter how many times I insisted on making the mate-claim.”

Andrea looked puzzled. “Dylan doesn’t have say over Glory’s pack leader. He’s Feline and not the leader of Shiftertown.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Sean wanted to laugh. “You think power only flows within a pack or a clan? That nothing outside can influence it? Living in a Shiftertown has taught me a lot about dominance and power, leadership and control. It’s not who wins in the pecking order, it’s who has true dominance. And my father has it. Liam’s leader now, but he still listens to Dad.”

“What about you?” Andrea’s mouth softened into a smile. “Do you listen to your father?”

“Mostly.” Sean traced her lips. “But he also listens to me. If I say you’re the one for me, he’ll concede. Eventually.”

“I never know what to make of you, Sean Morrissey.”

“Not many do. Come here.” Sean kissed her again, soft touches, his hand stealing around her back. She responded by nibbling his lip, running fingers through his hair.

Sean kissed her lips and face and throat, then he gently rolled her so that she faced away from him. He spooned up against her back, arm around her waist. “You sleep now. No more nightmares. I’m here to drive them off.”

“With your big stick?”

Sean chuckled and moved his hips, his hardness through his briefs finding the cleave in her panties. “Bikinis,” he said. “I knew it.”

“We’re strangely fond of each other’s underwear.”

“I promise not to wear yours if you don’t wear mine.”

Andrea started to laugh, her body shaking in a wonderful way. Sean hid a groan. He had to be crazy, lying here with her, promising himself he’d leave her alone.

“The big, bad Guardian in women’s underwear,” she said.

“You hush now.” Sean kissed the soft skin behind her ear. “Sleep.”

She giggled some more, a sound that drove heat into his bones. “I’ll dream about that. You big, strong Shifter, you.”

Sean turned the kiss to a nip. “Hush.”

“No doubt about who’s the dominant in this room.”

Andrea laughed again, the sound softer as she relaxed back into him. Sean held her in a safe embrace, cradling her like a cub until she fell into limp, dreamless slumber.

When Andrea awoke in the morning, Sean was gone. She didn’t like the bite of disappointment that gave her.

Last night, Sean had held her like a mate would, kissing and cuddling, touching, nuzzling. Shifters did that in their animal forms, curving around each other and basking in the safe joy of being together. Her stepfather had done so when she was little, holding her after her mother died, the two of them united in grief.

She’d not had the comfort of such a thing in a long time. Sean was tearing down the walls Andrea had built against the world, and she wasn’t certain whether to embrace that or cower in terror.

Andrea showered, dressed, and went downstairs to find Dylan in the kitchen drinking coffee, alone. Cowering in terror started to sound good. Glory’s scent was all over Dylan, and from the way his eyes flicked to Shifter white and back to blue, Andrea knew that he could smell Sean’s scent all over her.