Sean had said the prayer to the Goddess in a broken voice and plunged the sword into Kenny’s chest. Sean had followed the sword down as Kenny had gone to dust, landing flat beside the ash that had been his brother. And then Sean and Liam held each other hard while they cried, while Dylan still hadn’t managed to unfold.

All this flashed through Sean as he saw the Felines go for Connor. Callum circled, ready to attack Sean to get the sword, and Sean heard Connor scream.

Fucking, bloody hell. Sean snarled as he started to shift. Screw the sword. No way was an ancient relic more important than Connor’s life. I won’t let him die, Kenny. I promise you.

“Sean!”

Andrea shouted at him. Sean turned, saw her outstretched hand, the strength in her eyes, Fionn right behind her.

“I’ll take care of it,” Andrea cried. “Me and my dad.”

The empty places in Sean’s heart filled as Andrea met his gaze. He already loved her with intensity that made him insane, but right now he loved her more than ever. Andrea understood exactly what was going through Sean’s head as he watched Connor struggle, knew exactly what Sean needed. She was offering Sean a solution with her brave generosity. She was his mate all right.

You should see my girl, Kenny. She’s beautiful.

Sean threw back his head and laughed. “All right then, Xena. You look after that now.”

He tossed the sword high in the air, the blade glittering in the sunlight. It flew end over end, perfectly balanced, singing as Andrea stepped forward and caught it by the hilt, her silk robes billowing around her. Fionn closed in behind her, his bow and arrow ready, and Ronan, a bear again, stood defensively in front of her.

Still laughing, Sean shifted. Strong with Andrea’s magic, he lifted his head and roared.

The roar echoed up and down Shiftertown, proclaiming that the Guardian was there, the second-in-command of this Shiftertown, mad as hell and ready to fight. An answering roar came back to him, filled with family pride, Liam tearing it up.

Sean pounced on Callum, lifted the wildcat high with his paws, and threw him. Callum tumbled through the air, crashed into the Fae with the bow, and went down with him. While they fought to untangle themselves, Sean charged the Shifters fighting Connor and burst them apart.

Connor rolled from the ground, teeth bared, his eyes red with fury. His wildcat’s mane wasn’t well developed yet, Connor barely more than a cub, but his rage was plenty strong.

Sean took the brunt of the fight, but he let Connor battle it out alongside him, knowing the lad wouldn’t be happy to be too protected. Connor’s Collar was already slowing him down, but he bravely stayed on his feet and helped drive the other Shifters back toward Liam.

Sean heard Andrea shouting at the Felines around her, Ronan roaring as he fought them away from her. He knew Fionn had her back, and that fact warmed him. The family that fights rogue Shifters and upstart Fae together ...

Liam charged through the clearing to complete the family togetherness. Liam leapt on Callum at the same time the slit to Faerie opened and about a dozen or more Fae warriors boiled through with the help of Callum’s Shifters.

They were way too close to Liam. Sean crashed the last of the Shifters he fought to the ground and ran to help his brother.

The Fae looked smug as they pointed knocked arrows at Liam. But Fionn was bellowing in an alien language, and more Fae popped out of his hole to Faerie, these armed with wicked-looking swords. The first set, alarmed, turned and tried to fire at the second set.

The Fae fought dirty. While Sean knew Liam wanted the battle settled with as little Shifter bloodshed as possible, the Fae killed each other without remorse. It was chilling to watch one of Fionn’s men drive his sword clean through another Fae and laugh as his enemy’s blood showered over him.

Callum’s Fae were defeated. Cut off from retreat by Fionn’s warriors, they died to the last man. The remaining one who struggled up from under Callum saw what was happening and took his revenge by turning on Callum.

Before Liam or Sean could reach them, that Fae clenched an arrow in his hand and drove it straight into Callum’s heart. Callum bellowed in agony, paws scrabbling in the dirt, and the Fae wrapped his arms around Callum’s neck and broke it.

That Fae died an instant later when Fionn’s sword swiped his head from his neck.

As soon as the last Fae fell, whatever Fae spell had been helping Callum’s Shifters fight despite their Collars dissipated. Feline Shifters howled in pain and dropped all over the clearing. Liam loped to Sean and rose, shifting as he stood.

Eric, the Shiftertown leader from Las Vegas, shifted to stand beside Liam and survey the battlefield. “Sun and moon, what a mess.”

Sean remained wildcat, his nose wrinkling at the stench of dead Fae. Fionn’s warriors began carrying them back to Faerie, the bodies of friend and foe alike. Callum, they simply left where he was.

Fionn stepped back to let the last of his warriors go through. As that door to Faerie winked out, Fionn wiped his sword clean on the grass.

“The rest will be taken care of on my side,” Fionn said to Sean. “It is finished.”

“Sure about that, are you?” Liam asked him.

Fionn shrugged. “I am a Cillian. We always prevail.” He walked away, his stride long and still energetic.

“And he’s going to be your father-in-law, Sean,” Liam said. “Whew. Better you than me.”

“Hey, he helped save our asses,” Connor said. He’d shifted back to human and sat, panting, at Sean’s feet, looking a little green from the effects of his Collar.

“So did Sean.” Liam’s hand landed on Sean’s mane. “Thank you, brother, for coming to Connor’s aid. I couldn’t reach him in time.”

“Yeah, good save, Sean,” Connor echoed.

Good save. Sean wanted to laugh and settled for a Feline growl. I’ll always save you, Con. Kenny never has to worry about that.

Liam turned a sudden furious eye on his nephew. “And what the bloody hell are you doing in Shiftertown anyway, Con? You’re supposed to be guarding Kim at her house.”

“Kim insisted we come back,” Connor said. “And I wanted a piece of these gobshites.”

“You should have talked her out of it. Stolen her keys. Anything. I see we need to have a little chat about clan leaders and orders and shite like that.”

Kim came around the house at that point, her Mustang in the driveway. It was over and she knew it, and she added her voice to what she thought about Shifters expecting her to stay away while they went out to nearly be killed.