“You’re not going to do more tonight, are you?” Deni asked sharply. “Leave Jace alone. He needs to rest.”

“Liam wants to continue under cover of darkness,” Sean said. “We’ll leave sleeping for the day. Felines are mostly nocturnal anyway, lass.”

“It’s all right,” Jace said. “I want to finish this.” He looked less crazed—maybe gaming did have a good effect on the mind. “Liam’s waiting there?”

“Liam’s at the bar, as usual, in case whoever is calling in tip-offs reports any out-of-the-ordinary activity. Me and Dad will be working on you tonight. Plus a little extra help.” Sean looked at Ellison. “Liam says you and Maria are to go to the bar. Laugh it up, talk to your friends, have fun. You too, Deni.”

“Nope.” Deni took a step closer to Jace. “I’m going with him. You Morrisseys are too eager to dig knives into him. Someone needs to be there who’s on his side.”

Sean lifted both hands and didn’t argue. Of the two Morrissey brothers—much alike with their dark hair and blue eyes—Sean was the more easygoing. If Deni wanted to throw her lot in with Jace, Sean was saying, who was he to stop her?

Ellison wasn’t happy to let Deni go to the workshop, but Maria took Deni’s side, saying she wouldn’t let Ellison go alone if she had to make the same kind of choice. The ladies prevailed, to Deni’s satisfaction.

They left the house together, Ellison and Maria breaking away to walk to the bar, Ellison’s arm firmly around Maria’s waist. Sean and Deni put Jace between them, with Jace walking in the hunched manner he’d been taking on, the hood of his jacket up to hide most of his face.

Deni caught a whiff of a strange scent when they approached the workshop’s door, one that had her hackles rising. The wolf in her was growling, and she felt the bite of nausea that was a prelude to her losing herself. She clutched Jace’s arm, and he stepped away from Sean to her.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“There’s someone . . .”

“I know,” Jace said. “I smell it.”

It was an acrid odor, one ripe with ancestral memory. Sean said, “No worries. That will be the father-in-law,” and he ushered them inside.

Chapter Eight

Jace stepped into the room and faced a strange apparition. A tall man, so tall he looked stretched, turned toward them, a metallic whisper sounding as he moved. He was dressed in chain mail, which was covered with a cloak so black it was like an opening into darkness. The man’s hair, in contrast, was pale white, and fell in dozens of braids past his waist, but the effect wasn’t effeminate, nor was he elderly. The man’s face was sharp, his dark eyes rivaling his cloak for the deepest hue of black. He wore a broadsword on his back, one larger than the Sword of the Guardian, its hilt sticking up above his head.

Deni was still growling, and Jace’s snarls filled his throat. An ancient enemy stood before them, and though Jace had seen this man before on other trips to Austin, the shock of him being here made his wildcat a little crazy.

“You remember Fionn,” Sean was saying. He eyed Jace warily, as though ready to stop Jace’s attack. “My mate’s true father.”

Andrea Morrissey, Sean’s mate, appeared on the other side of the Fae, flanking him in a protective move. Andrea’s dark head was up, her gray eyes daring Jace and Deni to do anything against Fionn.

Andrea was half Fae, half Shifter. Fionn, Jace had been told, had come to the human world forty or so years ago, seeking refuge during some unknown Fae war. He’d met and fallen in love with a Shifter woman, a Lupine, who’d then borne Andrea. For complicated Fae reasons, he hadn’t been able to stay, and Andrea had been raised by her mother and a Shifter stepfather. Andrea had had it tough as a half Fae growing up among Shifters and hadn’t met her true father until a few years ago. Now Andrea was mate to the Guardian, and no one hassled her about her origins. Not to her face, anyway, and never within Sean’s hearing.

Fionn had proved himself to be on the Shifters’ side in many cases, but the sight of a Fae still made Jace want to shift, fight, and kill. The Fae had created the first Shifters many centuries ago, breeding them to be fighting slaves. The Shifters had finally broken away from their Fae captors, staying in the human world while the Fae retreated permanently to Faerie. The Shifter-Fae war had ended seven hundred years ago, but still Shifters had a tough time even looking at a Fae.

Jace cleared his throat. “I assume you came to help with the Collars?”

Fionn curled his lip—Fae were always prone to sneering. “No, I came for a barbeque. Haven’t got my fill of Texas ribs.” He turned his disdainful dark eyes to Sean. “Why you think I can help, I don’t know. I’m a warrior, not a magician. I don’t know anything about the Fae magic in these Collars.”

Andrea put her hand on Fionn’s arm. Fionn softened as he turned to his daughter—the only person Jace had ever seen Fionn be nice to. “But you might have some insight into their construction,” Andrea said. “It’s Fae technology as well as Fae magic.”

Fionn patted her hand. “We’ve had this discussion before. I don’t know anything about what Fae did with Shifters. Shifters were out of Faerie, never to return, before I was born. I can see where Shifters would have been useful in battle, but I for one wouldn’t want to put up with them between wars. I’d have to cage them up to keep them from killing me, and they’d cost a fortune to feed.”

Deni made a growling noise in her throat. “Good thing we won the Shifter-Fae war, then.” she said.

“Yes, good thing,” Fionn answered. “Saved me a lot of bother.”

Andrea shot Fionn a frown. “Sorry, my father enjoys baiting Shifters. He thinks it’s fun.”

“I may be looking for amusement in the situation, but I also speak the truth,” Fionn said.

From what Jace understood, Fionn was a formidable warrior in his world, leading the armies of his clan in victory over other Fae, and possessing a lot of power. Other Fae had learned not to mess with him. Jace noted that Fionn kept his eye on everything in the room, including all the exits, the high windows, and anything that could become a weapon. He might be here to help, but he couldn’t stop being a fighter by instinct.

Dylan opened a locked cabinet and removed a silver and black chain. Jace recoiled inside, and he felt Deni move closer to him. Even Sean shivered. This was a true Collar, and Dylan carried it to Fionn.