“Liam,” he croaked.

“Ah, he’s still with us, is he? How’re you feeling, lad?”

Eric tried to wet his lips and found no moisture in his mouth. “What are you doing here?”

“You sent for me, didn’t you? Said you had a ceremony to perform, and oh, by the way, having a bit of trouble with your Collar.”

Eric pried open his eyes and looked into the very blue ones of the dark-haired Liam Morrissey. Liam wore a smile, as he often did, and his eyes held humor. But behind the man’s bonhomie lay a sharp mind and a powerful will.

Eric seemed to be lying in bed in Jace’s bedroom—what had been Jace’s bedroom. Covers were bunched over him and bright sunlight poured through the window, not helping his headache.

A phone call Eric had made this morning—no, yesterday morning—came back to him. Eric rubbed a weak hand through his hair. “I remember now.”

His entire being relaxed as Iona climbed onto the bed with him and sat cross-legged by Eric’s side. He reached for her hand, and she held his between hers.

Liam touched Eric’s Collar. “Looks intact. You try to take it off?”

“Take it off?” Iona asked at the same time Eric shook his head. “The Collars come off?”

“Carefully, slowly, painfully, and sometimes, disastrously,” Liam said. “Trust me on this. And that information goes no further than this room.”

“She’s my mate,” Eric said.

“I’m seeing that. You’re going to trust her with all things, are you?”

“I’ve already started.” Eric showing Iona their strong room was the first step. “She’ll be leader’s mate. I have to.”

“Aye, I know what you mean.”

The crisp female voice came again. “Leader’s mates are better at keeping secrets than any Shifters I know.”

“Iona,” Liam said. “This is Kim. The love of my life.”

“We met in the hall,” Iona said.

Eric remembered meeting Liam’s mate the last time he’d gone out to Austin, the short young human woman with the dark hair and no-nonsense attitude. Kim had been a defense lawyer, and now she ran a law firm that specialized in helping Shifters.

“No, I didn’t try to take off my Collar,” Eric said, strength beginning to return. “I’ve been able to keep it from going off when I fight, but not for long, and that’s about it.”

“And these attacks come when?”

“Seem to be all over the place. After I fight, yes, but other times too. Last night, on the porch with Graham. He wasn’t being aggressive, just his usual shithead self.”

“But he’s a threat,” Liam said. “To you, to Shiftertown, to Iona.”

“Yes.”

“What happened before the other attacks? Maybe not right before—say within the few hours before?”

“Whenever I fight,” Eric said, thinking back. But then, he’d had a huge attack after he’d gone to Iona’s house and seen her dancing at her sister’s bachelorette party. He’d taken Iona into her back hall and done many pleasant things. He told Liam this, omitting the glorious details. “The night after Graham Challenged for Iona as well,” he went on. “When I was remembering experiments done on me, I had a small attack, but it went away quickly.”

“Hmm,” Liam said. The man sat comfortably on the armchair Cassidy had brought into Jace’s bedroom, leaning back with his feet on the bed like he owned the place. Kim perched on the chair’s arm. “Seems to me like every attack came after an adrenaline spike. Fighting triggers it, sure, but when Graham Challenged, I bet the spike was a big one. And then when you thought about being experimented on, that had to be full of bad images.”

Iona broke in. “What about when he came to my house during the party? We were just kissing.” She flushed.

Eric’s smile was slow. From the twinkle in Liam’s eyes, the man guessed how much more they’d been doing.

“Ye said you saw her dancing with a male stripper,” Liam said. “I’m thinking that would raise the ire of a Shifter watching his mate.”

“You got that right,” Eric said. “I didn’t like it at all.”

“Stripper?” Kim asked in a bright voice. “What did he do? Did it all come off?”

“Most of it,” Iona said. “He came as a fireman. He got all the way down to his bright red thong.”

“Mmm. Did he have a hose?”

“A very long one,” Iona answered, and both women laughed.

“Tell me you took pictures,” Kim said.

“Oh yeah.”

Eric felt it immediately—the red rage of his possessiveness. He saw the same flare in Liam’s eyes.

“Ladies,” Liam said. “You want to get yourselves sequestered, do you?”

“Only if you bring us pizza,” Iona said.

“And dress as a fireman,” Kim added. She sent Iona a sly look. “With a big hose.”

“I think our mates don’t know their danger,” Liam said to Eric.

“They know,” Eric answered, feeling stronger by the minute. “But they don’t care.”

Liam growled at Kim. “Wait ’til I get you home, love.”

“Promises, promises.” Kim smiled.

“Adrenaline,” Eric said loudly. He pushed himself into a sitting position, the sheets bunching around his bare waist. He seemed to be naked under the covers, and sincerely hoped Iona had undressed him, not Diego. “Adrenaline is supposed to trigger the Collar. Maybe it’s triggering pain directly, bypassing the Collar?”

“Possibly,” Liam said. “When I stave off the Collar, I pay for it pretty bad later, but you’ve been suffering from triggers that wouldn’t necessarily have set off the Collar at all.”

“Which leaves me where?”

“I don’t know.” Liam frowned. “I’ll have to ponder.”

Outside the room came a loud cry, a child’s voice. A cub. Kim quickly slid off the arm of the chair. “I’d better go get Katy before she takes over your house, or the entire Shiftertown.”

“Katy?” Iona asked.

Liam answered. “Katriona Sinead Niamh Morrissey. Our firstborn cub.”