“Not an aficionado then.”

“No.” Glory put back the boxers and moved to browse the gadgets.

Andrea picked out three pairs of briefs, the designs of which made her laugh. She pictured Sean’s face when he opened the package and laughed harder.

A waste of money, really, Andrea thought as she took the briefs to the counter. Sean would either get the joke or look disgusted, but either way he’d throw them away.

But what the hell? It was Andrea’s tip money, and who said she couldn’t have fun with the mating dance? If Sean insisted on holding her when she had bad dreams and worrying about her getting hurt, she got to tease the hell out of him.

“Oh, those are cute,” Mabel at the counter crooned. “Are you a Shifter?” she asked as she put the purchases in a bright red shopping bag. “You don’t look like one.”

Andrea pulled down the edge of her sweater to reveal her Collar. “’Fraid so.”

“No offense. All right?” She had a musical Texas accent and winning smile.

“No offense.”

“How’s that Connor doing? Tell him to come in more often. I’m starting to think he’s forgotten about me.”

Mabel looked too sane to be a Shifter groupie. She didn’t wear Collar-like jewelry or have the frenzied look many groupies had. She had dark, friendly eyes, and maybe she just liked Connor.

Andrea smiled at her. “I’ll tell him.”

Glory bought a couple of the plain black satin boxers, a bottle of flavored lube, and a few toys Andrea pretended not to notice. Mabel laughed and cracked her gum, telling Glory her boyfriend was so lucky.

“Y’all come back now,” she said as Andrea and Glory left the shop.

“Wish all humans were that friendly,” Andrea said.

“She will be until Connor breaks her heart.”

Andrea glanced back at the brightly painted shop. “You think he will?”

Glory shrugged. “It’s inevitable, isn’t it?”

She had a point, unfortunately. The store clerk was about the same human age as Connor, but Connor wouldn’t take his place in the pride for a few more years and probably wouldn’t be looking for permanent connections for another ten years after that. Humans aged quickly, so the girl might be middle-aged before Connor got around to taking a mate.

Kim and Liam had gotten around the age problem because of Fae magic, which would lengthen Kim’s lifespan to match Liam’s. This was a secret bargain made between the Fae and Shifters long ago, that if a Shifter had to take a human mate, a Fae had to agree to lengthen the human’s lifespan. Andrea wasn’t sure why or how this had come about, but the bargain was still honored.

Glory led Andrea across the street to a little bakery that served luscious-looking ice cream. Glory ordered two heaping cones of three different flavors, handed one to Andrea, and shoved the cash across the counter to the server. Andrea licked her cone as she followed Glory to a tiny table. The ice cream was delicate and good, and happily, Shifters could devour large quantities and burn it off later with a good run. There were advantages to being Shifter.

A serious-looking man in a suit stopped in front of their table. “Excuse me, but you can’t be in here.”

Glory looked up in surprise. “I come in here all the time. Ask them.” She waved her ice-cream cone at the humans behind the counter.

“New policy. You can buy the ice cream, but then you have to go. No Shifters lingering in the store.”

Glory gave her ice cream a long, almost sensuous lick. She looked up at the man over it, and he started to sweat.

“Why not?” Andrea asked him.

He wiped his forehead. “Not when establishments that allow Shifters are getting shot up. The management decided. I’m sorry, ladies. I have to ask you to leave.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The man’s stern stance faltered as Glory rose, her six-foot height made higher by four-inch heels. She pinned him with her Shifter stare, and he swallowed hard, trying to stand his ground.

Glory ran her tongue around the ice cream. “Are you telling me you’re kicking us out?”

“Leave him alone,” Andrea said quickly. “It’s not his fault.”

“But he looks like he’d taste good,” Glory purred.

Andrea got up. She was about the same height as the man, and she knew she looked positively harmless next to Glory. Good Shifter, bad Shifter. Andrea gave him a sweet smile. “You’ll be fine if you back away slowly. Give her a little more ice cream, and she’ll leave.”

Glory continued to lick her cone and give the man her hungry stare. The manager swung around and signaled to the servers behind the counter, who were watching with wide eyes. “Give them whatever they want. No charge.” He gave Andrea a pleading look. “And then you really have to go. I’m sorry. It’s not my decision.”

“We understand.” Andrea asked for a couple of pints each of dark chocolate and vanilla-cinnamon, and the servers scrambled to pack the tubs.

Glory continued to lick her ice-cream cone, watching the man with a cold stare. Andrea took the bag with the pints of ice cream and urged Glory to come with her.

Glory gave her melting ice cream one last lick, dabbed a bit onto the man’s nose, and handed him the half-empty cone. She sauntered out as only Glory could saunter, aware that all eyes were on her.

Andrea and Glory held it together until they reached the little car down the street, then they dropped inside it and collapsed into laughter. Glory high-fived Andrea, started the car, and ruthlessly backed out into traffic.

“This is bad, though,” Andrea said as they drove north across the Congress Street bridge. Rain was just starting to patter down, the scent of the bat colony that lived beneath the bridge filling the humid air.

“I know.” Glory swung around a slowing car. “Fucking humans. The Collars aren’t enough?”

“Maybe this is what the shooters want—terrifying humans into keep us penned in the Shiftertowns. Why, I wonder?”

“Does there have to be a reason? Humans are afraid of us, and people act like ass**les when they’re afraid.”

“I know that, but I mean, why now? It’s been twenty years since humans have known about us. They know what we can and can’t do by now—or what we will and won’t do. It seems like there’s something more behind this.”