CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Misty had asked, “Do you want me to go?”

Offering, knowing Graham had been trying to push her away, out of his problems. Except Misty kept landing right in his problems again.

“Stay,” Graham had said into her hair, and he’d carried her upstairs.

Graham’s bedroom was the neatest in the house. Dougal’s room was a disaster area, Graham always surprised his nephew could find his own bed. Many times Dougal didn’t, sleeping on the floor as wolf. The twins were snuggled down together in a spare bedroom, which Graham supposed was theirs now.

Graham lay Misty in his own bed and covered her nakedness with blankets. She gave him a sleepy smile, one a little bit smug. She’d gotten Graham to let down his guard.

Wasn’t that hard, sweetheart.

Graham debated whether to join her. He’d want to touch her again if he did, wrap up in her, have sex with her. Mate with her.

Then he’d have to keep himself awake somehow, or he’d slide back into the dreams with the Fae. He had the feeling that the more encounters he had with Oison in his dreams, the more hold the Fae would have over him.

Graham adjusted the light blanket over Misty, the ceiling fan and blow of air-conditioning making the room cool. Out the window, he saw the sweep of Shiftertown, the darkness that was desert and mountains beyond, the moon, even fuller than last night, and six Shifters waiting for his attention at the edge of his front yard.

They were all Lupines, five male and one female—three clan leaders and three seconds. One of the leaders was from a clan from Graham’s Elko Shiftertown; the other two had been living here under Eric.

Graham growled in his throat, left Misty, who’d drifted off to sleep, grabbed a fresh pair of sweatpants and T-shirt, and went downstairs and outside.

The Lupines hadn’t moved into the yard—this was Graham’s territory, and they wouldn’t approach without invitation. They’d stand at the edge of the sidewalk instead, willing him out by sheer force of glare.

The leader of the Elko clan took one step forward. He’d probably lost the coin toss as to who got to address Graham and risk being attacked without mercy.

Graham stopped in the middle of his yard, remaining firmly on his territory and not inviting them in. “What the hell is this?”

“Are you going to mate with the human?” the Elko clan leader, Norval, said. He inhaled, the hot Nevada wind easily carrying to him Graham’s scent and everything he’d done with Misty. “We saw you.”

Graham folded his arms. “Can’t a Shifter get sucked off in his own kitchen without his neighbors having a meeting about it? It’s my business who I mate with.”

“A Lupine, you said,” Norval went on. He’d gone white about the mouth, and Graham smelled his fear, but Norval was angry enough to stand and not run away. “You got us down here with the promise that you’d take a Lupine mate from my clan or the Las Vegas ones. I can barely hold my clan together, McNeil. They’re ready to shove you out of power unless you start your dynasty.”

“I got you down here any way I could, because the humans were forcing us to leave,” Graham said. “If I didn’t agree that all my shithead Lupines would get on the buses and haul their asses to this Shiftertown, the humans were going to round us up and kill us all. Humanely, they said. Only humans could name a kind of killing after themselves. Notice they only apply it to animals.”

During the speech, the others moved uneasily. The sole woman, the second to one of the Las Vegas Lupine clan leaders, was the only one who kept still, her gaze on Graham. Females tended to be braver than males.

“You need to choose,” the woman said.

“I won’t choose you, Muriel,” Graham said. “You’re a total bitch.”

He kept his tone and stance casual, as though his clan leaders ganging up on him meant nothing to him. Inside, Graham’s heart was pounding, his mouth dry with the incessant thirst, his body heat high from the near-sex he’d had with Misty. He was drowning in feelings for her, mixed with annoyance at his Shifters and fear of what the Fae was doing to him.

“I wouldn’t touch you, Graham,” Muriel returned. “I’m already in a mate agreement.”

With another poor Lupine in Graham’s clan. An agreement they called it. She’d made the Lupine do that instead of outright mate-claim her, because Muriel wanted to keep her options open, in case she got a better offer.

“There are four unmated Lupine females among our three clans,” Norval said. “We expect you to choose one before the end of our first year in this Shiftertown. Such was your promise.”

“Things have changed.” Graham had been convinced once upon a time that any dilution of Shifter blood weakened the pack and could drag down an entire clan. But since moving here, he’d found his old ideas rearranging themselves. He’d met Iona, the half-human, half-Shifter woman Eric had mated with. He’d bet Iona could wipe up all six of these Lupines and have energy left over to take on Graham. Graham didn’t bring this up, because all Shifters had agreed not to talk about Iona’s half Shifterness. But they knew.

“You need to decide,” Norval said. “The clan leaders aren’t going to wait forever.”

Graham walked to Norval, stepping from grass to sidewalk, effectively leaving his territory to face Norval and the others on neutral ground. He didn’t need territory advantage to intimidate.

“That’s right,” Graham said. “I decide. And if I decide a human mate is the best thing for me and my clan, then you’ll have to live with it.”

“Or we challenge your leadership,” Norval said.

“Or you challenge my leadership.” Graham gave him a nod. Challenging a leader who endangered Shifters was every Shifter’s right. “But you’d better be prepared to win. And Goddess knows what Eric would say about it if you did win. You know what an interfering ass**le he is.”

He heard growls from the Las Vegas Lupines, anger at Graham for talking about Eric like that. They liked Eric leading them, Goddess help them. Lupines giving themselves over to Felines. What’s the world coming to?

“Tell you what,” Graham said. “You all go home and decide among yourselves which clan you think should be dominant. Because if I pick a female from one of your clans, you know that clan will increase in power. I hope you’re all cool with that. Once you figure out which of you should outrank the other, come back and present your females. Then I’ll give you my final answer.”