CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Could be,” Xavier agreed.

“You’re good, Xav. Neal?”

Neal Ingram was a big man, a Lupine, and the Shiftertown’s Guardian. Often the Shiftertown’s Guardian came from the leader’s family, but the Guardian most closely related to Eric had died years ago. Eric, to keep the peace, had requested that Neal, the Guardian for his clan, be made Guardian for the entire Shiftertown.

Guardians were another thing the humans had almost f**ked up. Each clan had its own—the Shifter male whose Fae-made sword would send dead Shifters’ souls into the afterlife—but the humans insisted on only one for each Shiftertown.

They just didn’t want too many guys with big swords running around, Eric supposed. So each clan’s Guardians had to hide their swords and submit to the one Shiftertown Guardian. Eric appointing Neal, the next-highest Guardian in the dominance order, instead of holding a choosing for the Guardian to be picked from Eric’s own clan, told the other clans that Eric wasn’t going to insist his clan dominated everything. Now Eric’s clan had no Guardian at all—they used Neal.

Eric had an ulterior motive that he figured his Shifters understood. When a Guardian died, tradition dictated that all eligible-aged members of the clan gathered for a choosing. The Goddess herself picked the next Guardian—so legend said.

Jace had been about the right age to qualify, and Eric had no desire at all for Jace to become a Guardian. Guardians lived a lonely life. Females avoided them, and while Shifters respected them, they were also uneasy around them. Guardians dealt in death. Everyone knew the last person they’d see in life was their Guardian arriving with his sword to send their bodies to dust.

Neal was unmated, fairly young for a Shifter at age one hundred, a gray wolf, and the silent type. He lived with his brother and several nephews, but didn’t get out much or say much for himself.

However, the man was a genius at computers. Most Guardians were.

“I’ll check the Guardian network,” Neal said in his deep voice. “If he did take the Collar, I’ll find him.”

“And then I’ll have a talk with him,” Eric said.

“You have a ceremony,” Neal said in his quiet way.

“After. You’ll come with me.”

Neal inclined his head.

Xavier, who’d watched the exchange with undisguised curiosity, tapped a little more on his keyboard. “About the other name you wanted me to look up. I might have found him too. Dr. Peter Murdock?”

Neal’s gaze snapped back to Eric. “Him? Why?”

“I have questions he might be able to answer,” Eric said calmly, though his pulse sped up at the thought of facing the man again. He kept those thoughts at bay, not wanting to trigger another attack. Not today.

“Who is he?” Xavier asked.

“A bastard who used to stick needles and probes into Shifters,” Neal said. Neal had been a victim of the experiments too, the humans wondering what a Guardian had inside him that made him a Guardian.

Murdock had been part of the team of scientists studying Shifters, but he’d seemed a bit more ashamed than the others that he was torturing live specimens. Not that he stopped it, or protested, or anything. And he’d still called them specimens.

“Sounds like a real nice guy,” Xavier said. “And successful. Full professor at UCLA, but now retired back in good old Vegas.”

“After the ceremony,” Eric said, looking at Neal again. “A long time after.”

He didn’t want bad memories to destroy this time with Iona, no matter how much he needed to get to the truth.

Eric looked much better when he stood next to Iona at the mating ceremony that afternoon—the mating under full sun.

Iona wore a garland of flowers, woven by Cassidy and her friend, a Feline called Lindsay. The two women had helped Iona pick out clothes they said were very Shifter—a loose brown skirt and a sleeveless white top with a high collar. Iona’s hair hung unbound, and the day had warmed enough for bare legs and sandals. Winter on the desert floor sometimes took its time.

Eric was dressed up—for Eric—in a button-down shirt, black jeans, and square-toed black boots. His slicked-back short hair was still damp from a shower.

He smiled down at Iona next to him, a look of heat in his green eyes. But she sensed the tension in him, no matter how nonchalant he tried to appear. He was wound up, ready to get this over with.

Iona’s mother had come for the ceremony, though Nicole was still in Hawaii on her honeymoon. Iona had talked to Nicole earlier on the phone, explaining to her sister that she was about to mate officially—in Shifter terms—with a Shifter.

Nicole had been stunned, then hopeful, then sounded relieved. Nicole had always known, she said, that Iona would have difficulty in a relationship with a human, but had been uncertain that Iona finding a Shifter was a good solution either. But because Iona sounded happy, Nicole would be happy. When she met Eric, though, she would make sure he was good enough for her big sister.

They’d both cried, Nicole sorry that she couldn’t be there for the day. But there’d be a full moon ceremony, Iona had been told, and Nicole might be back in time for that.

Penny stood a little behind Iona as Cassidy had instructed her. Her mother was a bit nervous to be among all these Shifters, still uncertain that she wanted to lose Iona to one. But, like Nicole, she seemed relieved she no longer had to worry about Iona finding a companion for life. And, like Nicole, she’d make sure Eric made her happy.