“What did you mean by ‘Collared Shifters’?” Kim went on. “Sounds like collard greens. Before tonight, I thought all Shifters wore Collars. It’s the law.”

This was getting complicated. Liam sifted through what was safe to tell her. Hell, none of this was safe. “Not all Shifters took the Collar. Your human government knows that, but they keep it to themselves.”

Kim’s slim fingers toyed with her beer bottle, but she didn’t drink again. She watched him with intelligent eyes. Beautiful eyes. Damn, it’s been way too long…

“You make it sound like wearing the Collar is a choice.”

“It is, love,” Liam said. “It’s a choice we were given twenty years ago, and we made it. Most of us. Some Shifters chose to remain wild.”

“You mean free.”

“Hunted. Dying. Pushed out. We might have survived maybe five more years if we hadn’t taken the Collars.”

“Are you saying you chose subjugation to save yourselves?”

Liam shrugged, pretending to agree. “Our lines were dying out. We weren’t fertile, and children that managed to get born often didn’t last their first year. Now look at us.”

Kim moved her gaze from him to the filled room. At the bar Jordie Ross stood with his four sons, all tall and bulky, talking and laughing loudly. Their mother had survived their births—she was sitting in a booth on the other side of the room with a couple of friends.

Another Shifter woman held her hand on her swelling belly while her husband kept a protective arm around her. She was prudently drinking bottled water, leaning back against her husband.

“Liam.” A tall figure cut his vision. “Nice human you’ve got there.”

Liam looked up and scowled. “Ellison. Get lost, man. I’m trying to convince her that Shifters are civilized.”

The tall man laughed. As usual, Ellison wore a black button-up shirt and jeans, cowboy boots, and big hat. He loved Texas, had adopted the state when his Shifter clan relocated from Colorado. Some of his clan missed the cool air of the Rockies, but Ellison Rowe embraced Texas Hill Country, even with its humidity, mosquitoes, bad traffic, and state congressmen.

“Don’t believe him.” Ellison thunked into the booth next to Liam and smiled at Kim. “Liam doesn’t have a civilized bone in his body.” Even Ellison’s grin was wolfish.

“I’m sure she’s comforted, hearing that from a Lupine.”

“Lupine?” Kim wrinkled her brow. “I heard you say that before.”

“Means I’m a wolf, baby,” Ellison said. “Not a pu**ycat.”

Kim’s eyes took on a touch of fear. Liam reached across and touched her hand. “It’s all right. He’s a good wolf.”

“Don’t tell her that. I’m the Big, Bad Wolf.”

“Like the feral Shifter,” Kim said softly.

Ellison instantly lost his grin. “What?”

Liam shot Kim a warning look. “A rogue. I took care of it.”

“He was a wolf? Damn. I’m sorry, Liam.”

“I said I took care of it.”

Ellison frowned, his big body folding in on itself, his sunny nature dimming.

“Two chicken-fried steaks, extra gravy,” Annie said, depositing the food in front of them. “And a mess of fries. Anything else you need?”

“Bring me a beer, honey.” Ellison glanced at Kim’s and Liam’s bottles. “A good old-fashioned American beer, nothing Irish, Mexican, or German.”

“We got some strawberry blonde ale in the back,” Annie said. “Made right here in Austin.”

She swished away before Ellison could protest. “Aw, I hate microbrew. Yuppie beer.”

“Then I won’t invite you to the annual microbrew tasting party,” Kim said, as Liam munched a crispy, hot chip. They were chips, damn it. What ass**le came up with french fries? “Brewers from around the county set up booths and give free tastings all day long. You have to be invited, but I’m allowed to bring guests.”

Ellison’s face fell. “Well, maybe it’s not so bad. Some of these brews are downright good.”

Liam laughed at him, but his heart warmed. Kim was no wilting flower. She was scared, angry, uncertain, and unhappy, but she wasn’t going to hunch in on herself and cry.

Good. She needed to be strong to take Shifters. She’d have to take the lot of them, now, because she wouldn’t be going home tonight.

Chapter Six

Kim ate hungrily. Getting attacked and watching her attacker die did that to a girl.

This was all so weird. The cowboy sitting next to Liam, sipping his pale beer while watching Liam put away his chicken-fried steak, made jokes, but his eyes were wary, watchful—going from dark blue to light and back again as he and Liam talked.

Ellison seemed very upset that the feral had been a wolf Shifter. Why? Because Liam and Sean, who’d killed him, were big cats? Kim didn’t understand what difference that made. A Shifter was a Shifter. Wasn’t he?

Kim sensed that she’d stumbled upon something with layers and layers of complexity. She’d been so confident she could help Brian, striking a blow for Shifter rights at the same time, but now she wondered at her ego. The more she’d learned about Shifters today, the more she realized how very little she knew.

Ellison eventually moved off to talk to others, taking his microbrew with him. Kim wiped her mouth with the extra napkins Annie had brought. “Thank you. I guess I needed the food.”