“You won’t have to,” Liam told Kim.

Fergus gave them a narrow stare. “Does this mean you make the Challenge for her?”

Liam sensed Dylan and Sean move in behind him, their instinct to protect manifesting, no matter how bloody stupid they thought Liam was being. Liam wished Connor would get the hell out of here. Connor was a kid, a cub, and he wasn’t ready yet for this kind of confrontation. Liam didn’t think Fergus would take that into consideration when he started meting out punishment.

Liam slid his hand into Kim’s, looked Fergus straight in the eye, and reached for a Texas phrase that would make Ellison proud.

“Damn straight.”

Chapter Eleven

Fergus’s gaze locked with Liam’s, and Liam felt a surge of triumph.

“Dylan,” Fergus snapped.

Dylan answered in a calm voice. “My son is not yet mated. It’s his right.”

Don’t defend me, Dad. Walk away. This isn’t your fight.

Dylan remained in place. Liam hadn’t really thought he’d be wise and disappear. Dylan would never desert his offspring, even if it meant his death.

“Excuse me,” Kim burst out. Heads swiveled to her, a hundred pairs of Shifter eyes pinning her, but she didn’t flinch. “I don’t like all this talk about mating, thank you very much—especially when it involves me.”

Liam wanted to laugh out loud. She was a treasure. Shifter instincts were starting to blot out his human reason, making him yearn for Fergus’s blood under his claws and then Kim in his arms.

Sex with Kim would be glorious, even if he had to stay in human form for it. He’d gotten a taste of her last night, her sweet mouth, her kisses, her touch on his body. He wanted to lie on top of her, practicing more human kissing as he slid inside her and made her his.

Fergus’s own pheromones rolled off him, thick and strong, polluting the air. Smelling them, Liam realized Fergus didn’t plan to make Kim mate in name only. He wanted Kim, wanted a furious f**k. Liam would die before he let that happen.

“Silence her,” Fergus growled at Liam.

Sean stepped to Kim’s other side. Even without the sword, he stood like a warrior, ready to fight. “Liam has made the Challenge,” Sean said. “Nothing we can do but see how it plays out.”

“Screw that.” Kim tried to twist out of Liam’s hold, but Liam wasn’t about to let her go. “Connor,” she said over her shoulder. “Can you find something for me to stand on? A chair or something?”

Her question jolted Connor out of his frozen terror. Good for Kim.

The Shifters parted to let Connor leave the room. Liam hoped it would take him hours to locate a chair, or that he’d think better of returning at all, but Connor came back almost at once with a stepstool.

“Good enough.” Kim told him to put it on the floor in front of her, and Liam released her long enough to let her climb on it. He kept his arms around her as she straightened up, both to steady her and to keep her in his protective hold.

“That’s better,” Kim said. The stool let her stand half a head taller than Liam, and now she could look across the crowd of Shifters.

“There doesn’t need to be any violence over this,” she said. “What y’all don’t understand is that I can be the best friend you’ve got. You have a Shifter in jail, and the world howling for his blood. If I can prove he didn’t kill his human girlfriend, think what terrific PR that would be for all of you. Shifters are viewed with suspicion and hostility. If I show the world that Brian was wronged, make him a sympathetic figure, even a hero, imagine what an amazing step forward that would be. They might let you integrate more, let your kids go to schools that aren’t held in abandoned warehouses.”

Silence. Not one expression changed.

“Hey, maybe they’d even let us have cable,” a Shifter in the back drawled. The room rumbled with male laughter.

“I’m serious. I’m good at my job. I can do this if you help me.”

Fergus’s mouth drew to a thin line. “Liam, shut her up.”

Liam wasn’t about to. Kim had Fergus baffled, and he liked that.

“You act like you don’t want Brian released.” Kim went on. “He didn’t kill Michelle. Why should he be executed for it? Why would you let him be?”

Fergus drew the cat-o’-nine-tails from his belt. “Liam.”

“He’s going to whip me?” Kim asked Liam in amazement.

Liam lifted Kim off the stool. “Time to stop talking, love. Fergus, if we’re doing this Challenge, let’s get on with it, man.”

“Not until I teach the bitch some manners.”

Connor stormed forward despite Sean’s attempts to restrain him. The young man’s face was red, his large hands in fists. “Leave her alone! She’s not doing anything to you. She’s just talking. How can that hurt you, you bastard?”

“Connor, shut it,” Dylan said fiercely.

Fergus’s gaze chilled the air as it rested on Connor. “Come here, boy.”

“He’s a cub,” Dylan tried. “He doesn’t understand.”

Connor wiped his eyes. “I understand, Grandda’.” He glared at Fergus, though he dropped his gaze almost immediately. “I meant it too.”

Fergus was livid. Cords stood out on his neck, and his eyes burned with the intensity of a feral’s.

Liam knew full well how Fergus had envisioned this cozy scenario: Liam and family would scurry down to San Antonio, hand Kim over in abject apology, then hurry away again, letting Fergus do whatever the hell he wanted.