The entire balance of Shifter power in South Texas was at stake. Liam showed how torn he was about this by stretching out on her sofa and catching up on the latest issue of Angler Today.

“Will you stop that?” she asked in irritation.

“Stop what? Reading’s good for you. You learn things.”

“Sitting there like nothing’s wrong. I might have made a breakthrough in the case. Your dad might have to leave Shiftertown. Fergus might try to kick your ass into the next county. And you read about fishing. Do Shifters fish?”

“Kim, sweetheart, if I didn’t absorb myself in fishing lures, I’d either tear down the building or come over there and screw you senseless on your desk. Maybe both. Is that what you want? I can oblige.”

Kim scrubbed her hand through her hair. “Never mind. You have me on edge. I guess the Shifter pheromone thing really works.”

Liam was off the couch and on his feet, the magazine falling to the floor. “And yours are pouring over me, enticing me to come and slide my hands up your skirt.”

“You’ve already done that.”

“That was two hours ago. I want to do it again. And again. All day and all night. It burns like fury.”

Kim’s blood heated. “I can’t say I’m turned off by that.”

“You’re lucky you’re not Shifter. You can’t feel the mating frenzy like I do. If you were Shifter, we’d have been doing it constantly since San Antonio. To hell with work or family, or eating and sleeping.” Tension rippled through his big body.

“You’ve been feeling that since San Antonio?”

“Hell yes. I want to be inside you every second. Fergus and his demands, your case, and even my father can go to hell.”

“Oh.” Kim moved closer to him. She was in her office, her very formal, law-firm office in its nice building in downtown Austin, and she wanted nothing more than for Liam to throw everything off the desk and lay her back on it. Or maybe sit her on the edge. Or against the wall. She wasn’t particular.

Liam’s smile was feral. “Don’t play with fire, Kim.”

“I think I have a little of this mating frenzy too.” Kim pressed her hands to his chest to feel his heart pounding beneath her fingertips. “I want to touch you all the time, have you kiss me, have you be with me. I didn’t say that, because I was afraid you’d think I was clingy.”

“My love, what gobshite wouldn’t want you clinging to him?”

“Pretty much everything male.”

Liam drew her against him. “Bloody fools can’t see what’s in front of their own noses. It means you’re all mine.”

Kim rose to meet his kiss, not caring that her secretary could pop in any moment, not to mention all the lawyers in the building. But what the hell? She’d already done it outside on a wall, and her colleagues probably thought she was shagging the Shifter in here anyway.

The kiss turned deep. Kim tasted his need, the frenzy inside him, and his conflicted emotions. Likely his heartbreak was fueling his sexual needs, and Kim would be the one fulfilling those needs. She somehow couldn’t be sorry about that.

Liam’s cell phone buzzed. He kept kissing her a few seconds, then reluctantly reached for the phone. “Damn it.” He flipped it open. “What?”

His expression changed, and he turned away, shutting Kim out. She thought the voice she could barely hear was Sean’s, and from the stiffening of Liam’s body, something had happened.

Her heart froze. Dylan? Or Connor?

Liam snapped the phone shut and turned to her with a grim look. “Michael’s mum says he’s missing. She can’t find him anywhere.”

Kim blinked. “Michael? The little kid with the pool?”

“Yes. Dad and Sean are organizing a search.”

Kim’s blood went cold. “Fergus?”

Liam shook his head. “I don’t think so, and neither does Dad. Fergus’s head would come off if he tried to hurt a cub, or even use him as a diversion. Fergus has power, but cubs are sacrosanct.”

Kim wasn’t sure she took Liam’s word for it. “Call the police,” she said quickly. “They’ll do one of those alerts…”

Liam shook his head. “Shifters can find him a hell of a lot faster than your police can. We know his scent.” Liam slid his phone back into his belt. “I have to be there. His mum and dad…”

“Will need you.” Kim thought of the way Liam and Sean had done everything to calm Sandra, how the woman had relaxed somewhat under their mutual touch. The parents would be terrified, need reassurance. “Go then. I’ll be fine.”

More conflict. Liam looked uncertain, and Kim had never seen him uncertain. “Really,” she said. “I have a hell of a lot to do here. You know, Brian’s butt to save. I’ll be fine.”

Liam came to her, his hard body against hers the best thing in the world. “You stay in this office, all right? Have someone bring you lunch; don’t go out. And after work get into your car and drive straight to my house. No stopping, no lingering. All right?”

Uneasiness stole through her. “Fine. I can do that.”

Liam pulled her into an embrace. A Shifter embrace, tight, long, warm, comforting and drawing comfort at the same time. “I hate to leave you.”

Kim hated for him to leave her too. When did she get so needy? “I’m fine. Go.”

Liam kissed her again, lips lingering on hers. “You call me,” he said. “Every hour if you have to.”