Later in the night, with Sean curled behind her in the bed—wearing the cupid’s arrow briefs and a black T-shirt—a twig scraped across Andrea’s window.

Andrea. Come to me.

Andrea lifted her head and looked across the room. The window was tightly closed, the curtains shut, but moonlight streamed through a gap in the fabric.

The voice whispered in her head. Andrea.

Andrea looked down at Sean. He was frowning in his sleep, but he didn’t move. Slowly and carefully, Andrea slipped out of the bed, grabbed her clothes, and left the room.

CHAPTER NINE

Sean woke, knowing Andrea was gone. It wasn’t only the empty bed that gave him the clue; it was the absence of warmth, of the feel of her, the scent of her.

Not only that, she’d left the house. The glow of the clock next to the bed told him it was a little before three in the morning, and the tingle that had announced the presence of the Fae was back in a big way.

Sean stripped out of his underwear on the way down the stairs and shifted as soon as he unlocked and opened the back door. Andrea’s scent was clear as soon as he was a wildcat, her scent trail glowing like moonlight.

He tracked her to the precise spot where he’d found the Fae earlier today. The Fae warrior was back, and Andrea stood in front of him. She’d dressed in jeans and a sweater—looking very human—and she was reaching out to touch the Fae man’s hand.

A snarl left Sean’s throat as he leapt at Andrea and knocked her away. She yelled as she went down, and she started fighting. Sean shifted back to human form so he could lock his hands around her wrists.

“Get off me, Sean.”

“What the hell is the matter with you? If you touch him, he can cross. He’s a f**king Fae.”

“He’s my father.”

Sean stopped, staring openmouthed. Andrea glowered up at him, gray eyes beautiful and enraged.

“That’s right,” she said. “The man who sired me.”

Sean snapped his head up to look at the Fae, but he was gone, the clearing empty. Sean softened his hold on Andrea. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that before?”

“I didn’t know before. He’d just revealed it before you came blundering in. Now, will you please let me up?”

Sean got lithely to his feet and pulled her up beside him. “Why the bloody hell did you run out here to see him alone?”

“I wanted to know why a Fae wanted to talk to me so bad. I knew you’d never let me out if I woke you.”

“Damn right I wouldn’t have. What else did he tell you?”

“Nothing. You interrupted.”

Her anger was strong, but so was Sean’s. “Just because a Fae says he’s your dad doesn’t make it true. You can’t trust the bastards.”

Andrea jerked from his grasp. “Watch it. I’m one of those bastards.”

“Not what I meant, and you know it. I don’t think of you as Fae anyway.”

Now her gray eyes became chips of ice. “Well, I am Fae. You want to mate with me and sleep with me, but you’ve only seen the Shifter side of me. There’s another side, and it’s as much a part of me as the Shifter is. You don’t get one part or the other; you get the whole package.”

Sean gentled his voice. “I know that, love.”

“Are you going to run to Liam now, tell him everything?”

“He’ll need to know.”

“Go on then.” She spun around and marched back to the house without waiting for him.

“Damn it, Andrea.”

Andrea heard the frustration in Sean’s voice but didn’t look back. She couldn’t. If she stayed near Sean, he’d see the worry in her, which had sprung there the moment her father—if he was her father—had spoken to her. The Fae had not only claimed to be her father, but he’d asked Andrea to bring him the Sword of the Guardian.

Under roiling clouds and cold the next day, Andrea studied her ley line maps with renewed intensity.

She was alone to do it. Sean had left as soon as it was light, kissing her good-bye but not bothering to tell her what he was off to do. Glory had appeared after breakfast, but she’d been moody and unhappy, Dylan nowhere in sight. After lunch, Glory had reemerged from her bedroom in tight black leather pants, a lacy blouse, mile-high shoes, and perfectly coiffed hair, her body doused with perfume. She told Andrea with a sweet smile not to wait up and drove off in her small car.

The day was full of clouds and wind and rain, which matched Andrea’s mood. Andrea’s ley line maps weren’t helping—she had traced the line through the river valley that wound through Austin but not the offshoots of that line. Since she didn’t have the transportation to do it herself, the next best thing would be to see whether someone else had mapped them, but she’d need a computer to find that out. Though Glory had an old PC, not all Shifters were approved for Internet access, and then they were only allowed dial-up. But if Andrea used Sean’s computer, she’d have to tell him why she wanted to and get into explanations that made her uncomfortable.

Then again, Sean wasn’t home. Liam had ridden off to do whatever Shiftertown leaders did, and Connor was at school. Andrea put everything back into her folder and went next door.

Kim was home by herself, working in the kitchen. She’d started a law firm to represent Shifters and also to study human-Shifter law and try to change some of the inequities Shifters had gotten stuck with. It was a slow process, but Kim and her friends were trying. Kim had an office, but some days Kim found it easier to work from home.