The Shifter to whom this garden shed belonged wasn’t home, but Liam came and went here as he pleased. Kim had saved that Shifter’s life, and the grateful Feline and his mother who lived with him obeyed Liam’s every wish.

Liam had Andrea sit on a stool. Andrea did, betraying no fear, but Sean knew her enough to read her by now. He saw the minute flicker of her lashes, the small nervous movement of her hands as she brushed a speck of dirt from her jeans.

“I’d love to tell you this won’t hurt,” Liam said. “But I have no bloody idea.”

The Collars were fused to the wearer’s skin, so they never moved, never slipped. Liam touched a probe that looked like a small flashlight to the Celtic knot at the base of Andrea’s Collar. A spark leapt from the knot to run around the Collar, and Andrea jumped. Sean snarled.

“No, I’m all right,” Andrea said quickly. “It just—I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Don’t hurt her, Liam.” Sean knew he’d die if Andrea was hurt. He’d be scrambling around like a madman trying to save her, the mate bond closing like iron around his heart. If Liam hurt her, clan leader or no, brother or no, Sean would attack him.

Andrea’s hand on his calmed his craziness, her gentle touch a link to sanity. “I’m really fine, Sean. Is that it?” she asked Liam.

“No.” Liam took out another instrument that looked like a scalpel, scrubbed it clean with some antibacterial wipes, and dipped it in alcohol. “I’ll try not to cut you.”

“Oh, that’s reassuring.”

Liam held up the knife. “I also have to ask you not to talk.”

Sean squeezed her hand. “Andrea likes to talk.”

“Especially when I’m nervous.”

“Well, for now, resist the urge,” Liam said. “Shifters have fine metabolisms, but not if I accidentally slit your throat.”

Andrea opened her mouth to answer that, her lips shook a little, and she closed them again. Her fingers closed harder on Sean’s as Liam very carefully slid the knife under a link in Andrea’s Collar and again touched the probe to the knot.

The Collar loosened. Sean and Liam already knew that the technology to unfuse the Collars worked, as far as it went. They’d learned that last summer when they’d discovered the experiments that the Shifter who owned this shed had been performing in secret. But the technique had been rudimentary and either killed the Shifter outright or made him so crazy he went feral. Liam, Sean, and Dylan had been working on refining the process, but so far they hadn’t been able to figure out a better way. They couldn’t experiment much on themselves without risk, and it wasn’t as though they could ask for volunteers.

Andrea sat still as stone as a link came free. Her gray eyes were large, the fear in them real. But it was only fear. No pain.

Very slowly, Liam loosened another link and another. A tiny drop of blood squeezed from Andrea’s neck, and Liam dabbed it away with another antibacterial wipe.

Andrea closed her eyes and held Sean’s hand, but as more links came away, she breathed easier. “It doesn’t hurt,” she told Sean. “Well, no more than would someone pulling staples out of your flesh.”

Surface pain, she meant, not deep, profound, bonejarring pain that made a Shifter insane. Sean had let Liam remove a couple of links of his Collar one night a few months ago, and he thought he’d die of the pain. Andrea simply sat there and watched Liam work.

Link by link, the Collar came away, until finally, Liam disconnected the Celtic knot. Andrew sat holding Sean’s hand, Collar-free, her gray eyes clear. Sean’s heart gave a throb of joy. His mate was free.

“Nothing?” Liam asked as he held the Collar delicately in one hand. “You don’t, for instance, want to disembowel me or turn on Sean and rip out his throat?”

Andrea grinned. “Not about this.”

“Amazing.” Liam peered at the thin red line around her neck and then at the Collar. He pulled a microscope from a tool drawer, set it up, and studied the Collar through it, looking like a cross between an Irish biker and a biology professor. “This is a regular Collar all right. No different from mine or Sean’s or the ones I have in case I run across crazy ferals.”

“Is that good?” Andrea asked.

“It’s a wee bit puzzling.” Liam lifted his head. “Same technology, same magic, same everything. Different reaction.”

“Fae blood or the healing,” Andrea said.

“Or it didn’t fuse to you correctly the first time.” Liam leaned close to her neck again, causing Sean’s mate-instinct to flare. He put a strong hand on Liam’s shoulder and steadily pushed him back.

Liam’s look was amused. “Don’t worry, my brother in a mate frenzy. I won’t touch her.”

“Didn’t fuse correctly?” Andrea repeated in a worried tone. “Does that mean if you put it back on, it might?”

“By the look of your neck, which no, Sean, I wouldn’t dream of touching, it did fuse properly. You’re right that it might be a Fae thing. You wouldn’t mind if I put a drop of your blood on a slide?”

Andrea shrugged. “Sure.”

Liam reached to her already cut neck with his scalpel, and Sean couldn’t stop his growls. “Down, lad,” Liam said, his lips twitching that annoying, amused way. He flicked one drop of Andrea’s blood onto a slide, closed another over it, and eagerly went back to his microscope.