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will want to move on. You let him go.”
    Bree shivered in her thin nightshirt, in spite of her mother’s warm touch, but she knew Nadine was right. Seamus had needed help tonight, he’d chosen Bree to help him, and then he’d leave. He couldn’t risk being caught without a Collar.
    Seamus came in from the garage. Nadine went on down the stairs past him to the kitchen, and Bree quickly followed her. She didn’t trust herself alone with Seamus, so she was right behind her mother as they entered the kitchen for their soothing cups of spiked tea.
    ***
    When Seamus awoke in the morning, back on the couch and tangled in sheets, the tabby cat was lying on his ankles.
    It always amazed him, Seamus thought as he carefully sat up and stroked the blinking cat between its ears, how heavy very small cats could be.
    The cat yawned, stretched, poked its needle claws through the sheet, and kneaded Seamus’s bare leg. He’d taken off the jeans this time, lying down to sleep after he’d cleaned up the best the bandages would let him in the tub upstairs.
    Seamus pried the cat up, detaching it from the sheet, and cradled it against his chest. The cat, knowing a sucker when she saw one, purred and soaked up the petting.
    It was early, around five thirty, Seamus judged from the gray light. It was autumn, November, and the sun wouldn’t be up for a little bit yet. No one stirred above—Seamus had the feeling that Nadine and Bree weren’t women who shot out of bed at the crack of dawn.
    He looked forward to seeing Bree stumbling down the stairs, mussed from her sleep, giving him her lopsided smile.
    Strange, Seamus had all his life feared and even hated humans. They were physically weaker than Shifters and yet had manipulated themselves to have mastery of this world. Their animal strength had been replaced by cunning, which in the long run had proved the more capable trait for them. If you knew exactly how fast to run and precisely where to hide from the stronger, stupider predators, you could outlast them.
    This cat had the same kind of cunning. Her ancestors had been quick and resourceful, and had discovered that being adorably cute had its benefits. A dangerous Shifter who could have made short work of this cat was now cuddling it, protecting it, making it feel good.
    The cat suddenly lifted her head, her claws coming out to bury themselves in Seamus’s muscular arm. He tensed but didn’t drop her or toss her away.
    An animal coming alert meant something Seamus couldn’t ignore. His own senses prickled.
    Seamus very carefully set the cat on the floor then raised his head, parted the sheer curtain of the living room window, and peered out.
    The house was surrounded by Shifters.

CHAPTER 5
    Seamus very slowly eased back down to the sofa and reached for the clean, whole, olive-green T-shirt Nadine had brought him—belonging to her son, he understood. Seamus slid it on and then his jeans. He didn’t bother with his boots, because if he had to shift and fight, boots would only get in the way.
    He didn’t recognize the Shifters out there, but he knew who they must be. How they’d tracked him here, Seamus didn’t know, but Collared Shifters were crafty, like the humans he’d just been thinking of.
    Seamus needed to be just as crafty himself. He had to get away from the Shifters but also not allow them to follow him to those he was protecting.
Keep them safe. That is the mission
.
    Dressed, he quietly made for the front door and crouched against the wall beside it. He couldn’t fight them all, but he could lead them astray and then find a way to slip around them and make his escape. Maybe. Getting away from Shifters wasn’t as easy as evading trigger-happy humans.
    The Shifters outside were deathly silent. They only had to wait it out, and they knew it.
    From somewhere above him, a window scraped open. A second later, Nadine yelled, “Get off my property, all of you, or eat lead!”
    Shite
. Seamus was across the room and up the