Free Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set by Colleen Gleason

whole, encircling Seamus’s neck, pressing into his skin, indenting it.
    “It’s too tight,” Bree said quickly.
    “The real ones are tighter, lass,” Sean said. “Seamus, man, you all right?”
    Seamus opened his eyes, his body stiff, his golden gaze fixing on Dylan. “You let humans put these on your family?” Rage filled his voice. “When they came for you, you surrendered and let them do
this
?” He pointed a stiff finger at the Collar. “How does that make you a good leader?”
    Sean’s face clouded. “Steady, lad.”
    Dylan said nothing. Though his expression didn’t change, Bree thought she saw something uneasy inside him. The choice to take the Collar, to make his family, pride, and clan wear them, must have been painful for him.
    “It was necessary,” Dylan said, his tone neither admonishing nor ashamed.
    “I’ve heard the arguments.” Seamus peeled himself out of the chair, unfolding to his full height. The Collar caught a gleam of the rising sun, glistening around his tanned throat. “That taking the Collar and living in Shiftertowns helped Shifters not starve, to have more cubs, grow stronger,” he went on. “Do we look stronger right now? I have to pretend to be one of you, to bow my head and be taken away instead of fighting my way free. How does that make us stronger?”
    “We can discuss it later,” Dylan said, mouth tight. “You’re pretending to be one of us so hell doesn’t rain down on all Shifters in South Texas. When the police come in,
you
will shut up, and
I
will talk to them.”
    Nadine shoved her way through to the table with cups of coffee, two in each hand. She set them down, and Sean immediately grabbed one, looking relieved.
    Nadine glared at Dylan. “What do you mean,
when they come in
? Police don’t come into my house without a warrant. I know my rights. I’m not letting them tramp in here, getting my carpets dirty. You let
me
talk to them.”
    Without waiting for dissent, Nadine headed to the front, her muumuu swirling around her. She hadn’t bothered to get dressed.
    Bree hurried after her in alarm. Her mother didn’t like police, and Bree pictured them all being arrested together and thrown into a squalid cell after Nadine gave them a piece of her mind. “Mom, wait.”
    “Don’t worry.” Nadine made it across the living room and yanked opened the front door.
    The floodlights had come on, fighting with the lights from the cops’ cars in the lightening grayness. The garish glow illuminated the four uniformed police who’d climbed out of the cars and aimed handguns at the house.
    “Oh, lordy,” Bree said softly.
    “Can I help you, officers?” Nadine stepped out onto the porch. She had a cigarette between her fingers but didn’t reach for the lighter in her pocket. “Is something wrong?”
    A woman in a suit with a gun in a hip holster strolled past the uniforms and toward the porch. “Ma’am, we heard word that Shifters had converged on this house. We came to see if you were all right. Are they in there?”
    Bree watched her mother debate whether to lie and say the Shifters had gone or had never been there at all, versus having the police push their way in, claiming they had a right to when there was a clear danger.
    Bree caught Nadine’s eye, and gave her a faint nod.
Tell them the truth
.
    The truth, Bree had learned, meant different things to different people.
    “Yes, they’re here,” Nadine said. “But they’re my daughter’s friends. They came to breakfast.”
    Bree stole back into the living room and ran to the kitchen. “Make breakfast,” she said rapidly to the Shifters. “I have an idea. Go with whatever I say and do.”
    Seamus stared at her a second or two, then he seemed to understand. He cupped her face with his big hand then let her go.
    “Right,” Sean said behind him. “Someone find me a mess of eggs.”
    ***
    Sean cooked. Seamus rummaged in the cupboards and removed plates and things, enough for breakfast for six.