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

couldn’t let Seamus go last night—we were having
so
much fun. Dylan and the others came to find him this morning, to make sure he went back to Shiftertown like a good boy.” She turned an annoyed look on Dylan and stuck her tongue out at him. “Spoilsport.”

CHAPTER 8
    Reder transferred her interested gaze to Bree, and Bree popped her tongue back into her mouth.
    Beneath her, Seamus sat rock still, his head turned so his gaze rested on Bree. Safer that way. A storm of emotions roiled in his eyes, which would betray him if he looked at Reder.
    “Explain all this,” Reder said to Bree. “Shifters are supposed to spend their nights in Shiftertown.”
    Bree kissed Seamus’s cheek while she thought through what to say. The buzz of unshaved whiskers was pleasant on her lips, but she couldn’t let herself get distracted.
    “Seamus and me got to dancing.” Bree lifted her head but gave Seamus another squeeze. “I could tell he liked me, and I asked him to come home with me.” She shrugged. “We lost track of time, I guess. So his friends came looking for him.”
    “Trust me,” Nadine said wearily. “They
did
lose track of time. But what can you do with a daughter who’s addicted to Shifters?” She shook her head, the sadness of the world weighing on her shoulders.
    “I’m going to need to confirm that,” Reder said, still focused on Bree. “Who did you see at the roadhouse?” She didn’t get out a notebook or anything, only watched Bree as though memorizing everything about her.
    “Oh, lots of people.” Bree screwed up her face, as though thinking then giving up. “I’m new here. I don’t know everyone’s names.”
    “But
he
would.” Reder’s glance fell on Seamus. “Who was there, Shifter?”
    Before Seamus could speak, Sean broke in. “Me, for one. How else did I know where to start looking for the lad? Broderick, Ronan, Spike ... oh, lots of people from Shiftertown.” Bree hadn’t seen any of the Shifters here at the bar, but she had no doubt that Sean would make sure they all swore they’d been there.
    Reder rocked on the balls of her feet. “The problem is that there’s been two deaths.” Her voice filled with steel. “Two men have been found dead near the roadhouse, their bodies ripped up as though by wild animals. These two men were armed, but their shotguns were likewise torn apart. No human would have been strong enough to do this, so we immediately knew ... Shifter.”
    Seamus stiffened. Bree rubbed her hands over his arms and pressed a kiss to his shoulder.
Keep it together,
she willed silently.
You’re all right
.
    Sean continued speaking for the group. “You have DNA tests now, don’t you? To tell you who was at the scene? The DNA of every Shifter is on record, you know. Samples were taken way back when we were first rounded up.”
    Spots of red burned in Reder’s cheeks. “We haven’t been able to isolate the Shifter DNA yet. It’s not as easy as it looks on TV.”
    “Ah. Maybe there’s none there to isolate,” Sean said.
    “We’ll see.” Reder sounded confident. “All other evidence points to Shifter. That’s why I’ll have to take you all in until we discover what’s going on.”
    Crap
. At a police station, with everyone getting strip searched and the like, Seamus wouldn’t be able to maintain the pretense that the Collar was real. They’d also find out Seamus wasn’t from the Austin Shiftertown at all when they began going through records. Sean Morrissey might be good at verisimilitude, but Shifters couldn’t work magic.
    A chair scraped as Tiger climbed to his feet. Reder started and took a step back, then another as Tiger rose to his full height. The two uniformed cops swallowed, hands on weapons.
    “What is he doing?” Reder asked nervously.
    Tiger, in his fatigue pants and black T-shirt looked like a war-experienced soldier you did
not
want to mess with. His mixed black and orange hair went well with his hard face and unmoving golden