Myka eyed Spike in complete distrust. Spike rested his hand on top of the sleeping Jordan’s back. Myka was not going to take Jordan away from him.

“So you want to keep him then?” Myka asked.

“Well, yeah, I do. I’m his dad.”

She kept staring at him, arms folded, which pushed her br**sts to the top of her cute tank top. “That doesn’t mean you’ll be a good father. You have other kids?”

“No.” Again Spike caressed Jordan’s back. “Just him.”

“Sharon and I have been taking care of him fine between us. Jillian lived with her mom. Jordan’s used to us, and Sharon’s his grandmother.”

She didn’t get it, did she? “If humans found out he was Shifter, they’d take him away from her,” Spike said. “He’ll need to shift, to run, to be his wildcat. He won’t be able to help himself. In Shiftertown, he’ll be safe.”

Myka let out a sigh. “I know that. But it’s taken me a long time to talk myself into letting him go to a male Shifter. Isn’t there a woman in Shiftertown he can live with? Someone you know who could take care of him—and let us see him whenever we want?”

Spike growled. “Let another family take care of my son? Screw that. Anyway, there’s my grandmother. She can help me look after him.”

“Your grandmother lives with you?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t she?”

Myka’s lips pressed together then released into a forward push, as though she contemplated deep thoughts.

“How do you know for certain that he’s your cub?” she asked. “Jillian told me you were the only Shifter she slept with, but she might have been lying for her own reasons. She sure went to Shifter bars a lot.”

Spike had never seen Myka at one. “I take it you’re not into Shifters.”

“No.”

Spike lifted Jordan, who weighed next to nothing, and cradled him against his chest as he stood up. “Markings. His coat. He’s got my family’s markings.”

Again the stare, the assessment. What the hell was with her?

Finally Myka let out a sigh. She dug a tiny notebook out of her big purse and scribbled something down. She tore out a piece of paper and held it out to him.

“This is my phone number. You call me if Jordan needs anything, or when the novelty of being a father wears off and you want to give him back.”

Like hell he would. Spike only looked at her, making no move to take the paper. Besides, he’d have to disturb Jordan to do it.

Myka clenched her jaw, took the last step forward, and slid the paper into the top of Spike’s jeans pocket. Her fingers were warm through the denim, firm, strong.

Myka snatched her hand back and turned away so fast her purse swung and smacked her in her ass. The shapely ass that swayed as she hurried to the door again. “I have to take Sharon home and help her with . . . everything. You need a ride back to Shiftertown?”

Spike caressed his cub’s back again. “I can call for one.”

“Fine.” She hesitated again. “Be discreet when you leave?”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I be?”

Another dithering second, Spike scenting Myka’s sharp worry. Finally, she opened the heavy door and walked out. Spike heard her footsteps clicking down the hall, as though she were determined not to let herself turn back.

Spike walked out of the hospital ten minutes later, holding Jordan under the hooded jacket he now wore. He’d gone down back stairs and through empty corridors, avoiding all humans as he made for the dark parking lot. Jordan felt right nestled against his side, his little fists gripping Spike’s shirt, as though he knew, even in his sleep, that Spike was his new protector.

Cell phone use hadn’t been allowed on Jillian’s floor, so Spike had turned his off. In the dark and chilly parking lot, he turned it on again to find five missed calls from Liam’s number and the phone ringing again.

“Spike, where the f**k are you, lad?” The Shiftertown leader’s Irish baritone came flooding over the line. “We have a situation. Get back here. Now.”

“I have one too,” Spike said, his voice calm. “I’m gonna need a ride home.”

*** *** ***

“So what’s the sitch?” Spike asked Sean Morrissey as they sped away from the hospital in Sean’s father’s small white pickup.

Jordan was still hidden under Spike’s jacket but was an obvious lump on his right side. Even if Sean hadn’t noticed the lump, he would be able to scent Jordan.

“What the hell is that?” Sean asked.

Spike couldn’t keep the pride from his voice, though he had an almost crazed need to hide Jordan from all eyes until they reached home. “My cub.”

Sean jerked the wheel, narrowly avoiding running into another car. “What?”

“My cub.” Spike was torn between laughing at the expression on Sean’s face or growling.

Shifters of old had stolen each other’s females and cubs, and males had put rival males’ cubs to death so they wouldn’t grow up to become threats. Sean had a mate and cub of his own, these were more civilized times, but instincts died hard. Spike didn’t like the way Sean kept trying to look at Jordan. He pulled his coat closed and gave Sean a warning look.

“What has Liam so bothered?” Spike asked. “What does he expect me to do?”

Spike was a tracker. That meant he worked for the Shiftertown leader as bodyguard, watcher, and fighter, finding trouble before it could escalate into a problem. Liam, as Shiftertown leader, trusted his trackers implicitly. Had to. Liam couldn’t be everywhere, and the Austin Shiftertown was large, covering three species, two dozen or so clans, and many prides and packs within those clans.

Spike’s pride family was small—he and his grandmother Ella the only survivors—and they were the only jaguar-type Felines around as well. Shifter Felines had been bred from all species, but families and clans tended toward one type of cat more than others. The extensive Morrissey clan, for example, were lions. The Morrissey clan had made Spike and his grandmother honorary members when Spike and Ella had first come to Texas, because all Shifters had to be part of a clan to survive.

Which was how Spike had found himself in the position of tracker to the previous clan leader, Fergus, who at the time had also been the leader of the San Antonio Shiftertown. Previous meaning now dead. Spike had never taken a mate, never had a cub, and with the limited number of Shifter females available, Spike thought he never would.