Eric lingered, leaning on the railing, his leather jacket hiding his Collar. Next to him, men called out to passersby, thrusting leaflets for exotic dance clubs at anyone who looked interested. One of the flyers lay at Eric’s booted feet, showing a photo of a Shifter woman, bare, her hands hiding her br**sts.

Shifter women did dance in clubs, seeing nothing shaming about nudity and liking the tips. Some of the male Shifters didn’t like it, though, and Eric had to intervene with brothers angry that sisters were dancing for money. Granted, some males still thought Shifter females should be sequestered and used as cub-making machines, as they had hundreds of years ago.

Times change. We need to change with them, or we die.

Iona’s friends came out of the shops and strolled up the long walkway to the street. Iona wasn’t with them.

Damn it.

Eric strode down the length of the walk, passing Iona’s friends without looking at them. In the pressing crowd this fine night, no one noticed him.

He could tell that Iona hadn’t come out this door at all, because her scent was nowhere near it. Keeping his head down, Eric ducked inside with the rest of the tourists, hunkering a little so his height wouldn’t give him away.

He took an escalator down, patiently waiting on the moving stairs instead of shoving his way through the crowd. At the bottom, he searched the crowd, letting his nose lead him in the right direction once he’d picked up her scent.

He found Iona outside a chocolate shop, staring at the exotic confections within.

Eric stopped to watch her. Iona’s black hair was caught in a simple tail, her lean body fine-looking in jeans and blouse, her high-heeled boots making her legs long and sexy.

Beauty. Un-Collared. Free.

Her scent screamed at him. Unmated female, rushing headlong into mating need with no idea how to contain it.

Eric knew from living with Cassidy that females tried to damp down mating need with food—chocolate, ice cream, cake. Shifter women worked off the calories fast, their metabolisms quickly burning the sugar. Probably why Iona was drawn to the chocolate shop.

Iona was so fixed on the chocolates that she never heard Eric, never smelled him. He was simply there between one moment and the next, filling her vision and her space.

She saw him, and her mouth went dry. Not again. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything since meeting him at the club, as though he’d invaded and taken over every thought. Stalking her in her head. She didn’t want to see him again.

And yet, every one of Iona’s female instincts came alert at Eric’s tall body, hard face, dark hair, and most of all, his eyes. They were jade green and held fathoms of thought. Those eyes could see all the way down inside her, uncovering things Iona hadn’t been aware of herself.

Not that she was going to let Eric and the confusion he stirred cow her. Iona turned to face him, no avoidance.

“Shifters aren’t allowed in here,” she said. “Tell me what you want, before I call security.”

His smile licked wicked delight up and down her body. “Go ahead and call. You know I can out you a hell of a lot worse than you can out me.”

“Why shouldn’t I call them?” Iona said, her lips stiff. “You’re obviously following me around.”

“Why didn’t you stay with your friends?”

“None of your business.”

Eric nodded at the tiers of confections. “They look good, don’t they?”

Iona glanced at the enticing chocolates, and her mouth started to water. She’d been walking by, and then she hadn’t been able to keep walking by. She’d told her friends she’d catch up to them, saying she needed to buy a gift for her sister or mother—some excuse.

“The scent,” Iona said. “I don’t know why it fascinates me. I like looking at the shape of the chocolates, imagining how they’ll taste in my mouth.” Smooth, dark, delicate, music on the tongue.

Eric gestured to the shop door. “Come on. I’ll buy you some.”

No. Iona couldn’t let him do anything for her; she couldn’t even stand next to him.

Eric shrugged and walked straight into the shop, not bothering to see if Iona would follow him. Iona didn’t want to. She resisted with all her might, but she sighed as her feet took her inside after him.

Eric did a good job, she saw, of hiding his Shifter-ness. The fact that he was Shifter screamed itself at Iona, but Eric rounded his shoulders so he didn’t look so tall, hid his Collar behind his high-necked shirt and jacket, and didn’t even look up at the perky young clerk.

He let Iona pick out what she wanted, playing the part of the patient boyfriend waiting for his girlfriend to make up her mind. Iona chose chocolate after chocolate, indulging in exotic flavors and fillings, all of which the clerk put into a pretty box, then a pretty bag. Eric handed over some cash, took the bag, and steered Iona out of the shop.

His hand on her arm sent electric heat through her body. Iona tried to jerk away once they were back inside the mall. “Don’t touch me,” she said.

Eric let go, but not because Iona commanded it. He did only what he wanted to.

“Come on,” he said. He started off in the direction opposite the one her friends had taken.

Iona followed him. He had the chocolate. She needed that chocolate.

How a Shifter knew the back doors out of the Forum Shops, Iona didn’t know, but Eric led her through an obscure hall and outside into a shipping bay. It was dark here, the only light coming from the stars overhead and the distant glow of the parking lot.