answer immediately. He never looked away from the collar or Sean, studying both. “Who put the collar on you?”
Sean swallowed hard and started to sweat. Declan answered for him. “A man who we believe abducted him as a child and pretended to be his father. He hated shifters from what Sean has told me and didn’t want Sean shifting.”
Rage flared over Kyle’s face and he snarled. “Disgusting humans,” he spat.
Declan shook his head. “Not all humans are the same.”
“Most are,” Kyle growled.
“I have known many and even have several here in the compound who are very much supporters of shifters.”
“I need to get in touch with a contact to locate a witch powerful enough to remove it, Dec. It won’t be easy and honestly, if the collar has been on him as long as I suspect, there may be even more risk than usual.”
Declan nodded. “Understood. When can we expect to hear?”
“Give me a couple of days. My contact tends to… disappear when they wish to be alone.”
“Thanks, Kyle. You’re free to stay here for the time being if you wish.”
Kyle tipped his head in thanks. “I’ll take you up on that offer. I can use some rest.”
“Complicated assignment?”
“Something like that.”
Declan stood and held out his hand to Kyle. “I appreciate any help you can give. The room upstairs, second door on the left, is unoccupied at the moment. It’s yours as long as you’d like.”
Kyle shook Declan’s hand. “I’ll send out some inquiries now.”
Sean remained seated on the sofa, staring at a point on the wall across from him. The idea of being unable to choose whether to remove the long-worn strip of leather around his throat actually rattled Sean. He’d seen so many awful things done by his father and even been victim of those things himself over the years. But those didn’t upset him as much as the glimpse of actually being able to shift into whatever animal form he could take for the first time in his life only to have it taken away. Sharp pains echoed out from his chest and Sean struggled to breathe.
“Sean? Baby?” Declan’s voice sounded miles away, muffled down a long tunnel.
Strong hands gripped his shoulders and shook him slightly causing Sean to look up at Declan’s face. Gasping, Sean threw himself against Declan and began sobbing, great gulping cries that wrecked his throat and caused his entire body to shudder with each sound he made. “God, baby, you’re breaking my heart,” Declan rasped, tightening his hold on Sean. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
He didn’t have any clue how long he cried, but Sean felt exhausted to the core when he finally calmed down enough to return to awareness. Embarrassment swamped him and he pulled away from Declan only to stare in horror at the huge wet spot on Declan’s shirt. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed, voice destroyed. “I keep crying all over you!”
Declan shushed him and tugged him close again. “It’s just a shirt and I suspect you haven’t let yourself cry in a long time. You’re still processing the traumas of your past and crying jags are to be expected.”
Sean couldn’t find the strength to move away a second time and just lay wrapped in Declan’s embrace.
“Do you want to talk about what upset you just now?”
Swiping a hand over his cheek, Sean shrugged, biting his lip.
“Come on, Sean. Talk to me,” Declan prodded. He pressed a kiss to the crown of Sean’s head.
“I-I thought I mi-might finally be able to sh-shift and-“ Sean cut off, his throat tightening once more.
“You thought you’d be able to find out what you are. Who you are,” Declan finished for him. “You will, Sean. I promise. We will get that fucking collar off and you’ll shift and we’ll be able to run together as we were meant to.”
“Bu-but Kyle said-“ Declan stopped Sean.
“It’s not impossible to remove it, baby. We just have to find the right witch.” Sean tried to protest again, but Declan squeezed him lightly. “Stop, Sean. We will remove the damn thing.”
“Okay,” Sean whispered, still not convinced.
Declan gripped Sean’s chin between two fingers and tilted his head up until their eyes met. “Trust me, sexy, because there is one thing you have yet to learn about me and it’s how stubborn I am until I get what I want. And there is nothing I want more than to see you in your animal form and to run with you through the trees on our land.”
A tiny flicker of hope ignited in