The roar came again. Loud, deep, animal. Ronan tore open the door and ran into the yard, peeling off his T-shirt as he went. His jeans followed, boots flying. Elizabeth experienced one glorious instant seeing him tall and naked in the moonlight, before his limbs distorted, and the space between house and Den filled with Kodiak bear.
Ronan ran for the second bear who stood on his hind legs in the yard. The bear was snarling, all teeth bared, and as Ronan went at him, the other bear came down and charged.
The black bear was much smaller than the Kodiak, but the black bear didn’t care. Its Collar emitted dozens of sparks, which made it roar in pain, but the bear kept running for Ronan, its eyes red, foam dripping from its mouth.
Elizabeth watched, holding her breath, as Ronan ran straight into the black bear, tumbling to the ground with it. Dust exploded as both bears rolled over each other, the black bear snarling with insane intensity.
Ronan’s bear fought in deadly silence. The other bear clawed at him mindlessly, roars ringing into the night. Its Collar kept sparking, white hot in the darkness, but Ronan’s Collar remained, like him, quiet.
The fight drew attention. A big gray wolf bounded around the house and headed for Elizabeth. The wolf was huge, at least twice the size of an ordinary wolf, and its eyes were white, fur ice-gray in the moonlight. Elizabeth drew back, ready to run for the Den, and then the wolf’s limbs rippled and changed. In a few brief moments, she stood face to face with Ellison Rowe, who now wore not a stitch.
“You okay?” Ellison asked, breathing hard.
“Sure.” Elizabeth turned to the bears again. Blood showed on Ronan’s coat as he struggled to get the other bear under control.
“That’s Scott,” Ellison said. “The Transition’s rough.”
The black bear managed to squirm away from the big Kodiak and loped for Elizabeth.
“Shit,” Ellison said. His shifting process went in reverse, and the wolf returned, positioning himself in front of Elizabeth and snarling a warning.
Ronan was almost upon the black bear. As Ronan leapt for him, the black bear sidestepped, rolled, shifted in the middle of the roll, and came to his feet as Scott. Naked, muscles rippling, he was long and lean, body honed, but the look in his eyes as he ran at Elizabeth was raw and furious.
Ellison snarled a guttural snarl, all his wolf teeth bared, ears flat on his head. Ronan, behind Scott, shifted to his human self.
Scott kept coming. Ronan closed the distance between himself and the younger man, put his wrestler’s arms all the way around Scott, and lifted him off his feet.
Scott fought him. He ripped at Ronan’s hold, his Collar sparking like crazy. He butted his head back against Ronan, and blood dripped from Ronan’s mouth. Scott’s Collar crackled as loud as Ellison’s growls, and then Scott screamed.
It was a horrible sound. The scream went on and on, spilling out Scott’s anguish and pain, frustration and rage. Ronan held him fast, and Scott kept fighting. Ellison stayed in front of Elizabeth, his growls lessening but his teeth still bared.
Scott’s struggles slowed, though his Collar remained a white band around his neck in the dark. As he weakened, Ronan pulled him into his big arms.
“Let it go,” Ronan said. “Calm and quiet. Deep breaths, like I taught you.”
Scott was sobbing now. The Collar’s glow faded, gradually, as Scott continued to cry. Ronan held him close, pressing a kiss to Scott’s unruly black hair.
“Is he all right?” Elizabeth started forward, but Ellison, still the wolf, got in her way.
“Stay over there, Lizzie-girl,” Ronan said. “He’ll be okay.”
Scott didn’t look okay. He hung in Ronan’s arms, weak, his Collar still emitting sparks.
Ellison rose again to become Ellison. He put his hands on his trim hips. “Poor kid. When I went through the Transition, my grandmother would throw a bucket of ice water over me to calm me down. And I didn’t have to worry about the Collar back then—this was before Collars were invented.”
Across the yard, Ronan spoke to Scott in a low voice, and Scott nodded, head buried in Ronan’s shoulder.
“Why did he try to attack Ronan?” Elizabeth asked.
Ellison’s eyes glinted. In the moonlight, stark naked, his eyes still as gray as his wolf’s, he looked far more animal than human. “He wasn’t trying for Ronan, sweet thing. He was going for you, and Ronan was stopping him. I bet he smelled some pheromones running hot in the Den, and they ignited his hair-trigger mating frenzy.” Ellison grinned, and Elizabeth swore his teeth were still pointed. “So what were you and Ronan getting up to in there? Hunh, Lizzie-girl?”
CHAPTER 12
Ronan got Scott to bed, cleaned himself up, and returned downstairs to see that Ellison was making Elizabeth coffee. Ellison at least had pulled on a pair of jeans. Ronan had as well, and here he’d been hoping he’d get out of his clothes for Elizabeth.
Ellison, once Ronan gave him a nod that everything was fine, enclosed Elizabeth in a swift good-bye hug then left through the back door. Ronan sat down at the big table and shoved the mug of coffee Ellison had prepared across to Elizabeth.
“He’ll be fine,” Ronan said. “Sleeping it off. The Collars hurt like a mo-fo, so Scott’s going to be down for a while. Sorry about that. I didn’t think he would react to us.”
“Ellison said he scented pheromones?” Elizabeth sipped her coffee, looking shaken but determined not to let the incident daunt her.
“He did. During Transition, Shifters walk around in a state of heightened sensitivity to . . . everything. Pheromones, fighting instincts, hunger pangs, you name it. Scott probably sensed us getting hot, and his bear brain suddenly decided I was his rival for the warm female in the Den. When he wakes up, he’s going to be embarrassed, so go easy on him.”
Elizabeth’s hands tightened around her mug. “But if he’s that easily triggered, is Mabel safe from him? What about Cherie? Even Rebecca? I can’t let Mabel stay here with him like that.”
“No, no. Mabel will be fine. And Cherie. Scott knows they’re cubs. Mabel might not be a kid anymore in human terms, but to Scott she is. Shifters are even more freaked out about touching cubs than humans are. That’s ingrained in us, even during the Transition. As for Rebecca . . .” Ronan had to shake his head. “She’s a big Kodiak, like me, and she doesn’t take shit from anyone. She’s already knocked Scott clear across the house a couple of times. He mostly leaves her alone. But you.” Ronan’s amusement faded. “I think you’d better stay with Sean and Andrea. I didn’t realize a human would trigger the frenzy. But then, I don’t know much about humans.”
“I trigger a frenzy? No one’s ever said that about me before.”
Ronan reached for Elizabeth’s hand and twined his fingers through hers. “That’s why I’m going crazy wanting to touch you.” He lifted her fingers to his lips.
“Careful,” Elizabeth said softly. “We don’t want to upset Scott.”
“He’s out. Completely out. But I take your point.” Ronan kissed each of her fingertips in turn. “I can’t seem to stop touching you, Lizzie-girl.”
“What are we going to do, then?”
Ronan loved her eyes, so different from a Shifter’s, the blue of them pure and dark. “You can accept my mate-claim. Then Scott will know, without doubt, that you belong to me. He won’t try to touch you then.”
She frowned, brown brows coming together. “How would that work?”
“Honestly?” Ronan shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s scent, instinct, maybe the pheromones again. We just know.”
Her fingers lay motionless against his. “What would it mean, exactly? Me accepting your mate-claim?”
He spoke carefully. “It means that you agree to be joined with me in two ceremonies—one under the sun, one under the full moon, in the sight of the Father God and Mother Goddess. But that’s only part of it.” Ronan leaned across the table to her, inhaling her goodness. “You accepting the mate-claim means that you are mine, and I am yours. We
belong to each other. For always.” He squeezed her hand. “I’d like that.”
Ronan saw longing flare in Elizabeth’s eyes, and loneliness, a need to fill the empty spaces in her heart. He also saw fear.
“I’ve gone down this road before,” she said. “I decided then that I’d never let a man have power over me again. It’s dangerous. I won’t do it.”
Ronan felt her terror through their twined hands. He ran his thumb over her fingers, soothing. “This is why you changed your name and started over again, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Elizabeth’s throat moved. “I got involved with the wrong person, a dangerous one. I didn’t realize how dangerous until too late. I only saw a very rich man with a big house who could take care of me, and Mabel too, and he seemed to adore me. That’s before I figured out he was a dealer, and into all kinds of very bad things. Mabel was only fifteen, and he was already starting to want her to do favors for his high-flying clients, to sweeten them up. You know what I mean. When I objected, he showed his true colors. He turned into an abusive dickhead, threatening me with all kinds of things, including death, and I realized he’d carry out his threats in truth. The only way I could get away from him was to take Mabel and disappear one afternoon when he was out. I had a friend, from my days in foster care, who knew how to create identities. I gave him a wad of cash, he came up with Elizabeth and Mabel Chapman, and here we are.”
Ronan listened, not letting his rage spill over into her fragile hand he still held. “What is his name?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“No, Ronan.” Elizabeth’s gaze flicked to his, her quiet desperation increasing his anger at whoever this abusive dickhead was. “He’s an evil man, and he’s surrounded by trigger-happy guards with the latest in firepower. You’d die before you ever saw him.”
“I’ll never do to you what he did, Lizzie-girl.”
“I know.” Elizabeth pressed her palm to her chest. “I know that in here. My head is still all fucked up.”
“Let me explain something,” Ronan said in a quiet voice. “To me, you accepting my mate-claim means that I protect you, no matter what. If that includes protecting you from myself, then so be it. I take care of you, I cherish you, I don’t let men like Marquez or whoever this asshole is hurt you. You never have to fear them again. Or me, or any Shifter. I’d be your bodyguard. Bodyguard for always.”
Ronan saw hope flicker behind her fear, but the fear was still strong. “Can I think about it?”
“Think as much as you want.” Ronan leaned to kiss her mouth, tasting coffee and the cinnamon Ellison had sprinkled onto it for her. “Accepting my mate-claim will protect you more, but I’ll protect you no matter what.”
Elizabeth kissed him in return, then she caressed his cheek, a touch that had already become dear to him. “Thank you, Ronan,” she whispered.
Scott was indeed full of chagrin when he woke in the morning, and very hung over from the effects of his Collar. The whole family took pity on him, and Ronan made his favorite breakfast, a mountain of waffles with berries and honey.
Scott then said that Elizabeth and Mabel wouldn’t have to move; he’d go. He’d already called Spike and arranged to stay with Spike and his grandmother, both well capable of keeping Scott in line. Scott left after breakfast, mumbling about bunking down with crazy-ass wildcats, but he seemed relieved to go.
Mabel was happy to stay longer with Cherie, and now she was talking about coloring her hair to match Cherie’s natural brown and blond chunks.
Elizabeth opened the store with Ronan, Ellison and Spike showing up to continue fixing the wall and door. Elizabeth felt a little shy with Ronan after the declarations of the night before, but Ronan took it all in stride, remaining his normal, bantering self. He never mentioned the mate-claim or the secret of her past Elizabeth had revealed to him.
He was giving her space, she realized. No man Elizabeth had gone out with had given her time to think things over. Elizabeth thought she could fall in love with Ronan for that alone.
Over the next few days, her life took on a new and comfortable routine. She and Ronan rode together to the store every morning, Spike and Ellison showing up to work on finishing and painting the new wall and door. When that was done, they looked around for other things to fix. They charged her nothing, behaving as though repairing her shop was what they woke up every day to do. Elizabeth knew that other Shifters—the trackers, everyone called them—lingered nearby to guard the store and look out for cops, but Elizabeth never saw them.
Rebecca’s birthday fell on that Wednesday. As much as Ronan claimed she didn’t want to be reminded, Rebecca was pleased and touched when Ronan made her a special breakfast Wednesday morning, and the family plied her with cards and gifts. Rebecca opened the one from Ronan in trepidation, clearly expecting a joke, and then looked stunned at the artisan-crafted glass-bead jewelry Elizabeth had picked out for her. The colors were bold but beautiful, the artisan knowing how to combine shape and color for a pleasing whole. Rebecca kissed Ronan soundly on the cheek, although she thanked Elizabeth, knowing the choice had been hers.
Pablo Marquez did not return that week, nor did he send anyone in his stead to make threats. The neighborhood around Elizabeth’s store and house remained quiet. Elizabeth started to hope that she could go home soon.
Then again, she was not all that eager to run back to the lonely house she and Mabel occupied. The house could be lively when Mabel was there with her joie de vivre, but Mabel would start back to college in a week or so, and between that, the shop, and her many friends, Mabel would rarely be home. Elizabeth suspected that, anytime now, Mabel would announce plans to move out on her own. And then Elizabeth would be alone again.
Ronan’s house, on the other hand, was full of life. When Elizabeth went home, she’d miss the loveable Olaf, Rebecca’s wisecracks about anything and everything, Cherie’s young enthusiasm, Ronan’s giant breakfasts, and of course, Ronan himself.
Every night after Elizabeth closed the store, she went with him to Liam’s bar. There she’d talk and joke with Andrea, Glory, Ellison, and other Shifters she was coming to know. Whenever Ronan took a break, he’d sit down with Elizabeth, and at the end of the night, they rode home on Ronan’s bike, Elizabeth’s arms around his waist.
And they’d talk. Morning, noon, and night, she and Ronan seemed to never run out of conversation, or jokes about anything they could think of. Even silences with him were companionable, Elizabeth never feeling pressured to come up with something brilliant to say.
She’d never had a relationship like this, where she could actually talk to a guy. What’s more, Ronan listened. It was a new sensation. In Elizabeth’s previous relationships, the man in question had expected her to talk when he wanted her to, shut up when he wanted her to, and have sex with him whenever he wanted her to. Whenever he wanted, never mind Elizabeth’s needs. His pleasure counted, not hers.
Ronan, on the other hand, was perfectly happy to steal kisses with her, as though they were wayward teenagers, whenever and wherever she liked. They made a game of it, coming up with unlikely and unusual places to duck away for kissing: her office bathroom, the broom closet at the bar, behind the back shelves in her store, in the root cellar of Ronan’s house, in the back of Ellison’s pickup. The Shifters—especially Rebecca and Ellison—made fun of them, but Ronan lapped up their teasing with enjoyment.
Elizabeth liked the turn her life had taken, which at the same time seemed fragile and new, like a seedling lifting a first tender shoot above the soil. There was hope and warmth, but also fear of impending storms.
The next storm came in the form of Julio Marquez, who was waiting for them in the shadows of the Shifter bar’s parking lot when Ronan and Elizabeth emerged the next Friday night. The bar had closed an hour before, Ronan shutting down for Liam so Liam could go home to his family.
Ronan stepped fully in front of Elizabeth. Nate and Spike came out of the darkness to flank Julio, Nate in his human form, Spike as a jaguar.
Julio opened his hands then carefully lifted his jacket to show that he carried no weapon. His face sported healing cuts from his fight with Ronan, reminders of Ronan’s strength, but also reminders that Ronan could temper his strength.
“I came alone,” Julio said. “I just want to talk to you.”
One week ago, Elizabeth had grown dizzy with terror when she’d looked into Julio’s cold eyes over his gun. Now she tasted pure anger. A spark from Ronan’s Collar flashed white in the night, and he growled.
Julio raised his hands. “I swear to God, I only want to talk. You made a fool out of me, chica, but I’m not crazy enough to go one-on-one with a Shifter.”
Elizabeth stood in silence. Anything she said—even agreeing to let Julio speak his piece—might allow his lawyer to claim that her testimony against him was compromised. She was willing to bet that any lawyer hired by the Marquez brothers would be slippery enough to do so.
“You have three seconds to leave,” Ronan said to Julio. “Or I go through you.”
“No, no.” Julio took a step back. “I’m here to apologize. My brother was right—I was stupid.”
Elizabeth remained silent, and Ronan followed her lead.
Julio went on. “I know you think I’ve come here to ask you not to testify against me. And you’re right. I really don’t want to go to prison. I’m sorry for what I did, but I was just having fun. You know, showing off for my friends.”
He was a cool little liar. He might dupe a person more naive than Elizabeth, but she’d seen many performances like his, most of them better. Julio had been ready to kill her last Friday night, not caring who she was or who in the world depended on her. She’d been a means to get to the money, something to be disposed afterward. That was all.
“I know you’re pissed off at me,” Julio said. “So I’ll make a deal with you. You know the Shifter fight clubs?”
BodyGuard (Butterscotch Martini Shots Book 2) Page 11
