Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) (14 page)

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 three times 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 Twelve

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. 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 finger, 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.