Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) (4 page)

"I'm not?" Her trepidation returned. "Why
not?"

Ronan looked over at her and grinned. It was
a warm grin, making his eyes twinkle. "Because I'm taking you to my
home, Elizabeth Chapman.
Shiftertown
."

* * * * *

Chapter Four

Ronan felt Elizabeth's fear pouring off her
as they neared the streets of Shiftertown. But there was nothing
frightening about Shiftertown--at least, not these days.

When Ronan had first arrived from Alaska,
though, he'd been scared as hell. Bears liked solitude, and Ronan
had never lived near more than one or two people at a time in his
life. In Shiftertown, scores of Shifters surrounded him, always.
And then the human government had told him he had to let other
bears live in the same
house
with him.

Ronan's shyness had nearly killed him.
Learning to survive the discomfort of being in a crowd, training
himself to not react--either by running away or driving the others
off--had been the hardest thing Ronan had done. People who derided
shyness, or called it self-centeredness, didn't understand it.
Shyness was instinct. In the wild, the need for personal space--a
lot of personal space--could spell the difference between survival
and death.

But Ronan had conquered his fear long ago,
thank the Goddess. Now Ronan knew everyone, and everyone knew
Ronan, and he'd carved out his own place in this strange, new
world.

Ronan drove around a dark corner that
contained a derelict convenience store and headed into Shiftertown.
Beyond an empty lot, which was purposely left derelict, Shiftertown
unrolled in streets of neat lawns and well-kept bungalows.

These houses had been pretty much trashed and
abandoned by the humans who'd lived there twenty years before, and
the government department formed to deal with the Shifter situation
had snapped up the cheap real estate and used it to house the
Shifters. Shifters had moved in and repainted, reshingled, and
repaired the houses themselves. Now anyone could walk fearlessly
down the quiet streets of Shiftertown, doors could remain unlocked,
and cubs could play safely in the front yards to all hours of the
night.

Shifters, three species of them, now lived
together without killing each other. Who would have thought?

Shiftertown was dark this late, though
windows glowed in houses here and there. Felines and Lupines would
be outside without lights, both species still nocturnal despite
human effort to change that. Bears, much smarter, would be sound
asleep, taking advantage of every moment of shut-eye they could
get. Ursines used a lot of energy when awake, and they slept with
dedication.

Elizabeth, beside him, took it all in while
gripping the dashboard. "Are you going to bother to tell me why I'm
in Shiftertown?"

"Sean brought your sister here, to my
house."

She whipped around to stare at him. "To
your
house? Why?"

"Well, he couldn't take her to Liam's house
because Connor lives there, and that could get messy. Mabel likes
Connor, but Connor's still a cub."

Elizabeth kept staring at him, clearly having
no idea what he was talking about. "If you mean Connor who comes
into my shop sometimes to flirt with Mabel, he's not a cub; he's in
college."

"He's only twenty-one, and in Shifter terms,
that's still a cub. Won't make his Transition for another, oh,
seven or eight years yet. It's best not to let him and Mabel be
more than friends--too confusing and even dangerous for everyone.
So, right now, my house is best. You've heard the story of
Goldilocks and the Three Bears?"

"Sure, but what has that got to do
with--"

"That story is total bullshit." Ronan
laughed, the rumble of it filling the car. "At my house, nothing's
too hard or too soft. Everything is
just
right.
"

He was rewarded with Elizabeth's smile. He
liked her smile, like a sudden flash of sunshine. He hated to see
her so afraid. She shouldn't be afraid, this sassy sweetheart.

Ronan slowed the truck, which he'd found fun
to drive but a tight fit. He turned into the driveway, which was
nothing but two strips of broken pavement that led behind the
house. Ronan had turned the garage in the back into a work-and-play
room he and his housemates called the Den, so he parked outside,
behind the other car and a large motorcycle already there.

The motorcycle was Ronan's--Sean or a tracker
must have retrieved it from the street near Elizabeth's store and
driven it home for him. He hoped it hadn't been Nate who'd fetched
it. Stupid Feline drove like an idiot.

Ronan got out before Elizabeth could and went
around to open her door. "Here we are," he said, taking her hand to
help her stand up. He liked her hand, small and warm in his. "Get
ready for the horde."

"The what?"

"No worries; I won't let them hurt you."

The "horde" tumbled out of the back door and
off the porch Ronan had built around two sides of the house. They
were Rebecca, a full-grown she-bear from Ronan's clan; Scott, a
black bear Shifter who was about twenty-seven and going through the
pains of his Transition; Cherie, a grizzly, twenty in human years,
who'd spent the first half of her life locked in a pen. Last came
Olaf, the only polar bear in Shiftertown, nine in human years and
still a true cub. Olaf had a sunny disposition, except when flashes
of the past he couldn't quite remember came to him in his dreams.
They called him Olaf, but no one, not even Olaf, knew his real
name. All wore Collars that gleamed under the porch lights.

Behind the bears was Mabel, Elizabeth's
twenty-one-year-old sister, whose hair today was pink streaked with
green. She looked keyed up, frightened, and excited, all at the
same time. She pushed past the bears and ran at Elizabeth, arms
open.

"Lizzy, damn it, they said you almost got
shot, and then you were at that police station for, like, ever. And
then those guys came to our house--looking for you. They called
through the front door asking where you were. And then Shifters,
all over the place. Liam said it wasn't safe for me to stay home,
said I would meet up with you here. Have you seen that Spike guy?
He is
hot
. I swear he has tattoos
everywhere
."

Sounded like Mabel was all right then.

Rebecca looked at Ronan in concern. "Ronan?
Liam said you took a bullet. You all right?"

Ronan held up his arm to show her the gauze
bandage. "I'm fine. It just grazed me." A tiny bullet cutting
across Ronan's triceps was nothing. He'd been shot with a Fae arrow
last year--now that had
hurt
. The effing Fae spelled their
arrows.

"You were jumping in front of bullets again,
weren't you, Ronan?" Cherie said, folding her arms. She had
black-and-brown streaked hair, entirely natural, matching her
grizzly's coat. "You've gotta stop that. We need you without
holes."

"Leave him alone," Scott said. "He did what
he had to do."

Scott was a black bear, the smallest of the
horde when he shifted, but he was still tall and lanky, with black
hair and a surly expression. The Transition was hard on him.

Olaf was still mastering English, having been
located by Liam and brought to Shiftertown only a year ago. He had
white-blond hair and black eyes, and his bear was too adorable to
be real. "Mabel paints my hair too. Okay, Ronan?"

"I said he'd look cute with blue streaks in
his hair," Mabel said.

Rebecca shot Ronan an evil look. "I told him
it was up to you."

"Sure, thanks, Becks. Not now, Olaf. This is
Elizabeth, Mabel's sister. She and Mabel are staying. So keep it
down so they can sleep. I'll give them my room and sleep out in the
Den."

"No, no, no, don't do that to them," Rebecca
said quickly. "They're taking
my
room, which is habitable,
and I'll sleep in the Den. Putting them in your room would be cruel
and unusual punishment."

"I'm sleeping with Rebecca," Cherie said
quickly. She always felt nervous when Rebecca was out of the
house.

"Whatever. Female bears," Ronan said to
Elizabeth. "They like to take over. Everything."

"Hey, Papa-Bear was out being arrested,"
Rebecca said. "For being a knight errant. I didn't realize that was
a crime in the human world."

"I did smack the guy," Ronan said. "But he
deserved it. His mother must be too soft on him."

"His mother is probably terrified of him,"
Elizabeth said. "Or maybe she's as bad as he is, or--most
likely--not there at all."

Ronan realized he still had hold of
Elizabeth's hand. He also realized he wasn't in that big a hurry to
let it go. Rebecca noticed, but--thank the Goddess--kept her
thoughts to herself.

"How do you know so much about humans like
Marquez?" Ronan asked Elizabeth. "You said in the courtroom you
knew exactly what he was going to do."

Mabel rolled her eyes before Elizabeth could
answer. "You do
not
want to know. Elizabeth was a juvenile
delinquent. In a big way."

"I thought they didn't want to know."
Elizabeth shook off Ronan's hand. "It's nice of you, Ronan, but we
can't stay here. I don't have a change of clothes, for one
thing."

"I brought your stuff," Mabel said brightly.
"And Sean says we have to stay. He's cute, Lizzy--you should hear
his Irish accent. Too bad he's mated, but I like his mate. Andrea,
you've met her before. Anyway, Sean says we're staying in
Shiftertown until Liam and the trackers make sure it's safe for us
to go home."

Elizabeth held up her hands. "Mabel, stop
talking for just a second--"

"Shiftertown's the safest place for you,"
Ronan broke in. "No one will find you here. The trackers will sniff
around, find out what these people wanted with your house, and deal
with them."

Ronan saw Rebecca's eyes flicker when he
said,
Deal
with them,
and the two bears shared a
look. The phrase could have many shades of meaning, especially with
the Morrisseys involved.

Juvenile
delinquent. In a big
way.
Ronan remembered how Elizabeth had lifted the card from
his pocket--quickly and skillfully. There was more to Elizabeth
Chapman than met the eye, and Ronan was determined to find out all
about her.

Elizabeth still hesitated, but Olaf walked up
to her and put his little hand in hers. "Inside," he said in his
thickly accented English. "We keep you safe, Lizbeth."

The little cub did what all the adults could
not. Elizabeth's look softened, and she let Olaf lead her into the
house.

*** *** ***

Elizabeth followed Olaf, whose little hand
had a surprisingly strong grip. Kids were very good at giving off
danger signals, but Olaf radiated confidence that Elizabeth would
be all right in Ronan's house.

Behind her, Rebecca herded the rest of them,
including Ronan, inside. She had to let Olaf help her lead Mabel
and Elizabeth upstairs to her small bedroom on the second floor;
Olaf would not relinquish Elizabeth's hand until she was safely
inside the room.

The bedroom was neat and spare, without many
personal possessions. Rebecca took some extra blankets out of a
closet and spread them across the double bed. She shook her head
when Elizabeth tried to thank her, then grabbed some clothes and
headed out.

"Ronan's in the next room," Rebecca said in
the doorway. "If his snoring gets too loud, bang on the wall.
Sometimes that works." She flipped her spare shirt over her
shoulder and disappeared.

The door closed. Through it Elizabeth could
hear the three younger ones going back downstairs, all talking to
Ronan and Rebecca at once, and Ronan's rumbling bass answering
them.

"Isn't this cool?" Mabel pulled up the blinds
and looked out at the dark street below. "I always wanted to come
to Shiftertown. I think Connor Morrissey lives over there." She
pointed.

Elizabeth sat down on the bed, her legs
giving out. Everything from staring at the black opening of the
gun, to trying to remember what had happened for Ronan's hearing,
to the shock of being brought to Shiftertown to meet
Ronan's--family?--was taking its toll.

"Are the kids his?" she asked Mabel. "And
Rebecca, is she his wife? Or mate, I mean?"

"Nope." Mabel finally let down the blind and
turned away from the window. "None of the kids are related to each
other or to Ronan or Rebecca. Rebecca says she's Ronan's cousin or
something, distant. They're not mated, and they can't mate, because
they're in the same clan. Otherwise, this is like a foster home for
Bear Shifters, but way better than a human one."

That was for sure.

Mabel, always resilient, stripped off her
clothes and got into bed in her underwear. Mabel usually slept in
the nude, so Elizabeth supposed she was keeping herself covered to
be courteous to Elizabeth. She'd brought Elizabeth's nightshirt and
a change of clothes in a shoulder bag, and Elizabeth pulled on the
nightshirt and snuggled down against Mabel. She closed her eyes
but, as she'd guessed it would, sleep evaded her.

But it wasn't the kid with the gun Elizabeth
kept seeing as she lay, restless and awake. It was Ronan, first
charging in to her rescue, then rising into a perfectly
proportioned, hard-bodied man with muscles everywhere. He had one
tatt, a Celtic interlocking pattern that laced across the small of
his back. His buzzed short hair was dark brown, almost black, but
with highlights of lighter brown. His bear's fur had the same
rippling, rich brown color.

Tonight Elizabeth had seen him range from
enraged and ready to kill, to annoyed, to resigned, to worried, to
reassuring, to affectionate. Ronan might be gruff with the kids who
lived with him, but she could tell he was fond of them.

Elizabeth had always had a problem with
trust. For good reason--some of the people she'd ended up living
with as a kid had been horrible, some dangerous. She'd done
everything in her power to protect Mabel from them, which meant
she'd had to make some tough choices.