Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) (5 page)

The lesson Elizabeth had learned early in
life was that you didn't trust anyone. For any reason. People who
acted as though you could rely on them would turn on you the second
they were no longer interested in your problems. You couldn't count
on even the nicest people in a pinch.

So she didn't know what to make of Ronan
offering her and Mabel a place to sleep, or the Shifters surging
across town to get Mabel out of danger. She didn't know anything
about Shifters or what drove them--or what they'd expect from her
in return.

She could only do what she'd done all her
life--sit tight, scope out the lay of the land, and decide what to
do from there. Her eyes remained open as she thought over all this,
but Mabel soon dropped off into innocent sleep, emitting faint,
peaceful snores.

*** *** ***

Elizabeth left her room in the morning to the
smell of coffee and bacon wafting up the stairs. Cherie was across
the hall, leaning against the closed door of the one bathroom.

"Come on, Scott, does anyone else get to use
the bathroom today?"

Scott's voice roared back over running water.
"I'm in the shower!"

"You've been in the shower for half an hour.
We have guests, you big idiot."

"I didn't ask them here!"

Cherie saw Elizabeth and rolled her eyes.
"He's in Transition. It's like he can't get himself clean enough,
as if
that's
going to make females fall all over him. There
aren't enough female Shifters in this Shiftertown anyway--he won't
have a chance to mate for years yet."

"Transition?"

"From cub to adult," Cherie said. "I hope I'm
not this insensitive when it's my turn." She slapped her palm to
the door. "Scott, would you quit hogging the bathroom?"

"Go next door!" he shouted.

"Males." Cherie rolled her eyes again. She
was pretty, with the deep, startling beauty that Rebecca had, hers
not as fully developed yet. Cherie looked about twenty in human
years, only a little younger than Mabel, but apparently, like
Connor, she was still considered a cub.

"Probably best you have breakfast first,"
Cherie said. "If there's any hot water left when he's done, you and
your sister can have dibs on the bathroom."

"Whatever works," Elizabeth said, shrugging.
You needed to establish territory fast in a foster home, but you
also had to show that you were willing to be flexible with those
who didn't fight you. Besides, Elizabeth would be home soon, in her
own bathroom.

She went down the stairs. This was an old
bungalow, likely built in the 1920s or 30s, laid out in a square
with the staircase in the middle. It was pretty big, as far as
bungalows went, to have four bedrooms and bath upstairs, a large
kitchen, dining room, and living room downstairs.

Elizabeth walked into the kitchen to find
Rebecca setting seven places at the table and Ronan hunched over
the stove in jeans and black T-shirt, cooking what had to be five
packages of bacon and four cartons of eggs. An entire loaf of
bread, toasted, was piled on a platter, and four more slices popped
out of the toaster as she walked in.

Ronan glanced up at her and gave her a wide
smile, full of energy. "I do a mean biscuits-and-gravy, but I
didn't have time this morning. Scrambled okay with you?"

"Fine."

Rebecca was giving Elizabeth a critical look.
"You didn't sleep, did you?"

"Not really."

"Can't blame you."

Rebecca was tall and leggy, but large,
nothing willowy about her. She wore jeans and a sleeveless top and
had pulled her curly hair into a ponytail. Like Ronan, she had a
restless vitality, one that said she might wear human clothes and
set the table with matching silverware, but she'd rather be out
running through the woods as her bear.

"Sit down, Elizabeth," Ronan said. "We'll
fatten you up."

He piled the rest of the bacon and eggs on
another platter and carried it and the toast to the table.
Elizabeth stared at the mounds of food heading her way.

"A slice of toast is fine with me," she
said.

"Best thing for shock is a hearty meal."
Ronan stuck his spatula under the eggs and piled a load on her
plate. "I've got some roasted red pepper salsa if that's your
thing, or good old-fashioned salt and pepper. Butter and jam for
the bread, and best of all, honey. Bears like their honey."

Elizabeth wasn't sure whether to laugh or
keep it to herself. She settled for a polite thank you. Ronan
turned away. "Any time, Lizzie-girl."

Cherie and Olaf appeared as though by magic
as Ronan started ladling out the food. Mabel waltzed in a moment
later, and Rebecca poured coffee. Mabel sucked down her coffee,
closing her eyes in pure enjoyment. Mabel had never been much of an
alcohol drinker, thank God, but she worshipped coffee.

"Scott's still in the shower," Cherie said,
in universal female derision for males who irritated them.

"I'll talk to him," Ronan said. "Let him be,
Cherie. The Transition is hard."

"I'm still getting over mine." Rebecca sat
down and shoveled as much food onto her plate as Ronan did onto
his. No dieting in this house. "And with more and more males
mate-claiming in this Shiftertown, the pickings are getting
slim."

"Don't complain, woman," Ronan said. "There's
four males for every female around here. It's me, Scott, and Olaf
that will be going mateless. You can always hit on Ellison. He's a
party animal."

Rebecca snorted. "He's a Lupine who's too
full of himself."

Ronan shrugged. "Well, if you're going to be
picky."

"What about Spike?" Mabel asked. She scooped
up eggs hungrily. "He's cute. All those tatts. And then Connor.
Mmm."

"Connor's a cub," Cherie said, wrinkling her
nose. "And a Feline. And a Morrissey. And did I mention a
Feline
?"

"What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked as she
ate. "A Feline?"

"Means he turns into a wildcat," Cherie
answered. "His whole family does. Ellison is a Lupine, a wolf.
Wolves are all conceited--think they're noble creatures or
something. We're bears, which of course are the best Shifters." She
chortled.

"Cool," Mabel said. "Can I see you turn into
a bear?"

"No shifting at the table," Ronan growled.
"We have company, and I'm not cleaning up the mess."

Cherie winked at Mabel. "Later."

They were going to be BFFs any second,
Elizabeth knew it. "We might not have time to do much visiting,
Mabel," she said, chewing on thick Texas toast which did taste good
with butter and honey. "I have to get back to the store and clean
it up before we open. I'm going to need your help. We open at
eleven, and it's already eight, so we need to get a move on."

Everyone at the table went quiet. The shower
finally snapped off upstairs, adding to the silence.

"Elizabeth, you'll have to keep your store
closed today," Ronan said. "I talked to Liam after you went to bed,
and he says things are bad for you. So until he and I can work them
out, you're staying here."

The entire table was looking at her. Cherie
with her mottled hair, Rebecca with her even stare, Olaf with his
wide black eyes. Only Mabel kept her gaze on her plate. Elizabeth,
who'd learned the dynamics of a group home early in life, realized
that as much as Rebecca and the others bantered with him, Ronan was
the leader.

Elizabeth pushed back her chair, wiped her
mouth on a napkin, and got to her feet. She said to Ronan, "Can we
talk outside, please?" and then walked out the back door into the
morning heat without waiting to see if he'd follow.

* * * * *

Chapter Five

Ronan went after her without hesitation.
There was nothing better than a cute female with the hottest ass
he'd ever seen ordering him around.

Behind him he heard Olaf say, a little
fearfully, "Ronan . . . he will punish Lizbeth?"

"No, sweetie," Rebecca said. "But she might
punish
him
."

The back door swung shut, cutting off Olaf's
reply.

Elizabeth waited by her truck, arms folded.
This morning she wore tight blue jeans and a little top that
exposed both her navel and the tattoo on her collarbone. It was a
butterfly. Nice.

Ronan didn't usually like small women, but
decided he'd make an exception for Elizabeth, who was not tall but
generously curved. Her smallness made him want to be gentle,
although the fire in her eyes said she wasn't about to be gentle
with him. Rebecca had that right.

"Let me explain something about the retail
business," Elizabeth said as soon as he was within earshot. Human
earshot--he could have heard her all the way in the kitchen, and he
knew that his family was listening hard. "If your store closes
unexpectedly, people think you're not opening again, and they go
away and don't come back. I spent years building up this business,
and it's the only thing between me and Mabel and the wolf at the
door. If I don't open up, I don't make money. In fact, I lose
money, because I still have to pay for my inventory and the lease
and taxes and everything else. So I'm not letting a full-of-himself
kid with a gun stop me. I learned a long time ago that you can't
let yourself be a victim--or else you might as well crawl into a
hole, block it up behind you, and stay there the rest of your
life."

Elizabeth ran out of breath but not fire. Her
blue eyes snapped and sparked. Ronan wondered how those eyes would
look, blinking sleepily at him from the pillow next to his.

"You done?" he asked.

"I'm not going to argue about this, so don't
bother trying. I'm explaining, that's all. I'm very grateful to you
and Rebecca for putting us up. I'll give you some cash for the
food, but we're out of here."

She tried to walk around Ronan back to the
house. Cute. He stepped in front of her.

"Now, let
me
explain, Lizzie-girl," he
said. "The kid who robbed you, Julio Marquez, is the brother of the
leader of one of the hardest gangs in Houston. He's now moved into
Austin to try to take over here, and he's decided that you need to
be punished for getting his kid brother arrested. Plus, you're the
only witness to the crime, so if you are too dead to testify, so
much the better. I'm a witness, but I'm a Shifter, so my testimony
doesn't count. Besides, the older Marquez and his crew would have
to get to Shiftertown to off me, and they can't. Which is why
you're safe here, and why you're staying here until Liam, his
trackers, and I make sure they understand that you're off limits.
Got it?"

Elizabeth listened with her mouth open, fear
at last showing in her eyes. "Are you talking about the Red Avenue
gang?"

"I think that's what they're called. You
heard of them?"

"I knew a guy whose brother killed by one of
them. Shot while he was walking his little sister home from school,
because he owed them money. The leader's name wasn't Marquez,
though."

"It is now. According to Sean, he took over
not too long ago, and he wants to expand his enterprise. They're
into running drugs and guns up out of Mexico. They're like a little
army."

Elizabeth's worried look intensified.
"Shit."

"So, you aren't going anywhere. Not while
these guys are out to get you and your sister."

Ronan watched her battle her fear. She had
resilience, he had to give her that. "This is exactly what I mean
about not being a victim," she said. "Mabel can stay here--I don't
want her getting mixed up in this. But I have to open my store. I
have to keep going. If I let a gang close it, I'm done for. They
won't attack me in broad daylight, with all the other open stores
around, and I can close up early. That won't be a problem--I don't
get as much traffic at night. How's that?"

Ronan started shaking his head and kept on
shaking it. "No, sweetie. I'm not taking a chance they won't do a
drive-by on you or something. You're staying here."

Now she looked rebellious. The defiant lady
who'd streaked her hair and knew how to pick pockets glared at him.
"I'm not jeopardizing everything I've worked for to make you feel
better."

"It's to keep you safe!"

"How safe am I in a houseful of Shifters?
When one won't even get out of the bathroom?"

She wasn't afraid of them, Ronan could tell.
Cautious, yes, but not afraid.

"A hell of a lot safer than you are out on
the streets."

"But I'm not allowed to leave?" Elizabeth
planted her hands on her hips. "There's a saying, that those who
give up freedom for safety don't deserve either one. I don't
remember who said that--I missed a lot of school as a kid--but it
was someone smart."

Ronan lifted his hands. "I get where you're
coming from. I really do understand. But damn it, I don't want to
see you hurt. I don't want to see them try to burn down your
store--with you inside it. When that guy pulled the gun on you last
night . . . it seriously pissed me off."

"Well, it seriously pissed me off too. If
they try to burn down the store, I can put out the fire faster if
I'm there."

"Goddess, woman, I thought she-bears were
stubborn."

Elizabeth fixed him with a steely stare. "You
ain't seen nothing yet."

Ronan wanted to laugh. Not only was she
stubborn but crazy and brave. He knew right then that if he didn't
lock her into Rebecca's bedroom, she'd light out for that store as
soon as his back was turned. Even if Ronan did lock her in,
Elizabeth would find a way out. She was that kind of girl.

"All right." Ronan forced his voice to come
down from the frenzied arguing. "We'll do it your way. Partly.
Mabel stays here, and you go open your store. I come with you, and
we have a couple trackers lurking around outside to keep an eye on
things."

Elizabeth's anger didn't diminish. "Shifters
lurking around my parking area all day will worry the other shop
owners. What if they call the police?"