"Go," Ronan growled.
Scott went, but at least now he was laughing.
"I'll be glad when his Transition's done," Ronan said, exasperation in his voice. "It's like living with a volcano."
"What's a mating frenzy?" Elizabeth asked.
"Don't humans have that?"
"No." Elizabeth folded her arms, keeping him out of her space. She shouldn't have let him kiss her, but, damn, she'd enjoyed it.
Ronan moved to his motorcycle and started checking things on it. "Mating frenzy happens at the Transition for the first time, but it can happen any time we scent a potential mate. It always happens after a mate-claim is accepted. Mating frenzy means a Shifter wants to mate without stopping, not even to eat. Maybe to sleep, but then only to wake up and mate some more."
"An out-of-control sex drive?" Elizabeth asked. "And you conquered it? I didn't know men could conquer their sex drive."
He ignored her attempt at humor. "Once, a long time ago, I almost mated, but she got killed."
Ronan bent to study a dial on his bike, but not before Elizabeth saw the raw pain in his eyes. She went to him. "Ronan, I'm so sorry." She touched his shoulder, strong beneath her hand. "I didn't mean to tease you."
"It's more than fifty years ago now. I've never found anyone I wanted to mate with since."
But it hurt him. Elizabeth saw that. Some hurts never went away, no matter how much you tried.
"Seriously, Ronan, I'm sorry," she said. "That shouldn't have happened to you."
Another shrug. "We need to get to your store."
Elizabeth let it go. She'd also learned that when people didn't want to talk about their pain, they didn't want to talk about their pain.
She started for the pickup, but Ronan shook his head. "Marquez's guys will know your truck. We take my bike."
"What does it matter? They'll know I'm at the store when I get there."
Ronan gave her a look of great patience. "It matters when they're scanning the streets for your truck, and it matters when I need to get you away as fast as I can."
Elizabeth conceded, not so much because she agreed but because she wanted a ride on that bike. Her skin tingled with glee as she headed for it. She'd owned a Harley once upon a time, until some asshole stole it, and she'd never seen it again.
The bike was huge, fitting its large owner. An older model, she saw, but lovingly kept. Ronan handed her a spare helmet. Elizabeth fastened it, then mounted behind him.
The motor throbbed, power between her legs. Elizabeth hung onto Ronan, the man as powerful as the bike, and suppressed a whoop as Ronan tore out of the driveway and onto the street.
*** *** ***
Elizabeth let herself put away her worries to enjoy the ride to the shop. Ronan took it easy, but she felt the bike's energy, its need to open up. What heaven it would be to get this thing out on an empty highway and really let it go.
She felt Ronan's strength as he leaned into the turns, the fluidity of his muscles as he moved with the bike. He knew how to ride, knew how to coax the machine to do what he wanted without fighting it.
"Sweet ride!" she yelled.
The journey ended too soon, Ronan pulling up in the alley behind her store.
All seemed quiet. Ronan let her dismount first and took the helmet from her, but told her to wait for him to scout. "If I tell you to, you get on this bike and go," Ronan said. "I can tell you know how to ride, right?"
Elizabeth nodded. She knew, all right, though this motorcycle would be a challenge, as large as it was.
"Good," Ronan said. "Let me go check it out."
Truth to tell, Elizabeth felt a lot better with Ronan there. If she'd come alone in her pickup this morning, she'd be lingering, debating whether to go inside, and possibly losing the debate. In spite of her brave talk about staying open no matter what, she was afraid.
Watching Ronan walk away wasn't bad, either. He was a big man, but trim, not fat. His ass in those tight jeans was very nice, and the black T-shirt stretching across his shoulders was nice too.
Ronan unlocked the back door of her store and stepped inside. Elizabeth tensed, hands clenching around the motorcycle helmet until she swore she'd dent the plastic. When Ronan came back outside after about fifteen minutes, her entire body relaxed, and she flexed her sore fingers.
"Everything's fine," he said. "No one's in there, the lock hasn't been forced, and I didn't find any booby traps."
"Booby traps?" Elizabeth said, eyes going wide.
"These guys aren't going to fight fair. I checked for tripwires and explosive devices, but I'm pretty sure it's clean."
"Pretty sure?"
Ronan actually smiled. "I'll keep looking. Like I said, no one forced the locks or any windows, so I don't think anyone's been inside."
Elizabeth blew out her breath. "All right. Let's go in."
Ronan parked the bike right outside the back door and took the helmets inside with him. The alley door led straight into her office, which was still a mess from the fight the night before. The door to the store hung from its hinges, and the doorframe had splintered where Ronan's big body hadn't quite fit through it.
"I'll get Spike and Ellison over here to fix that," Ronan said. "They're good carpenters."
"I can't pay them much. I only have so much set aside for repairs."
"No paying. I broke the door, I'll get it fixed. Gratis."
Elizabeth rose from picking up papers from the floor. "You mean your friends will come over and replace a door and drywall for free?"
"Sure. We help each other out. Besides, Liam likes you, and if Liam says they do it on the house, they do it on the house."
Elizabeth thought of Liam Morrissey's warm blue eyes and the pressure of his hands when he'd clasped hers. "Are you sure Liam likes me? You were arrested for helping me."
"If Liam didn't like you, you'd know. Trust me."
Yes, she believed that. He'd beamed a charming smile on one and all, but Elizabeth had sensed his controlled power, the dangerous thing beneath his surface.
Elizabeth went through the store, righting things, replacing the displays that had been knocked over. At least Marquez hadn't gotten into the safe. He'd been right that Elizabeth hadn't made her deposit--she'd planned to do it last night, and the safe held several thousand dollars. The police had kept Marquez's shoulder bag full of cash and given her a receipt for a hundred and seventy-eight dollars.
Elizabeth picked up the torn bits of a huge T-shirt and held the strips up before her eyes. Ronan's bear body had ripped its way right out of the shirt. The strength the torn fabric represented made her shiver. She stared at the strips for a time then, for some reason, she rubbed them against her cheek.
A large hand took them away from her. "Throw those out. I trashed that shirt. And I owe you for the other one."
Elizabeth flushed and tossed the pieces of T-shirt into the wastebasket. "No, no. It's on me. You saved my life and my store. Least I can do. Oh, and, you said you were buying a birthday present last night. For who?"
"Rebecca. Got anything for a horny she-bear who doesn't want to be reminded she's coming up on her hundredth birthday?"
Elizabeth hid her astonishment at the hundredth part. "I'll find her something cute. Also on me. You all have been so nice to me."
Ronan nodded, as though it was no big deal, and turned away to answer his cell phone. He continued to make calls after that, she noticed as she kept cleaning.
By the time shoppers had started migrating to the area, and Elizabeth reached to turn on her neon "OPEN" sign--custom-made, with a girl with long legs sitting on the curved end of the N--Ronan was off the phone and all was ready.
"The trackers are coming," he said. "Probably they're already here."
"Tell one of them to bring me my phone. If Liam wants it, he can have it, but I need the numbers stored inside."
Ronan rumbled a laugh. "He's done playing. He's sending it."
The cell phone was returned to her via a tall, broad-sho
uldered Shifter with a shaved head, deep brown eyes, and body art all over him. He gave her a predatory smile as he handed over the phone.
"I'm Spike," he said. "Nice to meet you."
Spike. The "hot" guy Mabel said had tatts all over him. He was certainly well inked, his muscle shirt showing art that interlocked and wove up and down his arms like living paintings. His own skin showed only in his face and hands. Like all Shifters, he was tightly muscled and had that edge of animal about him. Elizabeth wondered what he turned into.
Ronan shoved the phone from Spike's side of the counter to Elizabeth's. "You're on perimeter," Ronan growled at him.
Spike shot Ronan a glance, and his evil smile widened. "You're the boss." He walked out of the store without saying good-bye, the small bells on the door tinkling.
"Felines," Ronan said. He might as well have said, Shitheads.
"Liam's a Feline," Elizabeth said, tucking her phone into her pocket. "Right?"
"The whole Morrissey clan are Felines. That's why Liam is so full of himself. Like a cat with cream."
"And Spike's a Feline like him?"
"Different clan. Spike's wildcat is bred from jaguars, but the Morrisseys have more lion in them. Spike came up here from Mexico, the Morrisseys from Ireland."
"What do you mean by more lion? Aren't they all were-lions or were-jaguars or whatever?"
Ronan shook his head. "We're all Fae-beasts, technically. Feline and Lupine clans tend to lean more toward one cat or wolf type than others, but none of them breed true. Only bears do."
"Of course."
"Bear Shifters were the last ones created. With us, the Fae finally got it right."
"You're saying Bears are the best," Elizabeth said, straight-faced.
"Damn straight."
"And the most modest, obviously."
"Damn straight." He looked so serious when he was full of shit.
"And you're a Kodiak bear, right?" Elizabeth went on. "And Rebecca is too?"
"She's from my clan--a long way removed, but still my clan. It means I can't mate with her, which is fine with me. She's a neat-nik. Drives me frigging insane."
"Then why do you live with her?"
"Not a lot of choice. The humans put me in with Rebecca when I was brought to this Shiftertown. There aren't enough houses to go around, so any family connection means you share. You share even if there's not a family connection, but at least they don't force different species into the same house if they don't want to be there. That would be a blood bath."
No customers had entered the store yet, so Elizabeth allowed herself to lean on her elbows on the counter and keep asking questions.
"And the other three? Mabel said you're basically running a foster home for bears."
"I guess you can put it like that. Cherie came first. She'd been kept in a pen for about ten years, a pen only about five feet square. Some humans up north had caught her as a cub and kept her as a pet. Someone found out, realized what she was, and called the police. The Shifter Division took her, but didn't know what to do with her. I heard about her through Ursines in Wisconsin--their Shiftertown didn't have room for her, so they were asking around. I told Dylan--Liam's dad--about her, and Dylan said we'd bring her down. Poor kid. It took her a long time to adjust to living like a normal Shifter. She still hasn't adjusted, in some ways."
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said, stunned. Her own childhood had been rough, but nothing like that. "Scott and Olaf have similar stories?"
"Scott came to us because the Shiftertown he was in couldn't handle him. There weren't any other Bears there, only Lupines and Felines. It's hard enough for species to get along, and he went a little crazy being the only Ursine there. So I offered to take him. Scott's not bad, just a pain in the ass. He'll be fine once he finishes his Transition."
"No parents?"
"Father died right before he was born, and his mother died of bringing him in. He's been alone since."
"And Olaf?" Elizabeth bit her lip.
"Saw his mom and dad shot and killed in front of him, but thank the Goddess, he doesn't clearly remember it. Hunters, somewhere up in the Arctic, near Russia. They said they didn't realize the bears were Shifter. Sure. Olaf is cute, so they didn't kill him, but they did try to make a pet of him, like Cherie. Except Olaf nearly killed one of them, so the Russian Shifter Division got him and locked him up for a long time. Again, I got word and said I'd take him. That was a year ago."
Ronan related the tragic tales without changing expression, as though these things were commonplace, which made them all the worse.
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said again. "That's so wrong."
"At least I have a good Shiftertown leader who lets me help. Some leaders can be real shitheads. I just hope I can help the kids out."
"You already have," Elizabeth said. "I grew up in foster homes, Ronan. I see your house, and it's like paradise. Cherie, Scott, and Olaf are happy there. They can be normal. That doesn't always happen."
Ronan nodded without conceit. "It's funny, when I lived in the wild, I was by myself most of the time. I preferred it. I had miles to roam, didn't have to see anyone if I didn't want to. I never thought I'd be holed up in a house with a prickly she-bear and three cubs, trying to be a substitute dad. But what the hell?"
"From what I can see, you're doing an amazing job."
Ronan pushed himself up from where he'd been leaning on the counter. "Stop flattering me, woman. You're making me blush."
"Fine. But if you're going to hang out here, I have a crate of new stuff that needs to be shelved." She sent him a sweet look. "Since Mabel's not here, you're recruited."
*** *** ***
Pablo Marquez looked across his desk at his little brother Julio, who lounged on the old sofa by the soda machine. Julio's face was bruised and cut from his wrestling match with the bear, and the back of his head still sported bandages.
Pablo had heard that the Bear Shifter had been let go, somehow convincing the judge he'd only been trying to take the gun away from Julio. The problem was, Pablo believed him. If the Shifter had wanted Julio dead, Julio wouldn't be sitting here with only a few shallow cuts as souvenirs.
Julio had been quiet and angry since Pablo had paid his bail and brought him home. He'd had to call in a favor to get Julio out of the hospital and to a bail hearing so quickly.
Now he had a problem. Pablo ran a body shop, a great way to do legitimate business and keep the other businesses under the radar. He was new here in Austin and wanted to keep under the radar from many people for a while. Tough to do that when his little brother decided to go out and do something dumb-ass like try to rob a little novelty shop.
"I want her in the ground," Julio was saying. "That bitch and her trained Shifter."
"You're going to leave her alone," Pablo said sharply. "What the hell did you go in there for? You were going to get, what, maybe two grand, tops?"
Julio shrugged. "I'd get what I'd get."
"What you got was a trial for armed robbery." Pablo balled his hands until the skin pulled against his knuckles. He'd promised their mother he'd look after Julio, even though the kid was a big screw-up. Pablo was fifteen years older than Julio, and he swore that Julio was part of the reason their mother had died of the heart attack.
Pablo had learned on that cruel day that all his money and all his success couldn't keep him from losing the one person in the world he loved. Now he was stuck taking care of Julio and trying to make the best of it.
He continued. "First of all, you didn't scout the place. There was a Shifter in there, a big one. The guy had to be seven feet tall, and you never noticed him? Dios mio, what do you use for brains?"
"I scouted plenty. I watched that bitch every night for two weeks. I know where she lives and what kind of truck she drives, and what she does after work--which is nothing--she has a boring life. Shooting her would be doing her a favor. I did everything I was supposed to, Pablo."
"Yeah, well, that Shifter didn't just grow in there. You
are telling me you never saw him walk in?"
"No. I bet he was there in her back room before I got there. I bet she was fucking him. I bet she gets off fucking Shifters in her office."
Pablo held on to his patience with effort. Julio liked the F-word and enjoyed opportunities to use it.
"So what if she does?" Pablo asked. "The point is, he was there, and you didn't know it. It would have been justified if he'd killed you."
Julio looked offended. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you screwed up. You decided to pull a smalltime job and then you messed it up by being careless. You're an idiot."
"I want that bitch to pay!"
"And she will. But my way. I'm trying not to draw attention to myself, and you are very definitely drawing attention. Killing her obviously will only make it worse, so don't even think about trying it."
Julio looked pensive. "What do you mean, killing her obviously?"
"A drive-by, an execution, even a car accident--anything suspicious will point back to you, and then I'll be up to my ass in cops. I don't want to be up to my ass in cops. Understand?" Pablo stopped at Julio's guilty expression. "Why? What have you done now?"
Julio's voice was so quiet Pablo had to strain to hear him. "I sent Menendez and his brother to wait for her and follow her home."
Pablo rose, fists on his desk. "You know, Julio, if anyone else in my crew acted like you, I'd lose them. You get away with this shit because you're my brother, and I promised Mamita I'd take care of you. Get on your phone and call them back."
"What the fuck? Damn it, Pablo, if you override my order, I'll never have any cred."
"Cred. You watch too many movies. Get them back here, now. I can still bust your ass, and I'll do it."
Julio said a few dark things, but he took out his cell phone.
Pablo sat back down and started making calls of his own. He needed to do something about the woman with the store, because she was a witness against Julio, and Pablo couldn't afford to have his brother going to prison right now. He'd put the bitch in her place, but he'd do it more subtly than Julio ever could. As for the Shifter--well, Pablo knew how to take care of Shifters. The Shifter would be the least of their problems.