Ronan shouldered Liam out of the way and snatched Kim into a big hug. A bear hug, Elizabeth thought, feeling a little hysterical. Kim hugged him in return, and Liam stood by, not seeming to mind the large man holding on to his wife.
Kim patted Ronan's back. "You're welcome, big guy. Can I breathe now?"
Ronan released her and stepped back, then damned if he didn't turn and enclose Liam in the same kind of hug. Elizabeth watched, eyes widening, as Liam wrapped his arms around the bigger man and held him close.
"You get used to it after a while," Kim said. Her nose wrinkled with her smile. "Sort of."
Liam and Ronan broke apart. Liam reached for his wife--no, his mate. Elizabeth was never going to get used to these terms. Liam hugged Kim and kissed her firmly on the mouth, and then he turned to Elizabeth and Ronan, one arm securely around Kim.
"Take her home, Ronan."
Elizabeth blinked. "What? He can't. He was put under house arrest ten minutes ago. That doesn't include driving across town to my house."
Ronan stood very close to Elizabeth. She could feel the heat from his body, remembered the feel of the powerful bear rushing past her in his intense and deadly charge. Ronan had saved her life, tonight. His Collar might not have gone off, but no matter what Elizabeth had told the judge, the bear in him had been ready to kill. Elizabeth had seen the need for murder in men's eyes before, and Ronan had definitely had it.
"No room for me on Liam's Harley," Ronan said. "I'll have to go with you."
Liam and Kim had already mounted the motorcycle, Liam leaving the rest of the arrangements up to Ronan and Elizabeth.
"All right, you have a point," Elizabeth said. "But I'll take you back to Shiftertown and then drive myself home."
"Whatever." Ronan held out his hand. "Keys."
"What? No. It's not like I'm drunk." Yet.
"After the night you've had? Nope. I'm driving you. "
Elizabeth felt sick and stretched, her head ached, and her eyes felt hollow. She needed about a gallon of water and then one of coffee, a long bath, a hot toddy, and a really good night's sleep. After she made sure Mabel was safe.
"Fine." She dropped the keys into Ronan's hand.
"Cool." He snapped his fingers around them. "I've always wanted to drive one of these little pickups. Don't tell anyone."
The Harley roared to life. Liam lifted his hand and so did Kim, then Liam pulled out into the night. Kim, helmeted, leaned into Liam's back, as though she loved him body and soul. A human and a Shifter. What a crazy night.
Ronan opened the passenger door and got Elizabeth inside. "I'm supposed to like muscle cars. Strongman, macho cars." He shut her door and went around to the driver's side. He barely fit behind the wheel and had to slide the seat all the way back. "Monster trucks. Bad-ass motorcycles. Anything big and chunky that makes a lot of noise. Nothing cute and girlie. So keep this quiet. Deal?"
Now he was making her laugh. "Your secret is safe with me."
Not that Ronan could ever be mistaken for cute and girlie. He was huge but solid, like a pro wrestler, tall but perfectly proportional. His face wasn't exactly handsome--too hard for that, and he'd had his nose and right cheekbone broken at some time in his past. But his face was striking. His eyes were dark brown, almost black, but not cold. They were warm, very warm.
Ronan started up the truck and peeled out of the parking. Elizabeth held on as he raced around a corner and pulled onto Seventh heading due east.
Elizabeth wanted to talk to Mabel, to reassure her sister that she was on her way home. She reached for her phone and found an empty place on her belt. "Oh, crap. Liam still has my cell phone."
"Not surprised. Liam likes gadgets. He'll give it back to you when he's done with it."
"Doesn't he have his own?"
"Sure, but Shifters don't get to have fancy smart phones. Our phones call and hang up, that's it. I bet he's texting every human he knows, or playing games, or taking pictures. He's like a cub when he gets a new gadget in his hand. But I'll make him give it back."
Ronan drove through the sparse traffic as he spoke, flashed under the I-35, and sped on in entirely the opposite direction from Elizabeth's house.
"Where are you going?" she asked. "I live northwest of downtown."
"You're not going home," Ronan said, gripping the wheel as he spun the truck around another corner.
"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.