Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) by Jennifer Ashley Page A

barred. Not
exactly legal, but humans bet on us, and we give them a good show,
so there's a lot of looking the other way."
    "Like gladiators." Elizabeth's gaze went to
the Collar snug against Ronan's big neck, the Celtic knot at his
throat. "Don't your Collars stop you?"
    "Oh, they go off. Believe me. It evens the
field, Shifter against Shifter. Some are better than others at
fighting through the pain. Spike's one of the favorites. Trust me,
the other guy will look worse."
    Elizabeth stared at him. "You have to be
crazy. I've seen underground boxing and mixed martial arts meets,
and they're brutal. Shifter ones have to be even more brutal."
    "They can be. But Shifters are tough,
Elizabeth. And sometimes we have to fight, or we go a little nuts.
Humans think they suppress our fighting instincts with the Collars,
but the instincts don't go away. Except that now, we have no
natural outlet. So Liam pretends he doesn't see a dozen Shifters
disappear at night and come back bruised and Collar-wasted. Even
Scott's been going lately."
    "And you let him? Ronan . . ."
    "He's a Shifter going through his Transition.
Scott wants to fight all the time these days--at the fight clubs,
at least, the other Shifters let him work it off, and they take
care of him."
    Elizabeth rubbed her forehead. "The more I
learn about you, the more I realize I don't know. I was right in
the first place. You're crazy."
    Ronan grinned, the warm one that lit his
eyes. "Yeah, but crazy in a good way."
    "You take a big risk telling me this. You've
told me a lot of things I could report to the human cops, you know.
I wouldn't, but why do you trust that I won't?"
    Ronan drew a finger along one of the red
streaks in Elizabeth's hair. "Because I know," he said in his quiet
voice. "You're one of the good ones."
    Elizabeth's body heated instantly at his
touch. She thought of lying in the dark with him nearby all night,
loving having him there. This was getting dangerous.
    A whistle pierced the air, and Elizabeth,
nerves frayed, jumped. "What was that?"
    "Signal," Ronan said, turning away. "Trackers
have spotted something."
    Her fears returned. "What?"
    Ronan looked out the tiny back window,
scanning the alley. "Come on. Stay close to me."
    Ellison and Spike had stopped hammering and
drilling and came into the office. Spike retained his hammer as he
went to the back door and opened it.
    Two Latino men, one about six foot, the other
a head shorter, stood in front of a silver gray Lexus parked a yard
from Elizabeth's door. Both men wore dark suits on this late August
day. They weren't obviously armed, but the suit coats could hide
anything. Both stood casually, alert but not hostile.
    Spike went out first, then Ronan, with
Elizabeth between Ronan and Ellison. As they emerged, three more
Shifters entered the other end of the alley--Sean with his sword, a
Shifter as tall as he who looked much like him, and an even taller
Shifter male with his black hair buzzed short. The two human men
saw the Shifters but didn't change expression.
    The taller of the men nodded at Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth Chapman. I'm Pablo Marquez."
    Elizabeth had suspected as much. She said
nothing.
    "The incident with my brother has caused some
problems," Marquez said in a smooth voice. "He didn't come here
that night with my blessing. It was a stupid thing to do."
    Elizabeth still remained silent. She knew
that a man like Marquez could twist anything she said into either
capitulation or a threat, so it was best to stand quietly and let
him talk.
    "I'm taking care of Julio," Marquez went on.
"He knows how pissed off I am. But it leaves us with a little
problem. He's facing charges of armed robbery, and there are two
witnesses. You and your Shifter."
    Ronan moved in front of Marquez and folded
his arms. In spite of Marquez's relative tallness, Ronan was twice
his size.
    Sean and the other two Shifters drifted
toward them, but not in a clump. They spaced themselves out so the
one with the black hair stayed at the