Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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