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."