Ronan's bear fought in deadly silence. The other bear clawed at him mindlessly, roars ringing into the night. Its Collar kept sparking, white hot in the darkness, but Ronan's Collar remained, like him, quiet.

The fight drew attention. A big gray wolf bounded around the house and headed for Elizabeth. The wolf was huge, at least three times the size of an ordinary wolf, and its eyes were white, fur ice-gray in the moonlight. Elizabeth drew back, ready to run for the Den, and then the wolf's limbs rippled and changed. In a few brief moments, she stood face to face with Ellison Rowe, who now wore not a stitch.

"You okay?" Ellison asked, breathing hard.

"Sure." Elizabeth turned to the bears again. Blood showed on Ronan's coat as he struggled to get the other bear under control.

"That's Scott," Ellison said. "The Transition's rough."

The black bear managed to squirm away from the big Kodiak and loped for Elizabeth.

"Shit," Ellison said. His shifting process went in reverse, and the wolf returned, positioning himself in front of Elizabeth and snarling a warning.

Ronan was almost upon the black bear. As Ronan leapt for him, the black bear sidestepped, rolled, shifted in the middle of the roll, and came to his feet as Scott. Naked, muscles rippling, he was long and lean, body honed, but the look in his eyes as he ran at Elizabeth was raw and furious.

Ellison snarled a guttural snarl, all his wolf teeth bared, ears flat on his head. Ronan, behind Scott, shifted to his human self.

Scott kept coming. Ronan closed the distance between himself and the younger man, put his wrestler's arms all the way around Scott, and lifted him off his feet.

Scott fought him. He ripped at Ronan's hold, his Collar sparking like crazy. He butted his head back against Ronan, and blood dripped from Ronan's mouth. Scott's Collar crackled as loud as Ellison's growls, and then Scott screamed.

It was a horrible sound. The scream went on and on, spilling out Scott's anguish and pain, frustration and rage. Ronan held him fast, and Scott kept fighting. Ellison stayed in front of Elizabeth, his growls lessening but his teeth still bared.

Scott's struggles slowed, though his Collar remained a white band around his neck in the dark. As he weakened, Ronan pulled him into his big arms.

"Let it go," Ronan said. "Calm and quiet. Deep breaths, like I taught you."

Scott was sobbing now. The Collar's glow faded, gradually, as Scott continued to cry. Ronan held him close, pressing a kiss to Scott's unruly black hair.

"Is he all right?" Elizabeth started forward, but Ellison, still the wolf, got in her way.

"Stay over there, Lizzie-girl," Ronan said. "He'll be okay."

Scott didn't look okay. He hung in Ronan's arms, weak, his Collar still emitting sparks.

Ellison rose again to become Ellison. He put his hands on his trim hips. "Poor kid. When I went through the Transition, my grandmother would throw a bucket of ice water over me to calm me down. And I didn't have to worry about the Collar back then--this was before Collars were invented."

Across the yard, Ronan spoke to Scott in a low voice, and Scott nodded, head buried in Ronan's shoulder.

"Why did he try to attack Ronan?" Elizabeth asked.

Ellison's eyes glinted. In the moonlight, stark naked, his eyes still as gray as his wolf's, he looked far more animal than human. "He wasn't trying for Ronan, sweet thing. He was going for you, and Ronan was stopping him. I bet he smelled some pheromones running hot in the Den, and they ignited his hair-trigger mating frenzy." Ellison grinned, and Elizabeth swore his teeth were still pointed. "So what were you and Ronan getting up to in there? Hunh, Lizzie-girl?"

Chapter Twelve

Ronan got Scott to bed, cleaned himself up, and returned downstairs to see that Ellison was making Elizabeth coffee. Ellison at least had pulled on a pair of jeans. Ronan had as well, and here he'd been hoping he'd get out of his clothes for Elizabeth.

Ellison, once Ronan gave him a nod that everything was fine, enclosed Elizabeth in a swift good-bye hug then left through the back door. Ronan sat down at the big table and shoved the mug of coffee Ellison had prepared across to Elizabeth.

"He'll be fine," Ronan said. "Sleeping it off. The Collars hurt like a mo-fo, so Scott's going to be down for a while. Sorry about that. I didn't think he would react to us."

"Ellison said he scented pheromones?" Elizabeth sipped her coffee, looking shaken but determined not to let the incident daunt her.

"He did. During Transition, Shifters walk around in a state of heightened sensitivity to . . . everything. Pheromones, fighting instincts, hunger pangs, you name it. Scott probably sensed us getting hot, and his bear brain suddenly decided I was his rival for the warm female in the Den. When he wakes up, he's going to be embarrassed, so go easy on him."

Elizabeth's hands tightened around her mug. "But if he's that easily triggered, is Mabel safe from him? What about Cherie? Even Rebecca? I can't let Mabel stay here with him like that."

"No, no. Mabel will be fine. And Cherie. Scott knows they're cubs. Mabel might not be a kid anymore in human terms, but to Scott she is. Shifters are even more freaked out about touching cubs than humans. That's ingrained in us, even during the Transition. As for Rebecca . . ." Ronan had to shake his head. "She's a big Kodiak, like me, and she doesn't take shit from anyone. She's already knocked Scott clear across the house a couple of times. He mostly leaves her alone. But you." Ronan's amusement faded. "I think you'd better stay with Sean and Andrea. I didn't realize a human would trigger the frenzy. But then, I don't know much about humans."

"I trigger a frenzy? No one's ever said that about me before."

Ronan reached for Elizabeth's hand and twined his fingers through hers. "That's why I'm going crazy wanting to touch you." He lifted her fingers to his lips.

"Careful," Elizabeth said softly. "We don't want to upset Scott."

"He's out. Completely out. But I take your point." Ronan kissed each of her fingertips in turn. "I can't seem to stop touching you, Lizzie-girl."

"What are we going to do, then?"

Ronan loved her eyes, so different from a Shifter's, the blue of them pure and dark. "You can accept my mate-claim. Then Scott will know, without doubt, that you belong to me. He won't try to touch you then."