Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) by Jennifer Ashley Read Free Book Online Page B

growled.
    Scott went, but at least now he was
laughing.
    "I'll be glad when his Transition's done,"
Ronan said, exasperation in his voice. "It's like living with a
volcano."
    "What's a mating frenzy?" Elizabeth
asked.
    "Don't humans have that?"
    "No." Elizabeth folded her arms, keeping him
out of her space. She shouldn't have let him kiss her, but, damn,
she'd enjoyed it.
    Ronan moved to his motorcycle and started
checking things on it. "Mating frenzy happens at the Transition for
the first time, but it can happen any time we scent a potential
mate. It always happens after a mate-claim is accepted.
Mating frenzy means a Shifter wants to mate without stopping, not
even to eat. Maybe to sleep, but then only to wake up and mate some
more."
    "An out-of-control sex drive?" Elizabeth
asked. "And you conquered it? I didn't know men could conquer their sex drive."
    He ignored her attempt at humor. "Once, a
long time ago, I almost mated, but she got killed."
    Ronan bent to study a dial on his bike, but
not before Elizabeth saw the raw pain in his eyes. She went to him.
"Ronan, I'm so sorry." She touched his shoulder, strong beneath her
hand. "I didn't mean to tease you."
    "It's more than fifty years ago now. I've
never found anyone I wanted to mate with since."
    But it hurt him. Elizabeth saw that. Some
hurts never went away, no matter how much you tried.
    "Seriously, Ronan, I'm sorry," she said.
"That shouldn't have happened to you."
    Another shrug. "We need to get to your
store."
    Elizabeth let it go. She'd also learned that
when people didn't want to talk about their pain, they didn't want
to talk about their pain.
    She started for the pickup, but Ronan shook
his head. "Marquez's guys will know your truck. We take my
bike."
    "What does it matter? They'll know I'm at the
store when I get there."
    Ronan gave her a look of great patience. "It
matters when they're scanning the streets for your truck, and it
matters when I need to get you away as fast as I can."
    Elizabeth conceded, not so much because she
agreed but because she wanted a ride on that bike. Her skin tingled
with glee as she headed for it. She'd owned a Harley once upon a
time, until some asshole stole it, and she'd never seen it
again.
    The bike was huge, fitting its large owner.
An older model, she saw, but lovingly kept. Ronan handed her a
spare helmet. Elizabeth fastened it, then mounted behind him.
    The motor throbbed, power between her legs.
Elizabeth hung onto Ronan, the man as powerful as the bike, and
suppressed a whoop as Ronan tore out of the driveway and onto the
street.
    *** *** ***
    Elizabeth let herself put away her worries to
enjoy the ride to the shop. Ronan took it easy, but she felt the
bike's energy, its need to open up. What heaven it would be to get
this thing out on an empty highway and really let it go.
    She felt Ronan's strength as he leaned into
the turns, the fluidity of his muscles as he moved with the bike.
He knew how to ride, knew how to coax the machine to do what he
wanted without fighting it.
    "Sweet ride!" she yelled.
    The journey ended too soon, Ronan pulling up
in the alley behind her store.
    All seemed quiet. Ronan let her dismount
first and took the helmet from her, but told her to wait for him to
scout. "If I tell you to, you get on this bike and go," Ronan said.
"I can tell you know how to ride, right?"
    Elizabeth nodded. She knew, all right, though
this motorcycle would be a challenge, as large as it was.
    "Good," Ronan said. "Let me go check it
out."
    Truth to tell, Elizabeth felt a lot better
with Ronan there. If she'd come alone in her pickup this morning,
she'd be lingering, debating whether to go inside, and possibly
losing the debate. In spite of her brave talk about staying open no
matter what, she was afraid.
    Watching Ronan walk away wasn't bad, either.
He was a big man, but trim, not fat. His ass in those tight jeans
was very nice, and the black T-shirt stretching across his
shoulders was nice too.
    Ronan unlocked the