Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (15 page)

“Because Shifters don’t give a rat’s ass about Collars and Shiftertowns and idiotic human rules!” Ronan shouted back. “The humans feel so good that they’ve restricted us and controlled us, don’t they? So safe, because the beasts are in the cage. Meanwhile, if you hadn’t noticed, we do whatever the hell we want.”

Yes, Elizabeth had noticed that. She remembered the courtroom, where the judge, prosecutor, and bailiff had been nervous and ill at ease, while Liam and Ronan hadn’t been worried at all. They’d been in control, and they’d known it. Ronan, also, nonchalantly escorted Elizabeth to her store every morning, blatantly disregarding his restriction to remain in Shiftertown. He took precautions not to be caught, but he went.

“I still don’t want you fighting whoever Julio’s coerced into working for him,” Elizabeth said.

The glint in Ronan’s eye was maddening. “Why not? It might be fun.”

“Ronan
.”

“You let me worry about the fight, and you let me worry about this drug lord. Now, who is he?”

“Damn it, Ronan, if you go up against him, he’ll kill you. He won’t wait to talk. He’ll kill you and all your Shifter friends. I’m not kidding.”

“I’m not kidding, either. Why do you think Pablo Marquez has left you alone all week? Because Dylan and Sean went and had a little talk with him. Marquez is making plans to shut down his business here and open up somewhere else.”

“I never heard that.”

“Of course you didn’t. The Morrisseys, they do their shit, and they shut up about it. I didn’t tell you, because I liked seeing you not worry about him. Now I want to make sure you never have to worry about this other guy—whose name you’re about to give me.”

Elizabeth pressed her hands together. She didn’t know what to do, and her indecision and fear made her eyes blur with tears.

Ronan softened his touch. “Sweetheart,” he said in the tender tone she’d come to love. He drew her against him. “Don’t be scared. I take care of you now. That’s what it means to be mate-claimed.”

“But I could lose you.” Her voice broke. “I finally found something good, and I’ll
lose you
!”

Ronan cuddled her close. “Lizzie-girl,” he said, lips brushing her hair. “Shh.”

They stood together in the night breeze that cooled the humid air, rocking together. The pain that laced Elizabeth’s heart made more tears spill to wet the black T-shirt stretched over Ronan’s chest. She’d had so few good things in her life, so few good people, that everything in her cried,
Don’t let go.

She wiped tears from her eyes as she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Ronan’s mouth was a warm place in the night, tasting of heat and spice. Elizabeth clung to him as he kissed her back, his tongue stroking hers with gentle possession.

This man had become, even in such a short time, a rock in her life. To have someone take him away from her—
no
!

Ronan warmed her back with his big hands, his touch soothing. “We should get inside,” he said. “Not the house. Rebecca’s upstairs taking care of Olaf, and your sister and Cherie are talking like crazy in your room. Shifter hearing. And scent,” he said, by way of explanation as to how he knew this. “Besides, my room’s always a mess.”

He gave her a little shamefaced smile as he said this last, which made Elizabeth kiss him again. He gestured toward the Den, and she nodded. Ronan took her hand and led her there.

The Den was empty, dark, and quiet. Ronan turned on a lamp and closed the shades against the night.

He didn’t try anything romantic like carrying Elizabeth to the bed this time. He simply kissed her while he slid his hands under the hem of her cropped top and lifted it off over her head.

She wore a tiny black bra underneath, a strip of satin and lace above which her breasts swelled. She closed her eyes as Ronan drew his fingertip along her butterfly tattoo, bared in its entirety now. It had tasted fine the other night. Ronan lowered his head to taste it again.

Elizabeth made a little noise of pleasure, and her fingers came up to furrow his hair. She smelled good, the cinnamon scent overlaid with her own musk. He tasted perspiration and
her
as he glided his tongue over the smooth line of her tattoo.

Elizabeth slid her hands down his back and tugged at his T-shirt. Ronan obliged her by pulling off the shirt and tossing it away. He was rewarded by Elizabeth running her hands down his torso, fingers finding his flat nipples among wiry hair.

“You have to be the largest man I’ve ever seen,” she said.

“Kodiaks get big.” Ronan slid his hands to her waist. “You, though, are tiny.”

She laughed softly. “Oh, please, I’ve never been called
tiny
in my life.”

“You are to me. And yet . . .” He moved his hands beneath her breasts. “You have curves a man could lose himself in.”

“You aren’t bad yourself.” Elizabeth skimmed her hands down to his buttocks, which were still cupped by his jeans. She usually liked to hook her fingers through his belt loops, but this time, she slid them into his back pockets.

“I could grow to like this,” Ronan said. “But I’m getting a little frenzied.”

“The frenzy again?”

Ronan snaked his thumbs under the elastic of her bra, finding a soft cushion of woman beneath. “A Shifter’s curse, the mating frenzy. When it comes upon us, we’ll do anything to hole up with our mates and not come out until it’s over. For days. Or weeks.”

“Good.”

Ronan warmed. “Good?”

“Means you’ll be too busy to go to that stupid fight club.”

“Maybe.” Ronan’s blood was hot with need, his skin starting to bead with sweat. Elizabeth was lovely, and soft, and damn sexy in that bra. Choosing between lying with her for a week or fighting a smelly Shifter wasn’t difficult. Ronan ran his fingers around to the back of her bra and fumbled with the hooks. “I’m not good at this.”

Her smile made her eyes soft. “Don’t tell me you’re inexperienced.”

“I’ve never been with a human woman, no.” Ronan finally worked the two catches free. “I think I’ve been missing out.”

Elizabeth took her hands from Ronan’s pockets and slid the bra straps from her shoulders. Her breasts came into view, round and full, tips dusky. She had another tattoo, he discovered, a tiny one just below her left nipple—a perfectly formed little fairy with finely penned wings. He lowered his head and kissed it.

Elizabeth’s intake of breath made him warmer still, and he licked where he’d kissed.

“That hurt when I got it done,” Elizabeth said in a near-whisper. “I thought I was crazy. The lady who did it for me, though, she was a real artist.”

“I like it,” Ronan said into her skin. He moved his mouth upward and caught her areola with his tongue.

Elizabeth stood perfectly still, sensations pouring through her as his mouth did its dance. Her body was open and hot, the space between her legs relaxed and wanting him.

She unhooked his belt and pulled it open then popped the button of his jeans. Ronan came up, his eyes holding the same longing she felt. He quickly pulled off his boots then unzipped and got rid of the jeans, pulling his underwear down with them.

Elizabeth had seen him naked before, but this time was different. Before, he’d been shifting, a warrior, protecting her. Now he was a man, bared to take her to bed.

She ran her hands down his chest, over his flat abdomen, and stopped when she reached the hardness of him. Elizabeth became needier still as she closed her hands around it.

“So the rumors are true,” she said. “About the extra inches.”

“Every single one of them, sweetheart.”

She wanted to laugh. “You’re full of yourself.”

“No, you are full of myself.”

“Shithead.”

Elizabeth rose on her tiptoes, still holding on, and kissed his mouth. Ronan made a noise of enjoyment as she squeezed him, and his answering kiss took her breath away.

No more holding back. Ronan yanked open her jeans, the top button flying across the room. Before Elizabeth could move to assist, he had the jeans down, hands deftly removing her high-heeled half-boots at the same time. Next came her black satin panties that matched her bra, his large hands warming her legs.

Now she was bare, and so was he, standing body to body. He kissed her as he scooped her against him, lifted her, and carried her to the bed.

He stripped back the quilts, laying her on the sheets before he climbed into bed beside her. Elizabeth slid her hand again to his very erect shaft, knowing exactly what she wanted to do. She came up on her knees and coaxed him onto his back, then she straddled him, sitting back on his shins so she could keep rubbing him with her hand.

Ronan curled his arms behind his head, watching her with intense eyes while she stroked him. She could tell he was holding back, keeping himself from reaching for her, while waiting to see what she’d do.

“Lizzie-girl,” he said, voice raw. “You’re going to kill me.”

Elizabeth gave him a sly look. She leaned down and licked his navel, then let her tongue glide down, all the way down. She traveled the length of him and closed her mouth over his tip.

Not for long. Ronan growled, a sound that came from the depths of him. He dragged Elizabeth up and over onto her back, cradling her the whole time so she came down softly on the mattress. He parted her thighs with one large knee, and then he was over her, the strong shaft she’d stroked sliding into her.

Elizabeth arched her body, rising to meet him. He pushed inside smoothly, she so slick for him, that it was nothing but astonishing pleasure.

Ronan’s eyes flickered, becoming the lighter color Shifters’ eyes seemed to go when they wanted to change. But he didn’t shift. He filled her, his muscles moving as he kept his weight from crushing her, even now fearing to hurt her.

Elizabeth hooked one leg around him, gliding her foot up to his firm buttocks. Ronan kissed her as he loved her, hot, needy kisses. She tasted his loneliness and his longing, his hope that perhaps his loneliness was at an end.

At times in the past, when Elizabeth had lain with a man, she’d felt alone and disconnected, even in the middle of sex. With Ronan, she was connected, not just physically, but with a warmth that ran through her heart and through her blood.

She whispered his name, and he looked into her eyes, far gone in feeling. Elizabeth’s body opened to his, and the same feeling came to her. They were whole, joined, like two streams of fire that ran together to become one.

And then Elizabeth’s thoughts dissolved into pure feeling. The intensity of them crashed over her, erasing fear, pain, isolation . . . everything gone. She was with Ronan, shielded from the world, from everything but this joy.

She rose to her climax on a wash of white-hot pleasure, hearing her voice ring out, Ronan’s joining it. They rippled together, Ronan riding her, his kisses hot and primal.

They loved for a long, long time, until manic heat slowed to loving warmth. They fell back to the bed, mouths meeting, hands moving, each taking and giving, until all was quiet, and they drowsed together on the rumpled sheets.

***

A long time later, Elizabeth pried open heavy eyes to see Ronan sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at something in his hand. No, he was tapping something, which glowed. Elizabeth rubbed her eyes and saw that he held a phone.

“You’re going through my pockets now?” she asked.

“This was on the floor.” Ronan moved his thumb to scroll through lists of phone numbers. “Must have fallen out when we were ripping off each other’s clothes. But this isn’t your phone.”

“I know that.” Elizabeth traced the arcs of the Celtic tattoo on his back. “It’s Julio Marquez’s.”

Ronan looked back and down at her, his eyes shining in the garish light from the phone. “And you have it, because . . .”

“I lifted it when we went by him in the parking lot. I thought it might be useful.” She lay down again, keeping her fingertips on Ronan’s back. “No, to be honest, I was being a pain in the ass. My way of spitting at him.”

“I think you’re right though—this will be useful,” Ronan said. “Very. Julio makes a lot of phone calls. Most recently to someone named . . . Casey.”

Elizabeth froze, her blood like ice. “Zach Casey,” she whispered.

Ronan turned all the way around, getting on the bed with her again. “The guy you ran away from?”

“I told you, Ronan. Please.” She closed her hand around his arm, feeling her fears pour over her. “Don’t go near him. I think I’d die if I lost you.”

Ronan clicked off the phone and laid it on the nightstand. “It looks like our friend Julio already called him. I’ll make three guesses what he talked about.”

“Damn him. Why can’t he leave me alone?” Elizabeth wasn’t sure if she meant Marquez or Zach, but it didn’t much matter.

“He will,” Ronan said. His voice held none of its usual banter, the humor he hid behind. “I’m willing to bet that this fight is Julio’s dastardly plan to get back at you and at me. So I’m going to spring his little trap and bring along some secret weapons of my own. And I’ll need your help, so don’t come over all damsel in distress on me.”

“I’m not scared for me; I’m scared for you,” Elizabeth said.

Ronan went on, unworried. “I need to talk to Spike, and I need to talk to Sean. And I promise you, Lizzie-girl, after tomorrow, you won’t need to be afraid anymore. Of anyone.” He kissed her, the heat of their lovemaking lingering in him. “Do this with me?”

Elizabeth scrubbed her hand through her hair, making the red-streaked chunks stick out. “Goldilocks was pretty resilient, I guess.”

“I heard she shacked up with the papa bear, and they lived happily ever after.”

Elizabeth frowned. “I don’t remember that version of the story.”

“How about we discuss it? Sean’s probably still up, but I hate to disturb his mate by calling him now. He’ll wait.”

“Discuss it how?” Elizabeth’s fears didn’t go away, but a pleasant warmth made them recede a little. She was safe from Zach Casey in Shiftertown, no matter what Zach or Julio might think.

“How about we bag the discussion?” Ronan put his hand on her waist and half rolled onto her, warming her like the best of blankets.