Before Elizabeth and Ronan made it across the floor, a tall, blond man in cowboy boots and a button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to expose brawny forearms, walked right in front of them, longneck in hand. The jukebox had started up with a country tune that was part gritty rock.

"Hey, there," the Shifter said. "I'm Ellison, and I need someone to dance with. Someone female. That lets you out, Ronan."

He hadn't looked at Ronan, keeping Elizabeth pinned with his gaze. His gray eyes held the predatory tinge of a wolf's.

Elizabeth shrugged, feeling itchy. The music had a good beat, and she liked the song. "Sure, I'd love to."

Ellison started to reach for her, then he inhaled sharply and looked at Ronan. Ronan never moved, never said a word, but Ellison's face fell. "Aw, hell, Ronan. Why does every pretty woman who comes near Shiftertown get grabbed before I even meet her? You all could save one for me."

"You snooze, you lose," Ronan said.

"You can reject it, you know," Ellison said to Elizabeth. "The mate-claim."

"So I've been told." Elizabeth was suddenly fed up with everything. She'd been anxious about Mabel and about her store, which one of Marquez's men could be torching even at this moment. Now she had to add Shifters, mate-claims, and macho males who passed females around like pieces of meat. All right, so maybe the last thought was unjust, but they seemed to regard women as things to protect from each other and the rest of the world.

Elizabeth straightened her shoulders. "I said I'd dance. Don't you have to work or something, Ronan?"

If she thought Ellison would laugh and waltz away with her, she was wrong. Ellison kept his gaze on Ronan. "Do you mind?" he asked. "Promise I won't touch."

Ronan considered a moment, then he nodded. "Take care of her."

"Hot damn. Come on. Before the song's over."

Ellison led Elizabeth off but carefully didn't touch her until they reached the dance floor. Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at Ronan, who watched them go, unmoving. Ronan stared at them for a while, then he turned his broad back and made for the entrance of the club, where he stationed himself like a sentinel.

Ellison could dance. He had a long-legged grace despite his large size, and could two-step with the best of them. He never lost the beat and led Elizabeth so she didn't, either. He twirled her and spun with her, all with great enjoyment. Through it all, she never lost her awareness of Ronan. The entire club separated her from Ronan, but Elizabeth sensed him at the door, solid as a boulder, his big arms folded, his gaze taking in everything.

When the song ended, another similar one began, and Elizabeth readily kept dancing.

"Are you the Ellison that Ronan said he'd have help me with some carpentry?" she yelled over the music.

"Yep," Ellison said. "Spike and me will come by tomorrow. You close up on Sundays, right?"

She did, but Elizabeth usually went in to catch up on paperwork, ordering, inventory, accounts, and everything else. "Tell me something," she said. "Why is everyone acting like Ronan owns me?"

"He does, if he mate-claimed you. It's hands off for all other Shifters."

"To keep me safe, I thought," Elizabeth said. "Not to dictate every move I make."

Ellison stepped in close. "Honey, we're Shifters. It means we're horn-dogs most of the time. The minute you walked in here, every unmated male--which is most of them--wanted to howl. But now that Ronan's claimed you, we know we have to back off. When you reject the claim, though, you'll be fair game again, and we can go back to being rabid males after you. Rivals with each other instead of friends. Until someone else beats us to the claim."

"Are you serious?"

"Damn right I am."

The dance had them part again, and Elizabeth pondered what he'd said. She'd spent her life struggling to remain independent, to keep from having to rely on a man for . . . well, for anything. She'd watched girlfriends become victims to abusive men they were certain they couldn't live without. If I leave him, who takes care of me? they'd ask.

Elizabeth had learned to take care of herself. So much so that when she'd had to cut her losses and run, she'd been able to do it. If she hadn't run, her life would have become pure hell, and she shuddered to think what Mabel's life would have been. Much of her decision had been for Mabel's sake.

Now she'd walked into a society where the males thought nothing of saying openly, That woman is mine. Hands off. Animals in mating season fought each other, sometimes to the death, and Shifters had a lot of animal in them.

She glanced over at Sean and Andrea. They were sitting alone in the booth now, Mabel and Connor dancing together not far away. Sean sat against the wall, Andrea leaning back against him in the circle of his arms, and he had his hand on her abdomen, where his child slept. Protective, yes, but also loving. One didn't always go with the other, in Elizabeth's experience.

She thought of Liam and Kim, with their closeness, so comfortable, and Liam holding Katriona on his lap with a look of open love. Perhaps these Shifters had discovered something that had eluded Elizabeth all her life.

Elizabeth looked at Ronan, who was standing at the open door, watching people go in and out. He caught her eye and sent her, not a smile, but a reassuring nod.

A little warmth wound through her heart. Elizabeth would make him pay a bit for so obviously giving her his "permission" to dance with Ellison, but it was nice to think that Ronan was there for her. If she was going to have anyone stand up for her, Ronan was a good person to do it.