Elizabeth was the first. And he loved her back with intensity that shattered all pain.

Fuck this.

Ronan gathered the last of his strength, wrapped the mate bond around it, and roared with sudden power as he rose up to his full Kodiak bear height. He ripped the wolf from his bleeding throat, lifted the crazed beast in both paws, and threw him as hard as he could.

The Lupine flipped end over end, howling, to land in a crowd of frenzied Shifters. Ronan swung around, great paws moving, contacting with the Shifter refs who'd sprung into the ring to stop him. The crowd moved back, some cheering; others, who'd bet on the wolf, booing and shouting.

The fifth ref, backed by Dylan and Ellison, stepped up on the cinderblocks on the far side of the ring. "The fight belongs to the bear!" the ref shouted. "Ronan, of the Austin Shiftertown . . . Winner!"

Screams and cheers from the Austin Shifters. Elizabeth was doing a little victory dance on the cinderblocks, her feet nimble in her high heels.

Ronan shuddered as he landed on all fours, his Collar's sparks slowing but still hurting him. The mate bond, though--the mate bond was erasing the pain.

Before Ronan could reach Elizabeth, before he could shift and snatch her into his arms, a human male closed hands around Elizabeth's waist, lifted her from her feet, and started to drag her away.

Chapter Sixteen

Ronan barreled out of the ring after them. Elizabeth kicked and flailed, the man holding her in a practiced lock. He had a gun obviously in his holster--he must have gotten past the weapons check at the door.

Where the hell was Sean? Nowhere, though Dylan and Ellison had started charging to Elizabeth's rescue. Too late. The man got her out of the barn, Elizabeth still fighting him.

Ronan passed the unconscious feral Lupine surrounded by a circle of Shifters, firelight from one of the barrels flickering eerily over the scene. There Sean was, kneeling beside the wolf, a shiny new Collar dangling from his hand.

Ronan burst out into the night. He hurt--Goddess, he hurt--but he was not letting that bastard take Elizabeth away.

He came upon them suddenly in the darkness, Elizabeth fighting her way out of the man's grasp.

"Zach," Ronan heard Elizabeth say, and then Zach's body was spinning, flying to the ground, as Ronan's paw smacked him.

"Ronan, don't kill him," Elizabeth said in alarm.

Why the hell not?

The human part of Ronan's brain, a voice far in the background, reminded him that Shifters were executed for harming humans. The Shifter that was Ronan only saw someone threatening his mate, and that meant no mercy.

Zach took the split second of Ronan's thought process to get to his feet, blood on his face. He reached for his gun, found his holster inexplicably empty, and ran. Ronan roared and ran after him.

He heard others coming behind, Elizabeth's voice holding fear, Spike and Ellison trying to get Ronan to stop. Ronan only smelled his prey, the man who'd dared put his hands on Elizabeth, the man who'd caused her to live for years in terror. This man would die tonight for touching Elizabeth--my mate--for daring to come anywhere near her.

Ronan caught up to Zach in a little clearing in the trees. Zach had no backup weapon, it seemed, because he'd grabbed a fallen branch and tried to use it as a club as Ronan came at him.

Ronan rose, rage and the mate bond giving him glorious strength. He roared his Kodiak bear fury, shifting as he came down to the terrified man.

Zach's face was pale in the moonlight as he faced a blood-streaked giant of a man with madness in his eyes. "Who the hell are you?" he croaked.

"Her bodyguard," Ronan said, and raised both fists to strike him down.

There was a boom, an acrid smell of gunfire, and the hot scent of blood. Zack looked down in surprise at his right side, which now blossomed a large red stain. Zach touched the wound, then his eyes rolled back. His body collapsed into the mud, and he lay still.

Ronan roared in fury, his Collar sparking, as he swung to face Pablo Marquez, standing calmly by, a black nine-millimeter in his left hand, right wrist in a bandage.

"That was my kill," Ronan snarled. "Mine as mate."

Pablo tucked his gun into the holster under his coat. "No, my friend. I am a cold-blooded killer. You are not."

Ronan's mate-frenzied bloodlust made him want to rip into Pablo for interfering with his vengeance, but pain from his Collar, the heady feeling of the mate bond, and Ronan's own common sense stopped him. Better still was Elizabeth running into him, throwing her arms around him, no matter how bloody he was, and pulling him close. Distractedly he saw Pablo relieve her of the big pistol she seemed to have acquired, but he decided to worry about that detail later.

His Collar stopped sparking and winked out.

"Ronan, you stupid, stupid . . ." Elizabeth's words gave out, and she simply hung onto him.

Ronan gathered her against him. He didn't care that he was naked, her enemy dead at her feet, with other Shifters and a human looking on. This was his moment with Elizabeth, when the mate bond in him connected to the mate of his heart.

"I love you, Ronan," she was sobbing.

Ronan kissed her hair, nuzzling the red streaks in it that he adored. "Love you, Lizzie-girl," he said. "My mate."

*** *** ***

Pablo also offered to dispose of the body. He gave Elizabeth an amused look as he checked over the Sig Elizabeth had lifted from Zach's holster in her struggle with him. "Remind me not to let you get close to me," he said as he unloaded the weapon and handed it to one of his seconds. "You have a gift. If you ever need a job . . ."