"Do you want to make that official?" Liam said in a quiet voice. "Be responsible for her?"

"Vouch for her, you mean?" Ronan let Liam hold his gaze. He'd already vouched for Scott, Cherie, and Olaf--clan-less, family-less Shifters with bad pasts. No one knew what the cubs would do or what kind of adults they'd become. Ronan had vowed with his life that they'd not be threats. Liam was asking him to do the same for Elizabeth.

"No," Ronan said.

Liam's eyes went wider, and Kim stirred. "Liam, stop it. You too, Ronan. This is Elizabeth's choice. She's not a cub. She's not even Shifter. The same rules don't apply."

"Much as I hate disagreeing with you, love, they do," Liam said. "Will you let him vouch for you, Elizabeth? That means that, if you are lying to us, or you put a foot wrong, it's on his head."

"No!" Elizabeth said fiercely. "What is wrong with you all? I didn't ask you to bring us to Shiftertown. I'm grateful for your help, but I don't have to stay with you. So thank you, but I'm leaving."

Again Ronan stopped her by being too big for her to walk around. "I said I wouldn't vouch for you," he said. "But that's because I'm going to go one better, and mate-claim you."

"Ronan," Liam said, warning in his voice.

"Mate-claim?" Elizabeth said. She took a step back, which put her against Liam's desk. "What does that mean?"

"It means not only do I vouch for you, but I ensure that all Shifters stay away from you, always, including Liam. The bond of the mate supersedes the authority of the clan leader and even the Shiftertown leader. If Liam has a problem with you, he has to come through me first. Trust me, he doesn't want to have to go through me."

Liam, instead of getting upset, sat down and leaned back in his chair again, grinning his annoying Irish grin. "It's an interesting solution," he said. "Very interesting."

Elizabeth looked from Liam to Ronan. "What are you saying? That I'm now your mate? I don't want a mate!"

"Tell her she can reject the claim," Kim said. "Be fair. She doesn't understand complicated Shifter rules."

Liam shrugged. "A mate-claim only means that Ronan now protects you, and that you're off-limits to all other Shifter males. Doesn't mean you're mated. Yet. And yes, you can reject the claim. He can't force it on you." Liam said the last part reluctantly, as though he'd be happy for Elizabeth to be stuck in the claim.

"Then I reject--"

Ronan put his fingers over Elizabeth's mouth. "Wait. Let it work, first. If you stay under my claim, then Liam can't make you tell him about your past, or any other detail he wants to poke his nose into. I stay with you and protect you from angry gang leaders who want to kill you. Once the danger is over, you can reject the claim. We can't stop you. That's Shifter law."

"I'm not Shifter," Elizabeth said, her breath warm on his fingers.

"Doesn't matter. I am. Elizabeth Chapman, I mate-claim you, witnessed by Liam the leader of the Austin Shiftertown, Sean the Guardian, Kim the leader's mate, and Katriona, the leader's firstborn."

As Elizabeth stared at him over his blunt fingers, Ronan sensed a click inside himself, as though something that had long been unresolved had at last completed.

Elizabeth was a survivor. Ronan saw that in her. She was a survivor as much as he was, as much as the cubs in his house were, as much as Liam and his family were.

Elizabeth drew a breath. "All right. For now, I won't reject it."

Ronan relaxed, feeling a tightness in him loosen and flow away. Elizabeth held his gaze, her chin lifted. Nothing submissive about her.

"But that doesn't mean I'll do everything you say," Elizabeth said.

Ronan growled, feeling suddenly playful. Wait until he got her home and she looked at him with that challenge in her eyes. He'd never mate-claimed anyone before. Was this how it felt, an unexpected lightness, sudden joy? An excitement, anticipation of the next moment, of every moment? Ronan no longer wanted to work his shift. He wanted to take Elizabeth home and simply be with her.

Liam looked past Ronan to his brother. "Sean? You've not said a word. What do you think?"

Sean came out of his relaxed stance, unstrapped his sword, and tossed it to the battered sofa. "I'm thinking you brought me back here, away from my mate, for nothing," he said, moving to the door. "Elizabeth knows what she's doing, and you don't need me."

Without another word, the quiet Morrissey opened the door wide and walked out into the noise. Ronan watched him make straight for Andrea, and Andrea smile up at him in her warm way, welcoming him back.

*** *** ***

Elizabeth sensed the change in Ronan as he led her out of the office again. He guided her with his hand on the small of her back, gentle pressure, but one she couldn't ignore.

She noticed that every Shifter outside the office looked at Elizabeth in open curiosity as they emerged, then they glanced at Ronan, then again at Elizabeth, then their expressions blanked, and they looked away or backed off. They did it subtly, pretending they didn't, but they did it. How they knew Ronan had made this "mate-claim," Elizabeth didn't know, but it didn't matter. They knew.

Sean was now sitting in the booth with Mabel and the dark-haired, pregnant woman, and Elizabeth headed that way, Ronan tightly beside her. Scott had vacated one place, though Mabel and Connor remained, sitting firmly together.