Ronan swept up Elizabeth and carried her, romance-style, to the bed. He followed her down to the mattress and lay on his side next to her, eyes dark. He ran his hand down her arm, ending by cradling her hip.
"I thought it was the mate-claim making me crazy," he said. "Starting the mating frenzy. But it's just you." He released her hip and trailed his fingers up her torso, between her br**sts. "You're amazing. And I want to see that tattoo."
He hooked his fingers on the neckline of her shirt, pulling it down a little to bare the butterfly that ran along her collarbone. Elizabeth stilled under Ronan's touch, loving the warm need that filled her, a kind she'd never felt before. She wanted to wrap herself around him and pull him down to her, kiss him until her cravings were fulfilled. But she remained motionless, marveling in the light brush of his fingertips on her skin.
Ronan traced the butterfly once with his fingers, then leaned down and traced it with his tongue. Elizabeth closed her eyes, body loosening, surrendering.
A crazed roar had her nearly flying up out of the bed, her tension returning in a rush. Ronan swung his legs around and came to his feet faster than Elizabeth would have guessed such a big man could move.
The roar came again. Loud, deep, animal. Ronan tore open the door and ran into the yard, peeling off his T-shirt as he went. His jeans followed, boots flying. Elizabeth experienced one glorious instant seeing him tall and naked in the moonlight, before his limbs distorted, and the space between house and Den filled with Kodiak bear.
Ronan ran for the second bear who stood on his hind legs in the yard. The bear was snarling, all teeth bared, and as Ronan went at him, the other bear came down and charged.
The black bear was much smaller than the Kodiak, but the black bear didn't care. Its Collar emitted dozens of sparks, which made it roar in pain, but the bear kept running for Ronan, its eyes red, foam dripping from its mouth.
Elizabeth watched, holding her breath, as Ronan ran straight into the black bear, tumbling to the ground with it. Dust exploded as both bears rolled over each other, the black bear snarling with insane intensity.
Ronan's bear fought in deadly silence. The other bear clawed at him mindlessly, roars ringing into the night. Its Collar kept sparking, white hot in the darkness, but Ronan's Collar remained, like him, quiet.
The fight drew attention. A big gray wolf bounded around the house and headed for Elizabeth. The wolf was huge, at least three times the size of an ordinary wolf, and its eyes were white, fur ice-gray in the moonlight. Elizabeth drew back, ready to run for the Den, and then the wolf's limbs rippled and changed. In a few brief moments, she stood face to face with Ellison Rowe, who now wore not a stitch.
"You okay?" Ellison asked, breathing hard.
"Sure." Elizabeth turned to the bears again. Blood showed on Ronan's coat as he struggled to get the other bear under control.
"That's Scott," Ellison said. "The Transition's rough."
The black bear managed to squirm away from the big Kodiak and loped for Elizabeth.
"Shit," Ellison said. His shifting process went in reverse, and the wolf returned, positioning himself in front of Elizabeth and snarling a warning.
Ronan was almost upon the black bear. As Ronan leapt for him, the black bear sidestepped, rolled, shifted in the middle of the roll, and came to his feet as Scott. Naked, muscles rippling, he was long and lean, body honed, but the look in his eyes as he ran at Elizabeth was raw and furious.
Ellison snarled a guttural snarl, all his wolf teeth bared, ears flat on his head. Ronan, behind Scott, shifted to his human self.
Scott kept coming. Ronan closed the distance between himself and the younger man, put his wrestler's arms all the way around Scott, and lifted him off his feet.
Scott fought him. He ripped at Ronan's hold, his Collar sparking like crazy. He butted his head back against Ronan, and blood dripped from Ronan's mouth. Scott's Collar crackled as loud as Ellison's growls, and then Scott screamed.
It was a horrible sound. The scream went on and on, spilling out Scott's anguish and pain, frustration and rage. Ronan held him fast, and Scott kept fighting. Ellison stayed in front of Elizabeth, his growls lessening but his teeth still bared.
Scott's struggles slowed, though his Collar remained a white band around his neck in the dark. As he weakened, Ronan pulled him into his big arms.
"Let it go," Ronan said. "Calm and quiet. Deep breaths, like I taught you."
Scott was sobbing now. The Collar's glow faded, gradually, as Scott continued to cry. Ronan held him close, pressing a kiss to Scott's unruly black hair.
"Is he all right?" Elizabeth started forward, but Ellison, still the wolf, got in her way.
"Stay over there, Lizzie-girl," Ronan said. "He'll be okay."
Scott didn't look okay. He hung in Ronan's arms, weak, his Collar still emitting sparks.
Ellison rose again to become Ellison. He put his hands on his trim hips. "Poor kid. When I went through the Transition, my grandmother would throw a bucket of ice water over me to calm me down. And I didn't have to worry about the Collar back then--this was before Collars were invented."
Across the yard, Ronan spoke to Scott in a low voice, and Scott nodded, head buried in Ronan's shoulder.
"Why did he try to attack Ronan?" Elizabeth asked.
Ellison's eyes glinted. In the moonlight, stark naked, his eyes still as gray as his wolf's, he looked far more animal than human. "He wasn't trying for Ronan, sweet thing. He was going for you, and Ronan was stopping him. I bet he smelled some pheromones running hot in the Den, and they ignited his hair-trigger mating frenzy." Ellison grinned, and Elizabeth swore his teeth were still pointed. "So what were you and Ronan getting up to in there? Hunh, Lizzie-girl?"