Ronan scented Elizabeth's adrenaline running high as she opened the store, but only innocuous human customers came into the store, followed by Glory and Rebecca, who took a long time over their shopping. Elizabeth knew she was being babysat, but she said nothing about it.

Spike and Sean came in through the back to speak to Ronan, but no one was doing any carpentry today.

"Sure, I can get you in to the Shifter fights," Spike said to Ronan. They stood in Elizabeth's office, door closed, Elizabeth out front with her customers and Glory and Rebecca. "Everyone likes fresh blood. But I never heard about a champion sponsored by Marquez. He can't be local. Did you get his name?"

"Julio didn't say." Ronan leaned on the desk and thought of Elizabeth curled against him in the night, her body fitting so well with his.

"Not good," Spike said. "You gotta watch yourself in these places, Ronan. The only rules are that you stay inside the ring and don't use a weapon. Other than that, anything goes. It's Shifters letting out their wild."

"You think I can't be a little wild?" Ronan asked with a mild grin.

"I think you haven't been in a long time. Escorting drunk humans out of the bar is different from going up against a tiger-wildcat who eats raw steak for breakfast and is dying for a fight."

"I bet he could win with just his breath," Ronan said. Sean chuckled.

"Take it seriously, Ronan. These guys are seasoned. If Marquez has a champion, it means he's won a good share of the fights. He won't be a walkover."

"I've watched a couple of these matches," Sean said. "I believe him."

"It's not to the death though, right?" Ronan asked. "I don't want to be killing a guy with a mate and cubs who need him."

Spike shook his head. "Not to the death. We all want to go home afterward. The refs call it when a Shifter can't get up again. But things can get pretty bad." He looked at Sean. "I don't think you should go at all, Sean. A Guardian will make people nervous."

"Marquez also might decide that a fight to the death is what he wants," Sean said. "What if one of them pegs it, and there's no Guardian handy?"

Spike looked uneasy, but Ronan thought he knew why. Not because Sean might be needed, but Sean might tell Liam about Spike doing the fights. And no one wanted to piss off Liam.

"Don't worry," Sean said to him. "I'll be incognito, and I won't tell my brother."

Elizabeth's voice came from the door. "I thought you'd come here to talk him out of it, Sean."

All three of them jumped like guilty teenagers as Elizabeth walked into the room.

She was unhappy, that was obvious, but Ronan took in her jeans and tight red top, her high-heeled half-boots, the streaks in her hair that matched her shirt, and felt his mating frenzy stir. The lines of the butterfly peeping over the top's neckline reminded him of the beautiful little fairy on her breast. For a moment, whatever Sean was saying went fuzzy.

"I'm here to help you in a different way, lass," he thought Sean said. "With me trusty laptop." He'd set it up on Elizabeth's desk. The laptop looked plain, low-end, but Sean's fingers skimmed the keyboard, and screens began to pop up under his touch. "You're going to tell me everything about Rachel Sullivan and her little sister, and they'll go away, forever." He wriggled his fingers a few inches above the keys. "Like magic."

"Forever." Elizabeth stared at the laptop, a strange expression on her face.

"No one will ever connect you with her again," Sean said. "And no one will be able to track you from that name--or that name from your current one. You'll have been Elizabeth Chapman from birth. Is that who you want to be?"

Elizabeth stilled, staring at the laptop as though it would leap from the table and devour her. Her need for touch, for reassurance, screamed itself at Ronan.

But Ronan made himself stay where he was, though he had to clamp his arms across his middle to keep himself from going to her. She had to make this decision on her own, uninfluenced by Ronan, or Sean, or Julio, or Zach Casey.

Elizabeth drew a long breath, gaze flicking from the laptop to Ronan.

"Yes," she said.

*** *** ***

Elizabeth heard Ronan follow her out into the alley, where she'd gone to calm herself, to try to master her sudden dizziness. Inside, Sean was erasing--somehow--all trace of who Elizabeth used to be.

Ronan stopped beside her, leaning broad shoulders back against the wall, resting his booted foot against it. He said nothing and didn't reach for her. The man knew how to comfort simply by standing there.

"How can what Sean's doing help?" Elizabeth asked. "No matter how careful I was, Pablo Marquez's girlfriend found me out. How can Sean stop someone else from putting together the same information?"

"Because no hacker can out-hack a Guardian," Ronan said in a low voice. "Don't ask me how they do it. It's a secret known only to Guardians, and I'm not one, thank the Goddess."

"Why should he do this for me? If he's caught . . ." Elizabeth said the last in a murmur, glancing at the other closed doors in the alley.

"Sean, caught? You'd be amazed at what he and Liam get up to. Not to mention their dad."

"I don't want you going tonight, Ronan. I heard what Spike said." She looked up at him, big as a wrestler, no softness about him. "But you're not going to listen to me, are you?"