It was just another shift, or at least that's what Eloise thought, but by the end of the night, Eloise was going to wish she had called in sick. She watched Jensen coming in with his two bodyguards, a serious look in his eyes, and saw that there were a few more just outside of the diner.

After serving them, she learned that he was there for a meeting and a chill ran down her spine. For some reason seeing Jensen in "Boss Mode" made her worry. She wasn't scared of him, she had a feeling that that would never happen, but she was worried for him.

She knew from her past that these meetings, where the Boss has that look in his eyes, would usually end in one of two ways: either with someone being stripped of their position within the "family" or in bloodshed, one not being exclusive from the other. They often went hand in hand and that was what worried Eloise.

An hour later, Eloise watched a man, younger than Jensen, walk in the diner as if he owned the place, two men following close behind. The young man had an air of arrogance about him that made her shake her head, thinking that some people confuse confidence with arrogance and that he was definitely one of them.

She walked over to their table, taking a deep breath along the way, knowing that this was not going to go well.

- "Hello, welcome to Delfine's. Can I get you something?" - She asked, in a very professional way, no hint of the warmth that usually coated her voice. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Jensen and his men.

- "Just coffee, dollface."

Eloise nodded, already disliking the man, and walked away to grab the coffee pot. Returning to the table, she knew that this guy wasn't just leaving it at that.

- "Your coffee, sir. If you need anything else, just let me know."

- "You can do your job and just leave us alone."

- "That's no way to treat a lady who's just trying to do her job, Elijah." - Jensen told him, a slight edge present in his voice. - "Miss Anderson, will you be so kind and bring me and my men some of that pie, please. You know how we like it."

- "Right away, Mr. Ackles."

- "After you do that, leave us alone." - Elijah growled at Eloise, grabbing her arm.

Eloise shook her arm from Elijah's grip and walked quickly to the counter, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, as she started taking care of Jensen's order. She saw the way Jensen tensed when Elijah grabbed her and it took everything in her not to put this Elijah guy in his place. She didn't know who he was, and honestly, she didn't care. No one puts their hands on her like that. Still, she decided against it after seeing Jensen's reaction.

After taking the pies to the table, Eloise kept looking at the clock wishing that the meeting would just end already. She hated the eerie atmosphere that permeated the diner. Everyone was uncharacteristically quiet, even the other customers on Ariana's side. All you could hear were the sounds coming from the kitchen and an old song from the small jukebox in the corner. "This shift can't end soon enough.", Eloise thought as she filled the sugar dispensers.

Two hours later Jensen signaled Eloise and asked for a new round of pies. Eloise nodded and prepared them before taking them to the table. It was clear to her that Elijah was now in a much better mood than he was when he first arrived but there was still an edge to him that she didn't like.

- "Here you go Mr. Ackles. Will that be all?"

- "Not really, dollface. Why don't you sit right here?" - Elijah said, patting his lap with one hand while the other caresses her ass.

- "Touch me again and you'll lose the ability to reproduce." - Eloise answered, a smile on her lips, as she stabbed the table in front of him with the knife she had brought for Jensen before walking away.

- "I warned you not to be rude."

Eloise heard Jensen's words and couldn't help smiling. Sure, she probably shouldn't have done that, but the asshole had it coming. She didn't care who he was, she was done walking on eggshells. She watched as Elijah stormed out, glaring at her, from behind the counter.

A few hours later, Eloise walked out the back door to find Jensen waiting for her in his usual spot, leaning against her car.

- "You shouldn't have done that, sweetheart."

- "Do what exactly?"

- "Do you know who that was that I was meeting?" - Jensen asked her.

- "No. And honestly, I don't care who he was. No one touches me in that way and walks away scotch free."

- "Oh sweetheart. Your no-nonsense attitude one of these days is gonna get you in trouble." - Jensen smiled as he said that, shaking his head. - "That was Elijah Martinez. He's a lower mob boss from a neighboring county that has been trying to get into business with me for a while. Only the kind of business he's proposing is not something I want to get involved in. Hence the meeting tonight, it was to refuse his proposal in a more definitive way and to come to a compromise."

- "Okay, so?"

- "So, Martinez is a loose cannon. There's no way of telling how he's going to react to what you did. He may leave it alone because this is my town and, therefore, you're under my protection, or he might want to try and get even for what you did in front of his men."

Eloise swallowed thickly. In the moment she didn't think about the consequences of her actions and now she was facing the possibility of having a Mob Boss, even a minor one, coming after her because he might've felt disrespected. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!", she thought to herself.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the screeching of tires. Looking behind her, she saw Elijah coming out of one of the cars, followed by his men, and making his way to where Jensen and her were standing. Eloise felt Jensen pull her behind him and standing tall, a clear way to show dominance over, not only the situation but herself as well.

- "I'm not here for you Ackles. I'm here for the bitch." - Elijah said, his tone menacing.

- "And why's that?"

- "This bitch needs to learn respect. And I'm here to teach her just that."

- "Not gonna happen, Elijah. And watch your mouth. Why don't you just go home? She didn't know who you were and even if she did, you disrespected her first. So leave, Elijah. This is my town and she is under my protection."

- "No, no. I'm not going anywhere without teaching that bitch what respect means first."

- "Elijah, I'm telling you that's not gonna happen. You need to walk away now, while there's still time."

- "Just hand over the bitch and I'll leave."

- "I can't do that."

- "And why not?" - Elijah asked, clearly impatient.

- "Because… Because I have a Claim on her. You do know what that means, don't you?"

- "This isn't over, Ackles. Claim or no Claim, I will get what I want and there will be nothing you can do to stop it."

Elijah and his men got in their cars and drove away. Eloise watched Jensen give out orders and his men carrying them out as quickly as they heard them.

- "Ellie, I need you to give me your apartment keys and to get in my car."

- "Why? What's going on? And what the hell is a Claim?" - Eloise's head was spinning and she didn't know what to do.

- "Please sweetheart. I promise I will explain everything, but right now I need you to do as I say, okay?"

Eloise agreed and got in his car after giving him her keys. She watched as Jensen gave them to one of his men before getting in the car and sitting next to her. A few minutes later they were parking across from her apartment building. She watched as a few of Jensen's men entered it while she and Jensen stayed in the car.

- "Ellie, you with me?" - Jensen asked her, seeing her focused on his men.

- "Yeah, yeah. I'm here. What the hell is going on?"

- "Right now my men are making sure that it's safe for you to go home. That there aren't any of Elijah's men laying and waiting to take you to him."

- "Okay. That's… That's good. Thank you."

- "Of course. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, Ellie. You have my word, okay?"

- "Okay. But, what's a Claim? You told Elijah that you had a Claim on me."

- "Ellie, I promise that that wasn't my intention but it was the only way I could think of to keep you safe." - Jensen said apologetically.

- "Okay? But what is it, exactly?"

- "When someone in our world lays a Claim on someone else, it means that that person belongs to them, romantically. It's usually used for girlfriends, boyfriends, mistresses, the sort. When they marry, the Claim no longer applies because they become a part of our world, but before that, we use the Claim to keep that special someone away from harm."

- "Wait, what? You're telling me that Elijah and his men now think that you and I are together? Like, romantically together?"

- "Not just Elijah and his men. By tomorrow, everyone is going to know that I have a Claim on you, and that includes people in town as well as your boss and co-workers. I'm so sorry, Ellie. It was the only way."

Eloise's head was filled with all sorts of thoughts and feelings. She was shocked, confused, angry and in disbelief. She wanted to scream and shout and, at the same time, to curl up in a ball and just pretend that none of that was real, that it was all just a really bad dream. All those years running away from an arranged marriage to someone in this lifestyle and now she was smacked in the middle of it.

The car started feeling smaller and smaller and she knew if she stayed in there any longer she would probably explode and say things she didn't mean and get herself in even more trouble. She needed to get out. Opening the door just as Jensen's men gave the all clear, she rushed to her apartment, bumping into his men as she went. She needed to be as far away from him as possible right then.

Locking herself in her room, she sat in her bed and took deep breaths, thinking that this was all her fault. If only she had kept her mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened. But then again, there had to be another way. Jensen could've done something else, instead of placing a Claim on her.

Eloise came out of her room an hour later, needing to drink some water. As she walked out to her living room, she was surprised when she saw a man standing by her window, talking to someone on the firescape. Letting out a small yelp, it was enough to make the man turn around.

- "Who are you?" - Eloise demanded from the blue eyed man.

- "The name's Misha, Miss Anderson. You've seen me at the diner with the Boss. Pie with whipped cream?"

- "Sorry, yeah, yeah. I just… I just didn't recognize you. Why are you here?"

- "The Boss wanted to make sure you were safe, so he assigned me to protect you." - Misha answers, a kind smile on his face.

- "Who were you talking to?" - Eloise asked as she looked over to the window.

- "Alex. He's keeping watch on the firescape. And just outside the door, in the hallway, is David. We are all here for your protection, so if you need anything, all you have to do is say Miss Anderson."

- "Thank you. I didn't know, but thank you."

- "No problem, Miss Anderson."

- "Can I ask you a question, Misha?"

- "Of course."

- "Have you ever heard about someone putting a Claim on someone else solely for their protection?"

- "Personally, no. But, from what we saw and given the circumstances, this was the only way."

- "You really believe that?"

- "Miss Anderson, I've known the Boss for over fifteen years. And never, not once, has he placed a Claim on someone. And in situations like these, he's usually more than capable of coming to a somewhat peaceful solution. If he placed a Claim on you, believe that it was the only way to make sure you would be safe from harm. If there had been another way, he would've done it."

- "I see. Thank you, Misha."

- "Anything I can do to help, Miss Anderson."

Eloise grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and after saying goodnight to Misha and telling him that he and the boys could help themselves to her fridge, she returned to her room. Laying in bed, her conversation with Misha kept replaying in her head. "If there had been another way, he would've done it."

It didn't take long for sleep to take over, the last thought on her mind being that she needed to know more about what being Claimed entailed. If she was going to face this, she needed to know what was expected of her. She knew she could always disappear again, like she had been doing for the past ten years, but that didn't feel right. She was tired of running and she liked living in Austin, so her only choice here was to face this head first and hope for the best.