by T. S. Joyce
“Brute,” Georgia accused, easing back to look at Jason. “You could’ve warned me.”
“Mmm,” Jason murmured, pressing his lips against her forehead. “Where’s the fun in that? And besides, you were the one who said we were telling people. Now curse like the delinquent Gray Back you are.”
Georgia nuzzled against his face and wrapped her arms around his neck. Easing back, she crinkled up her nose and whispered, “As far as second dates go, this one is pretty fuckin’ awesome.”
Chapter Twelve
Two weeks was all it had taken to fall in love with her life in ten-ten. Two weeks, and Georgia had grown to adore Willa, Gia, Creed, Matt, and Easton. Heck, even Nards and Peanut Butter Spike had wiggled their way into her heart. But more than that, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with Jason.
He was sweet and tender, but with a primal, raw power that said he held himself in check at all times, especially around her.
Holding her coffee in one hand with her backpack slung over her shoulder, Georgia smiled at the little mouse that toted a sliver of toast she’d given him across the living room floor. She shut the door to 1010 and made her way down the porch stairs. The morning light was muted and gray, and the dark clouds above warned of a storm. It was cold enough for snow again.
Georgia took a sip of the hot coffee to ward off thoughts of how frigid it would be riding along Damon Daye’s territory line today. She’d missed the poachers on the last two Fridays. They were crafty, setting up on different mountains, always close to the property line, but last week, they’d trekked into an area they hadn’t before and took a deer way too close to the Boarlander’s territory for comfort.
She had to stop them.
“You’re up early, Ranger,” Jason said from his screened in porch.
“I was trying to catch your naked morning coffee,” she teased.
Her eyes had nearly plopped out of her head the first time she’d seen him standing there with his dick out, drinking a steaming cup of Joe. He’d told her he did it because Tessa had hated it, and she always left him alone for those few minutes in the morning when he pissed her off enough.
Georgia, however, was a big fan. Straight-backed man with six-pack abs flexing as he stretched. Long dick at half-mast as he blew on his coffee. Those dark, dancing eyes, daring her to look between his legs. Naked coffee time was her favorite time of day.
He pushed open the screen door and jogged down the stairs, meeting her right in front of his landscaping. “Too cold this morning. My balls just straight-up refused the abuse.” He wore jeans over heavy, mud-splattered work boots and a thick canvas jacket that made his shoulders appear even wider as it tapered to his narrow waist. His green winter hat made his eyes look lighter, and paired with that sexy scruff he’d grown on his jaw over the last few days, he looked rugged and delicious.
“Morning, Georgia,” Gia called from the trailer that stood between 1010 and Jason’s singlewide. Gia waved, then leaned down to kiss her mate goodbye.
Creed let the kiss linger and palmed Gia’s growing belly, drawing a blush from Georgia blushed at witnessing such a tender moment.
Jason pulled her into a hug and murmured, “That’s going to be us someday.”
Georgia clenched his jacket in her fists and sighed. She could imagine it. Her belly swelling with Jason’s child. Him touching her like Creed always touched Gia’s stomach. A little boy who looked like Jason, dark hair with her curly texture, and almond-colored, intelligent eyes like his daddy. And an easy smile like the both of them, because she and Jason would be awesome at raising a baby together. They might not raise him in a fancy house but would make sure their child was happy.
With a sigh, she pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed his throat, right where his pulse was tripping. “You will make a good daddy someday.”
Creed whistled the ten minute warning behind them as he pulled down the tailgate of his jacked-up truck and began to unload spare lumber.
Jason grabbed her hand and pulled her up the porch stairs of the screened-in porch and into his trailer. Inside, he kicked the door closed behind them.
“What are you doing?” she asked through a giggle as he unzipped her jacket.
“All that talk about making a baby made me want to practice with you, Ranger. Shimmy on out of those pants, quick now. We only have ten minutes.”
“Challenge accepted,” she murmured as she stripped down.
Jason was faster and was clad in nothing but a smile in no time. He picked her up and fell onto the bed with her, then threw the thick comforter over their heads.
“I like this,” she whispered, holding down the corners of the covers. “It’s like our own little world in here.”
Jason stared at her with such adoration, her heart thumped erratically in her chest. She’d never imagined in her lifetime that a man would look at her the way Jason did, and somehow, after all her travels, she’d found him.
“Can I ask you something?”
Georgia nodded. “Anything.”
“You can say no.”
“Jason, ask me.”
“I know you love ten-ten, but…I want you to move into my trailer. With me.”
Georgia pulled his palm to her mouth and left a lingering kiss there, stalling so her words wouldn’t come out all breathy and excited. “What if you get tired of me?”
“I won’t. I want you in my bed. I hate having to say goodnight to you at your doorstep, and I stay up half the night staring at the ceiling thinking about you. Wishing I could hold you and talk to you when I want. I want to wake up next to you.”
She kissed his palm again, enjoying how nervous he seemed. As if she was going to say no. Two weeks ago, she’d been living in a cold ranger tower thinking about him all day and all night, and now he wanted her with him always. She must’ve fallen into a field of four leaf clovers she didn’t know about.
She pressed her hand against his chest to feel if his heart was beating as fast as hers. It was. Right here, with his question hanging in the air between them, in the warmth of his home and bed, she could see her future stretch on and on. She’d always flown by the seat of her pants. She’d had to with this job, but Jason offered her stability. He offered her a happy life.
She hated sleeping so close, yet so far away from him, too.
Slowly, she leaned up and sipped his lips. When she eased back, Georgia nodded her head and left the answer in her tear-rimmed eyes.
Jason smiled and shook his head as if she’d bewildered him, eyes dipping to her lips before he kissed her.
He slid into her slowly, his powerful body curving over hers. The muscles in his back tensed and flexed under her palms as he filled her, then pulled out slowly. His tongue brushed hers as he pushed into her harder.
A soft moan sighed past her lips as she reveled in how gentle such a powerful man could be. He liked it hard, and from behind best. She’d learned that over the last couple of weeks, but he rarely gave into the instinct to flip her over, and he always made sure she came first before he took her from behind. But most of the time, he was soft, drawing her orgasms out with sweet touches.
Jason gritted his teeth as he thrust into her again, his eyes blazing that light silver that she’d grown to cherish. The animal inside of him wasn’t what had broken him. The animal Tessa had given him had enabled him to weather things that would’ve brought weaker men to their knees. His bear had made him strong enough to wait for Georgia to stumble into his life.
She gasped as he gripped her wrists and held them over her head against the mattress. The soft snarl that rattled his throat as he bucked into her faster sent delicious shivers up her spine. She cried out his name as release exploded through her middle. Fists clenched, nails dug into her palms. Jason slammed into her again and froze, every muscle in his body rigid against her as his dick throbbed inside, warming her from the middle out with his release.
Georgia’s chest heaved as Jason’s kisses trailed to her jawline, then to her ear. She reveled
in his warmth. Outside, the day was cold and gray, but in here, everything seemed brighter. Troubles didn’t exist under this blanket fort he’d made. She wished she could linger in this moment for hours, connected to her mate and sated from his careful attention.
Outside, Creed trilled a whistle that made Jason hunch into himself. Georgia rushed to cover his ears, but he bit the inside of her arm playfully and pulled out of her.
“Time to go do work. I’ll move your things in here tonight if you want.”
“I want.”
Jason chuckled and threw the covers off, then rushed to re-dress. He grabbed his coat and a sack lunch from the dresser and threw open the door just as Creed yelled for him to, “Hurry up!”
Jason turned and rushed back to her, kissed her hard, told her he loved her, and then bolted out the door. That man left her breathless and filled with the fluttery sensation of falling.
As appealing as the idea of lingering in her new home was, she had gotten up early for a reason. Today was Friday, and if the poachers followed their regular routine, they’d be setting up camp somewhere on Damon’s land today. One look in the bathroom mirror, and she nearly split her spleen laughing. Good grief, the man had done a number on her hair. It stuck up everywhere. She pulled it into a messy bun at the back of her head, then got dressed and gave Jason’s trailer—her trailer now, too—one last glance before she left.
She was on the cusp of something great here. She felt it down to her bones and beyond. In her soul, she knew this place could be home if she was open to it. If she was ready for it.
The first snowflakes of the coming storm floated down slowly in front of her, and she caught one on her glove. It was a perfect star shape. She stumbled on gravel near the fire pit and laughed as she caught herself. Her amusement was cut short as chills blasted up her arms despite her heavy winter coat. When she made her way over the dry grass her Jeep was parked in, her instincts screamed, and she stepped carefully around the spot that just didn’t feel right. Tessa was invisible to her now. She’d disappeared from everyone but Jason the night Easton had burned her bones. But just because she couldn’t see the Gray Back ghost bear didn’t mean Tessa wasn’t still lingering. Jason didn’t like to talk about it, but he’d admitted last night that Tessa mostly just cried and watched him now.
A part of Georgia pitied his late mate. But then she’d think about how Tessa had betrayed him in life. How she betrayed him still by torturing him as she did, and Georgia’s empathy flew the coop.
Jason belonged to Georgia. Not to an apparition who refused to retract her claws from his skin and move on.
After tossing her backpack into the back seat, Georgia adjusted her belt with the gun and knife so she could sit comfortably in the Jeep for her ride to the ranger tower. The uneasy feeling and prickly skin didn’t disappear when she shut her door and turned over the engine, though.
With a frown, she looked at the seat beside her, empty to the naked eye. “Tessa, what do you want?”
“They’re here,” came the whispered reply, so soft she could’ve imagined it.
It could be a trick. A way for Tessa to mess with her head, but what would be the point? Shoot. Something in her sang that Tessa was right. Georgia hit the gas and blasted out of the trailer park. The backroads were still covered in patches of snow that hadn’t melted in the shade of the towering pines. The car lurched side to side as she rushed over potholes and divots, through trenched-out tire treads, and around overgrown brush. The woods passed in a blur.
Tessa wasn’t in the seat beside her anymore. Georgia didn’t know how she knew, but the Jeep felt empty and safe again. The cold breath of the shade wasn’t here to chill her blood.
The tires locked up as she slammed on the brake under the ranger tower. The ground was littered with maps and notes. The windows had been busted out, and the ground was glittering with shattered glass. The radio she’d used to communicate with the crews and with Damon Daye was busted into a dozen pieces on the forest floor, as if someone had stomped on it repeatedly.
“No,” she murmured as anger blasted through her. She checked the load in her handgun and made sure the safety was on—a habit, but a good one that kept her from shooting her toes off. Door thrown open, she slid from the Jeep, then scaled the ladder. No one was inside the tower. In fact, there was nothing left except words scratched into the wooden walls.
Long, angry knife strokes spelled out this is your warning bitch.
Her heart thumped erratically as rage congealed her blood. They’d been watching her. Somehow, they’d known she was tracking them. And this was the cowardly way they let her know? Her warning? Screw that. She didn’t need a warning from these assholes. She knew what she was up against when she’d taken this job. Damon Daye had been upfront about the poacher problem. She wasn’t scared then, and she sure as shit wasn’t scared now.
She climbed down the ladder and leapt from the bottom rung, then bolted for the shed. Please let the quad be okay.
The idiots had disconnected the battery and chucked it behind the shed, but other than that, it was unharmed. She knew the inner workings of her ATV like the back of her hand and had it checked over and running again in under sixty seconds. As soon as she had it backed out of the shed, she jammed the gas and blasted toward the fresh tire tracks that bisected the sparse patches of thin snow.
The white flakes were falling harder now, obscuring the tracks layer by layer. Georgia’s stomach dipped to her tailbone as she engaged another gear and slammed the accelerator down. The fat tires skidded on the snow around the turns, but she had to find them. And an instinct on where they were made her angrier by the moment. If they’d been watching her and knew she was tracking them, then their campsite patterns had been deliberate. Bait for her to check on one side of the mountain, but this was the big one. They were here for a reason. She hadn’t pieced everything together yet, but she would.
A roar rattled the trees up ahead, and Georgia stuttered on the gas. She could see movement in the spaces between the trees, but the grove was so thick here and the snow falling harder by the minute, she couldn’t be sure what it was.
Another roar shook the earth beneath her four-wheeler as the monster bruin grizzly stepped into a clearing. He surged forward, mouth open and long, white canines bared. His ears were flat against his head. When a Kodiak bear had gotten that look, whatever he was after was about to die.
A shot rang out. It didn’t have that echoing sound of a miss. The bear stumbled forward and staggered just as another shot rang out.
“No!” she screamed as she skidded to a stop.
Brown bears didn’t live here. The only reason for a grizzly to be here was that it wasn’t a grizzly at all, but a bear shifter.
Horror filled her as everything threaded together into a bigger picture in her mind.
The poachers weren’t here to take illegal game.
They were here to hunt shifters. They were here to hunt people.
Georgia lurched off the ATV, drawing her weapon as she did. Lifting the gun, she popped off a round at the man aiming a rifle at the downed bear, then ducked down behind her quad. Who was it? One of the Boarlanders? One of the Ashe Crew? Fuck, it didn’t matter. They were hers to protect—all of them.
She fired off another round and jogged forward around her ATV and headed for a thick grove of pines, knees bent so she could keep her aim steady.
An echoing curse cracked against the mountain as she winged the man through the trees. The rifle swung around to her, and two shots ricocheted simultaneously off a tree right beside her. At least two shooters then.
“Get up!” she screamed at the bear. “You need to move!”
The bear was staining the snow crimson as it swung its block head toward her. Agony swam in his brown eyes.
“I’m bleeding out, man!” one of the poachers yelled.
Good. He deserved it.
The rifle trained on the bear again. She couldn’t just watch them kill him. He was a man who
had Changed into this bear to protect his territory, his people.
“Run!” she yelled as she lifted her gun and unloaded on the poacher, one bullet after the other. The man’s body was hidden behind a tree, only his weapon visible around the trunk. Jamming another clip in her gun, she ducked another bark-splintering ricochet and pulled her weapon.
The quiet woods exploded with gunfire the second she eased around the tree.
It wasn’t two shooters as she’d thought. This was a massive hunt. People hunting people, and they weren’t poachers at all. They were serial killers, gathered with one purpose. To hunt down the bear shifters that had made their home here.
The smattering of bullets exploding against the bark right above her head said her fate was sealed. She was surrounded.
Fear slashed through her chest, but it was too late now. Too late to call for backup that wouldn’t arrive until long after she was gone. Too late to call Damon and explain what was happening here. Too late to call Jason and tell him she was sorry.
Aim.
One shot.
Man down.
Aim, and all the while, the trees were being battered by the spray of gunfire around her.
Searing pain blasted through her left arm, rocketing her backward with the force of the bullet. She cried out and lifted the gun again.
One shot.
Miss.
One shot.
Miss.
They were all around her, hunting as a pack, and no tree could shield her now.
A man stepped out from behind the trees with a cruel twist for a mouth. His weapon was trained on her, scope glinting in the muted light.
Her arm was on fire, clutched tight to her stomach in an attempt ease the pain.
“Did you not get our warning in your little treehouse, bitch?” he asked.
The gun shook in her hand. One more shot left if she’d counted correctly.
“You can’t do this.” She’d meant for her voice to come out strong and authoritative, but as more men holding rifles emerged from the trees, it came out a shaky whisper instead.
