by Kim Fox
“You’re not going to be living with a fucking cop,” Joan said, marching up to him. “You’re going to be living with Rhett. And your new alpha didn’t ask for your opinion, now did she?”
Gunner held her eyes, staring down at her with a tense face. “It’s the only way you’ll stay?”
She nodded.
Gunner gritted his teeth as he walked around her and straight up to Rhett. “Only because of her,” he said, his voice tight and full of tension. “Stay away from me.” He pushed past him, bumping his shoulder into Rhett’s chest. “That’s your first and only warning, Crowman.”
Gunner marched out of the barn and slammed the door closed behind him. It wasn’t exactly the warmest of welcomes but it was still a step up from living with Emry and Nathan.
He turned back to Joan and she was giggling. “He called you Crowman,” she said with her beautiful shoulders shaking. “I think I’m going to buy you a cape.”
The other three shifters joined in, teasing him. “I like Super Raven,” Cole said, laughing.
“You should get a spandex costume,” Ashton said, grinning.
“And you should get some pants,” Rhett said, pointing at the bear shifter’s exposed cock.
“We’re just fucking with you,” Cole said, walking over and wrapping his arm around Rhett’s shoulder. “Welcome to the Wilde Crew!”
Rhett smiled, feeling honored. He was part of a crew again and the best part was, it was with Joan. He would get to stay with her every day.
“Come here, guys,” Rory said, waving everyone in. “Group hug!”
They joined together for a group hug, but Rhett was too busy dodging bare penises to enjoy it.
“What about, Gunner?” Joan asked, looking at the closed door.
Cole shrugged. “He’s always a prick. You’ll get used to him.”
Rhett’s heart panged. It wasn’t over. Joan had chosen him to stay but Gunner would still be around, still be on her mind. He had to watch out for him.
Yup. He was going to watch him really close.
eleven
“You didn’t tell us about all of these fucking ravens when we made the deal,” Cole said, looking around at the black birds lining the roof, trees, and grass of the ranch.
“Buyer beware,” Joan said with a grin. It was the first time that she had pulled a fast one on her new crew but it was definitely not going to be the last.
Cole was cooking up some steaks on the fireplace as the rest of them lounged around, getting to know each other. Rory hurried over, carrying a cooler on his shoulder. He dropped it down on the ground in front of everyone and the bottles clinked together inside.
“What do we have here?” Ashton asked, licking his lips.
Rory grinned as he opened the cooler and showed off the bottles of beer that were drowning in ice. “A little welcome party for our new crew mates.”
Joan smiled as she reached down and grabbed a bottle. It wasn’t a twist off but she took the cap off easily.
Gunner still hadn’t returned after storming out of the barn earlier. He hadn’t been too happy that she brought Rhett with her into the crew but right now, she didn’t really care. This was her chance for a new start. A new crew, a new town, new friends, and a new man. She wasn’t about to let a lion shifter with a bad attitude ruin it all for her.
“Cheers,” she said, thrusting her bottle into the empty space of the circle. Rhett, Cole, Ashton, and Rory all smiled as they clinked their bottles to hers.
“This is going to be epic,” Rory said, taking a long sip. “I love having an alpha.”
Ashton rolled his eyes. “You didn’t love having Logan. None of us did.”
Rory frowned. “Yeah, but he wasn’t any good. Joan is going to be awesome!”
“Who is Logan?” Joan asked, leaning back as Cole told her. He was their last alpha, a bear shifter who was obsessed with the mate of The Clawed Squad’s alpha, Thorn. He wasn’t a good guy and when he ordered Cole, Gunner, and Rory to kill the disobeying Ashton, they turned on Logan instead.
“I still think we probably should have smoked Ashton instead,” Cole said with a playful grin. “What a mistake. We finally could have rid ourselves of having to stare at his cheap tattoos.”
Ashton glared at him, his lips turning up in a smirk. “You would have missed me,” Ashton said. “Who would be here to tell you that the steaks are burning? Again.”
“Shit!” Cole said, jumping up and grabbing the spatula. “Thanks, buddy. What would I do without you?”
They talked about their pasts as they ate and drank. The four shifters had been together for five years in the army under the General Samson’s special shifter unit. Before that, they didn’t know each other.
“Why did you go into the army?” Rhett asked Rory. “You don’t seem to be the violent type.”
Rory sighed heavily as he took a sip of beer, letting Rhett’s question hang between them.
“We weren’t exactly volunteers,” Cole said, placing a hand on Rory’s shoulder. “We were forced to fight.”
“I’m sorry,” Rhett said to Rory. “I didn’t know. You don’t have to tell me.”
“No,” Rory said, swallowing hard. “You guys are part of the Wilde Crew now. We share everything.”
He told him how he was part of a large wolf pack growing up. He thought they were his family and would have died for them, but it turned out that they didn’t feel the same way.
When General Samson came to the pack, demanding a shifter for his special program, they handed him Rory. Rory would have fought the general to the death or anyone who tried to come and break apart his pack of wolf shifters, but they just gladly turned him over.
He was crushed.
“But it turned out well,” he said, smiling again. Joan could tell that he wasn’t capable of being sad for more than thirty seconds. Some people just oozed out happiness and optimism and Rory was one of them.
“If it hadn’t happened,” he continued, “I would never had met my brothers.” He slapped a hand on Ashton’s knee and smiled up at him.
Ashton chuckled as he pushed his hand away. “I’d turn you over to Satan himself for half of a chocolate bar that fell on the floor.”
“Very funny,” Rory said, laughing.
Joan raised an eyebrow to Ashton but he just kept on going. “And the floor was covered in cat hair and sand, and the half eaten chocolate bar rolled over it so the hair wrapped completely around it and the sand stuck to the sticky chocolate.”
“Okay,” Rory said, glancing nervously at Joan. “We get it.”
“And it was one of those nasty coconut bars that nobody likes,” Ashton continued. Cole laughed as he drank his beer.
“Alright,” Rory shouted. “You like me as much as a half eaten, dirty, disgusting chocolate bar. I get it.”
“No,” Cole said, shaking his head. “You misunderstood. He likes the chocolate bar better. That’s why he would trade you for it.”
Cole and Ashton were both laughing as Rory shook his head to Joan. “They like to tease me but they really love me.”
“Of course, we do,” Cole said, slapping a heavy hand on Rory’s shoulder. Rory smiled. Joan could tell that these guys liked to tease each other and did so very often, but running down deep below the constant insults, jeers, and funny comments were love, admiration, and affection. They just showed it in the only way that guys knew how.
“Where are we going to live?” Rhett asked, looking around the ranch.
It really was a beautiful spot, but in this corner of Montana, you really couldn’t go wrong with the scenery. The mountains were visible in the far, far distance and a river ran through their area, babbling on as it flowed to the neighboring ranch. There was a forest off to the right with budding trees after a long winter. Rhett’s birds already loved it. Joan could tell by the way they were lounging around on the roofs, cawing lazily at each other.
The ranch was great but the living quarters could have been updated a bit. There w
ere four rundown mobile homes on the property that the crew was renting and an old abandoned barn.
They were out of their minds if they thought that Joan was sleeping in that thing.
“You guys can stay with me,” Rory said happily. “We can all squeeze onto my bed.”
“As tempting as that is,” Rhett said, glancing up at the stars coming out in the sky. “I think I’m going to crash at my place for the night. I’ll come stay for good when I can rent a trailer.”
“When we can rent a trailer,” Joan corrected. She didn’t conspire to get him to live here so that they could get separate homes and she could sleep alone.
“Right,” Rhett said, smiling at her. “Until we can get a trailer.”
They talked and joked until the sky turned black and the cooler turned empty. All of them were having a blast. They were fun company. She only wished that Gunner could get his bunched up panties out of his ass to come and join them, but he never did.
“I’m going to head out,” Rhett said, standing up. “Thanks for the beers guys.”
Joan jumped out of her seat as well. “We’ll come stop by tomorrow to say hi.”
Rhett turned to her with a look of shock on his face. “You’re coming?”
She marched over, hooked her arm around his and pulled him to the car. “Of course I’m coming.”
“But it’s your crew,” he said, looking back over his shoulder at the boys sitting around the fire.
“It’s our crew,” she corrected. “And you’re my man. You always come first.”
He stopped and turned to her. She stepped forward, wanting to melt into his embrace. She was really getting attached to him. Her bear reacted in a strong way to his presence and so did her body.
“Thank you for including me,” he said, his soft dark eyes on her. “I wasn’t sure if you would.”
Joan stepped up on her toes and kissed his lips. “Of course,” she said, grinning. “I need to keep you close. I got you wrapped around my little finger.”
His face was serious, his sexy eyes locked on hers. “And I got you wrapped around my heart.”
She kissed him again, longer and with more passion this time. How could she not be falling for him? He was perfect.
When she pulled away, something gripped her, seizing her core and holding on with an iron grasp.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his worried eyes widening.
She couldn’t answer. She couldn’t move.
The world around her was getting blacker by the second, except for him. Except for Rhett. He was the only thing visible against the dark backdrop, and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.
She felt a tremendous pull to him, joining them, melding them, bonding them.
When it finally broke, her knees wobbled and she gasped for air. Rhett caught her, holding her up while she gazed up into his eyes with her heart pounding.
He was her mate.
Her crazy bitch of a bear had chosen him.
In that moment she had forgiven her bear. She had forgiven all of the hard times she caused her, the years on the run, the constant feelings of dread and worry, the fear, the pain, the loneliness. It was all forgiven. She had bonded Rhett to her forever and that was worth it all.
“Did you just bond?” Rhett whispered, holding her up. “To me?”
All she could do was nod. There were no words to describe the way she was feeling. Only actions.
“Take me to bed,” she said, her legs finding their strength again.
Rhett didn’t need to be asked twice. He took her hand and ran, almost dragging her to the car.
She smiled as she sat down in the passenger seat and as he got in beside her. The ravens exploded off of the mobile homes in a shrieking black cloud as Rhett started the engine.
Rhett placed the car into drive but it didn’t move, his foot holding the brake down. He took a deep breath and turned to her. “I know we just met,” he said nervously. “But I love you, Joan. I really do.”
“I know,” she whispered. She knew because she felt it too. She felt it in every excited cell in her body from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. “It’s pretty hard to believe that I could be feeling like this and it’s only one sided.”
“It’s not,” he whispered.
“Good,” she answered. “Because I love you too.”
Rhett drove the car out as Joan gazed out the window, wondering how she got so lucky. Just as they pulled out onto the road, she caught a glimpse of gold.
There was a lion in the forest, watching her with beautiful honey colored eyes.
Rhett wasn’t the only one in love with her.
And three was always a crowd.
She had to handle Gunner very delicately or things could get very ugly. And by the intense way that Gunner was watching them leave, that was a very real possibility.
***
They exploded through the front door of the house, making out in a tangle of tongues and a mess of wet lips. Rhett picked Joan up and carried her to his room, closing the door behind him.
Emry and Nathan were gone, probably at the bar, and he was happy to have the house to himself. He was going to show his new mate why her bear had made a good choice when she chose him. He was going to make her scream his name and he didn’t want her holding anything back on account of Beavis and Butthead being in the next room.
He laid her on the bed and then stepped back, ripping off his shirt as he stared at her with hungry eyes. She was so sexy, writhing on the bed as she watched him undress.
A small whimper escaped from her throat as he unbuckled his jeans and slid them down, keeping his black boxer briefs on. That whimper just got him harder. He loved the soft noises that she always made when she was turned on.
“Are you the only one getting undressed?” she asked, giving him a sexy smirk.
Rhett moved onto the bed, crawling over her. “Definitely not,” he said, his voice deeper and huskier than usual. “Your tits are too perfect to be hidden.”
He slid a hand under her shirt, gliding his palm over her smooth stomach. Her breasts were gorgeous. Small, perky, with stiff pink nipples that drove him crazy. He cupped her breast over her bra and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Rhett could feel her heart pounding in her chest, just like his. “Up,” he commanded and she did as she was told, moving up into a seated position. He grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head, smoothing out her wild hair afterwards with his strong hands. He tucked the loose strands behind her ears and cupped her face as he leaned in to kiss her once again.
“Fuck,” he moaned as they finally pulled away from each other’s hungry mouths. She was so amazing and just being beside her was getting his cock hard to the point of pain. He wanted to fuck her badly but first, he wanted to get her begging for it.
With a quick flick of his finger, her bra was unclasped and then it flew across the room as his lips descended on her hard nipples, sucking and licking them greedily.
He could have spent all night on her perfect tits but her hips were moving with her scent of arousal filling the room like a fine perfume.
Joan closed her eyes and moaned as he kissed a trail down her stomach, still holding onto her beautiful breasts with firm grips.
He quickly took off her pants, smiling as he pulled them down her legs. Her panties were already damp, her excitement shining through the thin material.
“Fuck,” he groaned as he tossed her pants on the floor. “There are so many things I want to do to you.”
“Tell me,” she said, biting her bottom lip as he slid his palms down the inside of her thighs.
“First,” he said, brushing his fingers along her pantie line, “I want to taste you.”
He dipped his fingertips under the waistband of her wet panties and slowly tugged them up. The fabric stuck to her pussy as he pulled. She was so wet, so ready, so fucking tempting.
“I want to lick your pussy,” he said as the panties came off. “Spread your legs for me, Joan.�
��
With a swallow and a little whimper she opened her legs for him, showing off her glistening folds. Rhett took a deep breath of her intoxicating scent before lowering his lips to her sex and giving her a kiss.
“Mmmm,” she moaned as he slid his tongue over her mound. “How does your mate taste?”
His tongue was too busy to answer, gliding over her sweet lips, tracing the entrance to her wet channel, sucking her beautiful clit.
She arched her back and moaned as he hit her spots over and over again. “What else do you want to do to me?” she asked between ragged breaths. Her legs were almost shaking as his hungry tongue coated her, making her gasp, making her moan.
“Everything,” Rhett groaned before licking her sex with one slow, delicious lap of his tongue that started at the bottom of her folds and ended on her clit.
He pulled away, stepping off the bed for the second that it took to yank down his boxers. “But right now,” he said, climbing back onto the bed. “I’m going to fuck you.”
“That sounds good to me,” she said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in close. She threaded her fingers through his dark hair as he guided his cock inside her, tracing the entrance to her hole before gently sliding it in.
She was so wet for him that he slid in easily, pushing all the way in with one delicious thrust. Joan cried out, pulling his hair towards her, wanting him even closer.
Rhett drove his hips forward, fucking her with a new intensity. He would get to do this every day from now on and that thought made him smile against her cheek.
They really were perfect for each other. It had only been a few days but Rhett could already tell. It just felt so right to be around her, like his soul had been missing a half until now, and she completed it. Their souls were one, and so were they.
He loved having sex with her but it ran deeper than just a regular fuck. It truly felt like they were connecting on some other level, like their souls were melding together.
And Rhett could see in her eyes that she was feeling the same thing.
