Bloodrunner Dragon (Harper's Mountains Book 1) (13 page)

“W-what is she doing?” Axton asked. “Pack!”

“She ain’t after your pack, so settle the fuck down.” Wyatt turned slowly, watching her fire cease, only to resume again in another long line as she worked her way north along the territory’s edge. A slow smile took his face, and he huffed a soft chuckle. “She’s marking her territory. If she burns it, she earns it.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Axton said, his wild eyes locked on the powerful burst of flames lighting up the forest. “She hasn’t closed on the land yet.”

“Sorry, asshole. Them’s the rules.”

Harper dipped sharply, dove for the ground, then rose above the tree line again, trailing plumes of blackened earth from her mouth. She was eating ashes, just like her ancestors had fed on when they’d scorched the earth. She was consuming her mountains. Chills blasted up the back of Wyatt’s neck.

As she disappeared around the first mountain and the night sky behind it glowed red again, Wyatt advised the alpha, “I suggest you take your pack and leave her territory. She’s a fair woman, but mess with something she loves, and she’ll burn every last one of you to the ground. Never come here again.”

Axton let off a shrill whistle. Wyatt pulled his shirt off and prepared for a Change in case he was calling his Pack in to attack, but the glowing eyes in the woods backed away and disappeared into the night.

Axton swung his furious gaze to Wyatt. His face was so contorted with hatred, he barely looked human. “I heard what you did to the Queen of the Asheville Coven. You’ve made too many enemies now, bear. If we don’t off you, the vamps will. Even dragons have to sleep.” He spat on the ground and snarled out, “This ain’t over.” And then the alpha of the Valdoro Pack strode around the side of his SUV and fishtailed out of the yard, spewing dirt as he gunned it.

As Wyatt watched him leave, he linked his hands behind his head and gritted his teeth against the curses he wanted to spew. The wolf was right. Wyatt swung his attention to where Harper was working her way around the back of the mountains. They didn’t have the numbers, and that put them at risk. It put Harper at risk.

His mate was as tough as her armor-like scales, but she wasn’t invincible.

And Wyatt would be damned if he let anything else happen to the woman he loved.

He still had work to do to make sure his mate was safe.

Harper held onto Wyatt’s taut waist as the four-wheeler under them bounced and bumped. They’d closed on the land today, paid in full, the financial aid was coming through for Martin, and the deed was now hers. She smiled against the strong planes of his back as he sped through the woods. “What happened to taking me out on a fancy fourteenth date in Asheville?”

“Fourteen? Woman, are you counting our dates?”

“Maybe.”

Wyatt’s deep chuckle reverberated off her cheek. “This will be better,” he promised over his shoulder. “Trust me.”

And she did. Life with Wyatt over the past few weeks had been nothing short of magical. She hadn’t had a single bloody nose or seizure. With each passing day, she’d grown stronger and more confident in her body. She’d grown to love her dragon again. She hadn’t felt anything but undiluted happiness. And yesterday, Wyatt had driven with her over the bridge outside of Bryson City and gone as far as the airport near Asheville. She’d been fine, and the relief that she could leave her mountains and visit home again, as long as Wyatt was with her, was proof that he was a huge part of her treasure. Her dragon trusted him, but then, she always had.

Harper could smell the scorch marks now. The wind kicked the smoky scent of ash into the air, which meant they were nearing the property line. Axton and his Valdoro Pack had left, and the vamps were lying low. Though her instincts told her this was only the calm eye of the storm, she was bound and determined to enjoy every moment of peace with her mate. Butterflies drummed around her middle at that thought.

Wyatt was really hers now. The mark on her shoulder was undeniable proof that she belonged to him, and he to her.

“Close your eyes,” Wyatt murmured, cupping his hand over hers as she tightened her arms around his waist.

She’d always adored surprises, and Wyatt had been so good with them when they were kids. Thoughtful invites to parties, little gifts wrapped in newspaper and left on her doorstep, flowers when she least expected them. And now that same sweet thoughtfulness she’d loved in the boy was still present in the man.

Harper closed her eyes as he pulled the ATV to a stop. He helped her off and spun her slowly, angling her shoulders toward the scent of the scorch marks she’d made those weeks ago.

His short facial scruff brushed against her cheek as he rested his face right against hers and wrapped his arms around her middle. “Open your eyes, Harper,” he whispered.

What she saw in front of her rendered her breathless. He’d brought her to the cliffs, right on the edge of their land. Beyond, the fall colors of rust red and burnt orange drifted across the valleys and mountains like ocean waves. But sitting on a row of black boulders, right on the edge of the cliffs, were three men her heart would know anywhere.

Aaron, Ryder, and Weston were there, talking low, shoulder to shoulder, looking every bit like they belonged.

“Did you invite them?” she asked.

Wyatt smiled against her cheek. “Yes. Today is a big day, and we should be celebrating with them.”

Harper stepped into the clearing, and the moment her shoe hit the wild grass, Weston turned, a slight and ready smile on his face. The boys met her in the middle of the clearing.

“Tell her,” Ryder said, his eyes on Weston and blazing the gold of his snowy owl.

“Tell me what?” she asked, instantly worried something had gone wrong.

Weston shifted his weight and adjusted the hat on his head. When he lifted his gaze to her, his eyes were the pitch black of his raven. “I’ve been having dreams.”

“What about?”

“It’s the same every night. I see the cabin, 1010, and you’re standing inside. Your mouth is covered in blood, and I try to run inside to help you. But then you smile, and the red disappears. And right before I wake up, you say the same thing, every time.”

That she knew of, Weston didn’t dream like his father before him. He’d never had the sight, but recurring dreams were a big deal. “What do I say?”

Weston swallowed hard and murmured, “You tell me, ‘Come home.’” Weston fell to his knees and angled his face, exposing his neck. “Alpha.”

Harper rocked back on her heels as Ryder dropped to his knees beside him, angled his neck and murmured, “Alpha.”

She bit her lip hard to keep her emotions inside as Aaron dropped down in front of her, his blazing silver eyes locked on hers and that wicked smile on his lips. “Alpha.”

And when she looked over at Wyatt, just to see if this was his plan, if he’d asked them to do this, he kissed her gently, then dropped to his knees. His chest heaved with emotion as he angled his neck. “It was never my destiny to be alpha, Harper. It was yours.”

Deep within her, a long, loud, satisfied humming sound vibrated through her entire body. Her dragon stretched, and tendrils of power unfurled within her. If she did this, she was owning that she was okay and strong enough to protect them, guide them. It was a declaration that she was unafraid of The Unrest taking her. It was expanding her treasure and an oath to protect the ones she loved with her life. The decision was an easy one now because she wasn’t scared anymore.

A slow smile stretched her face as she felt them—thin bonds, barely there, linking her to each one of them. The wind picked up, whipping her hair about her face as she clenched her hands.

Ryder grinned like he could see her answer in her face. “Give us the order and make it official.”

Harper blew out a long steadying breath and jerked her chin to the drop-off behind them. “Air-Ryder and Novak Raven…go jump off a cliff.”

“Whoo!” Ryder yelled, stripping his shirt as he bolted for the cliff’s edge. He threw out his hands in the final second, jumped, and disappeared over the edge. And a moment later, his massive snowy owl appeared above the rim, coasting along the currents.

Weston stood and hugged Harper up tight, and before he followed Ryder, he turned to Wyatt and said, “You did good.” With a last smile for Harper, Weston sprinted for the cliff and jumped off. And then a raven with shiny black feathers beat his wings and glided beside the white owl with eyes the color of the sun.

Aaron stripped out of his clothes, and his muscles contracted in the instant before the massive blond grizzly exploded from him. He paced a tight circle around her, a soft, content rumble in his throat. And then there was Wyatt, standing slowly, such pride in his eyes.

She ran her hands up his chest, stood on her tiptoes, and pressed her lips to his. She squeezed her eyes closed, and the moisture that had built there spilled over onto her cheek. Easing back, Wyatt brushed her tear away with the pad of his thumb and whispered, “You saved me.”

But he was so wrong. He was the one who had saved her. She would live because of the land he’d found, because of the claiming mark he’d given her, and because of the crew he’d built for her.

My crew.

Harper squeezed his hands, then undressed carefully, savoring the moment. When she was ready and the breeze whipped against her bare skin, she gave her mate one last grin and ran for the cliff. Her arms caught the wind as she leapt off the edge, and for a moment, she closed her eyes and fell. She’d been brought back from the brink of death by love. By devotion. She’d been jaded and had hated her dragon for clinging too tightly to things that didn’t belong to her, but her inner animal had been right the entire time. If she’d given up on Wyatt, she wouldn’t have been gifted this moment. Harper gave her dragon her body and flapped her wings once, arching her back as she blasted away from the ground and aimed for the clouds.

When she looked at Wyatt, he was standing on the edge of the cliff, watching her with the same smile he wore as a boy when he watched her Change. Then he hunched inward, and the bear she loved rippled from his body. As she rose higher, he and Aaron paced along the cliff ledge, eyes on her, waiting.

She circled higher above her mountains. Beneath her, the owl and the raven flew a wide circle above the grizzlies on the cliff, and this was it. This was the moment she would bind them all.

The bears roared, the owl and the raven cried out, and Harper inhaled deeply and bellowed with them.

She wouldn’t be a victim of The Unrest, or fodder for vampires or wolves. She wouldn’t be alone ever again.

No longer was she a woman who didn’t belong.

No longer was she the dragon without a treasure.

Now and for always, she would be the keeper of these mountains, and the alpha of the Bloodrunner Crew.

Aaron Keller gets his story in

Bloodrunner Bear

Coming May 2016

For new releases, exclusive sneak peeks, and giveaways, sign up for T. S. Joyce’s Bear Shifter Romance Newsletter
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.

The Harper’s Mountains series is being written as a standalone series, but if you would like more of these characters, check out T. S. Joyce’s bestselling Saw Bears, Fire Bears, and Gray Back Bears series, starting with
Lumberjack Werebear (
Saw Bears, 1
).

Reading Order for Damon’s Mountains

Lumberjack Werebear (Saw Bears, 1), Woodcutter Werebear (Saw Bears, 2), Timberman Werebear (Saw Bears, 3), Sawman Werebear (Saw Bears, 4), Bear My Soul (Fire Bears, 1), Axman Werebear (Saw Bears, 5), Bear the Burn (Fire Bears, 2), Bear the Heat (Fire Bears, 3), Woodsman Werebear (Saw Bears, 6), Lumberman Werebear (Saw Bears, 7), Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears, 1), Gray Back Alpha Bear (Gray Back Bears, 2), Gray Back Ghost Bear (Gray Back Bears, 3), Gray Back Broken Bear (Gray Back Bears, 4), Lowlander Silverback (Gray Back Bears, 5), Last Immortal Dragon (Gray Back Bears, 6), A Very Beastly Christmas (Gray Back Bears, 7), Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears, 1), Boarlander Bash Bear (Boarlander Bears, 2), Boarlander Silverback (Boarlander Bears, 3), Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears, 4), Boarlander Cursed Bear (Boarlander Bears, 5)