Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears Book 1) (10 page)

“How will I tell my Dad?”

“I’ll help.”

“How will I tell my friends?”

“The bombshells? They’ll be insanely jealous. And if they don’t like it, you can eat them.”

The first hint of a smile curved his lips.

With a sigh, she traced the long, open gash across his shoulder. “I hurt you.”

Matt snorted. “I’ve had worse. You were terrifying and lethal. Powerful. Do you know how rare you are?”

She frowned and hugged his neck as he walked along the sandy bottom toward the falls. “What do you mean?”

“Did you not hear Creed declare you second in the crew?”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means you are second only to the alpha. Easton and I have been battling for that rank for two years. It’s why I always come home bloody.”

“Oh no, I took your spot? I’m sorry.” Shit, she couldn’t do anything right.

“Nerd, I’m glad you took it. I don’t care about rank. It’s a dominance thing with our bears, and your bear is a beast.”

Chills rippled up her arms. “You say that like it’s a good thing.”

“I just watched my mate whoop Easton’s ass. That was fucking awesome. I wanted to kill him.” Matt gritted his teeth so hard a muscle in his jaw twitched. “I wanted to rip him apart limb from limb for what he did to you, but I didn’t have to. You can defend yourself just fine.”

“You don’t think the boys are going to be mad at me for…you know…”

“Taking every one of us on? No, not mad. Shocked, but not mad. You just dumped our little crew on its ass, Willamena Madden. And you came damn close to taking this crew out from under Creed.”

“I wanted you to do it,” she rushed out.

“Do what?” he asked, touching her cheek just under her eye.

“I thought about this, Turning. I imagined what it would be like years from now if we decided to do it. I know you didn’t want to Turn me, but I thought if I was ever like you, it would be because you chose me.”

“Oooh, Willa,” he whispered, stroking a damp tress of her hair from her face. “I already chose you. I just didn’t want you to have to register to the public. I didn’t want you to ever go through what I did with IESA. I wanted to protect you.”

“So you regret that I’m like this?”

He shook his head, his blue eyes so sad. “No. If anything, I love you more.”

She smiled through her tears. “You love me?”

“I do, and I can’t stand that Easton was the one who claimed you.”

“Will you fix it?”

Matt nodded uncertainly. “It’ll hurt.” He brushed his fingers over the uneven skin of the scar Easton had bitten into her shoulder.

“Do it quick. I don’t want to be Easton’s.”

Matt’s throat moved as he swallowed hard, and he turned her gently in the water. She exhaled a shaky breath as he laid a kiss over her claiming mark. This would seal their linked fates. His bite would tether their lives together for always, and a trill of excitement blew through her as he kissed her scar again, grazing his teeth against her this time.

“You ready?” he asked in a gravelly, sexy voice.

The cicadas died down as if they anticipated the life-altering moment. The frogs and birds didn’t sound as deafening as she prepared to receive the mark that would change the course of her future. Toes on the sandy river bottom, water lapping at her breasts, gooseflesh on every inch of her body, she nodded. “I’m ready.”

Matt’s teeth sank into her shoulder. Burning, blinding pain consumed her for a moment as he clamped down and cut into muscle, and then he released her, and the ache lessened. Cleaning her gently with river water, he told her, “You’re mine now, Willa, and I’m yours. I’ll protect you from now until the end of my life. I don’t have much, but you can have all of it. All of me.”

She relaxed back against him as happiness flooded her veins.
I don’t have much.
He had more than enough for her.

Matt kissed her earlobe and opened his mouth to say something more, but someone whooped and splashed into the water right beside them.

Jason popped up near Willa and grinned. “Hey Gray Back Badass.”

She washed the tears from her cheeks. “More like Gray Back Bad Bear.”

“Please,” he muttered, kicking away with a splash. “All Gray Backs are bad bears. Wear that title with pride.”

Matt laughed from behind her and splashed Jason. Clinton swung from the rope swing and tucked his body into a ball. His canon ball wave dumped over them. When he came up for air, he said, “Hey, remember that time this girl no bigger than a kid turned into a monster bear and kicked all of our asses?”

“I told you,” Creed said from where he was sitting on the beach. “C team.”

“Not C team anymore,” Clinton argued. “Everyone will be jealous. If Willa is part of our crew, we have a dominant badass chick to add to our already substantial awesomeness.”

“Who can cook gumbo,” Jason added with a teasing smile.

The boys seemed happy, excited even, but she’d only been a bear for half a day and had just tried to kill and eat one of their own, like a psychopath. Sarcastically, Willa muttered, “You’re all so lucky.”

“We are,” Easton said from the trees. He was leaning heavily on a towering spruce, his eyes averted.

If she didn’t have her new bear hearing, she would’ve missed his soft admission.

“Better get a towel on if you don’t want everyone to see you naked,” Creed called from the shore where he held up what looked like a cartoon turtle beach towel.

“Hate to break it to you, but everyone has already seen me naked. No use in hiding my teeny ta-tas now.”

“Yes, our crew has, but unless you want the other crews to see you, I’d suggest you hurry scurry. I’ve called our friends and they live close.”

Matt grinned and kissed her, then swam her to the bank and carried her out of the water.

“What friends?” Willa asked.

“You’ll see,” Matt whispered against her ear.

Creed settled the towel around her shoulders and sighed. He gripped her shoulders and slowly pressed his forehead against hers. “Welcome to my crew.”

Clinton, dripping wet with a grin on his face, did the same and pressed his forehead to hers. “Welcome to the Gray Backs.”

Jason followed. “Welcome to the new A team, Gray Back Badass.”

Matt kissed her forehead for a long time. “Welcome home…” His smile lifted his lips, then faded. “Mate.”

She gripped his wrists and squeezed her eyes tightly closed, absorbing the hope she’d thought she’d lost. Maybe she wasn’t broken after all. Maybe she could be a better version of herself here, if she worked hard enough.

She turned to Easton, who hadn’t moved from his place by the trees. From the way he was hunched over in pain, he likely couldn’t move well. Approaching slowly, she hoped he didn’t hate her.

“You said you were sorry for hurting me,” he murmured as she squared up in front of him.

“I am.”

He looked up at her, green eyes full of remorse and sadness. “It’s I who am sorry, Willa. I didn’t realize it was wrong. I liked that you were nice to me, and I didn’t want you to go away. My selfishness hurt you. I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know.”

Willa tried to smile, but she was too emotional. “Welcome me home then, and I’ll think about forgiving you someday.”

Tenderly, Easton, her maker, stood straight and cupped her face. Leaning his forehead against hers, he whispered, “I welcome you home, Second.” He eased back and angled his head at a crowd of people traveling up the bank of the river. “Now go on. You have more people to meet.”

Baffled at the large number of people gathering by Matt, she padded toward them. A blond-haired woman stood at the front, tears rimming her eyes. “Is it true?” she asked Matt thickly. “Have you found her?”

Matt nodded and pulled Willa against his side. “Cassie, this is my mate, Willa. Willa, this is my sister, Cassie.”

The woman pulled them both in close. She was crying, shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. “I always hoped he’d find you.”

Willa sniffled and hugged Cassie and Matt tighter.

Cassie eased back and wiped her damp cheeks with the back of her hand, then gestured toward the crowd behind her. A pair of women were sniffling and smiling kindly, and a tall man with striking blue eyes shook Creed’s hand, while a little bear cub and a little girl chased each other through the crowd. Another man was holding a box of red wine. Each one of them looked different, but they all wore similar, welcoming smiles on their faces.

Matt clapped the back of a dark-headed man with tattoos up his neck, then turned to her. “Willa, newest member of the Gray Back Crew, meet our allies, the Ashe Crew.”

As Matt led her to each of the Ashe Crew to introduce them, and then through the Boarlanders and the Lowlanders, Willa was awed at what she’d stumbled onto here.

These people, these crews, were like families, and she’d chosen hers in the Gray Backs the day she’d fallen for Matt. And even though she was scared and had a lot to learn about her bear and this new world she’d fallen into, she was proud to be here. To be a part of a crew. To be second to Creed, and Matt’s chosen mate.

The claiming mark on her neck tingled as Matt gripped her shoulder and hugged her close.

She was safe and alive and wanted.

But more than all of that, she belonged.

As long as she lived, she’d have a crew at her back. People to protect and care for. People who would protect and care for her.

The bombshells’ purpose suddenly became so painfully obvious. She’d had to endure unhealthy friendships to appreciate what she had here.

“Are you okay?” Matt asked, looking down at her with worry in his eyes.

“Better than okay.” Pushing thoughts of painful past friendships away, she smiled up at him, her loyal, adoring, scarred and imperfect, but always patient mate. “I think I’m going to like being a Gray Back.”

Gray Back Alpha Bear

Coming August 2015

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Read T. S. Joyce’s bestselling Saw Bears series.

Complete series, available now.

Lumberjack Werebear (
Book 1
)

Woodcutter Werebear (
Book 2
)

Timberman Werebear (
Book 3
)

Sawman Werebear (
Book 4
)

Axman Werebear (
Book 5
)

Woodsman Werebear (
Book 6
)

Lumberman Werebear (
Book 7
)

Fire Bears

Bear My Soul (
Book 1
)

Bear the Burn (
Book 2
)

Bear the Heat (
Book 3
)