by Lynn Howard
Penny ran past Ryanne and Daxon and met with Lola and Nova, who carried their daughters.
“Can they play with me?” she asked.
Nova and Lola smiled and lowered their little girls to the ground while Brax and Mason set the turtle sandbox up in the yard.
Eventually, the weather would change and it would be too cold for Penny to play outside for long periods of time. And they would need to cover the sandbox to keep animals and rain out of it.
But Ryanne knew Penny’s new uncles would find something else for her to do inside.
The men pulled lawn chairs out of the trucks and Reed from Big River rolled a gas grill up to the house. Emory and Reed carried plastic bags full of groceries. Luke and Piper helped Carter and June unload long, white plastic tables.
“What’s going on?” Ryanne asked.
“We have a cookout in our territory at least once a week,” Gray, the Alpha of Big River said.
“I started that,” Nova said, raising her hand like a child in a classroom.
“You’re still healing, so we figured we’d have it here.”
Charlie and Aron pulled up behind the rest of the trucks, Noah and Hollyn following close behind. When Noah climbed from his truck, he was questioned about his bar.
“You know you’re going to piss some people off when they can’t get their overpriced beer,” Reed said.
“My beer is not overpriced, asshole,” he grumbled. His face softened as he opened the door and helped Hollyn out. “And those other assholes can take a day off from being drunks. I’m hanging with my family today.”
Hollyn and Charlie joined Campbell. They approached Ryanne. “How you feeling?” Campbell asked.
“Overwhelmed,” Ryanne said. There was no reason to lie.
“Yeah. This is a pretty big family. But they’re awesome,” Hollyn said.
“I am pretty awesome,” Reed said as he passed, carrying an armful of packages of hot dogs.
Charlie and Hollyn rolled their eyes but smiled. Campbell sighed theatrically.
Ryanne looked around at this huge, funny, loyal, loving group of people. All she had ever wanted growing up was to have someone care for her.
Then, when she became responsible for Penny, she wanted a teammate, someone who could help her keep the little human safe.
She got that in spades. She had Daxon to help her raise Penny, but she also had all her new aunts and uncles.
Ryanne had a mate and a slew of brothers and sisters. And all because she’d run in front of Daxon’s car.
She would never want to go through a night like that one again, but…it turned out that failed camping trip was the best night of her entire life.
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Thank you for reading Daxon’s Heart. I hope you loved Daxon, Ryanne, and little Penny as much as I do!
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About the Author
Lynn Howard lives in Cedar Hill, MO, where all her sexy Shifters and characters exist. She lives and breathes hot Alpha males and sassy brassy females. She feels the most at home knee deep in mud and chicken muck and prefers to be outside under the stars, cuddled up under a blanket in front of a bonfire than in the big city.
When not typing away or feeding her chickens, you can find her fantasizing about hot country boys for her next book or wandering the woods in search of wildlife. She loves all animals and insects…except spiders. Her favorite foot accessory is barefoot and she owns at least twenty sets of salt-n-pepper shakers, yet only uses one.
Gray’s Wolf is the first in the Big River Pack series. Her Heart to Mend is her first contemporary romance.