by T. S. Joyce
“Fuck!” he yelled, his voice echoing across the clearing. He wadded up the scrap in his hands and chucked it into the fire. “I’m going to kill him.”
Easton had destroyed every good memory he had left of Tessa. Some of those letters had been knives in his gut, but a few had been good. Some of those she’d written in the beginning when she still cared about him. When she’d been excited about Turning him and keeping him forever.
“Where are Willa and Gia?” he asked as betrayal cracked across his ribcage. “They could’ve stopped this. Where the hell are they?”
“They’re in town loading up on winter supplies,” Creed answered quietly.
Matt knelt down beside a line of white powder that encircled Creed’s entire trailer. He reached down and lifted his finger, then tasted the stuff. “It’s salt.” Matt looked at Creed with a baffled expression in his wide, blue eyes. “Why would he make a circle of salt?”
Jason’s face went slack as realization slammed into him. Burning Tessa’s things. Salt. Jason had been born and raised in the bayou and had heard of this kind of paranormal warfare before. Jason looked around, completely shocked as the mess took on new meaning.
Beaston knew more about evicting ghosts than he’d let on.
The rumble of an unfamiliar vehicle sounded across the trailer park.
“What now?” Creed muttered, striding for the road to meet whatever trouble was headed their way.
When Georgia’s Jeep appeared through the trees, Jason’s pulse hit its stride, like a racehorse’s hooves beating the sand. She was here, in his territory. He looked around the littered yard and hooked his hands on his hips at the overwhelming task before him. She was going to see all of this, all of him, spread all over the trailer park and out in the open.
Jason narrowed his eyes at Easton who sat in her passenger seat. What the fuck was he doing with her? He and Matt followed Creed to the mouth of the road to meet them.
Georgia pulled into the grass, and her eyes met Jason’s. She dropped her gaze immediately, though, stealing that blue and gold flecked color from him. Maybe she was still mad about the other day.
Creed introduced himself, and Matt followed suit. And right when she swung her attention to Jason, Easton stepped in front of him and gripped his shoulder.
“Where?” Easton asked.
Confused, Jason asked, “Where is what?”
“Where is she buried?”
Jason blinked slowly, but Easton seemed serious. All right then. “Dodge City, Kansas. Tessa didn’t want to be buried in a Louisiana cemetery on account of ghosts. Pretty damn ironic. She’s under the branches of an old oak tree at Maple Grove Cemetery. Why?”
Easton’s eyes softened as he gestured to his half healed neck. “Because I can be a good friend.” He turned and strode toward Georgia’s Jeep. “I’ll be back in a couple of days. Keep your ranger close.”
“What are you going to do?” Jason called.
Easton looked over his shoulder, and his eyes held such fierce determination. “I’m going to burn her bones.”
“What do you mean burn her bones?” Georgia asked as Easton hopped into her Jeep.
“You stay here and keep the ghosts at bay. You’ll be good. Willa and Gia will be nice to you, but that one…” Easton said, pointing to Jason. “He needs your protection.”
Easton spun out, whipping the tail of the forest green Jeep and scattering gravel. Georgia ran after him but stopped after ten yards. She’d never catch up to him.
“Easton!” Creed yelled.
If Easton heard, he didn’t show it. A blaring Beatles song trailed in the Jeep’s wake as he disappeared around the bend in the road.
In Easton’s own fucked-up and slightly psychotic way, he was trying to do something Jason had failed to do for five years.
Sure, Easton had just about slit Jason’s throat earlier. He’d trashed Jason’s trailer and burned his personal belongings, and yes, he’d definitely kidnapped Georgia, even if she didn’t realize it yet. Easton had also committed grand theft auto, and he was about to dig Tessa up from an old cemetery and break into her coffin to burn her bones.
But Beaston was making a run at getting rid of Tessa.
And that right there was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him.
Chapter Six
“He just stole my Jeep.” Georgia turned to Creed and Matt who wore matching frowns. “He just drove off in my car!”
Creed opened his mouth, sighed, and then snapped it closed again.
“I’m calling the police,” she muttered, pulling out her phone.
“Lady, out here you are the police,” Matt pointed out.
Oh. Right. “Okay, he said he’d be back in a couple of days, but I have work. I have a lot of territory to manage and my ATV won’t cover it all. Plus, I have to meet Damon Daye and go into town for supplies and food and…” Her voice trailed off as Jason turned and began picking up trash from the ground.
Worry snaked through her when she saw the sad but determined look in his eyes as he scooped trinkets back into an upended wooden crate. Down the side of his neck, he looked like he’d been mauled. It was covered in caked, dried blood, and the inside of his bicep had also been laid open.
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, stumbling forward. “What’s happened to you?”
“I’m fine,” he said gruffly. Jason pulled the crate to his hip and sauntered off toward one of the middle trailers where piles of belongings had been tossed.
“Was he robbed?”
Creed and Matt came to stand on either side of her.
“In some ways he was,” Creed murmured, “but it happened years ago.”
Years ago? Georgia frowned and arched her neck back to look at the dark-headed man. “Is this all his stuff?”
Creed nodded once, and Matt began picking large shards of broken dishes off the lawn. Jason had disappeared inside, and suddenly the stress of having her Jeep stolen came secondary to the heaviness that blanketed her heart. She was having a crap day, but it was clear as water Jason was having a worse one.
Easton had said Jason needed her protection. She hadn’t any clue what that meant, but she was willing to stick around long enough to figure it out. Not much choice for it anyway since she didn’t have a ride.
Georgia called Damon Daye and rescheduled their meeting, then gathered a comforter and pillow into her arms. She padded up the creaking porch stairs, opened the screen door, and let herself into his home.
The trailer was trashed, but that wasn’t what locked her legs up. Jason was squatting in the middle of his living room floor with his hands linked behind his head, staring at an empty, broken picture frame on the ground.
He looked…lost.
She dropped the wad of bedding onto the leather couch that sat at an odd angle across the living area, then stood beside him. She rubbed his back gently, brushing her fingertips over the hard planes of tight muscles. A photo had been torn in half, and the only piece that remained was one of Jason with a glass mug of beer in his hand and a beaming grin on his face. Someone’s arm was wrapped around his waist, but that person had been ripped out of the picture and stolen away.
“Who was she?”
Jason leaned against her leg and sighed. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he said, “Her name was Tessa, and she was my mate.”
“She died?”
Jason looked up at her and nodded, his eyes hollow.
“Oh, Jason, I’m so sorry.” She shook her head to ward away the tears that were rimming her eyes but it was no use. One slipped down her cheek, anyway.
Jason stood and brushed it away with the pad of his thumb. “No tears for her. She doesn’t deserve them.”
Georgia gasped as realization slammed into her. “Does Tessa have red hair?”
Jason’s eyes went wide, and he angled his face suspiciously. “Why?”
“Because I saw a…something. The day I met you, I was driving away from here and something scared me.”
&n
bsp; “A woman?”
She nodded. “She told me to stay away from you. She was in the road, and I thought I hit her, but when I turned around, she was sitting right next to me.”
Georgia’s hands began shaking. She’d never experienced anything like that, and it had frightened her down to her bones.
“Shh,” Jason said, pulling her against his chest. He wrapped her up in a big, strong hug that numbed her fear little by little. More of that werebear magic, clearly. “Tessa won’t hurt you. She can’t. She’s just…stuck.”
“Then why do you need protection? Easton said you needed me.”
Jason eased away from her with a growl. “Easton said too much about too much.”
He picked up an upended table and set it upright, his back to her.
“Okay, well obviously I’m in this now, whatever this is, so you could at least tell me what’s going on because I just walked into something I don’t understand at all. And you ignoring me every time I ask a question you don’t like isn’t going to fly.”
“I’m sorry I kissed you.” Jason turned on her, eyes transitioning from dark brown to stormy gray. “I wanted to tell you that, but I didn’t know your number or how to find you.”
Georgia drew up like she’d been slapped. His words stung like a harsh hand against cold skin. Gritting her teeth, she spun for the door. “You could’ve just let me keep that one, butthole.”
“Butthole?”
She got the door open by inches, but Jason was there with that startling speed to slam it back.
“Yeah, you’re being a butthole, pardon my barn talk.”
Jason’s face cracked into a grin, and she shoved him.
“Okay, so you hated the kiss, and now you’re teasing me. I’m actually glad I came here today.”
“Yeah?” he said, eyes dancing as he crossed his arms. “And why’s that?”
“Because now I know you’re an insensitive jerk and totally not my type, and I don’t have to think about you anymore. I should’ve known anyway. I like dad bods!”
“Dad bods?” He was laughing now, and she wanted to punch him in the mouth hole.
“Yeah, dad bods. Men with dad bods don’t spend eight hours a day working out at the gym or focusing on their protein intake and carb loading and looking at their big”—she poked his rock hard pec—“brawny”—she poked it again because dang, it was really hard— “muscles in the mirror. I want a man who will pay more attention to me than his leg days, muscle striations, and body fat percentages. You clearly don’t fit that bill. And why are you bleeding?” Her voice had gone shrill, but she was in it now—full anger. “I saw a ghost for you!”
Jason snorted and bit his bottom lip, but it didn’t hide his irritating smile.
She shrieked on purpose for his sensitive ears and threw open the door again, only to have him shut it as if he was a cat swatting a ball of string. She growled and pulled the door handle as hard as she could, but the darned thing fell off. She blasted backward and nearly put her tailbone through her windpipe as she hit the ground.
“Ow!” she howled, staring at the traitorous doorknob in her hand. “Oh my gosh, I broke your door.” Guilt and pain filled her, and she wished she was skinny enough to hide under the sofa. “I’m so sorry.”
Jason was laughing so hard he was doubled over with his hands on his knees. As much as she tried to fight the smile, she couldn’t. She burst out laughing and threw the doorknob at him, which he caught easily.
Jason straightened and wiped his eyes. “God, Ranger, you throw the cutest tantrums.” He offered her a hand and helped her up. “First off, I’m never going to have a dad bod. Not even if I tried. The physique is part of the gig with bear shifters, but I assure you, I don’t spend hours in the gym. I’m a lumberjack. I stay fit with my job. Second, I don’t regret kissing you. I just meant I’m sorry it made you mad that first night. I should’ve been smoother about it.”
“Or waited until we’d known each other more than five minutes. Or given me a heads up.”
“Yes, or that. Sooo,” he drawled, sinking down onto the arm of the couch. “You think about me?”
Heat blasted up her neck, so she busied herself with picking up a set of scattered coasters. “No.”
“But you said you did.”
She smiled shyly at him as she repeated his earlier words. “Well, I said too much about too much.”
Jason pulled her hand until she was settled between his legs. With him sitting on the arm of the couch, she was eye to eye with him. “So, is it like a crush on me?” he asked low.
She narrowed her eyes playfully and shook her head. “Definitely not. I’m afraid of bears, and you don’t have a dad bod, remember?”
The corner of his lips twitched as he pulled her even closer. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
Helplessly, she whispered, “Okay.”
“Swear not to run away?”
“I swear.”
Jason’s lips were soft against hers. This wasn’t the battle-ready desperate kiss he’d given her the first time. This one was tasting, sipping, lips moving against each other. His arms wrapped around her waist as he angled his head and brushed his tongue against her bottom lip. Holy meatballs, her legs were going numb again. She slid her arms around his neck and nibbled on his bottom lip. A soft growl rattled his chest, so she yanked back.
“Sorry. Did I hurt you? Did I make your bear mad?”
Jason shook his head and gave her a sexy smile. “No, Ranger, you don’t make my bear mad.” He eased back and dipped his gaze to his crotch, then back up to her.
Jason’s dick looked huge through his jeans. A long, thick, hard roll was pressed against the fabric there. She pursed her lips, then asked, “I did that?”
“Yeah, Ranger. You’ve been doing that since the night I met you.”
“You mean…”
His eyes turned absolutely wicked. “I’ve been thinking about you, too.”
“But…” Georgia looked down at her uniform, all thick canvas under an ill-fitting puff jacket, making her look like a tomboy blob. “I’m no super-model, Jason, and you’re…well…you’re about seven levels out of my league.”
He scoffed and pulled her close again, then grabbed her butt hard. “Bullshit. Don’t want no stick woman, Georgia. You look just fine to me.”
She frowned at the thought of what Tessa had looked like. She hadn’t a single curve on her body, but maybe ghosts just looked emaciated. Still, Jason’s interest still baffled her. Sure, she cleaned up nice, but she’d never once drawn men to her with her mud-splattered park ranger uniform. It wasn’t exactly a siren song. “So…you like women with curves?”
“I like women who are nice. Tessa wasn’t nice. Not ever, and I like to think I learn from my mistakes.”
“But you don’t even know me?” Shut up mouth! Why was she arguing his attraction to her?
“I know enough. You just got your car jacked, but you came in here to offer me comfort. You faced your obvious fear of bears to introduce yourself that first night. You ride an ATV, drive a big old jacked-up Jeep, and have a connection with this land most humans can’t understand. You know how to use a weapon safely, and damn woman, you lookin’ sexy is just an added bonus. Stop questioning why you make my dick hard.”
“You have a filthy mouth, Mr. Trager.”
“Mmm,” he rumbled as he nipped her neck. “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
Promises, promises, and her naughty mind flitted to his bedroom. She wondered if his bed was trashed like the rest of his trailer. But no, she wasn’t that kind of girl. “I don’t sleep with men on the first date.” Honest to goodness, she’d rarely slept with men at all. Her job hadn’t exactly been a treasure trove of opportunities to meet potential bedmates.
“Good,” he murmured, smiling against her neck.
Georgia sighed and arched her chin back to give him better access to her sensitive flesh at the base of her throat. “What do I have to do to protect you from Tessa?”
Jason pulled away with a sexy little smack of his lips. “I don’t know exactly. Easton pulled everything of hers out of here and burned it, poured a circle of salt around the trailer, and headed off to dig her up.”
She cringed at the mental image of Easton robbing a grave. “Disturbing.”
“Yeah. But he’s actually trying to help, and for Easton, that’s a big deal. The Gray Backs are a little…broken.”
Georgia couldn’t imagine anything worse than Jason being haunted by the ghost of his deceased mate. She didn’t even want to know what kind of trouble the other Gray Backs were harboring.
“When I’m around, do you see Tessa?”
Jason looked around the room and shook his head. “No. Maybe you being close and taking up my headspace keeps her away. She usually shows up if I’m thinking about her.”
“Do you think about her a lot?” The question brushed past her lips softly, and even she could hear the insecurity in her voice. Jason’s late mate was still very much a part of his life, and Georgia didn’t really know where she fit yet. He liked to kiss her, sure, but the man was keeping a ghost fed on thoughts of her. It was a lot. Perhaps too much.
“Tessa left me.”
“Obviously she didn’t.”
“No, I mean when she was alive. We weren’t together when she died.”
“Oh.” Georgia looked around all the clutter. “But you had all of her things.”
“Tessa wasn’t just my mate, Georgia. She was my maker, too.”
“Wait, you weren’t born like this?”
Jason angled his head, exposing the side of his neck that hadn’t been torn to shreds. There was a faint, circular, silver scar there.
She’d done enough Internet research over the past week to know what that was—a claiming mark. “You used to be human?”
The smile on his face was so sad, it gutted her.
Georgia traced the old scar with her fingertips and sighed. “Oh, Jason. What did you get yourself into?”
“I was in love. More than love, it felt like. Bigger, wider, all-encompassing, complete devotion. Tessa told me she was a bear shifter after we’d been together a month, and by the end of the second month, she’d talked about Turning me so we could be together without her alpha getting angry over the risk of her being with a human mate. I was twenty-one when I got the bite. Never married because the paperwork felt unnecessary after she’d bit me. She’d marked me, and that was all we needed.” His eyes lightened to the color of a clear gray sky morning, and he looked away. “She was sleeping with one of the shifters in her crew by the end of the first year. I don’t even know how long it had been going on. She’d always been mean-spirited, and it pissed me off the way she treated people. Like she was entitled to anything she wanted. Maybe she didn’t see anything wrong with having two mates, I don’t know. I confronted the guy, but he apparently already knew all about me. He didn’t care. Tessa didn’t care. I cared.” He dragged his fiery, sparking eyes to hers. “I wanted to kill them both.”