by T. S. Joyce
Ash grinned at her lap. She needed to look up and keep better eye contact. Ralph was nice and not intimidating.
“We got fried catfish baskets on special tonight for half off, and the first round of shots is on me, so long as you let me pick the ones I give you.”
Ash looked down the bar both ways at the grinning Crew and then nodded to Ralph. “Deal.”
They all ordered catfish baskets and chatted with Ralph while he made shots that were red and green Christmas colors. He lined them up green, red, green, red, green, red, and then Juno took another selfie of the Crew with Ralph. Ash’s best friend sure liked taking a lot of pictures now. Maybe because Juno was really happy to have a Crew to belong to. The longer Ash spent with Rogue Pride, the more she understood the members, her friends, and that was a big deal because people had always been hard for her to understand. Not Grim, though. Never Grim. He had been a perfectly readable book from the first minute she talked to him.
Grim slid a red shot to her and murmured, “To match your pretty hair.” Then he lifted a green one up, which matched his pretty green eyes, and said, “To us. Mess. Friends. Crew. We are what we are.”
That was about the mushiest Grim got. Rhett made a clicking sound behind his teeth and murmured “awwww” beside Grim.
So Grim punched him in the dick. Rhett hunched in on himself and wheezed. Juno patted his back comfortingly, and the rest of them took their shots like nothing had happened…because Grim was right.
Messy or not, they were what they were.
“Christmas wish time,” Remi said as Ralph and the cook settled the catfish baskets in front of them.
“Pass,” Grim muttered. “Can we get a round of beers?” he asked Ralph. “For them, not me. I’m driving. And also I’m a psychopath, so booze isn’t the best idea.”
Ralph’s bushy gray brows lifted. “Fair enough. I appreciate your honesty. Five beers coming up. What do you guys like?”
“Pen15 Juice,” Rhett said around a bite.
“Well, I’ve heard of it, but haven’t had the pleasure of working out a deal with the brewer quite yet.”
Rhett pointed to Kamp. “Talk to that one before we leave then, and I can deliver what you need after Christmas for a trial run.”
Ralph sure looked happy about that, and as he went to check on the other tables at the front of the bar, Remi said a little louder, “I’m serious. Let’s hear them. What are your Christmas wishes?” She put her phone on the counter. It said 10:09, but changed right then to 10:10. “Better do them quick!” She put her finger on the number and said, “I hope we get to see Raider again soon.”
Kamp put his finger on the number and said, “Same. Now that my cub is in my life, holidays are a little harder without him.” Kamp scooted the phone past Remi to Grim, but he shook his head and passed it right on to Ash. “I hope I get a job soon and Grim’s Grandma Rose can come to Christmas.”
Rhett was next. “I hope I get a blow job tonight.”
Juno swatted his arm and snorted, but pushed her finger on the number quick. Thirty seconds left. Ash was counting. “I hope this year Rhett and I get to start making a family.”
“Wait!” Rhett said, his eyes going round. “You want a cub with me?”
Juno nodded. Twenty seconds left.
“I take mine back!” Rhett exclaimed. He put his finger back on the number and said, “I hope I knock up Juno with, like, six cubs this year. I want a hockey team.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Kamp pointed out.
“Whatever, Kamp. It’s my Christmas wish. Fuck off.” Rhett shoved the phone to Grim again.
Ten seconds.
Grim looked at the Crew. Eight seconds. He sighed. Seven…Six…
He put his finger on the glowing 10:10 and said, “I hope I can be a better Alpha for all of you.” There was an emotional and joyous pause in the Crew. But then Grim said, “And Rebble wishes my dick and balls were smaller so he wasn’t so squished in my pocket all the time.”
Rhett had been taking a drink of the beer Ralph had just placed in front of him, but choked on the sip and snorted at Grim’s revelation. Juno patted his back as he coughed and laughed and coughed and laughed. Really, they were all laughing.
Ralph put a stack of papers in front of Ash, but she didn’t understand what they were. “What’s this?” she asked.
Ralph pointed to the front window. There was a big sign that said, Now Hiring. “I need help around here. You won’t be a millionaire working here, but there’s benefits and steady hours. And if you’re the shy type, which I’m betting you are, it’ll be good practice talking to people. Fill that out and bring it back here after the holidays if you’re interested. We’ll do an interview.”
“Really?” she whispered, her stomach fluttering with hope.
“Really. You seem like good people. You shifters have never been handed anything. You earn everything you’ve got. I bet you would do just fine here.”
“I used to sell barbecue. At my last job, I mean.”
“Already got food service experience, another bonus.”
“Thank you,” she uttered, folding the application so she could fit it into her purse. “I mean…thank you for even considering me.”
Ralph gave her another really nice smile and patted the bar top. “It was a good wish. A hard worker’s wish. I like it.” And then he headed back through the kitchen door and disappeared from sight.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” she squeaked out, staring in shock at the folded application. She was going to get this job. She had a feeling. She was going to come in here and do soooo good at the interview.
The Crew was gripping her shoulders and congratulating her and telling her she would do well. They said they were proud of her, and she could tell they really were. Their shining eyes and the honest notes in their voices said as much. And Grim wore her very favorite smile.
Today was Ash’s new favorite day ever. Her favorites tended to be when the Crew was getting along. Why? Because it was rare. They had to fight for moments like these. That was the nature of a Last Chance Crew. The males in Rogue Pride came with layers and complicated pasts and animals that didn’t stay in control. But they all stuck together, even through the bad times. Even through the days when they loved each other but didn’t like each other.
They fought to stay a Crew because happy moments like this existed. These times tasted sweeter because they were harder to come by.
Ash loved Grim with her whole heart, but he’d given her something he didn’t realize yet. He’d given her a Crew to fall in love with, too. This was the first Christmas of many to come. She bet next year, the day before the day before Christmas, this would be their tradition. Meaties on the River and Christmas wishes at 10:10.
And as she looked over her shoulder at the quiet man she’d felt watching them this whole time, she wondered if he would be a part of the tradition, too. The Rogue Pride Crew was laughing and talking around her, not paying attention, but she gave a little two-fingered wave to the dragon in the darkest corner and mouthed, Merry day-before-Christmas-Eve, Vyr.
Vyr gave her a smile. It was only a little one, and it didn’t reach his eyes. It looked a bit sad even, but it was a smile nonetheless. And for a beast like the Red Dragon, all smiles counted.
Vyr set a wad of money onto the small two-seater table he’d been sitting at and then walked out the side door right next to him.
As she watched him out the window, disappearing into the snowstorm, Grim leaned over and kissed her temple. He whispered, “I’m going to go talk to him.”
Oooh. She shouldn’t be surprised that her mate knew all along that Vyr was here.
“No more burns,” she murmured, tracing the faint scars down the side of her mate’s neck.
Grim squeezed her leg and stood. “I’ll be right back. Don’t let Rhett eat my food.”
She wanted to ask if he wanted her to come, too. Heck, her bear wanted to go just to protect Grim. But someti
mes a man needed to handle tough situations on his own. And Grim wasn’t just a man. He was an Alpha. He’d made a Christmas wish, and here was the beginning. He had to learn how to deal with other Alphas of other Crews. Even the ones he’d gone to war with. She could read Grim real good, and that’s what he needed with Vyr.
Chapter Eight
Grim pushed his way out the door and into the frigid, snowy wind. He couldn’t see where Vyr had gone, but he had a feeling the Red Dragon hadn’t come all the way here just to sit in the corner of a bar and leave without saying anything. And he sure as hell didn’t come here to finish Grim off. If that dragon had wanted him dead, Grim would already be ashes.
They had unfinished business.
Grim shoved his hands into his pockets and gripped Rebble. The snarl in his throat steadied right along with the Reaper. He could barely see ten feet in front of him, but he could make out the man leaning against the back of the logging truck.
“You didn’t answer any of my calls,” he greeted Vyr.
The red-haired man twitched his head like a tic, and then he lifted his silver eyes with those elongated pupils to Grim. “I like talking face-to-face.”
Vyr felt off. The air around him felt denser and smelled of smoke, but it was more than that. Vyr felt heart sick. Or head sick maybe. The closer Grim got to the monster, the more his animals drew up and prepared to Change. Both of them, The Good and The Bad. And that was bad news for Grim, so he stopped right on the edge of where he could see Vyr and hoped he could keep his skin long enough to have this talk. “I respect that,” he murmured. “I like settling things man-to-man, too.”
Vyr crossed his arms and said, “I heard your wish in there.”
“Congratulations. You have ears.”
Vyr huffed a breath and gave a smile that chilled Grim’s blood. It was like watching a Tyrannosaurus Rex grin. He lifted two fingers and flicked them slightly. Suddenly, the snow that fell between them disappeared. Grim looked in shock at the clear sphere around them where no snow fell.
“It’s like an anti-snow-globe,” Vyr murmured.
Fuck, he was much more powerful than anyone realized. He wasn’t just a dragon, which was dangerous enough. He was more.
Kill him, the Reaper whispered.
“I wasn’t completely decided if I would fire your entire Crew for growing the balls enough to face me in Tarian Pride Territory. It’s very hard to pull me off a hunt, and you forced my hand. My dragon doesn’t like you.”
“Well, none of me likes you, so we’re pretty fuckin’ even.”
Vyr chuckled. “The man in me respects you though. Or maybe I just recognize you. One shitty Alpha to another, I like what you said in there—about wanting to be better. Your mate and your Crew deserve it.” He shook his head slightly again, the same tic. “So do mine.”
“The Tarian Pride just needs time to rebuild, you know? They have a new lion trying to fix them.”
“Ronin won’t fix anything. You and I both know it.”
Grim gritted his teeth and kicked a snow drift with the toe of his boot. “I believe in him.”
“You don’t know him. Not anymore. He isn’t the same boy you grew up with. That Pride went after people I consider mine. And like I said, it’s very hard to pull my dragon off a hunt.” Warning flashed in his bright silver dragon eyes. “Stay out of it, Grim.”
The snow began falling between them again so hard Grim could barely see Vyr anymore.
The dragon stood and turned to walk away, but hesitated. For a few seconds, he just froze there with his back to Grim. “Bash sent me a picture tonight. It was of you and Ash and your Crew. You were in the truck. Ash was smiling. Juno and Remi, too. You all were. I grew up with those girls. They’re special.” Vyr turned and pulled an envelope out of his back pocket. He strode forward and offered it to Grim. “You are doing better than you think. Merry Christmas, Grim.”
Vyr gave him a crooked grin and disappeared into the snowstorm.
Grim watched him go before opening the envelope. He pulled out the Crew’s paychecks. He wasn’t firing them after all. Didn’t matter that his dragon didn’t like Grim. The man in Vyr was still letting Grim run his mountains.
Grim hadn’t said it out loud, but he felt the same way about Vyr. As an Alpha, as a shifter who had to manage a monster inside of him, Grim respected Vyr, too.
Baffled, he turned his frown to where the Red Dragon had disappeared in the snow. “Merry Christmas to you too, Vyr.”
Chapter Nine
“I think we’re supposed to find a Christmas tree before Christmas morning,” Grim called out as he circled his four-wheeler around the front of 1010. He’d tied a huge plastic sled behind it.
“Dibs on the back of the sled,” Juno said, sprinting for it.
“Why would you want the back?” Remi asked, crunching through the snow toward the sled. “Grim will go too fast so there is a million percent chance of you falling off.”
“Better than getting showered with snow for the next mile,” Juno said, holding on to the edges like Grim would take off at any moment.
Grim said, “If it takes a mile to find a Christmas tree, I’m leaving these mountains and never coming back. I told you all eight times there is a perfectly good one right there.” He pointed to the closest pine tree to the trailer park.
Ash scrunched up her face as she made her way to the ATV. “But then it wouldn’t be a Christmas adventure. It would just be you chopping down a tree with an ax, just like every other day. At least this way you can dump Juno off the back.”
Grim huffed a laugh and stood up straight on the four-wheeler while she climbed up behind him.
“Ash, what are you doing?” Juno asked. “There is room on the sled!”
“I love you both, but I would rather snuggle Grim than you.”
“Traitor,” Remi accused through a big ol’ grin.
Rhett and Kamp came barreling through the trees on their ATV’s, zigzagging so carelessly, they almost crashed into each other twice. Both were laughing like lunatics.
Christmas morning had been fun and simple. Breakfast together and no presents because they hadn’t gotten paid until the banks were already closed. But Ash liked it this way. Today was all about spending time together, and she had a feeling today was going to be her new favorite day.
Rhett gunned his quad and then hit the brakes, spinning the back end and spraying Grim and Ash with snow as he came to a jerky stop. “What does Rebble think about that?”
Grim was growling a feral sound. “He called you a hero and is laughing. Now guess what the Reaper says about it?”
Rhett gave Grim an oh-shit look, hit the gas and sped away.
“And that’s why he’s last in the Crew,” Kamp said proudly, like being Fifth was a big accomplishment.
Ash laughed a lot in Rogue Pride. Everyone was funny and didn’t take life too seriously.
Grim and Kamp took off after Rhett, and behind her, the girls were cracking up as they held onto the sled, shifting their body weight back and forth to try to stay on. They were all the way to the parking area down the mountain by the time they caught up to Rhett. As Grim slowed, a rumbling noise sounded just over the engine.
It was a car headed this way. Grim tensed under Ash’s arms. “You hear that?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ash whispered. “Is it Vyr?”
Grim cut the engine of the ATV and dismounted. He stood sentry in front of them, and Kamp and Rhett joined him.
Sixty-three seconds later, a car climbed the last snowy hill and broke through the trees. “It’s Sophia,” Kamp murmured, stepping forward and waving. “And Raider!”
A little boy was waving frantically out the back window as Kamp’s ex parked the car. She stepped out first with a grin. “Merry Christmas!” she called to them. Whoa, she was beautiful, with chocolate brown skin, tight, dark curls with blond tips and a gorgeous smile. Remi struggled to her feet off the sled and bounded over to her. She gave her a big hug as Kamp opened the cub’
s door.
This was the first time Ash had ever seen Raider. He was a shade between his father’s fair skin and his mother’s dark skin, with the same blond-streaked curls as Sophia. Sturdy little cub. He was four or maybe five, but built like a little tank already. And when he jumped up into Kamp’s arms from the back seat, he was growling loudly. Oh, he had a little brawler lion cub inside him.
“I figured you could use a half day with Raider,” Sofia explained breathlessly. “We opened presents at the crack of dawn, and then he asked if he could see you and the Crew today and Change in the snowy mountains, so here we are.”
“Where’s your mate? You could’ve both spent the day out here,” Kamp said.
“Back at the new house cooking a huge feast for me and a bunch of our friends. It’s our new time hosting at the new place. He couldn’t leave the turkey alone for this long so I told him I would head straight back. Would you mind dropping him off tonight?” she asked Kamp.
“Crap no, I don’t mind.” He ruffled Raider’s head. “And you don’t say crap.”
Raider giggled. “Can I see Waffles?”
“Yes, but how about you help us cut down a Christmas tree first?”
“Yes! I’m really good at chopping.” Raider flattened out his hand and made hacking motions against Kamp’s shoulder, which caused Kamp to twitch around like he was being chopped up. More giggles from Raider, and Ash was smitten. They were putting good magic into these mountains. All this echoing laughter was making the forest happy.
Sophia said her hellos and goodbyes and then headed back down the mountains just as another car came up the snowy road.
The lady driving it brought instant tears to Ash’s eyes.
The rest of her 10:10 wish had come true.
“Grandma?” Grim said on a frozen breath. He looked so stunned, staring at the rental car parking in front of him.
Rose got out with tears rimming her eyes and a quivering smile. “Hi, Grim.”
Ash squeezed his hand as he led her over to the only steady family he’d ever had before this Crew. He hesitated for a moment before he pulled Grandma Rose in for a bear hug. The Reaper wasn’t even growling right now.