by T. S. Joyce
1010.
“Holy shit,” Jax whispered, his chest heaving. “Beaston, is this what I think it is?”
“I made a replica of the old trailer because I can see how hard it will be for Red Havoc to become what they need to become. They are like the Ashe Crew, like the Gray Backs, like the Boarlanders, but there’s no magic up in those mountains. Not yet. I made this with pieces of the original. Light fixtures, the cabinets, the bathroom sinks. Things I saved when ten-ten fell apart.” Beaston turned to her. “Jax’s Anna.” He ducked his chin, and such sincerity pooled in his inhuman eyes when he said, “This is my ‘I’m sorry.’”
Annalise didn’t understand why he would give her a mobile home. Or how he knew so much. How he’d known to be there that night, or about She-Devil. But inside of her, She-Devil was breaking apart. Her anger was evaporating, and she was in mourning. The armor was gone from her animal, and some bone-deep instinct said it was time to start healing, for both Annalise and for She-Devil.
She didn’t understand the gift, but she knew from the moisture that rimmed Jax’s and Beaston’s eyes, that it was huge and meaningful.
“You never had anything to say I’m sorry for,” she said, warm tears streaming down her cheeks. Her bottom lip trembled, so she bit it and drew in a shaky breath before she stepped forward and hugged Beaston up tight. He went rigid in her arms, but that was okay. “Thank you for being there that night, Beaston. Thank you for protecting me and for not letting me be alone.”
Slowly, Beaston lifted his free arm and patted her back gently. And then he eased away and glanced at her, then Jax, then the trailer. Without another word, he gave her a slight smile, which still looked feral as hell, and then turned on his heel and disappeared into the woods with his Ana on his arm.
Jax wrapped his arms around Annalise from behind, and together they stood staring at the trailer, his cheek resting on hers.
“Jax?” she asked at last.
“Yeah?”
“I think maybe I’m ready to go home.”
She could feel his smile against her cheek. Jax pressed a kiss right over the claiming mark on her neck and murmured, “Me, too.”
Chapter Sixteen
“No,” Anson said, looking grumpy with his arms over his chest. “This ain’t a trailer park. It’s a nice, respectable—”
“Moonshine distillery?” Annalise dead-panned. “Also, there is a pile of car parts over there that’ve probably been there for years,” she said, pointing. “And all your No Trespassing signs have bullet holes in them. I’ve been sleeping in a cabin that is missing its entire front half, which is covered with rope and a blue tarp. I woke up to a mouse eating my cereal last week.” She scrunched up her face. “Its testicles were huge.”
“The trailer is growing on me,” Ben said, nodding at 1010, where Jax and Greyson were unhooking it from the eighteen-wheeler.
“Why can’t we just fix the damn cabin?” Barret asked.
“Well, we’re going to, but until then, Annalise can sleep in the trailer,” Ben murmured.
“About that,” Jax called. “I’m staying in it, too.”
“No,” all of the panthers in Red Havoc yelled at once.
“As Almost Alpha, I feel like my vote should count extra,” Annalise said with a grin.
Ben narrowed his eyes in annoyance. “It’s not Almost Alpha. It’s called Second, and for that shit to be official, you have to pledge to my crew.”
“Cool. Me and Jax are ready whenever you are. Hey, Jenny!” she called, waving to the alpha’s mate who was standing on their porch, leaned on the railing, grinning.
Jenny gave an easy wave. “Hey, Almost Alpha, you back to kick Barret’s ass some more?”
“Ha!” Barret blasted out. “Ha, ha, ha. I hate you and you and you,” he said, pointing to each of the crew in turn. And then he flipped off the trailer and marched over to a water hose on the side of the nearest cabin, turned it on, and pointed the end at them. Then waited. And waited.
“Dear dumbass,” Anson drawled, “that faucet doesn’t work.”
Barret yelled and threw the dry hose down, then stomped off into the woods. A panther scream sounded a couple of seconds later, and Anson and Greyson snorted in amusement.
Even Ben cracked a smile. “Why do you want to be a part of my crew, Grizzly. This is panthers only.”
“Well, my mate is a panther, and she picked this place, so I’m settling. You can let me in, or I’m just going to hang out here, pestering the shit out of you until you do. I’m unpledged, been a rogue since I was eighteen, and I have a big stake in this crew.”
“Being?” Jenny asked from where she was approaching, holding little Raif’s hand.
“Being this pretty kitty right here,” he said, making his way toward Annalise. He wore faded blue jeans, and his tight, white T-shirt was streaked with dirt from unloading 1010, but under his baseball cap, his smile was bright and easy, like it had been in Damon’s Mountains. He draped his arm over her shoulders, and she instinctively leaned in closer to be nearer to him, and to feel the warmth and safety he always blanketed her with. She-Devil purred.
“Wherever she goes, I go,” Jax said. “She wants to be Second of Red Havoc, so here I am. You’ll have the fealty of my bear when things go south here, Ben. And they will. You know it and I know it. I’ll back you in whatever decisions you make for the crew so long as they keep Annalise safe.”
Ben shook his head and kicked at the dirt with the toe of his boot. At least he hadn’t given a hard no yet. Sensing weakness, Annalise pounced. “Think about it. You and the boys won’t have to watch me at night anymore. Jax is a grizzly and protective of me. He can handle any of my night shifts on his own. You can sleep.”
“I think you’ll be good for the crew, Annalise. I vote yes for both of them,” Greyson said, raising his hand and shocking the ever-lovin’ shit out of her. That was way more than a single syllable caveman grunt. She was going to mark off number five on her short-term-goals list as soon as she had her journal in hand again.
“I vote yes,” Jenny said quietly.
“I like bears,” Raif said earnestly, raising his hand like he was in school.
Ben looked at Anson, who rolled his eyes and raised two relaxed fingers. “I like fighting.”
Ben gritted his teeth so hard a muscle twitched in his jaw. “Before I consider letting a goddamn dominant Gray Back grizzly into my crew, Annalise, you have to tell me something.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“Tell me what this crew means to you.”
Annalise smiled. “It means home. I know what you all were doing out in those woods—protecting me from myself, protecting me from the lions. I watched you exhaust yourself. Ben, I started thinking you were going to put me down, but you gave Jax a chance to help me instead. You’re a good alpha. I want to be a better panther, be a better shifter, and I know you can help me. And maybe someday I can be valuable to this crew, too. I don’t feel so sick anymore. So unsteady. I think I can do this, be a good Second if I work hard enough. I want that. It gives me something to aim for. But I can’t join your crew without Jax.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his pec. “I picked him before I ever met him. Grizzly, human, panther, it wouldn’t matter to me. He’s just my Jax, and I’m his Anna.”
Ben shook his head. “I can’t fuckin’ believe I’m about to do this.”
“Do it,” Jenny drawled.
“Dooo iiiit,” Anson said. “I love stupid-decision Sundays.”
Ben cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest, lifted his chin high, and smiled down at Annalise. “I thought I was going to lose another one, and it ripped me up. I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. I was sick, just thinking about you not being salvageable. Whatever Jax did to help you…I owe him.” Deep emotion welled in the alpha’s eyes, and he cleared his throat hard. “Jax and Annalise, welcome to Red Havoc.” He turned and wrapped his arm around Jenny’s shoulders and kissed her on the si
de of the head as he walked them back to their cabin.
“We’re still not the C-team though, so fuck you,” Anson said, shoving a middle finger in Jax’s face.
Jax snapped his teeth and barely missed biting his finger off.
Anson yelped and slunk toward his cabin. “I’m not scared of you,” he said when he was almost there, but he did check over his shoulder a couple of times.
Greyson gave them a half smile, then made his way back to 1010, climbed up in the big rig, and drove it away from the trailer. In the woods, Barret’s panther screamed again.
“Are you sure this is the life you want?” Jax asked, hands on her hips as he turned her slowly to face him.
Annalise scanned the clearing, from the row of cabins, to 1010 sitting in the evening shadows of the Appalachian Mountains, back to the man she loved. Inside of her, She-Devil was quiet and steady, watching her mate. Everything she wanted was right here. “I think it’s the life I need. I think maybe Beaston was right. I used to think the bite was a curse, but now I think fate was giving me a gift instead. I had to go through what I went through so I could appreciate you. So I could be stronger. I used to wish for my old life,” she said, slipping her hands up his chest and around his neck. “I just wanted to be steady again, but there was no adventure back then. Every day was the same. Maybe I was stunted by normalcy. Now I think I wouldn’t really understand joy if I hadn’t learned how bad things can get. And I know I would’ve never understood how much I could shoulder if I hadn’t been tested. Jax,” she murmured through an emotional smile, “we’ll never be alone again.”
Jax looked so damn proud. “I wouldn’t change a single thing about you, Anna.”
But she knew what he really meant. Lifting to her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his and hugged him tightly. And when she eased away, she whispered, “I love you, too.”
Today was the first day of the rest of her life when she would get to mark one of the last numbers off her list. She would live happily ever after in the woods with a bunch of gross boys who were probably making moonshine on the mountain behind the cabins.
This moment right here, standing in front of 1010, nestled in the mountains that called to her heart, safe and warm and whole in the arms of the man she adored, she, Annalise, Almost Alpha of the Red Havoc Crew, had found the life she wanted.
Up Next in this Series
Red Havoc Rebel (Red Havoc Panthers, Book 2)
Coming March 2017
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Want More of these Characters?
The Red Havoc Crew makes its first appearance in Harper’s Mountains
Bloodrunner Dragon (Book 1)
Bloodrunner Bear (Book 2)
Air Ryder (Book 3)
Novak Raven (Book 4)
Blackwing Dragon (Book 5)
The Red Havoc Panthers can be read as a standalone series, but is also mentioned in Kane’s Mountains.
Entire trilogy now available.
Blackwing Defender (Book 1)
Blackwing Wolf (Book 2)
Blackwing Beast (Book 3)
More Series by T. S. Joyce
Bears Fur Hire
Husband Fur Hire (Book 1)
Bear Fur Hire (Book 2)
Mate Fur Hire (Book 3)
Wolf Fur Hire (Book 4)
Dawson Fur Hire (Book 5)
Chance Fur Hire (Book 6)
Fire Bears
Bear My Soul (Book 1)
Bear the Burn (Book 2)
Bear the Heat (Book 3)
Wolf Brides
Wolf Bride (Book 1)
Red Snow Bride (Book 2)
Dawson Bride (Book 3)
Saw Bears
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)
Gray Back Bears
Gray Back Bad Bear (Book 1)
Gray Back Alpha Bear (Book 2)
Gray Back Ghost Bear (Book 3)
Gray Back Broken Bear (Book 4)
Lowlander Silverback (Book 5)
Last Immortal Dragon (Book 6)
Boarlander Bears
Boarlander Boss Bear (Book 1)
Boarlander Bash Bear (Book 2)
Boarlander Silverback (Book 3)
Boarlander Beast Boar (Book 4)
Boarlander Cursed Bear (Book 5)
For More Books by this Author
Visit www.tsjoyce.com for a full reading list.
About the Author
T.S. Joyce is devoted to bringing hot shifter romances to readers. Hungry alpha males are her calling card, and the wilder the men, the more she'll make them pour their hearts out. Experienced at handling an alpha male of her own, she lives in a tiny town, outside of a tiny city, and devotes her life to writing big stories. Foodie, bear whisperer, ninja, thief of tiny bottles of awesome smelling hotel shampoo, nap connoisseur, movie fanatic, and zombie slayer, and most of this bio is true.
Bear Shifters? Check
Smoldering Alpha Hotness? Double Check
Sexy Scenes? Fasten up your girdles, ladies and gents, it’s gonna to be a wild ride.
For more information about T. S. Joyce and her work, visit her website here.