by T. S. Joyce
“You didn’t cover Brody’s mark,” she whispered, her head spinning.
“He’s part of your history. Fuck his mark. I had to give you another one just from me. It wasn’t a reaction to seeing Brody’s mark. It was my bear choosing and me not working hard enough to stop him. And now I’m tied to you. I didn’t ask you, though, and I know what this is. I can see it. It’s okay.”
“What do you think this is?” she whispered, stroking his hair. The tears streamed down her face, and her heart pounded like thunder.
“I take your mind off Brody.”
Winter huffed an emotional laugh and inhaled raggedly. “You’re no one’s replacement, Logan.”
“You forgive me?”
“On one condition.”
“What?”
“You promise me day by day.” Nope, she wasn’t giving up on him like he had on himself. If he felt strong enough to claim her, he could get strong enough to stick around. She knew it. She believed in him, no matter what damage he or his bear had sustained. “Promise me.”
He was quiet for so long she thought he would refuse to answer completely. But at last, with a huffed sigh, he cradled her closer and murmured, “Day by day.”
Chapter Thirteen
Winter now knew what that song “Walking on Sunshine” was talking about.
For the second day in a row, she’d put on make-up, fussed over her hair, and turned into a grinning idiot every time she saw herself in the mirror. It wasn’t vanity, but rather joy that she was finding her old self again. That and the giant hickey Logan had gifted her. And the marks. The claiming marks!
It was September, and chilly outside, but she was mighty tempted to wear a tank top again just so Logan would get that red flush to his cheeks and smile down at his feet like he’d done this morning before he left for his room.
These last five months she’d lived like a zombie, meandering from one task to the next, numb and mindless. Not today. And if she was honest, she had been on an upswing from the moment she set foot on Kane’s territory and met Logan and the D-Team. What a horridly dysfunctional batch of beasties they made, but Winter kind of liked it. None of them were angels, or even very safe to the human populace, and half the time they all drove each other bat-guano-crazy, but Winter was still protective over them in ways that surprised her.
She hoped they all made it into the crew.
But…what if they didn’t? What if she didn’t? What if Logan didn’t? Or what if one of them made it, but not the other? Or what if she and Logan made it, but not Beast, Emma, and Dustin? Or what if Dustin and Beast made it, but not Emma and— Stop it! She would drive herself nuts with this train of thought. Whatever happened from here, she had to trust the process and the dragons to build the best crew for them and for the territory.
A knock sounded at the door. It was the polite sort, and since Winter had propped it open with the door latch, she called out, “Come in.”
Emma pushed open the door and plopped onto the unmade bed as Winter continued folding up the clothes she’d discarded in her insane search for the perfect outfit.
“Dustin’s hungry for bacon.” Emma frowned up at the ceiling and fiddled with her hearing aid. Maybe her voice sounded off or something, but to Winter, Emma sounded the same as always.
“Are we all going to breakfast?” Winter asked.
Emily rolled her head toward her, and her frown deepened, so Winter repeated, “Are we all going to breakfast?” careful to keep her face angled toward her so Emma could read her lips, too.
“Dustin said he’s tired of hanging out with us.”
Winter snorted. “Bullshit, why would he tell you he was hungry then?”
“Exactly. He got grumpy and yelled that he isn’t waiting more than ten minutes for everyone, and then he slammed his room door like a spoiled princess. You ready?”
“Is Beast going?” Winter asked carefully. She was really working up to asking about Logan.
“He’s already in the truck looking like he wants to kill everyone.”
Winter giggled, then cleared her throat and tried for aloof. “So Logan’s going, too?”
Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You two are ridiculous. You know he is a psychopath, right?”
“But he’s my psychopath,” Winter whispered through a grin as she folded the last shirt.
Emma pointed to her eyes and then to Winter’s lips. “Nice try, I read that.”
“I’m hungry for pancakes,” Winter said, sidling Emma’s gently kicking legs and grabbing her purse off the chair.
“Nice subject change,” the honey-haired wood sprite said as she followed her out the door. “Are you looking for a job yet?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Winter said, making sure Emma could see her lips. “I wanted to wait until I have a better instinct on how the dragons feel about me. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, you know? You?”
“Yeah, I put my application in at a coffee shop this morning. If this is going to take months, I can’t afford the motel for that long. It adds up.”
Logan and Dustin were arguing in the front seat of Logan’s truck. Beast had evacuated it completely and was sitting in the bed, head leaned back on the side like he was sleeping.
Logan’s angry voice drifted through the closed window. “I swear to God, Dustin, if you touch that radio dial again, I’m gonna gut you.”
When Dustin leaned forward to poke the dial, Logan grabbed his finger. Dustin grinned and made a fart sound, and Logan roared in his face. This was how the day was going to go. Winter could just see it.
When Emma threw open the back door, Dustin yelled, “Bacon!” like it would make them hurry faster.
Winter put on her sunglasses so he wouldn’t see her infinite number of eye-rolls today.
The reek of dominance made it crystal clear why Beast had evacuated, and immediately after buckling her seatbelt, Emma opened her window plus the back sliding window.
“Morning, Beast,” Winter said cheerfully.
“No to all of your morning-person bullshit,” he said blandly, not even bothering to open his eyes.
Winter shrugged her shoulders up to her ears and murmured, “He loves me.”
“I love nothing,” Beast said.
Dustin was fiddling around with the radio again, Logan was snarling like he was on the verge of a shift, and Emma was hanging her head out the window as though she—a dull-sensed little human—could feel all the monster-crap happening in the truck.
They would make the worst crew in the whole world. Winter’s smile took over her whole face until her cheeks hurt.
“Stop smiling like that,” Dustin said, looking eked out. “It’s weird. And is that a hickey? Shit Logan, sex is supposed to put you in a good mood!”
Logan gritted out, “I’m not listening to techno all the way to the restaurant. It makes me feel crazy.”
“Newsflash, asshole,” Dustin said, slamming his back against the seat and crossing his arms. “You are crazy.”
“I like your smile,” Logan said, his eyes on Winter in the rearview mirror. He wasn’t even close to grinning, his eyes were the color of a bug zapper, and his voice was terrifying, but she still got butterflies.
“I like your smile, too.”
“Bacon!” Dustin yelled, way too loud. They all hunched their shoulders at the sound except Emma, who looked to be fighting back an amused grin.
Their phones all dinged with different tones, all seconds apart.
Dustin struggled his phone out of his pocket first. “Want me to read it?”
“Depends. Can you read?” Emma asked.
Winter pulled her phone out and read along as Dustin narrated. “D-Team, we got a visit from the police early this morning about a disturbance at the horse stables, complete with security footage of you idiots fighting.”
“Oh, shit,” Logan muttered.
“Because of this, all the shifters in the Smoky Mountains have been formally banned from the stables for a
minimum of one year, and thus we cannot conduct your next interview as we’d planned. Please make your way to my mountains at your earliest convenience. That means now, D-Team. Kane.”
“I like when Rowan texts us better,” Winter murmured. “She’s nicer.”
“What is there to be nice about?” Beast growled from the back of the truck. “We left the arena splattered with blood.”
“No, you and Logan did,” Dustin pointed out. “I bled zero percent.”
“Are we getting cut?” Emma asked, her green eyes round as dinner plates.
“Probably,” Beast said, louder than before. One look back at the bed, and he was red-faced, which made the gold in his eyes look even more terrifying. Fantastic.
“I seriously can’t believe I threw in with you bunch of psychos,” Dustin said. His eyes were glowing two different colors, and he smelled like fur. “I was in! I had all the cards, and now I’m going to get cut from the crew because of you guys!” He jammed a finger at Beast. “You suck.” He jammed his finger at Emma. “And you suck, too.” He pointed his middle finger at Winter. “And you suck the most—ack,” he croaked as Logan tightened his fist around Dustin’s throat.
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that.”
As Beast reached through the back window with a massive paw, apparently scrabbling for Dustin, Emma cursed them all out while beating on Beast’s massive arm with both fists.
“Stop!” Winter yelled. Winter shoved Beast’s arm as hard as she could. “Logan, unhand Dustin’s throat, Dustin, stop being a chode, Emma, you’re awesome, never change. We don’t know what is happening yet or even if we are cut for sure, but I know one thing. We’re all hungry and tired, and we shouldn’t go up to Kane’s Mountains on empty stomachs. Let’s put in our to-go order and go find out what is really going on. Logan!”
With a growl, Logan released Dustin, who immediately jammed a middle finger in Logan’s face and nearly got it bitten off. The wolf shifter removed the bird one millisecond before Logan snapped his teeth with a clack.
Emma was laughing again.
As Logan backed out of the parking spot, there was such a heavy, awkward silence it put Winter’s hair on end. It was going to suck if it was like this all day.
As they passed the opposite side of the motel, the A-Team was gathered outside of one of the rooms talking low. When they caught sight of Logan’s truck, they all stopped their conversation, and each of their lightened eyes drifted to them. They weren’t joking this morning, and really, they looked suspicious as hell.
“Anyone find it odd that they’ve been doing that shit all morning?” Logan asked as they coasted by.
“I can find out their names if you want to murder them all,” Dustin said. Apparently the wolf had caught wind of Logan’s last profession, and there was this loaded moment that hung in the air, clogging up Winter’s lungs as she waited for Logan’s reaction.
“Careful dog,” Logan said coolly. “I know your secrets, too.”
“Okay, you caught me,” Dustin said sarcastically. “I hold the world record for most masturbations in one day. Autographs later.”
Beast snorted behind them, and Emma shook her head at Winter, eyes exhausted as if she needed a nap already.
But when Dustin turned up the techno music again, Logan didn’t even yell at him, and that was some true and serious progress with this bunch. The awkward silence lifted, and Winter’s smile was back to stretching her face.
Logan had claimed her, Kane hadn’t come out and said they were eliminated, she was about to get pancakes, and she was in a truck full of her people.
Bright sides.
Chapter Fourteen
Kane was pissed. Logan could tell from the moment he drove across the territory line of the dark dragon. There was a vibration in the air that settled in his chest and made him sick to his stomach. He and everyone in this truck were insane for wanting to be a part of his crew.
He pushed the brake, unable to help himself. He couldn’t make himself take Winter any closer to the angry Dark Kane.
“Go, man,” Dustin said around a mouthful of French toast. “The later we are, the angrier he’ll be.”
“Do you feel it, too?” Logan asked.
“Of course I do, I’m not a pup. He’s mad. He’ll get over it and probably not burn us. He’s got Rowan to steady him, or however bonds work. Find your balls and hurry the fuck up.”
Logan growled, and a vision of him slitting Dustin from throat to belly button flashed across his mind. Kill him.
Feeling helpless for the first time in his life, he looked at Winter in the rearview.
“It’s okay,” she murmured, shoving the door open.
“What are you doing?” he asked as she got out.
The door shut hard, rocking the truck, and then Winter was in his window with the prettiest smile that existed on earth. Her smoky-gray eyes were all done up with dark eye-shit girls liked to slather on. Looked sexy on her. The lip sparkles on her smile did, too.
“You can’t take me farther.” She leaned her cheek against his elbow, which was resting on the open window frame. She nuzzled it like an affectionate cat and murmured, “I’ll walk from here.”
Well, that would solve the ache in his chest if she took herself to Kane, and it double-helped when Beast jumped out of the back of the truck and muttered, “I’ll walk, too. Want to get there before my ninetieth birthday.” Beast lurched at the window, but nothing scared Logan anymore, so he sat there watching him with dead eyes.
Beast lumbered away to leave Winter to trail after him, but she turned and bolted back to the truck, pecked Logan on the lips, grinned, stunned him completely, then strode off behind Beast, her sexy curves swinging like she knew he was watching.
Dustin licked his fingers loudly, dragging Logan from being damn-near hypnotized by her sexy ass. Winter waved as she walked away, and Beast flipped them all off. God, they really were the D-Team. All but Winter. She was the best person he’d ever met. He hoped her goodness rubbed off on his soul and smudged out some of the darkness. Selfish, but meh. He was a selfish monster and had accepted that long ago. The proof was in how little effort he’d made to stay away from her. There was a one-hundred-percent chance he was going to ruin her life, yet here he was, digging in deeper with his mate every chance he got.
His mate? Shit, that was an unexpected gem. He wasn’t supposed to have one. Oh, he’d seen his destiny bright and clear from age seventeen. Winter wasn’t supposed to be a part of it, but here she was, dragging him kicking and screaming into the light. Day by day. Logan shook his head and hit the gas on the bridge over the river.
That woman saw the good in everything, and everyone. Made no sense after all she’d been through, but thank God she was stronger than he was.
His stomach soured with every inch he drove toward Kane’s cabin. This felt like more than just anger over a fight at the stables. It was too disproportionate. Shifters fought. So what?
He parked in the yard, and they piled out. Dustin dry-heaved in the side yard, which meant he was feeling the darkness as bad as Logan was. Emma even looked worried and was rubbing the gooseflesh on her arms.
Logan wanted to wait for Winter because he didn’t like her out of his sight when the danger was level-red like this. But Kane yanked open the door and barked out, “Get in here.”
Dustin muttered a curse and flashed Logan a worried look before the wolf led the way into the lair of the dark dragon.
Kane locked his arms on the kitchen table and glared at the cell phone he had resting on the polished surface.
“Are you even listening to us?” a deep voice asked over the speaker phone.
A threatening rumble emanated from Kane and rattled the house. “Careful,” he warned.
“You’re too loud, too out there. You aren’t the only shifters in the Smokies, dragon. And I’m not just talking about the Bloodrunners. There are families there who have kept their lives small and out of the limelight for years, and then you d
rag all the fucked-up monsters of our species to you? The media is making our home into a circus. Get rid of them.”
The line went dead, and Kane chucked the phone at the wall in a blur. Emma winced as the phone exploded against the wall.
“Who was that?” Dustin asked, the humor drained from his voice for once.
“That would be Seth and Kyle of some Fuller Crew I didn’t even know about, who apparently have family too damn close to my territory for comfort.”
Winter and Beast walked in, stepping carefully and silently to stand beside Logan. Big cat shifters could do that, slink around without moving a single dust mote.
Kane rested his hands on his hips and glared at the floor, chest heaving. “Just so everyone knows, I didn’t want this. I didn’t want the attention. For fuck’s sake, I was hidden for most of my life, and now I’m under a magnifying glass. Now I have to manage the media, other shifters in the territory, and pick the right damn crew. I can barely manage my dragon! And now I’m supposed to be a good alpha?”
Yep, Kane was freaking out.
Looking exhausted, Rowan stood in the kitchen, her back resting against the counter, arms crossed over her chest. “You will be a good alpha,” she murmured low.
“I second that?” Logan said, lifting two fingers in the air. “You seem to care about being a good alpha a helluva lot more than my last alpha did. Victory.”
Kane narrowed his eyes to furious little slits. “Winter Donovan, can I see you in my office?”
When Dustin dry-heaved again, Logan almost felt bad for him. He was the most submissive one here, and a pissed-off alpha did a number on low-ranked animals. Rowan brought him a small wastebasket and told him to, “Put your head between your legs. It’ll get better when he settles down.”
“You better not puke in here,” Emma said. “Cowboy up, werewolf.”
“Shut up,” Dustin muttered, looking green around the edges.
Winter followed Kane down a hallway, but turned at the door to the office and cast Logan a worried look.