by Kim Fox
With a roar, Joan’s bear attacked, lashing out with devastating paws and skin-shredding teeth.
Rhett watched her move with his heart hammering in his chest. She fought like a true alpha, beating and dominating every animal that she touched. The larger grizzly was the first to fall and then the wolf, whimpering as it rolled on its back in submission.
Rhett could have stopped the fight there, sliding from animal skin to animal skin, calming their energies and deescalating the fight, but he thought this might be better for them. Maybe it was exactly what they needed.
The Wilde Crew seemed like they needed a strong dominant shifter over them to chill them out. And maybe Joan needed subordinates under her to calm her bear.
So Rhett just leaned on the car, taking a front row seat as he watched the epic fight go down.
The smaller grizzly lowered its head and slunk away in submission after a hard smack and cringing bite from the dominant grizzly.
The lion was the last one on his paws. He roared as they circled each other, shaking his long golden mane that would soon be matted in his own blood if he wasn’t careful. What is he doing? He couldn’t possibly win.
And he didn’t.
Joan’s bear lunged onto him, easily rolling over him with her powerful body. She gave him a chance to submit but when he lashed out at her, she really let him have it.
She postured up on her hind legs, and then dropped down, landing with two crushing paws on the lion’s body, pinning him to the ground. She opened her savage jaws and brought them down on the lion’s neck in warning.
The lion finally rolled over, submitting to the bear.
Now it was Rhett’s turn to clap.
The heavy bear stepped off of the lion and he sprang back up to his paws, shaking his head angrily.
Rhett sighed as he looked over at his brand new police car. Kylee was going to kill him. It was totaled.
There goes any hopes of a raise.
He reached in through the shattered windshield and grabbed Joan’s shredded clothes off of the seat as the boys phased back, one by one.
He made sure that her small sewing kit was in her pocket as he waited for her to phase back as well.
“That was awesome!” the wolf shifter, Rory, shouted when Joan’s grizzly was tucked safely back inside of her small frame.
Rhett hurried to block her naked body from the eyes of the men. She didn’t seem to care but he did. He didn’t want anyone’s eyes on her body but his.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice and body calmer than ever. She took the shredded clothes and got dressed quickly as Rhett tried to be a gentleman and not look. But his lustfulness overtook his politeness for a brief second and he stole a glance at her bare breasts. Fuck, she’s hot.
Rhett stepped away when she was as covered as she was gonna get.
“You guys need an alpha,” Rhett said to the boys who were standing there, still looking like they were in shock. “What happened to yours?”
They all looked away, rubbing the backs of their necks or shifting their weight from foot to foot nervously.
“He joined the circus,” Rory said with a nod.
Ashton looked at the wolf shifter and rolled his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rhett said. Everyone had things in their past that they weren’t proud of, him included. “Your crew is never going to stop tearing each other to pieces until you have an alpha to calm you.”
“I should be the alpha,” the lion shifter said with his shoulders back and his head held high.
“No,” Ashton said with a laugh. “It should be Cole.”
The larger grizzly bear shifter with the big muscles and gentle face named Cole chuckled. “I don’t want the job. It should be you, Ashton.”
“Ha!” Ashton said, shaking his head. “You think I want to babysit you three all day?”
“What about me?” Rory asked, like the younger brother who everyone always ignored.
The lion shifter stepped forward, his jaw closed tight. “I’ll be the alpha if you guys don’t want it,” he said, his eyes shining angrily.
“No,” Cole said again, more forcefully this time. “Sorry, but it’s not going to be you, Gunner.”
Gunner. Rhett made a note to remember the lion shifter’s name. He seemed like trouble.
“He’s right,” Ashton said, “It can’t be you, Gunner.”
“Fuck you guys,” Gunner snapped back. “We’ll fight for it.”
“What about me?” Rory said again, jumping in the middle of them.
Gunner rolled his golden eyes. “What about you?”
Rory frowned. “Don’t I get considered for the position?”
All three of them laughed. Rory grunted. “Or at least get a say in who the alpha will be?”
Gunner sighed as he turned to the energetic wolf shifter. “Look, Rory,” he said in a condescending tone. “You can let the family dog hang around and make him a part of the family, but when you’re having a family meeting, the dog doesn’t get a say in the matter.”
Rory smiled as he listened. “Thank you, Gunner,” he said with a nod. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“That wasn’t a compliment you moron,” Cole said, exhaling in frustration.
“Well,” Rory said, crossing his arms. “I’m part of the crew and I get a say. I think the alpha should be her.”
Ashton and Cole burst out laughing as Rory pointed to Joan.
Gunner just shook his head, his long blonde hair waving from side to side. “No. Not going to happen.”
Rhett could feel Joan’s tiny body tighten beside him. “It will if I decide it will,” she snapped at them. That shut them right up.
“Why not?” Rory asked, looking from shifter to shifter. “She’s tough as shit. No one will mess with us if we have a dominant grizzly like her. Didn’t you guys feel her power? It was insane!”
The guys swallowed hard as they glanced at each other. None of them could deny that part. Joan’s power was off the charts.
“We’re already the butt of every shifter joke,” Gunner said with a frown.
“There are shifter jokes?” Rory muttered, looking confused.
“Who is a bear shifter’s favorite singer?” Ashton whispered to the wolf shifter. Rory shrugged. “Taylor Shift.”
Rory laughed a high pitched laugh. “I like Katie Bear-y personally.”
“See, this is what I mean,” Gunner said, flashing Ashton and Rory a dirty look. “We’re the biggest fuck-ups ever. We’re the ones who blew the biggest secret ever, outing every shifter on the planet. And if that wasn’t enough, we killed our own alpha.”
Rhett’s ears perked up at that one.
“And now you want to add a female alpha to that?” he said, pointing at Joan with a sour look on his face.
“On second thought,” Joan said, walking to the passenger side door of the trashed car. “I don’t want to be the alpha to a bunch of losers like you guys. Later.” She opened the door and climbed inside.
The four naked men turned to Rhett, waiting for him to say something.
“It was nice to meet you guys,” he said, rubbing his goatee as his mind raced. “Just keep it down. And no more fighting.”
He hurried into the car, wiping the broken glass off of his seat before sitting down. I hope this works. He turned the key in the ignition and the car groaned to life, shaking and vibrating violently.
A few more ravens landed on the dented hood as he turned to Joan. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy,” she said, staring forward. “Let’s get the fuck out of here."
five
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Joan asked as Rhett shook out the thin comforter and laid it on the sofa in the basement. He stepped back and cursed under his breath when he looked down at the pathetic sight. There was water dripping into a bucket in the corner and the couch was all springs and metal bars.
Joan deserved better than this. But it was all that Rhett could offer. He was still
trying to get back on his feet after leaving Creston Falls and he would have to stay in this shit hole of a house for a while longer. At least until a few of his paychecks started piling up.
“You can stay as long as you’d like,” he said, running a hand through his dark hair as he turned around. He was too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. She deserved the finest mattress and softest blankets on the planet, and all he had to give was the crappy couch and old blanket that the previous tenants didn’t bother to take.
“I’m sorry it’s not much,” he said with a sigh. “It’s only temporary. I just started the job like I told you and I’m trying to save up for a-”
“You don’t have to explain,” she said, interrupting him. She walked past him, gently brushing her shoulder across his chest. Fuck, she smells good.
She curled up on the sofa and pulled the thin faded blanket over her. “It’s a lot more than I have.”
“Well, it’s yours as long as you’d like it,” he said, pulling the blanket up to her chin and tucking her in. She reached a delicate hand out from under the blanket and squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Rhett.”
Rhett smiled, letting her hold onto his hand as long as she liked. “No problem. Get some sleep.”
He turned the lights off on the way up the creaky stairs. It was only early afternoon but Joan hadn’t slept a full night’s sleep in weeks, she had told him. He insisted on her taking a nap and she didn’t put up much of a fight, except when he offered her his room. She had refused that, insisting on sleeping in the basement instead.
Rhett spent the next four hours scrubbing and cleaning every inch of the house. He even scrubbed the peanut butter off of the machete and threw the dead possum into the garbage. It was starting to rot anyway.
“Wow!” Nathan gasped when he and Emry walked in after a long hard day of watching movies and eating popcorn. “This place looks like a five-star hotel.”
Rhett wouldn’t have gone that far. It looked decent and livable but it was still a long way off from being more than a one-star hotel at best.
“Why are you cleaning?” Emry asked as he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Hey! Where’s my possum?” He turned to Rhett with a glare. “You didn’t eat it did you?”
Rhett was standing there, staring at them with his fists digging into his hips. “You two went to the movies today?” he asked, his voice tight and fierce.
“Yeah,” Nathan said with a big smile as he plopped down on the couch. “We saw two of them.”
He grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and turned on the black and white TV. “I’m exhausted.”
Rhett ripped the remote out of his hand and turned off the TV. “You idiots!” he screamed, slamming the remote control back onto the coffee table. “You can’t go to the movies during work hours!”
“Why not?” Nathan asked, jerking his head back in shock. “What’s the point of having a job outside of the office where the boss can’t see you if you’re not going to blow off work all day?”
“I’m your boss!” Rhett said, poking his own chest with his finger.
Nathan and Emry looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“The Sheriff put me in charge,” Rhett snapped back.
“Sure she did,” Nathan said, grabbing the remote off of the table and clicking on the TV.
“No offense, Rhett,” Emry said, tossing Nathan a beer. “But the day I have to take orders from you, is the day that I shove a screwdriver into my forehead.”
Rhett just sighed as he sat down beside Nathan. He grabbed the beer from his hand and cracked it open, taking a long swig as Nathan complained.
“I need the place to myself tonight,” Rhett said, thinking of the sleeping beauty in the basement. “I’ll let this go if you two beat it.”
“Why do you need the place to yourself?” Joan asked with a smirk on her sexy lips.
Rhett sprang up off the couch, spilling beer on his lap. He hadn’t heard or seen her come up. “Joan,” he said, placing the beer can on the coffee table. Nathan snatched it back and took a long sip. “How was your sleep?”
“It was good,” she said, walking past him into the kitchen. Emry’s jaw dropped open as she stepped past him to the pot that was simmering on the stove. She opened the lid and dunked her finger inside of the spaghetti sauce that Rhett was cooking. It was his grandmother’s secret recipe and he was making it to impress Joan.
She slowly puckered her lips as she sucked the sauce off her fingertip. “Yummy,” she said, licking her lips. “I like it hot and spicy.”
Emry let out a groan as Nathan dropped his beer on the carpet. The huge skin shifter just stared at Joan, not peeling his eyes off of her to pick up the can that was pouring out onto the floor.
Rhett’s heart was hammering in his chest as she leaned back on his stove and locked eyes with him. “So, why do you need the place to yourself?” she asked, still smirking. “Hot date?”
Rhett let out a deep breath. He grabbed the can of beer off of the carpet and tossed a rag onto the puddle, soaking up the spilled beer. “If you spent five minutes with these guys, you’d want the place to yourself too. Believe me.”
“Okay,” she said with a grin as she turned to Emry. “Let’s try it.”
Emry’s jaw was still hanging open, gawking at her as drool slid down his chin.
“What’s your name?” she asked him.
He closed his mouth and wiped the drool off of his chin with his sleeve. “Emry,” he said with a shaky voice. He leaned forward, his voice low. “Is that for real? Is your bear really that dominant?”
Joan’s shoulders dropped and she turned back to Rhett with a look of disbelief on her face. “I see what you mean.” She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, wiped it on her shirt, and then filled it with water. “I’m going to go back downstairs.”
All three boys just stared at her, their heads following her like a room full of cats following a red laser on the wall.
She closed the door to the basement and they stood in silence as they heard her walking down the stairs.
“Is she staying here?” Emry asked.
“I should tell her she’s welcome to sleep in my bed,” Nathan said, still staring at the closed door.
Jealous heat raged through Rhett. He took a deep breath, calming himself before he clocked Nathan in the jaw.
“Nobody do anything,” Rhett said, squeezing his hand into a fist. “She’s going to stay here and she’s off limits.”
“I love her,” Nathan said, clutching his chest.
Emry grinned. “I think you’re going to have to fight Rhett for her. Look how red he is.”
“I’m not red,” Rhett shot back, turning to hide his burning cheeks. “I hate you guys.”
He bull-rushed past them and grabbed a pot from the pantry. He quickly cooked the spaghetti noodles, made Joan a plate, and went down to the basement.
Her eyes widened as big as the plate in his hands when she saw the food that he had for her. “I’m so hungry,” she said as he set her up on the old broken washing machine.
“I’m sorry,” he said, dusting off an old bar stool for her.
“Please stop apologizing,” she said, slipping on the stool and staring at the plate with wide hungry eyes. “You’re doing so much for me. It’s sweet.”
Rhett leaned on the wall and watched her devour the pasta. He smiled as a wild noodle slapped red sauce across her cheek and she didn’t stop shoveling food into her mouth to wipe it off.
“So where are you from, Joan?” he asked. He wanted to know everything about her. He had a million questions to ask and he was dying to hear the answer to every single one.
“This little town in Kentucky called Screeton,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s basically the armpit of the state.”
Rhett laughed. “Sounds nice.”
“It’s not,” she said abruptly. “And the people are mean. I hated it.”
She took a deep breath as she pushed her empty pl
ate away. “Those things that you can do,” she said, staring at her fingernail. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“I didn’t learn it,” Rhett said, resting his head on the wall. “My people can just do it. Like you know how to bring out your bear, we can just do it.”
“I never bring out my bear,” she whispered. “The bitch just comes out whenever she feels like it.”
“How is the bitch doing?” he asked, smiling at her. She seemed a lot better. Joan wasn’t shaking anymore and she looked relatively normal if you could ignore the sewn up cuts and rips all over her clothes.
Joan slowly looked up until she met his eyes. “She’s never been like this before. This calm. I was just wondering if I could learn to do what you can do. It was the only thing that has ever calmed her.”
Rhett took a deep breath as he watched her with his heart pounding. “It was partly me,” he said softly. “And it was partly from her dominating the Wilde Crew.”
She shook her head. “She’s dominated other animals before and it didn’t have this calming effect on her.”
“But she never dominated a whole crew,” Rhett said. He wanted to bite his tongue and hold back the next words but she needed to hear them. He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted her to stay with him forever. “I think your bear needs to be the alpha of a crew.”
He was expecting her to laugh but she just turned and stared at the empty plate of spaghetti with a blank look on her face.
“Want to go get a drink?” she asked after a minute of silence.
“Are you going to be my hot date?” Rhett asked, holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
“Sure,” she said, jumping off the stool. “But that means you’re paying.”
six
“Hey, Mikki,” Rhett said as the pregnant waitress waddled over. Joan liked her jet black hair with the bright blue streaks snaking through it. She looked like she was going to be a cool mom.
“Ugh,” she said with a heavy sigh as she grabbed onto the empty chair at their table. “Good to see you, Rhett. Congrats on the job. We need some control for all of these shifters coming into town. They can get pretty wild and I’m too pregnant to have the patience to deal with all of their animal bullshit.”