Timberman Werebear

by T. S. Joyce

  Brighton stared at her lip with a frown, then turned to Drew, who jogged over. He pulled at her lip and leaned in close, studying the cut. “He didn’t get her deep enough. She won’t Turn.”

  Brighton huffed out a relieved-sounding sigh and leaned his head back, then stared at her with his dark eyebrows arched high.

  Slowly, she asked, “Turn me into what?”

  All Brighton whispered before he pulled his shirt on and dragged her back out of the tent was, “A Gray Back.”

  Chapter Seven

  Brighton could talk. Okay, he couldn’t make sound, but he could communicate, and as far as Danielle could remember, he’d never whispered to her before. And right now, he was guiding her through the crowd with his hand protectively on her lower back with Bruiser and Drew flanking them.

  “Brighton?”

  He cast her a quick glance.

  “How did you know to come find us?”

  He leaned in close so she could hear the brush of air that formed his words. “You called for Denison. He was too far away.”

  She hadn’t actually called for Denison. She’d said his name, at normal volume, to Matt, and somehow Brighton and the boys had heard her. Danielle’s curiosity was growing by the minute.

  It was apparent almost immediately why Denison hadn’t been involved in the Ashe Crew’s little rescue mission. The 90’ Climb had begun, and Danielle watched in awe as he propelled himself upward on powerful legs. He made it look easy and graceful, as if he were running on the ground instead up straight up into the sky. His arms flexed each time he pulled the strip of leather up around the pole to gain more traction. Holy hell balls, she’d known Denison was hot, but the man had learned many a talent in the time she’d been away.

  “He is the best one for this event,” Drew said low. “He’s the one who usually runs cable up the pole to create our skylines at the different job sites we’ve worked. Heights don’t get to any of us, and we’re comfortable in trees, but Denison is the fastest on time.”

  Two other men reached the top near Denison, but he was first. One of the competitors wore a T-shirt like Matt that read Gray Back Crew, and the other said Boarlander Crew. The other five competitors were way behind and looked clumsy compared to the three men at the top.

  Danielle clutched the drink she’d bought and debated whether to watch Denison climb down. He seemed completely comfortable in his element, though, and it was hard to take her eyes off him. He was smiling, as if he was enjoying himself, and a knot of tension slid from her shoulders.

  Matt wasn’t going to ruin today.

  “Are you okay?” Brooke asked, fighting the crowd to get to her. Skyler, Tagan, and Haydan followed close behind.

  “I’m fine,” Danielle assured them. “Just mad that guy won’t take a hint.”

  “He won’t mess with you anymore,” Tagan said in a quiet voice.

  Something about the way he said it made her believe him. Tagan seemed like the most reserved out of the bunch, but he had that look sometimes that said he was a brawler when he had to be. Like Brighton.

  Denison said a few words to a man with clipboard, then looked out over the crowd until he saw her. With a grin, he made his way through the onlookers, then swept her up into a back-cracking hug. With a quick spin, he searched her face, but his smile dropped when his eyes landed on her lip.

  He set her down immediately and kissed her gently where it hurt the most. “You’re bleeding.” He kissed her again, and warmth spread from the tiny cut through her lip. It made it feel numb and tingly. Easing back, he asked, “What happened?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about,” Tagan said gruffly.

  Denison narrowed his eyes at his friend and froze. He looked to his brother, then behind him, where a group of Gray Backs were gathered. Matt was with them.

  Time for a shift in conversation. “I brought you a drink.” Danielle shoved the sports drink in his hand. “I was afraid to get you beer because I thought it would inhibit you, but clearly you can handle yourself just fine,” she rambled. “I dropped all of our food, though. You can make bad beer wench jokes now.”

  Denny looked at her and blinked slowly. “Stop. Who did that to your face? Did someone hit you?”

  “No, it was nothing like that.”

  Over Denison’s shoulder, Skyler looked green in the face. Okay, no one was speaking up to get her out of this, and something heavy was settling over her chest, like static from a lightning storm. The air even smelled different now. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly. A little woodsy with undercurrents of animal.

  “Denison,” Tagan said, stepping in front of him and blocking him off from Danielle’s view. “I forbid you going after him. We took care of it, Brighton avenged your mate, the girls are safe, and we can’t afford a war. Keep it to the competition.”

  “Tagan,” Denison said in a helpless, choked voice.

  The sound tore at Danielle’s heart, and she pushed around Tagan’s wide shoulders.

  Denison’s eyes were blazing a frosty silvery-white. “Not here, Denny,” she said, resting her hands on his chest. “I’m okay.” Something tapped on her shoulder, and when she looked over, Brighton was handing her a pair of sunglasses.

  The crew surged forward, surrounding them as she slid the glasses over his eyes to shield them from the crowd.

  She tried to smile, but her lip trembled. Cupping his cheeks, she whispered, “I swear I’m okay.”

  Denison leaned forward until his forehead rested on hers. “Tell me what happened quick.”

  “He kissed me. I hated it. He was trying to get to you. That’s all.” She’d leave out the whore comment and hope Denny didn’t ever catch wind of it. He didn’t seem the type to let something like that go.

  He pulled her lip gently down with his thumb. She couldn’t see his expression anymore behind the glasses, but he looked at the tiny wound for what felt like minutes. “Not deep enough,” he murmured. “You’re hungry. I need to feed you.” His voice had taken on a dreamy quality.

  Her stomach was growling. Her corndog sat on the grass where she’d dropped it when Matt had kiss-attacked her. Uninvited face molestation plus a ruined hand-battered corndog equaled Matt getting a serious kick in the gonads next time she saw him.

  ****

  Denison was going to bleed that Gray Back slowly. He couldn’t do it today because Tagan, his alpha, had ordered him not to, but someday Matt was going to feel deep pain and regret for hurting Danielle.

  He turned and glared at Matt across the crowd. The asshole had the balls to toss him a taunting grin, but it was hard to take it seriously behind the bruising and the broken nose that his shifter healing was struggling to fix. Brighton must’ve got him good. He wished it was him to avenge Danielle’s treatment, but if he couldn’t, his twin was second best at settling down his inner bear. God, his animal was roaring for blood. Everything was bathed in shades of red. Everything except for Danielle, who kept pulling his face back to her. The only red on her was the tiny smear at the corner of her mouth Denison wanted to clean off with his tongue. He gave in once more, thinking it would calm his bear, and kissed it clean. Danielle gave off the most delicious little moan as he sucked her lip, and he hoped that touching her affected her like it did shifters. Warmth spreading through her limbs, calming her from the inside out. That’s why he had to stay near the Ashe Crew. Their presence calmed the raging animal inside of him better than a tranquilizer. And they knew it, too. Bruiser’s hand had been on his shoulder the entire time since he’d learned Matt had gone after Danielle. That, Tagan’s order, and Danielle’s pleading eyes kept him from lunging over the crowd of unknowing humans and ripping Matt’s throat out through his stomach.

  If Danielle knew what he really was, what he was really capable of, she’d run away and never come back.

  Matt had come way too close to Turning her into a bear shifter. If he would’ve gone deeper, bit her harder, she would’ve been a Gray Back by law. He repressed a shudder
at the thought. War would’ve been unavoidable then.

  If she was a born bear shifter, this could’ve been avoided. He could’ve claimed her when they were together in the Bronco earlier, and Matt wouldn’t have any right to mess with her. As it stood, he didn’t want this life for her. Didn’t want to Turn her for his own happiness. Being a bear was awful and painful at times. It would mean hiding what was inside of her for the rest of her life. Brooke struggled with it still, and she’d been Turned by a man she loved. Denison didn’t know if Danielle was quite there yet. His bear had chosen her years ago, and when she’d left, he’d had to accept that he would be mate-less forever. But now she was back, and he couldn’t rush this. And if she didn’t want the bear inside of her and didn’t fully understand what she’d be giving up—namely, her humanity—he was going to make damned sure she was never touched by the tooth of a shifter. Not even his own. Not even to claim her and bond her to him completely.

  He and Brighton knew the dangers of being different from humans. They’d paid in agony for that knowledge. Danielle couldn’t ever know that fear.

  Matt had gotten too close to Turning her though, and it dumped panic into his system. He could’ve so easily bitten into her muscle, been more thorough, ruined her life. Ruined Denison’s shot at happiness with the woman he still loved more than anything.

  He didn’t know what he was going to do, but one thing was for sure. He had to keep her away from the Gray Backs and the Boarlanders until she decided for herself if she wanted this life or not.

  What if she ran? No. She was different now. He pulled her against his chest and rested his chin on top of her head. She was stronger now. Matt hurt her, but she still showed up here, trying to play it off like no big deal to protect Denison from doing something stupid in a crowd full of humans. And she didn’t even know what he was.

  Maybe she could handle all of his secrets.

  Not now, but someday.

  “Come on. There’s not much time between events, and Tagan is up next.” He needed to take care of her in some way to soothe the rampaging animal inside of him, and feeding her was all he could do right now. Tonight, he was going to take her home and adore her body. Not in some quickie passion-fuck like he’d pushed in the Bronco. But better, slower, like she deserved. He inhaled her scent—fruit shampoo, soap, blood, and the lingering bitter smell of fear. That last trace threatened to buckle him and force a Change, but he couldn’t lose it here.

  As if she could read the turmoil flooding him, she stood on tiptoes and kissed him. Giving into his need for her, he pulled her closer and slid his tongue past the seam of her lips to taste her. God, his mate was perfect.

  His mate? Hell yeah. She had been for years, and this time he was going to do this right. He was going to share more of himself and hope she stayed around for the ugly parts.

  History said he wasn’t good enough to keep her, but this time he was going to show her exactly how important—no, pivotal—she was in his life.

  He squeezed her tiny hand in his, wrapping his fingers all the way around. He clapped Brighton on the back in a silent “thank you” for being there for his mate when he wasn’t able. He owed his brother, big time.

  Most of the crew followed Tagan toward the Standing Block Chop, but Denison pulled Danielle toward the rows of concession stands. And when his mate was satisfied with food, and they both had a cold beer in hand, he draped his arm around her waist and reveled in the fact that she’d come back to him. She’d chosen him, not Matt, or some guy she’d met after she’d left. She’d come back because of that job, but it was a cover. He knew in his gut she’d really come back because she still felt something for Denison. She’d thought about him through the years and had been brave enough to face her fears of his rejection and come back. He felt like the luckiest man in the world with her laughing beside him as they watched Tagan dominate in his event and while she cheered with him as they watched Skyler take second in the Women’s Boom Run across a bunch of logs connected together in the nearby lake.

  As the day wore on, his bear settled under Danielle’s constant touch. She seemed as thirsty for his skin as he was for hers. Her smiles were constant, and only for him and the Ashe Crew. She looked so damned sexy in the shirt that proclaimed she was part of his team. She laughed and talked to his friends like they were family, and it made him even more devoted to her.

  She’d always been a nature nerd and big into her books on trees and plants, but she’d never been awkward like she’d said. The Crew had always liked her.

  Now, she was a spitfire and didn’t take shit from any of them without dishing it back. Denison didn’t have to defend her or take up for her or soothe her hurt feelings. She just grinned at their insults, then handed them back like she’d always been a part of this group of sailor-mouthed, rough-talkin’ men.

  As the sun set low in the sky and the Ashe Crew all sat on the bank of the lake passing around a giant bowl of fruit salad Skyler had brought in one of the coolers, Denison looked around and thought his life couldn’t possibly get better than it was right now. Danielle looked so happy to be here, nestled under the crook of his arm as she asked questions about the Boarlanders, Gray Backs, and the different machines up on the job site. She seemed so worried about the dangers of being a lumberjack.

  This was the first time today where they had an hour in between events. He’d done a couple of the chopping events and a log throwing one with Bruiser, but his biggest one was coming up next. Right now, they sat in second place overall. Boarlanders were in first and the Gray Backs were breathing down the Ashe Crew’s neck for second.

  “You should give him a lucky blow job,” Drew suggested, waggling his eyebrows at Danielle.

  She pegged him in the forehead with a grape, and Tagan snorted beside him.

  Kellen frowned. “Is that a thing? Do blow jobs bring good luck?”

  “Uh oh,” Haydan said, rubbing his bald head, then leaning back on his locked elbows. “Skyler’s got some work to do now.”

  “Shut up,” Skyler said with a laugh. “No, babe. It doesn’t bring good luck. It’s just fun. You won’t need my magic blow jobs to secure our spot in the relay.”

  “What’s the relay?” Danielle asked.

  Tagan draped his arm over Brooke’s shoulders and answered. “The top two teams get to participate in the relay. The entire crew will each have a job, and the team who completes all the tasks first wins. If Kellen, Brighton, and Denison make good enough times on the Springboard Chop to qualify, we’ll be able to compete against the other team in a relay of the events we’ve been doing all day. Winner takes home the trophy and a cash prize.”

  “And a pygmy goat!” Brooke squealed. She balled her fists and shook them in front of her like she couldn’t contain her excitement.

  Danielle’s eyes went wide. “A goat? A real goat? Like a tiny, furry, cute, little goat?”

  “Hey, good news for you, Denison,” Bruiser said with a smirk. “Your mate loves animals.”

  “Shut up, man.” Denison chucked a strawberry at his head, but he caught it in his mouth, the wanker.

  “I’m your mate?” Danielle asked.

  Aw, fuck it. “Yeah. That’s what you are to me. I wanted to talk to you about it later, but these rats keep bringing it up, so yeah.” His cheeks were burning like he was a schoolboy with a crush right now.

  Danielle leaned back, letting those chocolate-colored eyes go all hooded and sexy. “Are you calling me your girlfriend, Denny?”

  “Denny!” the boys called out in feminine voices, among catcalls and whistles.

  “Nah,” he said, heat rushing into his cheeks. He was going to kill the guys for this. “You’re more.”

  The smile fell from her face, and he looked away before he could see the rejection in her expression.

  In a move that shocked him to his core, Danielle leaned against him and murmured, “Good.” Then she pulled his knuckles to her lips and kissed them.

  More shit from the guys rang out
, but what did he care? His girl was grinning like he’d just made her day by locking down their relationship status.

  An announcer on a bullhorn urged the Springboard Chop contestants to make their way to the logs set up in the middle of the grounds.

  “You want that goat?” he asked against Danielle’s ear, then nibbled it just for the excuse to feel that tender skin between his teeth.

  Danielle nodded and blinked slowly, like his attention had made her drunk. God, he loved her sexy reactions to him.

  “We’re gonna get you girls that goat,” he promised. “Kellen, Brighton, let’s do this.”

  “Here we go,” Tagan said, clapping.

  Denison helped Danielle up, and she fed him her last grape, then dusted off the backside of her jeans. He gave that cute ass a squeeze and grazed his teeth against her neck. She shuddered, and he chuckled low. Oh, the ways he was going to make her say his name tonight. She’d been tormenting him all day in those tight jeans and being all cute as hell with her tiny kisses.

  He slung his arms around Danielle and Brighton, caught between his two favorite people in the world as they made their way to the next event. Brighton was practically humming with pent up energy that would be expelled through the five pound ax they were about to batter the logs with. This event was the most physically grueling, and Kellen had already removed his shirt and handed it to Skyler. Brighton’s team shirt went next, and Denison blew out his nerves in a puff of breath and reached over his head, then pulled the fabric away from his body.

  Danielle’s eyes went straight for the tribal tattoo on his arm, and he grinned.

  “Is that…” She looked up at him with such heartbreaking hope in her dark eyes. “Is that a badger?”

  His grin stretched farther. He leaned down and kissed her lips. They tasted like sweet, ripe strawberries. “Maybe,” he teased, then draped his shirt over her shoulder and jogged off without looking back.

  Chapter Eight

  That tattoo. Oh Mylanta, that tattoo!

  Tribal symbols covered Denison’s left pec and flowed into abstract shapes that formed what definitely looked like a fearsome badger on his shoulder.