by T. S. Joyce
Alison felt silly straddling Kirk’s lap now, but when she tried to move off him, he held her tighter. “I have a boner,” he gritted out with a significant look.
“I have a boner, too,” Bash said as he pulled a bottle of beer from the cooler. “I mean, I always have a boner now that Emerson is around because her tits are soft and bounce around real nice—”
“That’s good, Bash Bear,” Emerson said through a giggle as she cupped his cheek.
“But I was just telling them my dick gets even harder now that you’re pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant?” Alison asked.
“Yeah, and it isn’t against the law,” Emerson said defensively.
“No, no. I’m not getting you in trouble. Congratulations!”
Under her, Kirk’s boner was getting harder and bigger. Him using her to cover it up wasn’t helping.
Bash handed her a beer. “Since you’re wicked and unlawful now, you and Kirk should have tons of babies. Fuck in ten-ten if you want to get instant pregnant. I’ll babysit.”
“Oh, God,” Kirk muttered, hugging her tighter against his chest.
“You smell like blood and sex,” Bash said, right before he took a long swig of his drink. “I like your dove tattoo on your side boob.”
Alison buried her face against Kirk’s chest as her cheeks burned with mortification.
Emerson helped zero percent. She was just sitting in her mate’s lap, laughing.
“What does it mean?” Kirk asked, looking at it sideways as she scrambled to pull the low hanging sleeve hole over to cover her skin better. She regretted not putting her bra back on.
Horrified, she whispered, “It’s a reminder to see the good in people.”
Kirk’s eyes jerked to hers, and a slow, heart-stopping smile stretched his lips. “I like that. What about that one?” He pointed to the sails of a pirate ship that took up most of her ribcage.
Self-conscious, she hung her head and cast Bash and Emerson a shy glance. No way could she muster the courage to explain them to anyone other than Kirk, much less on camera. “I don’t really show these to people.”
“Well, why not?” Bash asked.
“I guess because I’m kind of messed up, and these tell my story.”
“You ain’t messed up,” Bash said with a shake of his head. He pointed to Harrison, who had just crested the trail. “He’s messed up. I’m messed up.” He pointed his beer bottle back to the woods, where a still drunk and swaying Clinton was leaning heavily against a tree. “He’s super messed up.”
“I’m normal,” Mason called from down the trail.
Bash shook his head and lowered his voice. “No he ain’t. Point is we’re all messed up. You look pretty damn normal to me. You and Kirk both.”
Huh.
“You think Kirk is normal and I’m not?” Clinton slurred. “You’re an ass…butt.”
“Good one, Clinton,” Harrison said as he sat on Kirk’s other side.
“I think I’m going to puke,” Clinton groaned.
When Harrison leaned back on locked arms and narrowed his eyes on Alison, the air suddenly felt too heavy to breathe. “Nice claiming mark.”
Clinton fell with a thud onto the ground behind them, rested his hands on his stomach, and glared up at the sky. “She’ll be the death of us all now. Bye bye Boarlanders.”
Emerson glared at him. “You’re exhausting.”
“Good job, Kirk,” Clinton mumbled. “You claimed a grenade.”
“What does that mean?” Alison asked. She was trying real hard not to get offended, but this guy was being a jerk.
“You still think you’re here to keep the peace, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she gritted out, “because I am.”
Clinton started fake snoring. Everyone stared at him for a moment, then Bash went back to passing out beers, and Mason sat down next to Clinton’s limp body.
“Hey, remember that time you claimed the woman who shot you?” Mason asked.
“Dude,” Kirk said with a frown for the dark-haired behemoth sitting behind him.
“I’m just pointing out that Bash said you’re the normal one of the group, which clearly is not the case.”
“Does everyone know I shot you?” Alison asked.
Kirk said, “No,” at the same time everyone else said, “Yes.”
Fantastic.
“I don’t like weapons in my territory,” Harrison said in a dark, gravelly voice.
Her stomach dipped to her toes, and slowly, she turned around and settled on the ground between Kirk’s legs. “I owe you an apology. Lots of them, actually. I didn’t know what you and Georgia had been through. I was just doing what I was trained to do, but my partner and I should’ve taken the time to come in slow and easy. It wasn’t the first impression I had hoped to make on you, and I won’t bring my weapon into your territory anymore out of respect for what you’ve been through.”
“Isn’t that dangerous for you, being here unprotected?” There was a sarcastic edge to the alpha’s voice.
Eyes on another lightning flash over the mountains, Alison huffed a breath and shook her head. “I don’t think my Glock would protect me from much here. And besides, I don’t feel like I need it anymore when I’m up here.” She shrugged her shoulder up to her ear. “I have Kirk, and none of you seem to want to hurt me.”
“I do,” Clinton said.
“Hurt her, and I’ll kill you,” Kirk said nonchalantly as he brushed his fingers down the dove tattoo.
When Alison turned to look at Clinton around Kirk’s shoulder, Mason was glaring down at him with a calculating look. “I could suffocate him if you want me to, Boss Bear.”
“Let him be,” Harrison ground out. “Officer Holman, Kirk ain’t mine to worry about. He’s Kong’s. That and he’s a grown-ass man who can make his own decision on who he chooses for a mate.” He turned a lightened gaze on her. “I hope you’ll excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but you feel scary. That mark on your shoulder is illegal now, and you’re a human cop. I don’t want him hurt.”
“I don’t either, and I understand your concern. We’re going to hide it, though. I won’t hurt him. I won’t hurt any of you.” She leveled the alpha a look and let him see the honesty in her eyes when she whispered, “I promise.”
Chapter Thirteen
Alison liked the Boarlanders.
They’d sat up above the falls for an hour teasing and laughing and cutting up as they watched the storm pass. Even when it had started sprinkling on them, no one moved to get up. And little by little, Harrison had relaxed beside her.
Kirk had gone completely affectionate, cuddling her, stroking her, kissing the back of her neck and around her claiming mark in between talking to the others, almost as if he didn’t notice he was doing it.
Something had changed between them since they’d made love under the falls. Or perhaps that change had come about because they’d opened up to each other afterward, or because they’d claimed each other, she didn’t know. All she knew was she’d never felt this sure of anyone, or this happy.
“I’m glad I’m not the only human in the crew anymore,” Emerson said, cradling her still flat stomach.
Kirk nibbled Alison’s earlobe and smiled against her. “I’m glad, too. I thought there was no way in hell a woman like her would ever settle for a man like me.”
“Now that’s just stupid,” Bash said. “There ain’t nothin’ wrong with you, and love don’t work like that. Emerson’s the smartest woman on the planet, and she picked me.”
“She ain’t that smart then,” Clinton grumbled.
“Go jump off a cliff,” Mason said.
“Okay.” Clinton stood up and sauntered to the edge, right beside the falls. “I’m gonna do it, and I’ll probably die, and y’all will miss me when I’m gone.”
“No, don’t do it,” Kirk said half-heartedly.
Clinton narrowed his eyes at all of them, gave them the bird with both hands, and launched himself off
the edge.
A few seconds later, there was a huge splash below them.
“Is he dead?” Mason asked, making his way to the ledge.
“I jump from here all the time,” Kirk muttered. “We can’t get rid of him that easily.”
“Still alive,” Clinton taunted them from below.
“See?” Kirk said. He swung his attention to Alison, and now there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Hold your nose.”
“What?” Alison asked, startled.
Kirk was grinning now and looked pure wicked. “Hold your nose!”
He launched upward, taking her with him in a tight embrace, then jumped from the falls. Alison screamed bloody murder as her stomach lodged in her throat and tried to escape her body, and at the last, heart-pounding second, she sucked in a breath and pinched her nose. And oh, that river stung her skin, but underwater, her anger evaporated as she opened her eyes. Kirk was there smiling like a maniac, and around them, the other Boarlanders were dropping into the water, surrounded by millions of tiny bubbles that raced toward the surface.
Kirk shoved her toward the surface with a surprising amount of strength, and she broke the waves with a gasp. “Monster!” she yelped as he bit her ass on his way up.
He treaded water as the others came up for air. Unashamedly, he said, “I can see your nipples through your shirt now.”
“We should call Audrey and ask her to bring home barbecue,” Bash called from where he bobbed in the water. “You should have a claiming party.”
“You just want an excuse to throw a party,” Clinton muttered as he swam by like a grumpy frog.
“No, I don’t. Claiming is a big deal. Ally is one of us now.”
“No, Bash,” Harrison said. “She’ll be a Lowlander claim.”
Kirk’s smile faded as he watched the Boarlander alpha swim toward shore.
Something about the hurt in his expression slashed pain through Alison’s stomach. The decision to stay or go back to Kong wasn’t just hurting Kirk, she realized. The uncertainty was hurting all of them.
She kissed his neck because she was a coward. It hurt too much to see that pain in his eyes. He rubbed her back gently, then pushed her toward shore. She understood his need for action. She didn’t like people seeing her hurt either.
Up on the sandy beach though, Harrison cursed loud enough for it to echo through the valley. He linked his hands behind his head, then turned slowly. His eyes were blazing bright blue, and he looked as gutted as Kirk did. “I’m sorry, man. My bear got set off when Officer Holman and her partner came charging into our woods, and I’m spiraling, but it’s no excuse. I’m happy you found her. Happy you found the one. I’ll call Audrey and ask her to bring back food tonight, and we’ll celebrate it right. Legality be damned, this is a really big deal.”
Alison dragged her feet through the waves and did her best to cover her tits with her crossed arms. Her thin, soaking wet shirt wasn’t doing her any favors as Kirk guided her up toward the sandy beach, his hand on her lower back.
“Harrison,” Kirk said, “I know you don’t get the draw, but she’s been calling to my gorilla since that first night in the woods. She came into our territory, all fierce looking, gun pulled, here to save Emerson, but that was the moment for me. I was Changed, and my animal drew up short on a woman for the first time ever. My animal picked, and I tried to fight it. She tried to fight it, too. I did my best not to call her, to leave her alone, but I only lasted a day and a half and it hurt us both. It felt like ripping my own guts out being away from her. You know fighting a pairing doesn’t work.”
“I know,” Harrison murmured. With a sigh, he stuck out a hand to Alison. “Harrison Lang, alpha of the Boarlanders.”
Okay, they were starting over, and she was glad for it, but she was also wearing a soaking wet shirt. She squeaked and shook his hand fast, then covered back up. “Alison Holman, but I would really like it if you called me Ally instead of Officer Holman. I’m off duty.”
“She said doody,” Bash said with a snicker, and up the beach, hiking down the trail toward them, Emerson giggled.
Harrison’s face cracked into a grin, and he snorted. Shaking his head, he took off for the woods and called over his shoulder, “Come on, Bash Bear. We have a claiming party to throw together. Ally, welcome to the C-Team.”
Chapter Fourteen
“What did Harrison mean by C-Team?” Alison asked, holding on tighter around Kirk’s neck as he carried her on his back through Boarlander woods. Her flip-flops dangled from her fingers and bounced against his chest with every step he took.
“C-Team used to be a Gray Back thing. They were wild. Still are, but the mates in Grayland Mobile Park have at least got them settled enough to hit their lumber numbers. But before Mason and I came to help out, Harrison lost a lot of his crew, and they fell way behind on their work.”
“How did he lose his crew?”
“Clinton.”
He didn’t offer more explanation than that, so she asked, “So they are the C-Team because the Boarlanders don’t hit their numbers?”
“Yeah, but we will dig ourselves out of C-Team status if we can just get through a damned week without fightin’.”
“But you said you’ll need to fight more now.”
“Not like this. Clinton is convinced ladies in the trailer park are some kind of jinx. He was really bad before Audrey battled for her place here. He has bounced from crew to crew, and it ain’t the crews’ faults he can’t adjust. His head is a mess, and his bear matches. I know he hurt your feelings back there, but trust me when I say he has been downright tame about you being in the trailer park. About you being claimed.”
“That does make me feel a little better. I thought he just hated me.”
Kirk snorted. “He hates everyone on the outside. On the inside, though, he feels more than he lets on. Most days, you’ll want to shoot his ass. But he’ll have one day in ten where he does something that makes him seem almost…redeemable.”
“You’re wrong, asshole,” Clinton said as he strode around them. “I ain’t redeemable, fuck you very much.”
Kirk didn’t even flinch at the vitriol in his voice. The muscled, sandy blond-haired man stomped away in front of them but slowed, then stopped. He turned, his eyes sparking with anger, but he dropped his gaze to the ground and growled, “You hear him?”
“Who?” Kirk asked.
Clinton jerked his light gray eyes to Alison, then back to the ground. “You should cover up your mark.” He hesitated another moment, then spun and strode off down the trail toward the trailer park.
Kirk set her down immediately and backed her into the brush behind a thick trunk of an Aspen. He peeled off his shirt. “Here, put this on,” he murmured low, checking the trail around the tree.
“What’s happening?”
“Someone’s yelling up ahead. Sounds like your partner.”
“Shit,” she whispered as she struggled into his light gray, oversize shirt. It hung down to her knees. Finn could not find out about her mark. She had only known him for a couple of weeks, but he was anti-shifter, plain as day. And if he was a by-the-book cop, he would turn her into their superiors the moment he saw her claiming mark, no matter that they were partners. And she had no doubt in her mind that law enforcement would make an example of them. It would be the first shifter offense they enforced. She and Kirk could both be locked up.
“Holman!” Finn yelled through the woods.
Kirk cupped her cheeks and lifted his brows as he leveled her a look. “It’ll be okay. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” He leaned down and kissed her, pushed his tongue past her lips once, then disengaged and rested his forehead against hers. “You feel different.”
She closed her eyes and sighed as a feeling of utter safety slipped over her again. With a smile, she whispered, “So do you.”
“Holman!”
She let off a human growl and made her way back to the trail. Finn was coming in and fast. Harriso
n followed at a distance, his eyes wild and blue, and his jaw clenched. Up ahead, Clinton squatted down, stripping pine needles off a branch, his body placed between Alison and her pissed-off looking partner.
“Close enough,” Clinton barked out.
“It’s okay, Clinton,” she said, squeezing his shoulder as she passed. “What are you doing here?” she asked Finn.
His mouth flopped open, and his face turned red, the color of his hair. “Are you fucking kidding me? What am I doing here? What are you doing here? And in that?” He waved to her giant T-shirt. “This is against the rules!”
“What rules?”
“You know…fraternizing with…with…”
“The enemy? They aren’t an enemy. We’re supposed to be working beside them, and I’m off-duty. Who I choose to hang out with in my downtime is my choice.”
“But they’re…”
“They’re what? Shifters? I know you weren’t about to say suspects or criminals. Know you weren’t. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
“So killing an entire government agency isn’t doing anything wrong?”
“No proof,” Clinton said blandly.
“Are you talking about IESA?” she asked. “The undercover government agency that went rogue? The agency that got their dumb asses videotaped by Cora Keller and exposed to the world because of their messy assassination attempts? The agency not even the government will publicly claim? Sorry Finn, but your assumptions about these people were wrong. If IESA agents are missing, it’s because the shifters up here were defending themselves.”
“Which should be brought to light in court to see who is really guilty.”
“A trial the government would never let see the light of day, Finn! They aren’t dragging IESA out to expose all the illegal, unethical, horrible shit they did! If the IESA met their end here, the shifters did the government a damned favor.”