Bloodrunner Bear (Harper's Mountains Book 2) (17 page)
Read Bloodrunner Bear (Harper's Mountains Book 2) Online
Authors: T. S. Joyce
Tags: #Romance, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Werewolves & Shifters
Murmured confirmations filled the night, and Aaron helped Alana to stand. Her body felt like she’d pulled every muscle, but as Harper approached, her bear knew just what to do. Squeezing Aaron’s hand for support, Alana dropped slowly to her knees in front of the Bloodrunner Dragon. Her body shaking with cold and shock and adrenaline, Alana looked up into Harper’s mismatched eyes and smiled emotionally. She swallowed hard and angled her head, exposing her neck.
And then Alana whispered the word that would secure her place in the Bloodrunner Crew. “Alpha.”
“Are you sure I’m ready for this?” Alana asked, staring out the window as the snowy woods blurred by.
Aaron reached over the cab of his old winter truck and steadied her hand. Alana stopped twisting her ring. It felt different after Aaron had paid a jeweler to coat the paperclip in white gold. It was the same shape, but thicker, and with a smooth texture now.
“You’re safe,” Aaron promised her.
And he was right. Aric had quit the Bryson City Fire Department, and he and his coven had evacuated Asheville. They were in the wind, but Aric had left a note in Aaron’s locker at the station. Alana had read it so many times she had it memorized.
I’m sorry. I hope you’ll tell Alana that. This was the only way I could keep us all alive. I won’t be seeking vengeance for Raif, and hope that you can convince your Bloodrunner Dragon not to hunt my coven. By the time you read this, we will be long gone. Please try to understand I really was just trying to lead my people out of the hole the queen before me had dug. You’ll never see us again. Take good care of your mate, Bloodrunner.
A.
The vampires were out of the territory, and Alana didn’t have to worry about being controlled, hunted, or Turned. It was a strange feeling, hating Aric for what he’d done, but at the same time understanding his decision.
She was safe from the vampires, but was she safe from herself? “What if I bite someone?”
Aaron dragged her hand to his lips and let his kiss linger on his knuckles. “It’s been a week, and you can’t hide up in Harper’s Mountains forever. It’s time to get back to your life, Alana. You can’t be afraid of your bear. You’ve shifted three times, and never once did you lose your head. Never once did you lose control. You’re good at this.” The smile that stretched his lips was so proud.
Alana pulled the pink winter hat farther down her ears and shook her leg in quick succession nervously as they passed the
Welcome to Bryson City
sign. Lissa had been traveling all the way from Asheville every day since Alana had been Turned to keep the café running smoothly, but Aaron was right. She needed to find some kind of normalcy. With every day she spent in the sanctuary of Harper’s Mountains, she’d grown more apprehensive of messing up in the real world.
Today was huge for her. It was her first day back at the café, and she was different now. She could see and hear everything. She had all these new instincts to sort through and was easily distracted by the happenings around her.
“We have a plan. You want to repeat it?” Aaron asked.
And just like that, she settled. “I’ll open the café, get to cooking, and you’ll be there to help for an hour before you have to go on shift at the firehouse.”
“Yep. And what about after work?”
“I’ll walk down to the fire station to visit you and get the truck keys. Harper will meet me there, and she’s going with me to the courthouse to register with the Bloodrunner Crew.”
Aaron’s smile turned megawatt at that part. “And what will you put in the space about your mate?”
“Your name. Aaron Keller, grizzly shifter, Bloodrunner Crew.” And now it was her turn to kiss his hand because she still couldn’t believe she got to keep him.
“And then?”
“And then I’m grabbing dinner with Harper to celebrate. And because I really think she needs a break from all the testosterone. You boys are ridiculous.”
Aaron laughed and turned onto Main Street. “And then?”
She sighed. “And then I’ll take your truck back home.”
“Home,” he murmured in a soft tone that made her glance over at him so she could see the tender look in his eyes. He wore a dark gray winter hat and his fire department shirt under his jacket. His jaw was clean-shaven for work, and his profile masculine and strong. Alana unbuckled and slid over to the middle of the bench seat right next to him, then clicked the new buckle into place. And when Aaron draped his arm over her shoulders, she rested her cheek against him.
“You’re my favorite thing about my life,” she said.
He kissed her hairline and murmured, “Look there.”
Squinting into the early morning light, she leaned forward and stared in shock at the sign in front of her coffee shop. The old one was nowhere to be seen but had been replaced by a big, hand-carved sign stained in a deep walnut color.
Alana’s Coffee & Sweets
.
Her mouth fell open when she saw the parking lot. All the trucks there were familiar, and the Bloodrunners stood out in the cold in front of her café.
Aaron parked at the end, pushed the door open, and then helped her out on his side.
“What are you all doing here?” she asked in shock. “I thought you were back in the mountains still asleep.”
“Do you like your sign?” Weston asked, a slight smile curving his lips.
She looked at it again, admiring the craftsmanship. “Did you all do this?”
“The sign?” Ryder asked. “Hell no, I don’t do splinters. That was Weston’s part of the gift.”
“Gift for what?”
Aaron pulled her against his side. “Your welcome-to-the-crew gift.”
“Come on Scarey Beary,” Ryder said, pushing the door to her café open.
When he flipped on the lights, Alana gasped. The windows were new and clean, and there was an antique white chandelier hanging in the center of her café.
Aaron held her hand and led her inside as the others followed directly.
Her boots creaked onto the refurbished wooden floors. There were brightly colored tables with outlets for computers, and the walls were an olive green. There was a bar with four blue stools, and wooden shelves hung behind the counter. They were decorated artistically with hand-thrown mugs and clear jars of coffee beans. Her old chalkboard had been removed, and now there were four new ones in its place. Lissa’s handwriting was all over them in pink, yellow, and blue chalk.
Along the side wall was an abstract mural that looked like an interpretation of 1010 and Harper’s Mountains. There was even a tiny picture of a waving mouse in the corner.
Alana spun in a slow circle and pressed her gloved hands over her cheeks to soak up the tears there. “This is even better than what I’d dreamed for this place. You all did this for me?”
“We’ve been coming down here all week to get work in,” Harper explained. “Aaron told us your ideas, and we all pitched in. Your sister was running the shop and staying late to help every day. You…” Harpers voice shook and failed. Blinking hard, she tried again. “You are very loved.”
Alana lost it, shoulders shaking, face crumpling as she let Aaron pull her against him. Harper was right. It took an act of love for a group of people to give her a gift like this—one that took this much time and thought.
“I love you guys, too. Thank you,” she whispered.
Weston pulled her in and hugged her, and then Harper and Wyatt followed. When Ryder hugged her close for too long, Aaron shoved him in the head and told him to, “Piss off, bird.”
And just like that, the emotional charge lessened amid the laughter.
Alana could breathe again and truly take in this moment as her crew dragged tables together into the center of the room. They chattered and bantered, and Weston grabbed a towering plate of pastries Lissa must’ve made. He settled them in the center of the tables, and everything was chaos as hands scrambled for the food. The chandelier threw sparkles all around the room. Wyatt roughed up Ryder’s hair as the owl shifter shoved an entire strawberry pastry into his mouth. Harper was giving one of those beautiful belly laughs at something Weston said.
“Are you happy?” Aaron asked from beside her, a smile in his voice. She was the one who usually started the are-you-happy game.
Alana wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his steady heartbeat. Dragging her gaze from her lively crew up to her mate’s clear, adoring eyes, she played their game. “You already know the answer to that.”
Aaron leaned down and, coveting her, kissed her lips gently. After he eased back, he repeated the words she usually said. “I like to hear you say it.”
Her chest swelled with an overwhelming joy and sense of belonging as the waves of laughter ebbed and flowed through her café.
Alana smiled up at him and whispered, “I’ve never been so happy.”
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The Harper’s Mountains series is being written as a standalone series, but if you would like more of these characters, check out T. S. Joyce’s bestselling Saw Bears, Fire Bears, and Gray Back Bears series, starting with
Lumberjack Werebear (
Saw Bears, 1
).
Reading Order for Damon’s Mountains
Lumberjack Werebear (Saw Bears, 1), Woodcutter Werebear (Saw Bears, 2), Timberman Werebear (Saw Bears, 3), Sawman Werebear (Saw Bears, 4), Bear My Soul (Fire Bears, 1), Axman Werebear (Saw Bears, 5), Bear the Burn (Fire Bears, 2), Bear the Heat (Fire Bears, 3), Woodsman Werebear (Saw Bears, 6), Lumberman Werebear (Saw Bears, 7), Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears, 1), Gray Back Alpha Bear (Gray Back Bears, 2), Gray Back Ghost Bear (Gray Back Bears, 3), Gray Back Broken Bear (Gray Back Bears, 4), Lowlander Silverback (Gray Back Bears, 5), Last Immortal Dragon (Gray Back Bears, 6), A Very Beastly Christmas (Gray Back Bears, 7), Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears, 1), Boarlander Bash Bear (Boarlander Bears, 2), Boarlander Silverback (Boarlander Bears, 3), Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears, 4), Boarlander Cursed Bear (Boarlander Bears, 5)
