“Hi, Harper,” Cassie cooed to the cutie. She gasped when she saw the baby’s eyes. One was brown, like her mother’s, but the other was crystal blue with an elongated pupil, like that of a snake. This must be the little last-born dragon. “You’re beautiful,” Cassie murmured, mesmerized by the child’s direct eye attention.
“A beautiful little hellion,” her mother, D, said in a proud voice. “She’s a handful right now, and Haydan seems to be one of the only ones here who can wrangle her.”
“Yeah, some talent. I have the burn scars to prove how good I am at managing baby dragons.”
“She listens to him best,” D said.
“She listens to no one,” Haydan argued, handing the now squirming child to her mother.
“She burns him the least.” D was cracking a giant grin now.
“Oh geez, do you hear this?” Haydan asked Cassie, eyebrows cocked. “She’s kissing my ass so I’ll help when she needs someone to watch Harper. I see right through it.”
“But you’ll still help.”
Haydan made a single ticking sound behind his teeth and jerked his head. “Yeah.”
Cassie was trying to keep the laugh in her throat, but she hadn’t ever heard easy banter like this outside of her and Matt.
“You ready to meet everyone?” D asked.
Sort of. “Yes.”
“Don’t be nervous,” Haydan whispered against her ear as D led them toward the bonfire.
“Yeah, right. My last crew only had five bears total in it. The Ashe Crew looks huge.” What if she didn’t fit into the dynamic here? No, scratch that. There was no way in hell she would fit into the dynamic here. She wasn’t good with people. Never had been, never would be. That little gem was IESA’s fault. They hadn’t exactly believed in socializing the animals they’d collected for the Menagerie. Shit, shit, shit. Inhale. Exhale. Don’t think about that. Smile on your face. Bigger. There, you probably don’t look as crazy as you actually are.
“Are you growling?” a blond-haired, blue-eyed Viking asked.
Haydan pressed his palm against Cassie’s lower back, settling her by a fraction. She rewarded him by not jerking away. “This is Drew and his mate, Riley.” Haydan gestured to a short, curvy woman with shiny, short hair and stunning green eyes.
“She’s the Vessel of the Dragon,” another blond-haired man said in a reverent voice.
“Kellen,” three of the men around the fire drawled out in unison.
Haydan cracked a grin and pointed to the others, introducing them one by one. But when he got to a set of twin brothers, Brighton and Denison, she drew up short.
“I know you,” she said suspiciously. From where? Think. They were so familiar. A memory stayed right out of reach.
“We get that a lot,” Denison explained. “We have those familiar-looking faces.”
Cassie canted her head and stared. It had to be more than that. She was having such déjà vu right now.
“This is Tagan, your new alpha,” Haydan said, drawing her attention to a towering man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He stood tall and strong, hands behind his back as he glared down at her.
“What was your last crew?” he asked in a deep tenor.
“Red Claws of South Dakota.”
“I haven’t heard of them.”
Which was how she’d stayed alive all these years. “They were backwoods bears.”
“How many?”
“Four males and me.”
“So like Goldilocks and the four bears?” Denison asked through a smirk.
“Yeah, but they ate moonshine instead of porridge.”
Denison snickered. “I like her.”
God, why was he so familiar?
“Okay, we’re all here, and we have a big day ahead of us,” Tagan said. “Cassie, you won’t be required to register with us since you’ve only just arrived, and I’m sorry about dragging you along, but we’re going to blow off some steam in town before our paperwork hits the Internet, and I’d like for you to come. Logging season starts in a couple of days, and when it does, there won’t be much time to spend away from the landing.”
“Logging season? You’re lumberjacks like Matt?”
“Wait, Matt?” Denison’s mate, Danielle asked.
Ooh, right. Her brother had done the unwelcome kiss move on someone here. Danielle, if the look on her face was anything to go by.
“She’s Matt’s adopted sister,” Haydan explained. “He’s the one who introduced us.”
That was nice of him, using the word “introduced” instead of “forced us to be mates with copious amounts of guilt-trips and pleading.” She liked Haydan even more now.
No. No liking him anymore. That was a dangerous game.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Drew asked, his golden brows drawing down in a frown.
“Sorry. I’m a little overwhelmed with everything and all of you. I mean, not all of you. You’re wonderful. Lovely, grizzly shifters.”
“Are you not a grizzly?” Denison asked, perking up.
“She’s a black bear,” Haydan said.
“Kill joy,” Denison accused.
“Let’s eat,” Tagan said, gesturing to a splintered wooden buffet table filled with steaming platters of French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon.
“I don’t understand,” Cassie whispered to Haydan. “Why are you a kill joy?”
“Denison likes to make bets on what a person’s shifter animal might be.” Haydan was smiling as if he thoroughly enjoyed ruining Denison’s fun.
Daniel was patting her mate’s back as they stood in line in front of Cassie. “I know baby, that’s a really sad story.”
“It’s just,” Denison complained, “she’s the last mate for the crew, and he ruined the game.”
Even Denison’s voice was familiar. “Are you sure we don’t know each other?” Cassie asked.
Denison slurped down a blob of steaming egg he’d plucked off one of the platters and immediately started blowing air out of his mouth. “Holy fuck, that’s hot,” he said around the bite.
“Why don’t you ever blow on hot food before you shove it in your mouth?” Danielle asked. “It’s obviously hot. It’s steaming. Look, no one else is doing that.”
She pointed to Drew who was actually in the middle of doing the same thing.
Danielle shook her head in mock disappointment as Riley cracked up beside Drew. “Never mind,” Danielle muttered.
“We definitely don’t know each other,” Denison said in answer to Cassie’s question. “You’re hot. I’d remember you.”
Danielle slapped him upside the head and mouthed I’m sorry to Cassie.
Haydan growled a menacing sound behind her, but when she turned around, the noise died in his throat, and he shook his head as if confused.
She piled up her plate like the others and ate in silence as the Ashe Crew bantered back and forth. Her cheeks hurt from smiling by the time they’d finished breakfast and thrown their plastic ware and paper plates away. This couldn’t be real. Crews fought like cats and dogs. It was a constant struggle for dominance and showing each other up…right?
This crew actually seemed to like each other—to enjoy each other’s company and accept each other’s differences, and there were many. How strange. But wary though she was, she still enjoyed the dirty jokes and the constant jabs. She was even flattered when Denison called her Goldi and told Haydan he and Danielle would ride with them into town.
She’d never had a pet name before, but now she had two—Cas and Goldi. And it felt kind of right starting over fresh with new people who didn’t know how screwed up she was.
With the Ashe Crew, she could be anyone she wanted to be.
Chapter Five
Saratoga was a small town. Granted, Cassie had lived hours away from an even smaller one in South Dakota when she’d lived with the Red Claws, so Saratoga was a sight for sore eyes when Haydan drove them down the main drag through the downtown historic district.
T
iny shops lined the road, and she was surprised at how busy it was for a Monday afternoon. The crowd seemed to be from a clearance sale at an antique shop. The sign was written on an old wooden board in hand-painted letters that matched the old-timey feel of the store. There was even a hot dog vendor out front.
“Can we go there afterward?” she asked, her gaze following the knickknacks and furniture that had been arranged out front.
“You like old furniture?” Haydan asked with a surprised look before he put his eyes back on the fender of Tagan’s jacked-up black pickup.
“Not just furniture. Historic stuff. I like things that have been passed down and have history.” Geez, she sounded like such a nerd right now.
“You should talk to Riley,” Danielle said from the back. She had her hands gripped onto Cassie’s headrest and was leaned forward in the back seat, watching the town pass from right beside Cassie’s face. The woman didn’t have any personal space issues, that was for sure.
Cassie tried her best not to jerk away and plaster herself to the window. She wanted her new crew to like her and not discover what a spaz she was. Oh, they’d figure it out soon enough, but for now, she wanted to enjoy the day.
She felt safe for the first time, possibly ever, with her giant bodyguard mate right beside her, hand slung over the wheel and the other resting on her thigh. She’d swatted it off twice, but Haydan had seemed determined to make her accept his touch. Perhaps he was one of those men who needed crap like that. Affirmation she was there, even when his eyes weren’t directly on her. It was weird. Oddly comforting as time went on, but mostly weird.
“Does Riley like old furniture, too?” Cassie asked, as much out of politeness as to get her mind off Haydan’s steady grip on her leg.
“Oh, she goes bonkers for it,” Danielle said in an excited voice. “She refurbishes broken furniture—”
“Wait. Is the workshop at the trailer park hers?”
“Yeah, her mate, Drew, built it for her. She sells what she makes online. Even got Damon Daye to get us cell phone reception and Internet up at Asheland. She’s like a second daughter to him.”
“Is she a dragon, too?”
“No, completely human, has no intention of becoming shifter, but she was the surrogate for Harper.”
“Oh. Why would she do that? I mean, that sounds really hard to grow a baby for someone else, then give it up.”
“Because Riley is awesome. And it isn’t so bad. She gets to see Harper every day, and she and Diem are best friends. Anyway, she’s been asking us for more and more help because her online business has taken off, and she’s wanting to brand it as Lumberjack Werebear furniture, kind of like Amish furniture. As soon we go public, it’s either going to tank or take off. I’m betting take off. The Breck Crew are good friends of ours, and they were the first to come out a couple years ago. Now they are basically swarmed for autographs wherever they go. It’s wild.”
“So, you’re okay with the Ashe Crew going public?”
“Oh, yeah,” Danielle said. “It’s been coming for a long time. Tagan was just being overly cautious.”
Denison had gone quiet in the back, though, staring out the window with a haunted look.
“You don’t feel the same?” Cassie asked him quietly.
The humor had dropped from Denison’s face as he swung his gaze to her. “I don’t think all humans can be trusted to know about us, no, Goldi. I don’t think we should be exposing ourselves.”
Sadness washed through Danielle’s eyes as she leaned back and cuddled against her mate’s side.
Cassie turned around to the front and sighed. She felt the same way. Danielle obviously didn’t know what humans were capable of. Perhaps because she was one of them and wanted to think the best of her kind. But Cassie had seen the dark underbelly of what knowing too much, and holding too much power, could do to humans.
Apparently, Denison had seen some of the same.
Haydan parked between Tagan’s truck and Kellen’s white pickup. “Stay there,” he said in a deep timbre that blasted warmth through her stomach.
“Okay,” she murmured as she watched him jog around the front.
Haydan pulled her door open and held out his hand. He even kept his face perfectly frozen as she hesitated to put her palm into his. With a steadying breath, she rested her fingertips on his hand and allowed him to help her out of his jacked-up Jeep.
Relief washed through her when he let her hand go, but it was only a momentary balm. He slid his arm over her shoulder and kissed the side of her head.
It happened so quickly, she jerked to a stop and stared at him, eyes bulging.
A slow smile curved his sensual lips before he nodded his head toward the courthouse steps. “Come on.”
“What are you doing?” she whispered, yanking his hand until he stopped. “I told you no touching. Are you just trying to express your dominance or put me in my place by ignoring my wants?”
Haydan smiled at Danielle and Denison as they passed, then pulled Cassie farther away from the Ashe Crew who was gathering in front of the courthouse. “I’m touching you because I like touching you, Cas. And if you don’t like it, too fucking bad.” He yanked her hand to the seam of his pants, stiff with his thick erection. “If you want my dick, I need affection.”
“So let me get this straight. Boring, missionary sex is all you’ll give me, and I have to work for even that?” Her voice wrenched up an octave but screw it all. “You’re using sex as a weapon.”
Haydan gripped the back of her neck and pulled his lips right beside her ear. “No, Cas,” he whispered, “I’m teaching you about foreplay.” He pulled her earlobe between his teeth and held it there, biting down just on the edge of pain. Releasing her suddenly, he stepped back, and Cassie stumbled forward.
Holy shit, that was hot. Bitey, sexy Haydan thought he could teach her something about sex? He sauntered off with that cocky gait and cast her a knee-locking smile over his shoulder. Okay, maybe he could teach her a thing or two.
She swayed on her feet and gulped, then trailed unsteadily after him.
Tagan’s mate, Brooke, was watching her with a knowing smile. She held her son Wyatt’s hand as she waited. “You make him happy, you know?” she asked as Cassie reached her.
Cassie remembered how sad and angry he’d looked after he’d fucked her from behind last night. “I highly doubt that.”
“I’ve seen Haydan with other girls, Cassie. He hasn’t ever looked at any of them like he just did you.”
She shouldn’t be, but Cassie was flattered. And also a bit green at the mention of Haydan with other women. She had the instantaneous urge to Change and maul anyone who even looked at him. A stupid, pointless reaction because men did whatever they wanted. It was just the law of nature, and her getting territorial wouldn’t change the fact that Haydan would sleep with whomever he liked, even if she was monogamous. But that thought didn’t feel right. Haydan’s betrayal should’ve been inevitable. It was true according to everything she’d learned with the Red Claws, but she couldn’t compare Haydan to Jake. Jake had been predictable, while Haydan surprised her with everything he did. He was different from any man she’d ever known, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or a very bad thing.
Little Wyatt slipped his hand in Cassie’s, jarring her out of her troubling thoughts. “What are you doing?” she asked, startled.
“I want to fly, and you look strong,” the dark-headed two-year-old said. He stared up at her with serious, round, striking blue eyes, just like his alpha father’s.
Brooke counted, “One, two…”
“Three,” Cassie finished, banishing her wariness for the sake of the little boy who was looking at her like she wasn’t a soul-damaged freak. She and Brooke lifted him over two stairs as they climbed up toward the courthouse doors.
Wyatt giggled and kicked his legs mid-air, drawing an involuntary smile from Cassie’s lips. The stretch felt good.
Three m
ore swings, and they reached the top of the stairs. Cassie was showing teeth now, she was grinning so big, and when she looked up, Haydan was watching her with an unfathomable expression. He disappeared through the double doors behind Kellen before she could take a guess at his emotions. Maybe he was just as mixed up as she felt right now.
And suddenly, she really cared what he was feeling. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Haydan was important to her. For protection, obviously.
Something shiny on the white tile floor caught her attention, and she squeezed Wyatt’s hand. “Hey, what’s that?” she asked, pointing to the penny.
“Monies!”
“Is it on heads?” Cassie asked, poking the toe of her sneaker at the coin.
Wyatt squatted down and stared at it. “Yes?”
“Then it’s good luck. A good sign for today. You want to put that in your pocket?”
“Yes!” he said, more confident this time. “Daddy, look!”
Wyatt blasted off toward his father, who had turned at the front of the group when his kid had called out to him.
“You really think it’s a good sign?” Brooke said.
Cassie smiled sympathetically. Damn, she was glad she wasn’t putting her shifter status on paper. “Are you nervous?”
“It’s just, after we do this, there is no going back. There is no, ‘Oh, just kidding, we’re not really shifters.’” She was staring after her son as he ran into Tagan’s outstretched arms. This must be ten times scarier with a kid.
“The Ashe Crew is strong. My brother has told me stories about you all. He doesn’t give his respect lightly, and he seems to think this crew is the best of them.”
Brooke settled into line beside her and nodded. “You’re right. We’ve been through a lot and always stuck together. That’s what is going to get us through whatever is coming. Is that why Matt wanted Haydan to claim you?”
Dang, word got around quickly. “I honestly don’t know why Matt chose Haydan or the Ashe Crew. He just told me it was important I be with you. Maybe because Diem and Harper are part of the crew, and Damon is willing to…you know…eat anyone who messes with his family and friends. Matt’s always been overprotective. I mean, my last crew isn’t even a match for the Ashe Crew, much less your ally dragon. He’s got his reasons, but he just gave me a bunch of half-truths when I tried to get them out of him.”