Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears Book 4) (15 page)

“But what if I cain’t swim?” Ryder asked as Mason slathered his wiry little arms in sunscreen.

“I got you a life jacket, and you’ll be in a tube with me and your mom. We won’t let you sink.”

“I like your swim trunks,” Bash said to Ryder as he walked by with Big Blue, the cooler Mason had filled with beer and juice boxes. “And your yellow eyes!”

Mason frowned at Ryder and said, “Little buddy, your eyes are pretty yellow. Are you just excited, or do you want to Change before we go?”

“I’m okay, Mason. I’m tough.”

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Mason had bought the little blue shark swim trunks for Ryder because they were the same color as his navy ones. Yeah, he wanted to match the kid. The guys would rag him mercilessly if he told them how soft his heart had gone, so he would keep that little tidbit for pillow-talk tonight with Beck. She was always really mushy after they had sex. Maybe she was still a little broken from how Robbie had treated her body, or maybe she just had a tender heart. Either way, Mason loved every freaking thing about her.

Ryder arched his gaze to Clinton as he walked by. And to Mason’s utter disbelief, Clinton ruffled Ryder’s hair gently until the little boy giggled and play punched at his leg. Clinton ducked and wove, fists up in the air and an easy grin on his face. What the crap was going on? Hell froze over or something. Clinton didn’t do easy, normal moments.

The shadow boxing bear shifter scowled at Mason and asked, “What are you lookin’ at?” Then he sauntered off without another look back and yep, there was Crazy Clinton again.

“Hey, did you park your truck at the end of the line?” Mason called.

Clinton flipped him off over his shoulder, which he supposed was a yes. Today, they were floating the river, something Clinton had been begging to do for a month. Well, actually he’d wanted to get sloppy drunk and float the river, but one out of two wasn’t bad since they were going to cut him off at beer five. When Ryder had told Mason that his dad was supposed to take him to swim lessons this summer, but had bailed for work instead, he found himself determined to make up for that asshole’s shortcomings. He would teach Ryder to swim before the weather turned, but for today, he was going to have some fun with the crew so that Ryder didn’t look back on the day Beck was forced to register him and have a bad taste in his mouth. Mason didn’t want him to suffer when he looked back on today.

Kirk walked by, his arm slung over Ally’s slim shoulders. She wore a green bikini that didn’t hide much of the tattoos that covered her back and arm. Good for her. She used to hide her ink because she didn’t want to share her story, but over the past couple of months, her modesty and insecurities had slipped away. Probably hanging with a crew of party-lovin’, constantly-Changing, semi-nudist shifters helped.

“You coming?” Kirk asked.

“We’re waiting on Momma,” Ryder said. “Momma!! Hurry up or we’re gonna miss the river!”

Mason chuckled and told him, “Don’t rush her, boy. We’re still waiting on Harrison, Emerson, and Audrey, too. Don’t worry. We won’t miss the river.”

When Mason stood and turned toward his trailer, he was stunned to stillness at the sight of his mate. She was walking this way, her bird-fine frame on display under a purple triangle bikini top and holey cut-off shorts she must’ve borrowed from one of the girls. They hung loose on her hips in the sexiest way possible. He’d never seen her in anything other than a matching pajama set, matching lingerie, power pants, or crisp, designer jeans under a blouse, but damn, she sure was fitting in now. The black sparkly flip flops on her feet were a little big and clacked with each step she approached, and those long, sexy legs had him adjusting his dick. The afternoon light gleamed off the silver stretch marks over her hips, but it was her cleavage, bouncing enticingly with each step that held his attention for too long. How did he know? Because when he finally managed to rip his gaze away from those perfect tits of hers, she’d shoved her white-rimmed sunglasses up on her head and her gorgeous green eyes were dancing as she offered him that knowing grin he loved so much.

Damn, his woman was beautiful. She pulled her petal-pink towel off her shoulder, exposing the raw, red slices he’d given her a few hours ago. Not just his woman anymore. A slow smile stretched his face. His mate.

Emerson walked beside Beck, chattering on happily in her green two-piece, the swell of her belly leading the way. And on Beck’s other side, Audrey was in her white tiger form, mouth open in a soft pant as she strode gracefully toward them, her giant paws spreading on the soft ground with each step. Her tiger loved the water.

The soft tinkling of Beck’s laughter filled the clearing. Beck had said Ryder’s smile meant the world to her, but Beck was changing, too. Likely more than she realized. Mason had noticed her smiling more, opening up more, relaxing into the crew. A few weeks ago, he’d been at one of the valleys of his life, and standing here, watching Ryder run to Beck, watching her catch him in her arms and spin him as they both peeled into giggles, he thought he couldn’t be any happier. What a turnaround. What a complete one-eighty his life had undergone in such a short amount of time.

Gentle movement across the trailer park in the woods beyond captured his attention. There was something in the tree branches. Something blurry, hard to make out, tinged in blue. Mason took a step forward and squinted. As Esmerelda came into focus, his blood chilled to ice, and a horrified sound scratched up his throat. She was hanging from a rope, her body transparent so that he could make out the pine needles behind her. Her neck was broken against the rope, her bare feet swaying gently in the breeze, her white sundress pristine and lifting at the hem, just like he remembered. Almost. Her eyes were open, staring at him, beseeching him as her lips formed the words,
they’re coming
.

With a gasp, he closed his eyes. His lungs hardened to rock, like he was the one dangling from that hanging rope.

Mason.

Don’t say my name, Essie. Please don’t say my name.

“Mason!”

He shook his head hard as Essie’s voice morphed into Beck’s. His mate’s nails were digging into his bicep as she shook him hard. “Mason, what’s wrong?” Her tone was pitched high and scared.

Mason forced himself to look back at the trees, but Essie was gone. Just…gone, like she’d never been there at all. He wanted to believe he’d just imagined it, but the chills on his arms wouldn’t go away. He rubbed the cold skin on the back of his neck and dragged his horrified gaze back to Beck. She was real. She was real, touchable, and here, and she would never leave him like Essie had.

“I’m okay,” he rasped out in a voice he didn’t recognize. “We’re okay.”

Beck looked behind her at where Esmerelda had been hanging, but she shook her head like she didn’t see anything. Thank God.

Mason swallowed bile and hugged her tight against his chest so he could hide how much seeing Essie hang from that damned rope was affecting him. She hadn’t left him alone like he’d thought, but Beck didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve the taint of Esmerelda’s ghost on her big day. Not on the day he’d marked her.

Beck was saying something. Asking a question. Forcing himself to listen, he answered her. “No, it’s nothing. I thought I saw something, but I didn’t.”

Beck’s blazing yellow eyes and the frown that marred her delicate ruddy eyebrows said he wasn’t lying well enough, but that couldn’t be helped. This was the best he could do after that shock.
They’re coming
. He fuckin’ knew! He had them! He had Beck claimed, Ryder was his boy no matter genetics or paperwork, so why was Essie still here screwing with him?

After a week of silence, he’d thought the ghost of his past had found rest, but still, Mason was failing her in some way he couldn’t understand.

****

Mason’s heart was drumming too fast under her face, and Beck took a second look in the direction he’d been staring. His expression had terrified her. It had been as if his heart was being ripped from his body. There was only one thing that could’ve caused that kind of horror in his eyes, but he’d just lied to her. He was trying to protect her from his past.

Beck hugged his waist tight. “I’m here. You’re here, too.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, but his voice cracked on the word, and his hands rubbed in jerking motions against her back.

Suddenly desperate to get him away from whatever he’d seen, she said, “Come on,” and tugged his hand toward the trail that led through the Boarlander woods to Bear Trap Falls.

Up ahead, Ryder was standing with his arms out in a circle at his side, grinning as Audrey sauntered straight toward him, putting her giant face into the circle he’d created. Her purr was so loud that it drowned out the birds in the canopy. This was their game. Ryder liked to pretend he was a ringleader in a circus, and Audrey seemed fine playing along.

“Ryder, don’t ride Audrey,” Beck scolded him.

Too late. Ryder had already grabbed the scruff of her neck and scrambled on her back. “She likes it!”

If he was hurting Audrey, the giant tiger didn’t show it. Audrey twitched her tail and smoothed out her gait as Ryder hung on like a tiny tiger jockey. Emerson giggled and snapped a picture of them, and up ahead on the trail, Harrison wore the biggest grin. The alpha watched them with a tenderness that told Beck they wouldn’t wait too long to try for cubs of their own.

“I call next!” Bash said through the trees.

“No,” Harrison said.

“Why not?” Bash asked, a frown furrowing his dark eyebrows.

“Because you’re two-hundred-fifty pounds of grown-ass man, Bash. She ain’t a pony, and this ain’t your party.”

Bash crossed his arms over his chest and muttered, “Fine.”

“Whose party is it?” Ryder asked before he stuck his tongue back out and his focus-face returned.

“It’s yours,” Mason said.

Beck sighed a breath of relief that he seemed to be thawing out again.

“Because we had to tell ‘Merica that I’m an owl-boy?”

“Yeah, and because me and your mom are bound now. And look here.”

Ryder slid off Audrey’s back like a nimble little monkey and squinted at Beck’s shoulder where Mason was pointing.

“You got two boo-boos, Momma.”

Bash snickered. “Well, it would be weird if she had three boobies!”

Ryder grabbed his stomach and doubled over laughing. “Not boobies!”

“Is that what I think it is?” Emerson asked, running her finger just under the marks.

Heat flashed up from Beck’s chest to her cheeks and settled there. With an emotional smile, she nodded. “Mason gave it to me right after we registered, right there beside the courthouse.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Emerson exclaimed, pulling her into a gentle embrace.

Bash came charging through the woods like a rhino and lifted her and Mason up in a back-cracking bear hug.

Mason was laughing now, Esmerelda apparently forgotten, and he ruffled Bash’s black hair. “Okay, Bash Bear. Don’t squeeze my mate too hard. She’s got those fine bones, not like a big old bear.”

“I knew she was gonna be one of us,” Bash said too loud as he set them down too hard. “Emerson, didn’t I say that? I said day one, publicist is gonna stay here. She had to. She was stayin’ in ten-ten. Ten-ten wins again!” Bash whooped loud enough to echo through Boarlander woods and grinned big at each of them.

“Do you need to run?” Harrison asked.

“I need to run!” Bash yelled, right before he spun around and bolted for the river.

“Can I run, too?” Ryder cried.

Cracking up, Beck nodded. “Don’t go in the water yet, though,” she called as her son blasted off on those fast little legs of his, swim trunks billowing behind him and giving him a little bubble butt.

Mason frowned and yelled, “Bash, don’t let him in the water!”

“I’ll keep him safe!” Bash called from a distance.

Beck nudged his rock-hard shoulder. “Protective.”

“Yeah, about that. My instincts are insane lately. I don’t want you or him out of my sight. Is that normal?”

Beck stooped to pick a thorn from the bottom of her flip flop while resting her hand on Mason’s forearm for balance. “It’s completely normal for me, so probably.” Robbie sure didn’t have any paternal instincts, but Mason was the sun, and her ex was the darkest night. The two couldn’t be compared.

Mason picked her up so fast she left her stomach on the forest floor. He nuzzled his sexy facial scruff against her tender belly until she was squirming and shouting laughter. His biceps bulged as he rested her over his shoulder and strode through the woods with a strong, confident gait behind the other Boarlanders.

“Just to warn you, I’m gonna be starin’ at those sexy tits of yours all day, so keep your little smirks to yourself.”

“No deal. When did you have time to plan a floating trip?”

“When you and Ryder were down in Saratoga the other day for that Lumberjack Wars meeting with Parks and Rec. I went and got the tubes from Moosey’s Bait and Barbecue, the bait side. They had a little lifejacket, too, that looked the right size for Ryder. I even got a tube for Big Blue.” Mason set her down and pointed to where Kirk was shoving the cooler into a square floaty.