Gray Back Broken Bear (Gray Back Bears Book 4) (10 page)

“Don’t smell scared,” Easton said, his eyes blazing as he cast her a quick glance.

“I can’t help it.” Aviana clutched tight to his hand as Easton led her toward the Grayland Mobile Park. “Your crew is intimidating. All bear shifters are really.”

“Yet you are mated to Beaston,” he muttered so low, she almost didn’t hear it.

She frowned at the use of that name. Sure, his animal was in control, but that was because of what he’d been through. That bear inside of him also was to thank for his survival. Easton had lost his family when he was just a kid, then eked out a life in the woods all alone. “You say Beaston like it’s a bad name, but I think it’s fucking awesome,” she said defiantly.

He cast her a startled glance and skidded to a stop. “Why?”

“Because you might be a beast, Easton Novak, but you are also a survivor, and I’m so fucking proud of how far you’ve come, I can hardly stand it. So don’t utter that name around me unless you are owning it. Badass, snarly, scary-eyed mountain man who protects the heart of a fearful raven. You
are
Beaston. My Beaston.”

A slow smile had spread across his face as she’d ranted, and now his dimples showed. “Okay,” he said low, pulling her into a hug. “I’m Beaston.”

A sharp whistle trilled across the valley. Creed was letting them know it was time for the crew to head up to the mountains to clear timber, but they would have to wait. She and Easton had an announcement to make before he went to work.

The Gray Backs were all gathered near the bricked-in fire pit talking when Easton led her out of the tree line.

“There they are,” Willa called, looking relieved. “Now we can have someone unbiased settle the score,” she said, looking pointedly at Gia. Georgia was rifling through a backpack sitting on a food prep table near them, and she shook her head, though she was still smiling.

“What is it?” Aviana asked, voice small and pathetic. With a frown, she said louder, “What is it?”

Easton looked at her proudly.

“Dude, Beaston’s holding her hand,” Matt said low to Jason.

Willa kicked her mate’s boot and held out both hands as they approached. In one was a pile of green M&Ms and in the other was a pile of orange. “Which ones are supposed to make you horny, green or orange?”

Aviana snorted and tried to think back on her school days. “I think it’s green makes you horny.”

“Here, Griz, eat these,” Willa said, dumping the green pile into Matt’s hand.

He snorted and popped them all in his mouth. “I can’t even believe you want me hornier than I already am,” he said around the mouthful of candy.

“So it’s orange to make your boobs big then,” Gia said matter-of-factly. “Told you.”

Aviana laughed and asked, “Can I have some orange ones then?”

With a big toothy grin, Willa handed her half the pile of oranges and poured the other half into her maw.

Easton slapped the candy out of Aviana’s hands with a look of panic in his eyes. “Don’t want bigger boobs on you. Too much.”

Aviana stood there stunned, looking at the bright colored chocolates scattered across the white gravel road.

Jason was laughing now, hands around his stomach, bent over, wheezing. “Dude, it’s not real.”

“Oh,” Easton said with a confused frown as he watched Jason fall over onto the ground, kicking his legs as he laughed. He swung his troubled gaze to Aviana and murmured, “Sorry.”

She was trying not to laugh, really she was, but Easton was so fucking cute. Sexy as all get-out, eyes wild and bright as he made sure she stayed just as she was. If she’d had any question that her flat chest bothered her mate before, it was dispelled now.

“Why are you eating M&Ms for breakfast?” she asked.

“Gia craves them all the time,” Georgia explained. “Willa just mooches them.”

“I help her eat them,” Willa corrected. “It’s not mooching if I’m doing it out of the goodness of my heart.”

Creed was quiet beside Matt, shaking his head and looking tired, as if his crew already exhausted him.

“I have something to say,” Easton announced in a strong, formal voice.

Jason kicked into a star shape on the ground and looked at Easton, upside down. “That sounds serious.”

“It is.” Easton lifted his gaze to Creed and cocked his head, exposing his neck. “I have to beg your forgiveness.”

Creed stood straighter as his black eyes lightened to a gray that matched the early morning sky. “What did you do?”

Aviana couldn’t even look at him like this. Not when Creed was making the air so heavy. It was hard to draw a breath under his stare, so she angled her chin down and looked at Willa instead.

“As Second, I forbid you to bleed him,” Willa said, standing to her full height of not even five foot tall and glaring at Creed.

“What?” Creed asked, looking even angrier. “It doesn’t work like that. You’re second, not alpha. What’s going on?”

“Show him,” Easton murmured, nudging Aviana’s shoulder.

Aviana pulled her stretchy pink cotton shirt to the side and exposed the tattered flesh of Easton’s claiming mark.

Creed’s dark eyebrows jacked up, and he swung a dangerous glare at Easton. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I’d say either a zombie bit her or Easton claimed her,” Willa said helpfully as she dug around in the crinkly package of M&M’s for more candy.

“Enough!” Creed yelled.

Willa didn’t even look cowed, but damn what the electricity in the alpha’s voice did to Aviana. With a grunt, she fell to her knees under the heaviness of the stomach-curdling anger Creed was throwing off in waves.

Easton looked down at her then back to Creed, eyes blazing as a low, menacing rumble rattled his throat. “Let her up.”

“You Turned her?” Creed bellowed. “After I forbid it, you Turned her?”

“She doesn’t smell like a bear,” Georgia whispered from near the table where she looked like she was struggling to stay upright, too.

“It took you all of what…a day? A day to disobey a direct order?” Creed said, hands on his hips. “What the fuck, man?”

“She’s mine.”

“You just met her!”

“Let her up!” Easton yelled, voice gone snarly.

“Oh, for shit’s sake,” Willa said, “Aviana, move your tail feathers, girl. Fuck Noggin’s about to Change.”

Creed hunched into himself just as Willa rushed Aviana. Easton’s silver bear exploded from him in the exact moment a huge black bruin grizzly ripped out of Creed.

“No! Don’t hurt him!” she cried as Willa dragged her by the waist over the gravel.

“Stay there,” Willa ordered, eyes hard. Two seconds later, a brown bear burst from her skin, and when Aviana looked up, Creed and Easton clashed so hard the earth under her feet shook. Jason was scrambling out of the way, and a light-colored grizzly was already hovering protectively between him and the battling bears. Georgia?

The sheer violence of the bear fight held Aviana stunned in place. Creed and Easton slashed each other with resounding, clawed slaps. Roaring, growling, biting. Bleeding. The white gravel was being painted with red.

Even with Willa trying to maneuver between them and Matt Changing into a red, scarred-up grizzly to help, Easton and Creed only had eyes for maiming each other.

She had to do something.

With a pop and flapping wings, Aviana Changed and dive-bombed Creed. She pecked his ear and few out of slapping range, then circled around.

“Creed, she isn’t a bear!” Gia screamed. “Creed, stop!”

Aviana tucked her wings and dove for the black grizzly again, but this time, she didn’t get to touch him. This time he turned at the last moment and swatted her out of the air. With a terrified caw in her throat, she hit the grass hard.

Gia was running for her now, round belly leading her. She fell to her knees beside Aviana and picked her up gently. “Oh no,” she whispered, pulling her carefully to her soft bosom. With a look of pure human fury, she stood and turned to the bears battling. “Creed Joseph Barnett! You’re hurting me!” she screamed.

Creed’s onyx colored bear immediately shrank into the dark-haired, silver-eyed man. With a pained grunt, he fell forward onto his hands and knees on the gravel road. Willa and Matt rushed Easton, trying to keep him from murdering the alpha in human form.

“What?” Creed asked as he struggled up and stared in confusion at his mate. “How am I hurting
you
?”

“Because look what you’re fighting over!” Gia shoved Aviana forward.

“Caw!” Aviana said helpfully. Translation:
I’m a fucking crow! Not a Turned bear shifter.

Creed stared at her like he’d never seen a bird in his life. “I…I don’t understand.”

When Easton took a swipe too close to him, Creed ducked neatly out of the way and yelled, “Easton, Change back!”

Easton’s roar died in his throat as he fell to his knees and shrank into his human skin. A pained grimace was on his face, but it didn’t stop the death glare for Creed. “I didn’t Turn her. She wasn’t ever human. And if you would’ve fucking listened, I would’ve had time to explain that I’ve known her all my life. And I swear on my den, if you hurt her, I’m going to fucking bleed you, Gray Back.”

Jason stood to the side, arms crossed over his chest, looking grumpy. “That insult still doesn’t make any sense, Beaston. We’re all Gray Backs!”

Willa shrank back into her naked human skin and kicked the gravel. “God dammit, Creed!”

Matt was now a giant, naked human with scars all over his torso. “Did he hurt you?” he asked, worry in his deep voice.

“No! He spilled all my M&M’s!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Creed said. “Someone explain to me what is going on.”

Willa stomped her foot. “Creed, meet Easton’s childhood friend who is a raven shifter, but only Easton didn’t know she was a raven shifter until yesterday when he gave her a claiming mark while they were boinking and she didn’t Turn. He got mad, he ran off, that’s why he wasn’t at work yesterday, and now you just B-slapped the bird he’s in love with. You deserve that scar,” she said, jamming a finger at the long claw mark across Creed’s chest that was dripping red.

“You,” the alpha said, pointing at Aviana. “Change back.”

“You can’t tell her what to do,” Easton snarled.

“I can so. She’s a Gray Back now.”

“Aaaw,” Willa said, clasping her hands in front of her chest and shrugging her shoulders with a mushy smile on her face. “The final Gray Back.”

Creed stared at her until she had the good sense to drop her gaze to her feet.

“Now please,” Creed gritted out, “Change back so I can properly apologize.”

In a flush of absolute mortification, Aviana flew out of Gia’s hands and landed on the ground, then shifted into her human form.

“Boobs,” Willa sang in a barely audible voice, only to be glared at by Creed again.

Jason snorted from behind the blond grizzly that was still standing protectively in front of him. He cleared his throat and apologized when Creed tossed him an annoyed glance.

With a sigh, Creed hooked his hands on his naked hips and said, “Aviana, I whole-heartedly apologize for my actions here today. I should’ve listened better before I punished Easton, and I’m sorry if you got hurt in that fight.” His shoulders lifted and fell in a heavy sigh. “Welcome to the most fucked up crew of shifters that ever walked these mountains.”

“C-team!” Willa said, shaking her hands like cheerleader pom-poms.

Most of the Gray Backs were naked and bleeding, and Georgia the Scary Bear was now licking the back of Jason’s smiling head until his dark hair stood up in all directions. Most of them were smiling despite the violence that had just occurred, and all were staring at Aviana who was hiding her tits behind her arm and doing her best to cover her honey pot with an oak leaf she’d hurriedly plucked from the ground.

Her mouth was hanging open, but she snapped it closed and swallowed hard. In a tiny voice, she said, “Thank you?”

“Uuuh, Willa?” Gia said in a strange tone beside her. “You were wrong. Aviana’s not the final Gray Back.”

“What do you mean?” Creed asked, worry slashing through his churning, silver eyes.

Gia looked at a damp stream that was trailing down the inside legs of her jeans. “I think my water just broke.”

Easton paced the small waiting room, biting the end of his nail as he checked the window for the eight-hundredth time in the direction of Gia’s hospital room.

Aviana understood. He’d watched helplessly as his mother had died during childbirth, and now Gia was having a baby.

His snarling and pacing had already scared off the humans in the waiting room, so now it was just Aviana and the rest of the Gray Backs, minus Creed and Gia, a vending machine that was now fresh out of M&Ms, and an old, scratchy cartoon playing on the small television in the corner.

“I should be in there,” Easton rumbled.

“No,” Aviana said. “Gia and Creed have to do this on their own. There are doctors and nurses who know exactly what they are doing. She’ll be all right.”

“But it’s taking so long.”

“It usually does for a first baby,” Willa said from the corner where she had her feet draped across Matt’s lap. “She’s tough. Gia will be okay.”

But even Willa looked worried. Easton’s pacing had everyone unsettled.

Easton skidded to a stop, threw the door open, and then bolted into the hallway. They all stood to see Creed coming toward them with a big grin on his face. Aviana drifted to the window to watch Easton talk to his alpha. Creed gripped his shoulder and talked through his smile, and little by little Easton relaxed. And when he finally looked back at Aviana, his bright green eyes held relief. Her heart stopped at how beautiful he was.

Easton jogged back to her and pulled her hand, leading her out of the waiting area and toward Gia’s room. “Hurry, Ana. Creed said I could see her first if we hurry.”

Aviana’s vision was blurring with tears because her Easton was happy. She could feel it coming off him in waves.

Just outside the hospital room, Creed turned to the others and murmured, “Give us a minute.” Then he pushed open the door and ushered Easton and Aviana inside.

Gia sat on the bed, comfortable looking and eyes only for the tiny bundle in her arms. She smiled emotionally when she looked up, and Easton sat gently on her bed and tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear.

“Oh, mighty little human, look what you’ve done,” Easton said, his eyes dipping to the sweet baby. He pulled Aviana closer and moved the blanket farther away from the sleeping babe’s face. “Look at her,” he said on a breath. “Perfect in every way. Gia, Gia, Gia, good mommy.”

Gia’s shoulders were shaking now, and she was sniffling as she rested her head against Easton’s shoulder. Creed stood on her other side, leaning over the baby with the proudest look in his dark eyes.

“Do you want to hold her?” she whispered thickly to Easton.

His eyes went wide, but he nodded and held his arms out. Gia set the tiny baby gently in the cradle of his arms.

Behind them, the rest of the crew filed in and surrounded Gia’s bed with
oohs
and
aahs
at the tiny, blanketed girl in Easton’s arms.

Slowly, Easton leaned down and smelled the baby’s breath. “What do you call her?”

“Rowan,” Creed said proudly.

“A right proper name for a little grizzly,” Willa said, leaning over Easton’s shoulder.

Easton looked up at Creed with a curious, knowing smile spreading across his lips. “She’s not a grizzly.”

“What?” Gia asked, eyebrows furrowed. “She’s Creed’s.”

“Oh, one look at the creature she’s harboring, and no one will ever question it. She’ll be a true Gray Back. A fire-breather with silver scales, descended from the last mortal dragon, Creed’s grandfather.”

“Can’t be,” Creed said on a breath. “She has too much grizzly and not enough dragon blood in her.”

Easton smiled at the baby as he rocked her in his arms. “I had a dream about her. Silver eyes and silver scales.”

“A dream,” Matt said, sounding unconvinced.

Aviana grinned slow, knowing Easton was right. Her mate was more sensitive to things beyond this world, just like his mother had been.

“Don’t believe me?” Easton asked softly. Back and forth, back and forth he rocked the sleeping newborn. “Then smell the dragon’s fire on her breath.”