“Oh. Trailer?”
“Yeah, thata girl. You’re gonna be a trailer park princess now. Gets me all choked up. You’ve come so far.”
Gia snorted a surprised laugh, shocked that Willa was somehow making her feel better. “Am I going to stay in your trailer?”
“Not for long. Come on. I have some people I want you to meet.”
Gia stood on wobbly legs and stumbled after Willa. The little tornado’s spiky pigtails bobbed with each step until she reached her silver Tacoma and threw the door open.
Gia checked on Peanut Butter, who was lying on the front porch with his legs flopped up and his dick in the air, panting, but happy looking. Okay then.
As she slid into the passenger seat, Gia asked, “Who am I going to meet?”
Willa smiled cheerfully. “The Ashe Crew.”
“Wait. The Ashe Crew?” Gia tried to keep her cool while she buckled her seatbelt. She had been a self-declared shifter groupie all through college. Had even signed up to get alerts when a new shifter registered to the public. She’d researched and joined fan clubs and harbored a slight obsession about hot shifters like other girls her age had with singers and movie stars they liked. That was how she’d met Creed, by traveling to Saratoga with Willa and the bombshells for a werebear diddle hunt. Brittney and Kara had wanted to sleep with Matt Barns, but it had been Creed who had turned Gia’s head. Of course she knew who the Ashe Crew was. Rumor was they harbored a dragon.
“You’re fan-girling out right now, aren’t you?” Willa asked through a smirk as she pulled out of Grayland Mobile Park.
“I’m trying not to.”
“Okay, well keep your cool when you meet them, and remember they are just people.”
“I look like crap,” Gia said, sniffling and patting her mussed messy bun.
“They won’t care, G. They’re trailer park werebears, remember? And they’re awesome. They won’t judge.”
“But my eyes are all puffy.” Gia pulled down the sun visor mirror and patted her blotchy cheeks. That didn’t help at all.
Willa shook her head and rolled her eyes. She was right. Gia pushed the mirror back into place and leaned back into the seat. How she looked wasn’t important here. The important thing was that her whole life was falling apart around her like a crumbling, ancient building.
“Willa?”
“Mmm hmm?” her friend asked distractedly as she watched the road and poked the radio dials for a station at the same time.
“Thanks for what you said back there. About helping me with the baby? This isn’t your problem, but…well…it means a lot that you’re risking getting in trouble for me.”
“And Willamena Junior—as I have magnanimously decided to allow you to name the baby after me. And don’t worry about it. That’s what sheroes do.” Willa slid her a wink and then gasped as “Highway to Hell” came on through the speakers. Turning it up to a deafening level, Willa belted out the chorus off-key.
Gia laughed and shook her head. How Willa was being so calm about everything, she didn’t know.
“Roll down your window,” Willa yelled over the blaring music.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Gia rolled it down and gave her a now-what look.
“Now put your fingers out there and feel the wind.”
“It’s cold,” Gia complained. She seriously regretted leaving her big sweater on the living room floor of Creed’s house.
“Complaints will get you nowhere out here. Do it.”
Gia obeyed and put her hand out the window, then made a graceful rolling motion with her palm.
“Do you feel that?” Willa asked.
“Yeah, it stings.” Because it was October in the mountains of Wyoming and freezing already.
“You know what that means?” Willa called over the music.
“What?”
“It means you’re alive.”
Gia stared at Willa and huffed a breath, then dragged her attention to her hand out the window as she allowed the wind to flow between her fingers. She got what Willa was saying. Her world had been rocked by the news that she was expecting a child—a shifter cub—and the backlash that followed had been rough, but she was okay. She was still upright, and for now, that would have to be enough.
“It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?” Willa asked.
Gia watched the Lodge pole pines passing. Thanks to the evergreens, it was still lush here, unlike in Minden. Back home, the leaves were falling, exposing craggy branches and a cold landscape, but here in the mountains, everything still looked alive. She inhaled deeply, and the crisp pine scent that had seemed so overwhelming earlier filled her aching soul like a remedy.