Timberman Werebear(40)

“Never. I’m not a runner anymore.”

A soft knock sounded against the wooden frame of Denison’s front door.

“Can we come in?” Tagan asked, though he was already halfway through.

“Come on,” Denison said. “Dinner’s ready.”

So that was why he’d made that huge pot of food. He was feeding his people.

One by one, the Ashe Crew filed in. Brighton was missing, but she wasn’t surprised. Denison had said he disappeared sometimes. He would come back, and she hoped that when he did, he could start to heal now that the man who’d hurt him was gone.

Haydan, Drew, Kellen, Skyler, Tagan, Brooke, and Bruiser all looked exhausted as they filed into the kitchen. Denison settled a steaming bowl in her lap, then leaned on the back of the couch above her, like her own personal sentry as he blew on a bowl of his own.

Danielle’s arm was still throbbing with a dull ache, but as soon as Tagan touched the bandage with the brush of his fingertips, a strange warmth spread through her, numbing the stinging nerve endings. The alpha settled on the couch near her feet, and Bruiser touched her bandage next. Kellen followed, drawing a tremble of awe from her as the pain disappeared completely. Brooke watched with a curious smile on her face and a hand placed protectively over her stomach as Drew and Haydan touched her shoulder, then sat on the floor near their alpha.

This dinner was different from the boisterous bonfire meals she’d been sharing with them most nights. There were no jokes or laughter, no constant hum of easy conversation. There was only comfortable silence and a stark feeling of relief and gratitude. Today could’ve been disastrous, but they’d all survived it. Together.

For as long as Danielle lived, these bears would have her heart. And one in particular, the man who had waited for her to be ready for love, would have her soul. No matter what happened now, no matter what dangers lurked in this life she chose, she wouldn’t go through it alone.

She had the adoration of the best man she’d ever known, friendship with people she respected deeply, and a sense of purpose here.

Denison looked at her like he couldn’t believe she’d chosen him, but he had it wrong.

She was the lucky one.





Epilogue


Danielle sipped her drink as Denison pulled the microphone closer to his lips and dedicated his last song of the night to the “girl I love.”

Pleasurable heat flooded her cheeks when he winked at her. She’d sat in the first row this time so he could see her under the spot lights. Also, so she could escape the swooning groupies near the bar in the back. It had been strange watching him preform without Brighton over the last few months, but hopefully his brother would come home soon.

Denison plucked clear notes from the strings of his guitar, and at last, he leaned toward the microphone and belted out the first lyric in his deep voice. This song made her emotional every time she heard it on the radio. It was about a man who loved a woman he deemed too good for him. Denison stirred feeling from her with just the first few lines, and she closed her eyes as his voice filled her.

Today had been perfect. He’d taken her into Saratoga on his day off and bought her lunch, then taken her to an action-adventure flick at the tiny cinema there. He even took her into a boutique and bought her a dress she liked. She’d worn it out of the store because he couldn’t seem to take his eyes from the white, eyelet cotton material. She fingered the fabric that brushed her knees under the table and smiled to herself at how beautiful he made her feel.

Her life had undergone some major changes over the past few months. Damon Daye, the man who owned the Ashe Crew’s land had hired her to keep him abreast on the thinly balanced ecosystem here. It had felt like a dream come true the day she’d signed a year-long contract with him. He was a good boss, and unlike Reynolds, was actually interested in their weekly meetings and her findings. He was a man who loved his land deeply. And while he was perfectly well-behaved with impeccable manners around her, she was also pretty sure he was a recluse and scary-as-hell shifter of some sort, but she hadn’t figured out what yet. And every time she asked Tagan, he just smiled to himself like he enjoyed the secret too much to tell her. Once, she’d asked Tagan what had happened to all the bodies on the landing, and he’d told her Damon Daye had taken care of them, and that she didn’t have to worry about it. She’d been too afraid of the answer to ask more about how Damon Daye knew so much about body stashing.

Beyond that, everything had fallen into place as she’d settled into the trailer 1010. She hadn’t been able to stomach the Airstream after everything that had happened. She didn’t want any reminders about Reynolds’s violent mark near the trailer park. She even set up a pen off the back for Bo, who was now fifty pounds of gray furred, bouncing, climbing, gobbling naughtiness. He was also her companion when Denison was too busy with work up on the jobsite to go exploring the woods around her new home with her.