Chapter Thirteen

Ace watched the two silver grizzlies through the trees. He crossed his arms over his chest and rested his back against the wide trunk of an oak. Everything had gone so wrong.

He heard Owen long before he saw him. “What do you want?” he asked tiredly.

“I figured you could use groceries.” Owen lifted a six-pack of beer. “Where’s Gunner?”

“Meeting with Damon.”

One of the silver bears came charging through the brush, and Owen jumped back. Ace didn’t hide his smile. He’d known that was going to happen. Corey’s bear was really protective of Hallie. She gave Owen a green-eyed glare and then meandered back toward Hallie’s bear, who was much more relaxed, especially this early into the transition.

“Why did she do that?” Owen asked.

“Because she can sense the loser on you.”

“Yeah, well, I was helping them, so you’d think she would be grateful.”

“Were you Turned, or born a shifter?” Ace asked.

“Born a boar. I was gifted with all the stereotypes you have heard about boars.”

“Dirtbags,” he murmured.

“Hey, I came here because Mason was my idol growing up. I got his picture autographed at a Lumberjack Wars event one time. Had it hanging on my wall.”

Okay, that was actually pretty cool, but Ace still hated him. “You’re going to be the one to betray our Crew, aren’t you?” he asked.

Owen cracked the top of a beer and handed it to Ace. “Maybe,” he answered honestly. “But if it’s me, I guarantee it won’t be from bad intentions. If I get your location busted, it won’t be on purpose.”

Truth. Fair enough.

“It’ll be one of my cousins on the throne now. I don’t remember much about them. I have no guess which one. I was young when we fled.”

“Do you think Gunner will hold to his war with the Warlanders?”

Ace shrugged, and moved through the woods as Corey and Hallie moved off. Owen followed, hauling his beer.

“I was thinking I could stay up here with you guys tonight,” he said.

“You want to camp out here?” Ace asked, confused.

“Well, it’s quiet at Gunner’s place. Plus there’s talk that the girls from the Warlanders want to come up here and help transition Hallie and Corey. Figured you could use some backup while Gunner is in town.”

Ace turned a suspicious glare on Owen. “What is this?” He lifted his drink. “Bringing me beer, wanting to help? Pretending you aren’t an asshole. What do you want?”

Owen took a long drink of his beer and glared at Ace over the top of the bottle, eyes narrowed. “Look, it’s not like I hated you. I just didn’t understand why Gunner was all up in your panties to get you into the Crew. I work with him. I prove myself. I deserve a spot.”

“Great. Not my problem. You got your spot.”

“Well yeah, now. Plus I was there when Hallie Turned. I saw Corey working on her. Dude, she’s a badass.”

“I know.” He watched the bears through the trees. They were learning to ignore him and only tried to kill him a couple times a day now when they were Changed. They’d been up here in the wilderness for a week now, trying to adjust. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I watched her say all the exact right things to Hallie while she was saving her. I watched her packing BleedStop into her stomach. She threw me some and yelled at me, and I felt stronger with her there, you know? Want to know the craziest part?”

Okay, he was hooked. He took the bait. “What?”

“Her hands didn’t shake at all.”

Huh. Ace looked back at his mate, because that’s what she was. Her bear was a beast—all weapons, protective, watchful. She was beautiful. It seemed Owen was seeing her value too.

“You’re lucky, dude. She picked you before she Turned. Now she’ll know exactly what she wants with you. I thought y’all were fucked, you know? I thought y’all were star-crossed lovers or something, but nope. Lucia Novak fixed that.”

A growl rattled Ace’s chest.

“Hey, I fuckin’ hate her too right now. That was messed up, but if you think about it? Her voice was full of truth when she was talking about giving Gunner weapons. She cares about him. She’s trying to protect us. She was trying to protect the girls. Hallie was going to be Turned anyway eventually, right? And if Corey wanted to be Crew someday, she would probably have to Turn too. Lucia took the guesswork out of it.”

“In the most traumatizing way possible. Corey was Turned by her cousin. Unwillingly.”

Owen came to stand beside him and canted his head as he watched the two bears foraging through the blackberry brambles. “They seem all right though.”

“It’s because you haven’t seen them when they Change back yet.”

“What do you mean? How are they?”

“Shocked. Sad. Wary. So fucking exhausted, and they still feel the pain of the Changes. Corey wakes up screaming in the middle of the night sometimes.”

“Fuck, man. That’s hard. You know, that’s life though. It’s Crew life. They’ll get stronger.”

As much as Ace hated it, Owen was right. This life was peppered with phases of great pain that led to growth. They’d endured the great pain, and now they were on the upswing. They would be going through a metamorphosis now. They would be getting stronger. The softness and naivete of their human lives was being sloughed away like a snake shedding its skin so it could grow.

“Did you ever guess you would be here?” Owen asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a guardian of one of the silver bears. Hallie and Corey’s bears came from a direct genetic descendant of Beaston. That’s pretty fuckin’ rad. Your mate really is a part of Damon’s Mountains now.”

Owen started to walk away, but then turned and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. Guess who texted me?”

“Who?”

“Wreck.”

Ace frowned and turned toward Owen. Whatever he’d expected Owen to say, it wasn’t that. “You’re joking.”

Owen held up his phone, open on a text thread. There was a text from an unknown number that said, I hear Gunner is looking for me. And then Owen had said, Who is this? The answer had been one word. Wreck. That was the last message.

“I gave Gunner the number. He can handle that however he wants to. I’m not messing with that one.”

Owen walked back toward the campsite, and Ace couldn’t help the baffled smile that took his lips. Well, if the Pride was going to come for him, the Fastlanders could sure use a shifter like Wreck. Oh, Ace knew what he was. He leveled his gaze back onto the two silver, badass she-bears that would absolutely gut anyone who messed with the people they loved.

His smile grew wider.

Gunner was building his weapons all right.

Good fuckin’ luck to the Pride now.