Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears Book 1) (14 page)
Read Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears Book 1) Online
Authors: T. S. Joyce
Audrey hung the painting Willa had made her on the nail she’d hammered into the wall in 1010’s living room. It still made her giggle every time she looked at the terrible picture of her and Harrison’s animals holding hands, frolicking under a rainbow in a patch of grass, flowers, and worms. Anything that made her this happy should be hung where she could see it every day.
In the last month, she’d found more happiness than she knew what to do with. Joey Dorsey had given her a raise and more hours at work, she was getting to know the regulars who came in for barbecue and bait, and she was making deep, meaningful friendships with the Gray Backs and Ashe Crew. She’d carved out a place among this rag-tag crew, and somewhere along the way, even Clinton had accepted her presence here. And little by little, the Boarlanders were working to clean up the trailer park. But most importantly, she’d fallen even deeper in love with Harrison. He didn’t patrol as much at night anymore, and when he did, Audrey Changed with him and walked the Boarlander woods beside her mate, making sure her life here, and her friends, were safe.
A knock sounded on her door, and she straightened the painting before she answered it.
Harrison grinned down at her with that easy smile he always had ready. “I have a surprise for you.”
“
We
have a surprise for you,” Bash called from the newly mowed weeds in the front yard.
She waved at Bash, Clinton, Kirk, and Mason. “What’s going on?”
“Come on, kitty,” Harrison said, offering his hand.
Baffled, she smiled at them before shoving her feet into a pair of flip-flops and followed Harrison across the porch and down the stairs where Bash pulled her scrapbook from behind his back.
“Oh, my gosh, you guys are not supposed to see this!” She yanked it away and clutched it to her chest as her cheeks blazed with embarrassment. Showing Harrison her secret self had been one thing, but the rest of them? Nope, nope, nope.
“Your cheeks are the color of cherries,” Bash said. Remorseless oaf.
“Don’t freak out. Just look at the modifications we did,” Harrison murmured.
Her mortification was bottomless, but at their goading, her curiosity won out. Carefully, she opened to the cover page. Her homemade house cat with the glued-on black stripes was gone, and in its place was a white tiger with bloody claws, standing over a limp, yellow grizzly bear.
“I did that one,” Bash said, pointing.
Audrey giggled and then flipped through the pages they hadn’t altered to the end. There was a new full spread on a blue wilderness background. Across the top read
Boarlander Second
in big bubble letters, and right under that was a picture of her in the middle of the five guys. They’d taken it when they’d visited her at Moosey’s one day, and she was in her work shirt, grinning from ear-to-ear. Bash had bunny ears behind her head, and Harrison’s cheek rested against her temple. Kirk and Mason were making goofy faces, and Clinton looked grumpy and was flipping off the camera.
It was perfect.
Beside that was a picture of 1010 with the sun setting behind the mountains in the background. There was a giant cartoon arrow pointing to the trailer that read,
You belong here
. Along the bottom, there were three bear cutouts—a chestnut one, a black one, and a yellow one. Following behind were a gorilla, a white tiger, and a pig. And just above that, there was a question formed with newspaper letters in different shapes, fonts, and sizes.
Will you pledge as a Boarlander?
Below that were two boxes with a
yes
and a
no
written beside them.
Audrey clasped her hand over her mouth and waited until she could compose her face before she looked up at Harrison. She’d dreamed of being officially pledged as a Boarlander since the day she’d fought Clinton.
“Really?” she asked on a hopeful breath.
Lifting his chin proudly, Harrison said, “Everyone who wants to induct Audrey into the crew, say aye.”
The ayes were immediate and unanimous. She closed the scrapbook and hugged it to her chest. They’d done this,
her crew
. They’d given her a memento of the best day of her life so far. This was them accepting all of her and securing her place in this park with them for always.
Harrison hooked his finger under her chin and kissed her gently. “What do you say, kitty? You want to be a Boarlander?”
Laughing thickly, she looked at the others, then back to her mate. With a nod, she whispered, “Yes. The answer was always yes.”
Harrison hugged her up tight, and she closed her eyes against the bright sun above. She’d lived her entire life on the outside, unable to connect, unable to reveal herself, but that all seemed so long ago now. Her dad had told her once he wanted her to find a place where she felt like she fit. Well, this was it, in an old trailer park nestled deep within Damon’s mountains, among a crew of lumberjack shifters, with the man who protected her heart.
Finally,
finally
, she belonged.
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Read T. S. Joyce’s bestselling Gray Back Bears series.
Entire series, available now.
Gray Back Bad Bear (
Book 1
)
Gray Back Alpha Bear (
Book 2
)
Gray Back Ghost Bear (
Book 3
)
Gray Back Broken Bear (
Book 4
)
Lowlander Silverback (
Book 5
)
Saw Bears
Lumberjack Werebear (
Book 1
)
Woodcutter Werebear (
Book 2
)
Timberman Werebear (
Book 3
)
Sawman Werebear (
Book 4
)
Axman Werebear (
Book 5
)
Woodsman Werebear (
Book 6
)
Lumberman Werebear (
Book 7
)
Husband Fur Hire (
Book 1
)
Bear Fur Hire (
Book 2
)
Mate Fur Hire (
Book 3
)
Wolf Fur Hire (
Book 4
)
Dawson Fur Hire (
Book 5
)
Chance Fur Hire (
Book 6
)
The Witness and the Bear (
Book 1
)
Devoted to the Bear (
Book 2
)
Return to the Bear (
Book 3
)
Betray the Bear (
Book 4
)
Redeem the Bear (
Book 5
)
Bear Valley Valentine (
Valentine’s Day Novella
)
