“So there he is, naked as the day he was born, covered in mud and muck, holding up this snake like it was no big deal at all. ‘I got the turd, Daddy,’ he said.” Noel slapped his thigh for emphasis before dropping his final words. “‘No more hen-eating shit-weasels to make Momma mad!’“

Joss’s cheeks hurt from laughing. Noel Shaw was just as irreverent as Hunter claimed.

At his father’s side, Hunter’s face split into a grin. “And you know what? We were good, too. I saved the day. No more snakes going after our hens.”

Noel wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes. “We were, boy. We were. You did good that day, but I don’t envy your mother cleaning you up.” He caught Joss’s eye and whispered dramatically, “I told her just to use the hose!”

Hunter took stories of his childhood in stride. Each one made Joss laugh a little harder. Jealousy panged, too. He’d grown up surrounded by love and acceptance. He still needed to be careful with his inner bear, but he wasn’t forced to repress all his instincts. He had a clan to guide him into controlling the beast under his skin. She had that for only a short time before her father was snatched away from her.

Joss didn’t blame her mother for not knowing what to do with a grieving child and uncontrollable badger, especially while she mourned herself. Still, she came to a realization while laughing with the Black Claw clan that night. She never wanted to be forced to hide herself again.

Bearden was magic she didn’t want to give up.

At the very center of that, tossing pixie dust wildly about with both hands, was Hunter Shaw.

She flicked her eyes up and caught him staring at her again. Gold churned in his eyes as his lips lifted in a smirk hot enough to melt her panties.

Good gravy, she would be a pillar of ash by the end of the night if he kept that up. Joss wrapped her fingers around her bottle of hard lemonade and gulped down what she hoped was enough to douse any flames licking in her belly.

“Joss, you’re up.”

Joss tore her attention away from the man. Tansey twirled a dart between her fingers and held it out to her.

She hopped off her stool and squeezed past Hunter. Heat flared through her at the simple touch. She wanted to melt into him and keep the connection active. Being near Hunter made her feel alive.

Fur brushed against her mind and she sank into that, too. Her badger felt ever present with him around. It was like he opened a door to that part of herself and all she had to do was reach across.

“Come on, girl. Get that bull’s-eye. Can’t let these cockholes have the win,” Ethan rumbled and brought her back to the task at hand.

They’d split into two teams of three each. Tansey and Ethan claimed her as their own, which put Alex with the father and son duo. Not wanting to put the attention into subtraction, they decided to play an easy version, with each team hitting the spots on the dartboard from section twenty to the bull’s-eye.

One spot remained, and they left it up to her.

No pressure.

“She’s gonna miss,” Alex unhelpfully commented.

“Eff you, Alex,” she quipped over her shoulder.

Hunter’s eyes dared her on. The rest of the group laughed.

Joss rolled the rough grip between her fingers and concentrated through the fuzz of girly drinks and hot man. One shot was all she needed. One perfect shot.

The first dart sank into the very edge of the board.

“You can do it!” Tansey cheered.

“Joss, Joss, Joss,” Ethan chanted.

“Miss, miss, miss,” Alex echoed.

Joss shook her head. Oh, if the Rhodes family could see her now.

She drew back and sent the dart zipping through the air. It bounced off a wire and clattered to the floor.

One more. One last chance.

It was tempting to imagine the faces of those who wronged her and hitting them smack in the forehead. But they were mattering less and less the longer she spent in Bearden. They’d hurt her, sure, and she doubted she would ever forgive them. Moving on and living her life without their influence seemed like the best plan.

Baby steps. One dart at a time.

Joss took a deep breath and cast aside a little of the weight she carried. She would nail the next chapter of her life.

She let the dart go and watched it sink into the center of the board.

“Yes!” Tansey yelled. She wrapped Joss up in a hug and swung her around to the others. She jabbed a finger at Alex, then Hunter. One scowled, the other looked prouder than a peacock. “In your face, suckers!”

Joss wiggled out of the embrace. Her cheeks ached again with her wide grin. “Yeah. Suck on that!”

Ethan stretched his arms wide and landed a hand on Tansey’s shoulder. She leaned back into her mate with a pleased sound rattling in her throat. “We’re going to head out. Need to make sure the others haven’t chased off the guests yet. You guys coming?”

“Mmm,” Alex purred around the mouth of his bottle. He set it down with a clink and fixed his eyes on someone in the crowd. “There’s someone I want to meet.”

“That my cue.” Noel stood and slapped Hunter’s back. “Get at me tomorrow, boy.”

“I will,” Hunter promised to his father’s retreating back.

“Joss? You need a ride?” Tansey asked.

Joss arched an eyebrow at Hunter.

He matched her look, arch for arch. “I think we’ll figure out our own way back.”

“Have fun,” Tansey whispered with a nudge of her elbow.

Then they were alone. The bar swirled around them, but the noise and activity faded away to nothing. The man staring down at her, close enough to touch, held her entire attention.

“Did you want to get a drink?” he asked.

Over top of him, she questioned, “What’s next?”

“We have to stop doing that,” he drawled. Gold eyes danced at her.

Warmth spread across her cheeks. “I like to think it means we’re on the same wavelength.”

“Mmm. I like that.” Hunter crooked his elbow and tilted his head. “Can I escort you home?”

Joss took his offered arm with a gracious nod. “I accept your offer.”

Hunter made way for them through other patrons and led her outside and to his truck. Like a gentleman, he opened the door for her and helped her inside. Like a man with a libido, his hands lingered on her for longer than strictly necessary.

He climbed into the driver’s seat and jammed the keys in the ignition. His head swiveled and his eyes caught hers. That gaze... she could have died on the spot. He looked at her like no one else existed. Heat spiraled through her and pounded her heart against her breastbone.

With another heavy look, Hunter turned the engine over and started them on the road back to the ranch.

Somewhere between a sad, crooning country song and a tale of rebirth and second chances, Hunter’s hand fell onto her thigh. He didn’t say a word, and she didn’t push him away. The weight of his grip felt right. Her badger brushed up against her, then settled right down, feeling pleased.

Joss rolled down the window and stuck her hand into the night. Air currents whipping off the front of the truck lifted her hand. She twisted and cut through, diving and soaring her hand through the wind.

Her heart broke open. All the cobwebs fell away and left her fresh and ready.

For what, she didn’t know. The night loomed large in her head. Something important and altering worked in the background and foreground and all around her.

Too soon and not soon enough, he slowed and made the turn for Black Claw Ranch. They bumped over the cattle grate and the rough road leading up to the big house. Past the barn. She’d seen the little cluster of houses a distance from the main house, but wasn’t sure which man called each one home. One mystery solved as Hunter pulled to a stop in front of one with red shutters.

Did he paint them himself? Put them on himself? She didn’t think the others had that decoration.

“Stay put,” he ordered and kicked open his door.

Joss barely had time to question the words before her door opened and he wedged himself halfway inside. He turned her so her legs dangled off the seat, then twisted right back around.

“Come on,” he said over his shoulder. “Let’s see those riding skills.”

Firm hands wrapped her calves around his waist and she was given the option to grab on or fall over backward.

“What are you doing?” she laughed and latched on. Piggyback rides. Really! She couldn’t remember the last time she had one.

“Giving you a ride.” He hoisted her into a better position and jogged the short distance to his door.

She didn’t have any time to give the place more than a cursory look. It was a loft, which surprised her. Neat and organized, too. A couch sat in front of the TV, with a checkered blanket hanging over the back. Hunter grabbed that, then reached for a bottle of whiskey on the whirlwind trip through the kitchen and out the back door.

“Where are we going?” Joss asked breathlessly.

“Want to show you something. Trust me.”

Over her shoulder, Joss could still see the shadowed structures of the barn and main house, as well as the smaller lumps of homes like Hunter’s. Huts, they called them, but the brief look inside didn’t match the messy hovel the word brought to mind. They were adorable cottages. Lights peeked out of a few windows, but most were as dark as the night Hunter hiked them into.

She didn’t know how long they walked, only that the buildings in the distance grew smaller and the sense of the night pressed against her in a primal way. She was used to city life and all the trappings that came with too many people packed together. Joss had felt small against that backdrop.

The night was something else. Different. Wilder. Fur brushed against her with the bite of awareness. She was an animal, and this was her natural habitat. She felt like she’d arrived home.

Hunter stopped suddenly, though she couldn’t see anything that made the spot better or worse than twenty steps to the right.

“Okay, down you go.” He untangled her from his blanket and bottle mess, then let her slide to the ground. He passed her the bottle, too.

With a deft flick of his wrists, he shook out the blanket and spread it over the ground. He took the bottle from her hands, then stretched out, leaning on one elbow and crossing his long legs at the ankles. With an arched brow and coy look, he patted the space next to him.

Happy. That was the feeling in her chest from the moment she walked into the bar and spotted him. Tansey said she smelled like it, too.

Joss didn’t want the night to ever end.

Bound by her wonder, she made herself comfortable on the blanket next to him. She copied his pose, propping herself up on her elbow and facing him. They’d been physically closer in the bar, they’d even locked lips twice, but under the stars with no one around felt more intimate.

“For you.” Hunter uncapped the bottle and handed it to her. “I’ll be your designated walker for the night.”

Joss giggled. She gave a small shake of her head in surprise. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Make me feel like I’m your only priority.”

Escorting her home was only a small part of it. A spontaneous drink under the stars was another. The heated looks he gave her all night and the brushes of his fingers against her skin had her nearly vibrating with energy.

“It’s easy when you are.”

Joss sucked in a breath at the casual admission. His words had no pressure, no game. He just stated a fact without expectation. Whatever had sparked to life between them simply existed for him.

Soft fur rubbed against her insides as a reminder of her badger watching the bear. Her inner beast wanted the man, and the more Joss let herself listen to those desires, the stronger and clearer they became. Hunter was good and right and fit in the empty space in her heart.

His fingers brushed against hers as he took the bottle for a swig, then handed it back to her. “I used to do this with my dad whenever one of us was having a problem. This is what we did to solve everything.” He gestured across the dark landscape. “Under the stars, he’d say, you’re bigger than what’s going on in your head. Your tiny problems don’t matter with millions of twinkling lights stretching overhead, and miles of lands in every direction. We’re part of something bigger, so it made anything bad seem small and manageable by comparison.”

Lounging next to him, surrounded by the quiet hum of the night, she believed it. “I wish I shared something like this with my mom. It was always us against the world, never anything like being part of it. She had to keep me hidden. Humans, hunters, other shifters, they were all threats, and I needed to be careful. Even when news broke of this place, Mom still wanted me to keep quiet.” She soured. “I guess she was right. As soon as my name went on that registration list, I was a target. Slashed tires at first. A rock through the window. I was a blemish on the perfect upper-class neighborhood. I even overheard someone tell their kids to be careful around me.”

“You won’t be hurt like that here,” Hunter growled. His hands tightened into fists. The eyes he snapped to her were full of anger on her behalf. “They don’t know how much they’re missing out.”

A frustrated breath flew past her lips. “I tried so hard, too. I was always so worried I’d hurt someone. My mom, my ex, any kids we might have had. One slip-up, and it tore everything apart.”

“You want cubs?” His voice turned to gravel that made her muscles turn to jelly. Gold flashed in his eyes when he flicked them to her face.

“Yeah. Yes.” Another swig made her brave. “I’ve always wanted kids. What about you?”

“Never occurred to me that I wouldn’t have them.” He pressed his lips together. “I don’t mean it like that: a foregone conclusion. I mean that I watched my mom and dad and how happy they were. I wanted that always. Maybe too much, since it put me with the people I shouldn’t have made a priority.” He was quiet for a moment, then continued. “I remember I used to ride my dad like a bull. He’d stick me in his boots that came up to my thighs, give me his hat, and then get down on all fours. He’d just jump and dive with me holding on for as long as I could manage with my mom hollering in the background to be careful, mind the coffee table, all the things moms do for their cubs.” Hunter’s drank from the bottle with a distant look. “I want that.”

Joss rubbed at her ring finger. For the first time in a long while, it didn’t feel like she was missing anything.

“What stopped you?” Hunter traced slow circles on her hand and raised goose bumps up and down her arms. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

She shrugged off the hurt of years of conversations and future plans that never came into existence. “My ex worked all the time. I made the house. Would have been easier with kids, but he kept delaying us trying. Now I’m glad. That would have made everything so much messier.”

Joss wanted to be picked by someone. Truly picked by someone who saw her and liked all the pieces and didn’t try forcing her into a box of their own making.

She didn’t want more of the lip service she’d convinced herself was love before. All the good moments were ruined by the bad. In the toughest challenge, the moments where most people cracked under pressure, she wanted to see complete devotion to the idea of their partnership. That was love. Hard, painful, tough, and pure gold at the center. No problem lasted forever if two people were willing to tackle it.

She needed someone willing to fight to keep her. The real her. The woman she was learning to be without walls or boxes or expectations placed on her. Joss Warren, badger, chef, klutz, awkward laugher, that woman deserved to live and love.

Prepared for him or not, one man already declared her a priority. No hint of a lie soured his scent. She wanted to let loose and make changes, and that started with a big, scary jump into the unknown.

Another string to her past snapped and fell away from her heart.

Joss’s pulse raced. Through lowered lids, she watched Hunter watching her. Energy arced between them, twisting around and tying them together. “I don’t have to be careful with you,” she said softly.

Hunter closed the distance. “No,” he breathed against her lips. “I can take whatever you have to give.”

“Big bear. Tough bear,” she murmured. She loved how his smile felt against her.

“Your bear.”