Hunter filed in through the doors of The Roost with most of the clan and the male guests. The main house was strictly off limits for anyone with parts that dangled until well past any decent hour. Joss and Tansey even went so far as to post signs proclaiming NO BOYS ALLOWED on the doors to keep them from interfering with whatever bachelorette shenanigans they’d cooked up.

Which left the Black Claw clan in charge of showing the groom and all his men a rowdy time. They debated on going the scared-straight route and taking them to the dive frequented by the ranchers living on the edges of the enclave, and decided against it. The Roost was more human speed, though Hunter would have given his left pinky toe to see the looks on their faces after taking a single step inside Defiant Dog.

“Everyone, find yourselves a pool table or dart board. First round is on us,” Ethan announced to the group and received big grins and appreciative claps on the back in return.

“First round, huh?” Jesse muttered.

“Least we could do after Tansey charged them an emergency booking fee for all this nonsense. She’s about bled them dry.” Pride rolled of his alpha. Ethan excused himself and made his way to the bar to place an order.

One of the guests, Tony, spotted someone in the crowd and peeled away from the main group. Hunter tracked him squeezing through the press and growled when he sighted Joss’s ex lurking in a corner. He’d disappeared by the time he and Joss left the barn. Where the man had found a place to sleep wasn’t Hunter’s concern. Staying away from Joss was the only thing that mattered. From the looks that ranged from sulking to downright murderous, he wasn’t sure that would be the case.

He didn’t want to be caught up in another Andre situation, but dammit, he wasn’t going to let his mate go without a fight. At least this time it wasn’t simple jealousy boiling his blood. His bear had stood up and taken notice of one very unique woman that made every other person in the world fade into the background. He wanted to be the man she deserved.

Still lost in his thoughts, he helped Ethan pass out the pints and bottles and shot glasses to the group. He even kept his shit together when Cal nudged in with Tony next to the groom like a leech.

“To getting so sloshed tonight that you can’t feel the cold feet in the morning!” Ethan toasted.

Christopher cracked a smile and downed his shot. “We have a few more mornings to go.”

“Ah, dammit. We have to put up with you longer?” Ethan joked, then nodded. He poured another round from the bottle of whiskey and raised his glass with more serious eyes. “I wish you all the happiness in the world. There’s nothing like waking up to bad morning breath and knowing that’s yours for life. Congrats, man.”

Across the group, Cal shot Hunter a dirty look.

Hunter turned away and followed Lorne and Alex to a table while the others scattered to their drinks and chosen activities.

Cal was up to some shit. There was no reason for him to stick around in Bearden.

He had to trust Joss. She’d spoken the truth, as she saw it. The pieces fit with all the other truths he’d uncovered since they were flung together. She said she’d been blindsided by the divorce and had been happy otherwise, but he could see the cracks in her relationship from a thousand miles away.

Probably what everyone saw with him and Joyce, or him and every other girl that came before her.

Still, the dark thoughts ate at all her promises. He’d been cheated on before. It’d wrecked his life before. He’d stooped to low levels and run to save his skin.

His bear clawed up his insides. Joss was different, the beast seemed to say. He shoved enough sendings through Hunter’s mind to make the point clear. The visuals of her with a mate mark, her with a round belly, her with a cub in her arms and a kiss for his cheek, they all tugged at Hunter’s heart. He wanted that life to be true.

Joss was the one for him, and her big green eyes made him want to believe they wouldn’t end up like all his other mistakes.

Fingers snapped in front of his face. “Wake up, asshole.”

“The fuck?” he growled at Alex.

“He’s gone all gooey over a girl,” Lorne said, brief smile flashing at the tabletop.

“Truth speaker,” Alex said around the mouth of his bottle.

“I’m not all gooey.” Hunter rolled his shoulders against the accusation. “Just have other things on my mind.”

“Like the chef and what she’s going to serve you up next?” Jesse asked, eyes wide with innocence.

Hunter raised his middle fingers in answer.

“We’re not the only ones out tonight.” Lorne jerked his chin over Hunter’s shoulder.

He turned and rolled his eyes when he caught sight of Joyce pressing against one of the local cops. A different one than before, he noted. As she noticed him watching, she grabbed the man’s face and kissed him without breaking eye contact.

Hunter tipped his beer in her direction. Woman wanted to make him jealous? Sticking her tongue down the throat of the nearest man wouldn’t do the trick. His bear didn’t even acknowledge her. The beast was too engrossed with the thought of getting back to Joss.

“Anyone need another?” he asked the table and pushed to his feet. He didn’t want to talk about Joss or what he wanted to do to her with any of them. Certainly not where her ex could overhear, as much as he’d like to rub what the man had lost in his face.

He could be a gentleman sometimes.

Hunter made his way to the bar and raised a finger to summon Gideon, then drummed his fingers against the bar as the dragon took his sweet time serving everyone who’d lined up before him.

“James,” Joyce purred as she slid up to the bar next to him.

Hunter stiffened.

No one in Bearden knew that name.

He pasted on a smirk. His bear clawed at his insides. “You on the juice tonight, Joyce? Confusing me with someone else?”

“That’s not what I hear.” Oh, she smelled sly and full of secrets.

A stone sank to the pit of his stomach. He was clear. His old man said so. No bounty, no one looking. His crimes were so far in the past that no one but him cared anymore.

“Yeah? And who’s been filling your ears with lies?”

She dragged her finger along the rim of her glass, looking at him through her eyelashes. “I have my ways. Maybe I made a new friend who told me all manner of secrets about you. Wonder what your little girlfriend would think if she heard them.”

His bear roared fury at the threat. He’d run before when there was nothing to stand beside. His shameful actions drove him into hiding. Now, with a mate to cherish, the only option was to turn and fight.

Hunter rounded on her. Abandoning his spot at the bar, he grabbed her arm and dragged her through the crowd to the bathroom hallway. He closed his hand around her throat and pushed her into the wall while red anger clouded his eyes. “You think long and hard about what you plan to do with that name,” he snarled. “Because nothing, and I mean nothing, will make me hate you more than wrecking what I have going with Joss.”

Joyce grabbed his hand and tried to pull him off. “You’re mine until I say I’m done. That little redhead doesn’t know who she’s messing with.”

Hunter shook his head with a growl. He didn’t like the notes of triumph in her scent. She was up to some shit, too.

Cal. Joyce. He’d rip them both apart if they stepped between him and his mate.

“I let you walk all over me for too long. I’m done with that. I’m done with you. If you doubt me, you better look up exactly what James Shaw did the night he left Texas.”

Blood. So much blood. He’d nearly slipped in it.

And the screams. From him, from her.

Andre never stood a chance. Shifter strength, shifter rage, against a human?

James Shaw died the night he left Texas.

Hunter released Joyce with a noise of disgust. For her, for himself, for letting his anger get away from him all over again.

No good. His skin stretched tight over his frame and his bear roared a constant chorus in his head.

Fuck. Fuck. He never should have let his old man come visit. He should have changed every part of his name. He should have hidden on the other side of the damn world, or maybe six feet under the dirt.

That name meant trouble. Even if no one wanted his hide, he’d done the thing Joss feared the most. He’d lost control and hurt someone in the process.

He’d nearly done it again with Joyce. His bear overwhelmed all his good sense and pushed him down a destructive path.

If he couldn’t keep his shit together, how could he be a good mate?

His bear roared and slashed his insides.

He needed a fight. Or a fuck. Or a run until the sun was high overhead and everyone he knew was far behind. Anger and shame and unease gnawed at his insides until he shook so hard he could barely fit his keys to the lock of his truck.

Home. He had to get the fuck away from everyone and get home.

Headlights slashed across a lone figure perched on the top step of his porch. Joss’s head shot up and green eyes pierced him through the windshield. Her feet poked out from the hem of her skirt and if he wasn’t mistaken, she’d donned cowboy boots. Two braids hung over her shoulders to complete her prairie look.

A hint of his rage faded away. Not enough to ease the rattle of his bear’s snarls, but enough to let him form words when he dropped out of his truck and shut the door with a heavy click.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, voice low and gravelly and full of his bear. Fuck, he still wanted to shift and fight.

Or fuck.

Her sweet scent clogged up his nose and nearly sent him to his knees. Perfection, that was what she smelled like. His fingers itched to touch her, even as he resisted. She deserved so much more than a fucked up bear with blood on his hands.

She ducked her head, then brought it right back up to stare glowing green eyes at him. Fierce. Brave. It was the look of a woman who knew what she wanted.

He felt so fucking proud of her for that look.

“I didn’t want to sleep alone,” she said quietly. “If you’re not okay with that, I can go. Are you okay?”

No. Yes. He didn’t know. He clung to steadiness by a fingernail, but that wasn’t the only thing holding him to this side of sanity. Another tether appeared somewhere over the last few days, and it led straight back to the woman with narrowed, concerned eyes directed at him.

Hunter closed the space between them and pulled her to her feet. His shaky breath evened out the moment he touched her, then a dam broke inside him. That wasn’t going to be enough. He needed more from her. He needed to feed the dark parts of himself with her goodness.

His lips crashed against hers in a violent, needy collision. Rough kisses, with his tongue plunging into her mouth, and his fingers digging into her hips. A wild growl worked in his chest. The bite of her fingernails against his skin only surged more desire. He wanted her mark, no matter how temporary.

He wrapped her around his waist and held her against the door while he fumbled with his keys. Fuck, she was hot. He could feel her through the layers of their clothes. The jerks of her hips rubbed herself against him and urged him on.

Hunter stumbled inside, still holding Joss against him, and kicked the door shut. He aimed for the couch and set her on the back. Fuck the extra steps to the bedroom. He needed her now.

“Do you know what this skirt does to me?” he murmured against her throat. His fingers bunched in the fabric to draw it higher up her legs. He’d wanted to do the same when he first caught sight of her outside the newspaper office. “If I had my way, you’d wear nothing else.”

A shudder worked through her body. In the darkness, lust-filled eyes watched him.

His bear wanted to lay claim to her right then and there. His gums ached with the need to drag her shirt over her head and mark her shoulder, or drop to his knees and pierce the skin of her thigh.

At the apex of her legs, he slid a hand over her panties. Damp heat greeted him. His eyes rolled to the back of his damn head and a growl worked out of his chest. “Fuck, Joss, you’re already wet for me, aren’t you?”

She rocked against his hand and made a tiny, needy sound.

Hunter shoved her panties to the side and speared her. The noise that bubbled out of her throat had his cock throbbing in time to every warble.

He panted when she flattened her palm against his erection. Sweet skies above, he couldn’t help but buck against her squeezing, rubbing hand. Her breath hitched in her throat and fuck, he couldn’t stop.

Hunter unbuttoned his jeans and shoved them down his hips. Need. He needed to be inside her. He could get lost in her arms. Forget all the bad he’d done. Keep up the illusion just a little while longer.

He ripped away her panties and lined himself up against her entrance. He pushed an inch inside her, then eased out. So tight. Even after almost making her come on his fingers. Joss gasped with pleasure, and Hunter lost control. He pushed into her deep.

Fuck. He needed to slow down. She deserved more than a fast fuck to calm his riled bear.

She chased his kiss when he tried to pull away. Her arms wrapped around his neck and held him closer.

“Hunter. Hunter, move.”

Bossy girl. He’d gotten a taste of it when she locked the stall door on him and forced him to hear her out. She’d called him out on not listening to what she needed like everyone else in her life. He swore he’d never do it again.

He listened to her words and her body. Hunter bucked his hips hard into her, slamming every inch of himself into her silky heat.

Joss burrowed her fingers into his hair and moaned against his lips.

He pulled back slow, so slow, monstrously slow, and watched need flare in her eyes. Her teeth caught her lower lip. The thud of her heart sounded so loud to his ears.

His.

Savior. Sexy redhead with the messy life made him want to figure out how to be the best damn man in existence. He didn’t need to run with her at his side. He didn’t need to fight. She soothed his beast and the rough edges of his soul.

Hunter buried himself inside her. He dragged her to the very edge of the couch and pummeled into her until she was screaming his name between incoherent babble.

“Yes,” she chanted. “Hunter, yes.”

He pushed deep and stayed there, thrusting shallow and hard. She fluttered against him and red spread over her cheeks and down her neck. Her chest heaved with shallow gulps of air. All of it worked to let him know how close she was with him.

She came hard, clenching his dick in quick pulses. One final, roaring thrust seated him firmly inside her to throb his release.

He pressed his forehead to hers as their ragged breaths found their natural patterns. He didn’t know what to say. Couldn’t imagine how to explain what she’d done for him, or the places inside him she’d unlocked. His world shifted in her arms.

Later, with Joss curled up next to him and her soft breath against his neck, Hunter stared at his ceiling. She gave him hope and a dream when he had no right to either.

He stretched his fingers out until he found his phone. Trying not to disturb her, he held it up and snapped a picture.

Perfect. He traced her hair spread out against his pillow. The tightness around her eyes had disappeared, and she even wore a tiny little smile.

She looked content. He wanted to keep her as peaceful and happy as she looked in that moment.

The past mattered, but the future mattered more. He had to be better. He had to do better. No more outbursts, no letting anyone get under his skin.

Okay, the last was a pipe dream. He lived with crazy bears who’d eat him at the first sign of weakness. But a brawl now and then—or every day—was different than letting his bear run away with him.

Joss deserved the world, and he’d give it to her.