Blackwing Dragon (Harper's Mountains 5) (21 page)
Read Blackwing Dragon (Harper's Mountains 5) Online
Authors: T. S. Joyce
Tags: #Paranormal, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #Romance, #Forever Love, #Adult, #Erotic, #Shifter, #Mate, #Suspense, #Violence, #Supernatural, #Protection, #Bachelor, #Single Woman, #Romantic Suspense, #Fantasy, #Hearts Desire
Kane was laughing that easy sound Rowan had fallen in love with as he gave her a piggy-back ride around the house to the front porch. He was dragging a pair of two-by-fours in one arm and dropped them with a clatter in the front yard.
“Today is the big day,” she murmured excitedly as she climbed down to the ground.
“Mmm,” he rumbled, his soft brown eyes dancing. He was shirtless and sweaty from working, but she didn’t mind him hugging her. “What day is that?”
“The day we finish our home. It’s a big deal.”
“So you’re sure you aren’t going to disappear on me and go back to Damon’s Mountains?”
Rowan clamped her teeth over the claiming mark she’d given him. “Sorry, Blackwing, you’re stuck with me.”
Kane licked his bottom lip and hugged her closer, opened his mouth to say something, but the hum of approaching engines sounded through the valley.
With a dangerous look, he narrowed his eyes on the road. He didn’t stoop down and pull his knife from his ankle on reflex anymore. Now he trusted The Darkness to protect them from whatever came their way.
When the pair of trucks pulled to a stop in his front yard, Kane relaxed and gave Weston a two fingered wave. The Bloodrunners piled out and greeted them. Ryder picked Kane up in a back-cracking hug while Alana hugged Rowan.
“What are you guys doing here?” Kane asked. In the last six months, the Bloodrunners had only come here a few times. Rowan was pretty sure it was because Kane’s dragon felt huge and terrifying, and they were trying to give him space to lay claim to his territory.
Ryder held up a case of canned margaritas. “We’re here to celebrate, naturally.”
“Celebrate the house being done?” Kane asked, confusion knitting his dark eyebrows into a frown.
Weston lowered the tailgate of his truck and pulled out a couple of cheap plastic forest green shutters and a wooden board.
Kane’s face fell, and his cheeks tinged with shame. He ran his hand up the back of his head and ducked his gaze. “Are those from ten-ten?”
“Yeah, we saved a few bits and pieces of her. Figured you could use some of the mojo on your place.”
“You aren’t pissed that I destroyed it?” Kane asked quietly.
Lexi held up a plastic cage with a little black and white mouse with giant testicles. Sammy Scrotum, mascot of the old cabin. “The important parts survived.”
Weston dropped the shutters on the ground and handed Kane the large, misshapen wooden cut-out. It was charred around the edges but there were four numbers still nailed crookedly to it.
1010
.
Rowan put her hands over her mouth to cover her emotions. She’d been heartbroken over the loss of 1010, but it wasn’t lost at all. It was just moving.
Avery rested her head on Rowan’s shoulder. Already, Rowan’s vision was blurred with tears, and she still had work to do.
Kane swallowed hard as he took the plank of wood from Weston’s grasp. With a crooked smile, Kane hopped up on the porch, picked up the hammer and a couple of nails, and secured the plaque to his cabin.
The gurgling of a baby sounded, and Rowan smiled as Harper approached with baby Hudson in her arms. Wyatt walked beside his mate, a proud smile on his boy. Harper had been strong enough. She’d survived having her baby Bloodrunner boy, and now she looked so beautiful. Hair down in waves, her eyes so full of emotion already as she came to a stop right in front of Kane.
“Blackwing Dragon,” Harper said formally. “I’ve thought about this so much. Thought about your place here, right next to my mountains. I’ve thought about how lonely it must’ve been for you walking through life with no crew. You feel like a part of us.” She swallowed hard. “After Hudson was born and when I got my dragon back, I had planned on asking you to be a part of my crew, but after talking to Rowan, I don’t think that would be fair to you. Your dragon is too big, too dominant, and it’s too much for one crew.”
“It’s okay,” Kane murmured, pressing his finger against Hudson’s searching hand. Rowan didn’t miss the sadness in his voice, though.
“I can offer you friendship and a steady ally if you ever need us,” Harper said.
“I understand,” he whispered thickly, his eyes on baby Hudson.
“Kane?” Rowan said, pulling the folded paperwork out of her back pocket. “Here.”
With a confused frown, Kane studied her face, then looked at the others before he took the papers and unfolded them. Aloud he read, “Blackwing Crew. Application for Second in the crew. Rowan Barnett.” Kane inhaled sharply, and now his eyes were full of emotion as he rubbed his chin. “Are these crew registration papers?”
Rowan nodded. “Say the word, and I’ll turn these in. We’ll start from scratch, me and you. Say the word, and I won’t be a Gray Back anymore, Kane. I’ll be a Blackwing.” She turned her face and exposed her neck to him. With an emotional laugh at his shocked face, she murmured, “Alpha.”
Kane turned his back, covered his face with his palms, his body rigid as the papers fluttered in his hands. She scented the air, but he didn’t smell angry. Suddenly, Kane rounded on her and lifted her off the ground, hugged her tightly against his chest. “You gonna be my crew, Roe?”
She petted the back of his head, over the scars Apex left on him, and smiled at the Boodrunners behind them. “Yeah, Kane. I’ll be your crew.”
He had told her once that if he ever got The Darkness back, if would be the end of him. But it wasn’t.
It was the beginning of Kane’s Mountains.
The saga will continue with a brand new series titled
Kane’s Mountains
Blackwing Defender
(Book 1)
Coming September 2016
But first…
Also Up Next
Aric’s coven isn’t through.
Garret gets his story in the second book of the Winterset Coven series.
Second of the Winterset Coven
Coming September 2016
For new releases, exclusive sneak peeks, and giveaways, sign up for T. S. Joyce’s Bear Shifter Romance Newsletter
HERE
.
The Harper’s Mountains series is being written as a standalone series, but if you would like more of these characters, check out T. S. Joyce’s bestselling Saw Bears, Fire Bears, and Gray Back Bears series, starting with
Lumberjack Werebear (
Saw Bears, 1
).
Reading Order for Damon’s Mountains
Lumberjack Werebear (Saw Bears, 1), Woodcutter Werebear (Saw Bears, 2), Timberman Werebear (Saw Bears, 3), Sawman Werebear (Saw Bears, 4), Bear My Soul (Fire Bears, 1), Axman Werebear (Saw Bears, 5), Bear the Burn (Fire Bears, 2), Bear the Heat (Fire Bears, 3), Woodsman Werebear (Saw Bears, 6), Lumberman Werebear (Saw Bears, 7), Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears, 1), Gray Back Alpha Bear (Gray Back Bears, 2), Gray Back Ghost Bear (Gray Back Bears, 3), Gray Back Broken Bear (Gray Back Bears, 4), Lowlander Silverback (Gray Back Bears, 5), Last Immortal Dragon (Gray Back Bears, 6), A Very Beastly Christmas (Gray Back Bears, 7), Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears, 1), Boarlander Bash Bear (Boarlander Bears, 2), Boarlander Silverback (Boarlander Bears, 3), Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears, 4), Boarlander Cursed Bear (Boarlander Bears, 5)
