Gray Back Alpha Bear (5 page)

Creed bit his thumbnail absently and watched Tagan, alpha of the Ashe Crew, back the trailer into the space Easton’s used to sit before the crew nut-job had dragged his singlewide into the woods to live like a recluse.

Tagan had his head out the window of the eighteen wheeler, eyeing the cream-colored trailer with the green shutters as he turned the wheel.

“Left,” Creed called. “Angle it a little more left. Yep. Keep going. Little more.” He held up his hand. “Stop.”

Jason began securing the trailer while Matt unhitched it from the back of the truck.

Tagan jumped out and came to stand beside Creed. “A few rules about this trailer.”

“Hit me,” Creed said with a nod.

“One, don’t fix it up with those fancy shingles like the rest of your trailers. Ten-ten is perfect just how it is.”

Creed cocked his head and squinted at the house number, 1010. The last zero was dangling and hanging on for dear life by one rusty, bent-up nail. “Okay, can I at least fix the number?”

“Don’t fix any of it. Brooke and the girls wouldn’t part with this place unless I promised them you wouldn’t change a thing. Also, there is an old field mouse in there somewhere. His name is Nards, and he’s special to the Ashe Crew. Please don’t kill him. He’s tame as a pet and will eat crackers right out of your hands if you let him. Just please, let him alone.”

“Great, I’m sure Gia will be thrilled to have a rodent for a roommate.” She probably wouldn’t freak out or scream bloody-murder any time she saw him at all, ha! “Anything else?”

“Yeah, don’t stomp, or your boots will go through the flooring. You need wood to build the steps?”

“Nah, we’ve got it. I promised Gia one of those big fancy front porches with room for a couple of rocking chairs since her trailer is the one on the end and has the room.”

“Good man.” Tagan’s bright blue eyes danced as he clapped him on the back. “I like Gia.”

“You met her already?” Right now, Gia was in town with Willa, trying to track down some contraptions called maternity pants. Or “eatin’ pants” as Willa called them.

“Yeah, I had the pleasure the other day when she and Willa came begging the trailer.”

“Then you know she’s good and pregnant?”

Tagan grinned and squeezed his shoulder, shaking him slowly. “I do. It’s all my crew could talk about last night. Congratulations, man. We’re all really happy for you.”

“I’m nervous I won’t be enough,” Creed admitted low.

“Nah,” Tagan said, crossing his arms over his chest and watching the Gray Backs settle the trailer. “Everybody feels like that because they don’t know what to expect. I don’t worry about whether you’ll do right by your family, Creed. You’re practically fathering these idiots already.”

“We can hear you,” Jason said through a careless grin.

“Yeah, but what if a human mate and a baby aren’t safe here?” Creed asked, voicing the biggest concern he was wrestling with.

Tagan leveled him with a serious look. “Then you do what you have to do to make sure they are. You’ll be good at this Creed, and a baby will be good for your crew. You’ll see.”

And Tagan would know. The baby population in his crew was exploding right now. He already had a son of his own and a baby dragon in his crew. Now, Danielle was pregnant, and Riley was set to pop at any time. Even Cassie had mentioned trying for a baby the last time she and Haydan had visited Matt.

Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

Creed turned to see Clinton watering his landscaping with the water hose pulled through the fly of his jeans. Hands on his hips with a happy smile on his face, he swiveled from side to side, hose swinging like a big dick.

And just like that, one of his boys had reminded him that the Gray Backs wouldn’t make anything easy.

****

They had loaded the back seat of Willa’s truck with groceries and bags from a local maternity store in Saratoga. All the boys had given them lists before they’d gone into town, and it had taken hours to do all the shopping. Gia had always liked shopping before, but right now, her feet were aching, and her ankles were swollen up something fierce.

She couldn’t wait to get home…er…to the Grayland Mobile Park and elevate her feet on a pillow.

“Ten-ten’s here,” Willa murmured excitedly as they pulled under the trailer park’s welcome sign.

“Ten-ten?”

“Yeah, that trailer from the Ashe Crew. Brooke swears its magic for the mates who come to the crew. She said she and the girls all had some really cool experiences in it.”

A flutter of excitement drummed against her chest as Gia leaned forward and squinted. She’d seen the trailer a couple of days ago when Willa had taken her to meet the Ashe Crew, and she’d had her doubts, but already the boys had most of the sprawling deck built, and it didn’t look so bad from here. It was too far away to see the chipping paint and the hole a squirrel had chewed into the cheap, warped, red front door.

And at least with a trailer of her own, she wouldn’t be mooching a bedroom from Willa and Matt anymore. They were ridiculously loud when they fucked. She could walk around in her underwear again, hog the kitchen, and sleep on an actual bed.

Gia giggled. God, she never, ever would’ve thought moving into an ancient singlewide trailer would be so exciting. What would Brittney, Kara, and her parents think of her new life?

Whatever. Screw them. They’d ditched her immediately and, besides, she’d never seen Willa more happy or confident, and part of that had to be this place. That and the dominant bear in her middle, but still. Gia had Creed, Willa, and the Gray Backs, and that was a lot more support than she’d had a couple of days ago.

Willa pulled to a stop, and Gia got out before she’d put the truck into park. She ran a few steps, then turned back around and grabbed the bag of maternity clothes. Excitement unfurling in her chest, she jogged toward where Creed was hammering planks to the deck in front of 1010.

The closer she got, the faster she ran, a grin splitting open her face.

“Hey, baby,” Creed said, standing with a greeting smile that mirrored her own. Damn, she’d missed him.

Peanut Butter yipped from his place nestled in Jason’s arm. Gia skidded to a stop on the gravel. Jason was leaned against the new porch railing, holding an animal she almost didn’t recognize. Someone had shaved Peanut Butter’s luxurious locks off.

“What did you do?” she yelled, blasting her shoes against the porch stairs as she charged Jason.

He hunched in on himself as if her shrill voice hurt his ears. “He was hot and ugly,” Jason said, holding out the dog for her. “Creed shaved him.”

“Oh my gosh,” she murmured. Peanut Butter was shaved from head to tail except for a longer strip of fur going up his back and head. “Did you give him a mohawk?” She was yelling again. “Peanut Butter is a show quality dog, and it took years to grow his hair out and get it just right.”

“Peanut Butter?” Jason asked, looking aghast. “LOL, no.”

“You aren’t supposed to say LOL out loud, you idiot.”

“We’ve renamed him Spike,” Jason said, ignoring her. “He has a dick, Gia. You had a pink rubber banded bow in his hair, and he smelled like a blueberry patch.” He jammed his finger at her. “That’s not okay.”

But Peanut Butter was her fur baby, and she could do what she pleased. And she was really freaking tired of people dictating her life. She was twenty-four and had only just gotten out from her parents, and now she couldn’t choose a hairstyle for her dog?

With a shriek in her throat, she lunged at Jason, but Creed’s immovable grasp held her back. “Whoa,” he murmured.

Jason looked amused, and she wanted to claw that stupid grin off his face.

“And you!” she said, turning her anger on Creed. “You shaved my dog without my permission. My. Dog. How can I trust you around our kid if you can’t even take care of a dog for a day?” She shoved off his chest, hormone rage peaking. He’d messed with her momma instincts. Oh, she could just kick him! Repeatedly with spiked heels.

She cuddled Peanut Butter close and shoved the door open, then slammed it. Only it was anti-climactic because the door didn’t shut well and was made of cheap wood, so it made a soft thud.

“Come on, girl, you can do better than that,” Jason said from outside. She could practically hear the smile in his voice.

She set Peanut Butter down and tossed her bag of clothes, then slammed the door with both hands. Door still didn’t want to shut. With a battle scream, she opened it and closed it three times before she kicked it, gave up, and stomped into the bedroom crying.

A mouse skittered across the floor, and she yelled again as she sprinted for the bed. “Peanut Butter! Save yourself!” she sobbed as the dog watched the little rodent walk right by him.

Creed appeared in the doorway, arms crossed as he leaned against the frame. The mouse hopped right over his work boot. “That’s Nards, and he came with the house. Tagan says he’s a pet, and we can’t hurt him. He’ll even eat out of your hand.” His dark eyebrow jacked up. “Can I show you something before you light me up again?”

Gia’s shoulders were heaving around her ears with her crying. God, she couldn’t stop! It was like all the tears she’d been holding in since she’d found out she was pregnant were coming out now, and for what? She felt crazy.

Creed disappeared into the bathroom and came back with a handful of Peanut Butter’s hair.

“O-oooh-oooh,” she sobbed, clutching it to her chest. “Ow!” She dropped it on her lap and rubbed her finger where a sticker burr had poked her.

Creed pulled the strands apart. Peanut Butters discarded fur was full of the prickly things.

“He was crying when we got back from the landing. It was Easton’s day off, and he’d been picking burrs out of his feet for an hour, but they were working their way against his skin. Out here, long-furred animals get hurt, Gia. I wasn’t trying to mistreat your dog. He’s been tramping all over the trailer park for the last couple of hours, happy as all get out. You should see him. Look around you, Gia. This isn’t a showroom. I don’t care that Spike’s hair is perfect. I care that he isn’t hurting.”

Gia wiped her eyes and looked at Peanut Butter Spike. He was rubbing his body happily down the side of the wall, tongue lolled out to the side and a doggy smile on his face. He did look happy. And she hadn’t seen his legs in a year. The haircut was hideous, but she couldn’t deny he wasn’t missing the rubber bands and long fur. “But a Mohawk?”

Creed chuckled and pulled her closer. “I can shave the Mohawk off, but the boys and I think he looks like a little badass.”

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Guilt gutted her, and she sniffled. “I shouldn’t have said I couldn’t trust you with our kid. You should’ve asked me first, but you were trying to make my dog feel more comfortable.”

“It’s okay. I understand why you were upset, and you’re right. I should’ve called. I thought I would surprise you with his haircut, and you would think it’s cute, but clearly I know nothing about women.”

Gia laughed thickly and wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling against him. “I just went crazy.”

“I Googled pregnancy shit all last night, and this stuff is normal.”

Gia eased back and searched his eyes, but he didn’t seem to be joking. “What did you Google?”

“Uh, how to be a supportive partner, what to expect in the delivery room, what you can’t eat.” He leaned back on his locked arms and drew his knee up so she could lean on it. “I even watched a birth video, which was horrifying. It gave me nightmares. I have a whole new respect for women. If it was up to men to go through that, we’d be extinct. Now, what were you going to show me before you got pissed about Spike?”

She narrowed her eyes at his use of a name that was not her dog’s, but padded into the living room to retrieve the bag of maternity clothes she’d picked out with Willa today. Carefully, and aware that he was watching her every move, Gia set the clothes out one by one on the bed.

Creed grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled on the elastic waists. “No more rubber bands on your buttons.”

“Nope.”

“Go put these on. I want to see them,” he said with an indulgent grin.

There was no way a busy, burly, alpha lumberjack was interested in a fashion show from her, but she’d play along because she really wanted to show him her new clothes. With a relieved sigh that he wasn’t mad at her for the maniac tantrum she’d just thrown, she grabbed the jeans and a new, red, long-waisted sweater, and changed in the bathroom. “You know,” she called through the door. “Clothes are really cheap in Saratoga.”

“Yeah? Did you have money left over? You could’ve bought yourself more.”

“No, I didn’t have to spend any of the money you gave me. I had enough. More than enough.”

“Oh. But I wanted to take care of some of this stuff for you. You’ve spent so much on doctor’s appointments already, and I haven’t done anything. I want to take care of you.”

She smiled and opened the door. “Sweet daddy bear,” she murmured, turning this way and that for him to see her new outfit. “I made an appointment with a new doctor in town, so you can pay for our next appointment if you really want to.”