The bear snorted and shook her head.
“There we go. You like self-deprecating jokes. Okay. Here’s another one. I had everything, and I gave it up on purpose because, believe it or not, living in these mountains with a Crew of fuck-ups is me living my best life.”
He was so close to the chuffing bear now. So. Close. Closer than he’d ever been to Remi’s bear without getting claw marks. And Juno’s fur was a mouse brown color that waved in the breeze to expose a lighter color underneath. Remi’s fur was course and tough, but Juno’s looked soft, and he wanted to touch it just to feel the difference. Pretty silver eyes. They looked the same color as the full moon tonight. It was snowing still, so here he stood, his fingers stretching to her neck, snowflakes falling all around them and clinging to the tips of her fur. Heart pounding out of his chest, he touched her fur just light enough to tickle.
She clamped her teeth onto his arm so fast he had no time to react, only freeze and hope she had mercy on him. He could feel her big, sharp teeth putting pressure on his forearm, millimeter by millimeter, and her eyes held him trapped. Or enamored maybe. Did he care if this was his last day on earth? Things had gotten so fucked up. Would it even matter if Juno ended him right now?
Out here in the snow, her powerful mouth on his arm tethering him to her…well, it became a special moment. Her bite was powerful but gentle enough to keep him there. Had he ever been so connected to another living being? For a second, he understood her. Let people close because she wanted comfort, but then punish them when they got too close. How many hundreds of times had he done that in his lifetime?
She clamped down again, just a little more, then released him, and the moment was done.
With a grunt of pain, she hunched into herself and shrank into the form of a naked woman. Juno was all that remained of the beast, her bare shoulders dusted with snowflakes, her hair wild, her knees drawn up to her chest, her thin arms wrapped around them. She was shivering.
“Where am I?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
“Rogue Pride woods,” he murmured, yanking off his jacket. He put it around her shoulders, scooped her up, and lifted her from the ground.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“You better not be a serial killer,” she said through chattering teeth as he made his way to the truck.
“I’m not a serial killer, but I do like Raisin Bran.”
“What?”
“It’s a cereal.”
There was a split second of silence and then the cutest little laugh he’d ever heard. “That was a really lame joke.”
“And yet you laughed. Terrible sense of humor on you.”
“You hit me with a pickup truck.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what you get for recognizing me.”
Juno snorted as he settled her into the passenger’s seat. “I hope I damaged your truck.”
“Oh, you definitely did. We are at war now.”
“I let you pet me. We are at peace.”
“You tried to bite me. War back on.”
She was giggling now, and he froze beside her seat, watching the easy smile on her lips. “Why are you out here without Remi?”
The smile fell, and she cuddled deeper into his jacket. There was that look of confusion again. “I don’t…I don’t know. I didn’t mean to Change.”
“You can’t control them?”
“If I tell you a secret, will you keep it?”
“If you do me a favor in return.”
“I’m not boning you.”
“Your loss, but I was thinking you should keep my secret, too.”
“Ooooh. A secret for a secret. I tell you something big, and in return for shouldering it, I don’t tell a soul you’re hiding here.”
“Clever bear. Now tell me your secret. I’m pretty good with them. I’ve learned that Remi is not. She will lay everyone’s shit bare.”
Juno laughed again. “That she will.” She swallowed hard and pursed her lips, searching his face. And then she told him, “I’m supposed to die soon. I think my sickness has begun.”
He wished. He wished hard. He wished she would tell him she was just teasing or that he’d heard a lie in her voice, but she was telling the truth. This beautiful stranger believed she would die. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Pinky swear?” she asked, maneuvering her hand out of his jacket to offer one slender pinky.
“Oh, God, I haven’t done a pinky swear since fifth grade. I have to remember how to do this.” He hooked his pinky onto hers and shook once.
“Rusty, but you’ll get the hang of it,” she said supportively. “Your secret is safe with me, too. Whatever reason you have for being here, it’s none of my business. Unless you wanted to tell me.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“Pass. Now we are at war again.” He reached across and buckled her in, then shut the door. The heater worked better when his truck was moving, and he didn’t like that she was shivering so much. It dug at an instinct to make her comfortable.
She watched him climb in, shut the door beside him, and throw the truck into gear. She watched him ease his foot onto the gas and straighten out the truck, and she watched him as he guided the rig up the snowy road to the parking field. She definitely watched him as he hummed along to an old Beck Brother’s song that floated on the air through the radio.
Her attention never left him, so he stopped humming and asked, “What?”
Juno shook her head and said, “Nothing.”
“You’re dying. Might as well tell me before you croak.”
“Har har.” A few seconds of silence went by as he parked his truck by Grim’s old navy Bronco. “I look up to you.”
“Everyone looks up to me. I’m tall.”
“God, you’re impossible to compliment.”
Rhett sighed and shook his head. “Look, I don’t need compliments. I don’t even like them. I’m not what everyone thinks. I’m just…me.”
“Yeah, the me you’re talking about? Went against set-list coordinators during an entire sold-out tour and sang acoustic covers of some of my favorite singers at the end of every standing ovation you got. The me you talk about didn’t ever apologize for being a shifter and didn’t hide the animal. The me you talk about made me sit up for the first time in years and feel country music again. Not just hear it. Feel it. That’s pretty cool when you can affect people like that.”
He sat there dumbfounded as she shoved her door open and got out. His jacket barely covered her butt as she walked barefoot toward the trail that would lead to the trailer park. Long curvy legs that had his dick throbbing, but her words had done something else to his body. His heart was pounding and his muse whispered a lyric for the first time in months without a lick of booze in him.
And then she walked out, the one that got away
I never got a chance to say
after all this time, it’s still on my mind…
I wish you stayed…
Chapter Seven
On the front porch of 1010 sat a chair with a pile of her shredded clothes. Juno’s purse was on top of that, all of her stuff tucked neatly back inside. A note had been paperclipped to the edge. The paperclip was supposed to be a dog bone, but looked like a dick when it was attached to something. She laughed. Couldn’t help herself. She was still about 35% pissed at Remi for hacking her airline account and messing with her career, but a dick was a dick, and they were hilarious.
She plucked the letter off her purse and read it.
Juno-Bug. You Changed. We saw bear tracks and you totally destroyed your clothes. It’s my fault, isn’t it? When you get back to the trailer, I swear I will only be a fun friend.
“Yeah? Not the life-ruining kind?” she muttered under her breath before reading on.
I have a surprise. Put some clothes on. You’re probably super naked on account of ripping up all yours. That pantsuit was probably expensive, lady. Careful with your duds! Uhhh, don’t wear anything expensive tonight, for tonight…we ride! Go change now. I’m watching you. But not in a creepy way. Do you want a hot dog? I made lots. Wait, this isn’t a text message. You can’t respond. I’ll just bring hot dogs. Okay, go put underoos on. See you soon, bye.