Gray Back Alpha Bear by T. S. Joyce Read Free Book Online Page A

in front of her crew. “Because my dad doesn’t know yet, and I didn’t want you telling him until Matt and I had a chance to tell him ourselves.”
    “Willa, I don’t have your dad on speed dial. When was I going to gossip to him?”
    “Well, I didn’t know how long you were sticking around for, and you ran into my dad in the grocery store, remember? I was trying to keep my bear shit on the down low.”
    “Willa,” Creed said low as the other men drifted off to pick up the scattered remnants of clothing that decorated the stained gravel. “Easton is going to be trouble until someone explains to him about Gia. He isn’t going to listen to me or the boys on this one.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Willa muttered, stomping off toward a pile of discarded clothes by her truck.
    Creed ran his hands down his face and kept them covering his mouth as he looked down at her with tired eyes. “And that’s the Gray Backs,” he said, finishing what had to be the bloodiest and most terrifying introduction in history.

Chapter Six
     
    “I can tell by the look on your face that you’re considering leaving,” Creed said quietly from his seat behind the wheel. “And if you are, I understand, but I’m begging you to reconsider.”
    Gia sat huddled in on herself, staring out the window as the forest blurred by. “Yesterday you wanted me to leave.”
    “Well, things are different now. I’m different.” Creed inhaled a shaky breath and glanced over at her. His eyes were still the color of mercury. “I want you to stay.”
    “What if Easton kills me?”
    “He won’t. He wasn’t mad at you. He was mad at me. It has nothing to do with you, and it’s not your fault. Easton’s attack stemmed from his own problems. Not ours. I won’t let anything happen to you, Gia.”
    He said the last part with such honesty, she couldn’t help but waver in her resolve to leave this place tonight and never come back.
    “Why are your bears broken?” she whispered. “Matt with his scars and Easton with his anger, and you—”
    “I’m not broken.” Creed gripped the wheel until it creaked. “Just different.”
    “Did you choose these bears?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I didn’t ever have a family, Gia.” The words came out angry, and he muttered a curse. “I didn’t have anyone to show me how to be this, this, thing I am. And those bears might not look like much to you, but they’re the family I’ve built, and I’m not giving up on them. I didn’t mind taking the problem bears. Matt and I decided early on we could take the bears that didn’t fit anywhere and try to make a life for them here. I know it doesn’t make any sense. Hell, half the time I come home from work and want to murder all of them. But then we’ll have these moments where we’re not fighting and everyone is getting along, and I get that nostalgic feeling like this is what it would’ve been like if I’d grown up differently. If they would’ve joined other crews, their alphas would’ve probably put them down by now. That’s the way it is with shifters. The ones who are dangerous, who are out of control of their animals, who threaten to expose our violent natures to the humans and put our kind in danger, are put down when their bears become unmanageable. But my crew hasn’t stopped fighting to live. Not one of them has given up and said, ‘This is as good as I get. Take it or leave it.’ To you, we probably look like a bunch of maniacs who don’t belong together, but to me, I see what they can be. Is it hard? Yeah. Does it hurt to keep trying? Fuck yeah, I bleed all the time breaking up their fights. But is it still worth it to me?” He dragged his eyes away from the road to her. “Yeah.”
    With a sigh, she pulled Creeds hand to her belly and flattened his palm against the swell. “Why do you want me to stay?” She knew what some of his answer would be, but if she was going to risk her life to make a temporary home here, she