Gray Back Broken Bear (Gray Back Bears Book 4) by T. S. Joyce Page A

laugh at anyone who tried to get up the back roads in these mountains.”
    Creed was glaring at him with a tired, not amused expression.
    Jason shrugged. “Fine. I’ll take any mention of our address off my pages.”
    Creed swung his attention to Aviana, who was feeling mighty guilty for outing Jason to save herself right about now. “What are you doing here?”
    Aviana lifted her chin and tried to hold his gaze, but failed. Fuck it all, just spit it out then. “I’m here to ask you for Easton.”
    Jason choked on his beer and spewed it into a fine mist in the air.
    “What do you mean, ask for Easton?” Creed asked over the coughing.
    She inhaled deeply and said, “I’m here to ask your permission to court Easton.”
    “Explain.”
    Aviana held onto the side of the waist-high, bricked-in fire pit to steady her wobbly legs and swallowed hard. “I want to date him with the intention of becoming his mate.”
    “That’s not how we do things here. Mates are chosen freely.” Creed looked her up and down as his nostrils flared. “You smell like terror. I know Easton. I don’t think you are it for him. He isn’t made for a mate. I’m sorry, but the answer is no.”
    “Aw, piss off, Creed,” Willa muttered. She pitched her voice up and yelled, “Beaston!”
    “Willa,” Creed warned.
    “As Second, I veto your bullshittery. She likes him, she brought us beer, and she won me five fuckin’ dollars.” Willa cocked her head and her eyebrows jacked up. “Winner, winner, werebear dinner.”
    “Second, Willa. Second . Not alpha. I’m alpha, and I say she isn’t going to be safe around Easton. I’m all for Easton finding someone, but she’s human, and he’s…well…Beaston.”
    “He hasn’t killed Gia yet,” Willa argued, pointing to Creed’s mate.
    Creed looked at Gia in disbelief. “I’m not the bad guy in this. I’m trying to save her life.”
    “He won’t hurt me,” Aviana murmured. She would ignore the slice under her arm that was just now scabbing over.
    “Baby,” Gia said rubbing Creed’s arm. “I know you mean well, but Aviana is asking your permission to court him out of respect. It’s not really up to you.” She nodded to the man limping toward them from the tree line. “It’s up to him.”
    Creed scrubbed his hands down his face and muttered, “Fuck.”
    As he approached, Easton’s eyes reflected eerily in the glow from the fire in the brick pit—proof that his animal was never far from the surface. His gray shirt clung to his hard physique, and the top two buttons were open, exposing the line between his pec muscles. His legs were long and powerful with every stride he took, and despite the limp, he was graceful. He’d learned that gate with his time in the wilderness, fending for himself. She’d watched the slow change from clumsy boy to graceful animal in the years that broke him.
    “Hi,” she whispered past her tightening vocal cords.
    He shifted his weight from foot to foot, just on the edge of the firelight. Even in his human form, he looked like a wild animal who found safety in the shadows. “You’re here.”
    “For a reason,” Willa said.
    Easton frowned and ghosted a glance at the red-headed woman, then back to Aviana. “Why?”
    Aviana looked to Creed. He was king here, and she was wary of him snapping if she didn’t behave right.
    “Go ahead,” the alpha said in a defeated tone, leaning back in his chair and resting his hand on the swell of his mate’s stomach.
    “I want to court you.”
    Easton shrugged a shoulder up to his ear and shook his head. “I don’t know what that means.”
    “I want to date you, and if you find you like me well enough…” She swallowed the lump in her throat, but the rest of the words wouldn’t come out. Not with him staring at her so directly like this.
    “If I like you well enough…what?”
    “Maybe don’t look at me while I tell you.”
    “All right,” he said, sounding baffled. He turned around and gave her his