Page 22 of Cowboy Bear’s Hope (Motley Crewd Shifters #3)

A shuddering gasp ripped from me, raw and uncontrollable.

The impossible weight of everything seemed to crash down all at once.

My chest felt so tight. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t move.

I wanted to follow Dante and Rosie. To go with them. Into the dark, cold woods.

But that was no place for me.

It was for them. The wild, magical things that roamed the earth.

Oh, Rosie Posie, please be safe.

With everything I was feeling, it was a wonder I didn’t pass out or collapse. But I knew why that was.

Rosie was with Dante, and that meant she was safe. He would bring her home to me. I just knew he would.

But even that certainty couldn’t stop my heart from squeezing.

See, what they didn’t tell you about being a parent, regardless of what age you were when you became one or the circumstances that made you one, was that once you had a child, your entire world changed.

Every action and reaction were no longer just yours.

Every single thing you did had consequences. Lasting ones. And those could affect your child.

I made the decision long ago to have Rosie without help from my parents or her birth father. And I would never ever regret that decision.

She was the best thing that ever happened to me. A special brand of magic that only a child could bring.

And now she was doing it again. Changing my world for the better. My heart squeezed, and I felt the rightness of it all deep in my chest.

Yes, I chose to embrace the magic, the gift that was us. But the waiting really sucked.

My thoughts were stuck on Dante. My sweet, sexy, powerful mate in all of his glorious fur as he did exactly what he said he would when he took me as his mate—took care of us.

He was out there right now with my baby, protecting and teaching her things I couldn’t.

Not my baby anymore. Rosie is our baby.

I thought about my parting words to her before I’d driven myself back to the cabin.

“It’s okay, Rosie.,” I called out to her, smiling through my tears, “Go with Dante, Baby. It’s gonna be okay! I’ll see you both at home.”

I’d stood there for a few long minutes and clutched my hand to my heart, watching as Dante continued to direct the small Bear’s movements, nudging her towards the copse of trees.

On closer look, Rosie’s fur was darker than Dante’s. More black than brown, and she lacked the hump at the base of her neck.

When I couldn’t see them anymore, I jumped in the truck and took off like a bat out of hell for the cabin.

Home. It’s our home.

Hysterical laughter had escaped my lips as I sped down the graveled driveway and slammed on the brake, sending pebbles flying every which way. I probably alerted every Shifter on the place that I was there with all that racket.

“Avery! What’s going on?” Kian came running down the path that led to one of the animal pens just a few minutes’ walk away.

“It’s, uh, well, there was a problem at school and um, Rosie’s a Shifter. She’s a Bear. Dante has her in the woods,” I blabbed, sinking to my knees as I tried to absorb it all.

“Shit. Really? Okay. It’s okay, Let me call Max,” he said, and I nodded.

Now here I was, three hours later, standing on the porch with a blanket around my shoulders and a cup of cocoa in my hands.

My breath escaped in streaming white clouds as the temperatures dropped. The other guys had all gone out into the woods, some in human form, others in their supernatural one.

“Emmet just texted. He said they’re by the stream. Little one’s tuckered out, so it won’t be long now,” Jezebel murmured and stood beside me.

“Avery?” I turned to see Penny had come out onto the porch with her.

My throat felt tight. The kind of tight that made swallowing hard and breathing feel heavier than it should.

I didn’t need to say a word to know Penny was just as worried about Rosie as I was. The concern in her eyes mirrored my own, and that silent connection brought both comfort and a pang of guilt.

She’d always been there for me, ever since we were kids. Through scraped knees and bad haircuts, through heartbreaks and hard choices, Penny had been my rock.

She hadn’t blinked when I told her I was pregnant all those years ago. Instead, she’d doubled down on being the best friend anyone could ask for.

Penny stood by me through every appointment, every craving, every tear-filled night when I thought I couldn’t do it alone.

And she wasn’t just my lifeline. She was Rosie’s too. Aunt Penny wasn’t just a title. She’d filled that role effortlessly from the moment Rosie was born.

She could make my little girl laugh on the hardest days, turn the simplest outings into grand adventures, and love her with a fierceness that rivaled my own.

Penny was forever baking Rosie goodies that just knocked my baby’s socks off. Making each holiday a special one for my girl.

The past couple of weeks without her had been hard.

Too hard.

We hadn’t talked since our falling out.

Life had felt lonelier, harder to navigate without Penny by my side. I didn’t even realize how much I relied on her until she wasn’t there anymore.

And now, with everything happening, I felt that absence more acutely than ever.

I missed my friend.

I missed the easy way we could talk about anything, the way she could make me laugh even when I wanted to cry. And right now, I could really, really use her.

Actually, I could use more than just her.

Jezebel was part of the Crew now, and she’d been a surprisingly bright spot since I’d formally met her.

Maybe it was time to let her in, too. To expand my circle and embrace the kind of support I so desperately needed.

Because if there was one thing I was starting to realize, it was that I couldn’t go through life alone. Rosie deserved better than that. So did I.

We both deserved the biggest, best family we could have.

That meant Dante. And Penny. And Max. And Jez. And Emmet. And all the rest of the Crew.

No, we didn’t have to be alone anymore. And we wouldn’t be.

Rosie and I had finally found our home.

Now, I just needed them to come back. And I was so damn glad I had company while I waited.

“I’m, uh, gonna blame my dumb mouth on pregnancy hormones, but you think you can forgive me?” she asked.

“Oh, Pretty Penny,” I murmured, and sobbed when she opened her arms and hugged me.

“I’m so sorry I came off as a judgy bitch. I didn’t mean to be,” she cried.

“Oh, you two are gonna make me cry!” Jezebel said.

I grabbed her and turned our twosome into a three way hug. We sniffled and chuckled, and I told them both everything that had been going on.

“So, you love him then?” Penny asked me.

“Oh my God, Pen. I love him so much, it’s driving me crazy,” I said and laughed, wiping my eyes.

“Have you told him?”

“Not yet. I will though,” I said and meant it. “Right after I find out how long he’s been keeping Rosie’s secret from me.”

I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I mean, it was obvious to me now that Dante hadn’t been shocked like I was about Rosie’s transformation.

And yes, I went back over everything I knew about Shifters and figured out that Rosie didn’t catch it or anything like that.

She was born a Shifter. Which meant either I or her father carried that gene.

“Um, actually, I kinda knew too,” Jezebel confessed.

Penny worried her lower lip, and I had the sneaking suspicion she knew, too.

“Are you kidding me? You guys? That’s it. I am going to have to call a mandatory meeting to go over all our Girl Club rules,” I snapped and shook my head.

“Wait. Does that mean I’m in Girl Club?” Jezebel asked, eyes wide.

“Duh,” Penny said, then turned to me to add, “I’m sorry, Av. We all had suspicions, and we weren’t trying to exclude you, but we just weren’t sure how to bring it up. I mean, what could we say? ‘Hey, did Rosie’s sperm donor maybe sprout fur and turn into an animal that time he got you pregnant?’”

“Well, when you say it like that,” I murmured. “No, you’re right. I haven’t exactly been truthful about how much she’s been struggling at school either. I guess I didn’t want you to think I was a bad mom,” I confessed.

It was true. The fear of being called out for everything I lacked as a single parent was very real. Mr. Dryden had touched on a lot of my insecurities earlier that day.

The three of us moved our chat to the sturdy wood rockers on the porch. I turned on the electric heaters there, and then I told them everything.

“Geezus. What a dick,” Jezebel said.

“Wait, Dante punched him? In front of the principal and the lady from Child Services?” Penny asked.

“Well, yeah. But he deserved it.”

“No doubt.”

“No, I know that. But the secret, Av. It’s important,” Penny said.

“I get it, but it was a tough situation, Penny. Also, something else was weird. That woman seemed different. I swear she was making the air sparkle around them.”

“Um, that’s weird.”

“Yep,” I said.

We chatted for a few more minutes until the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up.

Then I paused, and my head swiveled to the left. That’s when I saw them.

A giant, proud Grizzly was leading the way home with a smallish, little Bear following behind him. God, he was beautiful. They both were.

I didn’t really pay attention to the others. Not to the big, black Wolf with green eyes. Nor to the red-skinned Devil with huge, bat-like wings.

Kian and Zeke remained in their human skin and walked on either side of the group, bracketing them.

The big Bear slowed, turning to nuzzle the small one. Then the air around them shimmered, and Dante stood completely naked and more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined.

His dark eyes met mine, and my vision blurred at the depth of emotion I read in them. He leaned down and hoisted the cub in his arms.

He had more scratches. New ones. Some were red. Others a pale pink, from healing I assumed. But none were bleeding, which was good, right?

The furry bundle in his arms shimmered and squirmed, and suddenly, it was Rosie again. I covered my mouth to stem my gasp. But it was no good. It poured out anyway, unstoppable, as I ran down the steps with my blanket flying around me.

I took it off my shoulders as I neared them and held it out for Rosie.

“Mama?” she whispered, and I gathered her to me.

“I’m here, Rosie Posie. I’m here.”

I kissed her temple and glanced at Dante.

He seemed to be waiting for something, but I had no words for him.

Not yet anyway.