Page 7 of Cowboy Bear’s Hope (Motley Crewd Shifters #3)

M ine.

My Bear chuffed inside of me, pawing at the ground in the metaphysical realm where he waited until we swapped skins.

My entire being seemed to buzz with awareness, and I knew it was all because of her. Avery Brown was everything I ever wanted in a woman, but I didn’t know how to tell her. It wasn’t even that I couldn’t find the words, and God knew I wasn’t a poet.

It was more that I couldn’t get close enough to even try. She kept throwing up roadblocks every time I drew near. Mixed signals were confusing in the best of times, but I was a Shifter.

With her mouth saying one thing and her scent another, I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.

Definitely not coming.

As if I wasn’t keenly aware of the fact my cock ached for her day in and out, it gave a hefty thump beneath my jeans at that precise moment.

Grrr.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I murmured, forcing my Bear to shut the fuck up.

Mine.

The idiotic beast inside of me didn’t understand why I was delaying what he saw as inevitable.

Claim her. Mate.

The animal in me didn’t get it. But frustration was my middle name. Every second spent without Avery in my arms was adding up, mounting one on top of the other, building up to an unattainable height.

It was dangerous for Shifters like me. See, I needed something to anchor my monster, and a mate would do that for me. Give me purpose.

But Avery deserved the right to choose.

Fuck, how I wanted her to pick me.

It was borderline pathetic.

Still, I wasn’t a total cave Bear, though. I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to grab her by the hair and drag her to my den.

I wanted to, don’t get me wrong. Avery was it for me. She was the one woman in the entire world I wanted.

But there would be no hair pulling— unless she asked for it.

It was a real fucking problem.

I parked the truck in front of Max’s place.

“Thanks for the ride,” Avery began, jumping out of the truck faster than I could blink.

What was wrong with me that this woman lit out like her boots were on fire every time I got close?

It wasn’t just once or twice—it was every single time.

Like I had some kind of invisible warning label slapped on my forehead.

And yet, no matter how many times she bolted, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting her. Damn, it was frustrating as hell, like trying to catch smoke with my bare hands.

Still, hope clung to me like a burr in a horse’s tail, refusing to let go, no matter how much it hurt.

Hope could be a poisonous thing, couldn’t it?

Sweet at first. Like honey.

I should know, right? I mean, hello, Bear shifter here.

But it had a way of corroding you from the inside out when it went unfulfilled for too long.

Some days, I wondered if it would leave me hollow, burned up from the inside until there was nothing left but ash and regret.

How much longer could I keep this up—aching for her, chasing a dream that always seemed just out of reach?

Every time she walked away, I told myself I’d let it go. That I’d turn my back and forget her.

Like maybe the Fates had it wrong, and she wasn’t mine.

But the second she was gone, the hole she left behind opened wider, like a canyon splitting my chest in two.

And God help me, I didn’t know what to do about it.

I wasn’t used to feeling powerless. But with her, that’s all I ever felt.

Powerless to make her stay.

Powerless to figure out why she ran.

Powerless to stop wanting her.

It was like trying to navigate a storm with no compass, and every step I took only left me more lost.

But still, I couldn’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe, one day she’d stop running.

“No, Mama! I want Danny! Pick me up, Danny, please,” Rosie Posie yelled from the back seat.

At least somebody liked me.

“I got her,” I said, waiting for Avery to nod her okay before I unbuckled the little imp.

God, she was adorable. Her face scrunched up at the fat snowflakes falling from the sky.

“She’s heavy,” Avery protested, but I just chuckled.

“I’ll come back for the bags,” I murmured, and Avery bit her bottom lip and nodded.

But before we got to the front door, Max was there, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry Av, Rosie, but Penny isn’t feeling well,” he said, and damn, but he looked bad.

“Is she sick? Oh my God, I have to see her,” Avery replied, obviously worried about her best friend.

“No, sorry, Av. She doesn’t want you or Rosie to see her like this. Her head’s in the toilet, and well, Mrs. O’Hare is mopping the kitchen after she caught a whiff of some raw chicken and just went straight up Exorcist on the place,” Max explained, shaking his head, and turning a little green himself.

“Oh God. Is she sure? I mean, I am a nurse?—”

“I know that. Thing is, well, this isn’t how I was planning on telling anyone,” Max mumbled, and stepped further out onto the porch.

“Maximillian Leeds, if you don’t tell me what is going on with my best friend, I swear to all that is holy I will end you,” Avery snarled at the man, completely unfazed by his natural Alpha dominance.

Just one more reason the woman was hot as fuck. I mean, if Jersey Devils didn’t make her afraid, my Bear would be a piece of cake for her.

“I’m gonna set Rosie down,” I murmured.

“Okay. Rosie, you stay close,” Avery told her, but didn’t break eye contact with Max.

“Can I play with the snow?” Rosie asked, and I nodded, figuring it was okay.

“You see, uh, Sugarplum doesn’t know yet, but well, she’s expecting ,” Max stage whispered.

“Oh my fuck, you knocked her up!” Avery hissed.

“I mean, it was a mutual knocking of certain, um, parts,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ew. I do not need to know that. Okay, so she’s pukey. I get it,” Avery said, and smiled while her eyes filled with tears.

“Congratulations! You’re gonna be a great dad,” I said, extending my hand.

“Dad? Shit. I’m gonna be a dad!” Max whisper-screamed and turned around so fast he spun on some snow and fell right on his ass.

“Uh, you alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine. Just gonna be a dad. Shit. What if I fuck it up?” he asked, and his eyes were so wide, I wondered if they might fall out of his head.

“You won’t,” I replied, clapping him on the shoulder. “And if you do, the Crew will be here to help you make it right.”

“Right? Yeah. Okay.”

“Max! Get in here,” Mrs. O’Hare yelled from inside.

“Okay. Bye. Thanks, um, bye.”

Max ran inside and closed the door on us. The snow was falling heavily, and I watched Rosie playing out of the corner of my eye while I tried to figure out my next move.

“A baby? Penny’s gonna have a baby,” Avery murmured.

Her eyes were overflowing now, and shit, what was I supposed to do? I took her hand and pulled her closer. She allowed it, which was a good sign, so I kept going, tugging her gently until I had her cradled in the warmth of my arms.

Avery hugged me back, and I held her while she cried, reveling in the fact that this strong, beautiful woman was leaning on me, even if just for a moment.

“Snow is coming down hard. Should I call an Uber?” she asked, sniffing and moving back.

“Fuck no, I mean, sorry,” I blurted. “Look, the roads are icy now, and it’s late. Why don’t you and Rosie come back to my place?”

“Your place?”

“Yeah. We all have cabins on the property, and I’ve been remodeling mine. I’ve got a pizza in the truck, we can heat it up, have dinner, and you can both stay over so you can check on Penny in the morning. And I have a guest bedroom with furniture in it, just in case you think I’m being fresh,” I said, and grinned when she did at my use of that old timey expression.

“Oh, I mean, are you sure? That’s a really nice offer. Rosie, you’re too far away,” she called out.

“I’m positive. Go on and get inside the truck. I’ll get Rosie,” I said, and nudged her gently.

Rosie had wandered close to the woods, and I jogged to catch up with her. She was staring into the copse of trees, like she could see something I couldn’t, so I used my Bear’s senses to sniff.

“Whatcha doing over here, Rosie Posie?”

“Just playing,” she said, and scrunched her nose up adorably.

“Well, come on now. Your mama is waiting.”

I picked her up with one last sniff to see if I could determine what she’d been looking at.

It was hard to discern scents in the dead of winter, but fur was pretty unmistakable and that was what I smelled.

I just didn’t know whose fur, and that worried me.

“Rosie, I want you to promise me you won’t go off in the woods alone ever, okay?”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because it’s not safe and your mama would worry. You promise?”

“But what if someone needs my help?”

“If that happens you come tell me and I’ll help too, okay?”

“Okay, Danny. I promise,” she said and laid her head down on my shoulder.

I got her inside the truck and buckled in no time. About seven minutes later, we arrived at my cabin, and I waited with bated breath to see what Avery and Rosie would think of my modest home.

It wasn’t a sprawling house like Max’s. But then again, I wasn’t a multi-millionaire like him, either.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t completely bereft. I’d worked all my life, and I’d saved some money. More than some. I mean, I could never spend it all on my own. But it was enough to care for a family.

My family .

If I were lucky enough to have one, of course.

“Is this your cabin?” Avery asked, moving closer to the window so she could see.

Inside me, pride and nerves were having an all-out slap fight. Like the reels of Eastern European traditional slap contests that Kian kept showing everyone when we were supposed to be working.

What a fuckhead.

But honestly, it was the best metaphor I had for my battling emotions.

It wasn’t clear who was winning.

Pride stood there, all smug and confident. Like it had this whole situation under control.

Meanwhile, Nerves was panicking in the corner. Shouting things like don’ let her in and she’s gonna hate it .

It felt like a sitcom playing out in my chest—if sitcoms involved way too much sweating and a stomach that couldn’t decide if it was doing flips for love or sheer terror.

But I was in it now, and there was no going back. I just had to ride out this wave of emotional stupidity and see for myself how Avery would react.

“Um, yeah. This is mine. Max worked it out with the Crew. We each get a place with an option to own it ourselves if we stick it out on the ranch. He also gave us all percentages of the ranch.”

“Wait. So, you like own part of the ranch?” Avery asked as we exited the truck.

“Yeah. I do,” I said and stood a little straighter as I unbuckled Rosie from her car seat and handed her to Avery.

I might not have understood at the time why a man like Max, someone who had money, power, and an ivy league education, was giving a bunch of slobs like me a stake in his place.

But I understood it now.

He was tying us to the ranch, to him, and giving our beasts something to work for.

I said it before and I’d say it again, the Devil was smart.

“This doesn’t look like Uncle Emmet’s cabin, Mama. Danny’s is better,” Rosie observed, and I grinned as pride finally won the war inside me.

“It sure is,” Avery said, offering me a shy smile.

“You can go inside. Door’s unlocked. And I’ll, um, get the bags and everything.”

“Okay. Thanks,” she replied, holding only her pocketbook and Avery.

My heart constricted, squeezing me to death as I watched Avery walk inside my home with Rosie in her arms for the first time.

Heat filled me and a sense of rightness. Having them here was everything I’d ever imagined it would be.

I just had to figure out how to make it permanent.

Mine.