With this rag-tag Crew of monsters…she was really safe.
The rumble of an eighteen-wheeler engine was the most beautiful sound in the world to her. It meant Kamp was home. It meant the hollow chasm that sat in her chest when he was too far away closed up again. It meant that in just a few minutes, she would be whole.
The burgers were done, so she took them off the grill, one by one, put them onto a plate and covered it up. She’d meant to sit on Kamp’s front porch stairs to wait for him so they could have their moment when he came up the trail, always ahead of the others so he could see her sooner. It was their tradition now. But her phone dinged, and when she checked it, the message read, Swear to me on your life that you’ll keep him safe.
Remi frowned at the unfamiliar number and typed, Who is this? Send.
I know who you are now. Todd told me about your family. About the Crew you grew up in, the Gray Backs. About how protective your kind are. I need your word that you’ll keep my boy safe when he’s there.
Remi sat straight up, her heart pounding out of her chest. Yes, I swear no harm will come to him. Raider has my fealty. But more than that, he’ll have the protection of his father. Kamp would never let anything happen to him. That boy is his world.
That’s what I needed to hear before I do this.
Hope blossoming in her chest, she typed out, Do what? with shaking hands. Send.
The eighteen-wheeler was on the backside of the trailer park, up a narrow trail near where the boys had been clearing timber, and the engine cut off. They were home.
She stood, heart drumming in her chest, but as she began to run for Kamp, she saw a large, stoic figure standing there, right on the edge of the woods.
His bright green eyes were glowing in the evening shadows. “Dad?” she whispered.
Beaston Novak stepped out from under a towering pine and a slow smile stretched his whiskered face. Growing up, she’d always thought he was the strongest man in the whole world. Now, as a grown woman, she still thought the same. His shoulders were just as wide, his eyes still as deep and holding a thousand secrets. His hair had silvered at the temples over the years, the same shade of his grizzly’s fur. His eyes wrinkled at the corners when he smiled at her.
It was so damn good to see him. Relief pooled in her veins as she walked toward him, matching his pace. But the last few steps she ran and launched herself at him. He caught her easy, because this had been their routine from the time she could walk. His bear felt monstrous, so big he took up the whole forest, but to Remi, he wasn’t scary. His bear had kept her safe all those years.
“Remi, not much time. Tell me. Does he make sense to you now?”
“What?” she asked, her chin resting on his shoulder.
“Kamp. Does he make sense to your heart?”
Dad, in his own way, was asking if she loved Kamp. She wasn’t able to answer. The single word “yes” didn’t seem big enough to match the depth of her feelings. She’d never felt happiness like this, like she did with Kamp. All she could do was nod her head, digging her chin into his shoulder so he would understand.
“Something is about to happen,” he murmured. “I want to be here. See your face. See Kamp’s.”
“I don’t understand,” she murmured.
Kamp stepped through the trees behind her father, trailed by Grim and Rhett. Dad had to have known the lions were here, but he didn’t tense up like he would’ve with any other predator at his back. Instead, the tension in his shoulders eased.
He set her on her feet and turned slowly, placing her in front of him for the first time in her life. He’d always put her behind him protectively. “Kamp Bryant Nichols,” Dad rumbled.
Kamp’s lightened gold and green eyes drifted from Dad to Remi and back. He nodded his chin in respect. “Beaston Novak. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“I’ve watched you since you were a cub,” Dad told him, gripping Remi’s shoulders from behind.
Kamp’s eyes went wide. “Why?”
“Your fate takes jobs. It took mine.”
“What job?”
“To protect my little bear.” Her dad gently nudged Remi forward.
Heart beating out of her throat with shock and happiness, she padded across the blanket of pine needles toward Kamp. Without hesitation, she slid her hands around his waist and melted into his open arms.
Remi arched her face back to watch the slow smile stretch Kamp’s face.
He said to her father, “If that is my fate, it’s the best fate I could’ve wished for.”
Oh, what those words did to her. He was really hers. Meant to be hers, meant to be by her side for always. She’d waited her whole life just to know for sure that she was coveted, just to covet the mate who was meant for her. She’d finally got it right.
Grim and Rhett flanked Kamp and both nodded respectfully, murmured Beaston’s name low. Their eyes were so bright, they were hard to look at.
“You haven’t been a Crew,” Beaston said. “I’ve been watching. Change it. From today, you have to change it. My girl will be a mother after today. Kamp will be a father. You will have a cub in the Crew.”
“What do you mean?” Kamp asked, his body going rigid.
“I came here to see your face when it happened.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Grim said, his voice more snarl than human.
Beaston gestured to Remi. “It was my job to have you. My first bear cub. Oldest bear cub. Weston was my raven boy, and you were my little bear. When your momma handed you to me, I was afraid to break you. I thought I would be bad at girl cubs. I thought you would be too fragile and I would hurt you. But I was the fragile one with you. It was my Ana’s job to have you, too. All special fates. I watched Kamp. Watched him from a boy because I saw him for my girl. I wanted to watch him grow up because someday he would be mine, too. My only lion boy. I have to trust him to take care of you. And the rest of the Rogue Pride Crew.
Remi gasped. “That’s the name I thought of.”
“Rogue Pride?” Grim asked.
Remi turned to them. “You’re all rogue lions, who haven’t figured out that you are a pride yet. Who haven’t figured out you are a Crew.”
Rhett chimed in, “I still vote for—”
“Don’t you even fuckin’ say Penis Juice again,” Grim growled.
Rhett stuck his bottom lip out and then whispered, “But it’s my favorite word combination.”
Remi pursed her lips against a smile and then cleared her throat. “Dad, this is my Crew. Rogue Pride. This is Grim and Rhett. And my Kamp.”
Dad nodded to each of them and then stepped to the side. He pointed to the trailer park. “He’s here.”
“Who’s here?” Kamp asked.
“The Prince of Rogue Pride. The one who will be raised by monsters. The one who will change everything for lions when the Big War comes. Blood-and-bone of Kamp, boy-of-the-heart to the Novak Grizzly, raised in the ways of the Saga Pride, ward of the Reaper.” Beaston thumped himself in the chest. “And grandson-of-the-heart to me.”
Kamp swallowed audibly. “Raider?”
Beaston nodded.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice echoed through the clearing.
“That’s Sophia,” Kamp whispered. “That’s Sophia,” he repeated louder, grabbing Remi’s hand.
She ran behind him as he bolted for the trailer park. The second they rounded 1010, Kamp locked his powerful legs and came to a stop so abruptly, Remi ran into his back.
In the clearing in front of the trailers stood Sophia, head held high, her soft brown eyes on Kamp. Clutching her hand was Raider, his eyes bright green and gold and studying on Kamp. He wore little jean shorts and a blue backpack.
“Raider,” Kamp uttered, striding forward.
The second Kamp released Remi’s hand, she put her palm over her mouth to hide her lips trembling. Her eyes burned as her mate went slowly to his knees in front of his son. Even now, he towered over the small boy.
“I’m…” Kamp swallowed hard and shook his head. “I’m your…”
Raider looked up at his mom and then back to Kamp. “I know you.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a locket in the shape of a book. He pried it open with his little fingers and shoved it toward Kamp.
