Bloodrunner Bear (Harper's Mountains Book 2) by T. S. Joyce

discussing my life with someone I’ve never met before!”
    “Wyatt James of the Bloodrunner Crew, this is Alana Warren of the human variety.”
    Wyatt’s eyebrows went up, and he muttered, “Oh, shit!” And then he shook her hand hard enough to rattle her teeth together. “Nice to meet you. Aaron’s told us about you.” He twisted his torso and whistled sharply at the others while Alana rubbed her sore hand.
    “So Aaron is in your crew?” she asked.
    Wyatt nodded. “Her crew, actually.” He jerked his chin at the pretty brunette who was approaching with an easy smile.
    “Your crew?” she asked, stunned. She’d never heard of a female alpha, but one look at her eyes, and Alana had the feeling this woman was much more than she seemed. She had one soft brown human eye, and a blue dragon eye.
    “Harper,” she introduced herself. Her hand was hot as lava when Alana touched her, so she made it a quick shake and then cooled her palm on the ice-filled Whiskey Sour Bubba had just set in front of her.
    “I’m Alana,” she murmured, shocked at meeting Aaron’s crew without him. This should probably be awkward because of Aaron’s finger-bang-and-run, but it wasn’t.
    “I’m Ryder,” the redheaded giant introduced himself. But instead of shaking her hand, he stood beside her and held out his phone in front of them. “Smile,” he directed. “We’re gonna make Aaron so jealous.”
    She gave a smile she was pretty sure looked like a grimace, the phone clicked, and Ryder went to poking buttons on his phone.
    “Uh, I’m pretty sure Aaron won’t be jealous, though. We parted weirdly. He stopped talking to me.”
    “He didn’t stop on purpose,” a man with bright green eyes and a camouflage baseball cap said from behind the others. “He’s out of town right now.”
    “That’s Weston,” Wyatt said.
    “Hi, Weston,” Alana said. “Wait. Weston. Wes? Are you a raven shifter?”
    “How did you know?” Harper asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
    Weston shook his head in warning, and his eyes darkened, so Alana covered for him. Instead of tattling to his alpha about Weston the Peeping Raven, she shrugged and answered, “Just a lucky guess.”
    “Aaron’s definitely jealous.” Ryder chortled with glee and held up his phone. There was a string of middle finger cartoons from someone called Butt-Monkey . Aaron, she would venture a guess.
    She scrolled up and read Ryder’s first message. “Hey Aaron, I just found my future ex-girlfriend. Definitely a ten. Claimed.”
    Alana laughed and shook her head as the others ordered drinks from Bubba.
    When she turned around, Kane had moved down to the end of the bar and was watching the game again.
    Wyatt followed her gaze. “He prefers solitude.”
    There was something tragic about that, being in a bar full of people just like him but keeping himself separate.
    “You said Aaron went out of town?” she asked Weston as he settled at the bar beside her.
    “Asheville needed some volunteers at their fire department to cover for a bunch of the firefighters that got food poisoning. His Fire Chief sent him and Bryant up yesterday.”
    Oh. “Well, he could’ve let me know what was going on.”
    Weston pulled his phone from his back pocket and hit a speed dial number. “You don’t strike me as a woman who waits around for a man to call.”
    Well, she wasn’t, but how Weston had come to that conclusion after just a few words between them, she had no clue. He slid his ringing phone over toward her.
    “Hey, Wes,” a deep, familiar timbre answered.
    In a rush, Alana scooped up the phone and said, “Hey.”
    “Alana? Woman, do you ever pick up the phone at the coffee shop?”
    “Well, no. It’s in the office, and I’m usually busy up front or in the kitchen.”
    “I thought you were pissed at me and ignoring my calls on purpose. I didn’t have your cell number. Look, we need to talk. I’ve been going nuts up in Asheville thinking you hated me. I’m on my