How It's Supposed to Be Read online

  HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE

  (OATH OF BANE, BOOK 1)

  By T. S. JOYCE

  How It’s Supposed to Be

  Copyright © 2021 by T. S. Joyce

  Copyright © 2021, T. S. Joyce

  First electronic publication: March 2021

  T. S. Joyce

  www.tsjoyce.com

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Editor: Alyxandra Miller

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Up Next in this Series

  Newsletter Sign-Up

  More Series from this Author

  For More from this Author

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Gwen jammed her high heel onto the accelerator and blasted past a hole-in-the-wall gas station that probably didn’t even offer brand-name beef jerky.

  This place was out in the sticks, but she needed a vacation from her life, so that’s what she’d gone for.

  She was midway through her break-up playlist, belting out a tearjerker at the top of her lungs. Geez, she wished she could carry a tune. Right now, she could be breaking glass with her screeching, but whatever. She was alone in the car and she needed this. Screech-singing was an art not many had honed. Everyone she knew could sing except her, which made her unique. Unique!

  All she’d brought with her for a three-night stay at the Crooked R Dude Ranch was a duffle bag. At least that’s what she’d told her best friend, Tabby, but that was definitely a lie. She’d brought six duffle bags and still hadn’t had enough room for her three curling irons and her blow dryer, so she’d buckled those into the front seat.

  And yes, okay? She’d been talking to her hair styling tools for most of this five-hour drive into the remote Montana mountains. She’d named her blow dryer Billie with an ‘ie’. It was a girl, and she was now Gwen’s second-best friend.

  Her first-best friend was currently blowing up her phone.

  Her phone rang over the speaker of her SUV, and Tabby’s name came on the screen. Again.

  Gwen narrowed her eyes at it, then hit a sharp corner leading onto another road. Fifteen more minutes and she would be pulling up to the gates of Crooked R, where she, city-girl Gweneth Patricia Smithers, would learn to ride a horse, and eat steaks medium rare, and squish bugs, and whatever-the-fuck-else she was supposed to learn at a dude ranch.

  These roads were a little rough on account of the snow blowing across the lanes and the thin layer of ice, but she had four-wheel drive and a bat-out-of-hell mentality that had gotten her into the woods in record time.

  The ex-who-shall-not-be-named can kiss her brassiere. She wasn’t useless! She was capable! She could do things! She would prove that at the dude ranch.

  Three days from now, she would be an all-new woman.

  Tabby was calling again.

  Growling in frustration over her bestie interrupting a rap song she actually knew four percent of the lyrics to, she jammed the accept button. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re spiraling,” Tabby said.

  “And what’s wrong with spiraling?”

  “Nothing, except that you are supposed to spiral with friends. Someone who can watch over you and drive your drunk ass home before you make stupid decisions.”

  “I’m not at bars! I haven’t even had a drink since FartFace dumped me. My head has never been clearer!”

  “The pitch of your voice sounds crazy right now.”

  “If you must take care of me, I shall be at the Crooked R Dude Ranch for the next three days. At least. I might be so good at being useful, they might just hire me full-time. Who knows.”

  “You know I can’t take off work right now. I’m slammed.”

  “Too bad, so sad. Well, I’m not at bars, and you don’t have to worry about me picking up random boys because I hate everything with a penis. Animals included. If I saw a boy bunny right now, I would run over it with my truck.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. You love animals.”

  “You’re right, I wouldn’t, but I’m trying to make a point. All the boys are banned from my yard, ain’t no milkshakes here. Oh! I’m going to play that song next.” Gwen leaned forward and eyed the swaying trees out the front windshield. Her 4Runner was getting harder to control in this wind, and the trees were swaying dangerously. “Hey, I’m going to get back to driving. Safely. See? I’m not spiraling if I care about safety. I’ll be to the Crooked R soon. They make us hand over our phones so I’ll be out of service for a few days.”

  “What? Why?”

  “They have a no technology rule.”

  “That seems sketchy.”

  “It sounds amazing, Tabby,” she said softer. “He won’t stop blowing up my phone. You want me to talk to him too soon, and get weak again, and go back to him?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then I need this. I need to be away from the phone and focused on me for a few days. I need to feel…”

  “Stronger?”

  Gwen nodded and gripped the wheel tighter. “Exactly. Me and Billie will be fine.”

  “Who’s Billie?”

  “My blow dryer, byyyyyeeee!” Gwen hung up as Tabby was saying something that sounded very worried. She didn’t need anyone to worry over her.

  She had everything under control.

  She had a plan to move on, and be okay, and get back to her she-wolf badass self in no time.

  Her truck slid a little on the road and the back end fishtailed.

  Eek! She slowed and gained control again, sighed in relief, and looked over at Billie the blow dryer. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.”

  But when she looked up, she gasped, as a massive pine tree was falling across the road in front of her.

  Gwen slammed on the brakes but her 4Runner only skidded across the ice and didn’t slow.

  She screamed as the tree barreled to earth right on top of her. She barely had time to throw her arms over her face before the sound of shattering glass deafened her.

  And then…there was nothing at all.

  Chapter Two

  Around here, crows were always a bad sign.

  At least that’s what Aux had grown to learn over his thirty-five years on this mountain.

  Crows here were different. They were aware and eerily intelligent. They hunted chaos.

  He leaned over the steering wheel of his tow truck to study the circle of crows in the sky ahead of him. There were twelve, at least. They sure were close to the dude ranch. Usually, they avoided the ranch. Too many predators, and the crows around here were smart. They valued sur
vival.

  A growl rattled his throat. The animal didn’t like the crows. His kind never had, and the crows didn’t have much use for bear shifters either.

  No humans were on the roads today. Smart for once. Wind storms like this took too many lives. He ghosted a glance at a tree that had fallen and covered one lane of the abandoned back road he was on. It was his job to clear the trees and tow people out of ditches when the weather was bad like this, but that tree would have to wait.

  Something deep inside him said he needed to get under the crows.

  He took a right onto a snow-covered road. There was a set of tire tracks, but the falling snow was already starting to cover them. What idiot was out here in this? Besides him.

  The trees were swaying back and forth in the billowing wind and gusts of snow made it hard to see, but up ahead he could make out something dark across the road.

  A tree.

  He squinted at the odd shape of it as he approached.

  Shit. There was an SUV under the tree.

  Fuckin’ humans.

  Aux sped up, the thick tread of his tires gripping the new snow. He pulled up behind the car. The tree had slammed down onto the back of the rig. God, he was about to find a body. This is the part of the job he hated.

  The snarling in his chest intensified as the bear scratched at his skin. The animal inside of him didn’t mind finding bodies. He could never get enough blood and death. Monster.

  Aux’s thick-soled boots pounded the icy pavement as he bolted for the car. He jumped straight over the huge trunk of the tree and almost skidded past the front door. He yanked on the handle, but the SUV was demolished. The door was dented so badly it was melded shut.

  He wiped the steamed-up driver’s side window with his arm, but still couldn’t see anyone.

  Please be alive.

  Please be dead, the bear inside of him growled.

  Aux shook his head, rattling those awful thoughts out of his brain while he worked. He swung up onto the hood of the charcoal gray SUV and tried to see inside. All he could see was brunette hair. A woman. Shit, shit, shit.

  “Miss? Miss, can you hear me?”

  Her entire seat was shoved to the front and had pinned her against the steering wheel. She didn’t move or respond.

  He couldn’t break the window right next to her because the glass would cut her up. He leapt off the hood and balled his fist to punch out the passenger’s side window. It would be a quick punch, and painless to him. His body was built for power and it took a helluva lot to pierce his thick skin, but that glass could hurt her paper-thin human skin.

  She was already hurt.

  He knew the rules. Aux couldn’t show his power to humans, but this lady was in trouble.

  He looked around at the barren road, but he was all alone. Him and this lady.

  “Miss?” he yelled again. Still nothing.

  Fuck it. Aux tried the handle, and it didn’t budge. The door was too damaged. With a snarl he hit the window with his fist, broke the glass, and gripped the window frame. With a yank and the groan of metal, he ripped the door off and flung it into the ditch.

  The woman had buckled in her hair curling thingies like they were people.

  Fuckin’ weirdo.

  He was a giant man. He’d never hated that until right now, when he needed to fit into a narrow space. The tree had pushed both front seats forward and caved in the space up front.

  “Lady!” he barked out as he reached as far as he could and unfastened her seatbelt.

  Her damn airbag hadn’t deployed, and right now he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The thick scent of blood hung in the air.

  The bear loved it.

  She’s dead, the monster in him said.

  “She’s not. She’s breathing. I can hear her heartbeat.” Stay in reality. Don’t let the animal take over.

  Aux gritted his teeth, reached into the small space, and pulled on her arm. Fuck, she was badly pinned. Was her neck broken? Her back?

  He pushed on the seat to make more space for himself but the seat only groaned against his abuse.

  So much blood.

  Head spinning, he scrambled back and eyed the tree. It had a clean break at its trunk. Aux looked around again. No one was here. No one would see him, and the woman was unconscious. Who would know?

  There are rules. They’ll kill you.

  “Shut the fuck up!” he yelled, his voice echoing through the weather-beaten forest. He couldn’t think straight when the animal filled his head like this.

  “Help me.” The voice was nothing but a whisper.

  Was he imagining it? Aux looked into the car at the woman. Her hand was resting near the seatbelt, palm up, fingers curled slightly. Her index finger twitched. “Help.”

  And that was that.

  Aux backed up and squatted near the tree for leverage, gripped it, and roared as he used his powerful legs to push it upward. The tree was huge, but not too big for him. Gritting his teeth, he picked it up out of the groove it had created across her SUV. He lifted…lifted until it was free of the crushed roof, and then with another roar he shoved it back and away from the car.

  They’ll kill you. You’re dead.

  Shaking his head hard, Aux ran back to the passenger’s side door and used the destroyed door frame for leverage, then shoved the seat backward. The metal screeched and gave until he had enough space to crawl inside. Sweat streaming down his face, Aux gripped the woman’s headrest and eased it back. With a few crackles and snaps, it buckled and broke.

  He was breaking about a dozen first-aid rules right now.

  With a gasp, the woman eased back from the steering wheel and turned toward him. Her hair still covered her face.

  “Can you feel your legs?” he demanded. His voice didn’t sound human. Shhhhit.

  “Y-yes. I feel drunk.”

  With a frown, Aux reached for her hair to move it out of her face, but hesitated right before he touched her. Against the rules. Against the rules.

  He pulled his work gloves from his back pocket and pulled them on. No touching humans. Touching human skin was dangerous for the oversensitive creatures.

  He crawled back in and brushed her hair out of her face. The first thing he noticed? A nasty gash on her forehead that was streaming red down her busted nose. The second? Big, clear, scared green eyes. The prettiest green eyes he’d ever seen.

  His heart thumped against his chest strangely. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”

  “Are the police on their way?” she asked.

  Aux pursed his lips. The cops and him didn’t mix well. They wouldn’t come way out here in this storm anyway.

  “I’m close as you’re gonna get.”

  Her eyes got even wider. She had gold rimming her pupil, inside the green. Pretty color. Werewolf eyes, but she smelled utterly human.

  “Your voice is scary,” she slurred, then blinked slowly.

  “Before I pull you out, can you move your legs?”

  She nodded. That was a good sign. She shuffled both legs under the steering wheel and balled her hands into fists.

  “Does anything hurt?” he asked.

  “You have weird eyes,” she mumbled. “My, what big teeth you have.”

  “Lady, you took a nasty bump on the head. I think we need to get you to the hospital.”

  “Like mercury.”

  “What?”

  “Your eyes are silver and churny. I broke a thermometer on the floor once and there was a little blob of mercury. I was seven.”

  “Awesome story.” Geez, stop growling!

  “I want to get out of here now, okay? Me and my friend.”

  Aux checked the back seat in a rush, horrified that there was someone in the back, but it was just a crushed seat full of duffle bags.

  “Where is your friend?”

  She pointed to the blow dryer next to her, still buckled in. “Meet Billie.”

  Aux pursed his lips. Th
is human was a strange one. He unbuckled Billie and promised, “We’ll bring him.”

  “It’s a her,” the woman enlightened him.

  He fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and count to ten. Of course a human would be concerned with her fucking blow dryer while she was bleeding after a horrific car crash. He would never understand the creatures as long as he breathed.

  She started crawling out, and okay, she seemed to be moving fine. His hands hovered, ready to help, but he was trying to mind the rule—no touching humans.

  Even with his gloves on, it felt wrong.

  She slid out of the truck like a gummy worm, and her legs buckled the second her high heels touched the snow.

  “What are you wearing?” he griped as he helped her up.

  “Lewey-Beetons. They are off-brand, but no one can tell. They make my legs look not-stumpy.”

  Whatthefuck? Aux watched her hold onto her demolished truck as she slipped and slid this way and that. Don’t touch her.

  When she got to the end of the SUV, she frowned at the tree that he’d thrown about ten yards up the road behind them.

  “I thought that landed on me.”

  “We really should get you to the hospital. Can you get to my truck?”

  “Um, can you carry me and Billie?”

  Shoot. Him. In the freaking eyeball. Right now.

  He glanced up at the sky and yep, the crows were still circling.

  Danger, danger, danger.

  “No thanks. Maybe just crawl to the truck.” Which was trapped on the other side of the giant tree.

  “Okie, dokie,” she said, dropping to her knees.

  She was wearing a tight V-neck shirt that showed her cleavage and skinny jeans, but that was it. Current temperature? Ten degrees.

  “Where is your damn jacket?”

  “So growly. My head is dizzy. Look what I’m doing to the snow. I’m a painter.”

  He knelt down to see what she was talking about. The creature was dripping blood from her nose onto the white snow.

  Hovering his hands around her didn’t seem to help. “You’re a very slow crawler.”

  “In my duffle bag.”