Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains #4)(35)

He was the perfect first. He was the perfect always.

Oh, she was losing her heart fast. She rolled out of bed and padded into the bathroom. The first tour for Big Flight wasn’t until noon today, and it was still early, but she needed to get ready and get moving. Why? Because it was Weston’s birthday, and she had a plan to make his life easier.

Avery didn’t care how long it took, or how intimidated she felt.

She was going to win over the Bloodrunners.

****

Avery psyched herself out three times before she finally approached the women talking and laughing in the shade. Alana was standing on a picnic table in a gorgeous, sparkling white gown, while the dark-headed alpha of the Bloodrunners pinned the hem of her dress. Lexi had come back sometime while Avery was getting ready for the day, and now she sat on the edge of the table, reading from a list.

“H-hi,” Avery stammered as she approached. She thought they would clam up and stop having fun, but Lexi and Alana waved and smiled brighter.

“Hey, girl,” Alana greeted her. “What do you think? Honest opinions please. I bought two dresses, and this one has the fullest skirt. The other one is one of those mermaid dresses with no train, but it fits too damn tight.”

Her dark skin practically glowed against the white princess dress. “It’s beautiful,” Avery murmured. “I’ve never seen a prettier dress than that one. Are you getting married?” Avery shook her head at her stupid question. “Of course you’re getting married.”

“Two more weeks,” Alana said easily. “I’m already nervous.”

“About getting married?” Harper asked around the row of pins hanging from between her lips.

“No, I can’t wait to marry Aaron. I just get nervous about everything coming together. I always wanted a big wedding. I had no idea how many moving parts are involved in something like this though.”

Avery stood there awkwardly, wringing her hands and shifting her weight from side-to-side. She needed to borrow someone’s car to run errands before work, but she hardly knew these women, and none of them had any reason to trust her with their rides. Stupid Civic for breaking down.

Lexi patted the table next to her in invitation, and while Avery gingerly took a seat beside the dark-haired beauty, Lexi continued reading off the checklist.

“Cake.”

“I can pick that up the day of,” Harper volunteered. “I can grab the chairs and runner from that rental place while I’m in town, too.”

“Good. Flowers.”

“That’s on Weston and Ryder,” Harper murmured as she pinned the bottom of the gown. “They already said they would pick everything up from the florist that morning. Is Aaron’s fire crew coming?”

“Yes, all of them have RSVP’d with plus ones,” Alana said a little breathily. “There’s so many people coming now.”

“Stop panicking,” Harper said. “We’ve got this.”

“You’ll do really good, and you will be beautiful,” Avery murmured. “And Aaron will be there waiting for you at the end of the aisle. It’ll be the best day.” The Bloodrunners had gone silent, and fire blazed across Avery’s cheeks. “What kind of flowers are you getting?”

“Gerber daisies and roses,” Alana said, sounding more excited. “Bright colors, too, since we’re having it outside. Oranges and pinks.”

“Oh, that sounds perfect,” Avery whispered. Why couldn’t she inhale? Sitting this close to Harper was doing bad things to her body. God, she was going to pass out soon.

“Breathe, girl,” Harper said easily. She hadn’t even looked over at Avery, so how had she known the panic attack was coming?

“You are all scary,” she blurted out. “Not as scary as you used to be, but you have a freaking grizzly bear in you.” She pointed at Alana and then Harper. “And you have a dragon. A dragon. Fire. You can eat people. Please don’t eat me.”

Harper giggled—the dragon giggled!—and said, “I promise I won’t eat you. I don’t much like the taste of crow.” And when the alpha looked over at her and winked her blue dragon eye, Avery nearly fell off the edge of the table in shock.

Alana and Lexi laughed, and a surprised, “Ha!” belted out of Avery, too. Talking about man-eating dragons should not be funny, it really shouldn’t, but this was a subject the crew was obviously comfortable with. If they even knew the terrifying stories the council told to Raven’s Hollow about predator shifters, dragons in particular, the Bloodrunners would probably laugh at her people, too. Little terrified wieners, all of them.

“Um, I have a favor to ask.”

“What’s up?” Alana adjusted her big boobs in the wedding dress distractedly.

“I have an errand to run in town, but my car broke down last night.”

“That one?” Harper asked, jamming her thumb over her shoulder.

Sure enough, Avery’s beat-up old Civic sat on blocks in front of a double cabin up the hill.

“Yeah, did Weston bring that up here?”

“Yeah, he had it towed in this morning. He worked on it for a while, then said he had to clear some trails, whatever that means.”

“Oh, it’s where the boys take chainsaws to the trails and clear out the branches that have fallen during the night or are hanging too low,” Avery explained. “It keeps the tourists safer if they can keep the lanes clear.”