Read Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) for Free Online

several sizes too big for her, along with being men’s clothing, but she couldn’t meet her uncle for the first time in three years wearing a sheet.  Slipping back into the bedroom, she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.
    She sat at the table while Jericho turned off a burner on the stove and lifted a pot, turning it sideways and filling up two coffee mugs.  He put them down on the table and sat across from her.  The scent of chicken soup filled her nose and she looked at the mug, finding it filled with broth and noodles.
    He smiled sheepishly.  “I’m lucky there were mugs in here or we’d have been eating from the pot.”  He opened a box of saltines and handed her a soda, and they began to eat.
    “I was outside checking the tires when you woke up.  This camper was built in 1987, so it’s got some years on it.  Brio used to take me out in the summer in it to go camping.”
    “That’s sweet.  You’re lucky to have him in your life.”
    “How long has it been since you’ve seen your uncle?” he asked, crushing several crackers and dropping them into the mug.
    “About three years.  He and my Aunt Gwen came to my parents’ funeral, along with my Aunt Sarah.  Uncle Don told me that I could come up and join the den, but I didn’t want to go back and face your dad.  I was always afraid that he would try to force me to shift.  I guess I was right.”
    “I’m sorry for what happened,” Jericho said.  “I should never have left you alone last night.”
    She reached across the table and grabbed his hand.  “He was going to kill me and you saved my life.  You were the last thing I thought of before I blacked out.”
    They finished eating in silence, and when the dishes were cleaned and put away, she joined him in the front, sitting in the passenger seat.  They started on their journey for her uncle’s, unsure of what lay ahead for them in Bracks.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Lachlyn jumped down from the camper and stretched with a groan.  She definitely wasn’t one for long drives.  Her back was cramping fiercely.  She joined Jericho in front of the camper, and they walked up the sidewalk of her Uncle Don’s house.  It was a sprawling ranch, with a manicured lawn, flowerbeds overflowing with colorful flowers, and a big wreath on the red front door.
    Jericho knocked.  She hadn’t known her uncle’s phone number by memory, and her cell phone was back in her grandma’s house.  She hoped that someone was home.
    The door swung open, and her Aunt Gwen gasped in surprise.  “Lach?  Is that you?”
    Without waiting for a reply, her aunt pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead.  Lachlyn winced as her aunt’s hand made contact with the wound on her back.
    “Come in, come in!  What are you doing here?”
    She introduced Jericho to her aunt and then said, “I’m in trouble.  I wanted to talk to you and Uncle Don.”
    The front door shut, and her aunt tsked.  “He’s at work.  I’ll give him a call, and he can come home.”
    “Oh, it can wait,” she protested, following her aunt into the homey kitchen decked out in red gingham.
    “Nonsense!  He’s the fire chief, and he can do what he wants.  It’s one of the perks of being the boss.”  She winked, and picked up her cell, calling Don.  After a quick conversation, she set the phone back down and said, “He’ll be home in about ten minutes.  Now, I have to say, honey, that you look like you’ve been through the wringer.  Are you hungry?”
    She definitely was and she knew that Jericho was as well.  The few things he’d been able to gather from Brio’s cupboards hadn’t lasted them long, and he didn’t have much cash on him after having to pay for the campsite for the day.
    By the time Don got home, she and Jericho were eating homemade mac and cheese with ham and Swiss sandwiches.  Lachlyn stood when Don walked in.  He really was a bear, even in his human form.  All bear males tended to be large in