Bear Lake (5 page)

“I’m not just a sexy
shifter.” He watched as she slowly turned back towards him. He liked the look
of her in his shirt. He knew he’d like it better if she was naked, but she was
injured and any thoughts of that was put on the back burner.

“And who says you
are?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

“There’s been talk.”
Jackson shrugged. His past with women wasn’t something he wanted to share with
her then. It seemed they both had truths that they didn’t want to talk about.

“Well, if I hear any
more talk like that there’s going to be trouble.” Alex turned back so he
couldn’t see the amusement in her eyes. He leaned in over her shoulder but he
didn’t touch her.

“It doesn’t matter who
finds me attractive, Alex, you’re the only woman I will ever want. I won’t
stray and I’ll never hurt you.” That was a truth that he didn’t mind sharing.

A moment later and he
was lifting her up again and gently easing her down onto his bed. He couldn’t
help the growl that rolled through his chest at the sight of her with her head
resting on his pillow. It was where she belonged and he intended to show her
that. To hell with letting her go, he was keeping her. She just didn’t know it
yet.

Alex woke to the sound
of Jackson’s breathing. He’d buried his face against her hair at the back of
her neck and his body was curled around hers protectively, warm and safe, she
didn’t move a muscle for fear of waking him. She wanted to hold onto this
feeling just a while longer, keep it as a memory, and remember her safe haven
in case she needed that place to cling to in her future.

The Jackson that had
been with her the last two days was not the same man that had tried to woo her.
He wasn’t sticking out his chest, flexing his muscles, and showing her that he
was the alpha. Not really. Sure, he needed a little work on his people skills,
but she’d seen a different side to him.

Right now he seemed more
Carebear than Werebear, and she liked it. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t
like the other side of him too, all man muscles and gung-ho, she did. But it
felt good to know that he could be like this, unafraid to show her his softer
side when things went bad. Now if she could just get him to use more words…

“How’s the pain
level?” His gravelly voice sent a jolt straight to her womb and a rush of
excitement within her.

“I haven’t moved yet.
There’s a big old bear curled around me and I kind of like it.” She was being
honest. It was about time that she let him in. “And from the feel of what’s
pressed against my lower back, you kind of like it too.” Her soft chuckle
warmed him.

“That’s not my fault.”
He lifted his head and gently rested his chin against her shoulder. She could
feel the prickle of his morning stubble through the thin cotton shirt. She
liked that too.

“Is that me or just
nature?” She was teasing.

“Nature started it,
but you made it harder than hell.” He wanted nothing more than to pull her over
onto her back and press his cock inside her, slowly to start, back and forth
until she was good and ready for him to thrust hard and fast and take them both
into insanity together.

“Good to know.”

With the feel of his
hand slowly running up and over her hip she felt her muscles tense and the
throbbing pain in her ribs started again. Damn, but she wanted more. She wanted
him. It seemed like a waste of a perfectly good bed, not to mention a perfectly
good man, not to do what came naturally, and yet her ribs still hurt.

“I can scent that you
want me, Alex.” His words came out on a growl that made her toes curl. It was
good to know that something didn’t damn well hurt, but what good were toes when
she wanted the feel of him pressed inside of her body?

“Wanting you has never
been a problem, and now I can’t have you.” There was an edge to her voice that
he didn’t understand. He wasn’t a people person, because he’d kept himself away
from humans on the whole, but right then he wished he knew what was going through
her mind.

“But I can have you…”
His fingers ran over her thigh and made a slow progression towards her sex. “I
can make you come around my fingers…” He dipped his head and nuzzled between
her shoulder and her neck.

“That’s not what I
want. I want you…” Alex pushed her head into the pillow and opened up her neck
for him. The brush of his lips against her skin sent a shiver through her body.
The brush of his fingertips against her panties sent a wave of electric
straight to her womb.

“It’s what you need.
Stress relief…” He growled against her skin and his fingers slipped in under
her panties and against the moist folds of her sex…

“You need…”

“I can take care of
myself…” He chuckled, and he would. After he’d taken her to where she needed to
be he’d jerk off in the shower with the scent still fresh in his mind and the
taste of her on his fingers.

“No…” Alex didn’t want
it to be like this. It had to be all or nothing with him. “I want to feel you
inside me.”

“I can’t risk hurting
you more than you already are.” Jackson wouldn’t do it. He might have been
desperate for the feel of her body wrapped around his, his beast might be
clawing to be released, but he wouldn’t risk it, not yet. She was still too
fragile.

“Then we wait…” Alex
felt his fingers slip away from her throbbing sex.

“Are you telling me
that you’ll mate with me, Alex?”

There was a long
moment when he felt as if his heart was in his mouth and his chest was going to
explode when she didn’t answer him. Did she just realise what she’d said and
was looking for a way out? His mind raced and he wanted to shake the answer
from her lips just so that he knew…

Alex had backed
herself into a corner. It was strange how the mind could run away with you when
the body wanted something. But when he’d asked her that question she had wanted
to deny it, deny him out of fear of the unknown, and yet the more she tried to
find a way out of what she’d said the more she couldn’t find a damned reason to
do it.

“Yes.”

Every prayer that he’d
ever asked for had been answered in that one word. Right there and then his
life was mapped out in front of him and his mate was in his arms. He’d expected
that she was going to fight him at every twist and turn and now here she was
telling him that she’d stay, that she’d be his and that he was hers, and his
heart soared with just how damn happy he was. He felt at peace for the first
time in his life.

“I swear I will never
hurt you, Alex. I swear to be everything that you want or need and more.”

“Keep talking like
that and I might just let you mate me, bruised ribs or not.” She was deflecting
now and all because she didn’t know what to say to him.

She knew that she was
more like Jackson than he knew and expressing herself didn’t come easy to her,
not anymore. She’d only just started to reclaim her life and her personality
back, and she’d picked up some new traits to go with them, like the urge to
fight her way out of a situation if she needed to do it.

Jackson’s growl
rumbled through his chest and rattled the windows in their frames. The look in
his dark eyes said that he was barely holding on to that part of him that need
her, desired her, and wanted to mate the hell out of her. She cursed her ex for
sending his goon and ruining that for her, for him.

“Not yet, sweetheart.”
He gave her a damned sexy grin then. “But my offer for you still stands.” He
leaned down and brushed his lips against the bare skin between her shoulder and
her neck and her toes curled once more against the mattress.

“Tempting, but if you
could be extra gentle, we could…” His head came up and his eyes ate her up.
Damn, but he wanted to lick, nip, and bite as he pounded into her.

“Not gentle enough for
your ribs.” He offered with some regret before he kissed her with a muted
passion that wasn’t meant to start any fires within her that couldn’t be put
out.

Alex wasn’t playing
fair. She kissed him back as if her life depended on it. Jackson grunted,
groaned, and then finally he growled as he yanked his body away from hers. Any
more of that and he wouldn’t be able to control his needs. His mate was hotter
than hell and he wanted her like a moth around a flame.

“Don’t tease.” He
growled as he pushed up from the mattress with a rock hard cock and nowhere to
thrust it.

“I wasn’t. It was an
invite.” Her eyes were alive with desire for him and the only damn thing he
could do was groan.

“I need a shower. A
damn ice one.” He turned on his heels and stalked out of the room heading
straight for the bathroom.

His hard length was
already fisted in his hand and he was stroking down it by the time the water
went on. He stepped inside and thrust his head under the spray. In his mind he
was inside of his mate’s tight body, thrusting harder and harder until he
grunted with the release that didn’t do much to relieve the pressure in his
body. It was the first time he’d wished his mate wasn’t human so that her body
would heal faster.

~^~

Jackson watched his
clan and the way they interacted with his mate. Each man seemed to have taken
to her in a way that he couldn’t have hoped for. Things seemed a lot quieter
when Alex was close by. Arguments seemed to dissipate the moment that they
spotted her, in camp fighting had lessened, and that was a minor miracle within
itself.

Chance’s bear was
normally the most trouble. The beast was more than ready to explode from the
man at the drop of a hat or a wrong word, and yet even Chance had kept his bear
within him since she’d been staying at Jackson’s cabin. In pack rivalry had
taken a backseat to charming his mate, which was going real well too.

Alex was laughing and
teasing Marcus and it was good to see the smile back in her eyes. His clan had
done that for her, and Jackson knew that he couldn’t take all of the credit for
it himself, even if he’d like too. She was where she belonged, where she fitted
in.

She’d said that she
was going to stay with him, but that was a whole day ago and she hadn’t
mentioned it since. He’d brought it up just once and she’d quickly changed the
subject. He didn’t believe that she’d changed her mind, but he wasn’t going to
push her on it.

She was here now and
that was what mattered, because the longer that she stayed the more she would
see that this was her home.

When the mobile went
off in his back pocket Jackson snagged it in one large hand and read the
display. Shane was still taking shifts guarding her house and waiting for signs
of her ex to show up. He swiped the screen hoping that time was now.

“Yeah.”

“We’ve got company.
Some guy is sniffing around.” Shane’s words filled him with relief. He’d
finally be able to end this chapter of his mate’s life once and for all and
allow her to know that she didn’t need to look over her shoulder a moment
longer.

“Be right there.”
Jackson caught Chance’s attention from across the way. “Don’t let her leave and
guard her with your life.” Jackson spoke only loud enough for his second to
hear. Chance nodded just once before he strolled over towards Alex and Marcus
and sat down with them, distracting Alex so that Jackson could slip away
unseen.

~^~

“What are you
thinking?” Shane whispered so that only his alpha could hear him.

“You know better than
to accuse me of thinking.” Jackson had a need to go crush the skull of the guy
sniffing around Alex’s house.

“So you can plot to
dispose of a body, but murder is another matter?”

“It’s not murder. It’s
self defence. I’m gonna let him swing first.” Jackson went to push to his feet
from the crouched position behind the greenery at the end of Alex’s garden, but
Shane’s hand locked around his wrist and held him in place.

“Think about it, Jack.
It’s not a fair fight.” Shane wanted his alpha to be clear on what was
happening here. You could regret something after the fact but you couldn’t take
it back, and he didn’t want Jackson to suffer the way he had.

“It wasn’t a fair
fight when that bastard beat Alex. That’s what I’m thinking about.” Jackson
yanked his wrist out of the man’s grasp and pushed up to his full height. It
only took a few steps for Blake to notice the man coming through the garden in
his direction and he turned towards him, narrowing his eyes on the alpha and
sizing him up.

“Do you have business
here?” Jackson kept his bear caged within him. The bear might have been clawing
to be released, but Jackson had meant to do this the old fashioned way, man to
man.

“Is this your house?”
Blake’s attitude had self-importance written all over it and that got Jackson’s
back up.

“In a way. Who are
you?” Jackson heard the rumble of a growl go through his chest and bit it back.

“I’m looking for my
wife.” Blake tipped his chin up and planted his feet in a defiant stance and
Jackson grinned inside. It seemed the man didn’t just pick on helpless woman,
he liked to think he could take on a shifter. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that the
man still call Alex his wife and not his ex-wife.

“Name?” Jackson came
to a stop an arm’s length in front of the human. He scented the air. There was
no fear coming from the man in front of him. That made this human stupid.

“Sarah.” Blake
offered.

“Not here.” Jackson
shook his head. He was heeding Shane’s words and giving the man the chance to
move on peaceably. He hoped he didn’t take it.

“You’re lying. Someone
I trust gave me this address and a firm sighting of my wife.” Blake was
standing his ground and Jackson was more than grateful that the man hadn’t just
turned and walked away.

“Then that person must
be an idiot. Nobody called Sarah lives here, never has, and I don’t lie.”
Jackson folded his thick, muscled arms across his broad chest and tipped his
own chin in the air. He hadn’t lied. Sarah had never lived there, only Alex,
and Alex had told him herself that Sarah was dead and in the past.