Devoted to the Bear (4 page)

“It’s a family name.” The keys jangled as he pulled them from the ignition and the truck rocked under his weight as he slid out of the cab. “Well
, come on out here with me. If she thinks I didn’t bring you back, she’ll fillet me.”

Hannah tried to exit the truck quickly, but Jenny was faster. She
descended the stairs and shoved Riker hard in the chest. “You asshole. You didn’t even let me say goodbye.” She shoved him again and her eyes glowed silver, like a minnow’s tail in the moonlight. “She could’ve been killed.” Jenny’s voice sounded ragged and growly and as Hannah rushed toward her, a giant bear ripped out of her.

She’d never been afraid of Jenny’s bear before, but looking into her bottomless eyes as she stood to her full height, Hannah gasped and slunk behind the hood of the truck.

Riker crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Don’t do this.”

Jenny roared so loud it shook Hannah’s bones and before the bellow was done, Riker
’s body exploded into a mass of fur and anger. Two grizzlies faced off, circling on their hind legs.

“Let’s get you inside, shall we?”
Blaine, Jenny’s husband, said, successfully scaring the devil right out of Hannah.

She jumped like a frightened rabbit and hit the truck with her spine. “Where did you come from?”

“I came with Jenny. She’s been waiting at Riker’s house since you left yesterday, working herself up to a right proper fury. You don’t need to see this, and they don’t need to see you when they are locked up like this.”

The two bears were indeed entangled
in what looked like a raging life or death battle. “They’ll kill each other.”

“No, they’ll bleed each other. It’s what the bears do when the anger is too much. Come on.”
He gripped her elbow and led her up the porch stairs and into the house.

Blaine didn’t seem worried that his wife was currently on the ground under an enormous clawed grizzly, but Hannah couldn’t take her eyes from the battling bears. Even inside, she ran
for the window and yanked the sunflower yellow curtains to the side and stared in horror as Jenny raked her claws down Riker’s chest.

Maybe she’d been hasty in declaring she’d fight a clan of rival bear shifters to keep Bear Valley safe. What chance did a
puny human have against enraged, ten feet tall, bawling, teeth gnashing beasts who weren’t afraid to maim their own family members?

No chance at all.

Sleep was a fickle little beast that stayed just out of Hannah’s exhausted grasp. Her thoughts whirled restlessly. Perhaps she was afraid of dreaming about the torture chamber Dane had created for her again, but more likely, she was worried about Riker.

He’d said he would come home before she woke, but
lookey here. She was awake and still alone in his giant bed. The house felt colder without him.

She was angry. Why was she mad? Because a couple of bears had pummeled the
pie out of each other on her behalf. She hadn’t asked them to do that and now guilt dragged her down until she felt frozen against the cold sheets. The bedroom window was open but nothing reached her ears save the locusts and bullfrogs. From time to time she could see a firefly, but no movement that said Riker was coming home. That he was safe and not laying in a crag somewhere in the forest bleeding out.

“Riker,” she yelled, throwing a pillow at the unhelpful window.

Punching the remaining pillow to a lumpy pulp, she flipped over and huffed an irritated sigh. The front door opened so hard it slammed against the wall.

Lurching, she searched the dark, and within a heartbeat, two glowing eyes approached from the hallway. Riker stopped short at the end of the bed, bleeding from several long gashes on his torso and shoulders and utterly naked.
His hard shaft jutted out against the lighter skin of his stomach, and her stomach wobbled with anticipation.

“Thank God you’re okay,” she whispered.

“Why did you scream my name?” His voice was low and rattled with a tone not quite human. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, as if he were holding himself at a distance on purpose.

“I thought…I worried you were hurt after your fight with Jenny.”

The tension in his shoulders eased, but not by much.

She slid her legs from under the comforter and pulled up the hem of her sleeping shirt. She hadn’t worn panties on purpose. Sleeping with Riker after he changed was
her favorite time for him to be buried inside her. His animal side this close to the surface was so sexy, it made her feel reckless for his skin against hers. Slowly, she spread her knees apart, and lifted her chin in invitation. “If I brought you back too soon, I’d understand if you need to change again.”

His lips twisted in
to a naughty smile. “Change is done for tonight.”

“You want me to get on my hands and knees again?”

“No, love. I want to see your face when I make you come.”

Careful now
, Riker.
Words like those felt like the first stroke against her insides and her breath hitched.

He couldn’t seem to drag his glowing eyes away from her sex, so she ran a light fingertip down her stomach and circled her
wet folds. Riker’s sharp inhalation of breath only made her want to tease him more. With his hand, he took a long pull of his shaft and leaned forward, rested on one locked arm against the mattress. A single dewy bead of moisture capped his cock and she wondered what it tasted like. She’d been shy with her college boyfriend because he’d made her feel weird for wanting certain things. Not with Riker though. Riker encouraged her to do what she wanted, and more than that, he seemed to relish in her adventuresome nature. His unconditional acceptance cast off the cloak of self-doubt. Sitting up, she abandoned her own pleasure and drew his shaft into her mouth, lapping slowly until the tiny spot of flavor, salt and Riker, tingled against the tip of her tongue.

He
whispered her name in a ragged breath and gripped the back of her hair. He didn’t push her onto him. It seemed like he just needed something to hold onto as his shaft throbbed and danced under her delicate affections. She tortured him slowly, as he’d done to her in the truck.

Suddenly, he spun them around, sat on the edge of the bed and gripped her hips until she hovered over him. His teeth were gritted, jaw clenched until the
muscle there strained and his eyes blazed, heating her skin where his gaze touched her. She dug her nails into his shoulders and pleaded, but he seemed to be trying to steady himself. With a determined look, he held her gaze like a caress and lowered her onto him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rocked against him, setting the pace as unhurried as her mouth had done.

A growl resonated deep in his chest, humming against her breasts and he gripped her thighs and pulled her against him, time and time again, faster and faster until she couldn’t slow them if she wanted to. Too far gone, she moaned as he drove into her deeper.
So fast her breath caught, he stood and pressed her against the wall and slammed into her, his powerful hips flexing with each unrelenting stroke. She cried out as her pleasure spilled over and he gripped her hair, made her look at him as she came. Two hard thrusts later, a growl ripped through him and he filled her with his own convulsing release.

He carried her
to the bed as if she weighed nothing, but didn’t seem inclined to pull out of her. She understood it. Their connection consumed her too. He lay on top of her, kissing and nibbling, exploring her body with his able hands, showing his love and adoration for her.

Riker
was back home and safe beside her and her earlier trouble with sleep seeped away. Her eyelids grew heavy and she smiled sleepily as he encouraged her to let go. Numbness finally found her under Riker’s caring, tender touches.

****

The sound of the front door closing woke Hannah. Riker had left but his side of the bed wasn’t entirely empty. A tray with breakfast, eggs and French toast with orange juice, sat where he should’ve been. Hanging from the edge was a note.

Busy day today catching up on work. See you at dinner.

Benson

She smiled at the signature. For some reason, he always signed his notes with his first name. So formal. So endearing.

The food was delicious and exactly what her hungry stomach needed to start out the day. She’d go to work too and admonish Jenny for being too hard on Riker. Yes, it had looked bad, like he was betraying her and putting her in danger by taking her to New York. But he’d done it to save her.

Showered and dressed in a
pair of faded jeans with holes in the knees and a threadbare blue T-shirt, she left the house and found the trail that led to the cattle’s grazing grounds. Usually Riker walked her to work, but he’d been away from his clan for two days and she could only imagine how busy his schedule looked today. The council probably had a hundred things for him to make decisions on.

A flurry of movement to her right nearly scared the piss out of her, and Jenny jumped from the woods and tackled her
like a linebacker. Shrieking, Hannah tumbled backward and landed on a giant fern with Jenny still clutched onto her neck like a pet monkey.

Worse still, it sounded like
her friend was crying.

“Hey,” Hannah crooned, waving her hands helplessly above her back. “What’
s wrong?”

“I really thought he did it. I really though
t Riker turned you in and that you were going to die in some horrible way. I really thought my brother was lost.”

“Lost?”

Jenny eased back and her voice dipped to a whisper. “He used to be different. Emotionless. It’s what made him a good contender for alpha, but I want more for him.”

“I…I don’t understand. How could Riker be
emotionless? He’s amazing.”

“Now.” H
er voice was thick with grief or fear, or perhaps both. “Do you know how many battles he’s fought in for Bear Valley?”

“Uh,
three?”

“Sixteen. And he’s helped to win them all. He’s a great bear, Hannah. But when an animal fights so much, it’s the softer side of him that gets snuffed out. You brought him back from the brink of living a cold life
, and I thought he’d really taken you back to forfeit you for the clan. I knew there would be no coming back from that. It would’ve broken him.”

More words that sounded terrifyingly similar to the oracle
’s predictions.

“No, no, no,” Hannah said in a low, comforting voice. “Riker saved me. He couldn’t let me know what he was doing or I would’ve given it all away before he could step in and put an end to the men who wanted to hurt me. He’s not going back to the way he was.” She couldn’t even imagine him cold and empty. Sternly, she gripped Jenny’s shoulders. “I won’t let him.”

Jenny’s bottom lip trembled and Hannah hugged her tightly. “Everything’s okay.”

“It’s over?”

“Yeah.” Mostly over, but Jenny didn’t need to worry about Murphy or the fact that Stone really was still controlling his puppets from that damned prison cell. She’d say anything to settle the despair in Jenny’s dark eyes.

“Let’s blow off work today,” Jenny said, sniffling.

“I’m mate to the alpha. I’m pretty sure I should be trying to set a good example.”

“Shane won’t care. It’s a quiet day and
Renna and Blake are already there to help. Blaine is at work in town and will meet us for lunch, and until then, we can go shopping.”

It didn’t sit well with Hannah, blowing off her d
uties like that. She lived here and wanted to be accepted as part of the clan for Riker’s sake. He would be working his ass off all day, and she should be doing the same. “I don’t know.”

“How about if we talk to Shane? If he says stay, we’ll stay.”

Imagining the older shifter’s dour expression when they came to him with a shopping spree request, she did feel better. Maybe when he said
hell no
, Jenny would lay off of playing hooky.

Except Jenny had been right. Shane really didn’t care. He swatted her on the butt with
a broom and told her to scram. To enjoy the day but be back to work early tomorrow morning. He said she deserved the day off after what she’d been through. Geez, had everyone in the clan already heard about New York?

“I need to find Riker and tell him what we’re doing,” she told Jenny as they jogged excitedly up the trail
like a couple of teens skipping gym class.

“He’ll be in meetings.
Let’s get dressed before we head to his office.”

Jenny let her borrow a white
tank top with lace straps and a pair of sandals that were only a little too tight. Dressed in a yellow eyelet lace blouse and dark wash jeans with a pair of wedge heels that made her at least five inches taller, Jenny snatched a wad of money from a coffee can above the sink and shoved it in her wallet.

Riker’s face when she peeked through the door to the main office the council meetings were held was a study in relief. His leg drummed rhythmically, like it did only when he was thin
king really hard about some big problem that needed fixing.

“One moment,” he murmured to the six shifters who sat around the table
.

His hand found her waist and he pressed her ou
tside with a grin. “Let me guess. Jenny is taking you into town?”

“Yeah, do you think it’s safe?”

He dug in his pocket and tossed his sister the keys to his truck. “I think it is as long as you stick near Jenny. She has a fierce right hook.”

With claws. She’d seen the damage his sister had done to him last night. After Riker, the woman was probably Hannah’s best bet for protection.

“You have money?” he asked.

“I don’t need anything. I’m just going window shopping.”

He frowned and pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. “Just in case.”

He pressed f
ive crisp twenties into the palm of her outstretched hand and her eyes went wide. “That’s way too much.”

“Mate,” he rumbled, pulling her close until his lips brushed her ears. “You don’t get to go into town all that often and you could use some new clothes. Particularly
undergarments.”

She giggled as his warm breath tickled her ear. The man had a point. “And whose fault is that?”

He shrugged unapologetically and kissed her. Against her lips, he murmured, “I prefer the lacy ones.”

“Lacy ones,” she muttered as he slid her a cocky, masculine smile, then
disappeared back through the office door. “A waste of good material, that’s what that is.”

Jenny tossed her a knowing grin and led the way to the black truck that was still parked where Riker’s driveway should’ve been, if it wasn’
t just an open field of weeds and wildflowers. Hannah pocketed the money and slid into the passenger’s seat.

“Where does Bear Valley get
its finances?” she asked. A bold question, yes, but she should probably know this stuff.

“We have our very own nerd. Cameron has been handling clan investments for years. The last alpha squandered his abilities and things were a lot tighter, but Riker saw his potential and pu
t him to work. Even declared Cameron his second, elevating his status in the clan. He’s not the biggest bear of the bunch, but you bet your ass he’s the smartest. If you need money for anything, you shouldn’t balk against Riker giving you any. It’s your money too.”

“He asked me to be his at the mating ceremony at the summer solstice.”