Grizzly Flying High (Air Bear Shifters 1) (10 page)

“I found a little girl earlier who seemed really lost and scared. She must have seen the bear fight about to happen because she was ranting about bears. I think she had lost her father in all the chaos or something. I want to make sure she’s okay. I can’t leave her alone with a bunch of crazy bear shifters,” Amanda said. She kept walking, not even bothering to look back at Sawyer.

“There’s another human here?” Sawyer asked, concern etching its way into his voice. He ran up to Amanda so that he was right next to her, matching her pace as she headed toward town.

“Yeah, buddy,” Amanda said. “Your little cult hideout isn’t as secluded as you think it is.”

“It’s not a cult,” Sawyer said. “And we’re not hiding. Just staying out of everyone’s way.”

“Well, whatever you’re doing here, I’m going to go find Silver and rescue her from this madness,” Amanda said.

Sawyer stopped in his tracks. “Silver? You met Silver?”

Amanda stopped, too, and turned around. “You know her?” she asked. Suddenly, she started piecing together the things Silver had said to her earlier, and she realized that the little girl was a bear shifter, too. Amanda felt her cheeks heating up red. How could she have been so dumb, to not realize that sooner? Of course a little girl hiding in the cabins of Frost Peak was a shifter. It made perfect sense.

“I have to go,” Amanda said, turning around and marching off, this time away from the town.

“Amanda, wait!” Sawyer said. “Now where are you going? There’s nothing out there but wilderness for hundreds of miles.”

“I don’t care,” Amanda called over her shoulder, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. She knew she couldn’t survive alone out here without any supplies. She didn’t even have a compass on her at the moment, since she had left her bag back at the hangar. Eventually, she would have to find a way back to civilization, but she didn’t want to have to beg Sawyer to help her. She would figure it out later, when he wasn’t around. Right now, she just needed to get away from him. She was angry with him for not warning her sooner about the fact that he was a bear, but, being around him was making her heart beat out of control. He flipped some sort of switch inside of her that made her burn up from within with desire, and it was impossible to flip that switch off when he was standing there in front of her, in all his perfect, muscular, naked glory.

“Amanda!” he called out again, exasperation filling his voice. She could hear him starting to run after her again, but she ignored him and kept walking.

Moments later, she felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her body, starting with her shoulder and radiating out through her entire being. She struggled to get away from his touch, but his hand was firmly holding her shoulder, and he quickly came around to stand in front of her, enveloping her in his strong arms.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, easily keeping her from wriggling away, despite her desperate squirming. “Calm down. If you don’t want to be around me, or around Frost Peak anymore, that’s fine. I’ll fly you back to Kodiak. Or one of the other pilots can fly you back if you don’t want to see me anymore. Heck, we can even call in a pilot from Kodiak who has nothing to do with our clan or shifters. But don’t go running off into the forest like an idiot. You have no supplies, and you’ll get lost and starve or end up dehydrated. You know better than that.”

Amanda stopped squirming, keenly aware that Sawyer’s naked body was pressed against her. Even through her clothes, she could feel the electric heat of his skin. She looked up at him, her face set in a defiant stare, but he didn’t flinch as he met her eyes. He didn’t loosen his grip on her, either, and Amanda found herself enjoying the way his arms felt around her far more than she should have.

“Why are you here?” he asked in a low, husky voice. “Why did you come to Frost Peak?”

Amanda felt herself melting into Sawyer, into his strong arms and insistent gaze. Her heart began pounding loudly in her chest, and she forgot for a minute to be angry. She forgot everything except how smooth Sawyer’s lips looked against the rough skin of his face, and how much she wanted him to kiss her again.

“Amanda?” he asked.

“I wanted to see you,” she said, hating the trembling sound in her voice but forcing herself to continue. “I felt so drawn to you, and it was hard to convince myself to stay away. I realized after I last saw you that my rules about not wanting to distract myself with love while finding myself were silly. Maybe love is what I’m looking for. I’ve spent a lot of my life working, gathering wealth, and making fake friends. Friends who were nothing more than a good connection in the business world. I don’t want fake anymore. I want authenticity. And I saw authenticity in your eyes. Or, at least I thought I did. Now I’m not sure what to believe, after everything I learned today.”

“I’m still me,” Sawyer said, his voice still low. “The fact that I happen to be able to turn myself into a bear shifter doesn’t change my personality, or who I am at the very core of me.”

Amanda shuddered with pleasure as the warmth of Sawyer’s breath hit her neck. She was having trouble concentrating with his face so close to hers. She could feel her anger slowly slipping away, being replaced once again with the feelings of deep desire and affection for Sawyer that she hadn’t been able to fully push from her mind since the moment she met him.

“But, how could this ever work?” Amanda asked. “I’m human. I can’t live among bears. Your clan probably wouldn’t want that.”

“My clan would love you,” Sawyer said. “I know a lot of humans who are very happy with their shifter lifemates.”

“This is crazy,” was all Amanda could say.

She couldn’t think. Things were getting fuzzy. She was fighting to keep the heat in her body from growing any hotter, but the flames were only increasing. She had questions, so many questions, for Sawyer. But the only question she wanted answered right now was the one bubbling up from somewhere deep within her.
Do you love me as much as I love you?

The thought of loving Sawyer, after knowing him such a short time, should have made Amanda realize how absurdly she was acting. But she knew deep within her soul that this wasn’t just a passing crush, or a physical attraction. If it had been, it would have been much easier for her to walk away from Sawyer. But something deeper was pulling at her. Something stronger than the weak bond of mere lust was binding her to Sawyer. Something that felt a lot of like love.

Do you love me as much as I love you?
She looked up at Sawyer, too frightened to say the question out loud, but trying desperately to ask it with her eyes. The way he looked back at her, his eyes blazing and full of tenderness, gave Amanda the answer she needed. She forgot about everything in that moment except her desire to kiss Sawyer. The urge overwhelmed her, consuming her and demanding to be obeyed.

Amanda tilted her face upward and brought her lips to his. She moaned as a fresh wave of electricity coursed through her body. Sawyer’s hands slid up to her face, holding her cheeks in his palms as he responded to her kiss. He slipped his tongue between her teeth and hungrily massaged her tongue with his. He pressed his body against hers, his dick suddenly feeling stiff and hard, like an iron rod pressing against Amanda’s stomach.

All Amanda could feel was heat. Her breasts tingled as her nipples became alert, craving the touch of the gorgeous man who was wrapping her in his warmth. Liquid fire oozed between her legs, preparing the way for Sawyer’s rock hard shaft. All she could think about was how much she wanted him inside of her.

Somewhere in Amanda’s rational mind, alarm bells were going off. She shouldn’t be doing this. For one thing, what in the world was she getting herself into, making out with a bear shifter? She didn’t know the first thing about shifters. How did shifting work? Was Sawyer dangerous? Could he turn into a bear at any moment and turn on her? And besides, shifter or not, she should force him to take her on a proper date or something before sleeping with him. She should wait until they had merely kissed goodnight a few times before slowly allowing him to have more and more of her physical body. That’s how these things were supposed to work, right? If you didn’t follow the rules of dating, and didn’t make a man “work” for you, then he was bound to leave you.

Amanda pushed those thoughts away. Screw rules. She hated rules. She had spent her whole life following rules, and she had been left with nothing but an empty feeling deep inside. For once in her life, she wanted to follow her heart. Even if taking a risky leap of faith left her heart broken, at least she had tried. At least she had lived. Amanda threw her arms around Sawyer’s neck with abandon and deepened their kiss. She was all in. She wanted to take this leap with him.

In response to Amanda’s strong show of affection, Sawyer lifted her up in his arms. Without breaking their kiss, he carried her off the path and into the trees. A few hundred feet away, they came to a small, grassy area in the middle of the forest. Here, he gently set her down on the cool, green carpet. With a low growl, He started to reach for the laces on her hiking boots.

“You’re wearing far too much clothing,” he said. “It’s not fair that I’m completely naked and you’re still entirely covered up.”

Amanda smirked, and kicked off her shoes. “Who said anything about this being fair?” she asked. Then she sat up and pushed him forcefully backward onto the grass. He could have easily resisted, but he let her knock him over onto his back and grinned up at her.

“Looks like I’m not the one calling the shots around here right now,” he said.

“That’s right, and don’t you forget it. Just because you’re an alpha doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do in the bedroom,” Amanda said.

“Well, we’re not technically in a bedroom right now,” Sawyer said. “We’re in a meadow, so I think—”

“Shut up, smartass,” Amanda interrupted him. Then, in one swift movement, she straddled his legs and put her mouth down over his solid erection. Instantly, Sawyer groaned. Amanda had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be doing much talking for the next few minutes. She sucked him deep into her warm soft mouth, tasting his salty flavor and marveling at how big and strong everything about him was—even his dick. She leaned forward to put her hands on his chest, while she used her tongue to massage the sensitive spot where the sheath met the head. He rewarded her with another long groan, and she continued on, sucking harder and using her tongue to keep Sawyer longing for more.

This is crazy
.

The thought kept running through her mind, and she kept pushing it away. She honestly didn’t care. If being with Sawyer, right here, right now, meant she was crazy, then so be it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been this happy, this fulfilled.

She looked up at Sawyer through the curtain of her hair that had fallen across her face, and she let out a happy sigh. This moment was perfect. She drank in the sensation of his strong, muscular chest underneath her soft hands, and memorized the way he tasted in her mouth. His groans came louder and stronger, until, suddenly, he pushed himself up and gently pushed her back.

“My turn,” he said, his voice deep and commanding. The sound of it sent a hot thrill through Amanda’s body. She looked up at him with impassioned eyes as he reached for her shirt and pulled it up and over her head, then threw it aside. The summer air in Alaska was pleasant, but Amanda was pretty sure that even if it had been the dead of winter she wouldn’t have been cold. The fire that spread through her body every time Sawyer touched her warmed her from the inside out.

That fire only grew more intense as Sawyer reached for the clasp on her bra and quickly unfastened it, sliding the simple black fabric off and tossing it onto the spot where her shirt had landed a few feet away. Amanda felt her chest rising and falling rapidly as Sawyer took in her full breasts and hard nipples.

“My god,” he said. “You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

Amanda blushed at his praise. She felt far from perfect, but his voice sounded sure and sincere. And his eyes. Oh, his eyes. The way they looked her over, so full of heat and expressions of adoration...just that gaze was enough to send tingles of delight through Amanda’s core.

“Time for you to relax a bit,” Sawyer said, pushing Amanda down onto the grass. The cool plants felt velvety and smooth against her bare back, and, for a moment, she noticed the deep blue sky above her, dotted with white puffs of clouds. But her gaze didn’t stay on the sky for long. The feeling of Sawyer’s fingers on her nipples brought her sharply back to the present moment, and she let out a happy murmur as his thumb slid back and forth across the hard nubs. The electric current in her body from his touch was running in a constant loop now, leaving her incapable of doing anything other than moaning and writhing under his touch.

He bent his head down and positioned his mouth over her left nipple, gently running his tongue in a circle around it before pulling it deeply into his mouth. He nibbled and licked gently, gradually increasing the pressure of his teeth while his hand reached up and pinched her right nipple, sending fresh shockwaves radiating through her body.

Amanda was lost. Lost in the moment, lost in Sawyer’s touch, and lost in the heady hope of what could be. She wanted this experience with him to last forever. How was it possible to feel this good? She’d had her fair share of lovers before, sure. But never anyone who sent such intense waves of heat and pleasure into her being like Sawyer did. Never one who knew just when to speed up and when to slow down to keep her in that delightful place just on the edge of losing control.