Hansel's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tale) (25 page)

He moved closer, but didn’t touch her.
“I had to see dispensing with Damian and the others. I couldn’t
allow that heinous place to continue. Could you?” Reaching out, he
brushed his thumb along her shoulder and down her
forearm.

“
We could have called the
authorities. Told them what was going on and let them do
their
job.”

Cupping her arm, he shook his head.
“Oh, no. During my time with them, I’d seen inspectors and
investigators come through. Jackal was a master at deception. He
could con the officials and make the single-ring circus appear on
the up and up. I couldn’t run the risk of that.”

She dragged her hands through her
hair. Confusion between her mind and her thoughts frustrated her.
“Fine. Yes. I get it.” Shaking her head, she met his gaze. “But,
that’s this time. What will be next, Hansel?”

“
Nothing. I swear.” He
pulled her against him, then cupped her face.

Her heart thumped hard in her chest.
“Don’t just tell me what you think I want to hear. Because there
are were-males in these woods ready to prove it to me.”

“
Only. If. They. Are.
Looking. To. Die.” The metallic in his eyes flashed red.

The fierce possession in his tone
tightened her lungs and made her body tingle. Still, she shoved
away from him and faced the trees behind her. “You can’t go around
killing as a way to solve all of your problems.”

“
I’ve never killed anyone,
Blackberry.” The heat of his body warmed her back as he stepped to
her. “Although I was close to it. I
wanted
to. But, Dainton and Rorke
kept my conscious clear of that guilt.” He took hold of her waist
and drew her against him.

“
I got your message from
Rorke.” She remained ridged, even though everything within her
wanted to lean back against his chest. “But what was it this time
you
had
to do?”
Turning around she met his gaze. “Any Were I mate with for life I
have to know they are here for the long haul. Why didn’t you come
back to m-e?” Her voice broke. She felt the ache of his rejection
and absence tenfold all over again.

His hands flexed at her waist. “I had
to close the final door in my past.”

“
Who was she?” Her sight
became blurry. She blinked and the tears she’d held in over the
week fell. This had been one of her fears. Even though Hansel had
told her he didn’t do commitments and all of his other
relationships had been fleeting, him loving someone else had been
one of the thoughts tormenting her mind.

“
They?”

Stepping out of his arms, she placed
her hands on her hip. “How many females were you involved
with?”

His brow dropped in a frown. “My
family, Greta. I went back to the Yosemite area.”

“
Oh.” She felt like shit.
She’d let her own fears and insecurities get the best of
her.

“
All of the years since my
freedom I never went back. It was like this place on a map I just
kept circling around, but never ventured to it.” He dragged his
hands down his face, then exhaled harshly. “I couldn’t do it. I
don’t know if it was fear of returning there or the overwhelming
sense of loss I was afraid of…but I kept away.”

“
I’m sorry, Hansel.” She
could not only feel the energy of his grief, but hear the jagged,
rambled thoughts in his mind. For the first time since he’d shown
up she reached out to him. She cupped his squared jaw-line. “Why
now?”

“
You.” He slipped his arms
around her.

“
Me? I don’t
understand.”

“
I wanted to be the male
you need. In order for that to happen I had to face not just the
men that took everything from me, but all my demons. My name is
Hansel Haskin.”

“
Haskin? So, you do have a
last name?”

“
Yes. For years, I
couldn’t identify myself with it because it hurt too much. Bring up
memories of my lost family.” His hands pressed at her lower back,
settling her against him.

Only Hansel could turn her body on and
make her feel safe and protected at the same time.

“
Understandable. How did
it go?”

He sighed. “It was hard when I first
got to the site where my family died. But, it became easier. I felt
like they were there with me for a moment then gone and able to
find their rest.”

She rested her head in the curve of
his neck. “I’m glad you went. That you got to reconcile your
past.”

“
Yes. Now, I need to
reconcile with my future.” His hand glided up and caressed the
length of her spine.

Does that have anything to
do with me?

It has everything to do
with you, Blackberry.

“
I missed you calling me
that.” She peered up into his face, seeing the same passion she was
feeling reflected there.

“
I missed seeing them.”
His other hand palmed one of her breasts, then flicked a thumb over
her nipple as he winked.

“
If that’s true, prove
it.” She taunted him, shifting back and forth she grazed his
sculpted chest with her nipples.

“
My pleasure.” Lowering
his head, he set his lips on hers.

She met his kiss. Claiming every
moment that she’d lost with them being apart. Reveling in the taste
of him, she slipped her tongue into his mouth.

A growl vibrated along her palate as
he deepened the kiss. Burying his hands in her hair, he palmed her
head and ravaged her.

Fisting his hair, she dispensed her
own share of ardent desire.

Stems of a bush rustled.

~YH~

“
Grrrrrrrr!” He broke away
from Greta and shoved her behind him as his body went on alert at
the sound of the intruder on their reunion.

A light brown bear came through the
foliage and rose to hind legs issuing his threat to
Hansel.

“
Lenny?” Greta stepped
around him and addressed the bear dancing around before
them.

The Were shifted, becoming a male with
short blond hair. “Greta, what’s going on?”

“
Hansel returned.” She
gestured toward him, as if those two words should clarify whatever
this other male had been planning.

“
I’ll fight him for you,
if that’s what you want.” Lenny, similar in height to Hansel,
puffed his chest out.

Without a pause, Hansel stepped
forward to answer his challenge. He spread his arms out wide from
his side. “Say when?”

The other male’s fists balled and he
began to advance.

“
Hey! Enough macho shit.”
She stepped between them and placed a hand on the center of both
their chests as she glanced from one male to the other.

“
Look, Greta, if this
vagabond Were, isn’t smart enough to know what he has in you, I
do.” Lenny leaned in.

Hansel released another growl. His
bear was itching to get out and show this male he had no chance
with his mate.

Mine
. His bear declared.

Meeting his gaze for a brief moment,
she allowed Hansel to see her matching emotions for him.

She shoved Lenny back. “That’s for me
to decide, Lenny.” She turned to the encroaching Were. “I
appreciate you stepping up and agreeing to mate with me today.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, she held his gaze. “However, I know now
that it wouldn’t have been fair to you.”

“
Because he came back?”
Lenny asked.

“
Because I love, Hansel.”
She took hold of Lenny’s hands as she spoke with a voice soft,
kind. “You deserve better than a mate who longs for someone else.
You’re a great Were, so go find a female that can appreciate
that.”

After he leaned down, he brushed his
lips over her cheek.

He didn’t like the other were-male
touching any part of Greta, not one bit.

“
Thanks for your honesty.”
Lenny glanced past her and met his gaze. “You better do right by
her.”

Feeling no need to respond, Hansel
folded his arms over his chest and held eye contact with the other
were-male.

Soon Lenny shifted and was
gone.

Shaking her head, Greta faced him.
“Males.”

“
Mate.”

She rolled her eyes, but there was a
smile on her lips. “We’ll see how this night goes. I’m still one
bite shy of that.”

“
That’s just what I was
getting to, before our interruption.” He kissed her, then slipped
his hand into hers and walked toward his bike.

“
Were you now?” She stood
next to his bike.

“
Give me a second to
remove the rest of my clothes and I’ll prove it to you.”

He enjoyed seeing the shimmy that
shook her body as her gaze turned gold once again.

Making quick work of his jeans and
boots, he stood before her and let her look her fill. He didn’t
even attempt to hide the stiff evidence of his arousal. Just as the
heightened scent of her body let him know her desire for him, he
wanted the same revealed to her.

Her lovely brown skin made the golden
glow of her eyes more captivating as she took in his form from his
head to his feet.

Pausing there she smiled.

“
Why are you
smiling?”

She glanced up as she leaned back with
her palms flat on the leather seat of his ride. “I like your feet.
They look strong, masculine…they’re sexy.”

Shaking his head, he denied her words.
“Male’s feet aren’t sexy, they’re functional.” He stepped forward
and cornered her against his bike, lacing his fingers with
hers.

“
Trust me, Hansel,
everything about you is sexy. You should hear what the were-females
of Den whisper about you when you walk into a room.”

Leaning in, he kissed her mouth then
dragged his lips up along her cheek to her ear and whispered, “I
only care about one female’s opinion of me.” He nuzzled the shell
with his nose.

“
Who’s that?” She wrapped
one leg around his and slid it up until the heel of her foot was
grazing the sensitive skin behind his knee.

He let lose a low growl.

“
The Were I
love.”

The beating of her heart was like a
small drum through her chest and against his where they were
touching.

“
Me-e?” Her breathy
question came out, hesitant and unsure.

Angling his upper body back so that he
could stare into her eyes, so that he could ensure she understood
him. No misleading. “I love you, Greta Blackberry
Armel.”

“
You do?” There was a
quickening to her breathing.

“
Everything about you.
Your kindness, your sweet spirit, your relationship with your
parents, how you care for your friends even more than yourself. I
even love how shy you can be at times.” Each thing he spoke about
her was punctuated by nips along her chin to the sides of her
breasts.

Hansel?

“
Yes,
sweetheart.”

“
I love you too. But, I
really, really would like to make this mate thing official before I
burst into flames from desire.”

A hard chuckle erupted from his chest.
The laughter turned to groans when he embraced her and kissed her
deeply.

There were two things that he loved,
Greta and his motorcycle. He’d had more fantasies than he could
count about enjoying them both at the same time. Grasping her hips,
he lifted her and set her on the bike.

Pulling her mouth from his, she
frowned. “What are you doing?”

“
Trust me.” He winked at
her.

She gave him a suspicious stare, but
she didn’t stop him.

Assisting her to lounge back against
the passenger seat, he placed one of her feet flat on the hard
cover of the gas tank keeping her knee bent. Her other foot he
rested on the board at the bottom of the bike. He allowed his gaze
to travel slowly along her body, admiring her position. She looked
wild, free and open to whatever pleasure he had in store for her.
“You do look good enough to eat.”

“
Prove it.” Her response
was bold and saucy as she placed her hand at the center of his
chest and dragged it down to his dick and gripped it.

He growled and pressed along her soft
palm twice before he removed her hand. “I’ll need all my focus for
this.”

Pushing her bottom lip out, she
pouted, but her eyes were still lit with joy.

Lowering to his knees, he licked both
of her nipples then glided his tongue down past her navel and over
the round supple area of her belly.

She trembled. “Hansel…”

Keep saying my
name.
“I want the entire group in the
forest to know you’re mine.”

Setting her palm along his jaw she
smiled down at him.

Encouraged, he placed a hand on the
inside of her thighs, keeping her open at the perfect angle. He
inhaled deeply and drew her spicy/sweet aroma into his lungs and
filled his senses with her essence. Through his golden haze he
beheld the slick, swollen, shiny pussy before him. Bowing his head,
he licked slowly around her clit, taking in the elixir of her
cream, a balm to his soul.