Her Bear Protector (BBW Shifter Romance) (4 page)

            I shrugged, his woodsy, masculine scent, combined with the feel of his strong arms around me, making me a bit lightheaded. "Maybe. You never know. Depends on whether we can find you any good reading material."

            Giving in to a sudden, irresistible urge to tease him, I ducked out of his encircling arms and went over to a bookshelf adjacent to the kitchen. "Bill does have a few good titles in here." I ran a finger over the spines of a few. "Let's see.
A Comprehensive Guide to Outdoor Living
... you might enjoy that. Oh, and
Residential Pest Removal --
I bet you could have an interesting afternoon with this one. And, oh! Perfect!" I took a thick volume from the shelf and held it out in his direction. "
War and Peace
.”  Tell you what, Aaron. You read this entire thing and then write me a fifty-page summary, and then we'll talk about you possibly joining me in my bed to read a different book."

            His eyes glinting in the candlelight, he strolled over to me, clearly fighting a smile. "Kyla, Kyla, Kyla." He parked himself in front of me, folding his burly arms across his chest. "Do you even know what happens when naughty girls tease?"

            I smiled. "A good time is had by all?"

            Aaron shook his head. "No. This."

            With one smooth motion, turned me and gave my rear a swift, light swat.

            "That's what happens."

            The swat hadn't even hurt in the least, but my pulse accelerated with what I told myself was anger.

            "Oh, you wouldn't dare do that again, Aaron -- you wouldn't dare." I paused, my breathing a little fast and shallow. "And definitely not even a little bit harder."

CHAPTER FOUR

  Aaron folded his arms across his broad chest again. "Wouldn't I? Try me."

            I grabbed a book from the shelf and tossed it in the air. "Read that."

            Without saying a word, he took my upper body in one strong arm, tipping me forward, and gave my upturned rear three swift swats, his large hand just firm enough to sting a bit.

            "Any other books you recommend I read?"

            I turned my head to look at him, an ache building low in my belly. "All of them. All bibliography sections and glossaries included. Twice. Or else I won't even let you think about reading in my bed with me."

            He gave me several more swats, his big hand harder, stinging my well-rounded bottom enough to make me gasp a few times, squirming. A flash of lightning illuminated the forest outside the cabin, mirroring the electricity coursing through my veins.

            Aaron lifted me upright, his eyes glassy, and spoke, the sound a low rumble in his chest. "Any other reading material you'd like me to take a look at?"

            I shook my head, rubbing one side of my tingling rear. "No. I just want you to kiss me."

            Needing no further invitation, he moved his hands to the small of my back, pulled me close, and began kissing me, his mouth warm and hungry. I pressed myself against the hardness already straining against his jeans, the size of it sending a little shiver rippling through me. Soon, he slipped his hands down the back of my rain-soaked jeans and began caressing my bare bottom, making me moan, the ache low in my belly intensifying. Making a few low noises of pleasure himself, he slowly walked us backwards to the couch and sat down, pulling me on top of him.

            Straddling him, feeling his hardness between my thighs, I peeled off my shirt and threw it on the ground. Aaron's hands were at my bra clasp within a tenth of a second. And after he'd removed it, feasting his eyes on the naked fullness of my breasts, I pulled his damp shirt off over his head. Candlelight accentuated each curve and contour of his chiseled biceps and washboard abs. Kissing him again, my hardened nipples brushing against his skin, the ache low in my belly became almost unbearable. But I decided I wasn't through teasing him just yet.

            I broke the kiss and pinned his arms against his sides. "This is for spanking me. Which, I have to admit, wasn't exactly an entirely terrible experience for me, but I'm still going to give you a little payback. Now I'm not letting you move your arms until I say so."

            His breathing fast and ragged, Aaron made an attempt to move them, but I held them down, using every last ounce of my strength.

            "Nope. Not yet."

            "Please, Kyla, you little torturer. I just want to...." He shifted his hips, a low growl in his throat. "Pull you closer against me."

            I shook my head, lifting my hips, mustering every shred of my self-control. "Nope. I'm calling the shots right now."

            I began kissing him again, and inch or so of space between our lower parts, until I couldn't stand it anymore and lowered my hips again, grinding myself against him. He groaned, and again, louder, when I lifted my hips once again. His voice came out in a husky growl.

            "I hope you're enjoying yourself, you naughty little thing, because all I can say is that your payback for this will be intense. And that's putting it lightly."

            Wondering exactly what my payback would be, my pulse pounding in my ears, I relaxed my grip on Aaron's wrists. He immediately took advantage, pulling them free from my grasp.

            I gasped. "Cheater!"

            He slipped his hands down the back of my jeans, pulled me against him, groaning, and began caressing my naked bottom before speaking near my ear. "Let the intensity now begin. Only your torture is going to be even a little more excruciating that mine. I'm going to make sure of that."

            Gently, he lifted me off of him and set me on my back on the couch before kneeling beside me on the floor and pulling off my jeans, underwear, and socks, his fingers trembling. Unable to help myself, I tried to pull him on top of me, but he resisted.

            "Not yet."

            He gathered both my wrists and pinned them above my head. And then, with a long, low, growl, he examined my candlelit nakedness, his gaze running the length of my body, lingering on my nipples and my softly rounded stomach, finally settling on the slick, swollen folds between my thighs.

            He dipped his head and took one of my stiffened nipples into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue, while exploring the outer lips of my slick womanhood with his long, strong fingers. Squirming, a sound between a sigh and a moan escaping my mouth, I bucked my hips into his hand, trying to get him to touch the throbbing bud at my center. But he just lifted his head from my nipple and spoke in a low rumble, his eyes glinting.

            "Not yet. Your torture's just begun."

            He took my other nipple into his mouth, and I whimpered, parting my legs, desperate.

            "Aaron, please. I need you to touch me."

            Ignoring me, he moved his mouth from my breast to my collarbone, while I tried, without success, to free my wrists from his strong grasp.

            "You'll sincerely regret this someday, Aaron; I promise you. You'll cry about this. Because I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I will get you back for this."

            I started to say something else but forget what it was when he began trailing a line of kisses from the base of my collarbone to the top of my belly, his mouth firm and warm. And then I practically forgot my own first name when he finally slid a finger between my slick folds and began stroking the stiffened, achy center of my womanhood. I spread my legs wider, one leg dangling off the side of the couch, my breath coming in raspy gasps. But just as soon as I began rocking my hips against his fingers, my pleasure quickly building, he pulled his fingers away.

            I moaned, the sound tapering off into a whimper. "I swear to God, Aaron...I swear to God you'll be sorry."

            Eyes twinkling, he released my wrists. "Maybe you have been tortured enough."

            With that, he dipped his head and planted a few slow kisses on each of my inner thighs before moving his mouth to the main source of my ache. I tangled my fingers in his hair, crying out, while he began running his tongue over my most sensitive spot with long, slow strokes. Not even a minute went by before I began bucking my hips, nearing completion, panting. He held my bottom in his strong hands, holding my hips to his mouth while I cried out, waves of pleasure crashing over me.

            When the last shudder of ecstasy passed, I lifted my head from the couch. "I want to feel you inside me now. From behind."

            Growling, his breathing ragged, Aaron picked me up, carried me over to the bed, and set me down before removing his jeans, underwear, and socks. I rolled onto my stomach, an ache low in my belly already building again at the sight of his rock-hard manhood. Thick and straight, it pointed straight at the ceiling.

            Aaron climbed into bed behind me and pulled me up on all fours, guiding my hips into position to take him. The feel of his granite-hard shaft at my entrance, nudging the lips of my womanhood apart, made me clutch the bedsheets, moaning.

            Growling, he slid in with one powerful thrust, his thick shaft filling me completely. I moaned his name, my voice low and husky. After a few moments of letting me get used to the size of him, he gripped my hips and began thrusting with long, slow, powerful strokes, the force of them shaking the bed. Presently, his groans joined my moans as he began thrusting harder and faster. Breasts bouncing, I began moving my hips to meet his, taking him ever deeper inside of me. Soon he reached around and began stroking my throbbing bud, his fingers gliding across its slickness. I arched my back, crying out, the sensation of being stroked and filled at once almost more than I could take. Before long, every muscle in my body tensed and released, pleasure crashing over me, as Aaron thrust his manhood inside me one final time, growling his own climax.

            I fell asleep in his arms nearly instantly, the soft sound of rain falling on the cabin roof lulling me into the sweetest dreams.

            I woke up a long while later to find him studying my bear painting, which sat on an easel in a corner of the cabin, maybe ten feet or so away from the bed.

            I smiled. "Am I making good progress?"

            Aaron pulled me closer, still studying the nearly-completed painting. "You certainly are. He's a fine looking fellow."

            "Like you."

            Aaron gave me a little grin before returning his gaze to the painting. I studied it a few moments myself.

            "I think I got his eyes perfectly right. They were a deep jewel-green. Just like yours. Even though I know that's not possible. But that's really how I saw them, anyway."

            Aaron didn't respond, his dark brows drawing together just a fraction.

            "He was a big guy, just like you, too. Very tall and strong. Broad shoulders."

            Aaron remained silent.

            I entwined my fingers with his, his large hands seeming to swallow my much smaller ones whole. "So do you like how I did his big paws and his claws? I highlighted them with that ray of sunlight to try to make them stand out."

            Aaron nodded after a long moment. "They're very good. They look like excellent claws for hunting."

            "I bet they are. Not for humans, though. I still believe that bear's intent was never to hurt me. He rescued me, actually. I have a lot to thank him for. If he hadn't protected me...I don't even want to think about it. But he did. And that's another similarity between you and him. You're protective of me, just like he was."

            I waited for a response, but Aaron didn't seem like he was going to give one, his gaze locked on the painting.

           I squeezed his hand. "You know, there's actually a lot of similarities between you and the bear that I saw. Don't you think?"

           Aaron moved his shoulders in the slightest of shrugs, his gaze still on the painting. I disentangled my fingers from his and rolled onto my side to see his expression better, propping myself up on one elbow.

            "Aaron? Are you by any chance...." I giggled, watching his face for a reaction. "Are you by any chance secretly a shape-shifting black bear?"

C
HAPTER FIVE

Even in the dim light from the candles on the bedside table, I could see his face pale. Suddenly not giggly anymore, I scooted closer to look at him better.

            "Aaron?"

            He didn't answer, seeming to be struggling to form words, but no sound was coming out of his mouth.

            "Aaron, look at me."

            He didn't.

            "Why won't you answer me? It was just a silly joke; your answer couldn't possibly be anything other than a definitive no, could it?"

            He didn't respond.

            "Could it, Aaron?"

            He sighed, and I rolled back on my back, slightly dizzy, all of a sudden at a loss for words myself. We both stared at the ceiling, silent. And when I finally was able to speak again, at least half a minute later, the words that came out of my mouth surprised me.

            "I think I've always known. I honestly think I've known since the second I saw you standing on my porch, your eyes the same deep green as the bear's. I knew you
were
the bear. And not on any conscious level, but, deep inside, I knew. I knew the day you rescued me in the woods, in bear form, that you weren't any ordinary bear. I knew you were human at the same time. I knew everything, but I let Sergeant Laine talk me out of it. I guess I just wasn't ready to deal with
--
with the unusualness of it all after everything I'd already been through that day. And then, the day after, I guess I just let the knowledge sit in my subconscious, even while we were getting to know each other. Even though deep in my heart, I knew. And I don't even know exactly why it's taken me a few days to actually realize this and say it out loud. I've always been the type of person to believe in paranormal things or unusual things; I think there's so many things in this universe that can't be explained by science, or that aren't even known to science. There's more to this world than we can imagine. There's even shape-shifting bears, I guess. I believed in the possibility of things like this, but I guess when it happens to you, when you actually experience something unusual that isn't a part of other people's realities, I guess it just feels strange and you don't want to admit it to yourself right away."

            Aaron took my hand, turning his face toward me. "Does this in any way change how you feel about me?"

            I brushed my lips against his. "No
,
not at all. Although, I guess I do have some questions, though."

            "You can ask me anything."

            "Okay, well…first thing. How did this -- how did this all happen?"

            His eyes twinkled in the candlelight. "Are you up for a little story?"

            "Yes. I want to hear everything."

            He took a deep breath. "Okay, then. I'll start from the beginning, here in these wilds, in the eighteen-fifties, during the early years of the copper rush. I was a miner, who, like many others, had flocked in from other states to get in on the boom. And for a couple of years, everything went well, everyone made money, and everyone was happy. But, and to make a very long story short, here, around eighteen-fifty-seven, a group of European businessmen who owned most of the mines decided that they could make even more money if they could kick a group of Native Americans off the land, and expand their operations to include more mines. The Native Americans went peacefully, to everyone's surprise. But before they did, one of the leaders of the group, a mystic, wanted to ensure that a part of the land would always be protected from development. And so, using his supernatural abilities, he turned seven miners into shape-shifting bears, and seven into shape-shifting wolves."

            "Did he ask you before he did this?"

            "No. He put us under a spell of sorts and led us deep into the woods, only telling us the details of our transformations after he'd changed us into bears and wolves. And one of those details was telling us that as long as we remained within particular boundaries of the wilds, protecting it from development, we'd be immortal. Although, the term
immortal
isn't entirely correct. We can still be killed, but only from a bite directly to the heart delivered by another shifter."

            "So, are your six brothers the other six bears?"

            "Yes."

            "And what happened to the wolves?"

            "Well, we coexisted here in the wilds more or less peacefully, for maybe the first couple of decades or so. But Alexander, the leader of the wolf pack, had evil in his heart, and in time, over the years, it slowly corrupted his pack. And about ten years ago, they started making frequent nighttime visits into Houghton, raping, murdering, and terrorizing, in both wolf and human form. Their violent sprees were chalked up as the work of a serial killer that even the FBI just couldn't seem to pin down. But my brothers and I strongly suspected it was them, and when we got proof, we drove Alexander and his pack east across the U.P into a stretch of Canadian wasteland, warning them to never return."

            "How do you know they're still there?"

            "We don't still know that they're there, specifically, but we do know that they're more than fifty or so miles away. Any closer than that, and we're able to detect their presence, and are able to pinpoint it, almost to a single foot. Just one of the gifts the Native American mystic gave to us bears, maybe somehow knowing that we'd eventually need to keep tabs on them. But we haven't detected even a hint of the wolves' presence since we drove them out. And my family and I have very much enjoyed the peace."

            "Your family...so now I know that you and your brothers are shape-shifters, but what about Emily and  your two other sisters-in-law?"

            "All three of them are bear-shifters as well. When the Native American mystic created us, he gave each of us the power to turn one human woman into a shifter for a mate, if we ever wanted to do so. Emily is the newest addition to our family. She married my brother Paul only nine years ago." Aaron paused. "Which, saying it out loud, it doesn't seem exactly like a short length of time, but when you're an immortal shifter who has been alive since the late eighteen-twenties, nine years can sometimes seem as if only a month."

            I let that thought sink in for a moment, my mind reeling. "So,  you're actually about...closing in on two hundred years old."

            Aaron chuckled. "Yes. An almost two-hundred-year-old man forever in a thirty-year-old's body."

            I thought of the obvious advantages of that in the long run, specifically for me, but soon, that thought was pushed out by another.

            "Well, wait a minute. If you never age, but you all go into Houghton occasionally, at least occasionally enough that Sergeant Laine has gotten to know you a bit, how does no one in town question that you're forever thirty years old? Because I know Sergeant Laine has lived in Houghton his entire life and would notice a few people that never seem to get any older. Or have you only started coming into town in recent years?"

            "No, we've been occasionally coming into town since we've existed."

            "Well, with all the long-time residents, how does no one ever question your eternally-young looks?"

            "Because of one of the gifts the mystic gave us when he created us. He made it so that to people who don't know our secret, they only have memory of us for the past five years. I've actually been having conversations with Sergeant Laine since he was an older teenager. But in his mind, my family and I only started appearing in town five years ago. And twenty years from now, he'll only have memory of us from the previous five, and so on."

            "This is all..." I gave my head a little shake. "I guess my mind's a little blown."

            Aaron pulled me close, nuzzling his face in my hair. "Oh, dear. Because I haven't even told you the most shocking part."