Love to Bear: A Werebear Shifter Romance (15 page)

He moved his burning lips to my shoulder instead. His
mouth opened, and he bit me harder, leaving a firm mark in my flesh.

He'd left at least three hickeys with his mouth, and I
was sure there would be a lot more by the time the night was through.
And that wasn't even considering how long the harsh red marks would
stay on my ass...

I almost died. Don's mouth, his hands, his muscles moved
around me, sweeping me back toward him like an angry ocean capturing
me in its wave.

Just hit me, you beautiful bastard. Bite me. Fuck me.

Feverish heat shot high. My ass was still sizzling as he
withdrew his hand on the last slap. Then his fingers pursed together,
curling up my thigh, trailing through the slickness seeping out of
me.

They moved in. I gasped as two stiff fingers pushed
inside me, wonderful man and muscle. He quickly rubbed my silky, wet
walls, starting new fires that leaped up my back.

My knees buckled. I collapsed toward the bed, and Don's
free hand went for my neck.

He held me down, just as his other thumb found my clit.
Mad, mad circles swept through my folds, haughty vibrations intent on
making me come hard and fast.

“
Don't stop!” I panted. His strokes slowed.

I knew he was keeping me on the edge intentionally. And
hell, if he teased me for too long, I might become like an animal
myself; a yowling, spitting wildcat in heat.

Heat!

“
Then give it up to me, Sammy. All of it. Tell me
this sweet cunt belongs to me from now, just like your heart.
Only
to me.”

I started to tremble. My mouth fell open and a long,
shrill gasp escaped my lips, unable to take the agonizingly slow,
hard flicks of his thumb against my needy clit.

The firestorm deepened. I had to let it out before it
burned to the ground!

I moaned. Don bent down, pouring his hot breath in my
ear, like fire trying to form words.

“
Tell me!” He yanked on my hair.

“
I'm yours! Please, I'll do anything. Just let me
come already, lover.” I gnawed my lip, and decided one more
word fit perfectly. “Mate.”

Don's hands moved again. His fingers circulated wildly,
reared up deep inside me, jostled like something wonderfully
mechanical, but warm against my clit.

I came hard, gushing all over his hands. His fingers
moved steady, brutal, and beautiful inside me, all over me.

My brain hallucinated
more of those fingers sauntering across my flesh, stroking my whole
body into
a screaming orgasm.
And scream, I did.

My howls echoed on the walls, filling his lonely cabin
with soprano delight. My lungs itched for air, but I was too stunned
to breath.

In his unceasing hands, I just kept coming, on and on,
until my muscles wouldn't work anymore.

I fell flat on my face like a ragdoll when it was all
over.

“
You came beautiful, Sam. You came for me. Now, I
know you've fully repented for what you did.”

I smiled, but didn't have much time to process the soft
words as his hands moved to my skin again. In a flash, he'd flipped
me over, bringing me to the bed's center and working his way between
my legs.

Flat on my back, I got a wonderful strip show. I'd seen
him naked more times than most men, but something about revealing his
body always made me want like nothing else.

I watched him peel his shirt off, hurl it on the floor,
and then do the same with his pants and boxers. He kicked them behind
him, moving in with predatory energy, folding his swollen cock
against my waiting lower lips.

“
Fuck me without
holding back this time,” he ordered. “Scream. Scratch.
Rise up and lick my flesh. I want you to come your brains out and
suck every drop of seed away from my balls. I
will
come inside you, Sam. Now and always.”

Always.

He pushed inside me. My arms and legs wrapped around
him, shuddering with early ecstasy, all the empty spaces in me
drooling for his fulfilling touch.

Always.

Don's hips pistoned forward, pulled back, stretching my
tight sex to conform to his length, his steel. My hips pushed back,
swallowing him whole, wishing I could keep him inside me forever.
Wood and springs creaked darkly beneath us, so shrill I thought we'd
break the bed.

Always.

Feral, bear-like growls left his lips long before he
came. His thrusts came faster, harder, needier, hellbent on marking
me from the inside-out. My clit burned when his neat pubic hair
grated against it.

The friction was too much. I came, locking my feet
around his legs like a vice.

My taut pressure encouraged him, and he hunted me
through my earth shattering pleasure. I saw the bear inside him
rippling beneath his skin, a beastly halo around a man's soul, but
mostly just the silhouettes of both carved in pure primal fire.

Always!

Don's grunt became a guttural scream. He punched through
my spasms, held himself deep against my womb, and came.

His essence shot into me, hot like burning stars filling
my fertile darkness. His erection twitched, throbbed, and sputtered
against my walls, hurling his seed deeper.

I lost it. The already insane orgasm became a complete
frenzy of sweaty, clawing, nerve rupturing bliss.

Networks beneath my flesh roasted like a rolling forest
fire. Only the steady rumble in his throat cut through my screams,
relentless and unstoppable as a force of nature.

We came together, hearts and bodies surrendering
everything they had, before falling away from their crescendo, into a
fuzzy afterglow.

Later, I lay against his comforting flesh, breathing our
combined fragrance. It was sharp, but sweet and calming too.

“
Tell me more about fated mates,” I said
softly, kissing at his bicep.

“
It's what shifter parents tell their children
about love. Even before they know about the birds and the bees, they
understand a man and a woman are meant to be together.” He
paused. “I think I know why you're looking at me like that.”

“
It just seems too...strange. Sounds like romantic
magic compared to everything my world says about love.” I
smiled. “But you're starting to convince me otherwise.”

“
Starting? No, Sam. You are my fated mate. What's
just happened tonight must have convinced you of that.”

I laughed, too shy to tell him he was exactly right.
Until Don Flood came into my life, I hadn't fallen head over heels
for anyone, hadn't loved Ryan the way I loved my man-bear.

“
You're mine forever. It's written in the stars
and on your skin.” His arm tightened around me as he spoke. “A
human's senses don't know when they find the one they're meant to be
with. But a shifter's do. We see, smell, taste, and touch better than
your kind – and that means hearts too.”

An overwhelming shudder flicked up my spine. I buried my
face in the heavenly nook between his neck and shoulder.

If I wasn't built to love like him, then at least I
could show him my appreciation in other ways. I brought my lips to
Don's and reached down for his stiffening hardness.

Ready – no,
eager
– to be one with him again. Now and
always.

VIII: Intrusions (Don)

I believed in fated mates, but not in perfect happiness.
But hell, I never knew how wrong I could be.

Several weeks floated by, an oasis of pure bliss carved
by our hearts. Sam laughed, loved, and mated with me everyday.

My ideal companion. My dearest possession. My forever.

Finally, I held every part of her in my grasp, and gave
her myself in ways I never imagined. I wondered how long this
paradise would last, anxious it would fall just as mysteriously as it
had been created.

Harvest Night came as autumn gave way to winter. I
brought Sam out with me on our holiest night, and it was the first
time the entire clan saw her.

Several shifter men and women sniffed the air curiously.
I knew they were intrigued by the scent of a fully human female, but
my own pheromones betrayed me too.

Alex, Rufus, Matthias, Franklin, Sapphire...all the
bears I knew best smelled my love. They smelled it, and gossiped
behind my back, fueling the Elders' unease.

“
Tonight, we give ourselves to the moon,
remembering what we are,” Genevieve said on her little
platform, standing in an open clearing beneath the ivory light. “We
are unique, a clan and a people divided from men. Nothing better
illustrates our uniqueness than tonight, with a human among us, a
creature who has no beast stirring within her bones.”

Sam's little hand tightened in mine. I gave her a
reassuring nod. So far, she'd tolerated the holiday rites well, even
if she was surrounded by nearly three dozen strangers who could turn
into huge bears at a moment's notice.

“
She's about to give the order to give thanks
before we feast.” I leaned over and whispered into her ear.
“Don't be afraid. I'll be at your side the whole time.”

“
Okay.” Sam's eyes wobbled uneasily, but she
was putting up her bravest front, doing it for me.

“
They say it was a night like this when we were
created. A magic spell leveled against our ancestors by an angry
shaman.” Genevieve raised her arms high, reaching straight for
the pale globe hanging in the cold sky.

“
But
out of his anger, something magnificent walks the earth. We've all
heard the myth. But this legend doesn't mention
who
was guiding him through his blind anger.”

“
The spirits...” A dozen voices whispered it
at once.

“
That's right. It's to them we give thanks,
offering ourselves in all our pristine beauty, our perfection. We're
a special people, different from all others, and the same spirits
that created us are looking down now. Tonight, I think they're
pleased with their best creation.”

I released Sam's hand. My arms shot up, in unison with
nearly forty others, all of us reaching for the holy, glistening
moon.

“
Show them your gratitude!” Genevieve
sniffed, and then her voice became high and shrill. “Let the
mountains echo with your thanks, all the way to the highest
heavens...please or not, we will never take their power for granted.”

Her voice trailed off. I fell to the ground, the
transformation beginning beneath my skin.

I kept one eye on Sam as she stumbled backward, giving
everyone in the vast circle ample room to shift. Some of the Elders
took longer than most to complete their transformations, but it never
took long.

In less than two minutes, a swarm of grizzles crawled
through the high grass, our ceremonial cloaks stretched and tattered
underfoot.

I walked past Sam, stood close to my clan. Nestled
together, we waited until the last bear stood, and then we opened our
mouths.

The mountains echoed with our yawning roars. As men,
women, and animals, we sang a deafening and somewhat mournful song.

It's our collective gratitude. But tonight, I'm
thanking the spirits for something else. Something beautiful and
rare.

I looked at Sam. If I could've smiled in my bear form, I
would have.

When the early notes were finished, I turned slightly,
angling my head to see her again. She was standing by the trees
smiling.

Half of us were drunk, returned to our human forms. A
few hours passed since the night's zenith, when the mountains truly
held our deep roars and launched them into the sky.

“
Had enough to eat?” Sam asked, a crooked
grin on her face.

“
More than an hour ago. Everything's almost
settled now. But I'm starting to get hungry for something else...”

The meager remains of our clan feast lay on the huge
tables around us. Hogs, ribs, and poultry picked to the bone. Only a
small sampling of cheeses and fruits remained, along with the huge
kegs of ale and cider we brewed in the autumn.

I sensed the disapproving gaze of Franklin, Thomas, or
maybe Genevieve herself somewhere across the clearing. I kissed Sam
anyway.

At least that asshole Emmerick is nowhere to be seen.
Thank the spirits for small favors.

Sam looked at me and gripped my hands, her eyes shining.
I'd seen that beautiful lust a dozen times. And whenever it returned,
I wanted to spread her wider, drive deeper, and empty myself deep
inside her, owning her irresistible flesh.

“
Come on. Let's get back to the cabin and feast on
something hotter before the sun comes up.” She stood as soon as
I said it, hand pressed tight in mine.

We speed walked our way along the chilly mountain path
leading toward my cabin. But we weren't even halfway home when we
heard the thunderous booming in the sky.