Melted By The Bear: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (13 page)

“Well, I hate to admit that AntiCormack was right, but that ‘poker’ really was a ‘marshmallow roaster,’ albeit a very sturdy, poker-like one. I keep it out with the fireplace instruments because every now and again, I like to toast a few marshmallows indoors. But now we know it can also be used as a javelin.”

After seeming to have been fighting it the entire time she’d been speaking, Cook dissolved into laughter, which shook her ample stomach. I joined in, able to see the humor in the fact that I’d tried to go after a murderous bear shifter with an instrument normally used for toasting treats.

Cook soon left, after saying that Cormack had told her on the phone that he’d be home to see me as soon as he could, though that might not be until evening because he was busy organizing patrols that would ensure that no shadow bears were able to reenter the village overnight.

I ate my late lunch, then, unbelievably, I felt tired again and fell asleep. It seemed that zapping shadow bears was quite an energy-depleting exercise.

When I awoke around four, I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with Cook and Jane, and making cut-out paper ghosts with Natalie. They were ‘friendly ghosts,’ with smiley faces, and she was going to decorate her bedroom with them for Halloween.

The four of us all had dinner together around six, and I asked Cook if Hazel and two part-time maids who’d been working that day might like to join us.

Cook shook her head. “That’s a nice idea, but Connie and Bernice have already gone home for the day, and as for Hazel, she’s in her room up on the staff floor, sulking. Hopefully, thinking a few things over. I imagine she probably won’t be down to eat until the kitchen has cleared out.”

I’d told Cook and Jane about what Hazel had said to me that morning, adding that I didn’t blame her or hold it against her, at least not too much, which was the truth. I knew she’d just been petrified over the thought of losing her son. As it had turned out, not only had he survived the battle with the shadow bears without a scratch, he’d killed two of them singlehandedly.

Surprising Cook, Jane, and me, Hazel did make an appearance during dinner, but only to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Cook asked if she’d like to join us, saying that she’d made plenty of food, which was certainly the truth. The polished circular table was practically groaning under the weight of numerous dishes she’d prepared, probably enough food for a dozen people.

But Hazel politely declined, saying she wasn’t hungry yet, then looked at me. “I suppose while I’m down here, I may as well say some things I’ve been wanting to say to you, Aria. I’m sorry for what I said to you earlier today. I was not only harsh and unkind, but unprofessional as well, and I
am
truly sorry. It’s no excuse, but emotions were running high.”

With her normally pale face a little pink, she turned and breezed out of the kitchen with her bottle of water before I could even say a word in response.

After dinner, Jane and Natalie went home, and I relaxed by a fire in the living room while talking to Abby on the phone, filling her in on the morning’s events.

Nine o’ clock found me back in my room, wondering if Cormack really was going to come home that evening, as Cook had said. He’d crossed my mind more than a few times that afternoon and evening, and I was eager to find out exactly how upset he was about me leaving the house earlier that day. I also wanted to see him just to see him. I missed his voice, and his scent, and his wholly masculine, commanding presence. I also missed the feeling of his mouth on mine, and the feel of his hands exploring my body. And now that we’d already slept together without causing the instantaneous ruin of everyone in town, I wondered if we could continue sleeping together. I knew I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to frequent nights of passion like we’d shared the night before.

To pass the time while I waited for him to return home, I’d just decided to run a hot bath and bring a book in with me when a knock sounded on my bedroom door.

CHAPTER 13

The moment I saw his face, I could tell that Cormack was more than just a bit angry. Much more. His dark brows were drawn so closely together they looked like thunderclouds colliding, making me think that if we were going to sleep together again, it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

He unclenched his strong jaw just long enough to speak. “We need to talk.”

We sure did, and only about a thousand different things, though I was pretty sure I had a clue what the first thing would be. I invited him in, and we sat down on my bed, and it wasn’t long before my suspicions were confirmed.

“First off, I’m very glad you’re okay, and that you weren’t harmed this morning. My relief when Cook called me and reported that you felt just fine was profound, to say the least. But second...”

I knew damned well what
second
was going to be.

“Second, as grateful as I am that you’re all right, I’m also very angry that you left the house today, especially after agreeing not to.”

“I never agreed not to.”

It was true. I hadn’t.

“I just didn’t respond to you. I said nothing, and then you left.”

Cormack scoffed, nostrils flaring just slightly. “Well, you’ll have to excuse me for taking your silence as tacit agreement.”

Something about his tone was really rubbing me the wrong way.

After folding my arms across my chest, I looked him square in the eyes. “You’re excused.”

He scoffed again, but said nothing, then got up and began pacing at the foot of the bed, raking a hand through his thick, dark hair. “You know, Aria...”

“‘You know, Aria’ what?”

“You know, you’re really not the easiest woman to deal with sometimes. Most women would have just stayed in the damned house.”

“Well, most women don’t have nearly an entire town hating them because of some damned prophecy. And most women aren’t worried that they may have inadvertently brought everyone to ‘ruin,’ maybe even killing everyone, by finally giving in to a night of passion the night before. Maybe I just wanted a little redemption. Maybe I just wanted to try to fix things, or at least show that I was sorry by putting my own life on the line to try to hurt a few shadow bears.”

“Well, you certainly did that—put your life on the line. You easily could have been killed.”

“I’m well aware.”

I was starting to feel like I was “in trouble” with a parent for the second time that day.

Cormack raked a hand through his hair again, still pacing across the pine-planked floor. “In fact, it’s a complete miracle that you
weren’t
killed.”

“Well, I
wasn’t
.”

“Only because of your newly-discovered supernatural power, which you didn’t even know you had when leaving the house, proving just how insane an action that was. I might also add that later, when Cook said your power began to wane, you were only
not
killed because I and my men just happened to be chasing a shadow bear by the house at precisely the right time.”

“Which I’m very grateful for, and I mean that. And as for my power waning, it
won’t
wane next time. I’ll figure out why it did, and then I’ll figure out how to prevent it from doing the same thing again. I’ll practice before the next time.”

Cormack had stopped pacing, and he now looked at me with brows raised, as if he were incredulous. “‘Next time?’ Are you kidding me? You actually think there’s going to be a ‘next time’ where you’re in such a dangerous situation that you need to use your power to save your life?”

“Well, AntiCormack’s not going to stop, is he? He’ll be back; I think you and I both know he will be. And when he does come back, I want to help take him down. I want to prove that I’m not some terrible bringer of doom, like everyone’s been thinking I am.”

“So, basically, you’re willing to get yourself killed, just to change popular opinion about you.”

Arms still folded across my chest, I stood up from the bed, becoming thoroughly riled. “No. I won’t be killed, because like I said, I’m going to practice my supernatural power before facing the shadow bears again.”

“Right. Because as long as you practice something, it will never fail you ever again, leaving you to be kidnapped or mauled by bloodthirsty shadow bears.”

“Well, practicing will make that a lot less likely.”

“But certainly not outside the realm of possibility at all. Which is why you
won’t
be facing down AntiCormack, or any of his bears, ever again.”

“Just because you say so?”

“Yes. Because I’m the commander-in-chief of Michiana, and what I say goes.”

“So, you don’t care at all about what
I
want, then?”

“What I care about is keeping you safe.”

“Even though I’ve discovered I have a supernatural power that could really help you and your men in a future fight with AntiCormack?”

“Yes. I care about you, Aria, and because of that, I feel like it’s my job to protect you.”

“And what about your job to protect all your citizens? Don’t you think that having me help in a future fight with AntiCormack will help you keep
everyone
safe?”

Cormack heaved a sigh, raking both hands through his hair, a sure sign to me that he realized that what I’d said made sense, but he was frustrated because he didn’t want it to.

“Look. You’re not a rock star anymore, Aria. You’re not invincible.”

“Who in the
hell
said I was invincible?”

“You’ve said it with your actions. By running from a hospital into forestland completely unfamiliar to you, even when you’d been told that there were dangerous shadow bears in the area. And then again by running from the house today directly out into danger that you certainly weren’t prepared to face. I appreciate the fact that you’re a bold, brave, and seemingly fearless woman at times, but if I didn’t know better I might think you had a death wish. Or that maybe your past life as a superstar gave you the feeling that you’re somehow above all harm and you
can’t
be hurt or killed.”

“I
don’t
think that at all.”

“Then, what is it?”

“I ran from the hospital because I had a momentary little freak-out, which, as you know damn well, is pretty common for frozen women. As far as today, also like you know damn well, I just wanted to try to fix things, and help, and possibly redeem myself in the process.”

“Is that just it, though? Another explanation that’s crossed my mind is that maybe because of what happened to your mom and sister, you have a subconscious feeling of guilt and a desire to...” With a soft sigh, Cormack shifted his gaze from my face. “To...”

“To what? To join them in death? Is that along the lines of what you were going to say? Well, how dare you. If that’s what you think, then you know nothing about me. At one time, very early on, before the band, maybe it was true. Maybe I did want to join them in death because I felt guilty that I was alive, able to enjoy life, and they couldn’t. But then, after a while, I came to realize that me thinking this way would break their hearts. They’d want me to enjoy life as much as possible precisely
because
they no longer can. Instead of me dying to join them, they’d want me to live a wonderful life for us all. And how dare you imply that even on a subconscious level, I don’t realize how lucky I am to be alive, and how dare you imply that I’d ever dishonor my mom and sister by throwing the gift of my life away.”

I paused for breath, and Cormack raked his hands over his face, sighing.

“I’m sorry, Aria. I never should have said what I did. I don’t think you’d ever dishonor your mom and sister, and I’m really very sorry that my words implied that you ever would. Please believe that my intent wasn’t to hurt you. I was just trying to understand why, even after today, you would ever again want to put yourself in the path of possible harm, as you seem so insistent on—”

“Well, maybe just because I’m not the ‘easier’ type of woman that you seem to want to ‘deal’ with.”

Cormack groaned, lifting his gaze to the ceiling. “And
that
comment was not meant to imply that I
don’t
want to ‘deal’ with you. And maybe ‘deal’ was a bad choice of words. I just meant that—”

“I’m headstrong, and reckless, and you think I have a rock star mentality. I think I get it. And maybe you should just leave right now, because I’m not so sure anymore that
I
want to ‘deal’ with
you
.”

He heaved a sigh, frowning. “Please just listen. I—”

“No, thank you. I think I’m done listening for right now. I think I just want you to leave.”

With soft lamplight from my writing desk making his deep green eyes glint gold, Cormack just looked into my own eyes for a long moment. “All right, fine. If you want me to go, I’ll go. But before I do, I’m going to kiss you, because your sweet, soft, cupid’s bow lips have been tempting me to do so the entire time we’ve been talking. If you do not want me to kiss you, you have about five seconds to say so before I go right ahead and pull you into my arms.”

I stood speechless, reeling from the sudden shift of our conversation. Reeling from the fact that Cormack had said he was going to kiss me, despite the fact that we hadn’t exactly been getting along.

My pride wanted me to tell him that I did
not
want him to kiss me, and that instead, he could go straight to hell. But, during our heated conversation,
I
had been distracted a few times by the sight of
his
lips, and the memory of how good they’d felt on my own just the night before. In fact, even right then they were distracting me.

Holding Cormack’s gaze while rain began pattering against my bedroom windows, I didn’t say anything for a moment, then two, then three. Warmth rose to my cheeks, and I didn’t even know why. I thought about turning my face away. I thought about stomping out of the room. But I didn’t. Something about a warm glint in Cormack’s eyes not caused by the lamp wouldn’t let me. Another moment or two ticked by, and I didn’t say a word.

Cormack pulled me into his arms, lowered his mouth to mine, and began kissing me with an intensity that made me think that the five or so seconds he’d waited had felt to him like an excruciatingly long length of time. With my folded arms relaxing, I began kissing him back, tasting the sweetness of his lips, then lifted my arms to wrap them around his neck.

Just like that, I was in my own personal heaven, all thoughts of our argument completely pushed from my mind. It wasn’t just his kisses that had sent me hurtling into the clouds, though; it was the feel of his strong arms around me, and his woodsy, masculine scent filling my nostrils, too. I was right where I wanted to be, and loving every second of it.

When Cormack dialed back his intensity to gently take my lower lip between both of his, then proceeded to slowly slide his tongue across the width of my lip, as if savoring the feel of its softness, I moaned softly, curling my toes into the pine floor. After repeating the action in the opposite direction, he gradually ramped up the intensity again, soon plundering my mouth with his tongue. I pressed the lower front of my body into his own, reveling in the feel of his already-stiffened manhood against the soft curve of my stomach, where I was beginning to develop a frustrating, dull ache somewhere very deep inside. This ache was making me feel like I might soon want to begin helping Cormack out of his clothes, then lead him into my bed, where we could continue our kissing while I ran my hands over the hardened contours of his bare chest.

*

To my extreme disappointment, my borderline horror, really, Cormack broke our kiss and deftly pulled away from me before I could act on my thoughts to escalate our intimacy.

“Goodnight, Aria. We’ll talk again soon.”

With that, he strode out of my room and shut the door behind him, ignoring a soft, involuntary whimper of protest that had escaped my mouth, if he’d even heard it at all above the sound of the rain, which was now pouring down, pelting against the windows.

Based on the hardness of his male member, the intensity of his kisses, and the huskiness of his voice when he’d spoken, I knew he’d wanted to escalate our intimacy, too, so I couldn’t understand why he’d left the room so abruptly. Or had left at all, for that matter. Other than the fact that I’d specifically told him to leave, I supposed. But that had been before he’d kissed me, sending me tumbling into paradise.

I also supposed that maybe he wasn’t yet sure if we
should
sleep together again, which, I had to admit, was fair enough. Now that I’d recalled our argument, and specifically, some of the things he’d said, my pride wouldn’t let me run out to the hall and into his room to ask him if he could quickly think things over and decide if we should or shouldn’t share a bed again.

An hour or two later, I fell asleep clutching part of the blanket that still held his scent from the night before. It actually irritated me that I was doing this, considering our argument and the fact that I was still more than a bit salty about it, but at the same time, I felt powerless to resist doing what I was doing. My desire to drift off while breathing in his scent, wishing the blanket I was curled up with was actually him, was just too strong.