Mounted By Her Weretiger Mate (Steamy Weretiger Paranormal Romance) (4 page)

My nose was filled with the smell of cooking food and burning wood. I was warm, wrapped up in the softest blanket I had ever felt in my life and lying on a downy feather bed. My first thought as I came to my senses was that I actually
had
died and that I’d made it to Heaven.

But before I could wonder what idiot had put me on the God’s “nice list,” I was greeted by a voice that seemed all too familiar.

“How are you feeling?”

I opened my eyes, turning my head to look up at the paramedic who had stopped to save me. Something felt strange as I stared up at him, taking in his handsome features and that head of wavy brown hair.

“What happened to the bear?” I asked, trying to work through the haze that had fallen over my thoughts.

“It’s gone. I—I drove it off after it pulled you out of the car.”

“You saved me from a bear?” I asked, smiling even though it pained me.

“Yeah,” he said, chuckling. “I guess I did.”

“My hero,” I murmured, my voice groggy from the deep sleep I’d only just awoken from. “I don’t even know you name.”

“My name is Cade,” he said, returning my smile as he sat down beside me. “And you’re Ashley.”

“How do you know what my name is?” I asked, brows furrowing. Was he some kind of stalker? Was that why he was so quick to arrive on the scene? Had he been following me?

As I asked myself a flurry of panicked questions, Cade plopped my purse down on the bed and quirked the side of his mouth up in a lopsided grin.

“I may have looked through your purse. I managed to grab it before I took you up to my cabin after I… drove the bear off.”

“Normally I’d be pissed at anyone who went through my bag, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” I said, relaxing as I felt a little more confident that my rescuer didn’t intend to keep me shackled in his bedroom
Misery
-style. “Where are we, anyway?”

“My cabin,” he said, looking around the room. “The roads are washed out from all the rain and I don’t have a phone. So until the storm clears, I can’t take you to the hospital.”

“No phone? Jesus, how do you live?” I asked, sitting up slowly. I thought that I’d be in agony, but to my surprise, I barely felt any pain as I moved into a more comfortable position against the headboard. I glanced down at my wounds, only to find that they not only looked much better than I had hoped, but they were already starting to heal.

“Holy hell,” I breathed, my eyebrows raised. “I thought I’d only been here a few hours. My cuts are almost gone!”

“You
have
only been here a few hours. The storm’s still going on outside,” Cade said, shifting nervously beside me as I began to examine myself, pulling the blankets away. I hardly even noticed that I was naked.

“That’s not possible,” I said, looking up at him, “I had a broken leg. Hell, my face was all—”

I reached up to touch where the countless lacerations had crisscrossed over my face when my windshield had shattered into a million pieces. But as I brushed the tips of my fingers over my cheek, all I felt was smooth, unbroken skin where I knew a mangled mess should have been.

“Cade,” I whispered, my eyes wide. “What’s happening to me?”

“Let me explain,” he began, biting on his lip.

“Yes,” I said, “I think you should do just that.”

“When I was pulling you out of the car—”

“Wait,” I interrupted, my eyes narrowing. “
You
pulled me out of the car? I saw that fucking bear, Cade.
It
pulled me out, not you.”

“I…” He faltered, turning away from me for a moment before looking me straight in the eyes. “I
am
the bear.”

“No fucking way,” I said, leaning farther against the headboard. “You can’t be a bear. No one can be a bear and a person, Cade. What, are you some kind of weird werewolf thing, or something?”

“A were
bear
,” he corrected, frowning a little. “I had to transform to get you out of the car. And when I finally saw how badly you were hurt, I knew that I couldn’t save you. Not unless I did something really stupid.”

“Couldn’t save me? What do you mean? I’m—” I stopped, looking into his eyes as a kind of apprehension dawned over me. “What did you do to me, Cade?”

“I bit you.”

I couldn’t speak. My throat constricted, strangling the words before they could form.
Bit me?
I thought, looking around the room, then back down to the red cut on my arm, only to watch as it began to knit itself up before my eyes. I wanted to scream.

“If I hadn’t done it, you would have died,” he said, a kind of shame present in those sad, brown eyes. “If I could have kept you alive any other way, I would have.”

“What happens now?” I whimpered. “Am I going to turn into a—”

“Yes, on the next full moon,” he said, though somewhere in there I could tell he meant to say he was sorry.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered, rubbing my hand over my face. How could I explain to my mother that I was some kind of bear monster now? “Every full moon?”

“Until you can control it,” he said. “I was born into it, so I have some practice.”

“Is there a cure?”

“Afraid not,” he answered, “otherwise I would have taken it a long time ago.”

“Is it that bad?” I asked, frowning as I watched Cade’s face become solemn.

“It can be lonely,” he admitted, giving me a half-hearted smile. “You might notice I live in a cabin on the side of a mountain with no technology.”

My heart began to slow as I mulled what was happening over in my head. I was now a shapeshifting bear creature who became a beast when the moon was full. I almost thought I’d hear Wes Craven yelling “Cut!” any second now.

I looked at Cade, at the way he looked so ashamed of changing me into what he was.
But he did it to save me,
I thought. Shouldn’t I be grateful that he gave me a second chance? Complications and all?

“I doesn’t have to be so lonely,” I said after the excruciating silence. “I mean, you and I
are
sort of in the same boat now, aren’t we?”

“I guess you could think of it that way,” he said, once again giving me that faint, almost sad smile. It was adorable in its own “lonely dreamboat” kind of way.

“And I
am
sort of your responsibility now,” I added, a smile touching at the corners of my mouth. “And, despite how fucked up this all is, I’m actually really grateful that you saved my life.”

“You are?” he asked, surprise painted across his gorgeous face.

“Well, yeah!” I said with a little laugh. “I mean, I’d rather be alive and have to deal with a monthly trip to the woods than be dead at the bottom of a cliff, wrapped up in the mangled remains of my car. So, yeah, I’m really grateful.”

As I watched him smile, it felt like that sun had come out just to shine down on the two of us. My heart fluttered and I suddenly I began to appreciate just how good looking he was.

“And,” I began, biting down on my lip, “I wouldn’t be opposed to showing you my appreciation.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, but I was already slipping out from beneath the covers and kneeling at the edge of the bed in front of him.

“You seem like a smart guy, Mr. Paramedic,” I said, grinning as my hands slid over his thighs, feeling the toned muscles bulging beneath his jeans. “You can probably figure it out.”

I could hear him give an audible gulp as my fingers worked at his fly, pulling down his zipper as I looked up into his eyes. He looked so nervous, but as I slid my hand over the soft mound that hid beneath his boxers, I heard him moan approvingly.

I worked his jeans off of his hips until they pooled around his feet, slowly working his flaccid dick until it began to stir from its hibernation. I couldn’t help but smile as his legs spread to allow me better access.

“Ashley,” he whispered softly, his hips shifting as his cock grew, straining against the fabric that held it at bay. “I… you don’t have to do this.”

“I want to,” I said, smiling up at him as I teased at his head, my nails trailing over the fabric where it bulged so perfectly. “You deserve a proper thank you for saving my life.”

Maybe pre-werebear me wouldn’t have done this. But now that I knew I was different, I
felt
different, too. I felt vital, strong, and even horny. I wasn’t sure where that last part was coming from, exactly, but bears went into heat. Maybe I did now, too.

I brushed my lips over his swollen shaft, kissing along its length to the sound of Cade’s gasps and moans. My free hand cupped his heavy balls, and I wondered how long it had been since a woman had touched them. He was so big, but even as I toyed with him through his underwear, I got the feeling that once unleashed from its prison, Cade’s dick would truly show its full length.

Eagerly I slid my fingers beneath the elastic waistband of his boxers, pulling them down as I had his pants, slowly revealing the full glory of the werebear’s massive member.

He wasn’t just long. He was thick, as well, packing a meaty rod that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. I bit my lip, wondering if I’d be able to handle the sheer girth of him with my mouth—but I was definitely willing to try.

I slid my tongue up from the base of his cock, tasting the delicious saltiness of his skin. I breathed in the powerful scent of his musk, my heart quickening as it whispered to something deep and primal inside of me. I felt myself begin to slicken between my thighs, my pussy eager to get a taste of what my mouth was about to enjoy. That would be for another time, though.

I wrapped my lips around Cade’s throbbing tip and began sucking him into my mouth. I was no amateur at giving head, but it had been a while since my last boyfriend, and none of the men before Cade had ever been so monstrously endowed.

I slurped inch after inch between my lips, bobbing my head up and down until I could feel him sliding against the back of my throat. I’d never had a problem taking men deeper than other women could, and they seemed to always leave the happier for it, and I was determined to make Cade a very happy man that night.

The more I sucked on him, the more I realize how much I loved the taste of him in my mouth, loved the way his dick felt against my tongue. I slid in all the way in, holding my breath before letting out a long, low moan right around his tip.

The way he growled sent shivers through my body, electricity crackling up from the warm slickness that had begun to drip down my thighs. I’d never been so turned on in my life, and all I could think of was his warm seed gushing into my mouth.

“That’s it,” I whispered catching my breath as I jerked his dick with my hand. “Just relax and let me do all the work.”

I watched as he leaned back on his elbows on the bed, watching me as I stroked him nice and hard, popping his tip between my lips and sucking him like a lollipop.

“I bet you don’t get this kind of a thank you when you save other women from their cars, do you?”

He let out a shuddering moan, his eyes closed as he shook his head. I felt satisfied that no one had ever done something like this for him, had never thanked him in the most intimate way possible.

As I stroked his dick, I began to feel that thick shaft swell, the pulse that made him throb quickening, signaling that he was almost ready. I smiled and wrapped his tip up in my lips again and bobbed up and down once more, my hand working his base as I lapped and sucked on his throbbing, purple tip.

“Oh, God! I’m gonna cum!”