Reign: A Royal Military Romance (68 page)

They shifted back into bears and slowly made their way into the forest, never to be seen again in Fjords, Alaska.

* * *

J
ake stopped talking
. Ariana waited a moment, staring at him, her eyes as big as saucers, his hand sandwiched between hers.

“What then?” she pressed.

Jake shrugged, still staring off at the wall like he couldn’t quite meet her eyes. “We survived,” he said. “We ate grubs and berries and squirrels. Hibernated when we could, moved south, trying to find an area with no pack where we could just... be. By the time I got here I’d been a bear for almost four years straight. I’d practically forgotten how to talk.”

Ariana fiddled with his hand, running her fingers over his callouses, over the thick dark hair on his muscular forearm. He gripped her, tightly, and finally turned to face her.

“What about the girl? Kaitlyn?”

Jake’s jaw worked again.

“I didn’t know for years,” he said. “But when I got a job with an office, I found the archives of the Fjords newspaper, and I found a story about a girl name Kaitlyn who was attacked by muggers in a movie theater parking lot.” He swallowed, hard, and broke eye contact again. “She was in a coma for weeks before she finally died.”

Ariana swallowed too, suddenly fighting back tears.

“All that because a shifter was dating a human?” she whispered.

“Yup,” said Jake, simply.

“Where are the other two?”

“They live around,” Jake said, waving his hand. “I don’t see them much, but they’re here somewhere.”

“In the restaurant,” she said, “That was Brock, wasn’t it?”

Jake just nodded. Ariana’s blood went cold.

“What does he want?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said, simply. “He’s not my pack master anymore. He hasn’t been for fifteen years, not since the day he nearly killed me and I left. He’s got to right to insert himself into my business.”

“But he might anyway?”

Jake shook his head. “A pack can be dangerous, like a cult. It can encourage fanatics, total allegiance to one alpha. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brock considers me still an out-of-line pack member.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s instinct.”

Ariana paused and thought for a moment. “What about your parents?” she asked.

He shook his head. “True believers,” he said. “They followed him blindly and never questioned anything.”

“I’m sorry,” Ariana whispered. She touched his shoulder, softly, her fingers exploring the hard muscle there.

“Was it this one?” she asked.

Jake nodded. “It’s been healed for years and years,” he said. “But I can still feel it when it gets real cold.”

She walked her fingers to the collar of his flannel shirt and unbuttoned the top button, shifting so she was kneeling on the couch. “Do you have scars?” she asked.

“Over here from the bite marks,” he said, pointing to a very faint series of dots on his neck and shoulder. Ariana pulled his shirt aside and ran her finger over them. They had faded so much they were pearlescent, barely visible but smooth and warm. She’d never noticed them before.

Ariana bent over and put her lips on one, kissing it slowly and tenderly, then kissing the next one and the next one his flesh hot under her lips, and she felt him relax. His arm curled around her, finding the small of her back. He smelled so good, and his shaggy hair and stubble tickled at her face as she planted her lips on his neck, over and over.

Ariana drew back and put one hand on his chest, snuggling in.

“Where else?” she whispered.

Jake looked at her for a long moment, like he was deciding whether to trust her, like he was about to reveal some deep, dark part of himself. Then he pointed to another spot, on the other side, right by his collarbone. Ariana kissed those scars too, one by one.

She drew back and looked at Jake, questioningly.

“Here,” he said, pointing at his chest.

She swung one leg over him and straddled Jake, then unbuttoned his shirt slowly, one button at a time until it hung off his shoulders, pushing him back on the couch, marveling at how this absolute mountain of a man yielded under her fingers. More like a kitten than a grizzly bear, at least where she was concerned.

There they were: long thin, white strips, practically invisible underneath his thick chest hair. Ariana placed her lips at one end of the topmost scar and planted kisses all the way across it, from side to side, her hands holding onto both sides of his muscular torso. Then she did the same to the next, and the next, and by the time she was on the fifth and last scar she found her hands on his abs, then sliding down, tugging at his belt, the space between her own legs beginning to ache desperately.

Planting kisses down his belly, Ariana undid his belt, sliding off of the couch and to her knees in front of it. She unzipped his pants and slid them down his legs, along with his boxers.

Acting on instinct and desire, she slipped one hand around his cock, his hands on her shoulders.

“Ariana—“ he said, but without waiting for him to continue she flicked her tongue over the underside of the head of his cock, and his sentence finished in a gasp.

Ariana smiled, and Jake went totally hard in her hand as she moved her mouth over the tip of his cock, tasting the salty precum that was already there, swirling her tongue around the hard ridge between head and shaft.

Above her, Jake moaned and gripped her upper arm harder, though not hard enough to hurt, and she moved her lips down his shaft, slowly. She loved when she could make him moan like that, losing the control he usually had — God knew he made her lose control often enough.

He reached the back of her throat and Ariana swallowed, sucking just a little, and heard another moan, a low guttural sound, and pulled her head back up. His cock was thick and long, so she slid her fist down it as she sucked on him, a trick she’d learned long ago from Cosmo. Down, swallow, up, lick, swirl.

Jake was groaning steadily now, a sound of pure need and pleasure, and Ariana knew she was gushing wet. As her lips reached the very tip of his cock she felt a tug on her shoulder, and he pulled her off of him. She wiped her mouth on the back of one hand as Jake pulled her to standing, then set to undoing her jeans.

They slid off of her full hips and she kicked them away, following them with her panties, as Jake’s fingers dug into her ass, pulling her onto him. As she straddled him, his cock hard against her lower belly, he tugged her shirt off and her bra straps down, finally undoing the hooks properly and getting it off before kneading her breasts in his hands.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his eyes covering every inch of her. Without waiting for her response he closed his mouth around one nipple, sucking at it gently and flicking it with his tongue.

Despite herself, Ariana moaned, the sound tearing out of her chest. Jake’s hand moved down her belly and between her thighs, just brushing up against her wetness, teasing her. His lips left her nipple.

“I need to be inside you,” he whispered. “Please.” Now his hands were everywhere: her back, her hips. With one hand she reached down to steady his member and positioned the head right against her slick opening, his torso tight between her knees. She was nearly quivering with anticipation, her heart beating fast, her breath panting.

Then, slowly, she let herself sink down onto that magnificent cock, feeling herself expand a little with every inch. Her eyes drifted closed and she hung onto Jake’s strong shoulders as the pleasure threatened to take her over, going lower and lower until finally she was fully sitting on him, his whole cock inside her.

He pinched her nipples lightly, rolling them between his fingers, and Ariana moaned again, shifting her hips forward and back, moving him inside her. Jake held onto her hips as if for dear life, his flannel shirt still down around his shoulders.

Her hips felt like they were moving of their own accord — Ariana couldn’t think, much less act, or really do anything besides moan and writhe. She was there with Jake, having sex with Jake and he was okay —
very
okay, from the feel of things — and even as she tried to hold out, she felt the pleasure swelling inside her, like a balloon. She bit her lip, getting ready to come.

Jake put his hands on her head and brought her face down, gently, to his own, stalling her movements for a moment. She breathed hard and opened her eyes, then started moving her hips again, just a little, back and forth.

Ariana whimpered a tiny whimper, down in her throat. It felt so good, and it was such torture—

“Ariana,” Jake said, his face deadly serious as the pleasure swelled inside her. Their foreheads touched, their faces half an inch apart. “Whatever happens, I promise to protect you.”

She gasped, her breath ragged with desire, and nodded, unable to find words.

“Jake—“ she managed, but then the pleasure balloon inside her popped and she came hard enough to see stars, her hips moving furiously as she gasped and moaned Jake’s name, his face against hers. Her fingernails left little half-moons in his shoulders and when she finally finished, panting, she felt Jake’s hands holding her down, tight to him as he pumped himself into her, growling into her neck.

Even when they were finished, they stayed like that for a long time, before Ariana kissed Jake on the lips and slid off of him, curling into his side against the couch. It was so safe and warm here with him — how could she ever doubt that?

“You’ve still got your shirt on,” she said, somewhere between sleepy and teasing.

“It’s your fault,” he said. “You got me so excited I forgot to take it off.”

Ariana giggled and snuggled down even more.

J
ake dozed
on and off for a few minutes, holding Ariana tightly to his side, both still on the couch. But then, just as he felt himself drifting deeper into sleep, something woke him up.

He sat up on the couch, making Ariana tumble a little against the cushions.

“What?” she said, sounding half panicked and half sleepy.

“I heard something, I think,” Jake said.

“You think?”

He shook his head, trying to clear it. “I was almost asleep and something woke me up. Sometimes it’s hard to tell,” he admitted.

Then, there it was again. Distinctly the noise of a grizzly, scratching a tree not a hundred yards off. His heart beat faster. Was it Brock, coming to tell him he wanted to talk? Or was it either Boone or Coleman, coming to see what was going on?

“I need to go,” he said, standing. Ariana looked up at him, her hair a halo around her head, her beautiful curves soft and warm.

“Where?” she asked.

“One of the other bears is outside,” he said carefully, not wanting to make her worry. “We need to talk about this.”

“One of the other escapees?”

“Right.”

She stretched against the couch, and even though they’d just had sex, Jake felt himself stir a little at the sight. He cast it from his mind, bending over her, and kissing her lightly on the lips.

“Be careful,” she said, a little concerned.

“Lock the door behind me,” he said. “You’ll be safe.”

Ariana looked skeptical but didn’t argue.

Jake stepped out of his back door buck naked, walked a few steps, and started to shift. In bear form all his sense were heightened: he could smell every leaf, every tree.

He could smell the Lebanese food in the oven. He’d completely forgotten about it, and his stomach rumbled.

There was the scratching sound again, and just beyond the tree line he stood on his back legs and sniffed the air. With surprise, he registered two other bears — both Boone
and
Coleman. Strange.

They were both standing next to a big tree, barely visible in the light. All three sniffed each other and gave a few, playful swats before turning back to human, slowly.

“Brock’s here,” said Boone, getting right to business. “What the fuck is he doing here? I never wanted to see him again.”

“It’s my fault,” said Jake. Both of the other men looked at him, their eyes piercing. “I’m dating a human,” he admitted.

Boone ran one hand through his shaggy blond hair and looked off to one side. He still had a long scar across one cheek, narrowly missing his eye, and Jake knew that his arm still hurt in the cold, too.

“What the fuck does he even care?” Boone finally said.

Coleman shook his head. He had dark hair and a beard, partly to hide the scar he’d gotten fifteen years ago. He’d somehow escaped with no broken bones, but had a massive scar right across his stomach, where one of the pack elders had come perilously close to gutting him.

“You know him,” Coleman said. “He’s a fanatic. He thinks we still have to live by his rules even though we live two thousand miles away.”

“How did he know?” said Boone.

Jake just shrugged. “I wish I knew,” he said. “I know that as alpha, he has a sense of the pack all the time, but that specific? That far away? I don’t think so.”

“Did you tell anyone?” asked Coleman. “Has anyone seen you?”

“Not shifters,” said Jake.

“Are you sure?” said Boone.

Jake threw his hands in the air, exasperated. “Of course I’m not sure,” he said. “We go out, on dates, like normal people. Someone could have seen us. I’m not keeping it a secret.”

“Maybe you should,” Coleman said, darkly.

“Maybe you should—“ Jake started, but Boone held up his hand to ward off whatever Jake was about to say.

“This is a pointless fight,” Boone said. “Jake shouldn’t have to date people secretly. Brock is the one with the problem here.”

“Thank you,” Jake said.

“He’s afraid you’ll mate with this girl,” Boone said. “He doesn’t want humans in our bloodlines, but he also just doesn’t want them in his pack.”

Coleman frowned. “You mated with a human?”

Jake held up his hands. “We’ve been dating for two weeks,” he said. “We’re not that serious.”

“He wants to stop you before you mark her,” Boone said, darkly.

“He’s really premature, then, because we haven’t even had that talk yet.”

“Maybe you should.”

Jake let the silence hang in the air. He didn’t need these two to tell him how his relationship with Ariana should go. They were still in their infatuated, honeymoon phase, and as much as he desperately wanted to run back to his cabin, cover her with kisses, tell her he loved her and that he wanted her to be his for the rest of his life, he knew better.

“Where’d you see him?” Coleman asked, changing the subject.

“Lebanese Pines, that new Middle Eastern place,” Jake said.

“I
thought
I smelled shawarma,” said Coleman.

“What was he doing?”

“Nothing. He didn’t do anything, he just came in and sat at a table. Made eye contact with me. Violet was with him.”

“There’s two females,” interjected Coleman. Boone and Jake both looked at him. “The younger one’s in heat,” he said. “You can’t smell that?”

“Jake’s had his nose in other things,” teased Boone.

“I swear you’re still fifteen years old,” said Jake.

“Stop it,” said Coleman. “Look, we’ll be watching out for anything to happen, okay?”

“Okay,” said Jake.

Boone put one hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Be careful, brother,” he said.

All three men shifted back into bears, and walked off in three separate directions.

* * *

H
e walked back
into the cabin a few minutes after shifting back. He tried to give himself a little while between shifting back to human and being near people, especially now that he knew he could get mistaken for Bigfoot.

When Ariana looked up, though, he was was still
very
hairy. She was standing at the kitchen counter, hungrily wolfing down Shawarma, wearing just his flannel shirt and her underwear.

“You okay?” she asked, licking sauce off of one finger.

Jake nodded. “It was just Boone and Coleman.”

“They know anything?”

“They said there’s a third bear, a younger female in — a younger female.”

Why tell Ariana that the female bear was in heat? He didn’t need to go into that right now. Besides, he suspected he knew exactly what was happening: Brock and Violet thought that maybe they could get him to mark and mate with another shifter, and then any relationship he had with Ariana would be a moot point.

“Maybe they’re trying to colonize the Cascades,” she said brightly.

“Probably not,” he said.

“Yours is still in the oven, on low,” she said. “They got a little crispy, but it still tastes good.”

Jake grabbed a towel and pulled his food out of the oven, setting it on a one of four mismatched plates that he owned.

“You know,” Ariana said, conversationally, “It’s a little weird that you don’t have silverware.”

“I’ve got a fork here somewhere,” Jake said, picking up his wrap and taking a huge bite. He was starving.

“I think that kind of underscores my point,” Ariana said, grinning wickedly. “If your comeback is, ‘No, I’ve got one fork,’ I think I win this argument.”

Jake didn’t laugh, but he tried to smile a little.

Ariana sighed and put her wrap down, leaning against the counter opposite him. Even though Jake was eating, he still took a moment to admire the swell of her hips and bosom, even though they were hidden by his huge flannel shirt.

“Talk to me,” she said. “What’s really going on?”

“I think they’re pretty serious,” he said. “Brock brought Violet, his mate, and Coleman said there’s a younger female, too. He could smell her.”

“How come you didn’t?”

“I haven’t been sniffing around for mates lately.”

Ariana blushed.

“One on hand, they’ll probably try to get me to leave you for her before they try to hurt you.”

Ariana stiffened, a strange, nervous look coming into her eyes.

“But,” Jake went on, softly, “When that doesn’t work, they might try to hurt you.”

She looked off to one side, like she couldn’t meet his eyes all of a sudden. Jake put his wrap back on the counter, then walked to Ariana and put his big arms around her. She buried her head in his chest.

“Maybe I should go if I’m causing this trouble,” she said, softly.

“Don’t,” he said.

“I’m afraid they’ll hurt you because of me.”

“You know what would hurt more?”

“What?”

“If you left.”

Ariana didn’t say anything for a long time, and Jake just held her tight.

“I feel like I’m in over my head,” she said at last.

“I will not let them hurt you,” he said. “Ariana, I promise. I’d die before I let them hurt you, because I—“ He stopped for a second and swallowed what he’d been about to say. Then he tossed caution to the wind, and went ahead.

“Because I love you,” he said, softly.

Ariana squeezed him a little tighter, but didn’t say anything.