The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (30 page)

A simple deception. Dangle money in front of a person for what appeared to be a common research study only to use her for whatever they’d wanted. Sadness, so much sadness slipped over her face, he felt his chest tighten. The wolf inside wanted to hunt down the people who’d hurt her.

Calming his snarling wolf, he focused on how nice it felt to hold her. Such nice hands. Soft. Smooth. Clear of any scars. It felt good. No, not good. It felt right, to hold her fingers in his grasp. He rubbed circles over the top of her knuckles until she relaxed her fists.

“So you did the sleep study?” Theo prompted with a frown and scratched his chin.

“Theo.” Ryder growled. He caressed her hands between his own, enjoying her yield to his touch.

She was asking him for help. Had not lied to them so far. He didn’t like the way his second glanced at her as if she were holding back. They could both scent she wasn’t lying.

Her gaze bore into his. She shifted, nodding at Theo. “Yes. I went to this address they gave me, and they said they wanted to test a sleeping pill.” Her gaze jumped back and forth between him and Theo. “They said they knew that wasn’t in the original request, but it was just to see how long it took me to wake up.”

The wolf paced inside him. More than what she’d said had happened. He could tell. And none of it had been good.

“I went to sleep and…” She stared off into the distance, hands shaking in his grasp.

“What happened to you?” He growled. There was no helping it. His animal was close to the surface. He didn’t like the thought of this woman having been hurt.

Her eyes glowed beautiful, liquid amber. Just beneath the surface, her wolf appeared ready to break loose. She shut her eyes and inhaled. “I don’t know.”

Watching her take that breath was hell on his control. His cock grew so fucking hard, he was sure it would rip through his jeans.

She moaned and licked her lips. “You smell good. Wild.”

Fuck.

He tamped down his surge of lust, cleared his throat, and asked again, “What the hell did they do to you?”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I woke up, and there was a commotion. Lights were flickering, and an alarm blasted all around me.” She broke their connection and stared at the wall over his shoulder. “I wasn’t in the same place I’d fallen asleep. This was a different spot. The other place had been nice and filled with smiling faces that made me feel comfortable. This was like a clinic. Cold. Stark. And then—” She gasped. The lines of her face tightened. “Anger rolled around inside me. I was bound to the bed, but I tore the belts off. I had an IV, and I tore it out of my arm.”

She probably didn’t realize how much deeper her voice had gotten. Most shifters didn’t like being bound, unless it was during heated sex and with their consent. A bound male would mean sure death once he got his hands on the captor.

“What happened then?” Theo asked. He leaned forward in his chair.

Her gaze connected to his. She snarled, the wolf riding her hard. Stunned pleasure filled him at the amount of control she had over the animal.

She ran a shaky hand over her hair. “I killed the guard at my door and escaped.”

THREE

Raine didn’t know how much longer she could hold back the wildness pushing to get out. Nor did she know why the scent of the man, Ryder, made her body throb and her pussy slick. But goddamn, he was just so tempting when his eyes filled with sin. The way his wicked smile invited her to the dark side made her breath catch. Her body throbbed for a single lick over the tattooed arms and muscles shifting under the snug T-shirt.

And oh, that chin. Lord have mercy. With just enough facial hair to make her want to bite him, she’d had a hard time focusing on thinking when he was such a feast for her hormones. But even with all that, she fought the attraction. She knew he was the only man who could help her. And she really needed his help.

“How did you manage to kill the guard?” The one he’d called Theo asked.

It was clear he was having a hard time believing her. No shit. Like she wasn’t having a hard time believing everything she’d been through in the past three days. Her body was no longer her own. It was hell to rein in the aggression she felt.

“When I opened the door to leave, a man stood there. He turned around and pointed a weapon at me, but…I don’t know how, I moved faster than him. I grabbed the hand holding the gun and twisted, breaking his wrist in the process.” She gulped and tried not to remember the sick sound of the bones popping. The blood. So much blood. “When he pulled out a knife and stabbed me with his other hand, I yanked it out of my shoulder and shoved it into his chest.”

Theo’s brows had lifted until she swore they were going to hit the top of his short blonde spikes. He rubbed a tanned hand over the back of his neck and whistled low. “God damn.”

Yeah. Her thoughts exactly. When she glanced back at Ryder, his gaze was traveling all over her torso. “Where did he stab you?”

Was that concern she scented? She met his gaze. Air caught in her chest. The same concern was visible in his eyes. It took her by surprise. Stopped her cold for a moment. This man didn’t know her, yet he seemed genuinely distressed that she’d been hurt.

“It’s okay. I… It’s healed.”

Sparks of heat melted in her blood, heating up her veins. She wondered why the hell she wanted to sniff him. And the lust? There was so much, too much, going on with her hormones. One second she wanted to bite someone’s head off, and the next she wanted to rub herself all over Ryder.

He leaned forward, searching her body with his eyes. “Let me see.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

“Let me see.” His voice was hard, demanding.

“No.”

It turned into a staring match. Something told her not to back down. She held his gaze. The intensity of his stare, pure dominance, was too much for her to handle. A soft growl worked up her throat, but she couldn’t best him. Her gaze dropped to her lap.

“Please, let me see.” His tone softened to a request.

Butterflies took hold of her stomach. She chastised herself for thinking of sex when clearly she had bigger issues to deal with. It was hard to focus when he was so attention-grabbing. Fuck attention-grabbing. He was plain old hot.

From the moment she’d walked into the bar, she’d known who he was. Sure, there’d been men who looked intimidating enough to be Ryder Storm, but only he oozed the power and command she suspected belonged to the man she needed. Dangerous. Deadly. He was clearly the type to lead, not follow.

Giving in to his demand, she tugged on the left side of the neckline of her T-shirt. The puckered scar above her left breast was visible for him to see. The heat from his stare caressed her skin long after she let go of the material and covered her scar.

“I told you, it’s healed.”

God. She was in trouble now. Her body was practically melting over the sexy shifter. Repeated attempts to clear her throat didn’t help. There was no way she was having visuals of sex with a man she’d just met. She really was not. It was unethical. She planned to hire him. It was wrong. But hell if it wasn’t exactly what she was imagining. Sex. With Ryder. In full color.

Every time their gazes met, she had a hard time remembering what her original plan had been. Time seemed to have stopped with the fire in his eyes. The look of possession was one she wasn’t accustomed to. Yet, it felt right. Whatever had messed with her body had also damaged her mind. He was not for her. He was a means to an end. And the end was not to get him naked. No. No matter what her body kept screaming in big neon yeses, that was not her goal.

Her nipples ached, and more than just desire flooded her. It was something she’d never experienced before, a need to be his. Which was crazy, because she’d never had a one-night stand in her life. Nor had she ever had sex on a first date. But here she was, dying for Theo to take a hike so she could pounce on Ryder. Literally pounce. She could see herself jumping him. Tearing off his clothes. She kept visualizing licking her way up his body until she got to that sexy mouth. She became slick between her thighs. Holy hell she was in trouble. Ryder’s demeanor made it hard to think. Heck even his name tempted her to ride him.

She tried to cover up a whimper with a cough. Sliding her fingers through her hair, she used her nails to scrape a relaxing path across her scalp. Anything to stop the itch zapping her body.

He sniffed. Quirked his lips into another sexy smile. “Theo, why don’t you gather up a couple of the guys so we can go visit this sleep study outfit?”

Theo chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, I’ll bet that’s what you need. I’ll be out by the bar.”

She watched him leave, shutting the door with a soft click behind him. The hunger inside her grew by leaps and bounds. She. Needed. Help. Therapy was a start. Or maybe to finally get laid. When was the last time she’d had sex? Several weeks back. Even then, things had been too stressful in her life for her to enjoy it. Then again, maybe Eddie just wasn’t that good. They’d only dated for a few weeks, but he hadn’t rocked her world, hell he hadn’t even rocked the bed.

Raine stood, ready to bolt. “I need to go to the ladies room.”

She gasped when she found her back pressed to a wall and Ryder’s body pressed to her front.

A slow shudder crawled down her spine and buried deep in her core. He cupped her cheek with one hand and her hip with the other, pressing the bar of his cock into her belly. Fuck but he felt good. More than good. Perfect. Now she just needed him inside her body, putting out the fire his scent had started. Heat dripped from her slit. Arousal shot through her veins, thickening her blood. She’d never wanted a man as much as she did him, and it scared her.

Head tilted, she blinked his face into focus.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Ryder asked with that panty-melting voice.

Hell no. Her mind was a jumbled mess of needs and wants, but the bathroom wasn’t one of them. She was having a hard time remembering her own damn name and here he was asking her questions. “What?”

No. Please god. He lowered his head. She couldn’t take much more of this hormonal torture. Everything felt tight. She held her breath, continuing to watch his dark eyes. With every inch that he moved closer, her body argued for her to grab him, to touch him. But she fought it and fisted her hands at her sides.

“Are you sure you want to go?”

His warm breath smelled of beer and some kind of mint. And she wanted to taste. Not just taste—she wanted to lick, suck, and devour him.

She struggled with her arousal for dominance. But something much more powerful than mere will was taking over. When he nuzzled his lips by her earlobe, she almost came on the spot.

“I really hoped we’d get to know each other better.” He trailed his lips in a soft brush below her ear. “There’s just something about you…” Her breath hitched and her nails dug into her palms. Electricity shot down to her pussy, making her clit twitch. Lust twined into a jagged ball that expanded with every breath. “Something that’s making me so hard… I need to taste you.”

That was all it took. She could fight a lot of things, but the beast inside her wanted him and she did too. Unwinding her fingers, she moved with purpose and lifted her hands into his short, dark strands of hair. She moaned at the feel of the texture in between her fingers, gripping hard. He groaned, rubbed his cock on her belly, allowing her to feel how much he wanted her. She tugged his head down for a kiss.

He growled and drove the fingers cupping her cheek into her hair at the same time his mouth possessed hers. It was by far the hottest, sexiest kiss she’d ever been given. His firm lips sucked on hers with promise. A deep dark need bubbled in her veins, until she was overflowing with so much desperation she had no idea what was going on.

Swipe after swipe, his tongue drove her to the edge of sanity. Their kiss was nothing she’d ever experienced before.

Wet.

Hot.

Demanding.

He satisfied her sensual need with decadence. Her grip on his hair tightened, and so did his. He tugged her head back, and she reveled in his dominance. Somehow, instead of being turned off by his aggressiveness, she wanted more. Needed more. She whimpered and sucked on the tongue fucking her mouth. The hand he had on her hip travelled to the waist of her jeans. Oh yes. That’s what she wanted.

He unbuttoned and yanked down the zipper so fast she didn’t realize how quick he was until his hand dipped between her slick pussy lips, pressing on her pleasure center. He groaned into their kiss. “Fuck, baby.”

“Mmm.” She bucked and rocked her hips on his fingers at the same time she deepened the kiss.

“You have to be the hottest woman ever.”

Did she? She’d never been called hot. Heck, she’d never made a man growl like Ryder was right now. It was empowering and drove all thoughts of everything else out the window. The need to come had turned into her only goal. She raked her nails down his neck at the same time she bit his lip. He moaned. The sound was such a turn on she could feel moisture drip from her slit to coat the fingers rubbing her sex.

“Fuck me. Please, fuck me.” She could not believe she was saying those words to a total stranger, but her body knew what it wanted. Ryder.

“Shit. I’ll make this good for you.” His rough voice was filled with sensual promise as he slid his hand out of her pants.

She dug her nails into his shoulder. “No!”

He pressed her body close to his in a tight hug. “Relax, sweetheart. It only gets better from here.”

Need burned in every cell. In every pore. In every breath. It was getting harder to fight the beast inside, the one that wanted him so badly. She didn’t care if the animal won this round. She wanted the man too. Her shirt came off. She sighed in approval. He stared at her breasts with adoration and hunger.

Dropping to his knees, he yanked the jeans and wet panties down her legs until they and her boots puddled around her ankles. She stepped out of the restrictive mess of clothes and he leaned forward to sniff along her groin. He licked a circle around her inner thigh. Jesus. Talk about torture in the first degree. Her hands itched to grab him by the hair and plaster herself on him. His arm muscles flexed as he pushed on his thighs to stand. She was naked. Well…almost. Only her bra remained.

His hands shook. It amazed her. Did she really make this big, sexy man nervous? The thought boggled her mind. Somehow, knowing he was fighting for control as much as she was made things a little less crazy.

He hugged her again. Hot skin against his too many clothes. Why was he still dressed? Wet heat crawled down her thighs. His denim-covered cock rubbed against her mound.

“Oh, please.”

It hadn’t occurred to her she’d be begging tonight, her only thought had been to die. Now, though, it was for this man to make her come. Dying? No. Not when there was Ryder. Dying was out of the question.

She searched out his lips, wanting another taste of him. A taste of the firm and demanding touch that made her pussy quiver. Something about how he kissed her, with so much carnal possession, turned her brain into a pile of mush. And she liked it. Aggressive and demanding, he drove his tongue deep into her mouth and twined with hers. He lifted her into his arms. She curled her legs around his waist. For every stroke he did with his tongue, he rocked her over his cock. The coarse material of the jeans rubbed her sensitized nub like a pleasure-inducing bite.

He sat her on his desk, the wood smooth and cool beneath her. She unwound her legs from his back and bent them at the knees, dropping her feet to the edge. Her hands kept her upright as she placed her palms flat behind her. Air panted in and out of her lungs. Hard puffs of oxygen she couldn’t control.

She watched him sniff and grind his teeth. Dark eyes glittered like two onyxes. It was beyond hot to see him so turned on. He stepped between her legs and cupped her breasts over the satin material of her bra. A second later, she was freed from the binds. She glanced down and saw the bra slide open at the center, but there wasn’t a snap in the front.

His sensual mouth curled and a wicked smile split his lips. “Sorry, I’ll buy you a new one.”

She groaned. Dropped her head back, pushing her breasts into his hands. An offering to touch. To squeeze. To take. Almost as if he’d read her mind, he plucked at her nipples and molded her flesh.

From one moan to the next, he kissed one breast and then the other, dividing his attention back and forth between the two. But his torture only increased when he continued his journey south.