by Delta James
Chapter Eight
Alex breathed deeply, the smell of his mate and the aftermaths of his coupling with her were intoxicating. One more reason to kill the remaining Koto brother... he was going to have to take time away from rutting Flynn to deal with him.
“That’s it? You just walk in the door, strip me naked, swat my pussy, and fuck me?” she accused.
He turned back to find she had pulled herself into the middle of the bed and drawn her legs up to her chest.
“What would you have me do, Flynn? Woo you with flowers and sweet words? You are my mate and have known so since I took you the first time in Seattle,” he answered calmly.
“I know no such thing. If I thought that I wouldn’t have fucked so many guys after that.”
Alex growled. The idea of another man touching her, much less having bedded her caused his anger and his staff to rise. Before either got the better of him, he recalled her brother’s words that she had shut down that side of her personality after their initial coupling two years previously.
“Careful, Flynn, the idea of another male having touched you after I laid claim to you is intolerable and most likely would result in his death. Kodiaks are profoundly territorial, and we don’t share our mates. Besides which, according to your brother, you haven’t been with anyone since we were together.”
“That’s irrelevant and my brother has a big mouth. Which brings me back to one of my previous questions... just what the fuck are you?”
“I thought we covered that. I am a Kodiak bear shifter.”
“Can your kind breed with humans?”
Alex laughed. “I would think that was apparent, but if not, my cock is already getting hard again and I will breed you more thoroughly to make sure you understand. Are you so enamored at the thought of being bred again?”
“You are a first-rate bastard, you know that? Obviously, I’m well aware that you can fuck me. What I meant was, should I be worried that we had sex unprotected?”
“Nothing to worry about one way or another. If you do not conceive from our last few breedings, you will in the future. Don’t fret about it; I will rut with you both during, and I suspect, outside of the season.”
“You can’t possibly be so delusional to think that I want to fuck you, can you?”
“Whether or not you want to mate is of very little importance. Your body indicates you are of like mind, and your screams of ecstasy have filled this den. You are mine; it is mating season and I will rut with you. Given my response to you, I suspect that I will spend most of the year rutting with you. I find your response most enjoyable.”
“Would you listen to yourself? I got news for you... I’m not Goldilocks and I’m not looking to spend any more time in your bed.”
“I probably won’t confine our mating just to the bed, but make no mistake, where I make our bed is where you will be.”
She shook her head. He wasn’t sure if she truly didn’t understand her new role in life or was just being difficult. Most likely, it was a combination of both. He watched as she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
“I really need a straight answer from you. Can your kind get my kind pregnant?”
He leaned back against the table, crossing his arms to regard her coolly. “Yes. Even if you were to remain human, you could successfully bear our children.”
“If I were to remain human?”
He nodded. “Unlike my brother Josh, I want my mate to be one with me in all ways, so you will need to transition to Kodiak. I will wait until the end of the mating season to turn you as the transition can often take a few days in which I would be unable to breed you. As I have waited more than two years to be able to rut with you, I am unwilling to do that. You have kept me waiting, mate; it has not been pleasant for me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“What part are you questioning?”
“Everything? What do you mean transitioning to Kodiak? And regardless, you might want to ask me how I feel about that, or about you, or about being your personal fuck toy.”
Alex nodded. “I see. You fail to understand that you have little to no say in the matter. I have claimed you and you will submit to my authority. I have no wish to have a human mate, so I will turn you.” He chuckled, “As for my personal fuck toy, I rather think you enjoy that as I have yet to breach your cunt and not find you wet and willing.”
“You can’t just decide you’re going to transform me into some kind of freak,” Flynn cried with a note of hysteria in her voice.
“Not a freak; a Kodiak shifter. You will be stronger, better...”
“Better than what?” Her voice was climbing higher.
“Calm down, Flynn. You will be fine. The transition isn’t particularly dangerous or painful...”
“Now you’re worried about inflicting pain on me?”
Alex was confused. “I have never hurt you.”
“You think being spanked isn’t painful?”
She was going to have to reconcile herself to the fact that Kodiak society was heavily male dominated, and females were often kept in line by their mates’ use of spanking and other physical means to exert control. It was the way their kind had always operated. Alex had often wondered if it hadn’t made the females of their species stronger and more resilient.
“If done as punishment, it should be. If it isn’t, I’m not doing it correctly, but that is different than my doing something to hurt you. When you misbehave, I will discipline you to correct your behavior. If merely spanking you proves ineffective, I will incorporate other and possibly more severe measures.”
“This isn’t happening to me,” she whispered. “I need to wake up from this nightmare.”
“You aren’t dreaming, Flynn. Our kind has always lived alongside humans.”
“But you’re insisting I won’t be human any longer...”
He nodded. “I am. I would have preferred if you were Kodiak born, but it is of little consequence. I am clan leader and my mate will be Kodiak.”
“Does your kind not like humans?”
“We don’t all feel the same and most of us don’t paint all humans with the same brush—there are good and bad... just as there are good and bad shifters. My brother Josh’s mate is human. They are married as it was important to Allie. While our kind normally have a bonding ceremony, marriage has never been a tradition. However, if you would like to be married in addition to the bonding ceremony, I will indulge you.”
He watched with curiosity and humor as her panic and fear fled and her anger rose.
“How very chivalrous of you,” she said sarcastically. “You arrogant prick. What makes you think I’d marry you or have a bonding ceremony? I would never say ‘I do.’”
“In a bonding ceremony, it wouldn’t matter. Kodiak females are often resistant to being bonded to their mate. If you choose not to say ‘I do’ for a wedding, we simply won’t have one.” He raised his hand to try and stave off her objection. “I am alpha and clan leader, no one will challenge me or question my taking you to mate.”
“Clan leader? Just how many of you are there?”
“You’d best get used to the idea that it’s how many of us as you will soon be one of us. And our clan is relatively small. Some clans have entire towns, but we are spread out over the whole Aleutian chain. Of the thirty-five hundred Kodiak bears, only about one hundred of us are shifters. We rarely get together except for bonding ceremonies, before and after mating season, and war councils.”
“War councils?”
He nodded. “Yes, if I can’t deal with Koto or the Komodo tribunal gets involved and goes after others of our kind, I will call a war council and we will deal with them.”
“Won’t the clan hold me or my brother responsible? Or maybe both of us?”
“No,” he said shaking his head. “Neither of you knew about us nor have you done anything wrong to start the violence. Henry tried to kill Josh and I killed Henry. If anyone is responsible, it’s me,
which is why I would prefer to handle it on my own and not involve the entire clan.”
“Afraid they’d be pissed at you?”
“Not at all. But it is my family and my mate the remaining Koto will be after...”
“You don’t know that. Maybe he gave up and headed back to Seattle and won’t bother us again.”
“Not a Komodo. They don’t give up... ever.”
He eyed her speculatively, his cock beginning to ache in addition to being hard. Alex smiled, realizing he no longer had to repress his need to rut with his mate. She was here, she was naked, and he wanted her.
* * *
Flynn watched him approach. There was a dangerousness about Alex that was difficult to deny, but instead of frightening her, it only served to arouse, entice, and intrigue her. He didn’t so much walk across the room to her as stalk. She had the definite feeling that he was predator and she was prey. He seemed very comfortable being completely naked with a tremendous erection.
“On your back, Flynn,” he ordered.
“Is that your idea of foreplay?” she quipped.
“There will be time for soft words and gentle caresses in the future. During the mating season, I will mount you whenever I choose.”
The words had no sooner left his mouth than he reached the bed and shoved her onto her back. Grasping her thighs, he pried them apart and stepped between them. His cock was fully engorged; dragging her close, he drove into her core without any further preliminaries.
“By the gods, I missed you,” he groaned.
As she had the last time, she climaxed simply from his penetrating her. It was infuriating, and yet she couldn’t seem to resist him. There was something primitive and feral in him that called to some deep, dark place inside her she hadn’t known even existed, but now that it had raised its head, it was like some ravenous beast demanding to be fed.
“Alex,” she moaned, not knowing if she wanted him to stop or fuck her that much harder. She feared it was the last.
He held her up so that only the upper portion of her body remained connected to the bed. She didn’t have the leverage needed to get away from him. Impaled on his staff, all she could do was writhe. He held her parallel to the bed and perpendicular to his body so that he could stand as he plunged in and out of her, bucking his hips so that his hard rod hammered to the very depths of her being. Flynn climaxed quickly a second time; she was exhausted from their earlier session and thought he could sense that she was almost spent. Alex thrust rhythmically and powerfully, coaxing an additional orgasm from her before increasing the strength and speed so that he found his release in her, groaning as he did so. Flynn cried out a last time as they came together, and he filled her again with his essence.
Alex withdrew from her and held her ankles together further aloft so he could deliver three stinging blows to her backside.
“You do not try to evade me when I choose to fuck you. Do it again and I will ensure that your punishment is severe enough that you don’t try it a third time.”
“Third?”
“Yes, once in Seattle and just now.”
He dropped her legs and turned away. Flynn thought seriously about kicking him or trying to harm him again.
“I brought you some clothes. If you behave, you can put them on while I’m gone.”
“Gone? Where are you going? When?” she asked, hoping to keep the enthusiasm out of her voice.
He turned and silenced her with a single look. “Do not think you can escape in my absence. When I return, I will expect to find you naked and in our bed... awaiting me and my use,” he growled.
“And exactly how am I supposed to know when you are going to deign to honor me with your presence?”
“When the door is moved out of the way...”
“What? I’m just supposed to tear off my clothes and leap into bed? You weren’t kidding when you said no kind words or any kind of foreplay.” She shook her head, wondering again if and when she might wake from this awful, but incredibly erotic, dream. “Just so I’m sure I understand. You expect me to sit around, wait for your return and then, when I hear the door open, throw myself onto the bed and spread my legs?”
“If you find it difficult to comply, I’ll leave you naked and handcuffed to the bed.”
“Bastard,” she hissed.
“Mate,” he corrected, eyeing her speculatively.
Fearing she had pushed him too far, she verbally retreated. “This isn’t easy for me, Alex. You’re asking me to accept a lot of things that are completely foreign to me—the very fact that your kind exists, that another kind of... you called them shifter?”
He nodded.
“...shifter exists and it mostly likely wants me and you and our families dead. What if Komodo dragons have strong ties like Kodiaks... could a war spread beyond just the two species? Could humans become involved?”
“Doubtful. One thing all shifters agree on is that having humans know of our existence would bring about chaos and violence against our kind.”
“You don’t know that for certain.”
“History would tend to indicate the chances are more likely that we are correct than not. I will take it as a good sign that you do not see being my mate as foreign or something that you can avoid.”
“Why do you want a mate who doesn’t want you?” she cried in exasperation.
He chuckled; she wasn’t sure which was more grating, the fact that he found it amusing or the sound itself.
“For one thing, it is difficult to believe that a woman who orgasms just from being mounted doesn’t want me on some very deep level. For another, as I said, female Kodiaks can be cantankerous and obstinate about being bonded to their mate. As clan leader I have stood witness to more than one vow being forced from a female when she chose to repeatedly challenge her mate.”
“Forced? How could someone force a vow from another?”
“They aren’t tortured if that’s what you fear.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said lifting her chin defiantly.
“I know. It is your fear of your own feelings and knowing that I am right that frightens you.”
“You’re delusional.”
“You will take your vows and your place at my side.”
He turned his back and put together a bundle with clothing, ammunition, sat phone, and food. He wrapped the bundle around the working mechanisms of a high-powered rifle he removed from a locked gun cabinet.
“If you’re interested, there is a record of our clan over by the bookshelf. You can read it if you like. You have enough food and water here in our home to see you through several days. If something happens to me, a friend of mine will know and will ensure you are safe. I would spend this time reconciling yourself to your new life.”
“Because you think I have no other option?”
“David Koto is dangerous.”
“I can take care of myself... been doing so without your assistance my whole life.”
“I saw how well you were doing when his brother was closing in on you in the stream. Regardless of the Kotos, I knew you were my mate the first time I bent you over that desk and took you. I’ve returned each year to Seattle to look for you. Now that I have you, I will not let you go. The only way you will be parted from me is death.”
“I can arrange that if need be.”
“You see? You have the spirit of a Kodiak all ready. Our clan will be happy to see their alpha has chosen a mate who will bear him strong and vigorous offspring. Make peace with your destiny, Flynn. Fighting it will prove painful, humbling, and ultimately futile for you.”
In less than a blink of an eye, he dragged her into his embrace, slanting his mouth down on hers and kissing her in a way that left her breathless. A small part of her brain still told her to resist, to at least form some token protest. But the greater portion capitulated to the onslaught of her emotional and physical response and melted into his muscular frame, moaning as she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the e
mbrace. His hands moved lower, one pinning her body to his as the other fondled her buttocks before slipping his finger between her cheeks and teasing the tightly puckered rosebud.
She managed to separate her lips from his, “No,” she whispered.
“Yes, Flynn, in time I will use all you have to offer to ease my lust. Rest while I am gone. When I return, the mating season will have begun in earnest...”
“You mean this isn’t your idea of earnest?
He shook his head. “It is only the beginning of the season. The need to breed has yet to fully claim my being and become my highest priority. As it is, I have had to suppress the instinct that tells me to seal you in our den, keep you naked and aroused and fuck you until we are both spent. Your need for me will grow to match my own. The only time when you will be sated is when I have exhausted you and you succumb to sleep. So, take what reprieve you can. When I return, I will be in the full grip of the rut and will have been without you for days.”
Alex picked up the bundle and headed to the entrance of the cave. Opening the door, he stepped through and slid it back into place without saying another word. She watched as her only way out was blocked. He had been right; she wasn’t strong enough to move the stone out of the way. Taking a deep breath, she looked around the interior. There had to be another way out. Someone as careful as Alex would not leave himself without a means of escape... she just had to find it.
Chapter Nine
Alex pushed the rock back into place and brushed away any evidence from the ground that even hinted that the stone was anything other than part of the cavern’s wall. There had been a time Kodiaks did not need to disguise their dens. They had once lived free of all societal constraints, but hunters and others had grown bolder and now encroached in all areas of their territory. His clan was known as the Unangan Clan. They were more fortunate than most as their home territory in the Aleutian Islands was still only sparsely populated and infrequently visited by tourists.
His cock throbbed. Barely an hour had passed since he’d spilled his seed in her and his need for her was almost overwhelming. He was certain that if her life wasn’t in danger, nothing would keep him from rutting with her. He smiled as the images of the times he had already had her drifted past his mind’s eye. There was no doubt that his mate had a passionate streak a mile wide and that in years to come she would welcome the rut... as would he. No longer would it be something he had to endure, but rather something to revel in. Poor Josh would have to find someone else to distract him if he was unwilling to force the issue with Allie.
