Gabe
“Gabe! Gabe! Can you hear me?”
The voice and the scent were both familiar. But they were some distance away or I was in a tunnel.
“Gabe.” Something warm patted my cheek.
I pried open one eye and stared at someone consumed with worry. Hunched posture. Wide eyes. A strained smile. A large hand cupping my chin with a thumb brushing under one eye. I permitted the other eyelid to flicker and allow in light while I grunted. It was too much. “Let me go back to sleep,” I wailed.
But those huge hands pulled me into a sitting position and then picked me up as if I were a rag doll. My head lolled back until I was placed on a couch, a cushion under my head and covered with a velvety something or other.
Curling up on my side, I snuggled in the warmth, my head fuzzy with details I couldn’t yet grasp.
“Drink this.” A hand at my back sat me up.
“Don’t want to,” I grumbled.
“It’s orange blossom tea with honey.”
For some reason the word ‘honey’ had me paying attention. It was important somehow. A second hand held the mug to my lips, and I sipped. Two distinct flavors tripped over my tongue. One overly sweet and yet comforting with a hint of spice. While the other was more delicate and floral. “Mmmm. Nice. Want. More. Please.” I was reduced to one word responses as I took another mouthful. And a third.
“Gabe.”
“Mmmm.” I didn’t want to chat because I was hiding from something and talking would reveal it. And I wasn’t ready to confront that thing whatever it was. Right now, my world consisted of the yummy stuff in my mouth which I was now gulping, resulting in some of it dribbling over my chin. That and my one-word sentences put me firmly in the toddler category. I’m okay with that.
“We need to talk.”
Nothing good ever accompanied those words. I may have regressed to the terrible twos—though I hadn’t yet put a thumb in my mouth—but I retained some adult memories. Closing my eyes, I outstretched the hand with the mug, and when it was taken away, I flopped down and covered my head with the blanket.
But that pesky someone peeled it back, revealing my hiding place. “Gabe, I get that you’re confused and probably terrified, but I can explain.”
“Wanna sleep.”
The voice became more insistent and fear slithered over me. I wrapped my arms around my body and forced myself to look at the voice. Brad! I knew him. More than that. He’d been closer to me than any living human.
But a movement in the corner of my eye had me twisting around, the blanket clutched in my hands. It’s here. The invisible presence from my dream. Fur. Teeth. Eyes. Terror. It didn’t belong here. It moved stealthily across the floor, and I wailed, “Watch out!”
Brad didn’t move. Not even a flicker of an eyelid. His gaze firmly planted on me, trapping me, leaving no room for escape.
But something was wrong. A piece of the jigsaw had been put in the wrong place, its uneven edges shoved into a space where it didn’t belong while a hand tried to make it fit. But it never would. There was Brad’s scent and a competing one from the thing edging closer.
With both hands over my face, I spread my fingers and peered through the gaps. The terror was mine. Not the thing’s. It wasn’t frightened and neither was Brad. No, I take that back. He wasn’t scared, exactly, more wary. Worried, not terrified, but for me, not of the thing towering over him as he crouched at my side.
Give it a name, Gabe. Call it by its name. I tried but nothing came out.
With the blanket pulled up to my chin, I had two choices. Let the river of fear that was threatening to destroy me sweep me away. Or I could confront it. Hushed whispers from the heroes and heroines whose bravery had played out on the pages of my beloved novels nagged me and pushed me forward.
I gathered every last shred of courage and stared over Brad’s shoulder. Bear!
It or they or was it a he—who knew—opened its mouth, and I cowered in a corner of the sofa. The bear nodded and sort of… grinned. Is it making fun of my dread? Does it think this pitiful human is something to make fun of?
I sat up straight and leaned forward, a finger pointing at the hulking animal. The bottled terror, pain, and confusion burst out of me as I shrieked, “You’re not my freaking bear! You’re a fucking imposter!”
The atmosphere in the room transformed from tense, and it sort of sagged. Even the air tasted different. I spat out the fear, refusing to let it define me.
The frown lines on Brad’s forehead evened out, and the corners of his mouth turned up. Light returned to his eyes and he laughed. No, he chortled, not a sound I associated with the gruff, crusty lawyer. My Brad.
And as for the bear, he bent over and his body heaved as though he too were laughing. I wrinkled my nose. “Stop it. Stand up straight and look me in the eye, Soren!”
Shit. The memories flooded back. Brad’s friend Soren had stood in the living room earlier. One minute he was a human. No, a man. No human I know can do what he did.
As I spoke, those irregular pieces of puzzle evened out and slotted together. The airport. My dream. Brad’s intoxicating scent. The almost vision I’d had when Brad was overcome with emotion. I wasn’t crazy. This world I’d tumbled into might terrify me, but as I bade my innocence goodbye, Brad held out his arms and I fell into them.
“I knew you could do it, but I wasn’t expecting this,” he murmured into my hair while running his hands over my back. He rained kisses over my forehead and cheeks, and the wetness combined with the tears he squeezed from his eyes. “You’re amazing, did you know that?”
But I had unfinished business with that bear, and as I rested my chin on Brad’s shoulder, I eyed him as he plonked himself in an armchair. “You,” I said accusingly. His jerky moment had me studying him with one raised brow. Not so confident now, are you? I pondered giving my students a writing assignment describing a startled animal, but filed that thought away for later. “What are you doing here? This is between me and him.” I nodded at Brad.
The bear curled up on itself, fur becoming flesh, the snout transforming to a nose, and where there were paws, hands took their place. Soren’s hair was sticking out at all ends. “You’re not my bear.” Without saying a word, he grabbed his keys and took off. “He’s naked,” I whispered to Brad. Soren’s jeans lay on the floor but he hotfooted it out the door, and I noted, “And he has a scrawny ass.”
Brad’s teeth grazed my throat while his hands were pressing on me, kneading my butt. “He’ll have a spare set of clothes in the car. More than one. And I agree about his ass.”
I got up and leaned on the doorway, arms folded. “You turn,” I ordered. “Show me my bear.”
Sixteen
Brad
When he asked to see my bear, it was a dream come true. He wasn’t scared of me. He was curious, and he already knew my bear. Or at least knew of him.
“Do you want to go outside and then explore with me or just see me in here?” I asked, unsure what his end goal was.
“The thing is, I'm pretty horny, which makes no sense given the insanity of the day. So really all I want to do is feel your knot growing inside me, but if I don’t see your bear first it feels wrong...you know? Like, he’s the reason I’m here.”
“Because of the dream, you mean?” I asked, wanting to make sure I fully understood what he was saying even if he wasn’t all the way sure himself.
“It’s like I knew him first maybe, or is he you? It feels like you are different.”
“Kind of both, really. He is me and I am he, but also we are separate. That’s who I was talking to in the kitchen, not that I need to speak out loud, I was just so confused. I didn’t want to ruin things with you, and I know that’s weird because humans go slow or what have you but…” He stopped me with a finger to my lips.
“That dream...the airport…your scent. Were you ever aware of me at an airport?”
“I was. But I didn’t see you...I just knew you were there...I smelled y
ou.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Not like that. A shifter, meaning a person who can turn into an animal basically, we can scent our mates. Like one whiff and usually we know it’s our forever person. At least that’s how it is with bears.” I assumed it was like that for all types, but really, I mostly stayed in my den so my knowledge was limited.
“So you could smell me but not because I stink but because I’m a mate?” He rubbed his chin. “And that’s why I felt different there.”
“Probably smelled me too, but didn’t realize it.”
“Then why didn’t you talk to me?”
“I tried. Believe me I tried.” I told him the entire fiasco with the airport and my struggles with my bear over the past year and he listened. More than listened. He understood as if the entire thing made sense, and for a shifter it did, but for a human? “You’re amazing.”
“What made you say that just now?”
“You are just...you aren’t freaking out or...you’re just you.”
“I knew you were coming. I just didn’t know it. Now show me my bear.” My bear. Not your or the, but my.
I hated to stop touching him, but shifting with him in my arms wouldn’t end well.
“I might only shift for a second. My bear wants to mark you and it’s best if I don’t give him too much leeway,” I explained as I started to shuck my clothing.
“Mark?”
“Yeah, bite you and scar you to let every other bear know you’re mine and hands off.” I dropped my shirt to the ground. “But don’t worry, I won’t do that unless you want me to. I would never force you to be my mate.” I stepped out of my pants and called forth my bear, keeping him pushed down while letting him take form. It was not easy. He wanted our mate.
I wanted our mate.
But Gabe’s needs came first, and marking him out of primal need was not it. Not now, anyway.
“My bear.” He stood up and stepped closer. “Mine.” He reached out, and I bent my head so he could touch my muzzle. “You’re so beautiful.” He stepped back. “Come back to me alpha.”
It wasn’t easy, but I shifted back, my bear wanting nothing more than to snuggle up with our mate.
“I never left.”
“The marking—do I mark you too?” His eyes traveled down my body and to my erection, his tongue darting out and licking his lips.
“I don’t know. You’re human so I guess you can, but you don’t have to.” Crap. Why didn’t I think to look that up in the books of old?
“Do you want me to?” He pulled his bottom lip in with his teeth.
Heck yeah I did.
“I want you to do what makes you comfortable.” I would not push him—ever.
He pulled off his shirt. Not the answer I was expecting. I’d take it, though. He was sexy as sin and seeing him want to be that way with me after knowing my secret...it was ten times hotter. How was that even possible?
“Where would we bite...I mean, mark?” He reached for the button on his jeans and toed his shoes off.
“Usually here,” I pointed to the crook of my neck. “But it’s not like a law or anything.” He pushed down his jeans and I swallowed as his erection sprung free.
“I can work with that. You know what would make it sexier?” He stepped out of his jeans and to me.
“What?” Because there was nothing my imagination could contrive that would be sexier than this very moment.
“If we did it as your knot filled me.”
My bear broke through with a growl.
“I’ll take that as you agree.” It was how it was done, but I wasn’t going to break the mood with facts. I just needed him to be sure, and then I was going to mark him as mine.
Mine, my bear agreed.
“It’s forever, so you don’t need to decide now.” I scooped him up. If we were going to do this, it was not going to be on a couch or my living room floor. He curled right into me.
“Take me to bed, alpha mine. Make me yours. I’ve been waiting for you for over a year. Don’t make me wait a second longer.”
I jogged us to my room, slowly depositing him on the bed and laying beside him, and cupped his cheek not believing my luck.
“What?” he asked. “I’m a sure thing, you know.” He gave me a wink.
“I know.” I tapped his nose. “I’m just—I want to do this right, and if I don’t take a breather I’m going to fuck you into this mattress, claim you, and knot you all in less than two minutes. I’m already about to come, and I don’t want this to be like that. I want it to be more.”
Now I was sounding like one of those sappy human movies.
“Are you saying you want to make slow sweet love to me and end it with a scar?” He snarled the last word and the entire plan sounded ridiculous when put that way.
“Kind of.” Next thing I knew he was on top of me, peppering my face with kisses.
“You, my alpha, are the most magnificent beast.” He spoke between kisses. “Later tonight after I’m all marked and yours, I want you to, as you put it, fuck me into this mattress, but right now—I want all of that—the more you promised.” This time his kiss landed on my lips and we kissed leisurely, our hands exploring our bodies, first he on top and then me, the kiss deepening with time, the pace barely increasing, our erections pressed together, and when both of us were unable to hold back the need, I slipped inside him, the words welcome home escaping his lips and almost ending this before they began.
And then in his words, we “made slow sweet love,” my orgasm rushing towards me with each movement, my control completely lost as his teeth sank into me, my cum filling him as my knot grew.
“Mine,” I growled and sank my teeth into his shoulder.
He was mine.
My omega.
My mate.
My life.
Mine.
Seventeen
Gabe
Something fluffy tickled my chin while warm air floated over me. Memories of last night filtered through my thoughts. Brad. Bear. Shifter. Mated. Safe. I opened one eye to find the shifter who’d bitten me squatting beside the bed, staring at me intently. I rubbed my nose hoping I didn’t have a booger up there. Awkward!
“Hey.”
“Morning, mate.” Is that how we’re supposed to greet one another from now on? “You’re awake.”
“Uh-huh.” I hadn’t been given the handbook on after-mating-with-a-bear rituals. Whatever they were, I was at a loss. My fingers instinctively went to my shoulder, not quite believing what had happened. But there it was, a raised rough ridge. I stroked my skin, now pitted with the indentation of Brad’s—my mate’s—teeth.
He removed my hand and kissed the wound before asking, “Hungry?”
“I could eat.”
“Come on.” He handed me a shirt—one of his I assumed, it was much too big for me but it covered my ass and crotch—and after putting it on, I wandered out of the bedroom, but not before inspecting my mark in the bedroom mirror. It showed the world I was Brad’s, while my biting him let everyone know he was also mated. We were no longer alone, no more wandering blindly with our eyes closed. We’d found one another and were never letting go.
The kitchen island was covered in bowls, pans, and other stuff. “Has the food delivery guy been and gone?”
“Nope. We’re cooking breakfast.” He glanced at his watch. “More like brunch.”
“You cook?” I asked, holding up a bunch of green things and studying it.
“You don’t?”
“No,” I replied.
“I do,” he informed me.
“And about the whole ‘we’ cooking thing…” My voice trailed away as Brad handed me a wooden board, a knife, and an onion. “What do I do with this?”
He grinned and kissed the end of my nose. “Can you chop it, please, Gabe?”
“Okay.” I was game for anything. I placed the onion on the board, and with both hands on the knife, brought it down over my head, and missed. Though I got the board, the knife sticking out of it remind
ed me of the aftermath of a pirate battle in a swashbuckling book.
“Gabe!”
“Sorry, I’ll try again.”
Brad stood behind me and murmured, “Here lies our dearly departed knife…”
“Did I kill it?”
“Almost. Let’s try again.” He placed his hands on mine, but I wriggled my ass against his crotch. A sharp intake of breath from him had me giggling. He pressed himself against my body and placed his lips on my ear. Food first, and then I’m taking you back to bed.”
“Mmmm.”
“First we have to peel the onion, and then we chop it.” But by the time he cut into it, I was blinking tears from my eyes. “Owww! It hates me.” Brad took over and I sat on a stool. “You watching, Gabe?”
“Mmmm. Yes. Taking it all in,” I said as I leaned sideways and peered at his ass. That wasn’t a fib. I was paying attention, just not to what he was doing.
“Liar.” He held up an oddly shaped red lump. “Know what this is?”
“Something you’re going to cook?” I was quite proud of my answer.
“A pepper. A red pepper.”
“I thought pepper was something that came out of a grinder.”
Brad slapped a hand on his brow. “How is it you’ve managed to survive in the world up until now? And have no idea what you’re putting in your mouth.” And as he said it, his mouth formed the perfect O.
He understood the hole he’d fallen into, and I was going to tease him about it. I tilted my head to the side. “I always know what I’m eating, but I’m not talking about food.” I grabbed a dish cloth and swatted his ass.
He leveled a glowering look in my direction. “Keep distracting me and we’ll never get brunch.”
“Promise?” But my belly grumbled and I bowed, awarding the first round to him.
He made quick work of cutting the pepper, threw oil in a pan, and asked me to stir the red pepper and onions while he assembled herbs and spices, which were all shades of red or brown. I peered at the mixture as I stirred, not sure what it was supposed to be.
Matched To His Bear: An M/M Mpreg Shifter Dating App Romance (The Dates of Our Lives Book 2) Page 7
