Blackjack Bears

by Amelia Jade

  The parking lot was getting crowded as people emerged from the theater and cars clogged the lanes, but she didn’t let that stop her. She had an SUV after all; it was about time she put it to that use.

  Mila roared toward the rear of the lot, weaving in and out of the cars as best she could. There was a grassy embankment, followed by a paved walkway next to the street. She didn’t slow, and the vehicle became airborne slightly as she cleared the little hill, tires screeching as they landed on the pavement.

  Her body bounced and was tossed around the cabin as the shocks tried their best to absorb the landing, but Mila did nothing more than pat her seatbelt in thanks for keeping her locked down.

  “Where are you? Where are you? Come on, you—” she spotted a car swerve suddenly way ahead of her, halfway up the ramp to the bridge over the highway. Gunning the vehicle in that direction, she took off in pursuit of Pierce once more.

  “Get it together,” she urged, knowing that he couldn’t hear her, but rooting for him anyway.

  Horns blared as she cleared the sidewalk and zipped into traffic, narrowly missing a minivan that moved abruptly at the last second.

  “Sorry!” Mila shouted as her vehicle picked up speed.

  Then the worst happened.

  The light ahead of her changed from green to amber, and then a bright, blaring red. This was no minor street either—this was a major intersection just before the highway.

  Cursing, she moved into the left-hand turn lane that was thankfully empty, and looked frantically left and right to find a lull in traffic. There wasn’t one. Cars just kept streaming by.

  “Fuck.” She had no choice but to wait. Her fingers tapped incessantly on the steering wheel and she pumped the brake pedal, waiting for her chance.

  The driver in the car next to her looked over at Mila oddly, but she paid him no attention.

  Eventually the light turned to amber. As soon as it became clear nobody was going to run it she gunned through the intersection. One last car turning left had to slam on its brakes and she swerved around it violently, but they were both going too slow at that point, allowing them to miss each other.

  Mila didn’t even bother to apologize this time. She’d seen Pierce head over the bridge, but as she cleared the peak of it, she frantically looked around for him to no avail. He was nowhere to be seen.

  “Shit shit shit!” She looked left and right, but no cars moved, nothing.

  She slowed as she approached the intersection, and her eyes lit upon the downed street lamp. The light was in her favor this time and she zipped through it and pulled a left turn, hopping the curb and rolling forward into the grass beyond it that separated the sidewalk from the forest proper.

  Killing the car, she hopped out and ran over to the downed lamp post.

  Searching around for clues as to what had happened, Mila jerked upright as a roar came from the forest itself.

  “Pierce!” she shouted and took off, focused on one thing, and one thing only.

  She had to get to him before he lost control.

  Light from within the trees revealed a path, and she darted through the undergrowth to get to it, slapping aside branches that whipped at her face and hair, ignoring the little scrapes that opened on her arms and legs as she bulldozed a way to the path.

  Once her feet encountered solid ground, Mila was able to move even faster, the light helping her see.

  Something that sounded like a branch snapping reached out to her, but it was quickly followed by a much louder, more intimidating bang.

  A gunshot. There was no doubting it, and it was no light gun either. That had been a revolver with a bit of kick to it.

  Another roar, this one filled with pain, rang out through the woods, and Mila tried to increase her pace.

  There was a scream, then another gunshot, and another roar.

  What the hell was going on?

  Then she saw people coming.

  “Run!” they shouted. “A monster! Get out of here!”

  She stared at them as they approached.

  “Start running!” the man hollered. “A beast, some sort of bear I think but…but huge!”

  Mila saw the whites of his eyes as his terror spurred him and the girl he was with onward.

  Gritting her teeth and hoping she wasn’t making the second biggest mistake within a week, Mila charged in the exact opposite direction they were running, heading toward the beast, which she assumed was Pierce in animal form.

  No more gunshots came her way, but there was no sound of any animal either.

  She slowed, taking deep breaths. Her foot came down in a small puddle, and Mila paused, glancing down. It hadn’t rained in days. How was there any water on the path?

  Pulling out her smartphone, she turned the flashlight on and shined it on the puddle. It came as no surprise that it wasn’t water, but a thick, dark liquid. She leaned closer and scented it. The metallic tang of iron reached her nostrils almost immediately.

  Blood.

  There was no mistaking that smell. She knew it well.

  “Pierce!” she called, shining her flashlight around the woods.

  There was no bear lurking just off the path that she could see, but upon closer inspection, Mila found a portion of the thick growth that had been flattened and knocked aside, leaving a hole. As if something large had shouldered its way through.

  Swallowing nervously, Mila approached the hole.

  “Pierce?” she said in a much softer tone, hoping to coax him forward.

  There was no response.

  Wondering why she was being so stupid, Mila left the paved walkway and followed the path Pierce had made through the forest. It wasn’t hard; he had made a rather large hole in the foliage.

  “Hello?” she said, moving deeper and deeper, away from the lights. All she had now was her cellphone, which was beeping at her, letting her know it was at low battery. She’d forgotten to charge it before leaving for the movies.

  “Dammit, Pierce, where are you?” she snapped, now well clear of any path, and thoroughly immersed within the woods itself.

  The area of damage seemed, to her mind at least, to be shrinking the farther she went. Almost as if the creature making it was growing smaller.

  Then it disappeared altogether. Mila almost lost hope, until she shined her light on the ground. There in front of her, clear as could be, was a human footprint in the dirt.

  “Pierce,” she said with a determined pride. He’d managed to shift back, to control himself.

  Then she noticed the trail of blood dripping over the leaves as well. He was hurt.

  Pushing forward, she kept calling his name. He had to be nearby. Her light swung back and forth repeatedly, but there was no sign of him.

  “Dammit, Pierce, I’m here to help!’ she snapped, but he still didn’t respond. “Where the hell are—”

  Her voice cut off abruptly as she thought she saw something with her light. Swinging it back in the opposite direction, she shined it at a tight cluster of trees, where something hadn’t quite seemed to be right.

  As she panned the phone back around, she saw what had first caught her attention: a light golden-brown shape that most definitely was not a tree. It almost certainly was not human either. Mila stared, and the shape rose and fell jerkily.

  Pierce’s bear.

  Mila looked down at her feet, wondering if they would move if she ordered them to take her toward the massive animal. Her knees trembled at the idea, but they didn’t give out, leaving her with a little bit of hope.

  Come on body, don’t fail me now. He needs me.

  There was no denying that, and as if it understood, her body seemed to react. The shaking in her knees eased, and Mila was able to breathe a little easier. She wasn’t doing this for herself, she was doing it for Pierce. That was important.

  One foot moved forward.

  Then the next. She repeated the motion, the distance closing rapidly, until sh
e was almost upon the creature. It must have finally noticed the light, because a great, shaggy head rose up and curled back to look at her from where it had been hidden out of sight behind one of the trees.

  “Hey,” she said lamely as it regarded her.

  There was no response.

  “Are you still in there, Pierce?”

  The bear’s lips pulled back, and Mila froze as teeth the length of her finger were revealed. A low rumble filled the forest around her. A warning growl.

  “Excuse me?” she heard herself saying. “Are you warning me off, mister?”

  The bear jerked as her caustic tone reached out and slapped it. Mila took advantage of that and stepped forward. The bear’s growl grew in intensity, but she lifted her hand, her index finger the only one extended, and pointed it at the bear.

  “Don’t you dare growl at me,” she ordered the animal, treating it like a dog that had forgotten who was pack master. “Understand?”

  The bear didn’t back down, but she thought its growl might have calmed slightly.

  “Now, you bring Pierce back,” she ordered. “Understand?”

  The growl increased.

  Mila, instead of backing away, stepped forward again, and snapped her finger at the bear. “Enough. You know you aren’t going to harm me, so stop trying to warn me off.”

  The bear looked away as she continued her verbal orders to it.

  “Now put those teeth away.”

  They disappeared slowly, grudgingly, but without further protest. Mila nodded and lowered her hand. Then she walked around to the front of the bear. It tried to shuffle around to keep her from seeing its far side, but it made a pained noise and stopped.

  “You’re injured,” she said, stating it matter-of-factly.

  The bear’s head seemed to do its best to mimic a human nod. “Is it healing?”

  Another bear-style nod.

  “Then you’ll be okay, and you’re just being a wuss. Pierce needs to come back,” she said, and once again stepped forward.

  She was in range of its paws now. Hell, she was in range of her own paws. Mila lifted a hand up and lay it gently on the bear’s face. “Come on, Pierce,” she whispered, stroking the side of the powerful head as the bear began to chuff slightly, an almost happy, contended noise.

  Then the figure shuddered, and began to shrink before her very eyes. Mila had never seen a shifter in action before, and it astounded her at the speed with which the transformation happened. A second, maybe one and a half, and the bear was completely gone, leaving a hunched-over Pierce in its place.

  Mila rushed to his side, having to close with him now that the bulk of his bear was gone.

  “Pierce,” she said, reaching out tentatively to place her hand on his shoulder.

  She heard him hiss, and then he looked up at her, his blue eyes normally the color of the sky, but barely visible in the very limited light around them.

  “Did you get shot?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, the bastard had something heavy in his holster. I’m doing better now, but it hurt like hell for a while until I could dig the bullet out.”

  She continued to touch him, to stroke his cheek. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “You’re doing it right now,” he told her without hesitation, his voice deep and heavy.

  Mila inhaled as he leaned in and kissed her. He touched his face to hers, his warm lips and soft fuzzy facial hair pressing against her.

  They’d kissed several times since that first, fateful night. But other than the one outside the hair salon, nothing had been so powerful as just then. Fireworks exploded inside her veins and her stomach tightened as if caught by a python.

  The dam that she’d so carefully erected broke, exposing her emotions, her desires, her wants, her needs.

  Like Pierce. She wanted him so badly. Both of her hands came up to cup his face, turning the kiss from a slow, passionate exercise in affection to something heated and frantic. Right now. There was no other way, she needed him here and now, on the forest floor.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  Mila nodded, not trusting herself to speak as she fiddled with his buttons. More like flailing at them like a young woman unsure of herself, judging by how ineffective she was at getting them undone. Pierce finally took over, slipping the buttons off one by one, until she could push the shirt back and over his shoulders and then down his arms.

  Pierce stopped her from throwing it away and he spread it out on the ground like a blanket. Then he gently picked Mila up and set her on it. He bent down to kiss her some more. His fingers trailed up her hips and gently tugged her shirt up over her head, exposing the black lace bra she’d worn underneath it.

  Her phone had fallen by the wayside, and the light was now partially dimmed by some leaves they’d stirred up. But it was the perfect addition to the mood, giving her just enough light to see him by as he knelt over her, admiring the curves of her body as he stared.

  “You are the sexiest thing I have ever laid my eyes upon,” he whispered, reaching around to unhook her bra while his teeth gently bit down upon the tender skin of her neck.

  Mila arched, moaning with delight at the lovely mixture of pleasure and just a little bit of pain from the bite. It wasn’t enough to leave a mark, but the slight sting on such an arousing area was exactly the way she liked it.

  “You’re rather attractive yourself,” she admitted, running her hands over his taut body, muscles bulging slightly as he held himself above her with ease.

  She noted the flaming dice tattoo on his right arm, with six black dots showing face-up. Mila wondered what that meant, but his fingers sliding up the inside of her leg promptly drew her attention elsewhere.

  “Stop teasing,” she ordered, undoing his belt with a sudden confidence of motion as she moved them closer to the endgame, to what she really desired.

  Mila had been forced to keep herself away from Pierce and his smoldering sexuality, a simmering fire of coals that had never managed to go out since the day she’d awoken him in the forest. The sheer visual appeal of him had fed the flames of her own furnace, until now. Now it was awake and begging for something to quench it.

  She didn’t need any more attention or warm-up. She was already burning with desire.

  “Take those off for me,” she commanded, leaning back onto her elbows and tugging her form-fitting pants down over her generous hips and rear, until they slid easily down her legs, revealing her naked sexuality for him.

  “Of course,” he said, standing up and dropping everything so that she could once again gaze on his magnificent cock. It had hardened as much as it could within the confines of his pants, but now, free and exposed, it leapt to attention as she wrapped her hand around it.

  Mila scrambled to her knees and took him into her mouth. She ran her tongue all up and down him. This wasn’t about turning him on. He was already as hard as steel. No, this was about wetness and practicality.

  Pierce moaned.

  Okay, and maybe a little bit of teasing as well.

  “Enough,” he growled, pulling his hips away from her, his cock now out of reach.

  He sank to the ground quickly, pushing her down with a gentle firmness that indicated he was taking control now.

  Mila shivered with delight as he lovingly spread her legs open, shuffling forward until he could guide his cock to her opening. Gently he rubbed it back and forth, spreading her own wetness to ensure he slid in easily.

  But then he paused, a little hesitation while he looked into her eyes one last time for final confirmation. Mila had no intentions of changing her mind, but she appreciated him checking in with her.

  As an answer, she reached forward and tugged on his firm ass, attempting to move him and his muscles of steel closer toward her, so that he would finally, finally, be inside of her, like the both of them craved.

  His eyes burned bright blue in the dim light, the intensity of his gaze as he watched her
making Mila even more aroused. Never before had she been the object of such desire for someone else. Pierce, simply in the way he looked at her, made Mila feel like the center of his universe.

  “Oh Pierce,” she all but moaned, her nails digging into his back as he finally pushed inside of her at long last.

  All the times she’d had to pull herself back to ensure that she didn’t cross the line before she was ready were finally paying dividends. Mila felt her toes curl as he just kept pressing, a slow, steady entry. But then he paused.

  She whimpered, shaking her head. “More,” she said. “Don’t stop.”

  Pierce didn’t say a word, but his eyes seemed to glow as they drank in her every expression, his ears twitching with each sound she made. He even seemed to swell inside of her in reaction, eliciting another low moan of sheer blissful delight from her. It was perfect, the whole thing just what she had dreamt it might be.

  At last convinced that she was ready, Pierce thrust his hips forward once more, until she felt his hips bump up against hers. He was completely inside of her. Mila shuddered at the feeling.

  “You feel so good,” she hissed.

  Pierce’s only answer was a growl that made her skin taut and her nipples hard. It was a primitive, animalistic sound. Something a wild animal would make, but it came from him. From her man. Mila bit her lip as a feral look entered his eyes, before disappearing once more behind the bright blue gaze she was familiar with.

  Had that been his bear, proclaiming its happiness?

  Pierce withdrew slightly, and she waited apprehensively. He thrust forward again, filling her. It was an agonizingly slow pace, but Pierce never deviated as he warmed her up, ensuring that she was used to his thick girth. Mila appreciated it, but after a minute or two, she was ready for more.

  Her mouth opened to tell him, but Pierce seemed to read her mind. His hips slammed into hers with abrupt forcefulness, and she gasped.

  “Oh yes.”

  Pierce lowered himself over her, until his head was next to hers.