by Thorne, Elle
Her dark, rosy peak instantly responded, hardening under his thumb. She couldn’t control the slight movement of her hips as she pressed herself against his cock. She moved, raising her hips, dislodging her panties, working them down her legs until they were off.
Tilting one hip, she raised her thigh and allowed Joe’s cock to drop between her thighs, resting on her. When she lowered her thigh, his hot hardness was captured between her legs, nestled in the crux of the moisture.
Sara dropped one hand between her legs, touching the velvety smoothness of his mushroom head. The tip of it was slick with his nectar. She rubbed her thumb along the slit, enjoying the pungent, earthy scent of him. She explored his cock’s head, feeling the slick, velvety texture.
She pushed her lips apart with her fingers, allowing his cock to part her lips and rest there, like a banana in its peel. As she drew her fingers back, she brushed the top of her clit, still hidden in its hood.
A small gasp escaped her at the sensual feeling. Sara let her finger rest on her clit, moving in slow, hard circles as she pressed against her cleft, every so often letting her fingers slide down to caress his engorged head.
On the third pass over his cock, she felt his breathing pattern change. His fingers, earlier resting on her breasts, now took firm hold of her nipple, pinching and rolling it while his hips moved slowly, his cock going back and forth, fucking the inside of her thighs, using her moisture to ease his efforts.
The throbbing between her legs became unbearable. Her breathing hastened, and small pants escaped from her lips. She pushed her hips against him.
Joe pushed her thigh up, and rose behind her on his knees, then he lowered himself while she lay on her side. His cock slid in, guided by his hand around his hard shaft, eased by the amount of moisture she’d created. He sank deep into her, grunting as he stretched her out.
Her tightness had just wrapped around his thickness when he pulled out and pushed back in, holding on to the leg she’d raised, practically hugging her thigh.
“You’re too damned fuckable,” Joe groaned between thrusts.
He slid a finger along her moist folds, then slipped it into her, joining his cock.
She whimpered at the new intrusion, then moaned with pleasure as he moved his cock in unison with the finger he’d hooked in her and was pressing against her g-spot.
“I can’t get enough of fucking you. I want to fuck every bit of you.” He rubbed her lips with his thumb, hooking it and gathering her juices.
He put his thumb on her lips, rubbing her juices in, then pressed, parting the seam of her lips.
“Taste the sweetness of your pussy.”
She closed her mouth, savoring her own rich, earthy taste.
Joe groaned as she sucked on his thumb the way she’d suck on his cock, twirling her tongue around it, licking it from side to side.
He took his thumb out and put it back on her pussy, rubbing her clit, grabbing more moisture while he pumped her over and over.
Sara flinched and did a small jump when she felt his thumb making tiny circles near her ass, but the intensity of his driving deep into her channel, constantly pushing her toward an orgasm, made anything else he did irrelevant for a moment.
“One day, I’m going to brand this part of you too.” His voice was hoarse.
Sara pulled her body away, pushing him out of her, and with her hands on his chest, she pushed him down and climbed onto him, straddling his hips, his cock resting between her folds.
She took his shaft in her hands and guided him in, her eyes closing so she could enjoy the sensation of being filled. Sara flexed her muscles, clenching herself around him, making a tight sheath.
She thrust against him over and over again while he held her hips and thrust his pelvis upward, driving himself deeper and deeper.
“Fuck. You know what this is doing to me,” Joe groaned.
“The same thing it’s doing to me,” Sara panted.
Her muscles tightened around him while he became more engorged and swollen, his body tensing. Sara felt her orgasm building, taking control of her. She started to scream. Joe covered her mouth with his, taking her scream in.
He stiffened and groaned, and Sara felt a hot stream pulsing in her as he began to come undone.
Burying her face in his neck, she sank her canines in deep, taking him as hers, bonding with him.
He groaned his pleasure when she began to lick the wound, her mouth providing a heightened sexual sensation, taking the pain away, healing his wound.
“That’s to make sure you’re always by my side,” she whispered against his chest.
Their couple bond would heighten his senses, giving him some of the perception that a shifter had. Most importantly to Sara, it would give him the longevity to always be her mate. That mattered more to her than senses and the ability to see better, smell better, hear better. She already knew Joe had strengths that were paranormal in that area, strengths he’d gotten from his grandfather. The thing she valued the most, the longevity.
She couldn’t imagine life without Joe. Ever. A thought came to mind. “Joe, I need you to make me a promise.”
“What’s that?” He stroked her hair, wrapping a lock around his fingers.
“You need to promise me you won’t try to retaliate against Crossroads.”
“I can’t promise that. Not with all I know.”
“Not good enough. I won’t risk losing you by having you seek them out and hunt them down.”
“Best I can say is I won’t go looking for a fight, but I won’t back down if one’s brought to me.”
Sara raised her head and looked into his eyes. The steely glint in them let her know there was no backing down for Joe on this one.
If that was the best he could offer, she’d take it. She knew his motivation. She planted a kiss on his jaw.
“I love you,” he whispered, a vulnerability in his voice that his stoic face would never give away. It was nice to hear it. “I’ll never let you go,” he added.
“You’ll never need to.” With her head on his chest, she listened to the strong, rhythmic beat of his heart, beating in time to her own.
Epilogue
A week later…
Sara appraised Joe as he helped her out of his truck, something he insisted on doing. She knew it gave him pleasure, so why not let him? He’d cleaned up, put on a pair of pants other than jeans, and pulled his hair into a low ponytail. If she had to confess to it, she’d easily admit that she liked him straight from the forest, hair loose, flowing, just like his spirit did, wearing the grubby jeans that clung way too tightly in all the right places when he was turned on.
“What?” He raised a brow. “What are you looking at?”
“You.” She reached up and kissed him.
“Happy?”
“More than I ever thought I could be.”
“You don’t care that I don’t need a mansion or a fancy car? You’re good with my cabin, the woods, and the simple life?”
Nothing about this man she loved was simple. Uncomplicated, yes. Simple, not a chance. He was the most amazing man she’d ever met. He was one with the forest and could see things she’d never been able to, even in her bear form. He said he was just like his grandfather. His grandfather must have been one hell of a man. Joe told her he’d been a Speaker. She knew very little about that stuff, but if Joe’s connection to the forest was any indictor, she was in awe of his grandfather, the one they’d called Old One.
“Joe, I’ve never cared about that materialistic stuff.” She doubted she could express to him how little any of that mattered when she was lying in bed next to him, her body flushed, her breathing and pulse erratic from his love. Or how she felt when he brought her coffee and made pancakes in the shapes of forest animals for Ivan. Or the way he taught Ivan how to throw a tomahawk with precision. Ivan would have the best of both worlds—shifter and Speaker.
“Ready?” he asked.
She smoothed her dress. Everyone was getting
together for dinner at Grant and Chelsea’s place. She hadn’t met Grant or Chelsea yet; they were the only two from Bear Canyon Valley she’d yet to meet. They’d extended their honeymoon, and now they were back and had invited everyone to dinner.
Ivan had spent the night at Marti and Tanner’s with Marti’s son Dominic, whom Ivan was already calling a cousin. Tanner’s truck was outside, meaning Ivan was already here.
Joe took her hand and helped her up the grand staircase. Their house was impressive. More like a mansion, really, and it was almost out of place in the beauty of the woods, yet somehow the architecture, the wood, the layout of the entire building made it work. It resembled a fortress, and knowing the history of the valley and shifter territory disputes, Sara wondered if it hadn’t been used for exactly that.
The door opened, revealing a handsome man with a curvy, full-figured woman next to him. Both were beaming. Definitely the recently returned honeymoon couple. Their smiles were contagious.
Chelsea hugged Sara, meeting them on the landing before they could make it to the door.
“I’m so happy.” She squeezed Sara in a tight embrace. “Joe deserved someone wonderful.”
Sara’s joy swelled inside her chest at the welcome.
* * *
Joe stood and raised his glass. “Cheers to the return of Chelsea and Grant.”
They all raised their glasses.
Grant stood. “Cheers to a wonderful new addition.” He coughed. “New additions, Sara and Ivan. And to one of my best friends finally having someone.”
Astra rose. “Kane and I bought tickets for Europe. I’m going to find Anya. Mae said she’d been visiting Vax’s brother.”
Across from Astra, Doc rose to his feet. “I bought a ticket to Europe as well.”
Mae paled. “What?”
Outside the windows, the sky went suddenly dark. A crack of thunder preceded a lightning flash.
“You can’t.” Mae’s voice was low.
Another crack of thunder followed on the heels of her words.
Bear Canyon Valley was losing a shifter. And not just any shifter.
Attraction
Second chances are great.
Why doesn’t sexy shifter Jake Evans, known to the Bear Canyon Valley shifters as Doc get it?
Mae’s brewing up a storm. She’s successful at finding mates for all the shifters in the valley.
All but one. The one she’s in love with.
Chapter One
A crash of thunder preceded Mae as she stormed into her home. Before she slammed the door behind her, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, making a stunning backdrop for the olive-skinned, full-figured beauty.
Of all the damned nerve. She stomped her foot. Kicked at a chair’s leg.
Ouch. Damn it. Why was she acting like a teenager?
Him.
It was all his fault.
How dare Jake… No, she corrected herself, she shouldn’t be thinking of him as Jake. He was Doc to everyone else, and as many years as she’d known him she’d have thought that by now she’d become accustomed to that moniker.
But he’d always be Jake to her.
Jake.
The man she’d fallen in love with.
Correction: he was the shifter she’d fallen in love with. She’d thought after Brad had died that she’d never find love again. Her heart had been broken. She’d been content with the dream she had of rebuilding Bear Canyon Valley into the shifter community that it used to be.
She’d only been good friends with Jake… Doc… Oh, the hell with it. She couldn’t call him Doc. Just couldn’t. He’d always be Jake to her. Sexy, amazing, musclebound Jake, the bear shifter.
When she’d run into Jake again, he was a widower too. He’d been married to Astra’s mother, who was killed in a shifter battle, leaving behind a little girl that Jake had had to raise on his own, his stepdaughter Astra. He’d buried Astra’s mother and taken Astra to Florida, where he’d done a wonderful job of raising her. Then he’d come back to Bear Canyon Valley.
Mae smiled at the thought of Astra, who had gifts, just as Mae did. Not the same exact gifts, but supernatural gifts, just the same. She should look into Astra’s gifts to see if she needed help, though she felt she was the last person who had a right to do so, since she’d ignored and avoided her own gifts for so long.
The rain outside subsided a bit as she thought of Astra.
“I have got to get control of my emotions, or I’m going to create a flood in this valley,” Mae muttered to no one in particular, since she had no company.
Well, no human or shifter company. She had her black cat, Zorina, but that wasn’t the same. It wasn’t like Zorina could talk.
How dare Jake decide he was going to go to Europe? How dare he leave her behind?
No, she told herself, how stupid of me to fall in love with him.
The rain began again. More torrential now, with thunder and lightning flashes punctuating her every dark thought.
She should have known better. Of course Jake only thought of her as a friend. Well, then, she was a shitty friend, because she’d slipped out of Grant’s home without an explanation other than that she didn’t feel well.
She’s braved the hammering rain and wind, tears blinding her. And she’d come home.
To pout. To sulk. To cry.
She threw her purse onto the sofa. It bounced, and her tablet flew out and crashed to the floor, right on the tail of another boom of thunder.
That was followed by a knock on the door.
Who in the world would be knocking on her door after nine o’clock on a Friday night?
Of course, remembering that it was a Friday night didn’t help because then she thought about her standing Friday nights with Jake.
Guess those weren’t dates so much as they were two friends going out, she mused bitterly as she headed toward the back door.
* * *
Jake looked around the mostly empty table in Grant and Chelsea’s dining room. The help was picking up the plates gingerly and quietly, being careful not to disturb anyone. They obviously sensed the tension in the room.
“Wow. Guess I know how to break up a dinner party.” He flashed a rueful grin at his stepdaughter.
“Doc… You didn’t…” Astra’s words trailed off.
Her beautiful, luminescent green eyes studied him as if he were a child. Astra had always called him Doc, though on rare occasions, she referred to him as Dad. Either name worked. He was the only father she knew, and she’d told him many times that he was the only father she wanted.
“What?” He shrugged. “All I said was that I was going to Europe too. And poof, there goes Mae. Poof, there go Tanner and Teague. Poof, damned near everyone cleared out.”
Chelsea and Grant were sitting across from him at the long table. Chelsea was smiling at Astra in that way that women had, the way that said they knew what the other one was thinking and they agreed completely.
Jake turned toward Grant. “You have a clue what I did wrong?”
Grant shrugged. “I’m staying out of it.”
Well isn’t that just great. Jake rose. “Excuse me. I think I’m going to go out for a beer.”
Grant laughed. “Yeah, like that’s going to do anything.”
True. Alcohol had no effect on shifters, but it would give Jake an excuse to get out of here and go somewhere to think. He knew exactly where he was heading to.
Astra rubbed her temples. Kane looked at her, concern on his face.
“Are you okay?” Doc leaned closer, listening to her pulse with his shifter hearing. It was weak, slow.
“Yes. Just a headache.” Astra stopped rubbing and took a sip of water.
“She gets those far too often,” Kane said. “And they’re increasing in frequency and strength.”
Astra laughed weakly. “Doctor Kane, I presume?” she teased him.
“I’m serious.” Kane frowned, brows dipping on his stern face.
“It’s fine. Probably the w
eather. Barometric pressure, or sinuses, or something.” Astra waved him away with a smile.
Kane looked at Jake pointedly. Jake got it, without further instructions. He’d need to look into the situation.
Sheesh. He should ask Mae. Except she’d stormed off.
It was something he’d done. That much he’d figured out, but he wasn’t sure exactly what.
Chapter Two
Mae opened the door and gasped at the drenched sight before her.
“Tanner. What are you doing here?”
Tanner, soaked after walking in the pouring rain between his truck and her front door, looked like a puppy that had been playing in puddles. A big, muscular puppy.
“Better question is, why are you opening the door without bothering to see who it is?” He frowned, and his handsome face with its trim beard was stern.
“Don’t be silly. Who would be out here that could be a danger to me?”
The moment those words left Mae’s mouth, she realized how stupid they were. She could easily think of several threats and dangers.
Chelsea’s psycho ex, Derek.
Jeff, the unstable, stalker realtor who was hung up on Chelsea.
The rover shifters who had attacked Kane.
She looked down to keep Tanner from seeing the chagrined look on her face.
“But what are you doing here?” she persisted, holding the door wider and handing him a kitchen towel to dry his face with.
Teague stepped in behind Tanner, equally soaked, equally handsome, but with a clean-shaven face.
