Those men deserve to pay for what they did.
“I feel so bad about that though. Maybe they would have spared her and let her go if I’d just answered the questions, but I didn’t think it would do any good, Bear.”
He tenses, pushing me away a little and looks down at me intently.
“Firstly, you were a fucking rock star out there. While Gretchen was conscious she told Flame everything. About you taking that whip, giving her a gun, and keeping her running. You carried a fully pregnant shifter female three fucking miles, Mika. Three miles. With injuries. There is not much more that anyone could have done. We were searching, even close but we would not have found you if it weren’t for the storm you brought up. You saved you all, no one else, and you should be proud of what you did,” he says fiercely, pulling me back to his chest and hugging me tightly.
“Poor Gretch.”
“Poor Gretch is just lucky you were with her, and trust me, lenia, we all know it. Now, she also said that they were asking about Jules?”
“Uh, yeah. It was so freaking weird though! One minute the guy was all ‘I’m going to hurt you’ and the next he was promising not to if I told him where she is.”
“We’ve been wondering why they’re here but never in a million years would we suspect it’s for Jules,” he says, pulling away when I push at him, needing some space now that I feel a smidge better.
He doesn’t like that, but I am grateful when he doesn’t push and instead steps back and runs his hands through his hair. His eyes look tired, the grey circles beneath telling me the man has been here for a while.
“How long was I out?”
“Six days. I gave you blood in the woods and then again after surgery, but you sustained enough injury on your weakened system that it took a while to heal you.”
I am so not complaining here, but I don’t like the thought of him giving me blood, and I tell him that. It does not go over well, especially when I ask about Logan.
“He’s working! And you shouldn’t want him to blood you, Mika. I am your mate.” He growls, scowling darkly.
“Erm, no. I believe we’ve been over this more than once with me throwing myself at you, buddy. The answer was a firm no.”
“We made love—”
“We had sex. Good sex but just sex nonetheless. And now I am healing and I want to talk to Logan,” I say stubbornly, frowning when he shakes his head and snarls.
Honestly, I really love the pack, and I can’t imagine going back to human life with the things I’ve seen, but this growly, angry stuff they pull all the time is the pits.
More especially when I have a freaking headache and I just want my friend.
“I broke off my engagement.”
“I heard. Congratulations on taking your nuts back.” I sniff, fighting a smirk when he curses and starts pacing in front of the bed.
He’s in jeans and a t-shirt, this one black and tightly molded to his buff frame. If I were to be attracted to him still, I mean if I were, I would so totally enjoy the view as his jeans cup his ass and thighs and do justice to his crotch and—
“I broke it off for us, because after touching you and feeling the way I did, I couldn’t ever touch another female,” he confesses, giving me pause.
For a second.
Then my eyes narrow, and I do not find it at all impressive that he’s decided suddenly he wants me. I mean, come on. Yes, the sex was…wow. It was phenomenal, but still, that doesn’t mean I am just going to forget everything and just forgive him.
He hurt me.
“You expect me to be grateful that you left the woman you professed to love for me after you cheated on her with me?” I ask, wincing when he throws his head back and howls.
Wolves. Jesus Morana, I am starting to hate that sound.
“Bear—”
“You have become the beat of my heart and the air in my lungs, Mika! Ever since I touched you, kissed you, loved your body, I have wanted no one and nothing else. I crave you like no other, and I cannot conceive of never having you again. Now that I blooded you it is only going to be worse. I need you with me always,” he says plainly, his eyes going hot when he sees my nipples bead beneath the hospital gown.
I can’t help that his words have an effect on me, and neither can I help it that I feel a tug of joy when he looks down at me with eyes both lusty and soft.
“Tell me that we have a chance, that I can earn the trust and love I should have taken months ago. I know you cannot forgive me, Mika, but I pray that you can let go of the past long enough to try with me. I will have no other mate, no other female for the mother of my young. It’s always been you for me. I was just too stubborn to see it.”
“Bear, so much has happened,” I say, sighing when he nods.
“Yeah, but so much could have not happened had we not found you, lenia. I would have lost you before I got another shot to make things right, and I would have lost the future that I was meant to have. You have that chance too, Mika. We can get to know each other and give ourselves a real chance to build a good life. You can have a family, and together we can go to the home and say goodbye when your mom passes on.”
The lure of having someone who will be with me always and never leave is something that I can’t ignore. Oh, I know I have Logan, and we get along really well, but I am ever aware that he’s put his life on hold for me, and now with the attacks, he does nothing but work and come home to make sure I’m okay.
I feel guilty every day when he declines going out with his brothers for me and even worse because I know that he hasn’t dated since I started living with him. I’ve tried countless times to get him to resume his normal life, but nothing I say will get him to budge.
Things would be different if I was attracted to him in any other way—not just objectively impressed by his looks—and if we slept together. Logan is a friend, but he’s a man and men like sex. Shifters with their high sex drives like a lot of sex.
So having Bear dangle this carrot in front of me is tempting, mighty tempting, but would it be right for me to take this plunge and risk myself again?
The answer is not forthcoming as I thought it would be, even my inner voice is silent on this one.
“I don’t know, Bear. Things between us haven’t been all that great, and I almost hate you most days for your behavior. I don’t want to hurt you, but I don’t know that I can trust you either—and that scares me.”
He winces but takes my honesty on the chin and nods his understanding.
“Give me a trial period then. We live together for six months, get to know each other, and give this mating a real shot. If at the end of that time you want to walk away, I won’t object. It would kill me, but I won’t try to stop you.”
That is hard for him to say. I know a lot about this race now, and it’s been hammered into me that once a man accepts his mate, it will drive him crazy to lose her. Just look at poor Lync in the cells under the Alpha’s house. He’s been in there for years, and he still isn’t right.
Althea says she doubts that he’ll ever recover fully, if at all, so taking this plunge is a very big risk for Bear. That gives me pause, and I look at him, really look at him, for the first time since waking.
The man is a wreck and that’s a compliment if ever I gave one. His jaw is overgrown with hair, the growth making him seem older somehow. His eyes are dull, tired, and weary, and he has a few lines around his mouth as if he’s been frowning for a long time.
No one else is here, so it’s obviously been him, here with me, for the last six days.
Shit. I really hate that I was born with hope as a personality trait.
“Six months and we live in separate homes.”
He frowns, shaking his head.
“Now that we’re blooded you’ll need me closer or you’ll sicken, even if I give you blood. I’ll whittle the time down to five months if you live with me and sleep in my bed.”
I smirk at him, liking that he thinks he can negotiate with me about what
I do with my life. The man must be really desperate to even try because he is immovable usually. He makes up his mind and doesn’t budge. The fact that he’s not only budging but willing to move altogether says that he’s serious about this.
It’s not great that he hasn’t said anything about love—heart pain—and I understand that since it was just weeks ago that he was in love with that skinny person with the perfect hair, but I can deal with that since I’m not anywhere near ready to proffer those words myself.
There’s just one issue though…
“No sex.”
“You’re out of your mind, female. All it takes for me to get a hard dick around you is the knowledge that you exist. No way in fucking hell will I make it five months without having my cock in your smooth pu—”
“Vagina! And sure you can—”
“No. No, I can’t. I have had to stop myself from kissing you since the moment you woke up, so trust me.” He laughs, looking down at his pants where I gape at his erection. “This isn’t easy either.”
Gulping, I keep staring, my mind and body going hot at the memory of Bear touching me. His mouth all over me, sucking my nipples as he sawed into me so hot and hard I felt him everywhere inside me.
When my sex trembles, the folds swelling with a pulse of wet heat, I swallow and accede the point.
No way in hell I could control myself either.
“Fine but no biting! Logan told me biting makes babies, and I won’t make babies with you if I’m just going to divorce you later. Children need both parents,” I say firmly, crossing my arms to let him know I mean business.
Bear grins, as if I said something funny and looks down again with a shake of his head.
“Now that you’re awake we can go home. I need to change my pants anyway.” He laughs.
My eyes follow his, and he laughs harder when I blush, seeing the thick length of his shaft pressed up against the fabric of his jeans, a wet spot at the tip causing butterflies to take flight in my crotch.
“Can’t help it, lenia. Next time don’t talk about yourself with my young swelling your ripe body and I won’t come in my pants. Come on. The faster we get home, the faster I satisfy the heat between your legs.”
I gasp when he picks me up and stalks out of the room, my arms going around him while my tongue knots and refuses to point out that he never agreed with me.
Oh well, I guess there’s still time to hammer things out.
Chapter Eighteen
Meek
I muffle a scream behind my fist and feel my thighs shake, the hot wet tongue between my legs flicking hard and fast against the swollen nub of my clit.
I’ve come so much I should be exhausted, but the more Bear pleasures me, the more I want.
“Bear!”
“Yeah baby, that’s it. Let me hear you scream. You taste so good, lenia, so hot and you’re juicing so much for me,” he purrs, his eyes catching mine when he flicks his tongue out and licks a path through my slit, the tip wiggling against my clit in a slow stroke that has me gasping and writhing in pleasure.
The moment we got to his house—after a long discharge, news about Gretchen and the baby, and Bear not bothering to cover his pants because he seems proud of the way he can’t control himself around me—he brought me to the bedroom and started stripping me.
I refused to do anything though, not until I had a shower and washed everything I own to within an inch. I may have super-smell sense, but I am nowhere near as good as a shifter, and having him this close without bathing is not an option.
My shower lasted two minutes before he dragged me out and threw me to the sheets, my wet skin soaking the cotton beneath me. Then he went to town, looking me over with hands and eyes as if he couldn’t wait to see and touch it all.
It was slow and sweet and nothing like it is now when he suddenly stopped playing and latched his mouth onto my sex.
This was, is, oh god it is so good.
I can’t think for the pleasure that assaults me when he shoves his tongue deep and licks into me.
I moan, get wetter and almost come when he pulls away and starts rubbing his face against me. The act is carnal, possessive, and intimate beyond anything I could imagine.
“Oh Mika, lenia. You smell so good, my greca.” He groans, kissing my sex again, slowly and with exquisite tenderness.
“Bear. Please.”
I don’t care if this is me begging, I need him. The fire raging through me is out of control and burning so hot I feel desperate for relief. He’s been at me for an hour at least, making me come and pushing me higher, purring when I get wetter and more swollen as if the sight is perfection.
“Tell me what to do, my lenia. Do you want my mouth again? My fingers? My cock.”
I want it all, but right now I can’t stand another minute of not having him in me.
“You. I want you inside me.”
“With pleasure.”
I should not want this so badly, but I comfort myself by saying it’s just sex as he plants his hands beside my head and settles between my legs, rubbing the underside of his thick, long cock through my wet slit.
The head bumps against my clit, stoking the fire higher so that I’m near madness when he finally pushes down and slips inside me. I feel every inch of him stretch me, as he pushes slowly, the intense look in his eyes showing the control he fights to keep.
“Lenia, you’re so perfect.”
I feel the same way about him, gasping when he pushes harder and keeps going, stopping only when he’s all the way in and so deep I feel his pulse throb at my cervix.
The sensation is tight, just on the edge of too much but so welcome I gasp and plant my feet, pushing closer. Bear stops there, holding still and looking down to watch my reactions, only pulling away when I moan and tighten my muscles, loving the slow stroke of my flesh over his.
“One day soon you’re going to take me and want my bite. You’re going to beg me to give you all of me and put my seed inside your body.”
My womb pulses, liking that idea, but I refuse to be lured by his seductive words and kiss him to silence, pushing my tongue into his mouth to stop the words from coming again.
I want babies and laughter and all of those things, but right now all I will let myself have is sex. Kissing him deeply, sucking his tongue into my mouth I focus on the way his shaft stretches me out and scrapes along nerves that thrill to the lust of it.
“Take me,” I plead, everything throbbing and going taut when he stops pulling back slowly and shoves in deep, the penetration claiming my sex in the only way he can.
Bear grunts when he bottoms out, dragging his mouth away so that we can breathe, our chests heaving together, his skin brushing my nipples when he picks up the pace tensely, as if against his will.
“Don’t let me hurt you, lenia.”
His plea has me getting wetter instead of fearing him like any normal person would. Just hearing him concerned and so caring, even while he’s shaking with need, makes me feel safer, as if he’d deny himself for me.
“You won’t. I trust you.”
I say it on a shattered breath when he whines and drops his head, his hips slamming into me hard enough to move me up the bed. His pelvis scraping against my clit, coupled with the head of his shaft pounding into a spot deep inside me makes me clench and little flutters of pure bliss spread from my womb.
Pleasure builds, and I get wetter between my legs, his own fluids pooling between us the harder he thrusts and slides in and out. It’s wet and messy but so erotic. I can’t stop the shudders that tear through me or the way my hips slam up, taking more of his length.
“Fuck. So good. Your body is taking my fluids so good, Mika. Open for me lenia, take it all so deep you’ll feel me for days.”
Hips slapping, I do just that and tighten to the point of pain before my sex grips down and explodes, my release swamping me as waves of painful relief slam into me.
My body is untamed, wild in its greed, and I scream when he pre
sses deeper, going so deep inside me the head of his cock pops into my cervix and shatters my senses.
“Pleeeeease!”
# # # #
Bear
The feel of her first orgasm is my undoing, and I feel my lust slip its leash and thrust deeper, needing to get so far inside her I can’t separate us afterward.
My cock slips and slides through the mess of juices we both created, and I snarl when she plants her feet beside my hips, the move opening her wider for my penetration as she pushes up at me for more.
I need more though, am almost insensate with lust and denial, and before I can stop myself, I pull out and flip her over, pulling her roughly to her knees and slamming back into her juicy sheath.
“Oh my God! Too deep.”
I tell myself to stop, that I would die before I hurt Mika, but I can’t still the slam of my cock into her, the heat too great to do anything more than make me crave more.
“Aaaah!” she screams, pushing back, her perfect round ass slapping into my hips with every writhing move of her hips.
My wolf snarls, and I feel my dick get harder, impossibly longer when she starts shaking all over and clamps down, her sex holding me hostage while she orgasms again and takes her pleasure from me.
“Yeah lenia, work that ass and take what you want. Fuck, you’re so tight and wet on me. Suck me. Make me wild!” I grunt, the sawing motion and sight of her gleaming cream on my flesh turning me on even more.
Mika screams and goes stiff, her ass tensing when her climax gets stronger with my thrusts.
“Bear, baby, it’s too…oh yes right there. I can feel you so deep.”
“Come on me. Yes, lenia, soak me with your scent.”
I need her all over me, inside me so that I won’t ever be free of her. The harder I pound into her, the more I need. The urge to bite her is almost killing me, but I restrain it, biting into my own mouth to stop from leaning over and sinking my teeth into the skin where her shoulder meets her creamy neck.
Greyriver Shifters Page 20
