He never wanted to let her go. So, when he had to face reality, it stung. The hunter was still out there. The run-in they had in town told Reid a lot. The man was far less interested in hunting Reid. Instead, the hunter seemed to want to study his new discovery.
What that meant, Reid wasn’t sure.
All he knew was that the man was still a threat. Each moment he spent hunting the still nameless hunter was time spent away from his new mate. With two women staying with them, The Den was likely to send some sort of delegates soon. They needed to ensure that the bear shifters were following the rules.
He didn’t know what they would think of Addison. Boomer would likely find himself in trouble for changing his mate without following proper channels. They might even demand that Reid change his mate, too. These delegates could arrive while he was taking care of this hunter and take the choice from him.
He needed to be finished with the man sooner rather than later.
***
Addison was alone when there was a knock on the door.
The sound reverberated through the walls of the cabin and startled her. Pens crashed to the floor while her heart thumped furiously. Images of the man from town unfurled in her mind. She remembered the way he gripped her arm and grinned with the joy of it. Had he returned? Had he come to finish what he started?
She let out a breath. Reid wasn’t here. It wasn’t her that this man wanted, but her mate. As long as Reid wasn’t around, she could send the man away.
What waited her on the other side of the door was not what she expected. A very panicked looking Emmy clutched a purse to her stomach. She looked up at Addison with wide eyes, the whites showing around them. Quickly, Addison invited her inside, closing the door behind them to hide whatever Emmy had come to share.
“I can’t believe it,” Emmy mumbled. She straightened, ran her hand through her hair, and let out a shuddering breath. “I can’t believe it.”
“You can’t believe what?” Addison wanted to shout and shake the woman, but she knew that wouldn’t help anyone. Emmy repeated herself again, each line becoming raspier until she was only whispering.
Addison wasn’t sure how to handle this. She hadn’t had girl friends since high school. Even then, she hadn’t been the best friend. Emmy’s panic was a new and unfamiliar territory that Addison didn’t think she was suited to fix.
“Okay. You sit down.” Addison pointed toward the single couch. She spun on her heel and began making tea. It was the only thing she could think of. The simple preparation allowed her to clear her head and calm the wild pounding of her heart she hadn’t noticed until just then.
Worry snaked through her mind. Was Boomer okay? If he was hurt, or worse, then how was Reid? Addison couldn’t spew all her questions at once. She had to be careful in her delivery. If Emmy broke, then she’d get nothing from her.
By the time Addison had two cups of tea and returned to the living room, Emmy had revealed the source of her panic. Sprawled over Reid’s coffee table were numerous pregnancy tests. Each one was positive in one way or another. Some simply showed the tell-tale two lines, while the more expensive ones read PREGNANT on the tiny screen.
Emmy clenched and unclenched her hands. “I checked…” She counted with her hand in the air. “I checked ten times. The results are the same each time.”
Addison stood, rooted to the spot. The mugs of tea were burning her palms, but she couldn’t will herself to move. Finally, she managed to suck in a breath and fuel her train of thought once more.
“Is this a…bad thing?” Addison knew some women never wanted children. She’d only just met Emmy. There was no way to tell what kind of future Emmy had envisioned for herself before she met Boomer.
The only thing Addison understood was the hunger. Once she’d pushed Reid to accept the bond that bound them, neither had been able to deny the hunger that gripped them. Addison chose him over food night after night, leaving them to eat snacks and nibble at each other’s lips in the light of the fridge late at night.
Addison knew exactly how Emmy found herself in this situation. Now she just needed to figure out how Emmy felt about it.
“I never…I mean, I just didn’t…It wasn’t something I thought about,” Emmy finally managed to say. “My ex-husband was not the kind of man anyone should have children with. I never really stopped to think about them once I escaped him. There was a solid year that I spent running from him. I didn’t have time to think about a possible future with children while he was breathing down my neck.”
“I still can’t tell if you’re happy. We, ah, don’t even know what this means for someone like you.”
Emmy huffed in agreement. Her eyes became distant, looking much the way Addison felt when she wrote. Addison wondered if Emmy was writing her future in that moment. The woman’s hand drifted to her stomach where it hovered indecisively before laying flat over her shirt.
“I think…” Emmy turned her face up to reveal the smile that had spread over her lips. “I think I’m happy. It was just such a shock at first. Now that I have the time to process it, I’m thinking that I absolutely love the idea of a little Boomer running around.”
Addison groaned and fell onto the other end of the couch. “At least it’s a baby Boomer and not a baby Orion. That is the last thing the world needs.”
Emmy sighed and shook her head in agreement. “That boy needs a mate. They all act like they’re on the edge, but I think he and Reid were the closest to losing it.”
Addison sat up. “Losing what?”
Emmy was quiet for a long moment, swallowing whatever she might have said until Addison reminded her that she’d figured it out. It wasn’t like it was a secret they kept very well. How many bears could be treated like family dogs? If they’d warned her away from the bears, she might never have figured it out.
“Reid is coming back, because of you, but Orion seems lost. While Boomer used to put himself in dangerous positions just to feel alive, Orion follows through because it seems to be the pain that makes him feel alive. Without the pain, I think his beast becomes overwhelming. If we aren’t careful, he’ll become more beast than man and lose all chances of finding a mate to keep him steady.”
“You think my Reid was close to losing himself?” Worry slithered through Addison. Questions pinged through her mind, but she couldn’t grasp one long enough to inspect it. All she could see were the bad outcomes. Her mind lingered on the future where she wasn’t enough to keep Reid from losing the battle to his beast.
The nugget of guilt in her stomach only amplified her anxiety. There was no denying they were meant for each other, but if Addison didn’t give him what he needed, she could still lose him. Would she have to become like them to truly save her mate? Addison didn’t know if she had that in her. She feared she was too weak, too mild to be a monster like them.
“Sometimes, I think the party shenanigans keep most of them sane. Even Dominic, who just spends half his time yelling at the rest of the guys. Reid, on the other hand, only retreated further and further the louder they all became. Where Orion had a coping mechanism, Reid just sank further into himself.”
Addison’s breath was shuddering. She glanced out the window, wishing Reid would magically appear so she could wrap her arms around him and never let go. Each moment that passed made him seem further and further away.
“How do I save him?”
“You already are,” Emmy reminded her.
Addison scooted along the couch to sit closer to Emmy. The other woman leaned into her. Were they friends, or had the moment temporarily bound them together? Addison was horrible at telling the difference. She was awful at making friends.
“I’m going to have a little bear,” Emmy said, as if realizing this for the first time. “Boomer’s bear. Oh, goodness. It’s going to be a wild creature. Will you help me?”
Addison laughed with relief. “Of course, I’ll help.”
Emmy let out a sigh and leaned into the couch. “We need to find
mates for the others. Two women against five men hardly seems fair.”
Chapter Nineteen
He couldn’t find the hunter anywhere. Reid’s bear crashed through the woods, unbothered by the branches and foliage in its red-hazed rage. It needed to break something. While it wanted the hunter, the woods would do for now. All he needed was to eke out some of the tension constantly tightening his shoulders.
He feared that Addison could feel it every time she hugged him. The vise tightened every day, pulling the muscles into taut knots. How long until he snapped?
His mate would not be safe until that man was stopped. Yet, the hunter seemed to evade him at every turn. Reid knew he should ask the others for help in hunting the human, but he didn’t want them to see how close he was to the edge. Even Addison couldn’t pull him back from the precipice behind him.
Any moment, as the time of danger stretched on, would send him over the edge. Then, he would become nothing more than a monster inside a bear’s skin. Addison deserved better. He didn’t know why the universe had bound them together. He wished he could give her the man she deserved, the way she was everything he ever needed, but he felt the sting of failure at every turn.
When he came home that night, his lips were pressed shut. He did not tell her he’d spent much of the afternoon stalking the mountain for a human. It made him feel small and weak. It was only a human. How hard could one human be to find?
Nonetheless, Addison approached him. She couldn’t see the failure he tucked away inside himself. She melted into him as if he were the hero she’d wished for all along. Reid knew he didn’t deserve the things the universe had given him. He wasn’t strong enough to protect it. Eventually, it would all be ripped away from him.
The thought brought a growl to his lips. It thundered through him, so loud that Addison caught it. Her brows crumpled as she looked up at him. No words passed between them. Addison reached up, grabbed the sides of his face, and brought him down for a kiss.
“Quit being so grumpy,” she warned him between kisses.
He scooped her off the floor, determined to savor every moment with her. She laughed in his ear. The sound, the warmth of her breath against his ear, stirred his blood. It rushed south and filled his groin.
Addison pulled back, pushing his hair away from his face to study his eyes. He didn’t want her to see the pain and fear he was trying to hide, so he threw himself into her. Their lips crashed together again. Addison didn’t argue. She only threaded her fingers in his hair and kissed him back with the fervor he felt inside himself.
He didn’t deserve her.
She was too precious, everything that was fragile in this world. The hunter was going to take her away from him. He was going to lose her, and it was going to be all his fault.
Reid didn’t make it far before he lowered them both to the floor. He ripped and tore at her clothing, needing the sensation of skin on skin. He needed to know she was there, that she was real. Addison didn’t fight. She didn’t argue. Instead, her groans of need filled the room.
His hands slid down her skin and rose to cup the bottom of her breasts. They were full, her nipples perked just for him. He took one into his mouth, savoring the taste of her and the sounds he pulled from her lips. She was an autumn nymph. She was magical in all the ways he was horrible.
The ways he wanted to touch her, to hold her, scared him. Eventually, he would be the one to break her. She was only human, after all. How long would it take before she was the one to break?
***
Addison didn’t know what was wrong, but she let her mate work it out the way he needed to. She enjoyed every inch of his touch, every brush of skin on skin. His hands roved down her stomach, cupped her breasts, and explored every small nook in her body. It was as if he was reminding himself that she was still there, that she was real after all.
To help, she gripped his hair and tugged. She commanded his head, tilted it back so that he was forced to look in her eyes. He was avoiding something. There was a truth or a fear that he was trying to forget. No matter what, whatever it was, the thought that was eating at him would never get between them.
“You are mine, Reid Bronson. You belong to me and no one in this world will take you from me.” This was the boldest Addison had ever been. It wasn’t like her. The fear of losing this man, the one her soul had bound her to, was that great. It pushed her to stake her claim, to remind him that there was nowhere else in the world that she wanted to be. “Do you hear me? Both you and the beast inside you belong to me.”
His response was a whimper. It surprised her. Tears rimmed his eyes. She wished he would tell her what it was that scared him, but she wouldn’t force him to become that vulnerable. Telling her the truth was his choice, and if it hurt too much, she wouldn’t make him do it.
Instead, she let him pin her to the floor. His sweatpants slid down his hips, revealing the thick thigh muscles beneath. She ran her fingers along the length of his legs, reveling in the shape of him. He groaned and slipped his hand over her throat. It was tight, but not so much that she couldn’t breathe.
It was possessive.
He, too, claimed her.
His grip around her throat stayed as he plunged deep inside her. She cried out. It was sudden, stealing her breath, but it didn’t hurt. Her body had formed around him. She was a perfect fit for his cock, as if her body had been waiting for him all along.
Reid thrust, his motions becoming manic until they slowed. She watched his eyes swirl between blue and gold. The beast, his bear, had risen and they fought for control while inside her. She cherished the fact that both of them loved her. Addison only wished she could ease the struggle between them.
Once Reid had control, his thrusts become more controlled. He angled each rise so that his groin rubbed against the sensitive part of her. Her pleasure quickly whipped into a frenzy, one that brought her close to begging.
His hand tightened as her pleasure became heavier. His thumb brushed the base of her jaw. She felt delicate beneath his grip. He could break her if he wanted. The thrill of fear that went through her mixed with the wild emotions already binding her.
“I need you,” she begged, dragging her nails across his back. What she needed was release. “Give it to me,” she breathed.
Reid growled in response. She spread her legs wide, and he slammed into her. Pain mingled with her pleasure. Any harder and she knew she would fall apart. Reid held back. She could see his struggle in the tightness of his jaw.
She didn’t have long to worry about it because her pleasure burst. It exploded through her in a million tiny fragments. She broke apart, drifting on a sea of sensation. It filled her throat and brought a scream from her. It was the only way he could release everything inside her.
Reid wasn’t done. He slipped out of her and quickly flipped her over, commanding her hips so that they rose in the air. Deftly, he found her opening again. He slid inside without hesitation. She cried out as it sent ripples through her fading orgasm. She pressed her cheek against the cold floor as she struggled to keep from falling apart.
Reid made her feel more than any other man in her life ever had. She didn’t know how to handle the things he did to her. When he reached around, and his fingers found her sensitive bead of pleasure, she cried out. Every thrust was multiplied.
Her cries made him work faster. It seemed like she could control his need. Each small sound she made had Reid groaning, his grip on her tightening. His thrusts became wild until finally, he bent forward.
Teeth punctured her skin. It was a flash of pain that quickly melted into a strange kind of pleasure. He flipped her over again so that she lay bare before him. He pulled out just as he spasmed, spilling his seed over her skin. Her whole body vibrated with echoes of pleasure.
He looked down at her with a fire in his eyes. The sun was sinking low and the orange light caught his golden eyes. In that moment, he looked like Zeus. She was a mortal he’d ravished. She didn’t understand how she belong
ed with such a beautiful creature, but she was going to hold onto him for dear life.
Her shoulder pulsed with a throbbing heat. His bite had broken the skin. Reid’s face twisted, caught between regret and pride. She could tell that it was another battle between the human part of him and the beast. It meant something, but she didn’t know what.
“I just keep making a mess of you,” Reid whispered, almost as if he were ashamed.
She smiled happily up at him. He could make a mess of her every day if it meant she felt like this.
Yet, as he cleaned her up, she could feel his secret pain pulling him away from her again. He became silent, unwilling to meet her eyes. Frustration tinged her fear. It made her wonder if there would ever be anything she could do to make this bear of a man open up to her.
Once he was finished, he came back and laid himself over her body. He nestled his head between her breasts and held her tight, still silent.
“Do you feel better now?” She was still breathless, barely able to bring the words into the world. Her fingers played with his silken hair. The golden strands fell over her skin like molten metal.
Reid only groaned into her skin. The sound made her heart clench. Addison didn’t know what to do to help him. She felt helpless herself. If he couldn’t tell her, then she would never know how to help.
No, she reminded herself. She was smarter than that. Addison had circumvented their damn rules and figured out the secret they’d been hiding from her. She could read her mate well enough to figure out what was bothering him.
He snuggled deeper into her breasts, arms tightening around her. She was safely wrapped in the warmth of his body and never wanted to leave. Perhaps, he too, never wanted her to leave.
Her body hummed with the aftereffects of what they’d just done. An ache was slowly building in her hips. By tomorrow, it would become a strong pain she might have to drown with aspirin. It made her feel fragile. Reid had been holding back and yet she still ached.
To Save A Bear Page 12
