Claimed by the Claws

by Laura Wylde

  We got back to Doc’s and I was relieved to see that he had closed it down for the night. The last thing that we needed was Greg and his crew coming in and spoiling everything. He had made it clear that he wanted Bree for himself, and there was no telling how far he was willing to go to get her. I knew that I was willing to go pretty damn far for her myself.

  Doc and the others had gotten everything together while me and Bree work on the rest.

  The old man mixed up the crushed root with some liquid and the room started to fill with smoke that was colored. I had never seen anything like it in my life.

  “We are here to join the shifter and his mate. If anyone wants to stop it, it is now or not to be said or ever to be mentioned again. Mating is binding for life. It can never be broken…”

  I was looking at Bree the whole time that Doc was talking. I had been to some sort of ritual similar to this when I was younger, but it was so much different when I was the one standing up here on the platform in front of everybody. I was in front of the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with and there was a part of me that wasn't sure if this was real. It felt too good to be true.

  Doc came to a part to pause and he asked Bree to give him her hand. She hesitated and even though she trusted me, Bree still needed time to trust everyone else. I held her other hand and told her that everything was going to be okay”

  “Wait, this can't happen.”

  Everyone looked towards Sandra and I was wondering what it was that she was stopping it for. I had always gotten along with her, but at the moment I wasn't feeling very happy about her being here. I was less happy that Bree was looking towards her friend, because she was actually going to hear her out.

  “Explain yourself Sandra.”

  She wasn’t meeting my gaze and I could tell that she didn't like to be on the spot. My voice and my eyes were rather harsh, but I couldn't believe that she was doing this now.

  “She was with Greg for almost six months. You cannot mate her if she was with another man. She had to move in with him, and I know that if this goes through and you are not the first, that means that you will never be our Alpha. I love my friend, but I love my clan even more.”

  Her words created gasps around me and the people that were present thought that they were in the midst of a scandal. But her fears were wrong and misplaced.

  “We have already been together Sandra. I assure you that I was the first. I have no doubt about that.”

  I looked over to Bree to see how she was taking it and I could tell that she felt betrayed by her friend. She was tearing her down and now Sandra couldn't even look at her. She had sold her out even if she was wrong. I hoped that it could be a bridge that was repaired but at the moment it didn't seem that way. I don't think I have ever seen Bree that mad before.

  “Are you done Sandra?”

  It was Bree that asked the question and I could tell that no one blamed her for the tone of her voice. The two women were good friends, but I think that everyone would respect her a little more for her response.

  Sandra did not speak or look at either one of us for the rest of the ritual. I would speak with her later about this, but not now. I was far more worried about the woman in front of me, then the one behind me.

  I didn't feel any different when the ritual was over and she was finally mine. It didn't seem that much difference to me because she had been mine in my mind for quite some time. Now that it was said in front of everybody, made no difference to me. Bree had been mine since the moment we met.

  I started to move back off of the platform and it wasn't long before I could feel something inside of me changing. Doc said that I will feel different and that things would change, but I didn't think it would be so quickly, and I certainly didn't think that I would feel so poorly all of a sudden. He was nowhere around to ask if this was normal, but it didn't feel normal.

  “Are you okay?”

  I could read Bree and she had concern on her face. I was concerned as well.

  “I don't think so. Go get Doc, something has gone wrong. She ran out of the room after kissing me on the cheek and telling me everything's going to be fine. I don't remember much else, but blackness and then the distance sound of something hard hitting the ground. I would later find out that it was me making that sound.

  Chapter 25

  Bree

  When I came back with Doc, Daxton was on the floor and I ran to him. I was afraid that something had happened to him. I called for someone to help me and Doc told me that this was fine.

  “This is the way of it. He will wake up soon, changed.”

  I took it as he was going to wake up. But it was the way that Doc said changed that made me wonder what it was that he meant. He had this look in his eyes and it was hard for me to return it.

  “But he will still be Daxton right, I mean he's just going to be a bear?”

  Doc smiled and said, “Yes, he will always be Daxton.”

  I knew the old man was leaving something out, but I didn't know what. I was sure that it was easier to not ask questions sometimes because I didn't like the answer. I had a feeling that this was one of those times.

  Some of the other men helped Daxton change the background. they lead him on the bed and told me that I needed to wait there for him. I was told by talk that the ritual it's not over yet and there is still more to come. I did not know what that meant and I didn't ask. Sandra said something about he was going to come to and he was going to be ravenous.

  “So am I supposed to make him a sandwich or something?”

  Sandra just kind of shook her head and told me that he was it wasn't going to be that kind of hunger. I don't know why but it took my mind a minute to really understand what she was saying. When it finally hit me, I felt my cheeks getting red and I couldn't believe that we were talking about that.

  “I think I can handle that.”

  Good, because I don't think you're going to have much of a choice. There is no going back now.

  I know that she was saying that as a warning, but it didn't feel like much of a warning. I felt like a good time and once I knew that he was better, it was going to be the only thing on my mind. I had already thought about us consummating it.

  Everyone left the room and I was able to sit down next to Daxton on the bed. It was clear to me that I don't know what happened and even if I did know, I doubt if I would be able to understand that. The ways of the bear shifters were foreign to me and I didn't know if I'd ever understand it.

  I finally laid down next to him, with no choice but to wait until he woke up. But as soon as my head hit the sheets, I realized how exhausted I was. It’s been a long day and I wasn't able to stay up any longer....

  I woke up to a loud crack from the bed. It didn't take but a minute to see that Daxton was now a bear. He was different than he had been before though, he wasn't himself. Doc told me that he would always be Daxton, but he had a bit in his eyes that didn't look the same and he didn't look at me the same as Daxton surely did. It was like the wild part of him was coming out, and it had been taken over for a long time, but not anymore. I worried that there was nothing left but the beast. And as Sandra’s words chimed in, I started to really worry.

  Backing up towards the door, I kept my eyes on the large brown bear, with the wild eyes. It was hard for me to look at him that way, but I was afraid this was not like anything I had seen before and I wasn't sure how to react.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I love you. I want you.”

  He wasn't talking because bears couldn't talk, but somehow I could hear Daxton's words in my head. I have never been able to do that before and it was more than a little strange.

  “Can't have me like that.”

  Well it was freaky at best, but at least I knew that he was in there somewhere. If he was able to communicate, it meant that I was able to reason with him. Surely he couldn't really mean for us to be together in this way.

  “I want you, Bree.”

&
nbsp; Daxton was coming towards me, and I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. My hand was out the door, now it would've been so easy for me to leave, to run away from him. I can't say that I didn't want to. I couldn't say that I didn't want to make a run as far and fast as I could away from Daxton.

  But I didn't run. I held my ground and turned towards him, telling him again that it couldn’t be this way.

  “This is how the ritual goes.”

  It was something that I had not even consider before. I just kept shaking my head that he surely he had it wrong. He was one that told me that he didn't quite understand the ways of the old. This was just wrong.

  “No Daxton, if you want me, you need to switch back.”

  I could hear laughing in my head and I didn't know if I should be relieved or upset. I didn't find any of this funny at all, yet it took time for me to realize that he was just messing with me.

  “It's not like that at all actually. I'm sorry but you should have seen your face.”

  “Well it better be a joke, because you aren’t hitting it right now. There is no way. You can barely fit in your human form.”

  He made another growling sound and this time, I could feel it in my bones. He was telling me to stop talking about it without saying or thinking anything. I didn’t have to be told. I knew what I was doing to him and that was just going to have to be the way it was.

  “Then what is this really supposed to be?”

  I was trying to get him off the subject that I had brought up, because Sandra was right. Daxton was ravenous. I didn’t want him like this, so it looked like we were going to have to do whatever it was that Doc told him we had to do, so that we could get to the good part. I already knew that I wanted the consummation part of it to hurry up and get here. It was time. I was sick of waiting and I knew that Daxton wasn’t going to be able to wait much longer either.

  “You have to come to me Bree, with no fear.”

  While I had feared him in the beginning, mainly because of the need in his eyes. I knew that it was him, even though it didn't look like him.

  “I don't fear you Daxton.”

  “Then come to me.”

  I wanted to remind him that he couldn’t have me in the way that he wanted. It would seem like he had forgotten that he was a bear and it was impossible to think if I had to remind him. He was ravenous and at the moment, I was just a piece of meat.

  I moved towards him and I could barely keep his gaze. He just looked at me in such a way that it was hard for me to return the look. I was shaking inside but it wasn't from fear. and it wasn't from the cool air in the room for the air conditioning. It was because I was in as much need as he was and I was ready for the ritual to be over.

  “Now what?”

  “Now we say the same words that we said before. You have to accept me as is, not just a man, but as the beast as well.”

  I had thought of him as a beast a few times, but even now as he was standing in front of me as a huge bear, it was hard for me to think of him that way. I didn't want to think of him that way. He was Daxton to me and he would always be.

  Daxton helped me to remember the words that I had to recite. He only slept like he was set or.

  Daxton helped me to remember the words that I had to recite from before. I was surprised that he remembered them himself.

  This time I was able to really hear the words. The first time it had been done in front of lots of people and I had been so nervous because of that very reason, not to mention many other things. Now it was different and I was able to really hear and understand what I was saying. It wasn't just words that I was repeating. I would always love him no matter what. It was much like any other wedding, but the things that could happen were a lot different. The bad times could be really bad, the good times really good.

  “I will always love you Daxton. I will be your mate and only yours for as long as I live.”

  As soon as the words were uttered and he said his own, Daxton turned back into the man that I had fallen for. He leaned in and kissed me and I lost my head for a moment. The way his lips moved on mine were hard to deny and I didn’t want to. I knew that Daxton was now my mate and I knew what came next. I had looked forward to this all day and I was relieved that I didn’t have to wait anymore.

  While Daxton was still himself, there was a few differences. The way that he kissed me and the way that he felt was certainly different. And his fingers bit into my sides as he tried to pull me closer. It was like he couldn’t get enough of me and I was shaking in his grip.

  Daxton did not wait for me to get undressed or anything of that nature. He just ripped my pants down and pushed me over the side of the bed. This was nothing like the first time or the time in the woods after we argued. This time it was face down, with my face in the mattress and Daxton inside of me in a heartbeat.

  I cried out, but the mattress muffled the sound and there was no one to hear it anyways. He was pushing deep and hard, stretching every inch inside of me in one swift thrust. There was no need for him to take his time, because I was as wet and slippery as I ever was. It was like heaven. Just a few seconds looking into his eyes was all that I needed. To know that he wanted me that badly, made me a little crazy.

  His hand went to my neck and then grabbed a handful of hair at the nap of my neck and pulled me back until I was able to kiss him. The more I kissed him, the deeper he went.

  He let me go and I fell back on to the bed, as he grabbed my hips and started pummeling inside of me again. There was no rhyme or reason and I kept coming repeatedly. Half the time I didn't even know what he was doing, how he could make it feels so good, but it really didn't matter. I knew now that I was never going to go without him again.

  “Please come, Daxton. I can’t keep coming.”

  I closed my eyes as he ignored my request. After the first time that we'd been together and him being so worried about hurting me, It was like night and day now. He wasn’t near as worried. Apparently he felt that I was a little bit more durable now and I could take more. At times, I thought he was going to explode, but I just hadn’t yet.

  “Another wave of pleasure washed over me and I had to contain myself. This was all just too much and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do now.

  I wasn’t going to make it if I didn’t slow him down and he was oblivious to my words. I had to get through to him and there was only way that I could think of. I don’t know why, but I knew I was going to have to push him, to calm him. He was on the verge like me, he had to be.

  I tried hard to get him to feel what I was feeling, but I don't think that I was doing a very good job. I was messing with myself, far more than I was messing with him and I clung to what was in front of me as I came again.

  Clenching his rod as hard as I could and then came from the added feel of him sliding in and out of me. Fluid shot out of me and down his shaft. He just chuckled and I felt like he knew that my plan had failed miserably.

  Daxton fucked me all night and pushed me far past any limits that I thought I had. They were all blown out of the water and I passed out more than once. Daxton was like a machine, like an animal that never quit and I was his mate. It was my duty to pleasure him, no matter how hard it was going to be to do it. I was worried if I was going to be able to keep up.

  Chapter 26

  Daxton

  I was trying to talk Bree into another round, but it was becoming clear that I was going to just have to start out without her. Rubbing in between her legs, it wasn't long before she was moaning and asking me for more.

  I was climbing over her when I started to hear the sound of motorcycles coming towards us. They were circling where we were and I knew that they were some of Greg's men. It was time for this all to end and I knew that we were going to have to put our consummation night on hold for just a little while longer. It was already morning anyways.

  I got up and Bree wanted to know where I was going. She wanted me to stay in the house with her and be safe, but I had to do
something. I had to rid Lost Hills of Greg and his gang. They were nothing but trouble and it was time for them to all go.

  “I have to go Bree, I will be back in a few minutes. This won't take long at all, so you need to stay nice and hot for me.

  By the sound of it, there were only four or five of them and that was not going to be a problem. I felt stronger and more alive than I'd ever felt in my life. Whatever the ritual had done, Doc had been right and he had been very clear that I would feel differently. I did feel differently. I felt like I was on top of the world and while I had thought I could take Greg yesterday, I knew now that I could without a doubt. There was no more inclusion of doubt in the back of my mind.

  “Please be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  I grinned at her and told her that I was always careful. I turned into my shifter form and I was bigger than before. I felt new and improved and even my eyes were sharper. I don't know what the hell had just happened, but I was thankful for the old ways now. I never thought I would feel this way.

  I told Bree that I loved her, kissed her and then went out into the woods and the danger that I wasn’t going to run from anymore.

  There were only five other bear shifters and I didn't even want to play with them. Other people were coming to get involved and help. I wanted to kill them all myself. I wanted to kill Greg and each and every one of his gang all by myself. I didn't want anyone to help me because I wanted everyone to know that I was the Alpha of this area and I wasn't going to let it slide anymore.

  Out of all of the men, I left one to live, so that he could tell the rest what he had seen. I wanted Greg to know that I was coming for him and there was no way that he could hide. I was not going to hide any longer. I was the Alpha of Lost Hills and it was time for me to claim my title.