The Sheikh Bear

by Ashley Hunter

  “Baby,” she moaned.

  “Stop teasing.”

  “What do you want?” he said in a husky voice, a voice dripping in arousal.

  Angie put her hands on his head and pushed it in between her legs. Angie closed her eyes and she could have sworn that she saw stars, the sensation was so intense. She moaned loudly.

  “Aahhh,” she cooed.

  “It feels so great.”

  Chapter 10

  Angie was lying on the rug with her head on Shadow’s chest. He was stroking her arm, softly. It felt right, lying here, with the fire burning, wind breezing outside.

  Angie had covered their naked bodies with a sheet because it was cold and she didn’t want this to stop on account of that.

  “So, what changed your mind?” Angie said, lightly kissing Shadow on the shoulder.

  “You did,” he said.

  “I drove and drove and thought about the things you said and how it made sense.”

  “Good of you to finally see some sense,” Angie said, rolling her eyes.

  “And whatever doubt I had left was gone when I saw you outside that door, waiting for me. That was it. I was a goner; I knew it then.”

  Angie smiled and proceeded to kiss him, starting from his lips where she spent a considerable amount of time. Then she moved to his chest, holding his arms in her.

  “Mmm,” Shadow moaned.

  “This feels so good.”

  Angie got up and straddled his waist. Shadow moved his hand on the side of her waist.

  “Your skin is so soft,” he said, moving his fingers lightly, up and down on her body.

  He was looking at her, completely mesmerized.

  “How did I get so lucky?” he said, more to himself than to her.

  “Bless the day you decided to kidnap me,” Angie said and both of them burst out laughing.

  Chapter 11

  Angie was having breakfast downstairs and Shadow was nowhere to be seen. It had been two days since their blissful union and Angie was reliving the memories of the past two days in her head over and over again. Not a corner of the house remained where they had not done the deed, so to spoke.

  As Angie walked down the stairs, she was reminded that in the heat of the moment, Shadow had taken her right then and there on the bottom step, them not being able to make it all the way to the bedroom.

  She bit her lip to stop herself from grinning without any outwardly reason, but there was a certain anxiety going on in her head. Shadow had left without telling her anything. He had slept in her bed last night but when she woke up, he was nowhere to be found.

  She had gotten no indication that he was leaving. All she remembered was the blissful ecstasy of last night and then the afterglow of this morning. At the moment, peace was the farthest thing from her mind.

  She tried to think positive things, like he must have gone to the city to get some supplies or something, that it was nothing sinister or anything. Her mind was thinking rational thoughts but her heart was conjuring up scenarios that were far more dangerous.

  It was the age-old battle between reason and emotion, between the mind and heart, between passion and practicality. She started pacing outside the main door, looking occasionally at the wall clock through the window. It was around noon now and it was getting difficult not to worry. She knew that Shadow could take care of himself but it didn’t make her job any easier.

  Just when she had resigned to more bad things, she could clearly hear the rumbling of an engine nearby and knew that it was Shadow’s car, just by the sound of it. She became jubilant and immediately forgot all the things she had decided to say to him because he had not bothered to tell her where he was going.

  But as soon as the car became visible from in between the branches of the tree hiding the cabin, she could see that something was wrong. The window on the passenger side was shattered and the windshield had become like an advertisement for Spider-man. Shadow was driving way too fast and it was clear that something was wrong. The front of the car had been hit badly.

  Shadow stopped the car with a screech in front of the house and Angie, standing there astounded, saw that he was bleeding from the head.

  She ran to the car and he got out. Apart from the head wound, he seemed fine, and was steady on his feet.

  “What happened? What’s going on?” Angie said, trying to wipe away the blood and looking at the car with fear.

  “Don’t have time,” he said quickly, getting away from her towards the house.

  “We need to leave.”

  “Leave?” she said, still rooted to the spot.

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Shadow said moving inside and Angie followed him.

  “But we need to leave.”

  Once inside, Shadow was sifting through the cupboards. He ran inside his room and brought out an empty bag.

  “Get whatever you need and put it here. We don’t have much time. I think I was followed but managed to lose them a few miles back. But they will eventually find this place.”

  “Who are they? Why are they following you? What is going on?”

  “Listen,” Shadow said and there was urgency in his voice.

  “This is not the time to discuss what happened. I will tell you everything on the way. Just get ready for now. We don’t have time.”

  Angie nodded and immediately went upstairs and got whatever she thought was necessary.

  In a few minutes, she was packed and was downstairs. Shadow was already waiting for her, sitting on the breakfast table, putting a wet cloth on his head wound. A gun was lying in front of him.

  “What’s this?” she said, eyeing the weapon.

  “This is what saved my life,” he said, looking at what she was pointing to.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  Angie nodded.

  “Good,” he said, getting up.

  “Let’s go.”

  They half ran to the car.

  “You are gonna drive the car like this?” Angie asked, looking at the windshield. It was a surprise that he could look out of it on the road ahead.

  “Wait a minute,” he said.

  Shadow went inside the car and hit the windshield with his foot. Given the fragile state it was already in; a single kick was all it took to get it out from its snug fit place.

  “Come,” Shadow said to Angie.

  Angie sat in the passenger’s seat and put on her seatbelt. She had a feeling that this was not going to be a safely driven journey.

  As soon as she had sat in the seat, Shadow put the engine to work and turned the car around with ferocity. They started their journey to whatever place Shadow was driving to, Angie thought.

  A few minutes past and Shadow was uncommonly guarded when it came to other cars and traffic.

  “Do you plan to drive all the way to wherever we are going in this car?” Angie said.

  “No, we will dump this soon and get a rental,” Shadow said, distractedly.

  Angie quieted down. She desperately wanted to ask him questions but knew that this was not the right time, so she didn’t press. They drove on for almost an hour and got on the interstate highway and after that did Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.

  They had changed cars once and by the looks of it, Shadow was planning to do so one more time at least, before their journey was over.

  “So,” she began, putting her legs up on the dashboard.

  “Are you gonna tell me now what happened?”

  Shadow seemed deep in thought regarding this question. It seemed he pondering where to begin.

  “Well,” he said after some time.

  “It happened at the Crow.”

  Angie sat up straight, and her heart started pounding.

  “What happened?” she said.

  “I was keeping a lookout outside, to see if Bob would come, and there he was…with three other guys,” he said.

  Angie gasped.

  “Who were they?”

  “What do you t
hink? They were the ones I was looking for. And guess what? They had the package.”

  Angie was listening with rapt attention. How could this be? How could Bob, the one she worked with for all those nights, turn out to be in league with such rogues.

  “So,” Shadow continued his story.

  “I decided that it was now or never. It was day time and the bar was empty, thankfully, otherwise a lot of people would have been killed.”

  “You went in and fought with them?” Angie said, surprised more than ever and thankful that he was alive and sitting here with nothing but a head wound.

  “There was nothing else to do. I went in to retrieve the package but it seemed that they were waiting for me. They ambushed me and I was surrounded. I didn’t think I would make it. They were firing from all sides.”

  He quieted down for a bit and shuddered as if the memory of the recent event still terrified him.

  “Then I did it. I turned into the beast and they were astounded. A momentary confusion from them was all I needed and I got them.”

  Angie realized that her mouth was open and she shut it immediately.

  “What about Bob?” she said, slowly.

  “You have to realize that he was a terrible man. A man who probably helped killed a lot of people. He was not who you think he was,” Shadow said, trying to make her understand the necessity of what he had done and what had to be done.

  Angie nodded but she knew in her heart that it would take some time for her to fully grasp the reality of what had taken place and her own part in it.

  She didn’t know Bob all too well but the old man and always been nothing but good to her.

  “So where are we going now?” she asked him after some time.

  “As far away as possible,” Shadow replied.

  “Somewhere they can’t find us, until I decide my next plan of action. These people have long memories and they will not forget me.”

  “And what happened to the package? Where is it?”

  “I destroyed it,” Shadow said.

  “As soon as I got it, I burned it. It was not safe, out there, in the world. I had to destroy it.”

  Chapter 12

  Angie woke up and her hand instinctively moved to the side where her husband slept but she was disappointed to learn that it was empty. The bed was still warm which meant that it had not been long since he left.

  She held his pillow and his aroma filled her nostrils. Even after six months, she could not get over the fact that she was married to such an amazing man.

  She got up, taking the sheets along with her, as she was not wearing anything else. Last night had been one of passion, and clothes were the first things to go.

  She went downstairs and could hear sounds coming from the kitchen. She sneaked to the kitchen, not wanting him to know she was coming and saw from around the bend that her husband was cooking breakfast.

  He was clad in nothing but his boxer briefs. Angie’s eyes moved from his thick muscled thighs to his smooth and sinewy back. His muscles rippled as he moved from one end of the kitchen to the other.

  Angie bit her lip, a sensation coming up along her neck and a certain itching in her fingers to touch him. His back was turned and Angie walked up to him.

  She grabbed his ass and he jumped. She giggled and squeezed his butt cheeks tighter.

  “You are a naughty girl,” he said, turning around.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” she said as he pulled her to him. Their bodies were so close that it seemed that the air was trapped in between.

  He brought his lips to her and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. She returned his kiss for all it was worth and soon the morning laziness was gone.

  Shadow tugged at the sheet covering her body and it fell down revealing Angie in all her glory.

  “You are such a dog,” Angie said, mock hitting him on the shoulder, trying and failing to act modest.

  Shadow attacked her body and she giggled. He took her breasts in his hands and lowered his face to them. She moaned when his lips touched her flesh and closed her eyes.

  Only in her dreams, she could have thought such a thing, and here it was happening to her, right here in her own kitchen, with her husband.

  Before she could do anything else, Shadow took her in his arms and lifted her. He made it look like he was carrying a feather; he was so strong.

  He carried her to their bedroom and laid her down. He took off his boxers and stood there in all his naked glory for his wife to see. She took it all in and was once again reminded how hot he was. She was forever thankful for the hard muscles of his body because they gave her immense pleasure during sex.

  Just being in contact with them, touching them, kissing them, biting them made her heart flutter. He got on top of her and kissed her.

  “Are you ready?” he said, gazing into her eyes lovingly.

  Angie nodded and Shadow entered her. She moaned with pleasure as he thrusted inside her, his lips never leaving hers.

  Epilogue

  It had been six months since their ‘union’. Ever since Angie was a kid, she had thought about a wedding. What woman had not?

  But this wedding was unlike anything she could have foreseen or hoped for. Shadow wasn’t sugarcoating things when he said that his folk kept things close to traditions. After they had escaped from whatever evil guys Shadow was tracking, they had to declare their union.

  According to Shadow, his people did not call it a wedding. A wedding sounded like a party, Union was more apt.

  So, Angie walked up to the dais where they were to be united as one and when she first saw the ceremony, she nearly screamed but checked herself. It would not sit well by the guests that the bride was screaming on this day.

  The clearing was filled with panthers and a few humans were dotted here and there. Shadow was standing at the end of the pathway. As Angie took steps towards the stage, the panthers bowed wherever she set foot. She did not know what it meant but it made her feel safe and secure.

  The panthers were of all sizes. Some were little cubs, some were humungous. When Shadow had said that his whole clan would be here, he had failed to mention that most of them would be in panther form.

  Angie got over the initial surprise and was mesmerized by the surroundings. She reached the stage and Shadow winked at her.

  In place where in a traditional wedding a minister would stand to officiate the wedding, there was a panther, a particularly old panther, with a box placed at its feet.

  Shadow bent down and picked up the box and opened it. Inside there were two rings, with diamonds sparkling in the sunlight.

  And then she woke up.

  “What happened, honey?” Shadow said groggily.

  “Nothing, baby,” she said, putting her arms around him.

  “Go back to sleep. Just having a dream about our wedding.”

  “I knew I should not have taken you to the den,” he said and laughed.

  She hit him lightly on the side of the arm.

  “Well, you did and now you are stuck with me. So, who’s the loser here?”

  With surprising agility for a man who was just asleep, he lifted her and placed her on top of him and kissed her.

  The kiss lasted for a few seconds and when it broke, he said, “Definitely not me.”

  ***

  PREVIEW OF ‘CHOSEN BY HER BEAR’ BY ASHLEY HUNTER

  I.

  Why oh why didn’t you, Ava Williams, look that boy in the eye, you stupid girl.

  I had to mentally chide myself every time after such an episode (one would think that I would get used to it by now, but no). What would be that librarian thinking about right now? Probably not me.

  For a bright few moments, he and I were the only two souls in the universe; that is until the stupid woman behind me suddenly decided that she was running late for her weekly Wednesday gym class or something. I would have argued had I not been myself in need of a gym class. Sigh.

  Anyway, this has been my problem as fa
r back as I can remember. Not born with superhuman looks nor inclined to induce anorexia to get a body suitable for a Victoria’s Secret model, I was always on the heavier side and that is where problems started with my love life.

  Nonexistent as it is. I recently passed through college without as much as a boyfriend to my name. If my grandmother had to be believed, and it is extremely dubious that she is, it is your curves, honey.

  I can’t bring myself to tell my dear Grammy that it is 2015. But maybe she has a point. What do I know? I am 24 years old and without a lover. There are not many who can boast that. There are not many who would call it boasting.

  Ironically enough I have always been confident in my life, knowing what I wanted and who I wanted. It was going after who I wanted that was the difficult part.

  My curves always made it difficult to maneuver boys like other girls did, wrapping them up around their bony fingers. As for me, I have always been crippled with the fear that nobody would be interested in me, just because.

  In principle I knew that the world should be a judgment free zone and I should embrace who I am, but damned if the real world worked like that. Everybody likes to dole out principles and paste them on their cars as bumper sticks; living them, that’s a whole different ball game.

  No matter what everybody said, which ranged from looks don’t matter to find someone who loves you for your mind, and not your body, I had never been able to get the confidence to move beyond a certain wall to reach a point where a guy actually fell for my brains.

  I know. So very Jane Austen.

  Anyhow, this is the sum of it: I am a 24 year old graduate (think of Dustin Hoffman, only female and thirty pounds heavier. OK, don’t think of Dustin Hoffman), no men in sight and the weight of loneliness on my still young shoulders, pressing me down.

  Couldn’t a knight in shining armor come along? I shouldn’t think like that. Women don’t need knights anymore. But I need a relationship. No, not need. I want a relationship. Is it too much to ask? Does pining for it make me a villain for my gender? Where’s my John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart? Hell, where’s my Raylan Givens?