Bear Guards: A Paranormal Romance

by J. S. Striker

  Electricity rushed down his body at her next sound, a moan that was both throaty and sweet. He made sounds of his own that he couldn’t understand, unable to help it. His hands fisted on the counter as he fought the urge to lay those hands on her skin and see if she was as hot as she felt—to know if her nipples against his chest were as hard as he imagined.

  Jesus.

  His mind screamed at him to rip off her jeans and just have his way with her, right then and there—to slide his cock inside her wet heat and see if she was really his mate.

  That thought alone, that he was losing control before he could even start, was what had him returning to the present.

  Adam kissed her some more, her response and her reciprocating hunger filling him. Then he gritted his teeth and broke the kiss, feeling her body lean forward but leaning his own body back. The roaring in his head thickened at the sight of her, all swollen lips and heaving breaths. Her hazel eyes were dark, snapping with lust, one he knew reverberated in his own.

  Belatedly, he heard a certain knocking and realized that it was from the front door.

  As if a fog had been lifted, Hazel’s eyes cleared. Then she cleared her throat and slipped past him, arranging her clothes as she walked steadily to the front. He frowned at her back, his heart thudding too loudly in his chest as she opened the front door and talked to someone.

  Belatedly, Adam realized the voice was familiar. He was striding towards the living room within seconds, just in time to see the sheriff step in. Nikolai’s eyes locked on him, and Adam’s eyes followed. They had a stare-off in the living room, interrupted only when Hazel shut the door with a semi-slam and stared at them both pointedly.

  “To what do we owe you this visit, Sheriff?” Adam asked as politely as he could.

  “I’m visiting her,” Nikolai emphasized, finally turning to Hazel. “Can I talk to you in private?”

  “There’s no need,” Adam said.

  “Yes,” Hazel said at the same time.

  She shot him a look, one that had Adam reluctantly nodding before leaving the premises. He went to the back porch and tried not to listen to the murmurs inside, his mind working a mile a minute trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

  The conversation didn’t last long, and it wasn’t long before Hazel was also striding towards the back, her face a cloud of irritation. She shot a look at him, then crossed her arms and glared at the sky, which was clearer than it had been yesterday.

  “What did the sheriff want?”

  “To lord it over me and be overprotective,” she ranted, then zoned in on him. “I don’t need men to tell me what to do. I can do fine by myself. In fact, I’m spectacular.”

  Adam held up his hands, then nodded. “Okay.” He tilted his head. “Was he your lover or something?”

  “In the past,” she said. Her cheeks colored a dainty pink, but all he could think of was that man’s hands on her. Something dangerously dark flared inside him, and he had to swallow it down.

  “Boyfriend or something?”

  Hazel shrugged. “Just slept with him a couple of times. A few dates. Turns out he wasn’t into anything serious, so I broke it off before I’d end up thinking it was anything serious. He tried asking me out some more, but I didn’t want to be another notch in his bedpost. It’s no big deal.”

  But he could tell it was a big deal—at least, back when it happened. Adam could also tell that was a long time ago, as he didn’t feel anything on her end for the guy now.

  The sheriff, in the meantime…

  Adam’s jaw hardened. “Do you need protection from him?”

  Hazel shot him a look. “Don’t even start. I’m a powerful witch.”

  “And I’m a powerful shifter.”

  She scoffed. “Then we’re both powerful and capable of handling ourselves. He’s also powerful, so just don’t start anything with him. If you want to find your mate here, you might need his help in the long run.”

  Adam scoffed back, then clamped his mouth shut despite the need to say things—a lot of things. The need to punch someone spread through his body, an urge that he tried to fight. He turned to Hazel. “I think you have the potential to be my mate.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “No.”

  Whatever initial shock she had shut off, and she looked ahead towards the fields with no expression on her face. “Then I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “We both felt the sparks. Don’t deny it.”

  “I’m not going to,” she said softly. “But sparks are sparks. That just means we have a lot of chemistry.”

  “It could also mean we’re mates.”

  Hazel shook her head. “I don’t want to be another woman sleeping casually with men, Adam. Been there, done that. I hope you understand that.”

  He did. In fact, he can now saw how much it hurt her to be that woman that he wanted to punch the damn sheriff all over again. Adam swallowed the urge, trying to calm himself down.

  “I need to shift.”

  “Go ahead. The field is all yours. Just don’t go to the town center.”

  “I won’t.”

  “I’ll have dinner ready for us.”

  “Thank you.”

  Extremely bothered at the situation and her kindness in general, Adam went out to the fields before he could do something that he would regret—like take her there and give in to his desire when she obviously didn’t want to give her consent. Energy flowed inside him, both from their shared kiss and the one stored within him, and he let that energy flow free in this protected town as he shifted to his beast form.

  Then he flew.

  Dragons originated from Scotland, and he came from there, but he had no recollection of his childhood other than that he’d grown up alone in the forest before he learned there was a world where people existed—humans. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he had the enemies come after him, and it wasn’t until he was an adult and met another dragon shifter that he figured out the pattern: they came to every city they felt his energy in and attacked three times per city. The dragon shifter he met had been able to survive those three, but there was a second enemy after…and the dragon shifter didn’t survive that.

  Adam himself didn’t last until the second attack, which was why he never lasted in a place for a long time. Two years had been the longest he could manage to keep his energy inside, and every day of it had driven him crazy.

  But he felt the protection in this town, and that was what pushed him to shift during that first night. And he’d been safe.

  Adam kept flying, letting the wind refresh his mind. He let it coat his scales, let the sky free him from all worries. Soon, he felt better than he’d ever felt in a long while, and he knew it wasn’t just the town.

  It was Hazel.

  Just as the thought of her entered his mind, a certain chill surrounded him—one that penetrated his scales and almost made him stop and fall from the sky. The darkness followed, clouds roiling in that weren’t there before and sent dread slinking in his stomach.

  No. It couldn’t be.

  He roared in his head.

  Then he turned his body around and started flying—racing—back to the cabin.

  Chapter 7

  Steak seemed like the best option for a dragon shifter who was starting to get grumpy, especially since she wanted to start her experiment on him tonight. So Hazel did her best to prepare steak and forget about the kiss that happened—a difficult feat if she did say so herself, as that kiss still burned her system and made her feel out of sorts. Still, she managed to make a perfectly decent dinner, tossing some salad as an add-on and hoping it would soften him up to agree to her.

  And hopefully, the kiss wouldn’t be brought up again.

  She was just thinking of making some tiramisu to see if he liked it when she felt it—a certain chill in the air that traveled down her spine and had her shuddering. She frowned, trying to remember if she’d used any kind of magic today before she deduced that some ot
her witch must have done something to interrupt the warm weather just like that. Forgetting all about the tiramisu, Hazel prepared the dining table with the food and went to the back porch, narrowing her eyes at the dark clouds.

  No shadow or dragon could be seen, but she knew he’d be back soon. It bothered Hazel how she already knew he’d keep his word despite only knowing him for two days, but…call it instinct.

  She sighed. Hazel stepped back inside the house.

  And the chill increased two-fold.

  The back of her neck prickled, and she shuddered again. Hazel looked up, and whatever chill there was in her body turned to horror immediately.

  There was something crawling on her living room wall: a creature that she’d never seen before, one that was shaped like a lizard but more grotesque. It had scales all over, but they weren’t smooth like a dragon’s—rather, they were filled with boils and spikes. The creature also had a tail, one that spiked into a weapon, and a head that was round and had hollow sockets for eyes.

  She forced herself to stay still and not react, even while she readied the energy inside her and scrambled to think of attack spells. The creature kept crawling, sniffing here and there, its long black tongue coming out to feel her walls. Serrated, sharp teeth were visible, saliva sliding out. It crawled to the ceiling, then crossed to the kitchen, head turning in her direction before passing by her completely.

  It couldn’t see.

  How it got inside her home without her noticing, she hadn’t figured out yet. But she needed to get rid of it before it discovered her presence. Hazel tried not to tremble as she gathered her energy into single points around her fingertips, ready to throw in one singe. She felt her energy surge down as she opened her hands.

  The creature snapped its head back in her direction, jaws gaping open and a vicious roar coming out of its throat.

  Then the black thing lunged at her.

  She dove out of its way, crashing to the floor and hitting her elbows. It jarred her and almost knocked her teeth out, the pain a sudden blow. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the creature crawling for her, sharp claws pulling its body as it jumped down to take a bite at her.

  Adrenaline pushed through, and so did her energy as she held out her hands to block the creature. Sparks shot from her fingers, and she heard the creature squeal horribly before it slumped on the ground and evaporated. She watched the bubbly mess of boiling pus before her floor became as clean as it was before.

  Another creature crawled, this time through her open back door. Its claws reached for her hair and pulled, and she screamed as she tried to fight it off. She shot more sparks out of her fingers but kept missing it, and she struggled as the creature kept dragging her out the back porch and finally let go, crawling up the ceiling to land down on her—

  Another blur came, blocking the creature before it could rip her apart. She turned to look as Adam’s human form and the creature rolled around in her backyard, the creature struggling to take a swipe at him. But Adam’s hands had already shifted into claws, and they took hold of the creature from both sides of its face.

  Hazel watched as Adam ripped the creature apart until blood and body parts spread across her garden. But like the first creature, it evaporated instantly, though some of her flowers got burned in the process.

  For some reason, that angered her. But she could no longer concentrate on the anger as Adam, and his nakedness strode over to her, claws shifting to hands and taking her shoulders.

  “There will be more inside the house. They’re demons, and they can’t see. You need to hit them in the neck and cut the head from the body. Can you do that with your magic?”

  Even with the shock, she managed to nod her head. Then they were scrambling back inside, where she found three demons already in her living room.

  They both entered as quietly as they could. They looked at each other and mouthed to three.

  Then Hazel and Adam moved in unison, Adam shifting hands into claws again as he lunged for the demons. Hazel threw her magic in their direction, steering them in, practically feeling them taste her energy and grow frenzied over it. It made her blood go cold, but she forced herself to act now and think later as she followed Adam’s instructions and blasted them right on the neck.

  The feeling of her magic on the demon’s neck felt like she was trying to slice a large chunk of steak with a blunt knife. She had to force her energy fully into it to get it to work until she finally managed one—a slice through the head, with the demon crashing from the ceiling to the ground in a loud thud before evaporating. Adam had just finished tearing one apart, and now they were left with only one.

  They both moved, gathering around it. It leaped for Adam first, but Hazel was on it in an instant, using her magic at full force until the creature shrieked and was split apart. It evaporated within seconds, but Hazel didn’t stop moving as she stood up right away and looked around for more.

  A hand settled on her shoulder, and she wildly swirled and lifted her hand in the air for an attack. A hand clamped on her wrist, thumb rubbing as if trying to soothe her.

  “They’re gone. They’re all gone. You did great, Hazel.”

  The way he assured her with his deep voice had comfort and panic rising inside her. The panic won out, and her whole body shook with it as the adrenaline rushed out of her and made her weak.

  Adam stepped forward when she wobbled, and he carried her before she could protest and sat on the couch with her on his lap. She tried to struggle, but the shaking took over, and all she could do was hold on as it consumed her body.

  His energy leaked, sliding inside her, a gentle touch that assured and comforted.

  It’s okay. You’re safe with me.

  “Goddamn you,” she said out loud.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Did you bring them here?”

  “I didn’t. They followed me.”

  “Then you still brought them here.”

  “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

  The fact that he was so agreeable made irritation surge, and she struggled out of his arms to glare at him. He was looking at her steadily, almost bracing himself for an attack from her—and she realized that whatever she used on him, he wasn’t going to fight it.

  That had her body shaking even harder.

  “Damn you,” she repeated.

  “Do you want me to get rid of the shaking?”

  “Yes. I don’t even know why I’m shaking,” she admitted, her teeth chattering.

  “It’s nerves. They’re demons. They always touch the nerves, especially during a first encounter. Here, let me help you.”

  A hand settled on her stomach, palm rough and warm. The shaking was still there, but heat was starting up, too, and she watched him watch her, waiting for her to say no.

  Instead, Hazel waited as he leaned forward and touched his mouth to hers, making her forget all about the horror of earlier.

  His kiss was soft, just as hungry as earlier, but with the strangest comfort that made her want more. His hand slid down her pants, unzipping it and sliding inside until it touched her over her panties and made her breath catch in her throat. She knew this was more out of a clinical need than a want, and the shuddering in his body told her he’d been affected by those demon’s negative vibes, too.

  So she kept kissing him.

  And she let his finger slip inside her.

  Chapter 8

  Her core was wet, hot and tight—everything Adam basically imagined her to be and more, and he found his finger reveling in the feel of it as her muscles clamped around him. A hot little sound came out of her throat, one that he swallowed with his kiss that started out as comfort and turned into something else.

  At least, it did for him.

  But there was no protest on her end as he kept moving his finger, and he knew she needed this as much as he did—needed this human connection, this warm touch after that horrible feeling the demons gave off. They always gave it off, and Adam alway
s tried to fight the cold by lighting a warm fire or trying to work out until he worked the darkness off.

  This was so much better.

  His finger thrust in, a motion that read her body as it moved with him over his lap—which, in turn, turned him hard as a rock and raging with desire for her. How she managed to make him want her in less than a second, he couldn’t figure out yet. But it must mean something, and hell knew he wouldn’t let this opportunity go.

  All thoughts vanished from his head when the feel of her sank inside him, a warm glow of energy that wrapped around him like a vice. He knew she was leaking the magic without even realizing it, a desperate move as she tried to get rid of the shaking.

  He helped her out, feeling the rocking of her body as he slid his finger in and out of her. Eventually, he sensed her breath catch in her throat through their kiss and felt her clamp so tight around his finger—and he knew the release as it came, threatening to drive him mad and anchor him at the same time.

  Because their energy connected them, he also knew the exact moment she regretted what they’d done.

  “I’m not having sex with you. I’m sorry.”

  Adam broke the kiss. Then, even while it was the hardest decision he had to make, he slid her off his lap as casually as he could and tried not to stare at her heaving, flushed form, the ache so raw inside him. He nodded his head, trying to keep his voice calm.

  “Don’t be sorry. We both needed that.”

  And they did. She’d stopped shaking now, and the negative energy in the house and their senses were gone. She stood up, almost stumbling, before straightening herself and clearing her throat.

  “Do I need to protect the house?” she asked.

  “It’s a good idea.”

  That was the last time she talked to him as she got herself busy. Adam searched for the clothes in the shopping bags she set aside, donning them on and washing his face with warm water until he was relatively better. Belatedly, he realized that the clothes he’d been wearing earlier were probably owned by the sheriff, and the thought of that had a punch hitting his stomach, one that made him want to punch the sheriff in turn.