The Misfit and the Bear

by Sloane Meyers

  Oskar laughed then, an amused twinkle in his eye. “I should have known. Of course you wouldn’t be the type to sit back and let everyone else do things for you.” Then he lowered his voice. “Now, why don’t you come back to my place with me and show me what kind of things you know how to do in the bedroom.”

  Zora felt her face heating up in an instant, and she was sure her cheeks were bright red. No man had ever been quite so forward with her, and she found it both thrilling and unsettling. “I…I…well…”

  “Just say yes.”

  She looked up at him, grinned, and shrugged. She knew she was in way over her head at this point, but she didn’t care anymore.

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Zora was shivering for real by the time they got back to Oskar’s small hut. The winter night had turned colder, and snow was starting to fall. Inside his little hut, though, it was surprisingly warm. When she remarked on this, a look of obvious pride crossed his face.

  “The walls are triple insulated,” he explained as he lit the wall torches and the cabin flooded with soft light from the flames. “That was a lot of work, especially since I can’t just go down to a hardware store and buy materials for insulation. I have to go into the forest and collect it myself. And the loft still gets cold, because the only fireplace is down here. But I tried to make things as warm as possible. I’ve done my best to take good care of Whisper since our parents died.”

  “I’m really sorry about your parents.” Zora wanted to ask him what had happened, but she wasn’t sure he would appreciate the question. His eyes darkened with even the most casual of references to their death, and she got the feeling that he didn’t want to talk about it. Indeed, all he did to acknowledge her statement of sympathy was let out a short grunt.

  Zora looked around the small cabin again, mostly to give Oskar a moment alone with his feelings. She noticed a small pile of old books piled in one corner near the fireplace. A large bearskin rug sat there as well, and a small lamp that wasn’t lit at the moment but looked like it had gotten plenty of use. It looked like a reading corner, and Zora smiled. She had a corner like that in her own room back in Gilt Hollow. Of course, hers was much fancier, with a plush chair to sit in and a huge pile of brand new books on whatever subject had caught her fancy that week. But the general idea was the same.

  “Your sister’s?” she asked, pointing at the books.

  The smile returned to Oskar’s face. “Yeah. She loves to read. Only has those five books. She’s collected them over the years when I had some extra money on her birthday, or when another shifter found an old book tossed in a public garbage bin in the Gilt Hollow market. None of them are worth anything anymore, but I think she values those books more than anything else in the world.”

  Oskar’s voice was filled with fondness as he spoke, and Zora felt her heart twisting up for what must have been the hundredth time tonight. “I could get her more books, you know.”

  Oskar hesitated. “But how will she explain where they came from if anyone from Gilt Hollow sees them?”

  Another heart twist in Zora’s chest. She couldn’t handle how unfair the shifters’ lives were. They had to worry that they’d get in trouble just for having a stack of books in their home? No wonder their cries for a revolution had been swelling to an undeniable roar.

  “I’ll only bring a couple. Some of my older ones, so she could always say it was something someone found in a trash bin, just like the others. But it’ll give her something new to read.”

  Oskar reached to pull her into his arms. “You’re really special, you know that?”

  Zora felt the electricity of his touch spreading through her body like a delicious, tingling heat. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest, trying to memorize the way this felt. These stolen moments were so few and far between. She wanted to remember them when she was back in her lonely bedroom in Gilt Hollow, so close to Oskar and yet unable to go to him without fearing that his life would be taken if anyone saw her.

  “I’m not special,” she said. “I have everything I could ever want. Giving away a few books is nothing to me.”

  “No, you are special,” Oskar said, using his pointer finger under her chin to force her to lift her gaze to him. “You are the only Gilt Hollow citizen I’ve ever met who actually cared enough to share their wealth with a shifter. I don’t know how you managed to turn out differently, growing up in that sea of imbeciles, but you did.”

  Before Zora could figure out how to respond, Oskar leaned down and put his lips on hers. The fire in her body went instantly to the level of an inferno, and she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small moan. She wasn’t sure how it was possible for lips to feel strong, but his did. They were so firm, and so sure of themselves as they pressed against hers. And then, a moment later, his tongue slipped past his lips and into her mouth. Another moan escaped from deep within her throat as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her tight. His body felt strong and steady against hers, like a safe haven she could come to when the world around her was spinning out of control. And, honestly, when did Zora’s world not feel like it was spinning out of control these days? No matter how much she tried to make sense of the gilded folly she lived in, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t fit in at Gilt Hollow, and she definitely didn’t fit here at Bear Hollow either. But the one place she did fit was in Oskar’s arms. And right now, with his arms wrapped around her, his hips pressed against hers, and his tongue deep in her mouth, she felt like she was home. It was a feeling she hadn’t even realized she’d been missing, until she’d found it.

  Oskar’s kiss intensified, as though he could sense how deep her happiness was running right now. He held her tighter sliding his hands down her back, pressing firmly against her hips to push them against his, and then sliding even further so that he grabbed her ass cheeks in each hand. Every touch made her crazier than before. Every movement of his body against hers caused the tingling inferno within her to grow. She definitely wasn’t cold anymore. She was sweating, the heat of her passion overtaking her. She was pretty sure Oskar felt the same. His breathing was growing heavy, and each time he pressed their hips together, she could feel his stiff erection, hard as a rock.

  Zora trembled at the thought of that erection. Would he let them take things all the way tonight? They were in the ideal place for it. No one would catch them here, and Zora had never wanted anything more than she wanted their bodies joined right now.

  “Oskar,” she begged when he pulled back from their kiss for a moment to catch his breath. He understood what she was begging for, and he put one single finger from his right hand up against her face, tracing her cheekbone down.

  “We shouldn’t,” he whispered, but his voice held no conviction, and he was already pulling her toward the rope ladder that led up to the “bedroom.” Zora bit her lower lip, feeling the anticipation of what might come next flooding her body. A deep, burning pressure was building up within her core, and she could feel the wetness between her legs increasing. She wanted him like she had never wanted anything in her life, and she didn’t care that they shouldn’t, or that they wouldn’t be able to ever have a relationship out in the open, freely in front of everyone. Her desire for Oskar had grown so strong that the details of real life didn’t matter in that moment. When reality came crashing back down around her, she would deal with it then. In the meantime, she would enjoy this short-lived fairy tale.

  When they got to the rope ladder, Oskar let out a grunt and threw her over his shoulder. She squeaked in surprise, unable to believe how easily he had lifted her with one arm. She shouldn’t have been so shocked at his strength. After all, he had a bear within him, and he spent his days training to make himself as strong as he could for the Games. He might possibly be the strongest man in all of Bear Hollow and Gilt Hollow combined at this point. And right now, he was using that strength to carry her up the rope ladder toward his bed.

  The rope swung wildly as he climb
ed it, but Zora was never worried that she might fall. His grip on her, and on the rope ladder, was secure. He moved quickly, more like he was a cat than a bear, and they were in the loft within a few seconds. He put her down on the pine mattress that must have been his, and Zora winced at its lumpiness. She hadn’t expected it to be as soft as her mattress back in Gilt Hollow, but she hadn’t expected it to be quite this hard, either.

  She wasn’t thinking about the mattress for long, though. Oskar’s hands were on her again in seconds, reaching to tug at the sleek black shirt that kept his hands from touching her bare skin. He tore off his own shirt as well, ripping it in the process but not even seeming to notice. In a flurry of activity, he removed all of his clothes and hers, leaving them in a pile a few feet away from the lumpy mattress where Zora now lay naked. He hovered over her, naked as well, and Zora couldn’t keep herself from dipping her eyes to look at his erection.

  She’d felt him before, and had been impressed by how large he was underneath her hands. But actually seeing him was still a shock. She gasped and then, embarrassed by her reaction, clapped a hand over her mouth.

  He grinned at her, his face an alluring blend of shadows and light in the dim glow of the torches from downstairs. “Like what you see?” he whispered.

  “Yes,” she whispered back. “And you?”

  He let out a low growl. “Not just like. Love.”

  And then he bent his head down toward her breasts. He took one in his mouth and the other in his hands, and Zora was burning up all over again. She arched her back, pushing her body against his as she tried to contain the sensations that filled her. He had a way of knowing the exact spots to touch and the exact pressure to use to make her feel like she was going to explode in a fireworks’ display of passion.

  His mouth teased at the hard nub of her nipple, and his fingers twisted at its twin. Tingling electricity filled her body, and she had the brief thought that her body was probably filled with more electricity right now than the entirety of what was used to light up the Arena during the Games. She was overcome by the crazy mix of emotions and sensations that filled her, and all she could do was press her body against Oskar’s and moan.

  She reached up to run her fingers through his hair, amazed at how soft and thick it was. But she shouldn’t have been surprised. Every part of him was perfect, from his silky hair to his chiseled face to his broad shoulders to his sculpted abs to his enormous erection to his thighs like a god’s to his feet that could run like the wind despite his size… He was an absolute god of a man, and somehow, he was interested in her—the daughter of one of the men in Gilt Hollow that his people hated most.

  But Zora didn’t want to think about Gilt Hollow at all right now. She wanted to enjoy being here with Oskar. Who knew if she’d ever have a chance like this again?

  Enjoy this moment. Memorize what it feels like to have his skin against your skin. Zora closed her eyes and drank it all in. His hand moved from her breasts to the slick wetness between her legs. He ran his fingers through the soft curls down there, and then, he pushed one of those fingers inside of her. Zora gasped and felt a fresh rush of heat as he moved that finger within her. He stroked against her most sensitive skin, setting her to trembling and causing the pressure that had been building within her to reach a crescendo. But before that crescendo could come crashing over her, she stopped him.

  “No, wait,” she panted, pushing his hand away. “I don’t just want your finger. I want you.”

  He gazed at her in that dim light, his dark eyes seeming to see into her very soul. Once again, the intensity in his expression took her breath away. “Are you sure? I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable with, and I know this is moving really fast.”

  “I’m sure. I want you.”

  “Then you’ll have me.”

  With a low growl, he pushed her back so she was lying flat against the lumpy mattress, whose lumps she didn’t even notice anymore. He slid up to hover over her, positioning his impossibly large erection right over where his hand had been only moments earlier.

  He stopped there for a moment, holding her gaze with his dark, hungry eyes. Those eyes that had seen so much heartache and pain, and yet still remained so full of hope and love. Those eyes that Zora knew would be the only eyes she could ever love, for the rest of her life. Those eyes that saw her for who she truly was—a person who was so much more than the fancy dresses and expensive jewelry she was constantly compelled to wear. A person who cared. Who loved.

  Who mattered.

  And then, he was inside her. He slid into her with one smooth, authoritative movement. He filled her completely, pushing against her inner walls and hitting nerve endings she hadn’t even known existed until now. She moaned and thrashed underneath him. If she’d thought her body had been on fire before this, she’d been wrong. Now, she burned. Every part of her burned, with a hot, fiery pressure that almost instantly reached an explosion point. She tried to hold back as long as she could, wanting to draw out the sheer, raw pleasure of this for just a few seconds more. But when he started to rock his hips against hers, sliding that glorious dick of his back and forth within her, she was lost.

  Her release came crashing over her, dragging her under its waves like nothing she had ever experienced before. Her inner muscles spasmed, clenching around Oskar’s dick over and over with an urgency that she’d never known. She trembled, her whole body consumed with this man and her love for him. She couldn’t concentrate on anything except how amazing that moment felt.

  And then, he joined her. He threw his head back and roared, the sound of it so loud that Zora was sure it must have been heard in every furthest corner of Bear Hollow. She didn’t care. Let them hear. Let them know that he loved her. She loved him back, and she would always do right by him.

  He stiffened and roared again, pulsing into her as his release overcame him. Together, the two of them rode the waves of ecstasy until they were completely spent. Oskar held her for a long time while still inside her, and then, with a satisfied sigh, he slid over to lie beside her, his arms still around her. They lay like that as long as they could, until it was time to get up and get dressed. They didn’t speak as they headed back to the tunnel and back to their real life. Somehow, speaking felt like it would ruin the magic of everything they had just shared.

  And that’s what it had been. Magic. Zora vowed once again to find a way to make things with Oskar work, no matter the cost.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Oskar had never felt as crazy as he did in the weeks following his little pine mattress romp with Zora. They agreed that it was best to keep their distance from each other back in Gilt Hollow, just in case anyone started questioning why Oskar was spending so much time with Zora. Zora continued to come watch him at training, but they didn’t have much time alone. And that was a problem, because Oskar had a lot that he wanted to say to Zora: things that could not be said when other people were around.

  After they’d slept together, everything had made much more sense, in a way. He’d felt the lifemate bond forming, and he knew now why the attraction between Zora and him had been so fast and furious. He had suspected it, but he hadn’t wanted to admit to himself that a woman from Gilt Hollow might actually be his lifemate. Now he knew, but he still felt confused.

  Why would destiny be so cruel? He and Zora could never be together openly. Not unless the current system was completely overthrown, and who knew how long that might take. Revolutions didn’t usually happen overnight. The history books might make it seem that way, but every grand event required years of planning. And the planning for the shifter revolution had only just begun.

  But Oskar tried not to think too much about how bleak his hopes were for a future with Zora. Doing that had only driven him batshit crazy, so he started putting as much focus as he could on helping the resistance. After all, the more the resistance grew, the better the chances of a revolution happening sooner rather than later.

  The biggest thing the resi
stance was doing right now was transporting food and other supplies across the tunnel to the shifters. Zora had not returned to Bear Hollow, at Otto’s request. He told her it was far too dangerous to be transporting a Gilt Hollow citizen back and forth, and Zora had deferred to his request. Oskar knew Otto was right, but he wished she could go back again so he could sneak her up to his old pine mattress once more. Again, he told himself to focus on other things and bide his time.

  Just because Zora herself didn’t cross the tunnel, though, that didn’t mean she didn’t make her presence known in Bear Hollow. In addition to supplementing the food that Oskar and the other shifters stockpiled to send over, she sent other necessities. She sent first aid kits that contained simple tools for cleaning wounds, or medicine for common ailments like colds and fevers. The shifters were beyond grateful for the medicine, especially since it was the middle of the winter and the middle of cold and flu season. Medicine had always been a luxury that no one in Bear Hollow could afford, and having access to it had made the long winter much more bearable for them.

  Zora also sent yards and yards of plain but warm fabric. The fabric had come from the ultra-discount racks in the market, but Zora had chosen it from there for a reason. The shifters could sew their own blankets from this fabric, and because the fabric was cheap and plain, no one would suspect it had been a gift from a rich Gilt Hollow citizen. The blankets would still be warm, though, and a welcome addition to Bear Hollow in the winter. Even without showing her face, Zora had endeared herself to the shifters. Even Otto had to admit that she was proving to be an even more valuable asset than he thought, and Otto wasn’t the easiest guy to win over.