Heart racing she lost herself as pleasure took hold of her. It was as though someone had swept through her body and soul, leaving behind chilling a lightning that struck in every corner of her body, creating an uncontainable fire that burned her to her core.
Just as her release edged closer and closer, Gabriella found herself gasping with denial as Robert pulled his mouth from her weeping sex. Without a word, he leaned back on his heels to stare down at her flushed body. Grasping a hold of her soft hips he quickly flipped her onto her stomach, his arm moved around her waist, lifting her up onto all fours.
“Much better,” His raw voice whispered from behind her. His breath escaped out in a heated pant as he looked over her body with tremendous appreciation. Robert felt his beast growl with pleasure as it clawed toward the surface to claim his mate. No longer would he hide his beast from her, focusing on irresistible sight of his mate, he allowed the last chains on his control to slip away.
The end of his barrowed shirt barely covering her smooth buttocks as it rose and fluttered with teasing motions. Gabriella rotated her hips in invitation as she met his leering gaze over her shoulder. He growled with pleasure at the sight of his alluring mate’s ass swaying temptingly in front of him. It would appear that the last of her bashfulness had fallen away to reveal the true woman beneath.
Sliding along her soft skin, his hands smoothed an even line from her hips to slip beneath the loose fitting shirt and up her small rib cage to possessively cover an aching breast. Her lips parted in a moan as his hand molded and squeezed the soft flesh, sending sparks of desire to her pulsing clit.
Removing one of his hands from beneath the shirt, Robert lifted the shirt from the bottom to pull it over her head and letting the soft material fall around her wrists. Moving both hands together he followed the material up her back and down her braced arms to cover her hands with his. His chest covered over her back while his lips brushed along the side of her neck and over her shoulder, leaving soft love bites along the way.
“So beautiful…” He whispered against her hair as his hand slid around her stomach to cup her weeping channel. His fingers massaged over her swollen clit, drawing more rushing moisture from her clenching muscles.
Goosebumps rushed along her arms and teased at her pebbled nipples as she moaned in response to the combination of his hand and as his hard length caressed her. Her slick channel clenched and tightened with need making her hips arched back against his cock, begging and pleadeding for more.
Robert felt Gabriella jump at the feel of his exposed cock as it brushed between her wet feminine folds. Back and forth, his cock slid against her with provocative movements. Gabriella rocked her hips against him, returning the teasing motions that he applied to her. Allowing his hands to fall away from her breast and clit, his hands tightly clasped her hips. With one swift thrust, Robert buried himself deep within her silken core.
“Robert!” She gasped out in surprise.
He was buried so deep inside her; she swore he was stabbing at her heart. Instead of hard, fast stokes inside her; like she’d anticipated, he slowly withdrew only to fervently push back inside her tight passage. Every time Gabriella would thrust back against him, in effort to make him move more to her liking, Robert would simply pull out nearly his entire length and slowly push back in.
“What are you doing?” She breathed out with need. Her inner walls pulsed and fluttered around his thick shaft, her nails biting into the comforter beneath her fingers.
“Claiming my mate,” He whispered huskily, in between planting small bites along the back of her neck.
“Then move faster,” she demanded with a moan.
Smirking at her response, he continued his current pace. Rotating his hips in a circular motion, he slowly withdrew from the hot, silky haven that her luscious body offered him, only to plunge back into her with deliberate slowness. The room filled with the sounds of moans of pleasure and pleas for more.
The slow, sensual pace was quickly forgotten as he began driving into her like ravenous beast he was. He couldn’t get enough of her and he knew he never would. Reaching up to cup her breast in his large, powerful hand, molding the soft flesh as his fingers plucked at her straining nipple. The sound of their flesh slapping together sent sharp chills up Gabriella’s spine and ending at the back of her skull.
“Who do you belong to, my mate?” He demanded in a rough voice, his breath coming out in heavy pants.
“Robert...please…” She groaned out with pleasure as his cock sunk deeper and deeper into her warm depths.
Moving back into a slow, torturous pace, once again, Robert’s strong hands tightened on her hips, preventing Gabriella from moving as she tried to impale herself on and off his aching cock when his movements slowed. Letting out a sound of frustrated outrage, Gabriella fought against his controlling hold on her hips.
Thrusting up with one quick movement, Robert had Gabriella begging for relief “I need you.”
“And you’ll have me, just as soon as you say it. Say you’re mine.” He demanded softly. “I need to hear you say it. I need to hear you say that I’m the only one you want, the only one that your body burns for. I want to possess every single part of you—body and mind, until you can’t get rid of me.”
“I’m yours. Though I cannot explain it, it’s true. I am only yours.”
At her words his thrusting hips picked up speed, his cock nudging at her cervix with each strong stroke. Pressure began to build in the pit of Gabriella’s stomach, becoming heavier and heavier. No butterflies in one’s stomach could compare to what she felt when she was with Robert. He matched her every want and desire with his own, multiplying it by a thousand. She was drowning and he was her air. Her inner muscles tensed and seized with pleasure as her body exploded with pleasure. Her vaginal muscles clamped down on his thrusting cock, causing Robert’s pleasure to heighten as he joined his mate in ecstasy.
He held her closer as his body marked her in the most intimate of ways. Watching as Gabriella’s arms trembled with the effort to hold herself up, Robert reluctantly pulled free of her clinching passage. Holding her close, he settled on his back, pulling her securely against his side.
“We should fight more often.” Gabriella breathed out causing Robert to weakly chuckle in response.
Squeezing her shivering form to him, he sighed with contentment. “I agree.”
* ~ * ~ *
Moments later, Gabriella broke the afterglow silence between them. “Don’t be angry with me for wanting to go, Robert.” She softly pled. At her words, she could feel him stiffen beneath her as she idling trailed her fingertips across the sweaty skin of his chest.
“I won’t change my decision on this, Gabriella. Doyle may have the strength to let his mate put herself in danger, but I don’t have that.” Tucking a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up to look at him. “You have to understand that I never thought I’d have a mate—let alone a true mate. If something happened to you I don’t think I would live through it.”
Brushing his hand away, she laced her fingers with his. “I don’t plan on charging into some gun battle, Robert.” She admitted gently. “But I have to finish this.” Lifting their joined hands to his mouth, Robert smoothed a lingering kiss across her knuckles, but he didn’t respond to her words. Robert would never agree to her going; she knew that. She only wished that he would understand it.
Untangling her hand from his, she stretched her arm across his stomach as she laid her head against his chest. The even beating of his heart against her cheek relaxed her as his arm curved around her shoulders.
“Robert, can I ask you something?”
“Will you still ask if I say no?” He countered with a smile in his voice.
“Possibly,”
“Then ask.”
“Why did you say that you never thought you’d have a mate? I thought you said that shifters all took mates.” She asked, looking up at him.
Sighing, Robert gently smoothed his ha
nd down her back as his other hand covered her hugging arm. “Every shifter does take mates and it’s widely believed that everyone has a true mate; not that everyone is that lucky. For me; I decided long ago that I wouldn’t take a mate.”
“Why?”
“Years ago; as a young man, stupid and envious of the happiness that I saw in other mated pairs, I searched amongst some of the female shifters in Darkwood Springs for a mate. After a few months of dating, I thought I’d found one.”
Jealously stabbed at her heart in reaction to his words. Robert had loved someone before her. It wasn’t totally a surprise. Robert was a handsome man; what woman wouldn’t fall at his feet? “Who was she?” She found herself reluctantly asking.
“She was a wolf shifter that worked with Doyle and me as a game warden.”
“So, you do have a job other than kidnapping women from their homes, Mr. Wildlife police.” She teased.
“I’ve only kidnapped one woman in my life and I think it turned out alright, don’t you?” He said, placing a kiss on her upturned lips.
Pulling back, she grinned up at him. “I believe it did. Now continue on,” She replied with a wave of her hand.
“Anyway Celia was new in town and it was my job to help her learn about the area she would be working in. After a few weeks we started dating seriously and I grew accustom to the notion that I would claim her soon. It wasn’t until I brought her to the compound that I saw a change in her. Celia’s interest suddenly faded from me once she found out that I wasn’t the brother that would inherit the Alpha position in the pack.”
“She dumped you for Doyle?” Shock had Gabriella reeling back.
Robert nodded grimly. “Yes. Later I found out that Celia and her family had been banished from her last pack for some unknown reason. I suppose she was looking for a strong mate that could give her a good life. Being the mate of an Alpha brings security and respect, but not the same as if she’d mated a Beta instead.”
“She was an idiota if she couldn’t see beyond that, Robert.”
“I can’t say that I blame her. I’ve always been more of a loner in life. It’s rare that I stay here, surrounded by the rest of the pack. Most of the time I prefer the solitude of nature, what woman would want that compared to the comforts that others could provide.”
“What happened to her?”
Inside her chest, Gabriella could feel her heart breaking for the pain Robert must have felt. To be rejected because some thought you weren’t enough must be a terrible thing and something that no one deserves. Silently she vowed never to make him feel like he was lacking in some form. Even if that meant she had to grow accustom to sleeping in a tent outside in the woods with him.
“I don’t know. I suppose when Doyle didn’t show an interest in her, she left. I haven’t seen her in years.”
“Good. Otherwise I’d have to hunt her down after I get my own grizzly bear inside me.”
Looking down at her with a teasing grin, Robert shook his head. “Who would have thought that a prissy woman like you would turn out to be so vicious?”
“You remember that the next time you try to tell me what to do and on another note; I am not prissy!”
19
Lying awake watching the moon moved across the glittery sky, Robert turned to look down at the sleeping form beside him. Gabriella laid curled into his side with one hand resting near his heart. Her lips parted softly as she slept peacefully. Reaching out, his fingers stroked against her long, chocolate hair laid in waved across his arm behind her.
In such a short amount of time this fiery, pain in his hide had come to mean so much to him and it terrified him shitless. Telling her about his past hours earlier had torn open old wounds for him. Gabriella was far different from Celia, but he couldn’t shake the concern in the back of his mind that she may come to feel the same about him. What if she decided that she didn’t want to stay in Darkwood Springs? Their small town didn’t have all that her home in New York had to offer.
It didn’t matter. She was his and soon she would become a shifter. It was rare that shifters lived in the city. It too crowded and there was never enough land to release their beast to run free. Gabriella would come to accept life with the pack and he would do all he could to make her happy.
Inwardly he cursed at what loomed just hours away. Gabriella was still adamant about going with them to put an end to Malca. He couldn’t allow this. But how could he stop her? Short of tying her up and locking her in the cabin that the pack used as a prison, there was nothing he could do. Doyle had already given her his word that she could go and as Beta it wasn’t his place to challenge his Alpha’s authority. Though he might make him pay for it later in some painful way.
Easing out from under Gabriella, he winced as she groaned in her sleep before rolling over on her side. Rising from the bed, he carefully tugged the comforter around her naked body to keep her from getting cold in his absence. Moving to the dresser, he quickly selected clothes and got dress. Dressed, he reached in the back of his top drawer to withdraw a spare set of handcuffs.
Full of regret he walked back to the bed with the handcuffs in hand. Careful not to wake her, he snapped one cuff around her wrist while snapping the other around the thin wooden post of the headboard. That should keep her from following him.
Lowering his face to her, he brushed a soft kiss across her cheek. A smile curved along his lips as she batted at his face with annoyance in her sleep. Moving on silent feet he crossed the room to the door. Stopping long enough to look back at his sleeping mate, Robert eased the door open before closing it softly behind him.
Making his way down the stairs he made his way toward the main level. The house was quiet and dark as all others were asleep in their beds. With his superior eyes he was able to see though the darkness with little effort. Moving quickly, he made his way down to the pack’s armory. Being Beta had its privileges and one was having the security code to the locked door. Grabbing a shoulder bag that hung on the wall, Robert began to fill it with anything he thought he’d need. Though he would have no problem shifting and fighting his way though Malca’s facility, he knew that he needed to get in and out without drawing too much attention.
His plan was simple. He would get to New York and find Malca. He would kill her before the others could beat him to it. He wouldn’t leave this mission to chance. He had to make sure that Malca could never come after his mate or his family ever again. Failing was not an option. He would end this or die trying—hopefully it wouldn’t be the latter.
Leaving the armory with quick strides, he slunk from the main house. Scanning the grounds to make sure he wasn’t being watch, he carefully made his way to Eric’s hummer that sat parked outside one of the guest cabins.
Sorry Eric.
Sliding behind the wheel he snatched the keys from the visor overhead. Starting up the engine he gave one last look at the main house. While started up his stolen vehicle, he never knew that he was being watched.
From the shadows of the surrounding woods, two small, glowing green eyes watched him. As the engine roared to life a bundle of red fur shot across the ground to leap through the open back window just as Robert peeled out of the compound’s gates.
* ~ * ~ *
Smiling softly as the sun hit her face, Gabriella snuggled more into the soft cocoon that surrounded her. Blindly reaching behind her, she reached out for Robert. Once her hand settled on the cold and empty spot behind her, she came fully wake. Opening her eyes with confusion, she turned to look over her shoulder as she confirmed that she was alone. Had he gone to get breakfast?
Moving to sit up she felt herself unable to move very far as her arm jerked with a stop. Oh no. Jerking around to look at the headboard, she stared in shock at the familiar sight. Why would he handcuff her to the bed? If this was some joke, she wasn’t laughing.
“Robert!” She yelled toward the connecting bathroom. Silence greeted her as there was no answer. Her anger deflated as unease began to replace it. W
hy would he handcuff her…unless he was trying to prevent her from leaving? If that were the case; where was he? Hoping that her gut feeling was wrong, she began calling for help. “Someone! Robert! Doyle! Aria!”
A sound of rushing feet echoed outside her door second before the door was pushed open. Standing in the doorway stood Doyle who was quickly joined by Aria. Ignoring Doyle’s pondering look at why she must have called for help, she pulled the comforter higher up her neck to hide her nakedness.
“What’s wrong?” Aria asked as she stepped around Doyle and further into the room
“Where’s Robert?”
“I haven’t seen him this morning. We assumed he was with you.” Doyle answered. “We were downstairs with Raoul getting everything ready when you yelled.”
Eyes darting back and forth, Gabrielle looked beseechingly at both of them. “You need to find Robert. I need one of you to get me out of these.” She rushed out, lifting her restrained hand in question. “If I’m right—and I’m hoping I’m not. I think Robert has gone after Malca on his own.”
Moving closer to the bed, Aria’s eyes fell on the handcuffs. “Talk about fifty shades of stupid.” Turning back to her mate, Aria beckoned Doyle toward the bed. “Get her free and we have to pray that your brother hasn’t done anything stupid.”
Humming in agreement, Doyle reached out and snapped the metal link between the cuffs. Finally free, Gabriella slid from the bed with the comforter wrapped around her like a toga.
“Go find Robert, I will get dressed and meet you down stairs.”
Big, Bold & Bearing (Grizzly Affairs Book 2) Page 22
