Bears of Burden: HUTCH

by Candace Ayers

  Eva arched her back, feeding him more of her breasts as she gasped in excitement. She moved her hands down his abdomen till she reached his throbbing erection, running her fingers over it, feeling it’s silky-soft harness and the drop of wetness at its tip.

  “Eva – wait” Sebastian didn’t want to lose control, and took her hand in his instead, individually kissing each of her fingers.

  “I’ve waited for years,” she replied, a soft smile playing on her face. His chest rumbled with laughter.

  He didn’t need more encouragement than that. He began to stroke the softness between her legs, lightly teasing her nub with his thumb. She pushed her body further into his fingers, urging him on.

  Slowly he rolled on top of her and entered her, sharply inhaling his breath as he felt his way through her tightness, glorying in her wetness. Every movement they made together sent sharp, intense bursts of light flooding through his body. Making his way inside her, inch by inch, he heard her cry out in pleasure and felt the tightening of her thighs around his hips, bringing him closer.

  Her hands clasped at his buttocks, and she revelled at the tight muscle there, clawing at them, driving him crazy. As their rhythm increased, Sebastian felt a familiar tug in the pit of his stomach. Shit, he thought. He cursed himself for not considering this earlier. Whilst part of his mind tried to fight through the haze of pleasure and calm his body back down, it felt like the wolf instinct had already taken over. Both beast and Eva were in charge of his body now, and he was barely able to stop the throbbing sensations coursing and building through him.

  Eva could feel her climax building rapidly, and she moaned in pleasure. She loved the way their bodies fit together so perfectly, his largeness filling her up, making her feel complete.

  She noticed the change in his eyes, their brightness she’d seen earlier intensifying. As she stared at him, his eyes seemed to glow an inhuman color. He knew he had to hold on just a little longer. Eva’s body was responding with pure excitement, her core welcoming his girth and more wetness flowing through her. She clutched at his strong, muscular back and drove him more furiously into her, panting as she came for him again and again, screaming out his name.

  He looked into her eyes and saw an outpouring of love, and in that moment his body tipped over the edge. He felt his entire being thunderously crash through with white-hot pleasure as his seed pulsed into her. He had never felt anything more intense and altering than this moment. He felt intrinsically connected to Eva, as if their bodies and souls had fused together as one, and that his passion might burn them both out of existence.

  He held onto that perfect moment for a heartbeat, and then it fell away.

  He rolled off the bed in pain as his body started an uncontrolled change, the dark hair on his abdomen growing thicker, the hair on his head growing longer.

  “Eva – I’m so sorry - ” the words were a gasp, as he fully transformed before her eyes. Eva knew she should be horrified, but she wasn’t.

  Sebastian was vaguely aware of his claws shredding the mattress and bedspread beneath them, as he hopped up and collapsed down beside her, afraid to touch her until he felt himself return to human form. As soon as he did, she leaned over and kissed him leisurely on the mouth. Sebastian turned to cradle her in his arms as if she were the most precious creature on earth.

  “The stories…they’re true, aren’t they?” She said, after a moment.

  “Yeah, they’re true.”

  He looked down at her, and saw a blissful calm spread over her face as she looked into his eyes. She smiled at him, “I always thought they might be.”

  Chapter 12

  “Eva – I have to tell you something” his tone was harsher, the curtness returning. He sat up, gently folding her away from him.

  Eva had her dreamy state rudely interrupted by panic and a bleak sense of impending pain, “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s about how I got like this. About your father.” He hesitated before continuing.

  Eva had brought the covers up around her naked form, and he suddenly wanted to howl at the sight of her defensive and distanced from him. But he couldn’t not tell her now. Not now that she felt part of his very soul.

  “Your father was like me, like this. He was pack leader and had wanted to turn me since I was young. He decided that he would do it the night my father and I went to the White Mountains. I didn’t know – I’m so sorry, Eva. It was an accident. He attacked me in wolf form - I didn’t know it was him.”

  Eva stared at him blankly. She felt ice-cold shock creep through her veins. This can’t be happening, this can’t be true. He whole world felt like it was splintering and cracking. I love you. Please don’t let this be true.

  “It was an accident Eva – I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know.” He met her gaze, and almost welcomed the pain that it caused him to do so.

  “Eva, I’m in love with you. I’ve can’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. My world only wakes up when you’re in it. When you went away to study I was so happy – I didn’t want you to end up in this town, but every time you returned it was like the sun came out, you’re everything to me Eva.”

  She looked at him, uncomprehending. She didn’t understand how he could have felt this way all these years and never said or done anything. Only now, after killing her father, did he come to her. Why?

  “Sebastian…I…I need some time. I think.” Her words sounded cold to her own ears.

  She saw the shutters come down across his face, the cold and dispassionate look replace the openness and warmth from only moments before, but she couldn’t find a way to soothe him.

  Sebastian picked up his jeans and threw them on hastily, ignoring the rest of his things and walked out of the bedroom door without looking back.

  She started to scream in her head for him to return, not to leave her, but the words wouldn’t form in her mouth.

  Chapter 13

  She had stayed up late, immobile on her bed, crying and regretting asking Sebastian to leave. She must have slept at some point, as dawn was breaking through the curtains when she awoke.

  When she pulled opened her window the air smelled sweet, the thunderstorm of the night before had drenched the dry land leaving it dewy and fragrant.

  She staggered slowly downstairs in search of coffee, trying to shake off the chasm of disappointment that she felt. In the morning light, last night seemed like a far away dream; in some parts tragically horrible, yet with moments that each reached a pinnacle of bliss that she’d never known would be possible. It was her recollection of those moments that made this morning’s dawn truly feel like the start of something new, as if her world had altered drastically in the night, and would never go back again.

  She needed to find Sebastian. She was devastated by her father’s death, and Sebastian’s role in it, but she acknowledged it was an accident. She had been told the stories of the Tanana tribes as a child, and ironically, back then she imagined that her father was one of the brave shape shifting wolves.

  She had looked for magic everywhere when she was little, believed there were fairies in the garden, flitting about from flower to flower, she thought all of nature’s creatures were mystical. Now as an adult realizing that her childhood fantasies were real, she didn’t want to turn her back on them. She knew that she could get on a plane back to New York, apologise to Jimmy and live the life that lay waiting for her. But Leslie-Anne’s word’s echoed in her head – she would die on the inside.

  On that thought, a sense of urgency grew within her, half afraid that Sebastian had already slipped away, gone while the scent of him still enveloped her body. She gulped her coffee down and rushed upstairs to shower and dress. She didn’t know where to start looking, but Logan seemed like the logical first port of call.

  She flung on jeans and a t-shirt, leaving her hair damp. Rushing back downstairs, her heart started thumping wildly in her chest, excitement and anxiety building. Busting through the front door she blinked in
the bright sun, and then came to a standstill. There was a wolf waiting for her in the front garden.

  The hair she had thought last night was jet black, was a rich dark brown in the sunlight. She recognized his eyes, the same luminous white and blue that she had seen last night. He had been sitting, but now moved up onto all fours as she approached.

  “Sebastian?”

  Eva. His voice echoed through her head, as clearly as if he were speaking out loud. It was soft and caressing, with the faintest sound of a throaty purr beneath it.

  As she stood and stared at him, she got the feeling that he had waited here all night for her, and the realisation made her heart felt like it was being torn in two.

  “Sebastian – I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have sent you away.”

  Don’t apologise. I’m who should be sorry. Forgive me Eva.

  “It was an accident. I’m ashamed at how my father behaved – it shouldn’t have happened that way.” She tentatively edged closer; his wolf form alienated and excited her at the same time. She longed to reach and stroke his thick fur.

  It doesn’t matter anymore. Eva, you need to leave here – go and live your life. You can do anything you want to.

  “Why does everyone insist on sending me away? Sebastian, I want to be here. With you. What you said last night…I feel the same way. I want to be with you, I feel like we’ve wasted years – and I want to start living my life.”

  With a wolf? In this place? I can’t offer you anything, Eva. Sebastian was determined not to give in this time.

  If a small slice of heaven was all he would experience in this lifetime, then that would be enough. It was best this way. He knew he had already bonded with her, that she was his crow mate, but that didn’t mean that he had license to ruin her life. He would set her free, let her fly.

  “Yes with a wolf – with you. I like Beaver Creek, Sebastian. But I’m in love with you. So in love with you that there’s only one place that I ever want to be, and that’s wherever you are. Why do you think I keep coming back?” Her tone was passionate, but he could hear the pain that she was trying to cover, and he didn’t know if that pain was caused by feeling like she had to leave her old life behind, or if it came from fear that she couldn’t have this one.

  “Sebastian” she continued, “I’m going to be a Harvard business school graduate, and you’re going to own a lumber business – we can transform this town, you don’t have to worry about my life – this is the one I want.” She hesitated then, as if she had run out of steam. “Unless you don’t…want that? Want me?”

  Sebastian lost any resolve he had been clinging to at her question. His frustration dissipated – if she wanted him, really wanted this, then there was nothing that would stop him taking her and spending the rest of his life making her smile the way she did last night.

  Eva, I want you. More than you could ever imagine.

  At that, she walked toward him slowly and then bent down gracefully in the soft grass to kneel in front of him. She started to stroke his fur, sending tremors throughout his body.

  “I want you too – like this, wolf form or human form. I’ll take you anyway you come Sebastian Waverly.”

  She guided him down with her into the grass, and buried her hands into his fur, curling up to him so that there wasn’t a sliver of space between them. He shifted back into his human form, his body wrapped protectively around hers, keeping out the morning chill.

  Slowly their bodies and heartbeats moved as one, and Eva and Sebastian spent the morning with the sun reflecting off of their sweat-glistened bodies as they basked in their newly expressed love.

  The wolf and his crow.

  THE END

  DRAGON’S CLAIM

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Zedekiah has inhabited his mountain for centuries. Long before the miner 49ers came to town.

  Now, brokering out sections to miners, he aims to blend with the townsfolk. Only, Zed harbors a dark secret. Revealed in rumors around town, whispers of the “monster of the mountain”, tales of screeching cries heard in the night.

  Paulette’s husband died on their journey west, just shy of reaching their destination. Paulette is left in a strange mining town with an infant and dwindling finances.

  For Paulette and Zed, a marriage of convenience is a perfect answer. A business transaction.

  Only, hearts have a way of following their own path.

  Can a young, widowed mother find love with a dragon intent on guarding the gold running through his mountain during the California gold rush of 1849?

  Chapter One

  Zed paced the length of the cavern, stone walls arching up around him, cool and damp.

  He knew it was well past time to go, that he would need to make his way out of the mines and back to town. But it was hard to leave the hoard he’d spent centuries protecting, monitoring, adding to. It was his, and his alone.

  And now this — the gold rush. People from all over the country — the world — arriving to pillage his mountains until they found their wealth and there was nothing left. It didn’t matter who they were taking it from. The Earth. A dragon. A man. It was all the same to them — as long as they walked out with what they’d come for.

  He took one more spin through the cave, pausing at the juncture that led back toward his prized possessions. He itched to go back. To watch them. Touch them. They were what got him through the day. Reminded him why he put up with the headaches of his brokering business.

  Zed had spent a lifetime protecting his treasures. When he wasn’t in the cave, he was at the office, leasing out other parts of his mountain, demanding a percentage of whatever the miners came home with, knowing he was earning back the smallest amount of what was already his while directing miners to places that held little of what the mountain had to offer. He supposed he should feel bad for requiring them to pay a monthly fee to use his property, knowing all the while that they would find little in their allotment.

  He supposed he should have — but he didn’t. After all, they weren’t looking to share the wealth either. Everyone was out for themselves. And, as Zed saw it, he was the only one actually losing in the deal.

  He had only memories of the hours, weeks, months, years he’d spent uninterrupted, at peace. Mornings and nights seeping into one another. But now he was reduced to this — a man denied his other form. His animal within struggled to be free, to clamber to the surface, to take control and reduce the man Zed to nothing more than a vague memory.

  Zed fought for tenuous control over the urge. His hoard, everything he cared about depended on his ability to keep his dragon suppressed. As it was, the people spoke of the “monster in the mines”. Zed had overheard their whispers about what they had heard, what they had seen silhouetted against the sky. Awe. Fear. Those were the moments he’d lost control and couldn’t keep the dragon at bay. He knew it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out, before his dragon would take control and he would never have the chance to turn back into a human.

  But sometimes, even that seemed preferable to living like this. Caught between two worlds.

  He emerged from the cave, the roses and golds of early dusk created a dramatic backdrop for the mountain side and the little town at its feet. The scent of pine was heavy and crisp. Zed was contemplating his fate when he came to the fork in the path that signaled he would soon be at base of the mountain path, and in just a short time, the edge of town.

  He heard the rustle before he saw them, not with his ears, but with every fiber of his being, a sense of ambush scurrying along his spine, dancing over his skin. Inciting his flight or fight response.

  But it was too late. They were on him before he could spin aound, before he could let his beast fly forth, his wings whipping into the night, his teeth on display, his flames ready to boil.

  And all it took was that first good hit, to send Zed to the ground, the fight slipping out of him before he’d even had the chance to harness it.

  In this body, he was only a
man, and it was bound to be his downfall.

  Paulette brought the infant up toward her, inspecting her still sweet-smelling milky pale skin for any signs of illness.

  She couldn’t stop checking. It was almost compulsive. Even though she knew the babe was healthy. Beyond healthy. Perfect.

  But she was all Paulette had left, and she wasn’t willing to lose her over something that could be prevented. Paulette was counting every penny, worried she would run out. Worried she would need something for Abigail she wouldn't be able to afford.

  The fear was a legitimate one. She'd watched others succumb to mere fevers, to infections that would have been easily overcome if they'd had the money for the treatments, for fresh food, the ability to rest and heal. The trip to California had been long, hard, and sorrow-filled.

  Paulette pulled Abigail closer to her, tucking her securely into the curve of her arm, drawing the blanket around her more tightly, unable to get over the small heft of her, how solid she felt in her arms.

  Things were going to have to change. With Robert gone there just were no other options. Here, she’d come all this way with him, striking it rich in the gold rush the one thing he seemed able to focus on. They’d left Boston in early spring. They’d spent another early spring en route. Abigail had joined them.

  They had been happy, all things considered, for people traipsing across the country, ill-equipped and with bad luck. And they had been so close to that next big step in achieving all their dreams and goals. Paulette could almost see the beautiful home they would have had, taste the sweet meats and freshly grown vegetables they would have endless access to.