by Zola Bird
“You have a problem with tiny fish?” a familiar voice said.
Amanda turned. It was Greg. He had gotten in line behind her.
“You weren’t at work,” Amanda said.
“I know.”
“So what are you doing here?”
“I’m hungry.”
“They don’t have food closer to your place?”
“I think maybe I was hoping I’d run into you.”
Amanda sighed. “Well, you ran into me. What’s next?”
“How about we change that order to a large?”
Greg carried the pizza as they strode along the riverfront promenade. The fall rains hadn’t yet come and the river’s water level was low, sunlight glimmering off the dark water.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” Greg said.
“I would have liked you to have told me that last night.”
“I know. But it wasn’t safe. I could smell Tom’s bear, but I couldn’t see him. I stayed in the forest so that I would know if he tried to double back into town.”
“So you stayed in the forest all night?”
“Yeah. I wanted to make sure he didn’t come back and it gave me time to think.”
“About what?”
“Tom Cooper. If it wasn’t for me, he never would have set foot in Wild Summit. I’ve been trying to figure out how to explain it all to you.”
Amanda stopped in front of a park bench. “The truth usually works,” Amanda said.
“You sure you don’t want a slice first?” Greg said.
“What I want is to hear your story.”
“OK,” Greg said. They sat on the bench. “You know I’ve worked at Wild Alpha Auto for a long time, right?”
“Since you got out of high school.”
“Right. Well, what I didn’t tell you was there were some gaps in my résumé.”
“Gaps?”
“I’m a car guy. I used to go to the city. I’d race. That’s where I met Tom.”
“I gathered you knew him.”
“Yeah. That’s why he was up here. Because we were in a race. A race I won and he lost, and he wanted a rematch.”
“And why didn’t you give him one before now?”
“I hadn’t seen Tom since. But more importantly, I swore never to race again.”
“Why?”
“There was a woman.”
Amanda felt her heart sink. Did she really want to hear this? She realized at that moment how deeply she felt for Greg. How much she wanted to be that. His woman.
“Are you sure you want to hear?”
Amanda steeled her resolve. “Yes.”
“I was dating her. Then I found out Tom was dating her, too.”
Amanda cringed. Not the greatest situation.
“I confronted him, and Tom thought the answer to our dilemma was simple. He proposed a race. Winner take all.”
“You mean the girl.”
“Yes. Before you start in on me, I realize now that’s stupid. You can’t win or lose people like that. But we were young and dumb.”
“So what happened?” Amanda asked.
“I won the race.”
“So you got the girl?”
“No. There was an accident,” Greg said.
Amanda placed her hand gently on Greg’s. She could tell that just recounting what had happened was painful to him.
“It hadn’t rained for a long time, but it poured just before the race, so the road was slick. Tom ran a good race. We were on the final stretch, both of us hammering the final thousand yards home for the finish line. Then I saw something I wasn’t expecting. The headlights illuminating the finish line started to pull out. That was strange, because the race wasn’t over. But soon I saw why. Flashing red and blue lights. The police had arrived.”
“I take it that wasn’t good?”
“Not in the middle of a street race.”
“So what did you do?”
“I’ll tell you what I should have done. I should have slowed and stopped the race immediately. But I didn’t. Tom was right beside me. I knew I could still win. Cops or no cops, I was going to take it to the finish line. I could deal with the ticket. At least I’d be the winner. What I didn’t see was the girl. She’d seen the cops and driven up the side street to warn us. Like I said, the road was slick and she was driving fast. She must have tried to stop but couldn’t.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“She came out of nowhere. I managed to swerve and avoid her, but Tom didn’t. He hit her car. She died on impact.” Greg was silent for a long moment. “Tom fled the scene on foot, but I didn’t. I stayed. There was no way I was going to leave. I needed to get her out of that car. But there was nothing I could do. She was dead long before the jaws of life could get to her.”
“What happened to Tom?”
“They caught up with him. The police arrested him.”
“And you?”
“I told the police everything. If I had just stopped the race when I had seen those lights, she might have been OK. I wanted to be punished. I wanted to pay for my part in it. But my lawyer made some kind of plea about my excellent character and the fact that I hadn’t fled the scene. I got a suspended sentence. I served it on the weekends while continuing to work here at Wild Alpha.”
“And Tom?”
“There was some kind of technicality. They couldn’t make a case against him.”
“Does my brother know any of this?”
“Not about Tom’s involvement in the accident.”
“Is that what he was holding over you, then? The fact that you were involved?”
“I didn’t want anybody to know that I was a part of what had happened. I may not have been the one who hit that girl, but it could just have as easily been me. I felt responsible. Ashamed. I still do. And Tom knew that. That’s how he convinced me to race. I was a fool. I should have let him say what he had to say from the moment he arrived. Instead, I let him manipulate me.”
“What about now?”
“Now Tom Cooper knows where I stand. I won’t let him hold the past over me. Not moving forward. If people find out what I did, then I guess they’ll find out. The bottom line is, he won’t be bothering either of us anymore.”
“Are you sure?”
Greg nodded. “He knows my bear will end him if he does.” He closed up the pizza box. “Come with me. I’ve got something to show you.”
**********************
Amanda was breathing hard as Greg led her up the trail. When Greg had said there was something he wanted to show her, she wasn’t expecting a hike.
“Just a little farther,” Greg said.
“You said that ten minutes ago.”
“I mean it this time. Just a few more steps.”
Amanda continued up the steep trail. Trees rustled on either side of them, and she heard a roaring wind. Greg finally stopped in front of her, but she couldn’t see anything. Just more trail.
“OK, close your eyes.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Greg stepped behind her, placing his hands over her eyes. Amanda was flushed and out of breath, but she thrilled at his touch just the same. She luxuriated in his strength, leaning back on him as she stood on the trail.
“Three more steps.”
Amanda started walking. “One, two, three.”
“OK, four.”
She took another step. “Four.”
The sound of the wind was deafening up here. Where in the world had he taken her?
“Now, open your eyes.”
Greg removed his hands from her eyes.
“Oh, Greg.”
Amanda couldn’t say anything else. Her breath was taken away. She thought she had heard wind. But it wasn’t wind. It was water. An enormous waterfall fell from above them, late-day sun shining through the mist to create a perfect rainbow. They were on the side of a massive, rounded rock cliff, the waterfall dancing off the rocks and then continuing its journey down the mount
ain.
The place was called Deadman’s Leap. Amanda had seen it before, but only in pictures. It had never occurred to her to actually hike up here. It was too far. But with Greg at her side, the walk had seemed easy. She looked around. The view was extraordinary. Wild Summit was visible below them, fluffy cumulous clouds floating lazily in the sky. She wiped the mist from her face and Greg took her hand, placing something in her palm. She looked down. It was a bag of Skittles.
“Your reward for the hike,” Greg said, seating himself on a rock ledge.
“My favorite,” Amanda said.
“What make you think they’re all for you?” Greg said, taking the package back with a grin. He poured some in Amanda’s hand before taking a handful of the rainbow-colored candies for himself.
“I brought you up here because I wanted you to see something that’s important to me,” Greg said. “This is where I first met my bear.”
Amanda sat beside him on the rock ledge.
“As grizzly shifters, our bears come out during our adolescence.”
“Tell me how it happened to you,” Amanda said.
“We were hiking. A bunch of us had come up here, but I was the last to leave. Then I started to feel strange. Like my insides were twisting open and something was coming out of me. It was my first shift. I was stuck up here as a bear.”
“Were you scared?”
Greg smiled. “I sure was. I didn’t want to come back down. I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t have it under control. The only other shifters my age that I knew were Brandon and Peter and they hadn’t shifted yet. That came later for them. I was the first one in our group.”
“So what did you do?”
“I waited here as a bear.”
“All night?”
“Yes. All night.”
“I still don’t really understand it,” Amanda said.
“Tell me what you know about shifters.”
“Well. Not much.”
“Come on.”
“Just a few things that Jada said after she finally cracked and told me about Brandon. She said that you guys live a long time and that there are a bunch of you at Wild Alpha. My first thought was that I’d gone to work in a bear den. Crazy.”
Greg laughed quietly. “Sometimes it seems like that to me, too. There are definitely a few of us in Wild Summit. I grew up with Brandon, so I guess it makes sense that we ended up working together. I knew his brother Peter, too. I’d even met Jeremy a few times. We grizzly shifters, a lot of us like to stay on our own, but the Hellers and me, we’re kind of a clan.”
“So, what’s it like?”
“To be a bear?”
Amanda nodded.
“I don’t know what it’s like not to be one. As far as I can tell, we’re normal people in most ways. We just have something inside us, our bears, that lead the way and tell us what to do. I guess it’s like having a big furry conscience. Except it’s harder to resist than that. Your bear can’t easily be ignored. Let me tell you, Amanda, when the Heller brothers started finding mates, all I could think about was you.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you only thought of me as a friend.”
“And now?”
“Well, things just feel different now.”
“So, what happens next?” Amanda asked.
“That’s up to you.”
“I don’t want it to be up to me.”
“Who do you want it to be up to, then?” Greg said.
“Your bear.”
Chapter Nine
Amanda’s heart pulsed with excitement. She knew what she was asking for. Him. She wanted all of him. She wanted him to claim her, to take her, to make her his mate. Greg had her permission. What happened next would determine if they were meant to be.
“Do you know what it means for a bear to claim his mate, Amanda?”
“Yes,” Amanda said. “Jada told me. We’ll be joined together forever. Bears mate for life.”
“You know that there’s no going back?”
“Yes.”
“Then you also know I need to mark you? It will be a small bite, but I need to do it.”
His lips hovered over her.
“Then mark me already,” Amanda whispered.
Greg pulled her near, wrapping his arms around her back, enveloping her in his strength. He bent his head down to meet her waiting mouth. Their lips connected and Amanda closed her eyes. From the moment they touched, Amanda felt as if she was falling. Falling into a beautiful abyss from which there was no return. Greg’s hands reached down her back and she felt him pull her tighter. Her nipples hardened as his broad chest pressed against hers. She felt the outline of his rigidity pressing into her abdomen. And she felt his tongue. Oh, his tongue.
Her mouth opened to him, surrendering to his power. He probed deeply, hungrily, their tongues dancing deliciously in each other’s mouth. This time there would be no interruptions. This time she wouldn’t be satisfied until he had marked her, until he had claimed her as his.
Amanda felt Greg’s strong hands slide under the stretchy fabric of her yoga pants. She loved the rough touch of his strong palms. He slipped his fingers under her panties and onto her bare behind. Then he peeled her pants and panties down, exposing her bare bottom. He lifted his mouth from hers.
Spank!
She felt his palm on her ass. Just the right amount of spank. Just the right amount of pain.
“What was that?”
“Do you want to be marked?”
“Yes.”
Spank! He slapped her on the ass again, and this time, she felt an electric jolt inside of her. A tingle that made her pussy wet.
“Then saddle up and enjoy the ride,” Greg growled.
He thrust his tongue back inside her, kneading her bare ass with both hands, and now she knew that he would claim her, that he would make her his. Even as he probed her mouth, she felt his fingers reaching up beneath her, sliding under her cheeks toward her entrance. She widened her stance to help him. She wanted him to fuck her with his fingers.
Greg teased her folds with his index finger and then he reached up her hips, removing her stretchy top. She moved her hands down his back to his ass, undulating her hips as he traveled up her torso with his broad hands. He caressed every inch of her before finding her breasts. He cupped them in both hands and all she could think was how she wanted his lips on her nipples, on her crease. Mercy me, she wanted them on her crease.
“Lick my pussy,” Amanda moaned.
“And your ass?”
“Lick everything.”
Amanda felt her juices wet her inner thigh at the sound of his low growl. She slid her hands around Greg’s hips, working his belt open. His cock was there, right where it should be, standing at attention. The tip was so high it poked above his waistline and she wanted to get down on her knees and taste it. If she was going to be with this man, she wanted to know him, all of him. But before she could bend low, she felt his hand unsnap her bra, followed by his sweet lips on her breast.
She ran her hands up Greg’s back and through his hair as he smothered her taut buds in his kisses. His tongue stroked her left bud, and she felt a jolt of pure delight rock her core. He licked around it again and then he tugged on her nipple between his lips.
Oh, why did he have to be so talented with that tongue? She thought she was going to come right then and here and his cock was still in his pants. She unzipped his fly as she rocked her hips into him. But before her fingers could grasp his rigid shaft, his lips abandoned her left nipple and found her right. Greg licked around the aureola, circling her bud in one smooth stroke.
Suck it, please. Take it in your mouth.
He must have read her mind because he took the whole nipple, practically her whole breast into his mouth, sucking it back as he swirled his tongue. Shit. She felt another electric pulse race out from her core. She was going to come already. No. Not now. It was too soon. She suppressed the urge and instead
concentrated on his rigid member, working her hand down the shaft and then back up again. Already she felt a pearl of moisture on the head of his dick. She couldn’t contain herself. She bent low, licking around the head with her tongue, taking the whole thing into her mouth. He tasted salty. Like the sea.
“Not yet, Mands. Not until I’ve tasted you.”
Greg reached down and lifted her up, sweeping her into his powerful arms. Supporting her with a single strong arm placed firmly under her ass, he removed one shoe and then the other, sliding her yoga pants and her panties off her in one smooth pull. She kicked the unwanted garments from her feet and Greg carried her to the waterfall. Mist filled the air as the water cascaded down from high above, barely touching the mountainside as it continued its downward plunge. Behind the falling water, there was a hollow in the rock that looked like a protected cave. Greg carried her there.
“This is where I spent the night for the first time as a bear,” Greg said. “And this is where I’m going to make you mine.”
“Oh, Greg…”
He lifted her high above him, placing her on his broad shoulders, her pussy inches from his mouth. Then he leaned her against the damp rock wall. It was misty back there and her body was hot, droplets of water landing on her golden skin. She ran her fingers through his hair.
“Claim me. Claim me now.”
And he buried his face in her pussy, attacking it with his tongue. She thrust herself forward, arching her back against the smooth, wet rock as his broad tongue parted her folds. She was so slick with need she felt wetter than the waterfall. He reached down her back, prying his hands under her butt to adjust the angle. Why was he doing that? The angle was just fine. But then he licked down her crease, all the way to her ass, and she realized why. An electric bolt rocked her core as he licked around her hole. She screamed with pleasure. Literally screamed from the top of the mountain and she didn’t care who heard.
