by Leela Ash
She drove out into the night. Luckily it was getting late and the sun was down. She had some time before she had to call it in, and she needed a drink, or three. But first she needed to find out what the hell she did to piss him off. He had been so sweet, calling her his mate, and now he wouldn’t even look at her.
She stopped at a red light and put her hand on his bicep. He tensed and his muscle flexed beneath her fingertips.
“Why are you mad?”
And why the hell wasn’t she yelling at him for being an asshole? Instead she was calm and actually felt like she should be apologizing for something. She didn’t understand why she felt so attached to him, why she cared so much about what he thought of her, and why she was not being her normal bitchy self when a man pissed her off.
At first he didn’t respond. But then he sighed. “You said you may have something to fit me. I’m a large man, and I don’t feel comfortable with you handing me clothes from the men in your life. My bear doesn’t like hearing about it either. We are protective and apparently pretty damn possessive.”
Lana laughed and squeezed his arm. “The clothes are my brothers’ and they are all bigger than me. It runs in the family. I figured one of them left some stuff around throughout the years.”
Suddenly, his eyes brightened and he stopped moping. “Oh, brothers we can handle.” Then he shook his head with a blush. “Sorry, for being an ass. I guess I’m not used to this, and I really don’t know how I would normally act. My bear is acting like I’m an idiot. I feel lost.”
“I get that, but please try not to make assumptions about me. We both have pasts; you just can’t remember yours right now.”
“Fair enough.”
A horn honked behind them, so she turned her attention back to driving. Speeding down the highway, Lana decided she was going to her retreat rather than her home because honestly, she was scared. She didn’t want to go to prison, and she certainly didn’t want him to go.
He was quiet again, but this time he looked deep in thought. She wondered what his life was like, and found herself growing more attached to the giant man. He was really sensitive for such a big guy. And apparently any talk of past lovers was out of the question. She smiled, feeling for the first time like she might have found someone who cherished her, and only her. It would be a nice change.
***
Lana pulled into the driveway of her family’s cabin. It was secluded and safe. She loved being in the woods, and she thought her guest might appreciate it as well. His eyes said it all, and he looked like he was going home.
“What’s this place?”
“It’s my family’s cabin. We used to come here all the time as kids, and now we come here as adults when we need to get away. No one should be here now, though. ”
“It’s a beautiful home.”
“Thank you. Now let’s get inside, and you can get cleaned up after I call my mom.”
“Sounds good to me.”
She got out of her car and stretched. This was her second home, and the longer she was a lawyer, the more often she came here to hide out. They went inside and he sat on the couch.
“So what do I call you, then, if you don’t know who you are?”
“You can call me whatever you want, I guess,” he shrugged. “A name is just a name, after all.”
“Fair enough,” she said, pulling out her phone. She dialed home and waited. As soon as her mother said ‘hello’ she got straight to the point.
“Mom, I need your help.” She proceeded to tell her mother what happened. She pulled the phone away when her mother’s voice rose too high. Her bear’s eyes widened when he heard her mother.
“I know, mother. It’s not like I asked for this.” She nodded as if her mother could see her. “Okay, so I’ll wait for you to come to me.”
Her mother yelled a little more but agreed.
“Okay, mom, see you soon. Yeah, I love you too.” She closed her phone and sighed. Her head hurt and all she wanted to do was forget this horrible day happened.
“She sounds nice,” Conner said.
“She’s great, but she is a tad overwhelming. Just a warning for you, she’s going to want to know how and why this happened…”
He shrugged again. “Sure I’ll tell her, as long as she doesn’t announce it to the world. She deserves to know since you’re my mate. Makes us family—”He stopped, and his eyes widened.
“Family, there are a lot of them.” He smiled. “I’m not alone, although all I could see were a large group of bears roaming together. Not real hopeful, I suppose.”
“Any memory is helpful right?”
“That’s what the doctors say. It sucks not actually knowing who I am. I know I was hurt badly enough to go to the hospital, plus they told me I should have died. Only I didn’t. They think it’s a miracle, but I know different. Being what I am makes me heal differently, faster, and better.”
“It’s a miracle, regardless of what you are,” Lana said, and heat rose to her cheeks. What was it about this man that made her feel so—young and desperate? “Oh and my mom said to wait it out. She’s going to pull some strings and deal with it. Then she’ll come here.”
“Pull some strings?”
“Yeah my mother is Elisabeth Walker.”
He looked confused. “And?”
Lana smiled. She couldn’t believe it, but he had no idea who her mother was, which meant he didn’t know about her family connections or her wealth. “She’s a pretty huge name in the city.”
“Oh, well, you shouldn’t be associated with me, then.”
“Too late, you’ve got blood on and in my car, and Campbell attacked me. There’s no way out of this. We can claim self-defense. And since you’re much bigger than him, that should account for how you managed to do that amount of damage. Besides, he stabbed you first. It’s tricky, but my mom is going to figure it out. She said it might take a few days…”
She gulped when his eyes clouded with lust and his smile went from adorable to downright sexy.
Chapter 4
Conner couldn’t have been happier finding out he would get at least three days with his mate, alone, in the woods. If he had his way they would be mated before her mother showed up to try to discourage her daughter from mating with a beast. He could barely contain his bear as it was, and although she covered it up well, the scent of her arousal wasn’t helping matters. If he didn’t have enhanced abilities, he wouldn’t even know.
“I guess I should go find you some clothes so you can get cleaned up.”
“Sounds good. It’ll be nice to have something other than this dingy hospital gown.”
Or I could just stay naked.
As if she could read his thoughts, her eyes traveled down his body like she was mentally stripping him down.
All she had to do was ask.
Lana turned away from him and walked down a narrow hallway. Conner followed closely behind. Her body heat radiated against him, and he wanted to lean into her warmth. He hadn’t been able to get rid of the chill that had soaked into his bones since he woke up in the hospital. He hadn’t eaten, so his blood count was low, and being injured a second time hadn’t helped matters any.
She walked into a room she clearly spent a lot of time in. Her scent overpowered other lingering scents. He crowded behind her when she stopped and pulled open a drawer and searched through it. She easily found him clothes and set them on top. She wasn’t a tiny woman by any means, but she was still small and delicate in comparison to him. Her body molded to his perfectly.
He moved closer and brought his arms around her waist, allowing his hand to flatten across her stomach. She shivered and leaned by against him, as if she couldn’t help herself. Nuzzling her neck, he breathed deeply and took in her scent. It felt like he had finally come home. Conner licked her neck with the tip of his tongue, testing. She shivered and tilted her head to the side. His bear rumbled at her submission. He grazed his teeth along her skin, light and tantalizing. She moaned quietl
y and pushed further into his body.
Conner slid his hands near the elastic to her skirt and ran his finger lightly along the band. “Okay?”
She nodded her head against his chest and spread her legs further apart, which pushed her skirt up higher. Running his finger right under the waistband and tickling her skin, he growled in frustration at how tight the skirt was secured. He spun her around and shoved her skirt up around her waist before lifting her on top of the dresser. Stepping between her legs, he pulled her to the edge. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tipped her head back. The exposed tan skin tempted him. He leaned in and licked a path from the base of her throat down in between her breasts.
All at once Conner froze. He shut his eyes as his memory slammed into him. It flashed before his eyes in a sequence much like a movie. As glad as he was to get his memory back, he wasn’t thrilled at the timing. She tried to get closer, but she hadn’t even realized he had stopped.
He was the Alpha’s son, and only heir. His family was the wealthiest family in the tristate area. They owned land with petrol oil and sold it to gas stations across the country.
His mother was killed right before his eyes by an enemy clan, and his heart broke. He didn’t realize he was crying until Lana’s finger brushed the stray tears. She was watching him with sympathy. Her eyes matched the hurt he was feeling. It was like she could feel his pain. Then more came and he saw the man who had killed his mother.
He searched for him for the last few years, trying to bring justice, but the man got the better of him and tore into him, trying to shred him apart piece by piece. Conner didn’t give up, though, not until he lifted one furry paw and landed the killing blow. His bear roared into the early morning mourning his mother’s death for the last time, and telling the rest he had found her, bringing her the justice she deserved. The sun was rising and after he tore the man’s throat out, he limped into the park, trying to make it to the woods behind to lead him back home. But he was fading fast. He collapsed and turned back human. Each breath he took was unbearable. He faded in and out of consciousness.
Then he heard the boy. That was the last thing before he woke up in the hospital. Conner shook his head and brought a hand to his face, rubbing away the tears. He knew the truth now. He murdered two men in less than forty-eight hours. And even though they both deserved it, he felt like a monster. His mother had died protecting the cubs, and he had settled the score and found her murderer. He knew everything now. He was on his way home, when he couldn’t make it. He lost too much blood, and he had nearly died, but the boy found him and the hospital had managed to save him. He really was lucky to be alive. “My name is Conner Lawson.”
“You got your memory back?”
“Yeah, it all came back. I guess you helped trigger it.”
She smiled sweetly and caressed his jaw. “It’s nice to meet you, Conner.”
“It’s weird. I haven’t seen anything, and now, when I was quite happy with where things were heading, the memories came back.”
“It’s better, though. Now I know who you are, and you know who you are.” Then she paused and her eyes filled with worry. “Am I still your mate?” she asked hesitantly.
Conner chuckled. He lost his memory, not his heart. “Of course, nothing has changed. I just know where I come from now, and I have my name. I feel whole now. I have my life back, but even better, I have you. And that’s what means the most.”
“I just wasn’t sure if the memory loss maybe misread our— situation.”
Conner couldn’t help it. She was sweet and sexy, and everything he could have ever hoped for in a mate. He leaned in and kissed her. The first was barely a brush of the lips. He sucked in a breath as soon as her lips touched his back. Such a small gesture, but it was perfection.
Chapter 5
Lana was happy he had his memory back, and she was also glad it had interrupted what was about to happen. She shook her head in disgust. Was she that desperate for affection that she’d screw the first man who touched her? She didn’t understand what she was feeling. Never before had she wanted to let go and just be with any man before. She knew it wasn’t the best time to be thinking about sex, and to top it off, the man she wanted had just killed another man and regained his memory after having amnesia. If that wasn’t inappropriate, she didn't know what was.
His memory returning was the cool down she needed. Handing Conner—it was nice putting a name to his face—the pile of clothing she found, she smiled tightly with a blush to her cheeks. “Here are some clothes you can try; shower is down the hall, last door on the right.” She stepped around his large body and took a deep breath, walking out of the room and leaving him standing there staring at her as if she’d lost her mind.
She went out to the mudroom and opened the fridge. He was most likely hungry, and she was too. Pulling out a dish of pre-made food, courtesy of her brother, she went back to the kitchen and preheated the oven. When she heard the shower come on, she went back into the room and found a pair of shorts and a tank top and quickly changed out of her work suit. It had been suffocating wearing it so long. Feeling much better, she went back to the kitchen and made some coffee. Normally she refrained from drinking it, but she was too exhausted to sleep and needed the caffeine boost.
The scent of coffee filled the cabin and she sighed, pouring a cup and trying to get the stress of the day to fall off. She put dinner in the oven and set the timer. Glancing out the window above the sink she sipped her coffee and closed her eyes. Rolling her shoulders she groaned at the pain that shot down her spine. She figured it must have been when Campbell had shoved her down. She shuddered at the thought of the man she left lying in a dirty parking lot—dead. Things were going to get ugly, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
A large hand slid onto her hip, and she jumped, turning towards Conner. He was wearing a pair a flannel pants and no shirt. She was mesmerized by the water glistening on his chest. She licked her lips and forced her eyes away. When she looked up, he was staring at her with a smirk. Like he knew what was going on in her head. She blushed and mumbled, “Feel better?”
His eyes twinkled. “Yes, thanks.”
“I’m making dinner, and there’s coffee if you want some.” She tried to move away from him, but he was so close, and she wasn’t a small woman. Shifting her body, she slid out from between his large frame and the counter. Her body brushed against him and heat flared in his eyes. He placed his other hand on her hip to hold her in place. She was stuck and found that once again she didn’t want to stop. She wanted this man, and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why it was so hard to resist him.
“Lana, are you all right?”
“I don’t know, isn’t it too soon?”
He pulled her against his body and she gasped. His hard body felt right against her soft curves. “You’re my mate; it’s natural for you to want me.” It was as though he could read her mind. He knew she was feeling like there was something wrong. “Even though you’re human, you still get the effects of the mating heat.”
“That’s what this feeling is?” she asked in a whisper.
“Yes, and don’t fight it, baby. It won’t do either of us any good if you do. I won’t be satisfied, nor will my bear, until we complete the bond.”
“Bond?”
Conner tipped her head back and smiled at her. “Yes, it’s what bears do, we bond with our mate, and that connects us together forever.”
“I see,” she replied, her eye lighting with lust. He didn’t need to tell her that bonding meant hot and sweaty sex. Her body clenched with need, and feeling his cock harden against her stomach told her that his was, too. She stepped out of his reach and lifted her shirt over her head, throwing it to the floor. Her breasts felt heavy, and she reached behind her back and unsnapped the clasp holding her bra on. Conner watched her, entranced as she slid the straps down her shoulders and revealed her large breasts to him. The cool air kissed her nipples, hardening them further. She shi
vered and licked her lips. His eyes traveled down her body.
“Lose the shorts,” he said. His voice was laced with a need she could relate to, and the gruffness turned her on even further.
She didn’t deny him; she pushed them over her hips and shimmied her shorts down her legs, revealing lacy bikini panties. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. She blushed but smiled. He actually looked as though he wanted to devour her. “You like?”
Conner nodded his head and gulped. She was stunning and everything he didn’t know he wanted. She was strong, independent, yet he could see her shyness and thought she was the most adorable woman. The fact that she was a kick-ass lawyer and put criminals away only made her more appealing. He stalked towards her like she was his prey, and at that moment he was too far gone to worry if he was acting more animal than man. She didn’t seem to mind. He stood before her, gripping her panties and ripped them down one side. “I’ll buy you more.”
His hand caressed her hip and wrapped around her ass. It was big and firm in his hands. She gasped when he yanked her to him, and then he kissed her like a man starving. She didn’t disappoint and kissed him back, opening her mouth and licking his bottom lip before she nipped it lightly. “Let’s take it to the bedroom.”
He lifted her into his arms and sped down the hallway. He tossed her on the bed, shucked the pants she loaned him, and climbed on top of her. He couldn’t take his time, not this time. He needed to be in her. Needed to mark her and make her his. He gripped her wrists and pulled them above her head, and then he used his knees to spread her legs.
“You’re mine, Lana. Forever.” He didn’t wait and drove into her soaking wet pussy. Turns out she was ready. She cried out and arched off of the bed with such power it nearly knocked him off of her.
He kissed her lightly now and slowed his thrusts, making love to her. Sweat covered his brow, and he clenched his jaw. She moaned and thrashed her head back and forth. “Oh my god!”
