by Michelle Fox
The water ran cool and he quickly shut the faucet off. Reaching for a towel, he wrapped it around her and dabbed her skin dry. She stood like a child, allowing him to pamper her. When he finished, he enfolded her in a genuine bear hug and rocked her against his chest. Already hard, his cock prodded her thigh. His lips grazed the crown of her head to deliver a kiss. “Andi, I already care for you so much, and I can only see this getting better and better.”
“Me too.” Taking his hand, she led him from the bath and made a beeline for the bed. She clambered into the center of the mattress, feeling the springs flex as she glided across the sheets. Rolling onto her back, she stretched her arms above her head and grasped a pillow. Striking a provocative pose, she gazed up at him. Mac stood at the edge of the mattress, wearing an indefinable expression that looked like several of the seven deadly sins rolled into one.
“Mac, I thought about it, and I want you to do it.”
His cock lifted. “I’m going to do it all right.” He knelt on the bed and stretched out beside her, running his hand along her thigh.
Turning her face to meet his, she spoke as slowly and clearly as her racing heart would allow. “I meant claim me. Give me the final bite. I want it.”
“Andi, we can wait. There’s no pressure.”
The fire grate flooded the wall with flickering amber patterns that looked like spirits dancing on the paneling. “It’s not a logical thing that can be explained, but I know my fate and future is with you.”
“Sweetheart, I agree, but are you absolutely certain?”
“Yes.”
“Even though the first nip is still in your bloodstream?”
“Mac, what I feel for you is bigger than anything a nip of pheromones or even magic could explain. This is sacred. It feels right. I want to take the next step.”
Taking hold of her wrists, he rolled on top of her, resting his weight on his elbows. “Ursa Regina.” The words were mumbled as he placed kiss after soft kiss on her lips.
“What did you say?” Her voice faded.
He silenced her with a kiss so volatile it whisked all rational thought from her mind. His caress left her breathless as he gently parted her thighs with his knee. The tip of his cock was already wet as the head rubbed against her. She arched her hips off the mattress as he glided inside her in teasing increments. At this angle, the sensations were sharper than before, but she loved wrapping her legs around Mac’s hips and feeling every powerful muscle on his torso tense.
Entangled in each other’s grip, they moved together as one. Her breath matched his ragged gulps. Dipping his head, he took her nipple between his lips and sucked with slow, wet tugs that caused full-body bliss so sweet, her lashes fluttered. He took his time, each stroke providing a thrilling stretch. She closed her eyes and gave in to every stunning sensation offered. The pleasure built and a monster climax snuck up on her, starting with the ripple of her abdomen and ending with her toes curled.
Just as she was about to whisper his name, he bit. The edges of his teeth closed on her throat. An overwhelming tingle, like hot coals dropped on her skin, prickled her flesh. Every cell in her body exploded with blinding bright light. She thrashed in his grip, and the sting turned to a white-hot crescendo of pain. Arching off the mattress, she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Then it ended. The storm passed as quickly as it had appeared. Her body vibrated with a strange energy. Her heart pounded in a vacuum. Nothing felt familiar. She became so light-headed that, for a moment, she expected to float out of her body. Real worry struck, but she couldn’t rally her thoughts enough to think.
“Andi?” Mac’s voice was heavy with worry. His palm brushed her cheek.
Her eyes shut and refused to open. Too drained to move, she discovered she couldn’t even muster the strength to wiggle her fingertips.
“Andi, are you all right?” Mac sounded far away. “Please answer me.”
Chapter Nine
“Sweetheart?” Mac’s somber voice was drenched with concern. “Open your eyes.”
Andi awoke.
Mac sat at her side with his legs off the mattress. He leaned over her with a glass of water poised in his hand.
“You’re not going to throw that water in my face, are you?”
“No.” A warm smile made the tiny lines around his eyes fan. “Your lips are dry. I want you to have a drink.”
Licking her lips, she noticed how parched they were. She hoisted herself onto her elbows. “Why am I so thirsty?”
“The pheromones of my bite burned through every cell of your body.”
“How long did I sleep?”
He extended his hand. “A couple of hours.”
She reached for the water and emptied the glass in one gulp, and immediately gave it back to him. “Would you get me more?”
Mac rose and walked to the sink to refill the glass. On his way to the kitchen, he opened the front door. A cool draft blew in. “Aside from being thirsty, how do you feel?”
Peeking beneath the sheet, she realized she was still naked. She wriggled her fingers and toes. “I feel fine—completely normal.”
Returning to the bed, he sat beside her and handed the water to her. “Normal as you knew it is over. Let’s get you acclimated to the new normal as soon as possible.”
Taking her time, she sipped the second glass.
“Hurry.” Mac looked as excited as a little kid waiting for the adults to wake on Christmas morning.
“Why?” Still thirsty, she wanted more water.
“I want to slip outdoors while it’s dark.”
“I would like another glass of water, please.”
“You can have all the water you want, lapped directly from the river.”
Shaking her head, she growled. “No, Mac. No more hiking. Not now.”
He laughed and took hold of her wrist as he pulled the sheet away. “Come on. Get up.”
Clutching at the sheet, she snarled. “I’m sleepy! Let me stay in bed.”
“You can sleep all day if you want to, but we need to do this now.”
“Do what?” She was terribly grouchy. “I need sleep.”
His hold on her wrist relaxed. “Look at your hand.”
Her gaze fixed on her hand. “So? What did you want me to see?” The flesh shimmered. For a second, fur covered the back of her hand. The palm widened into a big padded paw and long ivory claws sprouted from where her fingernails had been. “Whoa! Look at this. Already? I thought this process might be a gradual thing that would take months or even years to accomplish.”
“Nope. Essentially, it’s magic.”
“Magic?” Tipping her paw toward the firelight, she studied the changes. “I wish I had a scientific explanation for this.”
“Maybe magic is just the only word we have for processes that can’t be explained by science. All I know is, you’re more than ready for your first shift. Your hands have been flickering back and forth between fingers and paws for the last forty minutes.”
She planted her palm on the mattress and watched as a furry paw replaced her hand. “I’m going to be huge!”
“You’re going to be a silvertip grizzly like me.”
“I always hoped I’d end up with a powerful man.” She laughed. “I just wasn’t thinking about the sort of power that could rip the lid off a dumpster.”
“Being a bear is pure freedom.” He coaxed her off the mattress. “Find out for yourself.”
She slipped out of bed, the sheet trailing in her wake.
He grabbed the sheet and tossed it back on the bed. Gathering her into his arms, he kissed her lips. “Ready?”
“I’m not sure. What do I need to do?”
“Look into my eyes. Relax. You’re bonded to me now. As your mate, I am your mentor, at least in the beginning. Open your heart and trust me. All you have to do is take a deep breath and let it happen.”
Her heart hammered in her chest and her knees trembled. “I feel strange.”
&nbs
p; Mac’s face began to change. His nose widened and a muzzle protruded from his face. His ears shifted higher on his head and became rounder. Golden-brown fur washed across his features. In a crackling swoosh of color and motion, he transformed into a bear.
Her body tingled and, as if magnetized to an irresistible force, transformed as well. A pinch, a crackle of bone, and a heartbeat later, Andi found herself lumbering around the floor on all fours, feeling as powerful as a bull. The transmutation took place with astonishing ease.
Making eye contact with Mac, she gazed directly into his eyes.
He stared back. We can’t use human speech, but we have a type of instinctual telepathy.
She opened her muzzle and a loud snort came out.
Let’s have a little adventure. He led her out the open door into the darkness. The moon had set and blue-green Venus, the morning star, glowed brightly on the ridgeline. Padding down the steps, he headed for the dirt road. As soon as they were on the graded path, he loped at a brisk pace.
She sprinted to catch up. Her big, sure-footed paws seemed incapable of tripping in the dark. Glancing around, she noticed that, despite the shadows, her world seemed to be in sharp focus. Every pebble on the path shone in clear detail. The feeling of being in a big, strong body amazed her. Her heart pounded from the thrill of the situation as much as from the physical demands of running in bear form.
In little time, they reached the highway. Mac stopped to check for cars. At this hour, of course, there were none. He padded across the road and climbed over the side of the ravine. She followed, highly conscious that they were crossing the spot where they had first met.
Mac turned to grunt in acknowledgment.
She growled back. Who knew a mishap in a storm would lead to all this?
Hopping from boulder to boulder, they quickly reached the bottom of the ravine. On the riverbank, their paws pressed prints into the damp silt, obscuring the scars left behind by the crane.
Striding into the river, Mac splashed around and then lowered his head to drink. She waded into the icy water beside him and lapped up pure water with her very long tongue. Lifting her head, she licked Mac’s face as well. A shiver of pleasure rippled over his brushy coat.
Taking long strides, Mac led her farther into the tumbling water. She followed, her paws gripping mossy stones with ease. Like a pair of titans, they strolled upriver, relishing every new scent and sight. The ravine filled with chatter and song as the morning’s first birds skimmed the surface of the river.
Rounding the bend, Mac snorted and looked skyward. The silhouette of the summit loomed ahead. In the east, a golden ribbon of sunlight brightened the sky. A new day had arrived. Without need of words, she knew they had to return to the station. In silence and at the same moment, both she and Mac turned and went back the way they had come.
Mac walked close, affectionately bumping his shoulder against hers. Every now and then, he turned to glide his muzzle against hers or blow a puff of warm breath across her ears.
The presence of a mate at her side felt so right, her heart flooded with joy. This wasn’t exactly what her mother would have asked her to do with her life, but she had the strong sense that her mother was looking down smiling.
The End
Author’s Note
Did you enjoy meeting Michael MacBrun and Andi Brunell? Would you like to meet some more MacBrun bear shifters? Mac and Andi are a happily mated pair, but their lives together are just getting started. There’s a lot more to their story. Andi hasn’t lost her ambitions to refurbish the Bluebell Motor Lodge, but they are going to need a lot of help. Mac’s billionaire-financier twin brother is going to stick his bad-boy alpha-bear muzzle right in the middle of their business and stir the honey pot. Wait until you meet Hudson MacBrun. This playboy’s arrogance is unBearable! A private helicopter? Custom-tailored cashmere suits from Paris? Who the hell does this guy think he is? Find out what happens when a humble case of mistaken identity turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to this spoiled alpha billionaire, in MacBrun 2, coming 2016.
About Katalina Leon
Katalina Leon is an artist and author who can't commit to a single genre. Her favorite playgrounds are historical, sci-fi, contemporary, and most of all paranormal realms. Lately, she has wolf-shifters on the brain. Katalina brings a sense of adventure and a touch of the mystical to erotic romance. She believes there's a daring heroine inside every woman who wants to take a wild ride with a strong worthy hero.
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More from Katalina Leon
Portrait of a Lone Wolf, book 7, Black Hills Wolves, Decadent Publishing.
Uncaged, book 25, Black Hills Wolves, Decadent Publishing.
Dark Sky, Scorpio, Fated Desires Publishing.
Coming soon:
The Virgin and Her Wolf, 1Nightstand, Decadent Publishing.
MacBrun 2
Ravenscroft-Vampire Picnic-Tales of an Irish Vampire. Free read available January 6th
Preferred Prey: Bite Of The Moon
A BBW PARANORMAL SHAPE SHIFTER ROMANCE
(Sons of Fenris MC – Book 1)
Erika Masten
CHAPTER ONE
This whole plan wasn’t just a bad idea. It was the mother of bad ideas. It was the fanged and furred, snarly, growly, tear-a-girl’s-throat-out father of all bad ideas. And it was all Tabitha’s doing, with no one else to blame.
Maybe that fact wasn’t entirely apparent just from the way Jiminy, the overdressed club manager cum psycho concierge, bellowed at her all the time. “Taffy! Taffy, front and center!” Tabitha knew well enough he meant her.
Taffy? Seriously? In the three weeks she’d worked at the dive strip bar, he’d only gotten Tabitha’s name right twice, by accident. But Taffy? What was it about the plus-size but still athletic waitress who made a point of never smiling and never flirting that came off as a Taffy? Was it the blond hair? Because that wasn’t a bleach job, and she didn’t have a My Little Pony tramp stamp or even neon pink nails with matching frosted eyeshadow, honest.
Perhaps, then, her folly should have been clear when the manager pounded his fist on the bar and shouted again over the suggestively thrumming music. “Taffy, get your ass over to VIP. You’re serving.”
Instead of really listening to that order—paying attention to where Jiminy was sending her—Tabitha fumed as she glared over her shoulder at the red-faced man. His fleshy, clean-shaven cheeks practically glowed over the stiff collar of his dress shirt. Bluster in a business suit. She had to wonder if he actually got those shirts starched, the ones he wore with his absurdly professional navy blue suits and ties. A little overdressed for presiding over bikers and petty thugs buying cheap beer and lap dances on a hole in the wall on the bad side of town.
Tabitha stood behind the bar with Jim Neece—Jiminy, the anti-conscience of the bar patrons—not ten feet away, as she wiped down the poorly washed glasses for the night. He scanned the crowd for his staff and skimmed right past her. Story of her life. The girl was always just one more warm body, someone to serve drinks, someone to kick around, a notation on the memo line of a foster care check, but no one who warranted actual notice or a name of her own.
Shaking her head with an irritated swish of her ponytail along her shoulder blades, the waitress whipped her dishrag down onto the bar and snatched up her tray. She used up every ounce of restraint she had resisting the urge to smack Jiminy in the back of the head with the plastic disk.
“Taffy!”
“I’m going,” she said, snapping back at the man she knew would forget her minutes later. “And it’s Tabitha.”
Jiminy didn’t seem to notice that last comment or her use of the tray to shield herself from his scrutiny as she slipped behind and past him. For the last few nights, he’d been after her over her waitressing uniform not being tight enough or small enough. Like a thin white t
ank top and a pair of flouncy black shorts qualified as a uniform. Only in a strip club. As it was, one good yank from an aggressive patron, and Tabitha was in danger of joining the lineup of strippers. She just didn’t see that working out for a girl with a little too much curve and, by her own estimation, at least one too many X’s on the size tag of her clothing. Not that the crowd at Skin seemed to mind; all the most popular dancers there were big girls. Go figure.
The fact that Skin even had a VIP section, a cordoned off alcove centered on its own stripper pole, seemed ludicrous to Tabitha as she dodged and wove her way through the club’s obstacle course of booths, tables, and handsy patrons. A maximum security block would have been more in order. It was a biker bar, for chrissake. Not just any biker bar, obviously, or she wouldn’t have taken a job there even to keep herself from starving. Getting into Skin as either a dancer or a waitress were the only options Tabitha had if she was going to find the men she was looking for without becoming one of their victims—and even this route posed its risks.
And that was what Tabitha should have kept in focus as she hurried up the steps into the VIP section with her high heels clacking loudly on the black tile. The floor reflected dingy flashes of color from the neon stage lights. She tended to keep her eyes trained on her order pad and those lights, to discourage patrons who equated eye contact with a come hither invitation to grope.
How long do you think you can keep this up, Tabitha? She was hardly earning anything because she wouldn’t put out for these creeps. Carrying a baseball bat just to get back and forth from the club to her car. Did she really think getting tangled up with the Sons was going to change anything? Once a throwaway kid, always a throwaway kid. Maybe they just didn’t want or need another mongrel in their pack.
