Bear's Surrogate

by Sky Winters

“Ooohhh,” she said, losing herself in the sensations washing over her.

  His hands worked beneath her and his fingers slipped slowly inside her, replacing his tongue. He switched back and forth, building her to a maddening crescendo.

  Her fingers dug into the blankets at her sides as she came hard and loud to the motion of his flicking tongue.

  The next thing she knew, he’d flopped on the bed beside her and laid a hand over her stomach.

  “Did it work?” he asked.

  “Who are you again?” she replied then laughed.

  He rolled her to her side and spooned her, lifting her outside leg with his hand and entering her from behind in one quick motion that sent fireworks through her.

  “Not done yet,” he said, squeezing her breast as he thrust over and over up inside of her already slick sex.

  Nirvana. Every fiber of her body sang with pleasure as he worked them both toward orgasm. But before they came, he slipped out and repositioned them, guiding her onto her knees on the bed where she protested lightly, shaking with desire.

  “It’ll be worth it,” he breathed, settling in behind her. He held her with one hand over her breast, the other down between the front of her legs as he entered her again from behind. His cock filled her again as he rubbed at her clit with his fingers in the same rhythm as he plunged deeper and deeper inside, actually lifting her from the bed each time.

  She let her head fall back on his shoulder as he thrust and pressed, bringing her to the most explosive orgasm of her life.

  When he finally released her, she fell onto the bed, spent and feeling like a pool of melted butter, him beside her.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he panted.

  “Can we do it again?” she answered, too weak to actually move again yet.

  Instead, they lay there together, talking and caressing each other into the night.

  “Gordon?” she said, after they’d both been lost in thought for a while.

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m sorry. I got you wrapped up in a bad situation and I never should have put you in danger.”

  “Baby,” he said, tilting her face so she’d look at him. “You have nothing to apologize for. It was all him. And I was never in danger. He wanted you to think I was I’m sure. But between a dragon and wolf there’s no contest.”

  “I see that now,” Corinne admitted. “I should have trusted you to begin with. I thought you’d either get hurt or do something you might regret in the heat of the moment.”

  “I told you. I’m fireproof,” Gordon quipped.

  Corinne slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Yeah, yeah.”

  “Seriously though, I consider myself an intelligent man. I’m not going to let some fool egg me on into risking anything important. I only wanted to watch out for you.”

  Corinne smiled as he splayed his hand over her stomach again. “I know that now. I promise I will trust you from now on.”

  “And I promise to always be there for you.”

  “How did you know to find me when I needed you?” she blurted. It had been on her mind since the fire. “Marcus set that fire on purpose to lure you away.”

  “He didn’t know how fast I work. Or that Loretta had seen him follow you inside the building from Nadine’s window that day. She remembered the little scene he’d caused with you the other night and called me.”

  That explained a lot. She’d have to thank Loretta when she had the chance.

  Gordon kissed her lightly on the lips, lingering for a moment and sending tingles through Corinne’s limbs.

  “I will protect you no matter what. You and Charlie. I swear that. You’re my treasure, and dragons always protect their most important treasure.”

  Gordon ran his fingers over the tiny diamonds on her outfit, sending shivers of delight through her skin.

  “I bet no treasure ever got you off like I do,” she said, reaching for his shaft. She was ready to go at it again.

  “That’s for sure,” Gordon said. “You’re insatiable, woman.”

  “Yup.”

  And she pulled him closer for a longer kiss and a lifetime of pleasure.

  Silver Wolf

  Chapter 1

  “Get out! Take your comic books and your stupid video games and get the hell out of my house!” Jana had reached her breaking point. She had had enough of coming in second, and playing mommy to a thirty-three-year-old man-child.

  “Come on, Jana. You don’t mean that. I love you, baby.” Charlie begged. He didn’t want to leave. He had nowhere to go and no job. He ducked as Jana hurled a shoe at his head.

  “Love? I don’t want your kind of love! Love means putting your dirty laundry in the basket, not next to it.” She picked up a pile of the said laundry and dumped it out the window. “Love means pulling your weight, like I don’t know, getting a damn job.” She stepped up toe to toe with Charlie, only inches from his face. “Love means, I’m not your mother. I’m your partner and your equal.” Her voice dropped several decibels, not much louder than a whisper. “I don’t want to raise a grown man. Get. Out.” She didn’t budge. There were a few close calls over the course of their five-year relationship, but she always backed down and reconsidered. She’d talk herself out of it by rationalizing his bad behavior. It wasn’t like he was abusing her, but she was unhappy and fed up, and If she didn’t get rid of Charlie now, she’d likely kill him for sure.

  “Jana, please. Let’s talk about this.” Charlie’s big brown eyes watered and went puppy dog. Despite his parasitic tendencies and beta personality, he really did love her. On some level she knew and appreciated that, but love wasn’t enough.

  Jana stepped back and stared down at her shoes. She was tired. The kind of tired that had soaked into the marrow of every bone, and added a five-hundred-pound weight to her shoulders. “We’ve talked enough. I don’t want to go around with you on this again. Your promises mean nothing, and I don’t trust you to follow through with anything you say. It’s over, Charlie.” She maneuvered into the kitchen and grabbed his keys off the island. The Stormtrooper keychain dangling in front of her removed any lingering doubts she may have been having. She unhooked the house key from the bunch and handed the rest to her now ex-boyfriend. “Just go.”

  Charlie took his keys and watched Jana sulk into their bedroom– her bedroom now – and lock the door. She had managed to use everything he owned in there as ammunition against him, so he had no reason to go in; except to try and keep her. “Jana?” he said with a knock. “Jana, don’t do this. I can be better. I swear.”

  “He said for the umpteenth time. I don’t want you to do better, I want you to go.” Jana curled up on her bed and shut down. For the better part of five years she begged, yelled, bribed, discussed, tolerated, and wore herself out trying to get Charlie to participate in their lives, but he wouldn’t. Starting out, Charlie was an up and coming graphic designer. He showed a lot of promise to the firms around Seattle, but as Jana climbed her own career ladder, and made more money as the real estate market righted itself, Charlie decided he didn’t have to work as hard; and then to not work at all. He got himself a mistress – his precious Xbox – and decided he didn’t want to be an adult anymore as he lost himself in a world of computer generated make believe.

  The sad irony was, it was his child-like nature and immaturity that drew Jana to him in the first place. Charlie was fun. He had an amazing sense of humor, didn’t take himself too seriously, and was a ton of fun in the sack; at least in the beginning. There was a warmth and charm that Jana really liked, and eventually grew to love about him. Most of the first year with Charlie was wonderful; she just couldn’t figure out what happened after that.

  The relationship turned her into someone she hated. Jana always saw those women out and about who would get bent out of shape at their boyfriends or husbands and for a long time, she had gone out of her way to avoid that kind of behavior. Now, she understood how those women wound up that way. Most of them weren’t born shrews and ice q
ueens, but after a gradual wearing down process by the man-children they chose to partner with, they transformed into shrieking harpies with no patience.

  Jana remembered being fun once upon a time. There was a time in her life when she was rarely angry to the point of screaming, and now she was tired of being angry and anxious all. She could handle stress in one part of her life, not all parts. She missed the relaxed, carefree side of herself, and she missed having sex– scratch that, she missed having good sex. Once playful romps with Charlie had turned into a lazy event that made her feel like Charlie was obligated to sleep with her occasionally because that’s what couples were supposed to do. She had stopped seeing the point after a while since Charlie made her feel as though she was no more important than a flashlight to him. The frequency had also dropped off to once a month or less. On the rare occasion she even felt attracted to Charlie, he was usually too busy arguing with twelve-year old kids online to be bothered with her double-ds wrapped in lace.

  She closed her eyes and listened, hoping he would hurry up and go. Charlie shuffled around at an even slower pace than usual, lingering as long as he could. Jana prayed for him to disappear. She wanted so badly to hear the tell-tale click of the front door shutting so she could cry into her pillow in peace. If she lost it now, she would be vulnerable, and Charlie would be able to worm his way back in.

  His muffled voice came through the door. “I’m all packed up and leaving now. Are you going to come out to say goodbye?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped for a clean break. “No. Goodbye, Charlie.”

  Charlie sighed, but left anyway. He had felt the distance growing between them for a while, he just hoped if he ignored it, it would go away. When their relationship instead got worse, he scrambled to try and right the capsizing ship, but it had already taken on too much water and was going down. It was too little too late; he had lost her.

  Jana waited for the rumble of Charlie’s ancient truck to fade away before she got up to lock the front door. She made a mental note to change the locks in the morning for the hell of it. She didn’t want any opportunity for Charlie to invite himself in when she wasn’t home. He had never done anything like that before, but she didn’t trust him and couldn’t rely on him to stay away.

  The house felt empty and eerily quiet, yet peaceful in a strange way. She had chosen this home after touring countless places in and around Seattle. The house was a wreck. The vaulted ceilings had gone rotten from a bad leak in the roof, the kitchen was an 80s oak and Formica nightmare, and when she saw the master bath, she had almost thrown up. Dead bugs and broken tile had littered the floor, and black mold had bled through the walls. But with plenty of huge, floor to ceiling windows and a massive master bedroom, she saw the potential and threw all her extra money and effort into restoring the crumbling structure.

  It took two years and a brand-new foundation, but finally, it was perfect. At least it had been. Tonight, the open, airy feel of the house felt empty and oppressive. The hardwood floors creaked as she padded back to her bedroom. Once her feet hit the threshold, it was as though a force field went up and wouldn’t allow her to enter. She had shared that space with Charlie for so long. Her bedroom used to be her sanctuary, but just standing there in the doorway she suddenly felt unwelcome. Sleeping in the bed she shared with him wouldn’t do. If she had any hope of getting rest tonight, it was going to be the guest room for her.

  Chapter 2

  When Jana hit the reset button on her life, she meant it. It took her just over a month, but she sold off all her furniture, most of her décor, and her house. What he decided to keep had been packed into her Honda Element, and she drove off, leaving Seattle in her rearview.

  She had no idea where she wanted to land yet, but that didn’t matter. The road trip down the coast was the only thing on her agenda; she needed to clear her head and purge her system of Charlie and her rotten luck with men.

  Since she had kicked him out, Charlie called or texted her almost daily. Most of the time she’d get simply, a friendly hello, other times it was a plea to let him come home, and when he had been drinking, he would send her a misspelled diatribe about what a shitty human being she was. Not only was it time for a change of scenery, it was also time for a change of phone number. That was the most heartbreaking process of all, she’d had the same phone number since high school.

  After cruising down I-5 for a few hours, she had crossed the state line and needed to pull off. Portland was only a few exits away, so she held on until then. Being a major city, there was less a chance of her getting turned around or lost. Or so she hoped.

  She pulled off into the first gas station she saw and fueled up. The speaker over the pump was blaring the Muzak version of the local pop station. The instrumental version of Radioactive ended and an ad for a dating website came on. Jana rolled her eyes as the disembodied voice touted how amazing ComeShift was, and how many matches had been made in the last year. She heard the same old spiel that every dating site claimed.

  What made her sit up and pay attention, was the part about meeting shape shifters. An old friend from high school had once bragged to her about her shifter boyfriend, and how amazing he was in pretty much every facet of their lives. She wound up married to him and they were now expecting their third child. Could shifters really be that different from “normal” humans?

  Jana slid back into her seat and downloaded the app. There was no harm in looking. The sign-up process was easy enough. There were no complicated questions to answer about personal morals or philosophies. Just basic contact information, a space for a short bio, and a few questions asking what she was looking for in a date. The whole process only took about ten minutes. She chose the “Find me” option in the settings since she was on the move. At least that way, the app could auto update where she was without her having to think about it.

  She set the phone aside and forgot about the ComeShift for the rest of her drive. She’d had a craving for some ocean time, and after a Google search, she found the perfect little seaside spot. She plugged Pacific City, Oregon into her GPS and stepped on the gas.

  The sun started setting as Jana pulled into her hotel. She was exhausted and starving and her bladder was ready to burst. Her phone dinged as she checked in and got her cottage key. She figured it was her mother and would answer it later. The cottage rental community was close to the beach and Cape Kiwanda state park. Her rental was the third one in as she entered the neighborhood. She unlocked the door to her cottage and almost fell over. The interior was beautiful. The entrance opened to an open space that included the living, dining, and kitchen areas in one setting.

  The living room area had a comfortably rustic feel with warm wood paneling and leather furniture, the kitchen had all stainless appliances and modern amenities; the building was a cottage in name and size only. But the ultimate surprise came when she pulled the curtains open in her bedroom. The picture window framed the most amazing beach view she had ever seen. Coming out of the water like a towering hulk was a huge monolith; she had her own personal Mt. Olympus to stare at.

  “Good choice, Jana.” She whispered to herself.

  She jumped as her phone dinged in her pocket again. “Whoa!” she had received two alerts from ComeShift already. The first was an interest alert, the other was an invitation from the same guy. Eagerly, she opened the app and checked him out.

  His name was Stephen Marciano. He was a wolf shifter from Pacific City and was Capital-C Cute. The photo was a shirtless photo taken during a fishing trip. He was holding a giant fish as long as his torso, and looked damn proud of himself. She studied his beaming smile and every line, dip, and cut of his torso. The man was fit. He wore sunglasses and a backward baseball cap, so Jana didn’t get a good look at his face, but if that jawline was any indication, she had found herself a handsome fella.

  She was all set to respond when she caught a detail out of the corner of her eye.

  Age: 48

  Forty-eight? Holy shit
. Stephen was a full fifteen years older than her. “Nope. No, no. Too old.” Jana shut the app down and put her phone away. The free-standing tub in the master was calling her name and relaxation was a much bigger priority at the moment than some guy. Especially some old guy.

  He was cute though. And a shifter. And old enough to know better. And probably well-versed in how to treat a lady. And experienced where it counted. Her thoughts ran around and round this same track while she soaked. After ten minutes, she decided there would be no relaxing.

  The intrigue of a much older man was almost too much to handle. What would he be like? What did he do for work? How do men that age behave? Jana would bet that he didn’t even own a gaming console, and probably did things like hold a job and own his own home.

  “Ah, fuck it.” Jana climbed out of the tub and opened Stephen’s invitation to see what he wanted.

  Hi! My name is Stephen. I found your profile and I saw that you like to hike and be outdoors. What do you say we meet up for a morning beach hike?

  The man got a point for being polite and a hike sounded like a lot of fun and far less emotionally dangerous than a dinner date.

  I’d love to. What do you say to 7am. on Tuesday; would that work for you?

  That would give her two days to get used to the idea that she was even going on a date. That could be the best or the worst idea she had ever had.

  That sounds perfect. Let’s meet at Cape Kiwanda State Park. Bring a swimsuit.

  A swimsuit? Oh, lord. Did she even still own one? Seattle’s wasn’t landlocked by any means, but Jana couldn’t remember when she’d last had time to go swimming or fishing. It probably had been years.

  Still dripping from the tub, she padded across the hardwood to rummage through her suitcase and came up empty handed. It looked like she was going shopping in the morning.

  Chapter 3

  Jana managed to score herself a new bikini that fit like a dream off the clearance rack. She also couldn’t sleep. Her brain buzzed with a whole hive of what ifs? and should I’s? Her first date in five years felt like a bigger deal than it probably should have. Never mind the fact that there was a fifteen-year age gap. That was the point that kept screaming the loudest at her. She had to deal with all her own personal insecurities to make sure they were silenced, and not ready to spring from their box to ruin her day. Of course, there were upsides, but the downs kept shoving them to the side so they could get all the attention. Perhaps, the biggest downer was wondering if they would have anything in common. She was trapped in a mental circle chase she couldn’t get away from.