That was when she started to scream. Her father was in there. The man she had loved her whole life, and he was helping the man she had just fallen in love with. How could the universe be so cruel as to put them both in danger at the same time? How could this be happening?
She crawled and slid and slipped around the burning vehicle tears and rain stinging her eyes.
Jamie couldn’t even get close. The fire was burning to brightly.
“Daddy!” she screamed.
“Jamie!”
The voice was her father’s and she turned to see him sitting in the mud a little way off. He was cradling something.
“I’m so sorry,” he said as she crawled towards him. “I’m so sorry.”
She looked from her father’s mud covered face to the thing he was holding. It was Jesse. He was covered in blood, cuts and bruises, and one side of his face was burnt.
“I don’t think he’s breathing,” her father said sadly.
Jamie took Jesse from her father and cried. She held him while her father wrapped his arms around her.
After a while sirens filled the air and soon other people arrived. A fire truck and an ambulance showed up too, called by little Joe the accountant who looked sad in his rain drenched suit.
A paramedic spoke to her but Jamie didn’t hear him.
“Ma’am I have to check him,” he said indicating Jesse.
Her father drew her back as the paramedic knelt down. He checked for a pulse and suddenly began to work with determination. He called his colleague over and together they put an IV into Jesse’s arm, and a tube down his throat. Then they loaded him onto a gurney.
“But he’s dead!” Jamie wailed.
The paramedic shook his head, “No ma’am, he’s very much alive, but needs to go to hospital immediately.”
“Go with him,” her father said. “Go, I’m fine.”
Jamie climbed into the back of the ambulance where a paramedic took one look at her and began to check her.
By the time they reached the hospital Jamie was calmer. Jesse was breathing on his own and the paramedic was marveling at his healing powers. Suddenly Jamie panicked. What if they found out that Jesse was a were-bear? What would happen then?
“It’s okay,” the other paramedic said quietly, turning golden eyes on her. Jamie relaxed. “I know what to do with him.”
Once Jesse was peacefully asleep in a private room in the hospital, Jamie called her dad to fetch her.
“Will he be okay?” he asked as she slid into the passenger seat of her own Ford, which her father had clearly borrowed.
“He’ll make a full recovery,” Jamie said. She was so tired but there was something she had to tell him. “Listen dad, you have to believe me, I didn’t do those things to the accounts. I wouldn’t know how. That’s complicated stuff and I’m not smart or devious enough. You have to believe me.”
Her father held her hand for a moment but didn’t say anything.
It was a quiet ride home and Jaime dozed part of the way, too tired to stay awake. When they got home Oliver was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a sandwich and someone was sitting across from him. He glanced up when Jamie and her father entered the room. Suddenly he looked nervous. His eyes darted from them to the girl sitting opposite him. She had a blue hoodie on and her dark hair spilled out from under it.
“You!” Jamie said bearing down on the girl all tiredness forgotten. “I know you. I’ve seen you hanging around.”
“Observant huh?” the girl said, tilting her head to one side, “You want a medal?”
Jamie set her jaw. She turned on Oliver screaming.
“How dare you bring her into this house!? She’s a werewolf! How dare you? After everything they’ve done to us?!”
“Jamie, please!” her father said, but Jamie was on Oliver pelting him with her fists. He was trying to ward her off.
“Get off me!” he yelled. Jamie looked into his scared grey eyes, the eyes begging her not to think, not to notice anything. There was after all only one other person with access to the accounts, to the supply ordering and the deliveries. There was only one person here who could be so devious and has the means to pull it off.
All the pieces slotted into place in her mind creating one big picture. And then she turned and looked at the werewolf, those cold eyes, that jaw. She wanted to spill the beans. Jamie could just see it. She was dying to rub Jamie’s nose in what she and Oliver had done
“We’ve been such fools, dad,” she said letting Oliver go. “Such idiots. Who has been helping out with the admin since mom died? Who has been here to receive the deliveries? It’s not me, I’ve been with you, out in the fields. But it has been someone now hasn’t it?” she looked at Oliver.
“Did you come up with this plan by yourself or did your girlfriend here help you?”
Oliver swallowed and stood up. “I don’t have to sit here and take this,” he said.
“Actually you do,” Jamie said. “You tried to pin it on me, but I’ve been watching you. Was it you who tampered with my light fitting so it would fall on my bed and hurt me? And the snake in the stable? Was that you too? And Jesse in the car?”
Oliver sighed, “You were supposed to be in the car, not him.”
“He almost died!” Jamie roared at him.
“Oh, stop being so melodramatic,” the werewolf said. Her voice was annoyingly nasal. “He’s a bear, he’ll be fine. Sadly it takes more than failed brakes to kill them. But like Oli said, it was supposed to be you.”
“Why Oliver?” Jamie’s father asked sounding so sad and tired it almost broke Jamie’s heart.
Oliver turned on him. “Because you’re a fucking bumpkin who wouldn’t know how to run a business if his life depended on it!” he said. “You’re out there, at home with the cattle and the shit. I’m in here, thinking about growth! About building a future!” His voice got low. “About building an empire. I always knew I’d change the world, but my stupid father pissed away everything on penny stocks. Now he’s nothing. You had Andrew, there was no way this would ever be mine. So I came up with a plan to get it. I had to remove some pieces but…”
“Some pieces?” Jamie felt herself go weak and cold at the same time.
“Don’t judge me because you’re too scared to go after what you really want in life,” he said, licking his lips.
“My mother and brother weren’t pieces!”
Her father was red with rage. He grabbed Oliver by the shirt and hit him again and again. Then the werewolf was on him, pulling him off Oliver and throwing him against the wall where he hit with a crunch and then lay still.
“Daddy!” Jamie grabbed the number 14 cast iron skillet from the kitchen shelf. Twelve pounds of solid nineteenth century craftsmanship swung in a long arc. The crunching sound as it slammed into the side of the werewolf girl’s head was sickening and satisfying. She flipped backwards, and Jamie could see the hair beginning to sprout from the girl’s face as she Shifted.
The girl brought both hands up to her face and with a quick motion pulled her jaw back into place. “You were supposed to be there with your mommy and brother. There were meant to be three. I was cheated out of your flesh. I think I’ll take it now,” the werewolf said around her lengthening canines.
Jamie was scared, her heart beating so fast. She wanted to run but her muscles were stuck. She held the frying pan between them. The werewolf batted it out of the way. The werewolf girl leapt, a maw of savage teeth aimed at Jamie’s throat.
Jamie closed her eyes waiting for the beast to land on her, but she heard a scream and a roar. Opening her eyes, she saw a huge black bear bolt through the back door and grab the wolf girl out of the air. The bear turned then with the wolf scratching and clawing at it, dragged it back out into the yard. There were growls and yelps and then silence.
Jamie went to her father who was coming around.
“What happened?” he asked sitting up.
“I think one of Jesse’s people just saved our butt
s,” Jamie said.
A moment later Tyler poked his head into the kitchen.
“Hey,” he said. “All taken care of out here. I’ll just get rid of the trash.”
Jamie looked up and quickly looked away. Tyler was naked. He saw the look on her face and laughed.
“You’ll have to get used to that if you’re gonna hang around with bears,” he said. “See ya!” and Tyler was off.
Oliver was still out cold on the kitchen floor. Jamie took great pleasure in calling the police and giving them all the evidence they had. Oliver was taken away in handcuffs by the time the sun set. Then father and daughter sat on the porch in the swing and watched the stars come out, finishing a bottle of whiskey together.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Jamie said snuggling up to her dad.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “It’s not your fault Juniper-berry. I trusted Oliver. You were right about him from the start. You have good instincts.”
They were silent for a moment and then her father said, “So you and Jesse?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said smiling uncontrollably.
“So how does that work?” her father asked. “I mean are my grandkids going to be bears or humans?”
“Geez dad we’re just dating!” Jamie said.
“You’re twenty-six already. I need grandkids before I die,” he said and kissed the top of her head.
Jamie let it slide. It had been a long time since her father had spoken about a future. It was good to hear him dream.
It was Sunday. Jamie lay on Jesse’s bed in his small cabin. The window let the sunlight in beautifully, warming her from head to toe. All around the cabin the trees were beginning to turn yellow, red and orange.
She stretched lazily and looked up at him. He was so gorgeous. He traced the line of her face with a finger.
She moved closer to him and Jesse smiled at her.
“Don’t just look at me, kiss me already,” she demanded.
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said ripping off a mock salute.
The kiss was deep and languorous.
They were in no hurry. So Jamie pulled back from him. “So about your intentions,” she said a naughty smile playing on her lips.
“What about them?” Jesse asked.
“Are you going to tell me what they are?”
“Nope,” he said.
“Would you like to know what mine are?” she asked as she pushed him onto his back and straddled him.
“Sure,” he said.
Jamie lowered her head and kissed his collarbone, down over his pecs, down the central groove in his stomach all the way to the button on his jeans. There she halted and looked up at him. He was watching her with a bemused look on his face.
Then she undid the button and pulled the zipper down.
Jesse just smiled at her and laughed as she pulled his jeans right off and threw them on the floor. Then she pulled his underwear off, discarding that too.
“Well now you’re hopelessly overdressed for this party,” Jesse said, his voice still light but there were undertones and his breathing had quickened.
Carefully, painstakingly slowly, Jamie stripped off her clothing, one piece at a time throwing them at him, with a self-satisfied smile as he caught them and smelled each one before grabbing the next one out of the air. Eventually she ran out of clothes.
Jesse crooked a forefinger at her but Jamie wasn’t finished. She knelt down in front of him and spread his legs, slipping between them. He was already hard, and she took him in her mouth, tasting him as she worked his shaft with her hand. He began to groan and she grew excited, drawing pleasure from his response to her touch. She ran her free hand along his muscular thighs, feeling them shiver as she sucked and licked.
Jesse reached down and drew her up to him, He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deep in her mouth. Then he lay back and positioned her over his mouth. Jamie felt him lick her, gently at first and then with more vigor and urgency. He inserted a finger, sliding it up inside her and Jamie arched backwards as electricity filled and jolted through her. He kept working her as he slid her back down his body, finding a breast with his mouth, licking the nipple, nibbling it, sucking it until it stood on end. Then he moved to the other one, gently teasing it to attention.
Jamie had had her fair share of lovers over the years, some good and some bad. Jesse was the one that left them all very far behind. He kissed her, and ran his tongue along her neck making goosebumps erupt on her skin as he took an earlobe into his mouth and nibbled on it. His voice was soft and gentle as he spoke to her. Sweet nothings but growing more and more urgent.
Finally entered her. Jamie had been waiting, holding her breath almost, not wanting to come too soon and ruin the whole thing. He had her walking a knife edge of pleasure. She wanted this to last forever. She wanted Jesse to be inside her for the rest of her life feeling him move and writhe with her. She could see is enjoyment, see his hunger for her burning in his eyes as he looked at her.
He began to move slowly at first, and she could feel every inch of him inside her as he thrust. She moved with him, the two of them creating a dance that only they would ever do, to this rhythm in this way. The wave built and grew, filling them both with a desire, a need to be together on a cellular level. Jamie needed Jesse to be with her, in heart, mind and body. He lifted her onto his lap letting her ride him, giving her the control, and she loved it. Now she teased him, squeezing him inside her, making him moan and groan, going faster and faster, as he licked and sucked on her breasts, kneading them.
Eventually Jamie couldn’t hold it in any more. She felt the warmth begin from her toes and rise up along her spine filling her with fire. It was wave on wave of ecstasy and rode them into the shore of bliss.
Afterwards as the sunset and the world turned to monochrome in the pale moonlight, Jamie rolled over and kissed Jesse awake. He reached over and his hands found her warm and inviting.
“So, do you think you could do all that again?” she asked.
He grinned and said, “I don’t know, we could give it a try.”
And as Jesse kissed and licked his way over her body, Jamie felt herself rise from her sadness. Her heart finally had something to rejoice about, and she was never going to let him get away.
Matthew
Bearly Saints I
by
Becca Fanning
Melinda Darling let out a squeak as she hit bottom turning into the pothole-infested gravel parking lot of the Irish Town Pub.
“Please, please, please don’t need any repairs,” she muttered to her car. “I just had you in, and I can’t spend another dime until payday, so please, please, please.”
Slowing to a crawl, she made her way toward the front door of the old warehouse-turned-pub. The only thing the least bit Irish she could see was the color and the name—Kelly green covered the entire metal box, and there was a shamrock over the “i” in Irish—but the metal stairs leading up to the enclosed porch screamed “warehouse entrance” not “friendly neighborhood pub.” Not that Mel had ever been to Ireland to see what a real Irish pub looked like in person, but she had seen The Quiet Man and Darby O’Gill and the Little People, so she knew what a pub was supposed to look like, and this place simply did not mesh at all with what she had imagined for an Irish pub. Nor did the rows of beefy motorcycles lining the front of the building. Mel groaned once more as she brought her compact car to a stop next to a rusty blue van.
Breakwater: Hyde (BBW Bad Boy Space Bear Shifter Romance) (Star Bears Book 4) Page 115
