Kat reached up and pulled him into a deep kiss, and her body relaxed under him, welcoming him. With small, slow thrusts, he teased her until she wriggled underneath him. Suddenly the heels of her stilettos dug into his ass as she tilted her hips up to accept him.
“Please…” she whispered into his mouth.
He’d never been one to disappoint a lady, and with one smooth, fluid motion, he slowly buried himself inside her. She whimpered and then clamped down on him so hard he very nearly lost control. He paused for a moment to rein himself in as Kat’s hands roamed his back. Her touch intoxicated him, and if she didn’t stop, he wouldn’t be able to either.
Alex grabbed both of her wrists and held them over her head as her body bucked for more. Slowly, he rocked into her, wanting to prolong their lovemaking as long as possible. Her rhythm seemed off, almost frenetic, at first, but then she followed his lead and they moved in perfect sync.
He’d never felt so connected with a sexual partner before. Their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces. The world turned upside down as they moved, higher and higher until he was blinded by passion. Only after his teeth sank into the soft flesh of her shoulder did he realize what he was doing. Kat cried out like a wild animal and bit him in the same fleshy spot. Even as humans, they fucked like bears.
The precipice hurtled toward him, but he restrained himself until Kat arched against him, screaming his name, and her inner walls clenched around him. At that point, he could no longer hold back. Plunging deeper and deeper, Alex rode the wave until the world went black and then exploded in a billion pinpoints of light.
Seconds, minutes, or hours later — he couldn’t be sure — he lay with Kat snuggled deep in his arms, drifting on a cloud of bliss. Her slightly sweet, almost pink scent enveloped him, soothing him, guiding him to slumber.
“That was…amazing,” he murmured into her hair. His brain grew fuzzy and dark, and he barely heard her quiet response before he drifted into the deepest sleep of his life.
“Even better than I always heard it would be.”
Seven
Kat’s dark brown hair glowed in the morning sun, glints of copper shining through. Alex had spent the last half-hour staring down at her peaceful, sleeping form, astounded that she’d spent the night with him. Her impossible beauty staggered him, and he was powerless to tear his gaze away.
In a perfect world, he’d lie next to her until she awoke on her own. She’d smile that perfect smile of hers, they’d joke about having morning breath, her laugh would send ripples through his body, and they’d make love again. After that, he’d tell her all his secrets.
Secrets…
Something tickled the back of his brain. Something Kat had said as he was falling asleep. Or had it been a dream? No, he was certain she’d spoken, but he couldn’t quite…
It hit him like a Mack truck loaded with explosives. Even better than I always heard it would be.
Idiot!
He should have known. He should have realized. The innocence that had rolled off her when they bumped into each other in the lobby — so refreshing after hours locked in a room full of lawyers — had been real. The way she’d been so hesitant and tentative at the beginning of their lovemaking should have tipped him off.
Idiot!
Until last night, Kat had been a virgin. In the clear light of day, it was all so obvious. He’d been out for one last night of fun before getting married, while she had trusted him with her virginity.
Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!
In another universe, another life, he would have been quite satisfied with this turn of events. He could easily imagine giving this woman his heart as she had given him her innocence — but his heart wasn’t his to give. In a week, he’d be standing in front of a huge gathering of bears, pledging himself to a lifetime with another woman.
He flopped back on the bed, clutching at his unruly hair. What have I done? What do I do now?
Deep down, he knew the answer. He hated the thought — hated himself — but it was the only way. It would be fast and brutal, but he had to rip off the bandage. As much as he wanted to spend every waking moment between now and the wedding with Kat, he couldn’t do that to her. Better for them both to feel the sting of rejection after one wild night than suffer the pain of a broken heart after falling in love, which he had no doubt would happen.
No, he had to make her hate him. The idea stabbed him in the heart, but it was nothing more than he deserved. He drank her in, committing every line of her face and every curve of her body to memory because he’d never see her again after this day.
He was nearly dressed by the time she woke up, sleepy-eyed and smiling softly. He watched in his full-length mirror as she stretched awake, the sheet falling away and exposing one beautiful breast. The hardest thing he’d ever had to do was tear his gaze away from her.
That’s nothing compared to what’s coming…
“Hey you,” she said, her voice raspy from slumber.
Alex wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed with her and snuggle — among other things — the day away, but he forced himself to stay the awful, cruel, painful course.
“Morning.” His tone was crisp, without a hint of warmth, and he kept his focus on his reflection as he straightened his tie.
“Last night night was amazing,” Kat said as she sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, her hair a sexy mess.
He couldn’t tell her the truth — that last night had been the best night of his entire life, and he had no doubt it would remain so until the day he died. Instead, he spat out, “Yeah, it was fun.”
Alex shrugged into his coat and made a show of checking his watch. “I need to get to work. There’s coffee, if you want it, but I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of food.”
His heart cracked at her confused expression.
“We… Aren’t we going to have breakfast together?”
“Sorry,” he said as he swept out of the room. “No time.”
He could hear her getting out of bed and following him. The swish of what he guessed was the sheet wrapped around her luscious body echoed in the silent apartment.
“When you’re ready to leave, just press ‘three’ on the panel next to the door. My driver will take you where ever you need to go.”
“Um, okay.”
Alex dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands as he walked to the door to stop himself from turning around, gathering her in his arms, and kissing away the pain he heard in her voice.
“Will you call me?” she asked quietly as she followed him.
He stopped with his hand on the door knob, and finally turned to her. “You know, I don’t think I ever got your number.”
That left her speechless, and he took the opportunity to press a kiss to her forehead — anything to avoid those mesmerizing amber eyes — and swing the door open wide.
“Besides, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. I can’t believe I forgot to mention it, but I’m getting married in a few days. Might make things awkward.”
Without another word, he walked out the door and closed it softly behind him.
Alex had done a fair amount in his life to be ashamed of, but he’d never hated himself more. Hopefully, Kat hated him too.
Alex had intended to spend the morning alone in his office, but his father was waiting for him when he arrived. The older man approached him with a smile that faded quickly as Alex neared. Even after the shower, Katrina’s scent clung to him. An alpha bear such as his father, even in human form, would notice it.
“Do I need to remind you,” Tier Fairchild hissed, after closing Alex’s office door, “that you’re getting married in a week?”
Alex couldn’t meet his father’s eyes. “Yes, I’m getting bonded for all eternity in one week. That being the case, I thought I deserved to enjoy myself one last time. One very last time.”
His father stepped close to him, anger etched across his strong features. “Do you have any idea how important t
his union is, Alex? Do you realize what one misstep could mean for the entire clan? Both clans?”
“You don’t think I know that?” he snapped. Claws sprouted from his fingers and his teeth sharpened. “Do you think I would have agreed to this…this nightmare, if I didn’t know what it meant for my people?”
“Nightmare!” Tier Fairchild’s shout turned into a roar as his face became more animal than human. “You don’t know nightmare! Nightmare is watching your family struck down by war! Hearing screams during the night raids, knowing you don’t have enough bears to fight back! Watching cubs starve because you sent their parents off to die!”
“Yes,” Alex growled, his body growing and clothes tearing as he struggled to control his rage. No doubt misplaced rage, but rage nonetheless. “And I have sacrificed myself to end it.”
“Sacrifice!” His sire’s growl was disgusted, his glare entirely inhuman. “You know nothing of sacrifice.”
The two half-bears circled each other, their shredded suits dangling from their bodies in bits and pieces. Alex had never fought his father before — never thought of it — but his body and soul still ached over what he’d had to do to Kat for the sake of his clan. How dare his father say he didn’t know sacrifice?
For one insane moment, he considered rushing the older bear, using claws and teeth against him, but under the alpha bear’s steady gaze, the desire slowly faded. This was his father. His Tier. He didn’t have to agree with him, didn’t even have to like him, but he had to obey him.
Alex’s head dropped in a gesture of submission, and just like that, the altercation was over. The Tier’s bear withdrew, as did Alex’s, and the men walked to the closet to pull out fresh suits. A bear’s clothing budget was pretty hefty.
“It’s not forever,” Tier Fairchild said as he dressed. “The ceremony’s less than a week away. In a year or two, you’ll have an heir and a spare, then you can return to your mistress, or find a better one.”
At his father’s unwitting words, Alex almost shifted fully to his bear form and tore the man’s head from his shoulders. She wasn’t even his mate, yet Alex felt a fierce protectiveness for Kat — even if the ‘threat’ was only an inadvertent insult. His father had no idea no other woman could compare to Kat, not even his future wife.
And he’d just left her behind.
Eight
Katrina painted. It was all she could manage to do. Grooming — hell, bathing — had been neglected in favor of taking her emotions out on canvas. And she’d never been more prolific, even if the style wasn’t what she normally produced.
It had been days since Alex had left her alone in his apartment, wondering what the hell had just happened, but her anger hadn’t dissipated. She allowed it to flow through her into her painting.
“How dare he?” she ranted, slapping dark colors onto the canvas in haphazard strokes.
“How dare he treat me like that?” she raved, mashing her brush against the canvas so hard she was surprised when it didn’t poke right through.
“How dare he cheat on his poor fiancée?” she seethed, spattering dark red splotches with a vicious flick of her wrist.
It felt good to be angry — so much better than the pain lurking beneath the rage. All of her other senses were neglected to give all her focus on the imagery before her, so she didn’t hear her mother enter the studio.
“Katrina Lynn!”
Kat jumped and spun around, dribbling paint on the studio floor from her fully loaded brush. “Mother! You startled me.”
“That was the fifth time I called your name, dear. Are you okay?”
Stella Hamilton was a perfect mate of a Tier. Her stylish fashion sense and svelte frame made her the envy of most of her friends, but her genuinely caring nature made them all love her anyway. The cream Armani pant suit she wore made it clear why she remained in the doorway instead of entering Kat’s studio.
“Sorry, I was just caught up,” Kat said, laying the brush down.
She didn’t dare tell her mother the truth — or anyone, actually. Alex’s cold rejection, coupled with her naive stupidity, had humiliated her beyond words. Kat dragged the back of her hand across her brow to brush away some errant hair and felt the sticky coolness of wet paint on her forehead. Great.
Looking behind her daughter, Stella studied the painting. “It’s, um…really coming along.”
The painting featured a stag attacking a terrified hunter. The man’s bow lay broken beneath him and he had one arm raised to fend off the brutal pummeling he was receiving from the stag’s hooves. Strangely enough, the hunter resembled someone she knew…and hated.
If even a shred of Kat’s former sense of humor had remained, she would have laughed at her mother’s uncertain reaction. Stella despised violence of any kind, which was completely understandable after suffering through the wars growing up, but she was also fiercely supportive. She’d never admit to not loving something Katrina had made.
“Can you take a break for a bit, dear? Your father and I would like to speak with you downstairs.”
Her normally poised mother seemed agitated. She had trouble meeting Kat’s eyes, and her fingernails kept growing and shortening — not much, just a little. It was a bad habit that Stella only showed in times of stress.
“Sure, just let me change out of this smock. Is everything okay, Mother?”
“Oh, yes. We’ll be in the family room. I thought we could have tea.”
Katrina paused in tidying her brushes and glanced at Stella in confusion. “We never have tea.”
“Well, I thought we could start,” her mother said in a clipped tone. “Come downstairs as soon as you can.”
As she cleaned up and changed out of her spattered smock, an inexplicable sense of dread built inside Kat. Her mother seemed unusually stressed. Something was up, that much she was sure of, but she had no idea what. Unless…
What if they found out what I did?
Panic rose in her throat as she trudged downstairs, but then discounted the terrifying idea. If her father had discovered her liaison, he wouldn’t be sitting down for tea — more likely, he’d be tearing up the house in a rage.
Kat took a deep, bracing breath and entered the family room. Her father sat in a burgundy leather wingback chair, her mother sat on a small antique love seat, and the coffee table in front of them was loaded down with an array of finger sandwiches and cakes. Her mother must have called a bakery to deliver.
For the three of them. Something was definitely up.
Kat took a seat on the couch facing her mother, her father to her left. “Okay, what’s wrong? Is one of you sick? Are you both sick? Am I sick? Just tell me.”
“No one’s sick, Katrina.” Tier Hamilton gave her his most reassuring smile, which only comforted her a little. “It’s just time we had a talk. About the history of our clan, and the state of our clan today. There are some things you need to know.”
Kat sat back, mystified. She’d studied clan history in school, of course, but her father had never wanted to talk about clan business with her before. She couldn’t deny her curiosity.
“You’ve been blessed to have grown up in a time of peace, my daughter,” he started. “Clans living in relative harmony is normal to you. But to your mother and myself, it’s a miracle. Until twenty years ago, ‘normal’ meant war. It was all we ever knew. All our parents, and grandparents knew, going back generations. So much hatred, so much fighting, so much death. So very much death.”
His voice faltered for a moment, and his wife laid a comforting hand on his arm. She radiated pride when she said, “But your father changed all that, Katrina.”
Kat started in surprise. She knew the war had ended when she was a baby, and of course her father was the leader of the Hamilton Clan, but she had never heard it put like that — that he, himself, had ended the war.
“You, Father? How did you do it?”
His father smiled at her, a smile that seemed filled with pride and happiness, yet mixed with some unkn
owable sadness.
“Before I explain how, I must explain why. I didn’t always hate war, Katrina. No, what I hated was Clan Fairchild. I hated them with an intensity I hope you never experience. The only thing I felt as strongly as that hatred was love. Love for your mother, love for you, and love for my father. I’m so sorry you never knew him. He was the greatest man…the greatest bear, I’ve ever known.”
Tier Hamilton swallowed hard and continued. “Now it seems wrong that I could hate so much when I also loved so much, but my love fed my hatred. Clan Fairchild threatened those I loved, so I hated them. Until one day…one day love became all that mattered.”
Kat had never heard her father open up like this. He’d always been a gruff disciplinarian. She never once doubted his love for her, but he wasn’t prone to emotional speeches. Her anxiety meter inched ever upward.
“It was a bloody battle that day, but no bloodier than others I’d experienced. That day was special because two equally great warriors met in battle. Neither was stronger than the other, and that was their doom. Tier Hamilton, my father, went against Tier Fairchild, and neither won. Both lost. Both died.”
Tier Hamilton was silent for a long moment, staring into space. The painful memories of that day so long ago flashed in his eyes. Katrina started to speak, but her mother stopped her with a small shake of her head. It didn’t take long for him to continue.
“I watched my father die. He was only a feet away from me, but too far for me to save. When I got to him, he was already dead. I have never known sadness like that. The grief was all-consuming. I screamed with it, screamed my pain and horror at the sky, and my grief had an echo.”
The man’s eyes filled with unspilled tears, but he looked at his daughter with a steady gaze. “Across my father’s body, I saw another fallen bear. Tier Fairchild, and keening over him was his son. I knew, looking at that bear, hearing his own roar of anguish, that his pain was no less than mine. He’d just lost a father he loved as much as I loved mine. Our eyes met, Katrina, and we didn’t fly at each other. We didn’t try to avenge our fathers on each other’s flesh. We wept together instead. And then we drew up a treaty.”
The Werebear's Unwanted Bride (A Paranormal BBW Shifter Romance) (Howls Romance) Page 4
