She’d loved this book for years, and normally had no problem becoming engaged in it once she started, however, she found her gaze frequently being drawn to the patio door. Twice she had been ready to set the book down and go for a walk to the lake, but the thought of the bear, which may still be somewhere around, kept her rooted to her seat.
The last thing she wanted was a face-to-face with something big and furry, imposing. Allowing her mind to drift to the large animal for a moment, she recalled how its brown hair had seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. Its movements were fluid for such a huge beast as he walked toward her grandmother’s driveway.
She’d never thought about bears being beautiful, and as massive as the one she’d seen had been it seemed like the word didn’t truly describe it well. Stunning and arresting probably was better. Even now she wished bears were more friendly creatures because she would love to rub her hands along the powerful muscles of its back and feel if the fur was soft or coarse.
“Let it go, Rena.” My name wasn’t Grizzly James Adams and that wasn’t Ben.
Hopefully the bear would be far away by morning and stay away the rest of the week.
~YH~
A while later Cord still found himself circling Genma’s property. He’d circled twice, unsure why he had not headed home yet. Something was gnawing deep in his gut, but he wasn’t sure what. There was nothing amiss at Genma’s. He sensed the hour was getting late and he had work to do come morning. Shaking off the impression, he moved back toward the path to the lake giving the area one last sniff and that’s when he smelled it.
Mine. His bear claimed.
He followed the scent from a tree to the docks. It was different than Genma’s markings. This scent reminded him of honeyed asters: floral, sweet and intoxicating. Something seemed familiar about it, but he couldn’t place any female in the county he’d recalled having such an aroma. Even though the flower grew wild around the county, he knew it wasn’t the same as the plant. It was similar, but more original, and different.
Maybe someone had visited Genma recently, an unmated female from town that had possibly just come into maturity. It was possible that in his effort to avoid taking just any female Were, he was grasping at straws.
Part of him believed that he was making up the smell. That he’d become so overwhelmed by the pressures on him to find a life mate, it was possible he was conjuring up some illusive Were-female.
However, the other part of him, his bear, whined and pawed the ground. It wanted to stay there in the woods until it could locate the female. That wasn’t going to happen. Tomorrow was soon enough.
Giving his bear a mental nudge until he began to meander back toward the miles leading home, Cord allowed one final glance toward the dock, then carried on.
He had every intention of rising early to attempt to catch Genma before she left with his grandmother and question the woman about visitors she’d had in the last few days.
Chapter Five
She was hidden to him. His bear stood at the beginning of the dock, staring at her silhouette at the end. The moon hovered behind the night clouds, refusing to come out to illuminate the female before him.
Even though he couldn’t see her, he could smell her. Her scent seemed to be all around him, powerful. It had obliterated everything else around him and had him isolating on nothing but her aroma. Unable to resist he moved his front paw, stepping on the wooden planks. Each of his steps was accompanied by a deep inhale. He couldn’t get enough of the aphrodisiac of her skin.
Mid-step he shifted, never halting in his approach.
When he finally stopped, he stood before her, feeling the heat of her skin. So close, yet he still he couldn’t make out her features. The fact that he had found her would not allow him to be disappointed that he couldn’t identify her. Closing his eyes, he allowed his sense of smell to acquaint himself with her.
“Cord…” she whispered his name. Her voice, sultry, stroked his core.
He wanted to demand she touch him, but his throat was too tight, his bear still too close to the surface. It was always like that during mating time. It was the only moment where both man and bear were operating as one. Both played a significant role even though the male form was present, dominant.
Growling low, Cord leaned in, setting his nose along her neck. Taking a deep breath, he drew in honeyed asters. It was like oxygen to his soul.
Touching her with nothing but his nose, he lowered his body and moved past her collarbone to the skin between her breasts.
She was trembling and her heart was pounding. A bawdy symphony accompanied by the hard, heavy rhythm of his own. He felt calm, steady, even though there were emotions and desires rocketing through his body and demanding more. Demanding he claim her in the oldest way and make her his before she escaped him.
Not giving in to the demands of his body, he had to continue on. Find the central point where her nectar was strongest. He traveled past the supple skin of her stomach but as he attempted to locate what he craved the most, it eluded him.
Instead of her scent becoming stronger it grew fainter. No.
Trying to capture more of her smell, the main identity of a bear’s mate, he inhaled deeper. Yet, he could not fill his lungs with it, with her.
The darkness seemed to swallow her up. Drag her away from him. Dropping to his knees, he reached out in an attempted to grasp the willowy form. Nothing.
Frustrated, he opened his eyes. She was gone. The moon now illuminated the lake, the forest and the empty dock before him.
Rrrraaaahhhhhhaaaa!
The agonized growl of his bear shattered the night image before him, quaked his soul and awakened him.
Startled, Cord sat up, blinking against the rising brightness of the morning sun. Looking from left to right, he was shocked to see he was in bed at home, not on the dock.
It had all been a dream. She had been a dream
“Shit!” Falling back against the bed, he ran his hand over his face. Everything had seemed so real, compelling. He knew what had caused the vision in his mind, the trace of a faint scent at Genma’s.
Tipping his head back on the pillow, he stared upwards at the painting Genma had given him—a lake with an empty dock.
“Genma.” Damn it. Shoving off the cover, he launched from the bed. He’d wanted to be at her house before dawn to try and see her before she left with his grandmother. Now he was running late. The sun’s position, barely above the trees, let him know it was almost eight in the morning. In the fall, it rose later than the summer months.
He was angry with his bear for being so fixated on the damn scent it had conjured up a fantasy that Cord couldn’t release himself from until it was over. He rushed into the bathroom in his bedroom and washed his face and brushed his teeth, thankful that he’d had the foresight to shower last night after he returned.
In his bedroom, he went to the dresser and pulled out jeans and a t-shirt then got a pair of clean socks. Minutes later, he padded out of his bedroom directly into the sitting room, the only other room on the second floor of his house. Reaching the CB radio stand at the far end of the couch, he dialed the channel to his grandparents’ station.
“Morning, Cord.” His grandfather, Benat Bjorn, answered his call sign. “Is everything okay?”
Depressing the button, Cord responded, “Hi, PawPaw. Everything is just fine. I was trying to reach Nana. Is she in?”
“Nope. You know her and Genma were out before dawn even crested, like they were being run out of town.” His grandfather chuckled, no concern in his voice.
He knew it was a long shot to hope his grandmother was still in town, but he knew his bear would give him no peace if he didn’t at least try. Groaning, Cord ran his hand over his head.
“You still there, son?” A small note of worry came through the line.
It amazed Cord how his grandfather could be perfectly fine with his wife and her friend going out on some Thelma and Louise adventure during the First Frost Moon Fes
tival, but become vexed from a moment of silence from his grandson. Just proved to Cord that all of his family was troubled by his lack of a life mate.
Did they see me as weak? A defective bear that was going to be the leader of their community?
Squeezing his free hand into a fist, Cord fought against the budding rage.
Holding down the button, Cord wanted to set the older man at ease. “I’m here. Things are fine.”
“Anything I can help you with in your nana’s absence?”
“No, PawPaw. Really I was trying to ask a couple questions of Genma before they left.” Cord rubbed his chin, hearing the scratch of the stubble there. In his rush, he hadn’t shaved this morning. Soon he’d have to be more meticulous about his image. As mayor over Den County, he would be the face of the community. Even his long hair would have to go.
“Ah. That’s right, your grandmother mentioned you would be taking care of something for her friend. Well, I’m sure you’ll sort it all out.” Confidence in Cord’s ground maintenance skills was evident in his grandfather’s light tone.
“Thanks. Well, gotta go.”
“I understand, you have work to do and all.”
Soon they ended the connection with sincere vows of love and respect. Not wanting to waste any more time on his day, Cord moved downstairs to the first floor where his living room, kitchen and two guest rooms were located. After a quick breakfast of honeyed sausages between whole grain bread and a cup of coffee, he stepped into his work boots at the door leading into his garage.
Ten minutes later, he was on his way to his shop in town for the additional supplies he would need for Genma’s yard. He could take one of his assistants, but this was something he needed to do alone. He would stretch out the job for the week and keep him away from town.
Burying his hands deep in dirt and soil was just what he needed to shove all the anger, worry and issues plaguing him to the back of his mind.
~YH~
Her growling stomach woke her the next morning. She’d slept more peacefully than she ever did at home in her own bed. Before coming here, she would have thought that sleeping without all the city sounds would have been difficult for her, but the soft bird calls outside the window were soothing. Reaching over to the nightstand, she grabbed her cell phone beside the book she had been reading the night before. Her phone was something she used more for time than anything else. There was absolutely no cell connection in Den County, she had checked. Seeing that it was almost ten in the morning, she didn’t even try to fool herself to thinking her grandmother was still around.
If she hadn’t come to Den to rest and recuperate, she would have been appalled she’d slept so late. She’d always been an early riser, up with the sun. Slipping from her cocoon, she stood beside the bed. She waited for the wave of nausea that always greeted her in the mornings when she rose. Feeling nothing, she let out a sigh and went into the bathroom.
After a quick shower, she pulled on her robe and went to find sustenance. She had a craving for her grandmother’s muffins. As soon as she entered the kitchen, she grabbed one from the tin and devoured it while she stood in front of the open refrigerator deciding what else to cook.
Licking the sticky sweetness from her fingers, she decided on cream of wheat and eggs. Not as devout a vegan as her mother, Rena enjoyed an egg and other dairy products every now and then. Instead of grabbing the stick of butter to fry her eggs in, she opted for the sweet butter her grandmother said was from the diner in town.
She was thankful that she was feeling better, because consuming so many sweets was going to swell her hips, more than they already were, and she would need to exercise.
Once her breakfast was made, she set the plate on the bar. The only thing missing was a sweetener for her cream of wheat. She went to the pantry for the agave nectar her grandmother had picked up for her.
At the door down the short hall from the back door, she flicked the light switch then opened the pantry. Entering the small room, she was amazed to see the many shelves of homemade canned fruits and vegetables as well as other staple items. Her grandmother had enough stuff in there to hold her over for several months.
Spotting what she was looking for, she stepped into the room and grabbed the bottle on the shelf in front of her. Turning to leave, she halted in her steps. Before her eyes, on the shelves adjacent to the door, had to be more than a hundred jars of honey.
Since she had arrived at her grandmother’s house and begun to feel better, she had not thought about the cravings that had plagued her. Now, having one of them less than an arm reach away, the desire for the golden syrup crashed into her like a tidal wave.
The salivation started first, followed by the tremors in her limbs that ended with heat. Her temperature spiked so high she was sweating. Not just a light sheen of sweat, but her palms were damp, a bead of perspiration was running under one breast and her bare thighs beneath her terry cloth robe were slick.
One taste. A voice called out from inside of her, seeming both a part of her and separate at the same time.
“I shouldn’t.” Rena argued, feeling as if she were losing her mind. Lifting a hand, she caressed the cool glass trapping the honey from her fingers.
One taste.
I have to get out of here. Rena felt as if her feet were rooted to the floor as she fought against her indecision.
~YH~
It wasn’t the smell of fried eggs, or the warm fragrant scent of steamed wheat that bombarded his senses when he entered Genma’s home. After spending the last two hours pulling up the summer flowers and preparing the soil for the winter buds he would plant, he’d come inside for the instructions Genma said she would leave for him.
He had not gotten more than two steps past the back door before he picked up on it, honeyed asters. Stronger than the light trace he’d detected last night by the lake, it was now heavy and saturating the air.
His bear, who was normally subdued during the day, reared up inside of him and propelled Cord to action.
Hunt. Claim.
Cord’s vision became narrowed. Everything around him was painted in a golden hue. His body became tight, as each hair on his arms and the back of his neck rose. Need burned through his body, setting his blood on fire.
Moving on nothing but animal instinct to locate the source of the scent, he turned right down the short hall. The only thing before him was the door leading to Genma’s pantry. However, before he could enter it, he was struck hard by something against his chest.
Not something, but someone. Her.
He didn’t even have time to make out her blurred form as she’d come running out of the pantry as if she was being stalked by something. Then she was in his arms.
His mind shut off and his body responded. No time to weigh the right and wrong of it, he pulled her to him and lowered his mouth to hers.
Cupping her face, he held her against him. Not giving her any space to deny him what he wanted. Her. Not a request. No permission. Like some Roman gladiator, he was willing to conquer anything that stood in the way of his kissing her. His woman.
His bear knew it from a whiff of her scent.
Cord knew it from the moment he tasted her.
If she would have fought against him, he would not have been shocked. However, she didn’t. She gave back to him all the fierce passion that he showed her.
They bumped up against something. He wasn’t even aware he’d moved forward. Pressing closer, he sandwiched her between himself and the structure. The taste of her mouth was sweet and hot, like warm honey. He couldn’t get enough.
She buried her hands in his hair, pulling the cool strands out of the band that held it back while he worked. He didn’t care. He wanted to make a mess of her as well.
He had to assure himself that she wasn’t a mirage. That he wasn’t dreaming and she wasn’t a figment of his imagination, again. His mouth left hers and trailed down her chin, tasting her scent. The savory flavor of her skin and the smell of her heat was a
cornucopia of pleasures to his senses.
She sighed.
Pulling open her robe, he touched her. The delicate curve of her waist was softer than silk against his fingertips. She was real.
His cock was hard, swollen with the demand to be sheathed inside of her and to claim her, marking her as his forever. His bear rejoiced, and a low growl broke forth from his lips as he licked the upper swell of her breast.
She placed her hand against his chest, her fingers flexed and dug into his pec.
“I need you… Let me in. Don’t deny us.” Snatching her robe wider and off her shoulder, he glided his tongue lower ready to suckle the tight twin peaks.
“What was—wait—stop!” She shoved him.
He felt the stinging slap on his cheek. The impact barely turned his head. His mind was a fog of lust, but her resistance and assault was a wind of sanity clearing the haze. Dropping his hands from her, he stepped back. He didn’t want to, and every foot of space that he created between the two of them was painful, a stab in the gut.
Bumping against the wall a short distance across from the pantry, he dragged in several breaths, filling his lungs. The madness of lust was slow to clear as he took in the beautiful black female before him. Slender with sienna-kissed skin, the color of Native American clay. She had a narrow waist but hips so full he could imagine holding them firmly as he pounded his cock deep inside of her. His dick twitched in approval.
Noticing his gaze along her body, the female before him yanked the sides of her robe together, shutting him off from the tantalizing view. He clenched his fist to keep from reaching out and ripping the robe away from her body and shredding it.
“Who are you?” There was a tremor to her voice, but it still maintained a sultry huskiness.
Her words pulled his gaze to her face and he was struck by a bolt of lightning. She had the face of one of the Great Spirit’s angels. He took in the oval shape, with her broad nose, wide lips so plump he could kiss them for hours. Her eyes were hazel with a hint of gold sparkling in their depth. A Were-bear, but not.
Red's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) Page 6
