Her Secret Protector Bear (Oak Mountain Shifters)

by Leela Ash

  When he opened the door to the clubhouse, it was like stepping into the wildest bar she had ever seen. Half-naked girls swung from the ceilings and danced on the countertops. Rick laughed as he pushed past the crowd and Emma clung to him, unsure of where to look. Music blared throughout the place and was so strong she could feel it thumping up through the floorboards. Girls were giving guys lap dances, and men were playing pool in one corner and cards in another. It was like a den of iniquity and Emma had never been more excited. She had never expected to see something like this in her life, and now there she was among it. Rick turned to her and smiled as he led her past the bar and towards the back of the room.

  “This is crazy,” Emma said with a laugh.

  “This is a quiet night,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

  They reached a door and Rick pulled her through it and into a dark corridor. As soon as it closed behind him, the noise was muffled and pulsed through the walls.

  “It’s much calmer here,” he said as he moved further down the hall, pulling her with him.

  “What’s down here?” she asked.

  “Offices,” he said, “Bedrooms… Storage.”

  “Do people live here?” Emma asked as she wrapped her arm around his waist.

  “Some do, yeah,” Rick said as he approached a set of stairs. “I can’t show you inside the offices or the stores,” he smiled. “Plenty of stuff in there that would get us both in trouble.”

  Emma smiled and looked down at her feet.

  “But I’ve got a room,” he said as he wrapped his hands in hers. “And I’ve got some drinks.”

  “I’d love to,” Emma said before he even had to ask her.

  ***

  Upstairs, Rick walked with her to the end of the corridor and opened a door. The room was big and dark, a red muslin hung across the window in place of a curtain, and it cast a deep glow across the space from the neon sign as it filtered in from outside.

  “So you don’t live here?” Emma asked as she looked around. The room had a couch, a large double bed and a bookcase in the corner. She smiled as she realized he had a collection of books.

  “Nope,” he said as he opened the bottle of whisky and poured them both a glass. “But I stay here sometimes. Easier than riding home most nights.”

  “I guess so,” Emma smiled. “You work here every day?”

  “I run a lot of our operations,” he nodded, “I need to be here a lot.”

  Emma took the glass from him and sipped the drink. It was harsh on her throat, but she felt the warmness spread through her. She leaned against the edge of the bed and sat back on it. Her legs dangled over the side and she kicked off her shoes, her feet still sandy from the beach.

  Rick watched her intently. His eyes never left hers.

  “I like you, Rick,” she whispered. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I really do…”

  He didn’t say a word. He put his glass down on the table beside him and got to his feet. As he crossed the room towards her, his huge frame blocking out the light from the window, Emma lay back on the bed and gasped as he stood in front of her. He looked down at her and she looked up at him. Her heart was racing and her pussy was aching for him. She had to have him inside her.

  “Rick,” she whispered.

  He took hold of her feet and spread her legs, moving himself between them. He reached down and took hold of his belt buckle, snapping it open and popping the buttons on his fly. She barely dared to breathe as she watched him pull down his jeans and his boxers, revealing the biggest cock she had ever seen. He was rock hard and throbbing. He reached down and took hold of her hand, pulling her up off the bed so she was sitting in front of him, his helmet an inch from her lips. Emma opened wide and took him into her mouth. He was so huge and hard, she didn’t know how she was going to fit him inside of her, but she sucked him hungrily and moved up and down his shaft as he gripped onto the back of her head and groaned. He slipped a hand between her legs and slowly pulled down her panties. Emma was so wet and juicy, his fingers found her opening easily and he slipped a thick finger up inside of her, massaging her clit with his thumb as she licked the tip of his cock.

  “Fuck,” he gasped. “Lean back.”

  She lay back on the bed and he lifted her legs up as he moved between them, holding his hard red member in his hand. His dick was glistening with her spit and she was so wet and aching for him she felt like she could cum without him even touching her. As he pinned her back onto the bed and positioned himself at her opening, he looked her deep in the eyes and kissed her, before pulling back and slowly and powerfully sliding himself right up inside of her.

  Emma gasped and gripped onto his shoulders with her fingertips as he fucked her slowly. She was already on the verge of unraveling beneath him, but she wanted to hold on. His thrusts were so strong and powerful, he was reaching places inside of her she didn’t even know existed. She felt opened up and reborn as he pounded her. His dick was so hard and deep, it was if he had created a new space. Rick held onto her throat and fucked her harder, his grunts becoming faster and more intense. His true power was oozing out of him, overtaking her and making her feel like she had never been anyone else’s but his.

  “Yes!” she screamed as she wrapped her legs tightly around him. Rick reached down and took hold of her huge, swelling breasts and guided a nipple into his mouth. He sucked on her as he fucked her and the sensations he stirred within her were overwhelming. She knew she couldn’t hold on any longer. She threw her head back and came in a crashing wave of ecstasy as her orgasm thundered through her. Rick gripped onto her wrists and pinned them back into the pillows as he tensed up and grunted as he thrust into her powerfully once more, his seed exploding into her and filling her right up.

  “Fuck,” he groaned as his whole body jerked and he emptied his load inside of her. He kissed her on the forehead and Emma panted beneath him. She could barely move and she didn’t know how she was going to recover. It had been the most intense orgasm she had ever experienced, and she felt weak.

  “Oh my God, Rick,” she panted as he withdrew and lay down beside her. She could feel his hot, thick load running out of her and she squeezed her legs together to keep it inside. He saw what she was doing and smiled.

  “Yes,” he smiled and then kissed her. “Keep it in you.”

  Emma ran her hands through his hair and bit her lip, before cuddling into him and closing her eyes.

  ***

  When she woke up, the sun was coming in through the red muslin. She looked up at Rick. He was sleeping, and his huge frame was breathing softly. She ran her fingertips up his chest, across his skull tattoos and up to his heart. She rested her palm on it so she could feel it beating.

  “Morning, babe,” he breathed as he kissed her on the forehead. “What a night.”

  Emma grinned and bit her lip. It had been a wild night indeed. She looked up at him and kissed him on the lips.

  “I’m certainly glad you found me,” she smiled before she cuddled up to him and he wrapped his arm around her.

  “Like I said, I just knew you were my kind of woman,” he winked and pulled her closer.

  She looked around the room and at the clothes they had ripped off each other decorating it in strange ways. She didn’t know when the music had died, but she could hear the sound of bikes outside and the voices of men.

  “Do you have to work?” she asked.

  “Not today,” he smiled. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  Emma leaned up on her elbows and smiled. Her naked body was perfect next to his; they complemented each other perfectly.

  “I better find Leanne,” she said regretfully.

  “Sure,” he said as he got to his feet and wrapped a towel around his waist.

  “You’re not mad, are you?” she asked as she pulled her dress down over her head.

  “No,” he smiled. “But I’ll be coming to find you later.” He winked at her, and Emma couldn’t keep the grin from her face.
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  ***

  He walked with her outside and lifted her onto the back of his bike. As he started the engine and Emma wrapped her arms around him again, she couldn’t believe where she had found herself, with a man this amazing. At the same time the previous week, she had been miserable with her life, hating every second and just wishing for some excitement. And now there she was: she had let her hair down, had a wild night with an incredible man and now she had him as a hot outlaw biker boyfriend, and she only had Leanne to thank. She giggled to herself as she realized her life had turned in exactly the direction she had wanted it to. And Rick was right, she was his kind of woman. She had the feeling that things were going to be good between them. She knew he was the sort of man who was going to care for her and support her… He was the sort of man she could spend the rest of her life with.

  As they flew down the highway on the way to her house, she looked back over her shoulder at the ocean and smiled. She was on the right path now… And she had never felt better.

  THE END

  Time Travel Romance

  Through the Viking Gateway

  Leena Archer

  Copyright ©2016 by Leena Archer. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Chapter 1

  Puririri

  Puririri

  Natalie blinked. Her phone was ringing. It was three AM, and her phone was ringing. Rolling over, she snatched the phone from the floor and looked at the number.

  It was Cedric.

  Groaning, she flicked her thumb over the accept call button.

  “Cedric, do you know what time it is right now in Ireland?” she growled.

  “That’s what I called to talk about.”

  The chill, serious tone of his voice cut through Natalie’s sleepy haze. Cedric only sounded like that when something was wrong.

  “Natalie… I can’t do this anymore.”

  Natalie’s mouth opened and closed, and she choked out, “Can’t do what?”

  “This. This field work. Your career. If you’re going to be spending half of your time digging in pits on the other side of the world, I’m done. Either get a job in the US, or we end this.”

  Natalie’s throat seemed to be closing like a clenched fist. She had to force herself to speak.

  “Cedric, we talked about this. You knew I was going to be traveling.”

  “I thought you were going to get this field work shit out of your head and settle down at a museum job, or at some university, not spend half your life galloping across oceans. I didn’t sign up for this.”

  “But what about the wedding? We already sent the invitations.” Natalie said desperately, searching for a straw to grasp at. “We put a deposit on the venue.”

  “We cancel it. I’m not going to shackle myself to a woman who’s not there half the time. That’s not a marriage, Natalie. It’s me or the job. Choose.”

  Natalie sat on her bed in silence, just holding the phone to her ear. Her blood was roaring so loudly in her ears it sounded like she was going over a waterfall.

  “Natalie?”

  “The job.”

  “…What?”

  Natalie took a deep breath, and an explosion of words burst out of her. “Cedric, you’ve never supported me. When I went into the archaeology program, you told me to buy lottery tickets instead, because I was more likely to make money that way. Every time I get awarded a grant, or find something interesting, you act like I’m trying to read you an encyclopedia about encyclopedias. You have zero respect for me, or for anything I do, and this has been my dream since I was five. So yes, Cedric, I will choose my job over you, because dead Vikings, who’ve been underground for a thousand years, still treat me better than you do!”

  Ending the call, Natalie dropped the phone on her bed. Then she very slowly fell over.

  Well. That was a thing that had happened.

  It had been building for a long time. Sometimes, Natalie didn’t know why she’d even said yes. She’d just been so caught up in the moment, she supposed. The whole scene seemed to sparkle at the time: the fancy dinner, Cedric going down on one knee, everyone in the room clapping—and then it had all just fallen apart. They argued about everything, whether it was wedding planning or career plans or what to have for dinner, invariably ending with Cedric making passive aggressive comments about every single thing she did. Natalie had actually been glad to cross the Atlantic Ocean and get away from him.

  Taking a deep breath, she sighed loudly, trying not to cry. One of the other women in the hostel room sat up, glaring at her.

  “Will you be quiet? The rest of us are trying to sleep, here.”

  Natalie resisted the urge to throw a boot at her. Instead, she got out of bed and started dressing herself, using her phone as a flashlight. T-shirt, khaki pants, a quilted polyester vest for warmth, and boots. Throwing her phone into her bag, she pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail and stormed out the door.

  The hostel she was staying in was only a short walk from the excavation site. A farmer had been digging the foundation for a barn in a disused field, and found a barrow, an ancient grave site. Reaching the dig, Natalie turned on a floodlight. Maybe she could clear her mind a little by trying to find something in this giant, mostly empty pit.

  Natalie surveyed the hole without actually expecting to see anything— only the dark brown of fertile soil— but a glint caught her eye. Something golden peeked at her from a corner of the hole. Hopping down, she picked it up and put a rock in its place, so she could mark its location later. T

  It was a necklace made of thin discs of gold and inscribed with words; it was too dirty to read. There was a large pendant in the center, easily twice as large as the discs surrounding it. Natalie set it down in front of the floodlight and rummaged around the supplies until she found a clean-ish cloth. Then she began gently rubbing away the soil. As she cleaned, the world began to spin.

  Natalie paused.

  That was odd. She felt fine, now. With a shrug, she went back to her cleaning, and when she revealed the face of the central pendant, the world went black.

  Chapter 2

  Natalie found herself in that uncomfortable position where her eyes were closed but the world kept spinning, like she’d just gotten off the tilt-a-whirl at the county fair. She must have had a dizzy spell and fallen into the pit. Probably a delayed reaction from her fight with Cedric. The reality of it had just hit her all at once.

  Natalie forced her eyes open, expecting to find herself surrounded by earthen walls and covered in dirt. Instead, she was lying on soft grass, with nothing in sight but a canopy of trees and an incredibly handsome man leaning over her suspiciously.

  Very few men could pull off sideburns, but he did it admirably, his thick brown hair framing a square jaw and broad cheekbones. More than that, though, Natalie was caught by his eyes. They were dark and piercing, and fiercely intelligent. If this was an EMT come to rescue her, she was ready to be rescued.

  Then she noticed that the extremely handsome man was holding a sword.

  Sitting up with a yelp, Natalie looked around. It wasn’t just one man—she was completely surrounded. More than a dozen strangers stood around her, all of them armed, in some cases with farm tools. Not only that, the dig site was nowhere to be seen. These strange men must have picked her up and taken her somewhere.

  This night just kept getting worse and worse.

  ***

  It was the end of the day. The sun was starting to set. The men were heading for the main hall, ready for dinner after a long day’s work. Alrek himself was about to enter when there was a blinding flash and a crack of thunder. While everyone looked around in confusion, for there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, Alrek saw smoke rising from a field just outside the settlement. Whistling to gather ever
yone’s attention, he headed in that direction.

  The field did not have so much as a blade of grass blown out of place, but it had sprouted a woman. She was lying flat on her back, apparently unconscious, with her mouth hanging open. She was so unnaturally pale that Alrek wondered if she was dead, until he saw her chest rise and fall with her breath.

  She clearly wasn’t a Gael. Even if she was a Gael, Gael’s didn’t usually travel by means of lightning. She was unlike any woman he’d ever seen before, her clothes completely foreign. His men stared at her suspiciously. Even Banki looked like he wanted nothing to do with her. Still, Alrek thought, women didn’t just come out of nowhere. We’ll have to do something with her.

  He was about to drop his sword and see if he could wake her when she woke up on her own. Their eyes met, for just a moment— and then she saw his sword and panicked. She jumped away with a shrill yelp, setting everyone even more on edge.

  Alrek knew his men were looking to him for an order, but he stood silent as he watched the strange woman scramble about, a smile teasing the side of his mouth. She looked like a frightened chicken. Finally, she lurched to her feet, staring at them in terror.

  Grabbing the bag slung over her shoulder, she held it out in front of her, saying something completely unintelligible. Even if she was speaking a language he knew, she was so upset Alrek wouldn’t have understood her anyway.

  The men were beginning to shift, but Alrek held up a hand and they maintained their position. This woman seemed completely harmless. There was no need to kill her.

  Yet.

  The woman had noticed his motion, and turned to Alrek. He was stunned by the expression on her face—pleading desperation. They didn’t need to speak the same language for him to understand she was begging him for mercy.