Bear-ly Time

by M. L. Briers

  “The other guy looks worse,” Harvey grumbled.

  “You killed him?” Jon tossed back.

  “No.”

  “Then I don’t see how he could look much worse,” Jon said with a shake of his head.

  “You know, I think you and me are going to get on like a house on fire,” Owen grinned at the shifter’ s expense.

  “As long as the only thing you have a taste for is that Scotch — we’ll get on just fine.” Jon offered back. “As for the two of you,” he turned his attention towards Jordan, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “Dad!” Jordan protested with a look of horror on her face.

  “Oh, life is going to be so much more fun from now on,” Owen grinned at Harvey, and the shifter grumbled a growl back.

  “Guess you’re coming home with me,” Harvey said. The growl that rumbled through His chest sounded decidedly hungry.

  “Oh, am I?” Jordan snorted her contempt for his words.

  “I can always toss you over my shoulder and carry you.” Harvey was in his element now. He had her father’s blessing to woo her. And woo her he would.

  “You don’t look like you could carry a brown paper sack,” Jordan teased him, but when Harvey let out a low rumble of another growl, she wasn’t entirely sure that offering her mate a challenge had been the right thing to do.

  “Sweetheart, I would walk through a burning building and crawl over hot coals for you. Carrying you to my truck is child’s play.” Harvey didn’t bother waiting for her answer. He dipped at the waist and tossed her body up and over his left shoulder.

  Jordan let out a squeal from the shock of finding herself hanging down his back. Her hands gripped his ripped shirt as she tried to push upwards, but when he made a fast turn on his heels, she squealed again.

  “If I wanted to play helicopter I’d let you know,” Jordan protested as her cheeks burned with the indignity of it all, and the sound of male laughter echoed in her ears.

  “First the games — then the fun,” Harvey growled out as he stalked back towards his truck with her.

  He loved the whole symbolism of carrying off his mate, and his bear appreciated it to.

  Mine…

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ~

  Harvey didn’t know how he’d summed up the willpower not to pull the truck over at least five or six times on the short journey to his cabin. But every time the need for her welled up within him, he’d managed to take a sledgehammer to it.

  He wasn’t entirely sure that he hadn’t left indents on the steering wheel from his fingers as he’d held a death grip on it, just so that he didn’t reach over for her.

  There had been a time in his youth when fooling around in the back of his truck had been part and parcel of his love life. But Jordan was his mate, and he was all grown up now.

  There was no damn way that he was claiming his mate in the back seat of his truck.

  Harvey had noticed the way that Jordan was fidgeting in her seat. He couldn’t say if that was with excitement, trepidation, or the fact that he was rushing her into something that she wasn’t quite sure about.

  That was never going to happen. He might have been taking her home, but she called the shots — if she wasn’t ready then there was no way in hell that he was going to push her.

  They might have been hot and heavy in her bedroom earlier but that didn’t mean that she was on board with taking things further. His cock might have ached to be inside of her, but it had been that way since the moment that he’d taken her scent and realized that she was his mate.

  If she needed more time to get to know him, to be sure, then he’d give her all the time that she needed.

  He might have carried her off like a caveman but, in truth, he just wanted to spend some alone time with her.

  “That’s it?” Jordan asked as they rounded a bend beside a large clump of trees and his cabin came into view.

  “That’s it.”

  Harvey waited while she took in the sight of their new home. His heart pounded within his chest at the thought that she would hate it.

  He’d built the place from the ground up with his own two hands. If she didn’t like it, he’d build her another home.

  “It’s not what I was expecting,” Jordan said, and from the tone of her voice, Harvey was no better off in understanding her mood.

  “I can build another,” Harvey rushed out.

  “You built that?” Jordan shot him a look of disbelief.

  “It’s what I do. I work with wood. It might be a little rough around the edges in places…”

  “I love it. It’s amazing.”

  Harvey’s heart gave one hell of a thump to his ribs before it started to settle. He’d designed it with the hope that it would be for his family should he ever meet his mate. Now that he had Jordan, and she liked the look of the place, he was grateful that all his hard work had paid off.

  “It’s got three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a family room, really big wrap around conservatory at the back that opens right up to nature, really nice kitchen, open fires, and one hell of a master bedroom.” Harvey stuck his chest out with pride. He hoped he had thought of everything that she would want or need, and if he hadn’t — then he’d build it on as an extension.

  “All that space for little old you?” Jordan teased. But when the truck pulled up in front of the cabin she was eager to get a look inside.

  “Wait!” Harvey growled. He wanted to do things right. He wanted to open her door for her. “Don’t move.”

  At first, Jordan was unsure why she’d been left sitting in the truck until Harvey raced around the vehicle and yanked open the door for her. Jordan eyed him with amusement.

  “Oh, a gentleman.”

  “I try.” Harvey had a frown on his forehead and a grin on his lips. The man looked as sexy as hell.

  “Well, you’ve got my vote so far.” Jordan watched as he puffed up his chest once more. She couldn’t help the gentle giggle that escaped her lips.

  Harvey held out his hand for to take. She didn’t pause for thought before placing her palm against his. Her hand looked so small set against his, and when he closed his fingers around it, it all but disappeared.

  Jordan felt the tingle from his touch as it raced up her arm and traveled over her skin igniting a fire within her wherever it touched. Her stomach flipped over, and her womb was back to doing a jig, and it felt damn good.

  She’d wanted to see the inside of the house, but right then – as her mind raced to X-rated thoughts of the two of them together — the room that she most wanted to make a beeline for was the master bedroom.

  The man was sex on a stick. She had the urge to lick certain parts of him like he was a damn lollipop.

  Jordan considered that she’d had enough time to way up the pros and cons of being his mate. The time that she’d spent pacing back and forth had shown her that bad things could happen to good people and that there was barely time enough in life to be happy as it was.

  She wanted to be Harvey’s mate. After all, how could fate get it wrong?

  “I’d love to see the master bedroom,” Jordan said as she stepped out of the truck and made sure that she was up close and personal with him.

  Harvey’s eyes widened as he stared down at her. His lips parted as if he was about to speak — but all she heard was the hungry growl that rumbled through his broad chest.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Jordan offered him one hell of a wicked grin.

  Harvey didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing at all. Instead, he reached for her and swung her up into his arms. Then he took off for the cabin on fast feet with a part of him fearful that he’d misheard her.

  “When you say the master bedroom…?”

  “I think we need to stop off at the bathroom first — so that you can get clean enough for me to eat my dinner off — or lick — stuff off you.” She offered with a wickedly playful chuckle.

  Jordan’s words — the sound of that damn, dirt
y laughter — and the look in her eyes all conspired to make Harvey almost tripped over his own feet.

  In truth, he wasn’t sure how he made it to the cabin.

  How he opened the front door.

  How he stalked through the downstairs, missing furniture, and made it into the bedroom. Their bedroom. But he was damn glad that he did.

  “Lights would be good here,” Jordan teased him.

  Harvey almost tripped over his feet once more in his haste to turn back towards the door, and he juggled his mate within his arms as he hit the light switch and eliminated the room. Then he set off for the bathroom once more.

  Jordan only had eyes for him. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wanted to look at the room, but she knew it would have a bed and that was enough for her.

  Harvey managed to get to the bathroom and this time; he flicked on the lights on his way to the shower cubicle.

  “I should have left you in the bedroom while I…” Harvey said the words but he still growled at the thought of being apart from her, even for only a few moments.

  “And make me miss all the fun?” Jordan grinned, but when Harvey stepped into the shower cubicle with them both fully dressed, boots and all, she had to point out the obvious. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be wearing clothes.”

  Harvey grumbled a growl and moaned something about him being an idiot under his breath as he stepped back out and slowly placed her down on her feet in front of him.

  “Jordan, I really — really — really need to know that this is what you want because…”

  “Harvey, you’re my mate.”

  She didn’t need to say any more than that and Harvey never gave her the chance. His soft, warm lips came down on hers and chased away any fears that he had, and any doubts that she might still have harbored.

  Harvey didn’t make the first move in undressing her, but Jordan didn’t make the first move either. At the exact same time, their hands started to reach for clothing as they stripped themselves and each other naked.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  ~

  Harvey lifted her naked body against his. He loved the way that her soft curves met and yielded to his hard ones.

  He carried her into the shower cubicle and hit the water button on, quickly turning his back for the shock of the cold water against his skin. The icy spray did nothing to dampen his need for her.

  His cock was rock hard and sandwiched between them. It ached to find a home inside of her warm, wet body, and yet, there was so much more than he needed to do before that happened.

  Jordan was his mate. He needed to taste her on his tongue. He needed to know her.

  His large hands devoured her body just as much as his hot, heated kisses devoured her soul. She was his, and he was hers, and tonight they would become one forever.

  Harvey was in no rush, and yet, his mind already fevered with the need for completion of the bond. When she somehow managed to escape his arms and to turn her back on him, it was like a red rag to a bull.

  His eyes feasted on the curve of her back and travelled up to the creamy unblemished skin of her shoulder, and his fangs ached within his jaw with the need to place his mark in her skin.

  Mine…

  His bear rose up within him. He could feel the prickle of the beast’s fur just beneath his skin, and it took all of his willpower to slam the cage shut.

  Harvey reached out for her and spun her back towards him. He was now fighting his beast and his own needs and desires.

  He turned with her, putting her back against the tile of the wall, as his body caged hers in, and he dipped his head, brushing his cheek against hers, and took her scent.

  His hearty, hungry growl made her shiver.

  His fingertips ran over her hip and down between her inner thighs, searching for the wet, hot heat of her body. She rested her forehead against his shoulder and parted her legs to allow him to touch her where she needed it the most.

  Her fingers clamped around his hard biceps and her nails pressed into his skin as she melted against his touch. He thought he’d heard the sweetest sound catch in her throat earlier, but as he pressed one thick finger inside of her channel, he knew that he’d been wrong.

  He wanted to hear that sound again and again. It was as close to a growl that he thought she might ever get.

  Harvey took a small step back, tipped his head, and wasted no time in devouring, first one hard aching nipple, and then the other.

  His fingers worked against her sex and devoured her to the point where her inner muscles started to clamp down on his digits. Harvey went down on his knees a moment later, spreading her inner thighs with his large hands, and he couldn’t resist the need that he had to taste her on his tongue.

  Harvey feasted like a man possessed of a Demon that could not get enough. He took her the rest of the way hard and fast, and as she cried out with the first wave of the orgasm that shattered her body, his hands cupped the curvy cheeks of her backside, clamping her to him, and he devoured her all over again.

  The sound of her cursing only made his mind, body, and soul hungrier for her. He pushed up to his full height, turned her body to face the wall, and growled hard as his eyes locked on to where he desperately needed to place his mark.

  Jordan palmed the wall as she arched her back and opened herself for him. She could feel the hard hot press of his cock against the cheeks of her backside and the desperate need to take his hard length within her clawed with frustration in her mind.

  Harvey fisted his cock in his hand and directed it to where he needed to be. The bulbous head pressed inside of her flesh as his hard length ate up her channel.

  Mine…

  Harvey’s beast wanted out. He knew that he couldn’t deny his bear for much longer.

  The sound of Jordan’s desire for him as he thrust to the hilt inside of her only gave the fever within his blood more of a foothold. As he dragged his cock back through the tight silken walls and grasping muscles of her channel, he felt the aching need of his fangs as they threatened to elongate.

  Harvey’s large hands clamped down on her curvy hips, and he moved in earnest, pulling back to the very tip of his cock before thrusting to the hilt, over and over, as her inner muscles started to clamp down on him.

  Jordan was close to another orgasm. He grunted and growled with each deep thrust.

  Mine…

  Harvey couldn’t hold his beast at bay a moment longer. His fangs elongated even as his tongue licked over the soft skin of her shoulder where he would place his mark.

  His hips beat a hard and fast rhythm against her backside. Every muscle in his body strained as he held back his own needs.

  She was his, and he was hers, and now he would claim her as his mate.

  The moment that she shattered around his cock, his fangs broke the surface of her skin, and he dragged them down her flesh. He tasted her blood upon his tongue, and his beast roared within him.

  Body to body, soul to soul, they were joined.

  Harvey’s beast pulled back. He was satisfied at the bond between them.

  He eased his cock from inside of her and turned her around in his arms, lifting her up his body, he growled as she wrapped her legs around his hips, and he couldn’t resist the need that he had to be inside of her once more.

  He took her to the hilt of his hard length before he turned and stalked out of the bathroom, into the bedroom, and over to the large bed.

  Harvey placed her back against the mattress with the curves of her backside teetering on the edge. He curled his body over hers, captured her wrists within his hands and pressed them back against the covers, as his hips met hers in a constant rhythmic beat.

  Harvey couldn’t hold onto his needs a moment longer. Her inner muscles were already tightening around his cock, and he let the insanity of his desires take them both where they needed to be.

  Every muscle, every sinew within his body was on fire with the fevered need to complete the bond. The moment that she came apart aro
und him, her inner muscles clenching and releasing around his cock, his head strained back on his neck as her body suckled his seed from his balls.

  Harvey buried his cock deep and placed his seed within her womb, as a deep rumble of a growl built within his chest and escaped his throat on a roar that rattled the whole cabin. Over and over, he buried his cock to the hilt and gave her his seed until he had nothing left to give.

  His body wanted to collapse where he stood. His muscles quivered and begged for mercy. But Harvey had just enough sanity, enough strength left to collect her in his arms and bring her into the middle of the bed with him.

  Then he wrapped his body protectively around his mate, keeping her close, keeping her safe, for then — forever.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  ~

  “It’s hardly funny,” Owen said as he offered the stink eye to Jon.

  “I think it’s funny,” Harvey chuckled as he watched Macy inspecting the new toy that her grandpa had given her.

  “Well, you would because you’re a barbarian Neanderthal,” Owen offered back. He was unimpressed by the older man’s gift.

  “But what’s it for?” Macy asked as she turned it within her small hands.

  “Well,” Jon said as he tried to hold on to the chuckle that was threatening to escape. “It has two purposes. The first, it’s like a little insurance policy. The second, have you ever played pin the tail on the donkey?”

  “Let’s not go there,” Owen gave a small shake of his head.

  “Oh, let’s,” Harvey chuckled again.

  “Do you really want to give the child nightmares?” Owen demanded.

  “Macy is quite resilient,” Jordan said as she spluttered laughter at the vampire’s expense.

  “It’s in poor taste,” Owen grumbled in disgust.

  “But where is the donkey?” Macy asked as she looked around hopefully.

  “That’s the donkey,” Jon said as he pointed a finger at Owen and the vampire grumbled something under his breath.