Bear Mountain Bride: Shifter Romance

by Sky Winters

  His hair was under her fingers. She stroked it and let her fingers wander lower so that she could feel the muscles in his jaws working as he took her to an even greater height. Her heels dug into the thin mattress, her body arching as she neared a climax.

  “I love you,” the words spilled from her lips. “No matter what Ace, I will always love you.”

  The words surprised her but they also made a coil of emotion she had never known loosen in her belly, adding even more sweetness to the moment. His breath blew against her wet flesh, warm and exciting. He said, “I will love you way beyond this life Julia,” and then his mouth went back to her vulva.

  Julia’s eyes closed as she strained to reach that height. Her limbs went rigid and her mouth hung open. She sucked in breath as his added a third finger to the two already inside of her filling her completely and taking her pleasure to an even greater level.

  Heat and liquid filled her center, and her hips raised and lowered. His tongue went back to her clit and circled it then rubbed across it. Julia’s teeth clenched together to keep a moan from bursting forth but little whimpers escaped her anyway.

  Ace moved up so that his body was between her spread legs. He balanced himself on his strong forearms while his mouth came down on hers, sealing in the little cry she had been uttering.

  The weight of his body on hers felt so good that she wrapped her arms and legs around him, wanting to hold him forever.

  His member found the slippery entrance between her thighs and he slid into her in one long smooth movement. Her body opened further to ease his passage into her depths. He filled her, hot and strong, and she buried her face in his shoulder, smelling the slight tang of sweat there.

  They moved together, the shadows shifting and cloaking their gleaming bodies. Her hands pressed into his shoulders. She allowed her mouth to touch his satiny neck, to linger at his ears, and then they were kissing again, furiously, as their bodies moved together faster.

  The climax came, sweeping them both under its powerful waves. Julia’s body hung suspended between his and the mattress below her back. Her inner walls pulsed and sent more fluids across his beating flesh. The aftershocks came, and went and still they did not disentangle themselves.

  Ace put a hand on her belly and rested his fingers there. He looked down at the flat and taut skin of her stomach and said, “It is hard to imagine that there is a baby in there.”

  She caught his hand. “I know. It sort of freaks me out just thinking about it. I mean, that is a whole human being and we are going to be responsible for it and our parents all made so many mistakes and kept so many secrets from us.”

  Ace’s fingers paused on her belly. “I have to tell you something.”

  She swallowed hard. “What is it?”

  “My dad.” He looked away. “You see he was in the same pen, on the same block that they put Walker ion.”

  Julia didn’t understand what he was getting at. “So?”

  Ace sighed again. “I guess my father, who is doing four life sentences anyway, decied to make sure that Walker didn’t get out.”

  Her heart plummeted into her chest. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean he killed Walker.”

  The words hit hard. Julia had not considered how she would feel if Walker died and now that she knew he was dead she wanted to mourn him but she didn’t know how.

  She said, “Oh. Are you okay with that?”

  Ace shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I mean I keep telling myself that of all the bad shit I ever did at least I can say I am not killer. I chose to put Walker in prison instead of killing him because, well because I just don’t want that kind of blood on my hands. I never wanted that.”

  “His blood is not on your hands. It is on your father’s hands and there is nothing you could have done to change what happened. Walker had to go down. He had to. Not just for my sake either. He brought nothing but destruction and crime to his hood. He destroyed his own family to get what he wanted. You know the crew you run, you guys do a lot of good things for the hood too. You make sure the homeless shelter has what it needs. You take care of the animal shelter. You do that toy drive. You do give back, and yes you take a lot too. But that’s balance, right? Walker was only about what he wanted in his life, not about anyone else.”

  Ace sighed. “You’re right. I know you are.”

  She snuggled down into his embrace. She was right. Walker had destroyed two of his sisters and he had tried to destroy her too. He had believed that the people around him existed for no other reason than to serve his needs and wants and he had demanded loyalty and respect while giving none of those things to anyone else. That was unsustainable and it was no shock that most of his crew had rolled on him, or that Ace’s father had killed Walker either.

  Prison was a hard place and Walker would have undoubtedly tried to run that block just like he had run the blocks of his borough. Only he had walked into a territory where he had no friends and no allies and he had suffered the consequences for his power mad arrogance

  That brought her to another consideration. At some point the child she carried would want to know about its absent grandparents and why it had no uncles or aunts. She felt a squeeze of grief at that thought. Naomi was in prison and Carla, who had cut a deal, was sitting in a filthy drug hole shooting her life away in the form of heroin laden needles.. Walker was dead. Her and Ace’s parents were dead or nobody worth talking about.

  She had no idea what she would say when that happened but she knew eventually that they would have to say something.

  She relaxed into his arms and he held her tightly. His eyes met hers and he gave her a smile. “This is going to be our brand new start.”

  She smiled back, her heart lightening yet again. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Me too.” Ace bent his head to hers and kissed her deeply and she kissed him back. This was where she belonged and she knew it. This was where she should have been all along and against all odds she had found her way home and into the arms of the strong man that she would love for the rest of their lives.

  OUTLAW HERO

  “Come on, come on, pick up,” Melanie Carr said under her breath, surprised that the payphone actually worked. She couldn’t remember the last time she had found a payphone, let alone one that still functioned. Stevie, her two-year-old son, was asleep in the carseat at her feet. She had driven all night from Dublin, Ohio to arrive in Washington DC the following morning. Melanie normally planned things better, but this time she had to act fast.

  Finally, there came the sound of someone answering her call for help. “Hello?” the muffled voice of her former best friend Casey asked.

  “Casey?” Melanie replied. “This is Melanie Carr from Ohio State, your sophomore roommate. We talked on Facebook recently about me visiting?”

  There was a slight sigh on the other end that Melanie suspected she was not intended to hear. “It got that bad?”

  She clutched the hard, metal, barely bendable phone cord and a sob came out as she spoke. “Yes,” she said. “It got that bad. I’m at a gas station outside 270. What’s your address again?”

  After packing her kid back into the car, she made her way to Casey’s house in the DC suburbs, somehow finding it through her tears and the fog of the early morning. She was relieved to see that she would not have to go through the awkward business of ringing the doorbell once there; Casey was already standing on the front porch, waiting for her.

  Melanie put the car into park and got out, keeping the back door of her small, white SUV open so she could retrieve her son and her luggage once the reintroductions were over. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her green rain jacket and walked up to greet her waiting friend. “I never intended to spring this up on you, but…”

  Casey looked at her college friend. Melanie looked remarkably the same even though they were now eight years older. She was still slender with long, curly golden brown hair, blue-green eyes and a cute dusting of freckles across her
nose. But the purple bruise around her left eye… That was new.

  “Hush,” Casey said as soon as she noticed that. She opened her arms for Melanie, who gladly fell into them. Casey was several inches shorter than her friend, with short blonde hair and glasses, and she had always been the more nurturing of the two. Even now, even though Melanie had a toddler, Casey was more mothering. Melanie needed a friend like Casey back in her life.

  They unpacked the car together and took little sleepy Stevie up to one of the bedrooms so he could continue to sleep, oblivious to his mother’s problems. “Thank you,” Melanie said, pulling her long hair into a ponytail. She looked exhausted. “Jake hit me for the last time. He went to bed and I hit the road. I promise, it will only be for a few days. Once I can get a job, we’ll be out of your hair.”

  Casey waved that off, smiling at her friend. “You can stay as long as you need. I’ve got this house all to myself, and it’s so good to see you again.” She gently rubbed Melanie on her upper arm. “Get some sleep and you can start thinking about jobs and stuff later. You’ve got my number, right?”

  Melanie smiled back, appreciative. “I do. Thank you so much.”

  She went up to her bedroom that she would be sharing with Stevie for the time being. He was still fast asleep, wrapped up in the blankets. She did her best to get in beside him without waking him, and was soon asleep, too.

  When Melanie woke up, it was well into the middle of the afternoon. Stevie was playing quietly with some of his toys in the corner, but he was relieved when he saw that she was awake. “Mommy, where are we?”

  She rushed to his side as he sat on the floor. She had been unable to pack all of his toys up so quickly in their spontaneous move, but she managed to bring his favorites along with them. “We’re at my nice friend Casey’s house,” she told him. “We’re going to be living here for a while until we get a new house.”

  “Where are we?” he asked again, not understanding that they were far away from what they called home. “Where’s Daddy?”

  Melanie bit her lip. “We’ve moved away from Daddy,” she told him, trying to give him the news as gently as possible. “We are going to live in Washington DC now. You will love it here. This is where all of the presidents live!” She widened her eyes and her mouth as she told him that, so he would feel excited rather than concerned about his no-good father.

  Stevie gasped a little bit. “Even Taft??” The little boy had a strange fascination with President William Howard Taft ever since Melanie had shown him a picture of America’s heftiest president. Stevie liked him because ‘he looks like a walrus.’

  “Even Taft,” Melanie said, nodding wisely. “If you are very good, I will take you to visit him at some point. Would you like that?”

  Gasping even more, Stevie grinned. “Yes! I am very good!”

  She laughed. “You have to prove it to me, though.” She looked at her watch. It was nearing five p.m. and Casey would be home from work soon. Casey worked for a TV news station in DC, and that had allowed her to be able to afford her nice house in the suburbs. Melanie was hoping that she might have the same luck if she got out there and applied herself. “My nice friend is almost home from work and Mommy needs you to stay with her for a while, okay?”

  “Promise you won’t go see Taft without me?”

  Melanie smiled at her son. “I promise.”

  She kissed his head and unzipped one of her bags, pulling out her black laptop. Before she ventured forth to see what jobs she could go apply for, she needed to do some research.

  When Casey came home, Melanie felt as ready as she would ever be. “Do you mind watching Stevie while I go apply for a few of these things?” she asked her friend. It was getting into the evening now, so many of the jobs that she found would have to be applied for online, but she had found some restaurants and retail positions that she could still go check out in person.

  “Sure,” Casey said, smiling. “Here, you can borrow my Metro card.”

  Melanie took the offered card and carefully placed it into her purse. “He’s really into grilled cheese and chicken nuggets right now,” she told her. “His bedtime is nine o’clock. I’ll hopefully be back by then.”

  With that, she drove to the nearest Metro station and parked in the lot. She added money to the card and headed into DC. She’d visited the city once, on an elementary school field trip, but that had been when she was about eight, so she didn’t remember that much of it. It looked pretty as the evening slowly descended on it, however. She appreciated a city that was pretty at night. Growing up in Ohio, she was mostly used to seeing corn and farmland. She was ready for something different.

  It turned out that the places she had written down as potential new jobs were all either not looking for someone new or not looking for someone like her. She ended up being told by one of them to try applying on their website, but that was the best news she received.

  Feeling disappointed with herself, she decided to pop into one of the bars she saw and see if maybe they needed any help. The place was lively even though it was a weeknight. Melanie admired the space and the people who were hanging out there. Most of the people seemed to be partying with their friends after work. They appeared to be around her age, which gave her hope. Maybe this would be a good place to network…

  She sat down at the bar, not intending to drink but hoping to get someone’s attention. She had her son to get home to, after all, so she wasn’t planning to be there too long. The bartender came over to her. “What’ll you have?” he asked her.

  Looking up at him, Melanie’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. He was tall and the perfect amount of muscular, with short, jet black hair and piercing green eyes. He also had several tattoos on his arms and chest, including a large one of a tiger on his upper bicep. Melanie smirked a little to herself. She hadn’t ever been interested in men with tattoos, but this one intrigued her for some reason. He was wearing a white tank top and slightly holey jeans. He also wore dog tags, which dangled from his neck as he looked down at her.

  She suddenly realized that a long time had passed and she’d merely stared at him rather than answering his question. “Uh… Diet Coke, please?” she asked, instantly feeling lame. This bartender looked like the sort of person who expected everyone to drink hard liquor. And she could not blame him. Bartenders made their money from people buying the heavy stuff, not fountain drinks.

  Instead of snarling at her like the villain in a Popeye cartoon, he smiled. “Sure thing,” he said. Skillfully grabbing a glass from the counter and flipping it in his hand so the right end was up, he poured ice and soda into it and handed it over.

  “Thank you,” Melanie said politely. She had not expected him to have such a cute smile. He even had a big dimple in his left cheek.

  “No problem,” he replied. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

  It was her turn to smile. “How could you tell? Do I look that lost?”

  He leaned against the bar, chuckling. “I didn’t say that. I just noticed your accent, and noticed that you were looking around like you’d never been here before. This isn’t exactly a tourist spot.”

  Melanie blushed. She didn’t realize that she had a noticeable accent. Maybe she was just used to it. Casey had one, too, though it was somewhat fainter since she had lived in the DC area for several years now. “I just moved here from Ohio,” she explained. “I was hoping to find a job, but so far… Well, I’m here.” She held up her Diet Coke as if she was making a toast and then took a long sip.

  The man’s eyes lit up when she mentioned needing a job. “I don’t know what’s cuter, your accent or how you blush when your accent is pointed out.”

  Her blush intensified and she rolled her eyes a little bit, smiling shyly. This guy was charming. With his tattoos and the faint scars on his forehead that she just now noticed, he resembled the stereotype of an ex-con, but he was charming. She was enjoying this conversation instead of wanting to head for the hills. After everything that had h
appened with her husband – her ex-husband now, she supposed – it surprised Melanie that she wanted to chat with this handsome stranger.

  “My name is Doug Albright. I may have some connections in town that could help you find a job.” He grabbed her glass and refilled it without her even needing to ask. She felt like she was suddenly the only other person in the bar.

  Feeling like being playful, she raised an eyebrow and smirked at Doug. “What kind of connections?” she asked. “Like Mafia connections?”

  He threw his head back and laughed. He came around the bar and sat beside her on a stool, holding a glass of something that looked like water but definitely did not smell like it. “Ohio, you are fun. I’m not in the Mafia. I’m the vice president of a motorcycle club called Stars and Stripes. And it just so happens that some of the other guys work in places around here. If you think you have what it takes, I’ll pass along the word that you’re looking to be hired.”

  Now that he was closer, she could see that the tiger on his arm was pouncing out of an American flag. Stars and Stripes. Clever. But did she really want to get mixed up with a biker guy? Were they really just a club, or were they more like a gang?

  “What’s your name?” he asked her.

  She took another sip of her soda. What the hell. “Melanie Carr.”

  Doug grinned at her. “You’re about to be a Carr riding a bike.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Stars and Stripes

  Melanie shifted a bit uneasily on her stool. This Doug guy was cute and charming, but he was also a stranger and she didn’t feel right just riding off with him on a motorcycle. She had little Stevie to think about. She had divorce papers to file before she even wanted to consider dating anyone else. She hoped that he would understand.

  “It’s getting late,” she said, sounding somewhat deflated. “I should probably head back.”

  Doug frowned slightly. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “Hey, if you want I could give you a lift.”