by Jaide Fox
He nodded and closed his eyes, looking pained. “I’m trying to control myself and concentrate on not erupting.”
Kimber quirked an eyebrow, watching his face as she wrapped both hands around the length of his cock. His flesh scorched her palms like fire. She was fascinated by his heat and the way his mouth went slack as she caressed him. Her belly fluttered to see the expression on his face.
“Pump it,” he commanded.
She experimentally pulled his shaft. “Like this?”
He choked back a groan. “Yes. You can go fast or slow. Both produce…pleasure.”
She loosely stroked him slow, then quickened her pace, watching his nuanced reaction. “I feel like I’m churning cream,” she said with a throaty chuckle. She felt wickedly naughty, doing things she had no right to be doing. Between her thighs, she felt that warm, wet feeling growing.
“There’s cream in there all right,” he groaned. He managed to open his lids. His eyes were heavy lidded and glazed, feverishly intense. She shivered in response, feeling her budding amusement dowsed by a heady dose of power. She had control over him simply by having her hand around his cock.
“That’s enough. You keep going and I won’t be able to control myself. You’ll need to stop soon unless you want to see what happens,” he said in a mouth-watering, hoarse voice.
She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to do everything. “I’ve come this far. I want to see it all.”
He cocked a grin, clenching and unclenching his hands on his legs. “Insatiable minx,” he growled. “Have at it. I warn you, it makes a mess. Faster, Red. Both hands. I like that twist you do. It’s good.”
She obeyed, keeping a fast pace, drawing him into her small hands until a spasm wracked his body. He gasped, breathing erratically, and his cock jerked. She squealed, half horrified and half delighted when the fluid shot from the tip, dribbling over her hands. His long, pleasurable groan was so pleasing that she immediately wanted to clean up and begin again. She could get used to having this kind of control over a man.
He raised a hand to stop her. “Mercy. Have mercy on me. I cannot take that again. You did well for your first time.”
Kimber stood and cleaned her hands off on a towel from his bag. She walked to the entrance and saw it was dark, and the snow fluttered from the sky like thousands of tiny moths. She pushed her hands into the snow to clean them, then rubbed them on her skirt to dry as she stepped back inside and affixed the skin taut across the opening. Braeden looked close to passing out, lying on the floor with drowsy eyelids.
“Is that all for tonight?” She crossed the space, standing over him. His gaze roamed up her body like a touch, making her dress feel inadequate as a barrier. The strange little quivers returned, but putting her cold hands on her cheeks seemed to help calm her down.
“For tonight, yes. I have to give the next lesson some thought. You’ll be a master within a few weeks at this rate. You’re a fast learner.”
Kimber smiled and sat by the fire, looking forward to her next surprise with a giddiness she’d never experienced.
***
Braeden feigned sleep as she lay beside him and curled against his side. He regretted napping early, for now he couldn’t sleep. She was warm and soft and a madwoman who clearly had no idea of sexual relations. While her eagerness held appeal, he admitted her innocence and youth made him want to run out into the night and never look back. He detected that she was entering a mating heat in spite of their differences—she was innocent and young enough that she didn’t understand the slow, inexorable creep of desire. Which meant she should be off limits to him—and also meant he was extremely susceptible to her.
Braeden had heard tales of bears mating with wolves and knotting to ensure a viable pregnancy. There was something about his clan being so much larger than the she-wolves that worked against them. Whether it was true or not—he didn’t want to discover. Actually, he did want to discover if the stories were true, and that made a mild panic enter his bones. Had he not been so enticed by her lush woman’s body, he would never have agreed to this arrangement. He was as mad as she for thinking something like this could work for any length of time.
The temptation to return home to his family was great, but he worried about leaving her out here alone. In spite of the fact that their clans had formed a peace treaty between them, there were still the rogue bears with no interest or inclination in maintaining peace. The ursine clan numbers were dwindling as it was, and a lack of viable females had forced them to look elsewhere for mates and take the chance that offspring would not share their shifting characteristics. The wolves were their closest match since the fox were too small and the wolverines too wild. In the south along the coast and islands he’d heard of cat clans, but no one he knew had ever seen one of them, and he had his doubts they existed. The only cats he’d ever seen had been tiny things no bigger than his foot. The very idea that they could command any land or transform into human shape was laughable.
Braeden resolved to figure out a way to inform Kimber that this plan of hers could not continue. He still had a conscience.
Chapter Six
Kimber couldn’t distinguish dream from reality as sleep melted into consciousness and she found herself trapped against Braeden’s body. It was a nice dream, coaxing aching feelings of arousal in her womb. She’d found herself pursued through the forest, caught from behind, and his fingers massaging her clit until her body climbed toward orgasm—but in typical dream fashion, she’d awakened before achieving ultimate pleasure. Slowly, she opened her eyes, realizing immediately why her dreams had turned to the erotic this morning.
A warm, meaty arm cushioned Kimber’s head from the hard floor while still managing to grip one breast as if it might crawl away from her body. His other big paw firmly entrenched between her thighs, cupping her mound in a possessive hold. Behind her, the unmistakable prod of a cock bruised a spot in her buttocks. She squirmed and he tightened his arms, still asleep. His breath tickled her ear, and his fingers on her groin twitched in his sleep, eliciting tingles of awareness. She bit her lip, craving more and wondering how much she could get away with and how deeply he would sleep.
Kimber eased her dress up her thighs, carefully tugging it free of his fingers until his fingertips touched her bare flesh and embedded in her wet slit. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the hot touch. She needed more than that, however, and pushed a hand down to guide her fingers over his. Like a puppet master, she moved, scrunching his fingers over her labia until she caught a magical rhythm that made her clit swell with pleasure. She thought her own touch had been exciting, but using his hand felt infinitely better. How much more so with his expert, conscious touch?
She tried to hold still, but arousal gripped her, making her clench and unclench her thighs and wriggle her bottom against his erection. Her entire body felt flushed and excited. She gave up the idea of disguising her need when he flexed his fingers and ground into her cleft from behind. He moved in a lazy way, as if half-awake. Small, animalistic whimpers erupted from her throat, and he stiffened in response, ceasing all movement and earning a disappointed growl from her.
Before she could beg him to continue, he released her and jumped to his feet, his eyes wild and shifty. “I need to shovel snow. Now,” he announced, pulling his breeches on like an illicit lover about to dive from a window. He shifted foot to foot as he put on his shoes, then grabbed the handle of his shovel, and marched out of the cave as if pursued by hell hounds.
Still gripped by unfulfilled longing, Kimber struggled to her feet, threw on her cloak, and followed him out. Braeden had already cleared the entrance to the cave. The snow had collected in drifts another foot high from the previous day. She didn’t see the sense in doing this now, but more than that, she was uncomfortably aroused and furious that he’d left her before she could finish. Sure, she could have done so herself, but the lure of finding orgasm with another person overshadowed self-pleasure.
&nbs
p; Kimber inhaled a deep breath, holding it in for several seconds before exhaling and trusting herself to speak in a level tone. “What are you doing?” she asked.
He didn’t pause, just continued working without looking up. He was moving at a brisk enough pace to work up a sheen of perspiration on his brow, and his chest and cheeks were splotchy with ruddy skin. “Shoveling. When I’m done, I’m going hunting. I’ll be gone all day, if that’s your concern,” he said through puffs of breath that billowed like smoke from his mouth.
She clenched her jaw and furrowed her brow. A headache seemed to be forming. She rubbed a thumb against her right temple, watching him in irritation as he finished one area and moved to another spot, continuing with his vigorous pace. “What do you call that?”
“What? My hasty escape?” he asked over his shoulder, tossing a shovelful of snow to the side.
Kimber narrowed her eyes, throwing her hands up before planting them on her hips. She stomped over to a cleared area so she could look him in the face. “I think you know. This morning?”
“The rubbing and touching and juices flowing? That was all you, Red. We’d have done much more if you’d had your way.”
Hearing the truthful words come out in his baritone combined with the look in his eyes made her skin heat guiltily. Braeden stopped and planted his shovel in the snow, leaned on it and met her eyes without compunction. “You’re in heat,” he said.
The hot flash returned full force. Kimber felt the blush creep up her chest and cheeks in spite of the cool wind tugging at her face and hair. “I am not. How would you know? You’re a bear shifter!” Her attempts at pretending aloofness had failed. “I can’t be in heat because of a bear.”
Braeden grunted, clearly amused if the crinkles at the corners of his eyes were any indication. “I’m half man too, just as you’re half woman. Men know these things. You’re still in heat—bear or not.”
“Why didn’t I go into heat at the festival then, surrounded by my own kind?”
He shrugged. “That I couldn’t tell you.”
She threw her hands up. She had a good mind to stomp back into the cave. She was a glutton for punishment, however. “I know my woman’s brain is small and meager compared to yours,” she said sarcastically. “I’ve seen nineteen cycles, approaching twenty. Perhaps you could explain how you know what my body is doing when I do not.”
“Practically an old maid,” he said, hitching one cheek upward in as smarmy a look as she’d ever seen.
Kimber wanted to slap him. She could see now why he was unmated despite his attractiveness. Her mouth dropped open on a gasp. The wind howled as if equally outraged. She grabbed the edges of her scarlet cloak at the outburst of air. “And you, old man?”
Braeden straightened and stretched from propping on the handle. He had some gall looking indecently brawny and burly. Taking a break had allowed his body to cool and his nipples had turned into tiny pebbles that looked at her and asked her to bite them. She would have been amused if she hadn’t been so insulted. She would also have enjoyed a more thorough exploration of the differences between a man and a woman, but now she wanted to claw his hairy, well-developed abs open until he begged for mercy. And how could he remain shirtless in this kind of weather? Everything about him was beginning to grind on her nerves.
“Twenty six cycles this spring, young’n. You might be grown, but if you knew any better, you wouldn’t be rubbing on me in the morning and tempting fate. Hell, you wouldn’t have come up with this plan to muddy the waters. We had a good deal, a clean one without complications. This is why I like my cave to myself. Bringing your lessons in won’t do either one of us any good—not when you’re clearly on the verge of mating heat. I’m planning on doing what my father done in this situation with my mother.” He strode up the cleared path as she followed him huddled in her cloak as if it were a cocoon.
“And what’s that?” she asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
Braeden set the shovel near the cave’s entrance, stabbing it into the frozen ground without difficulty. “I’m leaving. I told you. I’ll be gone all day and won’t be back until night. Keep the fire stoked. If you get bored and want to be useful, get some more wood up here from the pile. If not, there may be enough to last. I’ve got some ground oats if you get hungry and you can melt snow, otherwise, you can wait until I return tonight to eat. I’ll try to be back by dark—once you’ve had time to cool down and come back to your senses.”
“My senses are just fine. What about our lessons? Is that all?”
“Yep. You don’t like it, you could always go back to your people, take your chances on finding another man to take care of you. You’re pretty enough you should do fine, though I pity any man dealing with your temper.”
“You’ve barely scratched the surface of my temper,” she snarled, following him back into the cave.
He had the gall to laugh again. “That, I figured.”
Braeden snatched a rough woven cotton shirt out of his bag and pulled it over his head before swirling his cloak of black woolskin around his shoulders. The fluffy tendrils blew around his face as he lifted the skin over the entrance and glanced back at her one more time.
“You should take care of yourself while I’m gone, Red. You need it.”
Kimber growled in outrage, bent, and threw a stick at him. He ducked out, laughing as the stick missed and clattered on the stone floor.
***
Kimber had a good mind to rip up everything Braeden had brought with him despite the fact that it was completely unlike her to act like an emotional, spoiled brat. She dropped to the floor and grabbed an article of clothing he’d carelessly tossed on the stone. One whiff of his faint, pleasing scent clinging to the garment sent an agonizing spasm whirling through her middle as if he’d just brushed himself against her. She clutched her belly with one hand, flinging the article away and squeezing her eyes shut as if that would somehow dull the hollow ache gripping her innards. She took a deep, shaky breath, and curled up on the hard surface, not daring to move closer to the bedding or anywhere else until her insides recovered. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was in heat and didn’t realize it. Was this the person she wanted to be and wanted him to know, even if their situation was only a temporary convenience?
She didn’t like feeling angry and frustrated. She liked feeling desperate even less. Her hot cheek on cold stone seemed to help with the fever stoking her skin. Being in heat was horrible! No wonder her poor mama had so many mouths to feed if this was what she’d gone through. Or did it lessen once mated? The pain gave her a new appreciation for her mother. Unfortunately, the only cure to her ailment would be rutting, which left her in need of Braeden, whether he liked it or not. She wasn’t sure how long the feelings would go on, but she knew she wouldn’t last the winter in this state. He was going to have to man up and do something to help them both. She would not be taking no for an answer the next time.
Kimber sat up, feeling marginally better—enough that she could feel amusement and some pity towards Braeden. They barely knew one another and she was placing so much on his big shoulders. She wasn’t one to question her natural instincts, however.
Her sensitive nose could still detect his scent in the cave, and it was driving her mad, making her skin crawl and tingle. The bedding was the worst spot, and his bags the second worst. She emptied the bags, looking through his possessions with a nosiness borne of boredom. He didn’t have much, mostly clothing, a few hand tools, and dry goods. She thumbed through a thick book and set it down to shake out the second bag. Small wooden figurines scattered on the floor along with half-carved wood pieces.
Kimber gathered the pieces and lined them up. A standing bear with a crown and another with a flowered wreath were the two most prominent, and as she examined them, she realized he was carving chess pieces in his spare time. The opposing side were wolves. Now the hand tools she’d found made sense. She was impressed with the level of detail he’d car
ved into such tiny pieces of wood. Perhaps he wasn’t the barbarian she’d first assumed. Reading and chess were marks of higher learning, and the game was one of the few things she’d enjoyed doing inside when she’d lived at home.
Carefully returning his belongings back to his bags, she resolved to go for a run and find her own food. She didn’t want him to think she needed to be taken care of. She wasn’t some useless female arm decoration. A run through the mountains as a wolf would give her enough time to think of a suitable recourse to his denial. She knew good and well he’d enjoyed her touch and that he should have had the courtesy to reciprocate.
With her resolve strengthened, Kimber removed her clothing and allowed her beast to take control and transform her body into that of the wolf with fluid ease. Her human mind hovered in a disembodied space within the wolf—a puppet master to the wild beast she’d become. The need to taste fresh blood pushed to the forefront along with the desire to flex her muscles in a vigorous chase.
Chapter Seven
The cleared path to the cave was once again obscured by a coating of snow. Braeden waded through the drift until he’d reached the entrance and his shovel and cleared the path once more, hoping they weren’t in for heavy snowfall just yet. He wanted more time to gather supplies. He supposed he was like his father in that regard, who never seemed satisfied with what they had in their coffers and always wanted to go on one last hunting trip.
Braeden’s day had been spent tracking a herd of mountain goats up into the far reaches of the mountain. With difficulty, he’d stalked a large ram until he’d made the kill. Getting the beast back down the mountain was another challenge, but he’d smoked enough meat to last them for a few weeks along with the fish strips they’d smoked. He’d also discovered a pleasant surprise near the mountain top that he hoped to take Kimber to if she could be persuaded not to fight him.
