Hunt (The Grizzly Brothers Chronicles Book 1)

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  She closed her eyes. "You believe in fate?"

  "I believe two people can be fated to be together."

  "I'm fated to be alone."She opened her eyes.

  "I'm going to have to disagree with you there." I returned my lips to her neck.

  "It never works. Ever."

  "It didn't work because they weren’t the right men for you."

  "And you think you are the right one?” Her eyes challenged me.

  "No." I shook my head. "I know I'm the one for you."

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “And it’s about time I made you believe it.” I kissed her, claiming the lips that I couldn’t get enough of.

  She pushed me off. "We can't do this now."

  “Why not?” I put my hand on her hip. “What’s to stop us?”

  “There are crazy people trying to get me.”

  “But you’re safe here.” I pulled her toward me. “With me.”

  "And that makes everything ok?"

  "It means we are free to do anything we want.”

  “And you’re so sure we want the same thing?”

  “Positive.” I could feel it. The connection was real, and it went both ways.

  “I hate to admit it, but I think you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right.” I claimed her lips again and immediately pushed my way into her mouth. She kissed me back, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  I slipped my hand underneath her shirt, this time wasting no time reaching her bra. I slipped my hand underneath her bra and squeezed her breast.

  She moaned into my mouth turning me on more. I picked her up and placed her on the counter. I reached around and unhooked her bra to give myself better access. Reluctantly I broke the kiss, but only long enough to remove her shirt and pull her bra all the way off.

  I took a breast in my mouth.

  She pushed me away. “What if your brothers come in?”

  “Are you worried about that?”

  She nodded.

  I picked her up and carried her down the hall and into my bedroom.

  I pulled back the covers and lay her down on the sheets before slowing pulling her jeans off of her. She reached up and unbuttoned my jeans. I took the hint and moved away from her long enough to slip them off. I returned to her and slowly slipped her panties down her long legs.

  I looked at her lying there naked in my bed. In the place I’d wanted her all along. Her eyes were wide with excitement. The fear and hesitation from earlier was gone.

  “You’re so beautiful.” I lay down beside her while I re-memorized every inch of her body.

  “You really think so?” There was doubt in her voice.

  “Of course.” I moved over her. “I’ve never seen such beauty in my life.”

  She closed her eyes.

  I brushed my lips against hers, and she opened her eyes. “I’m going to tell you that over and over until you get rid of that doubt.”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “Because you need to know how beautiful you are.” And because she was mine. It was my job to make sure she knew exactly how amazing she was.

  She tilted her head to the side, revealing her neck. Her skin called for me, begging for me to bite, but I couldn’t yet. Still, that didn’t mean I couldn’t have something else I wanted.

  I slipped my hand between her legs. She opened up to me, letting me slip my fingers inside. I let my mouth return to her breast.

  She moaned and took me in her hand.

  I groaned, loving the feel of her hand wrapped around me, but wanting her wrapped around me instead. I wanted to take things slowly, but I couldn’t any longer.

  Her eyes got even wider as I opened a condom, and I knew she wanted me nearly as much as I wanted her.

  I positioned myself over her and thrust inside.

  She took in a sharp breath as I entered her, and I knew she hadn’t been with anyone for a while. That knowledge only turned me on further as I filled her with more and more of me. I moved in and out of her careful not to hurt her. She wrapped her legs around me, and I sped up my movements until my entire length was inside of her.

  She closed her eyes, holding on to me with her arms and legs as I continued to thrust into her over and over.

  “Ian,” she mumbled my name.

  “Mara.” I lowered my head to her breast.

  Her nails raked down my back. “Ian.” She called out my name this time, and I knew I was close to pushing her over the edge. That didn’t mean I was stopping. I would treat her to more pleasure than she’d ever experienced before.

  I continued to move inside her, and she held on tighter. She kept her eyes open, watching me intently until I reached my own release.

  I remained inside her afterward, unable and unwilling to move.

  Neither of us said anything. There was nothing else to say. Our bodies had said enough already.

  Finally I moved to her side. I held her in my arms, unsure if I would ever be able to let go. I was going to have to tell her the truth. I couldn’t make her my mate until I did. I’d have to do it carefully so she didn’t completely freak out.

  We lay there in the darkness unmoving. Her breathing leveled out, and I knew she’d fallen asleep. This was the second time she’d fallen asleep in my arms, and it was far more satisfying without clothes between us.

  Everything had been so natural. So perfect. Not that it came as a surprise. But I needed more of it. I needed more of her, and I hoped she realized she’d be spending all her nights in my bed now.

  "Ian?" She lifted her head.

  "Hi there." I ran a hand down her bare back.

  "So I didn't just dream that." She settled her head back down on my chest.

  "No. Thankfully it was real."

  "All of it?" She ran her hand over my chest.

  "Yes. If you need a refresher let me know."

  She groaned and rolled away from me.

  I rolled her right back over. "Is there something wrong?"

  "We had sex."

  "I'm well aware, but last time I checked that was a very good thing."

  "Except I've made it twenty-three years without doing this."

  "Doing what exactly?" I knew she hadn’t been a virgin. I was connected enough with her to know.

  "Having sex with someone I wasn't in a committed relationship with."

  “Is that what you’re worried about?” I brushed a few stray hairs away from her face. “That this is some kind of one night stand?”

  “I wouldn’t say worried. More like shocked with myself.”

  “You can be shocked, but forget the worry. This wasn’t a one-time thing.”

  “We’re still not in a committed relationship.”

  I laughed. If she only knew how committed she was going to be to me. “I can assure this isn’t a temporary arrangement.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  “Yes I can.” I brushed my lips against her.

  “Wait.”

  “Yes?” I lifted my head.

  “You said you’d show me why I can only think of you.”

  “And I didn’t?” I ran a hand down her arm.

  “No.” She shifted under the sheets.

  “Then I guess we’re going to have to try this again.”

  “Try what again?”

  “This.” I moved over her, more than happy for an excuse to have my Mara again.

  29

  Mara

  Every inch of my body buzzed with an electricity. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I felt amazing. I felt both alive and exhausted at the same time.

  Ian seemed unsurprised by the connection. He only smiled as if to say ‘I told you so.’ Maybe that’s what he meant by showing me.

  With everything else going on, I shouldn’t have been happily rolling around in his bed, but it was much easier to pretend nothing else was happening. I was in bed with an incredibly attractive man who’d made me feel things I’d never felt before.<
br />
  I probably could have stayed there forever if it hadn’t been for the sound of footsteps and talking outside the door.

  Ian bolted up. “What’s going on?”

  “We have some company,” one of his brother’s said through the door.

  “Company for me or Mara?”

  There was silence.

  “Tyler, who is it?” Ian demanded.

  Tyler replied right away. “It’s the professor.”

  “Connor is here?” I sat up and held the sheets against me. Knowing Connor was close was like having a cold bucket of water poured over my head. He was part of my real life. I couldn’t stay in this day dream any longer.

  “Yes. He wants to talk to you,” Noah sounded less than happy about being the messenger.

  “Ok. I want to talk to him.” I looked around at the floor for my clothes, but I only found my pants and underwear.

  “Are you decent in there?” The voice called.

  I covered myself with the sheets.

  “She is now,” Ian answered.

  The door opened and Tyler stood there holding my shirt and swinging my bra around his finger. “I figured you’d need this.”

  “Drop it, Tyler,” Ian demanded.

  Tyler tossed my clothes on the bed. “Sure thing.” He winked at me before closing the door.

  “Would you like me to talk to Connor first?” Ian asked.

  I put on my bra. “Why would I want you to do that?”

  “Because we don’t know what role he has with those guys.”

  “He’s still Connor.” And no matter what anyone said, I had to trust him. My grandfather put his faith in him, and that had to have meant something.

  “I’m staying nearby.” Ian got out of bed and stepped into his pants.

  “I can talk with him alone.”

  Ian closed his eyes as if trying to calm himself down. “You’re staying within eyesight.”

  “Fine.” I didn’t really mind if he followed. Ian’s protectiveness didn’t bother me nearly as much as I’d have expected it to. Normally it would annoy me, but it didn’t seem forced or grown out of jealousy like it did with most guys. It was real with him. He seemed to genuinely care about my well-being. Even if I didn’t quite understand his concern, I liked it.

  I walked down the stairs of the front porch and outside into the drizzling rain. I looked up at the dark sky, hoping that in the morning the bright blue skies I’d quickly come accustomed to out there would return.

  Connor was waiting for me a good thirty yards from the house. He stared at me as I made a slow walk over. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if Ian was following. He did at first, but as promised he stopped a little ways off before I reached Connor.

  “Hi.” I gave Connor a small wave as I got closer.

  He didn’t return the wave. “I left you alone for a few days and you manage to get yourself in trouble.”

  I coughed. “No way. No turning this on me. Where were you? I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble if you hadn’t ditched me. Ever think of that?”

  “I was away trying to help you.” He gritted his teeth.

  “Yeah I bet.”

  “It’s not as if I could have predicted the trouble you’d find yourself in.” He put his hands into the back pockets of his worn in khakis.

  “So you don’t know those jerks at the bar? Because they seemed to know you. Same with your friend in the suit. He was a real winner.”

  “I wasn’t talking about them. Although I have no idea who the suit guy is.”

  “If you didn’t mean the crazy guys trying to kidnap me, then what did you mean?”

  “The trouble you’re sleeping with.”

  I felt blood rush to my face. “Who I sleep with is none of your business.”

  “So you admit it.” He scowled.

  “I’ll repeat what I just said. Who I sleep with is none of your business.”

  “I wish that were true,” he grumbled.

  “It is true.” I glanced over my shoulder. Ian was staring at us, and I got this weird feeling he could hear us.

  “He didn’t bite you, did he?” Connor looked me over.

  “Um, what?”

  “Bite you. On your neck?” He pointed to me. “Did he?” He stepped toward me and reached out for my neck.

  Ian started over.

  I shrugged away from Connor. “I’m fine!” I yelled to Ian.

  Ian stopped but made no move to return to his previous spot.

  “He didn’t.” Connor nodded. “We’re still good.”

  “Still good?”

  “He hasn’t told you anything, has he?”

  “What was he supposed to have told me?” I frowned. But I wasn’t sure who I was most annoyed at.

  “I can explain everything later. We need to go. You look like a mess, which is going to work to our advantage tonight.”

  “Uh, what?” My mouth fell open.

  “You’re not put together. That’s a good thing. Willem goes for sophisticated.”

  “First of all, who is Willem and why does everyone keep mentioning him to me? And secondly, why would he care if I looked good?”

  “You look good.” Connor sighed. “You always look good. But you’re not dressed up or anything. You have no makeup on.”

  “Do you know what kind of day I’ve had?” I struggled to keep my voice even.

  “I’m not commenting on your makeup.” He groaned. “I told you, this is a good thing. It will be easier to negotiate if Willem isn’t interested in you that way. He’ll be willing to take something in return.”

  “Ok. Back up.” I put a hand in front of me. “In return for what?”

  “I’m not sure I should tell you.”

  “Why not?” My voice crept up an octave.

  “Because you’re going to get mad, slap me, and then refuse to come with me, and that’s going to be a problem.”

  “You might as well tell me, because I’m not going with you unless you do.” My whole body tensed. “And just so you know, we already have a problem here.”

  He seemed to mull it over. “Your dad was never good with money.”

  “You knew him?” I’d never met the man, so how had Connor? It made no sense.

  “Yes.” Connor nodded. “Unfortunately I got to know him pretty well.”

  “He’s alive.” I was still getting used to that little piece of information, and it looked like I was about to learn a whole lot more.

  Connor’s eyes widened. “How did you find out?”

  “My grandpa left me a letter.” And if things weren’t so crazy at the moment I would reread it. He had said to trust Connor. But what if Connor had gone crazy or wasn’t who my grandpa thought he was?

  “You never told me that.”

  “I just found it.”

  “What did he say about your dad?” Connor stepped toward me.

  I thought over how much to reveal. Then I realized it probably couldn’t hurt. “He warned me to stay away from him.”

  “That’s a smart idea. I’d advise it too.”

  “Great.” As if I wanted to see the man who abandoned me and who supposedly destroyed my mom.

  “He’s not a great guy.”

  “I believed my grandfather.” Even if he’d hidden way too much from me. “But what do my father’s money issues have to do with me?”

  “He sometimes borrows money from the wrong people.”

  “Okay.” The picture of my dad forming in my mind was getting worse and worse.

  “And when he can’t pay he barters things to pay his debt.”

  “What did he barter?” I didn’t even want to know the answer, but I knew I had to hear it. “He couldn’t have offered the farm. That’s mine.”

  “It wasn’t the farm.” Connor looked down at the ground.

  “Then how could it have anything to do with me?” I didn’t like that he was avoiding my eyes. That couldn’t be a good thing.

  “It is you.”

  “What do you
mean?” Every time I thought things couldn’t get worse, they did.

  “He bartered you, Mara.”

  “Um, that’s impossible. First of all, you can’t sell people in the U.S., it’s illegal. Which you know. And second, I’m not his in the first place.” My head spun, and I was close to passing out. Who the hell was my father?

  “You are his by the law our people follow.” Connor continued to avoid my gaze.

  “Our people?” I raised an eyebrow.

  He sighed. “I wish I wasn’t the one who had to tell you all this.”

  “Who else should have told me?” I was done playing nice. “My parents? Oh wait, I don’t even remember having known them. My grandpa? Well, that would have been great, but he’s dead, so we’re out of luck. Who else could have told me anything?”

  “I don’t know.” Connor finally looked up. “This whole thing is screwed up.”

  “Why did you bring me out here?” That part of the equation still didn’t make sense, and he was the only one who could answer it.

  “Because we can’t run from it anymore. You’re twenty-three.”

  “And my age means what?”

  “You are five years past eighteen. The grace period is over.”

  “The grace period?” The only grace period I knew about was the one on paying loans.

  “You’re a smart girl, Mara. Don’t play stupid with me.” He talked down to me like I was a kid. Like he always did now, and it annoyed me.

  “I’m not playing stupid, but so far you haven’t said anything resembling reality. I’d accuse you of being drunk, but you don’t drink.”

  “I drink.”

  “No you don’t.” I’d never seen him drink before.

  “I don’t drink around you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I never wanted to say anything stupid around you.” He gazed up at the sky and then back at me.

  “Well, you are saying plenty of stupid things now.”

  “Your dad bartered you away. He got a five year grace period to deliver you to Willem. That five years is up.”

  “Grandpa said you were going to protect me.” I felt tears threatening to spill. If my grandfather was wrong about Connor, what else was he wrong about?

  “That’s what I’m trying to do. Like I said, you look perfect. All we need to do is let him see you aren’t as great of a prize as your dad pretended you were, and then I’ll negotiate a new deal.”