Complete Bear Creek and Bear Bluff Box Sets: Including brand new exclusive book Best Man Bear

by Harmony Raines

  The craving had grown incredibly hard to deny since those two wolves had come after her. He still couldn’t believe they had ventured into bear territory and gone after a female too. It wasn’t right, but at least it had brought the situation between him and Kayleigh to a head. It also meant she had seen him turn into his other self.

  “I know this is strange, unreal. But my love, and desire, for you isn’t. It’s endless, like the turning of the seasons. There is nothing to stop it.”

  “But you’d let me go?”

  He closed his eyes and nodded. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Kayleigh. And if that means letting you walk out of my life, then that’s what I’d do.” Just saying those words zapped his strength from him. He had seen how having your mate turn them down changed people. Will was a prime example. One that he hoped never to have to follow.

  “I can’t believe it. I mean, I know what I saw. But that doesn’t make it easier to believe.”

  “Do you feel anything for me?” he asked bluntly, not daring to hope.

  She sat quietly for a moment, collecting her thoughts before she spoke. “Yes. It’s all mixed up, but there’s always been a part of me that knows when you are close. Even at the diner, I’d know when you walked in. I always thought that was because you ... I don’t know, didn’t approve of me.”

  “The only thing I didn’t approve of was other men flirting with you. And that had nothing to do with you, or them, it was my bear feeling a wide streak of jealousy.”

  “I wish you’d said something before.”

  “It’s a little awkward. 'Hi, my name is Daryl. By the way, my party trick is that I can change into a bear.’ That is a little hard to swallow for an outsider.”

  “An outsider. I’m certainly that.”

  “Not any more.” He kissed the back of her hand. “If you choose to stay, to be mine, you won’t ever feel as if you are an outsider. You'll always know you’re part of my family.”

  “That’s something that I might struggle with. And I still don't like the idea of kids.”

  He smiled at her. His heart squeezed in his chest, filled with hope, yet flattened by insecurity. “Does that mean there’s a chance you might stay?”

  “Yes. I believe it does. For now, anyway.”

  “That’s all I ask. Now is much better than never.”

  Chapter Twenty - Kayleigh

  Was it supposed to feel like this? As if all her tension, all her anxiety had left her. He had always made her feel safe, but this was more, a belonging. Something she had never experienced before.

  She leaned forward and kissed his lips, feeling them move against hers. His hand slipped around her neck and held her close. Heat spread through her; his lips were so soft, so gentle, questioning her response. She gave herself to him in that moment. The realisation that she didn’t want to be alone for the rest of her life, afraid to trust. Here was a man who wanted her, forever. Why wouldn’t she explore that forever with him?

  Somehow, she slipped from the sofa, and they ended up in a tangled heap on the floor. He held her close, and then flipped her onto her back. Slipping his body between her thighs. She ached for him. Arching her back to change the angle of her body so his thigh applied a wonderful pressure against her mound.

  His hands caressed her, while his lips played along hers, nipping, kissing, tasting her mouth. Savouring every part of this thing he had waited so patiently for. Now, it was happening. His cock pressed against her thigh, his urgency to be inside her obvious.

  A tremor passed through her; he wanted her. He wanted to make love to her. After waiting so long, would he be disappointed at her inexperience? She was a virgin; she only hoped the rest of her body responded to him as her lips had. They seemed to have mastered the art of kissing instantly, an instinct. She hoped the same would be true for the rest of her body.

  “Are you OK?” he whispered against her ear, his body picking up her tension.

  “Yes,” she said, “This is so new to me.”

  “We don’t have to do anything that you don't want to do.” He kissed her neck, and then sucked her earlobe into his lips, tracing the outside edge of it with his tongue. A different kind of tremor passed through her. “I’ve waited so long for you. A little while longer won’t hurt... Too much.”

  “I don’t want to wait,” she answered, the press of his cock telling her that it would be nearly impossible for him too. But she appreciated his concern.

  “Will you come with me to bed?”

  “Why don’t we stay here, in front of the fire?” She stroked his back, and as she reached down began to pull his T-shirt up. He leaned back away from her, and held his arms up so she could slip it over them. She couldn’t quite reach so he had to help her. While his hands were still above his head, she leaned upwards and kissed his smooth chest. Running her tongue along his firm muscles.

  She was rewarded with a deep guttural groan. The sound of his self control slipping. It spurred her on, her own desire building until it overtook her fear, replacing it with a need to explore his body. To find out what he liked and then to give it to him. Kayleigh wanted to worship his body with her mouth and her hands, to make him beg her for more.

  Daryl had similar plans. His hands, trembling a little, began to undo her clothes. Firstly, her shirt, two buttons bursting off as he hastily pulled it apart. She didn’t care; there was nothing more important in this world right now.

  He knelt up, and pulled her towards him. Then slipped her shirt off her shoulders, until only her bra remained to cover her voluptuous chest. Her breasts heaved, the rise and fall mesmerising him. He leaned forward, and his lips kissed the swell of her breasts. His hands going to the clasp and releasing them to his hungry mouth.

  Cupping each one in his hands, he pushed them up and together, his tongue rolling over the taut bud. She thought she would explode. Her sex ached for him, all her nerve endings screaming at once to be stroked, licked, and kissed by this wonderful man. He switched to the other one, giving it the equal attention that it craved. While she slowly went insane.

  She needed him. Her body needed him inside it. She fumbled with his belt, and managed to get it undone. Then his buttons slowed her down, the stiff denim of his jeans foiling her plans to release his cock.

  While his mouth still nursed on her breasts, he moved his hands to cover hers. Together they undid his jeans, pulling them down over his hips. His boxers went too, and suddenly she saw the size of him for the first time. The bulge in his pants had in no way done him credit. Although she had nothing to compare him to, he looked huge.

  Tentatively, she reached out and touched him, her fingertips stroking his smooth skin. He responded to her, and her courage grew. Firmer now, she wrapped her hand around him and stroked him up and down. His mouth tightened on her breast, his tongue harder, more demanding. He liked what she was doing to him. Sliding her hand along his full length, she pumped it up and down, a small amount of precome forming on the tip.

  He broke away from her. “I want to come inside you, Kayleigh. Please.”

  Wordlessly, she released him, her face flushing with a mixture of desire and embarrassment when he began to remove the rest of her clothes. In seconds, she was naked in front of him. Her thighs pushed wide apart, his fingers stroking the length of her slit.

  Oh. This was something else. He stroked her clit, his thumb remaining on the little bundle of nerve while his fingers pushed into her. She was terribly wet, her outer lips swollen and engorged with arousal. This seemed to satisfy him. She was ready.

  Was she? Her body tensed. Would he hurt her? What if he didn’t fit inside her?

  He shifted his weight, moving back between her thighs, and eased her down onto her back. For a moment, he knelt in front of her, watching the fire dance across her skin. She was warm; she glowed in his presence. Lighting up for him. He smiled, and his dimples showed, making her smile too.

  This was right. Of all the things in her life that had happened, nothing had felt
more right than this moment here with him. They were mated. Perhaps if she woke up in the morning and found out the whole thing was some trick, a load of bullshit, it would matter. However, right now it didn’t. She wanted this, for whatever crazy reason. This was meant to be.

  In some small way, she must have passed this thought on to him in a subconscious message. Because he lowered himself down, one hand on his cock, guiding himself to her wet sex. For a few seconds he rubbed the head of his cock against her outer lips, her juices lubricating him. Then he pushed forward, and he entered her. She gasped. He stroked her cheek, his weight supported on his elbows while he pushed deeper.

  A small cry escaped her lips. She felt impossibly stretched by him. He eased out, and then went deeper, filling her until he paused. Drawing back once more, he pushed harder, a pain filling her, making her tense. He had taken her innocence, she was his now. This spurred him on, aroused him to the point of no return. His hips flexed and then he thrust harder into her, pulling back before driving forward once more. Over and over, he chased the pain away, until she was soaring above her body on clouds of bliss.

  Her nails dug into his back with each thrust, her orgasm drawing closer and closer. Daryl kissed her mouth, her neck, nipping her earlobe. Every part of him in rhythm with her body, as he drove her closer and closer to the edge. Then she fell, caught in a never-ending pulsing wave of ecstasy. It covered her, completely taking over her senses. She cried out, her teeth grazing his collarbone as she fought to regain herself. Then he came, and threw her into another orgasm, their bodies in perfect time. He was filling her with his seed while her sex throbbed and pulsed around him.

  All thoughts of precautions had left her. His seed pumped deep inside her, and as he covered her, he cried out, telling the world he had claimed his mate fully. This was the culmination of his whole life up to this point. To find his mate, and fill her with his seed.

  His fingers curled around the edge of the rug. He pushed deeper and deeper, impaling her on his cock until he was buried to the hilt. Still he strained to fill her, to make her come again and again. Until they were both completely drained. Their energy spent, their desires sated.

  Chapter Twenty One - Daryl

  He allowed her to sleep. At some point in the night, he had carried her up to his bed, and wrapped her in the covers, taking his place by her side.

  His place. Where he had always meant to be.

  For a long while, he couldn’t sleep. Instead, he lay awake watching her face. Stroking her shoulder, and her cheek, checking she was real, not some phantom his mind had conjured up. At last he had dozed until the sun rose in the sky, and then he had slipped from the bed, and gone to make some calls.

  While he dealt with the sheriff, and reassured his mom and Sam, he made sandwiches. Once everything was ready he had gone back to check on her, and then showered, washing off the scent of her, much to his dismay. After drying himself he went back to his bedroom, and watched her some more.

  “How long have you been there?” she asked when she woke.

  “A long time. All my life, I think. Waiting, watching, for you.”

  She smiled. “I must look a mess.”

  “You look beautiful.”

  “You’re biased.”

  “True,” he said, showing his dimples. He kissed her shoulder. “Go and shower, and then we can have lunch.”

  “Lunch? What time is it?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You needed to sleep.”

  “What about work?”

  “I phoned in for you. Johnny had already heard about the attack, though. So he said to take a couple of days off. Well, he said rest. But I was hoping you didn’t need too much rest.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “I’ll show you. Once you’re showered and dressed.”

  “Am I that bad?” She wrinkled her nose.

  “No. But I think it’ll make you feel better, more awake. Come on.” He tapped her legs and stood up, holding out his hand for her. She placed hers in it and allowed him to pull her up, straight into his arms.

  “Are you sure you don't want to spend some time in bed with me first?” she asked, her hand going to feel the big bulge in his jeans.

  “Tempting. Very tempting.” He kissed her lips, his hand cupping her breasts and fondling them until she gasped against him. “But I have something else in mind.”

  He moved away from her. “Shower.” He pointed, and she brushed past him, purposefully close so that his cock caught her thigh.

  She turned and smiled at him coyly. “Sure you don’t want to join me?”

  “No. You are a real tease. I can see I’m going to have my work cut out satisfying that insatiable appetite you have.” For me, he finished in his head, grinning from ear to ear as she shut the door behind her.

  Chapter Twenty Two - Kayleigh

  Something had awoken inside her. She felt sexy, that was for sure, but there was something else, a need to nurture. His need to procreate seemed to have infused her. She wanted to mate with him. Like wild animals, until he had put a child ... or would that be a cub? inside her.

  She switched on the shower and got in, feeling a little queasy. A cub. A bear cub. What had she let herself in for?

  A man who would never leave her. A man who had been searching for her his whole life, and now he had found her, he would never let her go. This was why Bear Creek had felt like coming home. Because all this time he had been here, and he was her home.

  She washed herself quickly, and dried herself on his soft towels before looking at herself in the mirror. As usual, after being under hot water, she looked blotchy. She was also shocked to see the amount of scratches she had on her cheeks and on her arms. It made yesterday even more real. All of it. The wolves and the bear. Would he change for her if she asked him to?

  Dragging a brush through her long hair, she left it draped around her shoulders and rushed out. Too eager to see what he had planned, and to persuade him to change for her. Just for her. Butterflies erupted in a cloud of fluttering wings in her stomach. He was hers. She was his.

  “Daryl,” she called, going out of the bathroom. She headed to the bed, where there was a pile of clothes. Her jeans had been washed and dried, but instead of her ripped shirt, he had left one of his for her to wear. She put it on, breathing in his scent, and did it up. A little on the large size, but it would do.

  Then she went downstairs, to find him on the phone. He looked up and smiled at her when she came in, his eyes raking over her body. Then he shifted his gaze and said, “Thanks, Brad. I’m glad they’ve been identified. No, she’s fine. She’s here now.” He paused and listened, his smile broadening. “Thank you, Brad. I will pass that on. Bye.”

  “Brad? The sheriff?”

  “Yes. He said that the wolves are known to him, and steps have been taken to deal with the matter. He also asked me to welcome you to the town, properly.”

  “Properly? I’ve been living here for months.”

  “But now you belong here. He would like us to go over and have dinner with him and Abbi.”

  “Abbi, that’s his wife?”

  “Soon will be. She’s excited not to be the newest member of our clan.”

  “Oh, I’m the newbie until someone else comes along?”

  “That's usually how these things work. Anyway, I said we would, as soon as we can find time.” He came to her, and pulled her into his arms, kissing her fiercely. “I’d like you to myself for a while. There are so many things I want to teach you.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I look forward to being your pupil. I want to learn to please you, Daryl. You have so much experience, and I have none.”

  “I like it that way,” he said. His warm breath caressed her neck, before his lips trailed down over her collarbone. Then he dipped his head and nipped her breast through her clothes. She took his hand and put it between her thighs, and he rubbed her clit.

  She clung to him, her hand on his cock, squeezing him thr
ough his jeans until he was hard. Then he placed his hand on hers and stilled her. “Let’s go, or else I won’t be able to contain myself.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “A picnic.”

  She laughed. “Ah, so that’s what the backpack is for.”

  “Yes,” he said, lifting it off the table. “I feel bad that we went all the way, when I haven’t even taken you on our date yet.”

  “You did take advantage of me.”

  She watched his face change and he frowned. “Is that how you feel? I should have let you recover before we made love. I never thought.”

  She laughed, feeling light-headed and happy. “Don’t be stupid. I was joking. It was right. That’s all I know.”

  “Thank goodness,” he said, cupping her cheek with his hand, stroking her lips with his thumb. Then he kissed her slowly, his tongue exploring her mouth, sending fresh tremors through her body.

  He broke away from her and took her hand, leading her out to his truck. The air was warm, the midday sun bright as she walked across to his truck. While he put the pack in the back, she turned and looked at his house. “It’s beautiful,” she said, admiring the solid wooden cabin. It was big but not imposing, nestling in a well-kept garden.

  “We built it with wood from the forest. My family, and some folks from town.”

  “Bear folks.”

  “Bear folks,” he said nodding. “And over there is where I’m going to build a treehouse for our kids.” He watched her face change. “When it’s time, there’s no rush. But you know, bears mate for life. I will never be the one to leave, Kayleigh. Only death will ever part us, and even then, the myth is that we meet up in the afterlife. A place I’m not planning on visiting for some time yet.”

  She put her hand on her stomach. “I’ve spent so many years telling myself I’ll never have children, but I’m coming around to the idea. Here in Bear Creek, it’s the most perfect place.”