Bear His Mark: Wylde Den One (Alaskan Den Men Book 1)

by Talina Perkins

  Her gaze darkened. “You know why I left. After Mom died...” She turned her face away and let her words trail off on a huff without answering him. “I’m not going to argue with you, Adam.”

  “It’s like a thousand wires of electricity tapping into every blood cell in your body and pumping your libido with amazing amounts of adrenaline.”

  Her lashes brushed against the tops of her cheeks, “Yes.”

  He intertwined their fingers and drew her hands close to rest on his chest. “No one is arguing, sweetheart.”

  She turned back to face him. “You’re right, you know. Father pulled us out of here after the rangers found Mom’s body so fast I didn’t have a choice. I was barely eighteen. What would you have me do?” In the darkness, his heightened vision picked up the slight smile she tried to hide the pain behind. But he saw through the faux bravado.

  “Fight my father?”

  Adam stood there, silently staring down at her, and inhaled softly. Maybe it was time to take off the kid gloves? “No, Aurora. Fight for your mate.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Confounding woman. “What will it take to get through to you?” He pulled back and scrubbed a hand over his face. Why did he care after all these damn years, anyway? Didn’t he get the message by now?

  “You’re making me crazy with your scent.” It already burrowed so deep in his brain he’d never be rid of it. Wearing patience ate at his resolve and he tore a hand through his hair. She didn’t want him. More so, she didn’t want his werebear all because of her damn father.

  A muscle ticked in his jaw and he turned away so she couldn’t see the war she created inside him. Damn straight. His territory. His mountain. His mate.

  He shook his head and silenced the voice of his grizzly which was hard to do with the taste of her lingering on his lips and his cock pulsating.

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  The possessive need climbed out of the tightly locked box he’d locked it away in five years ago with a vengeance. Stronger than he’d ever felt it before.

  “Depends.” By the way her eyebrow twitched, he could tell she expected more. When he didn’t give it, she produced a skinny flashlight and turned on her heel.

  A growl of annoyance slipped before he could catch himself.

  “We both know why I can’t be your mate.” White light filled the four-foot circumference of the small entryway. All stone on one side with a wall of ice and snow on the other. The similarities to their current situation didn’t slip by him.

  “You mean, being a grizzly’s mate isn’t good enough for the Starr bloodline.” He caught a flash of regret but pushed on anyway. “Wouldn’t want to sully the royal family and all.”

  True Aurora style, her cheeks filled with a bright red blush and her lower lip tucked sideways when she got angry. He missed that little detail.

  Adam cocked a brow and crossed his arms over the expanse of his chest.

  His little snow bunny looked lovely all ticked off. Good. Maybe that would cut through her denial. Bare-ass naked wasn’t how he pictured having this argument, but he could see a few benefits of lowering her defenses with his current situation. Adam raised his arms and crossed them over his chest. Her light followed his movements and then explored farther south.

  Low lighting didn’t bother him, but he knew she had to struggle to see. Or she really was trying hard not to look down the length of his body despite her raking the light over him from head to toe more than once since their kiss.

  Both options would explain the deep creases of concentration between her eyes and the immense waves of anxiety rolling off her with enough power to choke him.

  “Can’t you… you know?” She made a gesture with her hand to signal the shift between bear and human. As tempting as it was to leave her floundering for words, he stepped in.

  “Go all grizzly and punch through the snow?”

  “There’s gotta be a way out of here, Adam?”

  “Not that easy. Hell, I really wish it were.”

  “Why not? You break through, we can get outta here and go on our merry way.”

  “The last thing I want to do is hold you here. God forbid, right? But who knows how thick this is. There could be more people below. If I cause a bigger avalanche, it could bury them alive. We’re safe here. You’re safe.” He stepped closer and settled his hands on either shoulder. “I know this mountain better than anyone. After the storm passes, my brother will come for us Probably no later than sunrise. And with him he’ll raise an army if need be to get us out.”

  “Are you sure? How does he even know where we are?”

  Adam tipped her chin up just to see her emerald eyes on him. “Trust me. He’s good at his job. I lost the two-way, but he knows where I was headed and our gear is equipped with trackers for this very reason. He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

  “For our sakes, I hope.”

  “What has you so worried?”

  “The fact that we have no water. No food and no source of heat is kinda worrisome, wouldn’t you say.”

  “I had food in my pack. And I am the heat source. ” He turned back to the entrance and looked back at her with a teasing grin. Anything to lure a smile from her.

  Thank God. His pack rested in a heap against the back wall. He nearly fell to his knees with relief. “This should hold us off. How about yours?”

  “Just some power bars and a juice, but good luck finding it.” She roved over the entire den with her light and then paused on his face. “Oh no!”

  “What?” He turned a three-sixty, expecting to see another shifter from the way fear flashed in her eyes.

  “My father.” Aurora froze in place, her eyes wide, the look so raw that for a split second he could see the true Aurora. The one that hurt and felt. Possibly the same emotions he did for her. He hoped.

  Adam blinked, shaking his head. Did he hear her right? “Excuse me?”

  “His urn, it was in my bag.”

  Oh. “Where did you leave—”

  “Wait, do you see that?”

  How could he—she blinded him with her flashlight. “There. In the corner.” Aurora pushed past him and fell to her knees by the ice wall.

  He moved her to the side, ignoring her protest. “Let me help.” Gently, he eased her hands to the side and with a couple of tugs, he risked the vulnerability of the ice foundation to free her duffle. “Damn good eye. Even I missed that.”

  With a single finger to his shoulder, she paused his choppy movements. Aurora traced along the lines of his den marking. Slowly she outlined the thick claws of the bear that fed into the golden-hued symbol that denoted the den of Wylde. In the wake of her caress, it was like flares of lightning erupted over his skin.

  One more tug and her bag slipped free. Blood pounded against his temples and under her delicate touch, his cock grew thicker.

  Aurora reached around him and whispered, “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He pushed up and lumbered over to the entrance that led deeper into the den. No use in hiding what his body wanted. Leaning against the wall, he rested his forehead on his arm and inhaled once. Then again.

  “I’m sorry, Adam.”

  He craned his neck around.

  “For everything.” Aurora stood and wobbled slightly. He reached out a hand, but she held hers up. “I could have come back as soon as I realized my father had no intentions of returning to Claw Ridge, but by then, I don’t know.” Tears filled her eyes and she clutched her bag as if it were her lifeline. It took all he had not to reach out and pull her to him. To tell her he didn’t need an explanation. That having her here now was all that mattered.

  He never made a habit of lying.

  “When that rogue werebear killed Mother, my father sold off all the assets locally. Or so he told me. I was too naïve. The man didn’t make his empire appeasing teenage daughters or by selling off the asset that made him his fortune. By the time I realized that, it was too late.” Aurora shivered slightly but he di
dn’t interrupt her. Not yet. “For years I believed we had no ties here, and I let myself believe you would want nothing to do with me even if I did return. Not after what my father did to you and your family.”

  He’d damn near ruined them. Using the power of his wealth, the patron of the Starr family buried their family business without a second thought. It took years to rebuild and all because he thought shifters were the plague. Bad blood and they had no right to live next to humans much less be a mate to his daughter.

  “You tore my heart out when you left, Aurora. There’s no coming back from something like that.” He lied and it tasted like sand in his mouth, because if asked, there wasn’t a thing in this world he wouldn’t do for her. “You don’t belong in my gritty world. Princesses belong in castles. Not here, especially with a grizzly.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and chuckled. “Talk about beauty and the beast.” He didn’t care what his instinct demanded from him. He couldn’t trap her here. She belonged in the lap of luxury. Not wallowing in a den with a werebear. Iron wrapped around his heart, and the walls closed in. “I’m nothing more than an animal. Your father was right—stay away from me.” He turned from her.

  “Adam Tyler Wylde.”

  That brought him up short. In his experience, nothing good ever came from a woman using all three names to get his attention. As he fought to draw in oxygen he could only stand there, his back to her.

  “Feeling sorry for yourself? That’s not like you.”

  “What do you want from me, Aurora?” The gnawing hunger in him grew. If she touched him everything he was trying to do would be for nothing.

  Her small, delicate hand rested on his upper arm. Every muscle from his toes to his neck flexed. What the hell was she doing?

  “Give me something more, something to let me know you forgive me.”

  “Like you said, you had no choice.”

  “What if I did? What if I chose to leave?”

  “Then you were a fool for coming back.” He broke away. Temperatures were dropping and like hell he could use his heat to keep her warm. That would be the end of them both.

  “You have three seconds to tell me what you’re afraid of.” That brought him around and she stepped back and raised her hand between them as if she wanted to hold him back from getting any closer, yet she was the one closing the distance by getting up in his face.

  “You’re a fiery mess of contradictions, woman.” The way she whipped his name across the short distance separating them made his cock pulse. “Or what, you’ll chase me off my mountain? The way I see it, I could have three hours, three days or three weeks. This avalanche could be a foot thick or twenty and whatever you have in that bag won’t sustain us beyond a few hours. At best.” On the off chance he added, “Unless you have a few Houdini tricks tucked into that suit of yours, we’ll be here for a while.” Before backing away, he drank in his feel of her irresistible scent. Tingles pricked his skin, burned the length of his back and tightened an iron fist around his balls.

  Indifference washed away to reveal hurt, and he caught a glimpse of fear.

  Damn. Her vulnerable stance and soft green eyes brought a ferocious need to protect his mate. “Look, Aurora...” Forcing back a shudder from the feel of her soft skin, he gathered her hands and continued in a lower voice. “I’m sorry,” he drew out, loving the smallest of contacts. “I didn’t mean to scare you and I sure the hell don’t want you to think—”

  “Forget it. All of it.” But her gaze and the way she angled her lips up to his told a whole other story. Despite what she would like him to believe, he heard the note of defeat hidden in her tone. “You must be cold and if you freeze to death, I am NOT lugging your dead ass down this mountain.”

  There was his spunky girl. “We both know you’d leave me up here to learn my lesson.” Relief tipped the scales of his inner turmoil enough to allow a deep breath past the lump in his throat. When she smiled like that, everything seemed to fall into place and honestly, that scared him a bit.

  “And you’ll have fully earned it for trying to argue with me in your birthday suit.” Flustered looked good on her. All red, horny and so confused as to the rush of old feelings. She didn’t have to verbalize everything he clearly read in her expressions.

  Thankful for the change in conversation, he followed her deeper into the den. “Where are your clothes?” The trickle of fear in her eyes evaporated just as quickly as he’d witnessed its appearance. He looked pointedly at the ice wall. In the shuffle of getting to Aurora in time, his clothes hadn’t made it in the tumble. Several hundred pounds of snow probably covered them somewhere between here and the foot of the mountain. “I wish I knew,” he mumbled to her retreating back, scratching at the scruffy beard marring his jaw line.

  “Tell me about it.” Aurora threw a glance at him that could cut the solid ice she wanted to keep erect between them.

  “I’m the one who came up here to save someone and here I’m going to be the one freezing,” he teased, clenching his fists at his sides to keep from reaching out for her and hauling her into his embrace.

  “Should teach you from going all furry and getting into the middle of things.” Aurora turned and hurried down the narrow passage that led into the small cutout of a den as if she could sense the danger he posed to her. Not that he would hurt her, but his bear growled with the need to have her pinned beneath him and screaming his name. They could both use the distraction.

  “And no one likes a liar. You’re no colder than a polar bear in ice water.”

  He shrugged. That happened to be mostly true. But that didn’t help drive home his point.

  Heat crawled up his neck as his bear pushed to be freed. With a tight hold over his beast, he clamped down on the instinct to shift. To take and claim.

  MINE.

  “Aurora,” he whispered, closing his eyes. A deep, grumbling roar ruptured inside his brain. His grizzly wasn’t taking no for an answer. Too damn bad.

  He ground his back molars so damn hard his fucking jaw popped from the strain and traveled down his shoulders until every muscle in his body flexed. Warning flashed across his mind. “Be careful, Aurora. Tease the bear and you won’t be safe from me for long.” He growled out every last word to make sure she understood his meaning.

  She did. The fire in her eyes burned bright and her breath quickened in response.

  Good. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  He fisted his hands and closed his eyes. Her scent filled his lungs and caused a rush of pinprick-like sensations to flush over his skin.

  If he shifted in this small space...

  A whoosh of energy battered his last ditch effort to stay human.

  “Ah hell!” Muscles stretched and he fell to his knees. Braced on all fours, his teeth elongated and skin morphed to a full pelt of thick brown fur.

  Surprise permeated the air instantly as a sudden gasp hit his ears. “Adam. What the hell!”

  He stilled and dropped close to the den floor. With his gaze locked on hers, he inched forward and forced the energy coursing through his body to slow so she wouldn’t pick up on the panic eating at him too. Shifting hadn’t been in the cards, but resisting her allure proved impossible. As slowly as possible, he tucked his head under her hands. Damn it, he wished they shared the mating bond where he could talk to her in bear form. Let her know he meant no harm. She must be scared.

  Maybe if he could get her to relax and see being a werebear wasn’t much different from being human, she would accept him.

  “Easy Adam, it’s only me.” With her hands raised Aurora eased away from him and pressed her back against the wall. Hell no, he wasn’t having that. As gently as possible, he caught her hand in his mouth. Before he could ease her fear any further she froze, wide-eyed like a bunny caught in a snare.

  What the fuck, could he not do anything right?

  Smooth move, Adam. Too late to back down now. He released her, dropped his head and pressed his ma
ssive head into her thigh until the smooth material of her snowsuit filled his vision. Small, delicate fingers faintly brushed against the back of his head.

  It was a start.

  Seconds later she spoke to him. “The fur on your belly is softer.” He caught her leg with his nose, when she stopped running her fingers through his fur and earned a small laugh in return.

  “You gave me a scare, you big brute.” All the heat in her words dripped away to reveal a hint of humor. “Next time give a girl warning.”

  His bear bristled at her words all the same. As his mate, she should never fear him. Hunkered close to the floor, the energy of the shift pulled him through until he stood before her all man. With his arms stretched out, he wrapped her in a hug and buried his nose in her hair. For a brief moment, he returned to the last time they’d stood in this spot. He missed the days he could spend tucked away from the world with only themselves to worry about.

  “Adam, there’s just too much to say. Too many layers to add yet another one that’s even more complicated than the last.”

  Yet she didn’t pull away. Instead, she played with the long hair that brushed his neck.

  “Layers were intended to be peeled back, sweetheart. I don’t have the energy to deny the need I have for you, Aurora. I can see it in your eyes too.”

  In a couple of steps he crossed the den and fisted the sides of a folded tarp. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught her admiring the view as he kneeled by the crates. With his acute hearing, he picked up the increase in her heartbeat and a tiny, sexy gasp.

  Spreading out the tarp, he made quick work of building a makeshift bed for the blankets and few rugs the locals left behind. “It’s not goose down, but it will keep you warm.

  “No, it’s better. I have a grizzly.”

  Standing at the edge, he slipped the flashlight from her hands and placed it where the beam hit the ceiling to create a waterspout of light to pour over them. He fisted her hair and pulled her head back gently until he held her mesmerizing gaze. “There’s a wild need in me to taste you on my tongue, touch you.” He bent to run the tip of his tongue over the shell of her ear as he slid the zipper to her suit down the length of her body. He came to a stop at the juncture of her thighs. “Take you beneath me and...”