The Bear Project

by Doris O'Connor

  "Careful, babe. It's slippery. Let me help you in there."

  She flashed him a grateful smile, but when he tried to extricate himself out of her hold, she curled her little hands around his biceps and held fast.

  "Stay, please. You're all wet already, so what's the point in leaving?"

  Cole closed his eyes and shook his head, but it was useless. This close to his mate, her scent surrounded him and drove his bear wild.

  "We both know what would happen if I joined you in there, and I promised you food, baby. You stay here and enjoy your soak. I can watch you from the window, and I'll come and get you when your breakfast is ready."

  Emmi pouted, and he kissed her nose and allowed himself one deep sniff against her neck. A shudder went through her, and he had to kiss her properly. Just one kiss, he could do that. Cole fisted his hand in her hair and angled her head to give him better access. She opened to him immediately and wrapped her tongue around his, kissing him back with a passion that spoke of almost feral need. Cole wasn't sure what had changed, but he sensed her desperation and took the kiss deeper. He didn't stop her when she yanked at his jeans and popped the buttons open until she could free his throbbing dick.

  He groaned when she wrapped her little hands around it, and the little needy sounds she made in the back in her throat proved his undoing.

  Releasing her with a curse, he yanked the now sodden jeans off of him. Cole fell over in the process, and when he came back up for air, coughing and splattering, Emmi's carefree laughter rang in his ear.

  "This is funny, is it?" he asked, and she screeched when he scooped up water with his hands and splashed her with it. Naturally his feisty little mate retaliated. Water splashed everywhere, and Cole laughed until his sides hurt. What's more, whatever had been bothering Emmi seemed to have lost its hold on her, and that made his bear content.

  Emmi had the most infectious laugh, and it lit up her entire face. She screeched again when he dunked her under the water and she tried to get away, but he chased after her and soon had her crowded against the rocks at the far side. She had to hold onto him, as the water was so deep here that he could only just stand. This close to her her breasts grazed his chest, and he felt her little nipples harden against him. Acute awareness of each other replaced the earlier playfulness, and he grinned at her, letting his bear show through.

  "I do believe it's payback time for getting me all wet again, sugar." Cole massaged her ass cheeks with his hands, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and rubbed herself all over him. He stilled her movements with his hands on her hips, and then he lifted her slightly until his cock nudged her sweet pussy under the water.

  "Cole…" Her breathless and oh so needy use of his name was all he needed, and he lowered her slowly onto his aching shaft. Emmi moaned and clenched around him, letting him know how very much she was with him on this, and then he started to thrust.

  The buoyancy of the water added another dimension to their frantic coupling, and Emmi hung on for dear life as they gave themselves up to the demands of their bodies. The rhythmic pulses deep in her pussy told him how close she was, and he angled his thrusts so that every move of his cock scraped against her clit.

  Emmi lost her hold on him, and he tightened his grip on her hips as she floated on the water surface. Arms stretched out either side with her hair skimming around her, she looked utterly beautiful and lost to the demands of her body as he continued to piston in and out of the tight clasp of her pussy.

  The clear water left nothing to the imagination, and seeing his cock tunneling in and out her pink flesh, her lips stretched wide around his girth was the most erotic side ever. The possessive animal in him roared, and Emmi screamed her release, as he slammed into her core again and again.

  His balls drew tight, and his orgasm built from the base of his spine, even as Emmi's pussy spasmed around him and squeezed his release out of him.

  "Fuck, babe, I'm going to come. This is so good."

  His vision went hazy, and the blood roared in his ears when he shot his seed deep inside the clasp of her tight body. He had enough foresight to pull her up slightly so that she wouldn't drown. One arm around her back supporting her, he used his free hand to manipulate the tight bundle of swollen nerves, and he latched onto one of her amazing tits.

  The dual sensations sent Emmi over the edge once more, and Cole gave his bear free rein, as Emmi's sweet cunt milked every last drop of his cum until he was completely spent.

  Still joined intimately together, Cole took a few steps back until he could sit on the natural seat the rocks made at the edge, and he waited for them both to get their breaths back.

  Emmi snuggled into him.

  "Wow, that was … wow."

  "You're telling me, sugar."

  She giggled and snuggled closer into him, and Cole shut his eyes and simply held her. They stayed like that until his softened dick slipped out of her. Emmi moaned and wriggled, and Cole laughed.

  "As much as I would like to go again, I need food, and time to recover, baby. You stay here, and I'll call you when I've rustled us up something."

  Emmi shook her head and surprised him by the sheer strength with which she clung onto him.

  "No, I don’t want to stay here by myself. What if those wolves come back?"

  Cole sighed and cupped her chin to make her look at him.

  "They won't. They'll be all tucked up in bed nursing a shifting hangover I reckon, and ordinary wolves wouldn't come near this clearing. My bear makes sure of that. This is my territory." He paused and regarded her thoughtfully. "I told you I'll keep you safe. I mean it. I never would have suggested the pool, let alone let my guard down enough for us to have sex, if I didn't think it was safe."

  A slight blush crept into her face, and the force of Cole's feelings threatened to overwhelm him. There was nothing he wouldn't do for this woman, and his bear panted his agreement. He let her go, but instead of moving off his lap, Emmi traced the scars on his chest with one finger, and he sensed the emotions swirling through her. That she was afraid for him, made him feel all sorts of gooey inside. A novel sensation for him. Cole was more the fuck them and leave them type. He didn't do mushy feelings. Had Emmi been anyone else he'd already have had her packed off with a promise to call. A promise he very rarely kept. No emotional entanglements served him well in his line of work, but his bear had changed all the fucking rules on him, and he was grasping at straws and acting on instinct.

  The mere thought of Emmi leaving tightened a noose around his neck until he found it hard to breathe. And she would leave, of that he had no doubt.

  Cole and his bear might be bound to her by the mating bond, but it didn't work that way for humans. She had accepted his bite in the heat of the moment, but she was free to leave at any time, and there wasn't a damn thing Cole could do about that.

  "When did you get those?" she asked.

  "A long time ago, sugar, when I was still an inexperienced cub. The bastard who did that wouldn't stand a chance of sneaking up on me nowadays."

  Cole couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice, and Emmi's gentle exploration stopped and she searched his face.

  "What happened?"

  ****

  Tension radiated off Cole in almost physical waves, and Emmi didn't miss the way he clenched his fists. Clearly there was a story behind those scars. One he didn't want to tell, and that made Emmi more determined to get it out of him. She bent down and licked the puckered flesh, and Cole groaned.

  "Emmi, don't…"

  With effortless ease he extricated his large frame from under her, and every cell in her body sighed in female appreciation of his retreating ass. Water streamed down his back as the muscles rippled in the sunshine. Adonis himself could not have had a more perfect body, and Emmi didn’t even try to stop her sigh escaping.

  Like he'd done before, Cole shook himself, draped his wet jeans over the rock formation to dry, and then stalked off to the caravan without bothering to cover up.
Emmi envied him the ease he exhibited with his naked self. She had never been comfortable naked, not even in the privacy of her own home with no one else around to see. Come to think of it, she had probably spent more time naked in the twenty-four hours since she met him, than she had for the last few years at home.

  The thought made her grin, and she absentmindedly touched his mark on her shoulder. It didn't hurt anymore and seemed to be healing already. That thought should probably worry her. Instead she found herself grinning like an inane fool.

  Emmi considered herself to be a level headed person, or at least she had been until a certain bear shifter had quite literally swept her off her feet. Now, her emotions shifted like quicksand, and made her re-evaluate anything she'd ever believed in. What had possessed her to ask about his scars? She didn't want to know more about him. She didn't want to know about his past. That would make all this too much like a real relationship, and that's not what this was. It had no future after all.

  "Breakfast's up, sugar."

  Cole's deep voice wrapped itself around her, and her whole body tightened in need. She'd scrambled to her feet before she even realized what she was doing, and she shook her head at herself.

  What was this hold he had on her? Again she touched his bite, and when she looked up the heat of Cole's gaze seemed to scorch her skin. Stood at the window as he was, he might as well be touching her, for the effect it had on her body, her mind, her very soul.

  It was frightening, exhilarating, and downright impossible to ignore this connection they shared, and try as she might she couldn’t deny it. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and Emmi pushed the uncomfortable thoughts aside. Time to eat. She would figure this all out later.

  ****

  Emmi sat back and let out a contented moan. Cole grinned in answer and refilled her coffee cup.

  "I do like a woman with a decent appetite. Nothing worse than sitting opposite a stick insect who picks at her food."

  He winked at her and polished off the remaining bits of food on his plate. Emmi laced her hands together to stop herself from reaching out to him. Everything about him turned her on. Seeing him eat had turned out be an incredibly erotic experience. The enticing smells of coffee, mixed in with bacon and the sounds of sizzling sausages had greeted her when she'd stepped back inside the caravan. How he'd managed to create such an elaborate breakfast was beyond her, but the little table in the kitchen area had been laden full of fresh bread, fluffy omelet, bacon and sausages, baked beans and mushrooms and even orange juice.

  Cole had laughed at her astonished face, and had poured her a generous glass full.

  "I'm sorry, it’s not freshly squeezed, but out of a carton, but the coffee is real, and the bread was freshly made yesterday."

  "By you?" she'd asked, and he'd simply shrugged his shoulders.

  "I like to cook. It's no big deal."

  She'd stared at him, and she could have sworn there had been a slight flush staining his defined cheekbones.

  "Dig in. You don't want it to get cold. And I don't know about you, but I need the sustenance after last night and this morning."

  Just like that the cocky Cole had been back, and she'd smiled and helped herself to some of the mountain of food he'd prepared. Far too much for two people, or so she'd thought, but then again she clearly had misjudged the amount of food a man of Cole's size would need to eat, because Cole washed the last mouthful away with a long swig of his coffee.

  The movement of his Adam's apple mesmerized Emmi to such a degree that she couldn't stop staring.

  "If you keep looking at me like that, I'll have to drag you back off to bed, sugar."

  His voice had taken on that sandpapery quality again that Emmi found impossible to resist, and she dragged her gaze back up to his face to find him smiling at her.

  "I…" Emmi had to clear her throat to get her voice to work, and that sinful grin of his deepened. It made him utterly irresistible, and judging by the way he smirked he knew that, too. Blasted man!

  Emmi struggled to find something to say to defuse the situation, when every atom in her body wanted to take him up on that sinful promise in his ever darkening eyes.

  "I didn't think we'd eat all that," she finally said.

  Really? That's all you can come up with, girl?

  "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," he said and kicked his chair back on its legs. Cole had dressed after their session in the pool. Now in his regulatory jeans and button down shirt, much like the one she was wearing as a kind of mini dress now, he stretched his legs out in front of him and raised his arms above his head in a lazy stretch. The action made his shirt ride up and exposed his midriff briefly, drawing attention to his belt buckle.

  The head of a bear grinned at her, and the reminder of what he really was dampened down her body's unreasonable reaction a tad. He dropped his chair back on all fours when she brought her hand up and touched the mark on her shoulder.

  "About that, we really need to talk."

  Chapter Six

  Cole didn't miss the way her eyes clouded over when he uttered those words, and he hated the look of fear that briefly crossed her face. Emmi pulled her shoulders back and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive gesture that tore at his heart. He didn't want her afraid of him or his bear, but he had to explain how this worked. What she did with that knowledge would have the power to shatter his heart in a gazillion pieces never to be reunited again. Cole shook his head at his fanciful thoughts.

  Cole Jackson sounded like a fucking pussy, going to pieces over a bit of skirt, but he couldn't lie to himself over his feelings. He wasn't ready to say them out loud, but he couldn't fool his bear.

  "So, you're gonna tell me that I'll get rather hairy at the next full moon?" Her attempt at humor fell flat as his bear growled his annoyance, and Emmi went pale.

  "No, sugar. That's not the way it works. My bite means every shifter around will know that you're mine, and it means I can sense your emotions. You won't change however, unless…"

  "Unless what?" Emmi glared at him, and Cole shifted in his seat. "And what the fuck do you mean you can sense me? My emotions are my own, and I don't need you or any man fishing around in them. So you can wipe that infuriating grin off your face right now, and butt out of my head."

  Cole hadn't even realized that he was grinning, but she was really too adorable all fired up and worried like that.

  "I'm not a mind reader, sugar. It just means that I can sense you when you are near. I can smell your fear, your arousal." His grin deepened at her sharp intake of breath. "And it also means that you're the only woman that I want."

  Her eyes widened at that, and he reached across the table to take her hand in his. He had to touch her, his bear too volatile at the maelstrom of emotions he sensed in his mate, to keep away from her. His skin tingled where they touched, and awareness flooded his system and made his cock harden in record time. His bear chomped at the bit to claim her again, to make her see his point of view, to makes sure she wouldn’t even entertain the thought of leaving him.

  If we tie her to your bed, she'll have to stay.

  Cole shook his head at the wayward thought, but he couldn’t get the image of Emmi naked and bound to his bed out of his mind. She would look fucking hot with her generous curves all bound and displayed for his perusal. Helpless, she would have to take anything he chose to dish out, and he would let his bear indulge in her abundant cream.

  As if she'd read his thoughts, she snatched her hand away, and if looks could kill he'd be bear kebab right now.

  "This is bullshit. Look at you. I don't believe for one minute that you would never look at another woman again. A man like you no doubt has a woman or two in every town. I'm nothing special."

  Cole's bear grunted his annoyance with enough force to shake the table, but she didn't take any notice. She simply straightened her shoulders and stared him down.

  "So you can drop the act. You've had me, and I will admit I was mo
re than willing, but that doesn’t mean that I'm your mate or any of that nonsense. And besides you're not making any sense. If your bite doesn't turn me, then why are there all those creatures in the town that you had to supposedly protect me from? Admit it. This was just an act to get me into your bed. One that you've perfected over the years, no doubt. I—"

  His bear's furious growl stopped her mid-rant, and Cole made no attempt to rein his animal in. For once his bear and he were in perfect agreement. That's why being mated to a human fucking sucked. Had she been a shifter she'd have known better than to question this, and he knew she damn well felt their connection. He'd seen it in her eyes, tasted it on his tongue as her blood filled his senses, and his cock had been buried balls deep inside her soft flesh.

  He balled his hands into fists and paced the confines of his caravan. Emmi's fear mixed with the scent of her arousal, and Cole knew he had to get away. He had to shift and sink his teeth into some prey, to feel muscle tear and bone crunch, or his bear would completely take over. Emmi was human and fragile, and he would hurt her if he touched her with his beast this on the edge.

  "I need to run."

  Emmi shrank away from him at the sound of his distorted voice, and Cole tore his clothes off his body and leapt out the open door. He shifted mid-leap and hit the ground running on the pads of his paws. The bear shook his massive frame and roared his anguish at the trees and then took off.

  ****

  Lord, he was magnificent when he shifted. All that leashed aggression and masculinity contained in one bone jarring crunch into a bear so huge, the ground shook as he sprinted off. For as long as she lived, which might not be very long at all if she didn't stop her runaway mouth, she would marvel at that miracle of transformation.