Bear-ly Spring

by M. L. Briers

  Maybe that’s it … maybe crazy is catching?

  “Andy!” Elijah growled, snatching back her attention back from where she was just staring at his body, and her eyes snapped upwards to his face as her cheeks coloured a deep red.

  “Yeah!” She snapped back, caught in a rush of guilt and with the urge to deflect from what she’d been thinking, feeling, doing – staring at him like that in a haze of horny thoughts and realisations.

  “Bed.” He lifted his hand and pointed to the damn thing as if she needed him to draw her a picture.

  “I’m not deaf…” she tossed back.

  “You’re not moving towards it either,” he offered back.

  “Well, excuse me if I’m not rushing to comply. I’m not five and you’re not my parent.” She tipped her head to one side and gave him a long hard look that was as good as giving him the middle finger.

  Elijah grumbled. He couldn’t win with her.

  He had no idea how to treat a human female and it showed in the way that one moment; she seemed engaged with him – connected – and the next she was hissing like a rattlesnake once more.

  “Not your parent…” he bit out as he tossed the hand towel and started to stalk towards her.

  Andy took one moment to stare blankly back at him. The sight of him stalking towards her like that – those muscles on display beneath his skin as he moved – getting ever closer, and then her hands went to her hips and she found that she needed to tip her head back to look up into those darkening eyes the closer that he got…

  She was standing her ground. It was that simple.

  The man could get all damn moody and broody all he liked, but she was putting her foot down in the here and now…

  He reached out and wrapped a strong arm around her waist, and in one fluid motion – he’d yanked her body right up against the length of his and brought his lips down on hers…

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  ~

  One large hand spanned her back and the other locked around the back of her head and kept her body right against his, kept her lips where he wanted them to be so that he could devour her like a hungry beast.

  Andy’s hands were wedged against his biceps and she curled her fingers against the muscles. Never in a million years would she be able to span the whole of his arm, but she couldn’t resist squeezing, testing those hard as rock muscles, and getting a jolt right inside of her womb at the feel of them…

  That wasn’t the only thing that she could feel that made her womb dance, made her body throb. The hard press of his cock against her stomach seemed to centre one part of her mind right on it like a heat seeking missile.

  Even in the midst of the barrage of sensations that were going on inside of her, as he kissed like a demon and felt like the Devil himself tempting her body with his, she was locked onto that hard length.

  There was a deep throaty growl that made her ears sensitive to the sound. She wanted to hear it. She revelled in it, because it sounded so damn hungry and mirrored exactly what she was feeling.

  Her mind snapped to the feel of his hand moving down her back. The heat that came off that touch meant that she might as well have been naked – wanted to be naked – skin on skin with him, and the moment that he palmed her backside; she practically climbed up his body as he gave her a helping hand.

  Andy wrapped her legs around his hips and felt that hard length press against her sex like it wanted inside her clothes, inside of her, and that feeling went from being an itch that she couldn’t scratch to clawing inside of her wanting out…

  She needed something more. She needed him.

  She wanted the hard press of his cock inside her; opening her up as he took her down his length…

  Need turned into a little ball of frustration that quickly expanded when he growled long and hard and rocked his hips against hers, rubbed his length against the sensitive nub of her clit as it begged for attention.

  “More…” she gasped in a breath as she broke away from his lips. “I need more of you…” she demanded as was more than mindful of the room spinning around her as he turned and stalked with her wrapped around him into the bedroom…

  “How much more, Andy?” His voice was so damn deep that it practically vibrated to her bones.

  Elijah’s eyes were jet black and devouring her by sight alone. His chest was rising and falling as he sucked in one breath after another.

  Mine…

  His beast demanded that he claim her now.

  She was ripe and ready. He could scent her arousal in the air, and Elijah wanted nothing more than to have her, to take her down his cock, bury his length so deep inside of her that he lost himself … but found her…

  “I’m not … I don’t…” she gave a small shake of her head as confusion swept through her.

  Something in the back of her mind was ringing alarm bells fast and furiously. This would be it … she knew that this would be it for her.

  For them.

  They’d be mated.

  She’d be his and he’d be hers, and there would be no turning back.

  Do I want that? She demanded of herself.

  She needed to make up her mind – choose where she went from there.

  My life wrapped around Elijah – around his life…

  I don’t know him.

  I know nothing about him except he makes me crazy with need…

  But earlier … earlier when he told me about his brother … I felt him then. In my heart. In my soul…

  That’s crazy…!

  I’m crazy.

  What am I doing?

  What have I started?

  Elijah could feel her emotions. So many of them were coming in waves from her body, battering his senses that he couldn’t keep up…

  Her body squirmed against his and she gave the damndest sound deep within the back of her throat that he’d ever heard.

  She needed him.

  Mating, bonding – none of that mattered right then because she had a need and he knew how to fix it…

  He put one knee against the mattress and took her down to the bed beneath him. His body caged her in…

  “Let me take care of you now…” he growled, before he took her lips once more, bringing her ravenous hunger for him back to the surface, and causing her hips to move involuntarily against his…

  He knew what she needed him to do, and he was more than damned happy to do it.

  His beast – well, it wouldn’t be impressed with him if he didn’t claim her, and yet, it just seemed so much more important for him to be there for her now…

  His hands started to strip her of her clothes and she willingly helped him. Her sweet scent was everywhere around him – thick in the air, and it called him down her body…

  He wasn’t going to be unselfish about tasting her skin.

  He wasn’t going to deny his need to nip, to sooth her with his tongue…

  He feasted on her breast. First one and then the other, as his fingers sought her sex.

  She made that sound again, and again, and it felt like a damn woodpecker pecking at his brain…

  He wanted to hear the sound she made when he gave her what she needed – when her body finally found that release.

  Mine… his beast demanded that they claim her, but Elijah had that bear by the throat and was holding him at bay.

  The dipped his head and ran his tongue up her inner thigh, and she squirmed and shivered against the feel of it.

  With the first swipe of his tongue against her sex; she made a different sound – satisfaction mixed with so much need that his cock twitched like it had a mind of its own.

  Elijah cursed to himself, over and over again, as he growled hard and devoured her even harder…

  His hands held her hips in place, raising her backside just slightly from the bed – enough that he could bury his tongue deep inside of her channel and make her hands fist the covers beside her – make her moan hard and beg for more…

  Damn, but he liked
the sound of that…

  Mine…

  He’d taste her on his tongue and give her what she needed now. But he promised himself that he was never going to let her go until he’d wooed her for his mate.

  He’d follow her to hell and back until she was his.

  All the way his.

  Forever his mate.

  He wanted her more than life.

  He needed her more than air.

  She was buried deeply within his heart, and burned within his soul.

  He loved her with a passion that no man could ever hope to match.

  Mine… He growled along with his beast.

  He brought her body up, higher and higher, until she was tittering on the edge of the abyss. Then he took her over the edge and she cried out with such intensity that he roared with victory within his mind…

  Mine…

  Always mine…

  Forever and a day…

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  ~

  Andy came back to him on a long satisfied sound that warmed him. He had pushed back onto his knees and was trying to stave off the urge to go further, and to know her in every way possible.

  “Elijah…?” Andy’s hooded eyes took him in.

  He was breathing hard and his hands were fisted at his sides. He looked pained – tortured.

  She didn’t like that look.

  “I just need to…” he gave a small shake of his head.

  “What is it?” She pushed up in the bed, bringing her naked body right in front of him – temptation personified…

  “I want you …” he growled. “Damn do I want you…” he shook his head as if he was trying to clear his mind…

  “Is there something wrong with that?” Andy was trying to get her brain to work through the hazy feeling of being loved so damn well that she was still a little muzzy.

  “You’re not ready…” Elijah growled, trying to look everywhere but at her, at her body – at temptation…

  Her hands reached for the waistband of his sweatpants, and his hands caught around her wrists. His long fingers easily circled the bones and he remembered to be gentle. Remembered that he could easily break her…

  “If we did that – you’d be mine…” he growled out.

  You’re already mine … he told himself.

  “If we … I’d claim you … I couldn’t help myself…” he turned his eyes up to hers and found them smiling back at him. “I’m not joking, Andy…”

  How the hell can I make her understand?

  Andy pulled at his hands and he released her wrists so as not to harm her. Not to scare her.

  “Trust me…” she whispered and his ears listened hard for her. “I want to see … all of you…”

  Elijah pushed up. His thumbs caught in the waistband of his pants and he pushed them down his hips.

  His cock, hard to the point of aching so damn badly, sprung free and stood proud, and her eyes feasted on it. She reached out and wrapped the small fist around his girth, but her fingers didn’t meet…

  He bit down on the long, hard growl that rumbled inside of him … torture. She was going to torture him in the worst possible way…

  “Let me hear you growl…” she said, a heartbeat before she bent her head forward and ran her tongue up the length of his cock, from his sack to the tip, and he growled – he couldn’t help but growl.

  It was hard, deep and throaty, and filled with need, desire, and lust for more.

  A small dot of his seed appeared and she licked it away, savoured the salty taste on her tongue, and then she made a throaty sound all of her own as she went back for more.

  Covering the bulbous head of his cock with her lips she suckled him, running her tongue over and around the satin flesh until he growled so damn hard that the windows shook in their frames, rattling the shutters.

  She looked up at him and found those jet black, hungry eyes staring right back at her. His face was a mask of ecstasy, and when she pushed down his length – his mouth opened and the growl got lodged deep in the back of his throat…

  The scent of sex in the air – hers – his, was all around him, baying him on, and his nostril flared and he took it in … it was so damn good, mixing together like that, as it should be…

  I need more…

  I need her…

  I have to have her…

  No … this was supposed to be for her, now she’s driving me crazy bear … driving me to do something we’d both regret.

  I don’t want her to regret us…

  I’d die.

  With a willpower that he didn’t know he had inside of him, he wrenched back his hips and left her wanting more. He could see the hungry look in her eyes that mirrored his own…

  “You’re not a man who believes in give and take?” She teased him as she pushed up to her knees on the bed, kneeling naked right there in front of him, right within his reach, and he fisted his hands save reach for her…

  “Not when I want you this damn much that I’m barely holding on…” Elijah gave it to her straight and watched her blink, just once, but it seemed to take forever…

  “But it’s spring…” she gave a small little shrug off her shoulders as she moved forwards towards him on her knees…

  No closer … he growled a warning to himself to keep his damn hands down by his sides.

  Too close already…

  She bent at the waist and licked up his cock once more, but she didn’t stop there, her tongue ran up his chest, and she twisted her head on her neck and nipped his bottom lip…

  His beast roared within him…

  Mine … He growled at the same time as his bear…

  “Be careful, Andy …” he was only just holding on.

  She straightened up on a wicked grin.

  “I forgot…” she said, turning around on her knees on the bed and showing him her back.

  There was a long, heady rumble of a growl as he fisted and un-fisted his large hands…

  “You need my back...” She wiggled her backside like a wanton woman – wondering just how far she had to go to entice him to mate with her…

  “Andy…” He bit out on a deep growl…

  “Need me to draw you a picture of what mates do in the spring, Elijah…?”

  “If I take you…”

  “You’ll mark me, claim me … what are you waiting for? You’re my mate…” She gave a quick shriek of surprise when he spun her right back around on the bed.

  “You sure you want to be my mate?” He growled.

  “You want it in blood? Oh wait…” she teased back, but he wasn’t in a teasing mood.

  His large hands wrapped around her legs; just above her knees, and he yanked them forwards, taking her crashing backwards down to the bed – releasing his hold on her and coming down on his hands over the top of her body, caging her in beneath him…

  “Still wanna mate?” He growled, but there was a spark of amusement in those hungry eyes…

  “In for a penny…” She teased back to the sound of a heady growl…

  He was done asking.

  He was definitely done teasing…

  His lips came down on hers like a claim all of their own. His knees nudged her legs wide apart, and he brought his cock down to the wet heat of her channel, nudging inside, pushing deeper as she gasped against his lips…

  Deeper, opening the silken walls around his cock, sheathing it tightly as her inner muscles stretched to accommodate his girth…

  She bit out a curse against his lips and he nipped hers.

  His hands found her wrists and he pushed her hands back against the bed. When she didn’t protest; he pushed them up over her head, trapping her, caging her in every way possible as he took her down to the hilt.

  Elijah cursed at the feel of her body squeezing his cock. She was so damn tight that he thought he might just go insane…

  He started a slow rhythm that took her from the very tip of his cock right down to the hilt, over and over, and over again, getting
her body used to his, building a friction between them, and trying to hold onto his wild side until she was ready for it.

  His lips roamed down her neck and across her shoulder, and the moment that she rolled her head away, opening up her neck to his will, his bear roared for release – pushing forward right under the skin…

  Elijah felt the ache in his gums as his fangs started to elongate. He released her wrists, pulled back onto his knees, and reached down for her…

  “Tell me again that you want my mark…” he demanded.

  His voice was full of his bear – he was close to becoming wild – almost feral with the need for her.

  “I want you to mark me…”

  Andy found herself facing away from him a heartbeat later. She was still on her knees as his hands clamped down on her hips and he yanked her backside towards him…

  His cock pushed into her once more, deep, deeper, so damn deep that she didn’t think she could take anymore of him. Then she felt the skin on skin of his pelvis, his hips against the curves of her backside as he reached the hilt…

  She cursed again when he fisted her hair with one hand and wrapped one strong arm around her body like a vice. He dragged her head to one side and brought his lips down on her neck as his cock started to build that friction back up again. Faster this time, like his body was so damn hungry for hers…

  His tongue ran against her neck, over her shoulder, and down to where he would place his claiming mark…

  Elijah growled long and hard from just that simple act of preparing her for his fangs.

  She was close – he could feel her inner muscles locking around his cock, making him work harder.

  Mine…

  That knot was tightening within her. The sweet friction baying her body upwards towards release.

  She cursed at the feel of it. Cursed at the feel of hips battering against her backside, the feel of his hand fisting her hair, and his tongue on her skin…

  He heard her gasp and hold her breath in anticipation as she tittered on the edge of oblivion, and he thrust her over – the explosion of her orgasm bursting out inside of her like a wild thing all of its own – taking her away from the pain as his razor sharp fangs clawed down her flesh…