“What of Liam?” I had to know.
“He is none of your concern.”
As we left, my shoulders slumped and I trudged the dirt. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I murmured as we made our way to Adam’s cabin.
“I swore an oath.”
“So you lied to me?”
He turned to me and looked me deep in the eyes. “Would you have come if I told you Liam was banished?”
Wide eyed I placed a hand over my quivering lips. “Banished where?”
“Just forget him Jewels. Aren’t I good enough for you?” His eyes lit aflame, slowly scanning me up and down.
“I don’t know,” I refused to look at him.
The leaves rustled madly in the wind as Adam struggled to remain composed. “What do you want from me? I have everything that he had and more. What do you see in him?” His jealousy was apparent as he advanced towards me.
I backed up into a nearby tree, the bark hitting my back roughly. “You’re scaring me,” I stared shamefacedly at the dirt floor and its scattered brown leaves.
He was close…too close. His breath lit my skin on fire despite how much I wished he’d back away.
A rustling in the trees a few yards back snapped Adam to attention. His head turned in sync with mine. He growled, rage consuming his expression. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
He grabbed me roughly and shoved me behind him, sniffing the air, the rumble in his chest growing louder.
“Let her go,” demanded the large male, sifting through the trees and bushes.
Adam grabbed my hair as I cried in pain and threw me in front of him. I hit the ground hard, wincing from the pain as my bruised ankle collided with a nearby jutting stick. “You can have her,” he roared, “If you turn her right here, right now.”
Liam scowled deeply, his bulky frame covered in dirt and sweat. “You know I won’t.”
“Exactly, which reveals the kind of man you are. You’re weak!” Adam spat, leaning down over me and taking another fistful of my hair. “Do it!”
I sought Liam’s eyes for some kind of relief.
Adam jerked my head to expose my neck, forcing my gaze to settle on the heavens. “Fine, I’ll do it then.”
“That’s not what she wants,” Liam’s voice transformed into a great roar as I heard the familiar sound of bones snapping.
Almost immediately Adam jumped away from me and ran towards Liam, his body contorting magnificently into the great beast within.
I coughed into the dirt and rubbed my sore scalp.
Both men stood before each other astride all fours. Adam was the first to attack, his giant muzzle digging into Liam’s neck as he launched himself forward.
Liam’s retaliation drew blood, his razor sharp forepaw slashing into the side of Adam’s face.
All that happened from then on was a frenzy of snarls, blood, and fur. I could barely make out their movements at the impossible speeds of their attacks. All I knew was I needed to get out of there. This was much larger than life for me and I felt too exposed and fragile to risk getting caught between them.
I bolted for the door of the cabin and slammed it shut behind me. Running upstairs I passed the kitchen and living room. Discovering the large master bedroom I locked myself in and leaned against the door.
Minutes later a great ear piercing shriek echoed outside the cabin walls. I cupped my ears, my heart almost catching in my throat.
The glass from the nearby window shattered and Liam thudded to the floor, bruised, cut, and very much out of breathe. “Get up, let’s go,” he ordered saving time and hauling me to my feet.
“Where? What about Adam?!”
He ran aggressively out the window and landed gracefully on the forest floor. “He’s only down temporarily but we need to get out of here right now.”
“But what about my family?!” I couldn’t leave my commitment or they’d get killed.
“Leave that to me. I just started a war over you,” he began to run with me in his arms through the lines of trees. “I don’t want you here when things get hot. I’ll explain things later.”
He carried me for about an hour through endless lines of trees, refusing to stop and transform. The speeds he was able to achieve in human form surpassed anything I had ever seen. The wind whipped at our faces as the sun began to rise out of the sky.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The cavern stretched as far as the eye could see. Grand marble walkways branched off into bridges that bore their entryways into the mountainside.
I gazed in wonder at the beauty of it all. Even with the dim lighting, the magnificence of the place was astounding.
I turned to Liam who held my hand. “Where are we?”
“The City of the Ancients,” he replied as we followed a narrow catwalk across the abyssal floor.
The floor stretched down endlessly into nothing. Only the thin bridges housed our footing against a treacherous fall.
“How come I’ve never heard of this place?”
He sighed. “Certain powerful families in your race of people have managed to keep many things from you.”
“Like your kind for instance,” I mulled aloud.
He tugged me along faster. “You got it.”
“I’m guessing my family included…”
We reached the other side with its softened torch light. “Yes,” he said. “Your family included.”
We reached a long winding stairwell that descended further into the mountain. The next doorway was guarded. Liam went to whisper something to them before casting strange looks at me.
“Her eyes,” one with a large burly beard gruffly spoke. “They’re forbidden.”
My heart leapt in my throat. What did that mean?
He turned to me. “Damn it, I knew that would happen.”
“What’s going on? Why are they staring at me?”
“Because humans aren’t welcome here,” he spat. “Which means I may not have a choice Jewels…”
He left me clueless as he said a few things to the guards. At first they must’ve refused his request, but moments later we were admitted through.
“You are to remain silent,” he snapped, just as I was about to question him. “Your fate is out of my hands now.”
He led me down many winding hallways until we stood before a great pair of double doors.
“I have to leave you in here for a few hours until I can talk to the Elders.” He opened the door and revealed a large bed chamber. “You’ll be comfortable.”
“Why do I have to wait here?”
“I can’t explain everything to you. My pack was rebelling against the order and I saw that as a weak link to get you out of there. However, I may not be able to save your humanity,” his eyes lowered. “But if all goes well, the deal I have struck in order to betray them will allow us to be together.”
I crossed my arms around my white blouse. The air was cold and dark. “What about my family?”
He touched my cheek gingerly with the back of his hand. “Your family is safe. I’ve made sure of that. Don’t worry. Everything will be alright. You just have to trust me. There are others of my kind out there, and they are much more powerful than you can imagine. Just wait for me. I will come to you,” he promised.
His closeness ate me up alive inside. And as I cast him a look of assurance, he reached down and kissed me softly. My head swam. I inhaled the sweetness of his breath with the tenderness of his soft lips.
He lingered there a moment before pulling away. “I’ll be back,” he prodded me inside the door, locking it behind me.
Logan came by an hour later to see how I was doing. He looked beat up and bruised but he wore a smile despite everything.
I crashed onto the large king sized bed with its black comforter. The fireplace in the corner of the room blazed brightly, but the confines of my quarters felt dim. There were no windows to look out from. The solitude of the place drilled deep into me until I cried myself to sleep. There was no denying the
obvious. I was a prisoner in a world where I held no ground.
I awoke hours later not knowing whether it was day or night out. Something brushed my shoulder. I started, turning around to see what it was.
Liam sat on a chair facing the fireplace, his head in his hands.
“How long have you been there?”
He leaned forward, stretching his back and resting his elbows on his knees. “Not long. I figured I would wait to wake you.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” I hopped off the bed and shuffled over to where he sat. I placed a hand on his thick black hair.
“They denied my appeal. I have to do it myself before the night is up otherwise they will choose someone for you.”
I walked around and sat facing him on the floor. “So when you say turn, what exactly does that entail?” I understood the concept perhaps from movies, but that was about it.
“After we mate, I have to bite you. It won’t hurt that much until your body begins to fight the poison. Your cells will molecularly shift and mold into something totally different. When that is over, you will be like me.”
It didn’t sound horrible to me. “What’s so bad about it?”
“You will crave flesh, human flesh. You will kill and regret it every day of your life until your thousand years is up.”
I went to talk but he held up a hand. “Shut up or I’ll change my mind.”
Then my back was on the ground. I could barely react to what was going on. All I knew was the weight of his body against mine spelled the end. In the big scheme of things, I was his prey, weak and fragile to the bending of his will.
Somewhere down the line I must’ve screamed. It was a shriek of terror, but more like one of pure ecstasy.
He ripped off my shirt as if it were made of paper, tossing it to the opposite of the end of the room before conquering my jeans next.
I went to help him unbutton my jeans, but he ruthlessly grasped my wrist and shoved it away, grabbing the denim and ripping it as he did my shirt. “Just submit,” he growled, dominating the length of my body as he pushed me hard into the floor.
My entire body tingled. He flipped me around as the sound of clinking from his belt buckle reached my ears.
“I’ll be gentle,” he whispered. “But there will be pain. I’m not going to hide that. It will all be over soon.”
Thankfully there was carpet beneath me as I lay prostrate. I felt his hardness against my back as he hovered over me, his hands running softly down my sides and into the small of my back.
He leaned down to kiss the back of my neck, his tongue making circlets on my skin. I shuddered when he clamped down, pulling my hair roughly. But I was completely powerless. My body was forced into submission to his every desire, left only to cry painful purrs of satisfaction.
He dug his knees between my legs, forcing them open while angling my pelvis to give him easier access.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured in my ear, his fingers trailing between my thighs to melt in the folds of my sex.
I gasped at his touch, insatiable hunger ripping any standing resolve I had left to shreds.
My fingers curled into the plush red carpet.
Gently he lifted me to my knees and pulled me upright, my back leaning against him for support. He reached his hand around to my belly and trailed upwards, cupping my breast roughly.
“Lean against the chair,” he suggested between heavy breaths, using one large strong arm to slide it in front of me. “You’ll need something to support you.”
I leaned my elbows against it, twining my fingers into the holes of the wooden back.
I was scared. His erection was close, grazing softly between my thighs as he readied himself to take me. And if I wanted to back out now, it was too late. He had let his control go. There was no stopping it.
I knew what I wanted. I wanted him so bad my knees almost collapsed beneath me from the greatness of desire that spoke between my well-endowed thighs.
“Are you ready?” He whispered, his fingers teasing my hard nipples.
“I think so,” Was what I managed to say before he rubbed the throbbing head of his erection higher. It was almost there, teasing, burning until I craved it so bad I could barely stand it. “Yes,” I moaned as he rubbed himself gently against my clit. The sensations wracked me. I curled my toes, my muscles tensing, waiting until he pressed firmly again my entrance.
His hands shifted to firmly grasp my hips. This was the moment. I could feel his own eagerness surging like a restless beast.
I cried as he tore through my hymen, ripping it to shreds. A soft trickle of warmth ran down my leg as the smell of blood reached my nose. It hurt. I wanted to scream for him to stop but I couldn’t find my voice. All I could feel was his slow eager thrusts as he inched slowly inside, spreading my walls and filling me.
My fingers gripped hard into the chair; his hands willed my pelvis further against him.
After a few moments, the pain subsided. He lifted me up effortlessly and laid me down on the ground. My back hit the rug softly and then he was on top of me.
“It’s over,” he smiled, spreading my legs open once more. “Let me show you the ways of love.”
He penetrated me again, more easily this time. The length of him thrust deeper inside until I felt all of him deep in my belly. My head swam from the sensation; the friction of our movements drew a new stage of climax. It began to build and layer.
“Take me,” I moaned, digging my fingers into his muscular back.
My arousal spurred him onwards. His eyes were glazed; sweat beading our brows in unison, and his arms bulging from the support of his weight at either side of my head.
He took us both to that sacred peak where pleasure builds and erupts into a volcano of ecstasy. My eyes watered, goose bumps ravished my body and I knew that within seconds amidst his grunts, something amazing would happen.
In that moment I looked up at him. His face construed and concentrated, tenaciously grinding against me. The beast was unleashed, and as my thoughts drifted to that place where nothing mattered, I felt the final rock of spasms hit me, and my body jolt from the pure force of orgasmic revelation.
I felt him empty inside me, throbbing somewhere in the background of my own contractions. I heard him growl, not that of a man, but of the animal inside. And in that moment I feared him, his hands entangled viciously in my hair, and his teeth finding their mark just above my collar bone.
A nick was all it took. My neck began to pulse almost immediately. I tried to reach a hand up as the burning sensation started to spread, but he held me down, a look of apology glimmered on his face.
There was no way he could’ve prepared me for what came next. Chills shook my muscles until they contracted and contorted on their own. I wanted to scream, but for some reason I felt trapped somewhere inside myself, looking out from a crystal clear glass at the world around me. I had no control.
As the burning spread, I started to pray that it would be over soon.
Liam was murmuring something to me, but it didn’t matter because the sounds from around me were blotted out.
Amidst the wretched pain that afflicted me, a shadow revealing itself as Logan stole Liam’s attention. They bantered something back and forth until both in turn stared at me.
Liam pointed somewhere; Logan disappeared, and then returned with a pillow to prop under my head. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, and at the moment it didn’t matter. The torture consumed my mind until it was my existence. That was all.
I found myself gazing at nothing but things. A cuckoo clock propped itself in the darkened corner of the room. There was just enough light for me to read the small hand as it moved slowly from number to number.
I lay there with nothing to reflect on but things of the past. I lost command of my body. I couldn’t move or speak, making it really hard to determine what was happening to me. All I knew was the excruciating pain as my mind grew numb of all other things.
In the end I gave in
and let Mother Nature take its course. I screamed inside with no shame, counting down the minutes and seconds as they passed swiftly by. Liam stayed by my side as my body struggled against him to break free from his clutches. There were no shackles this time. I didn’t know why I fought him, nor did I puzzle the reason blood trickled down his face as Logan held me down. Either way it honestly didn’t matter.
I blacked out just as the agony reached heights beyond reasoning. I didn’t remember anything.
When I awoke from the black sleep, I stared into the forest for a good few seconds. My body was naked and wet. I stared in horror as I stood in the light of the moon, beholding what I had done.
I was bathed in a river of crimson, Liam standing next to me and asking if I was okay.
“You won’t remember the first time,” he kept saying. “But you’ll be conscious to everything from now on. Jewels…can you hear me?”
Adrenaline coursed through my veins like a drug, teasing my senses with promises of power. As I breathed I felt different. A low growl resonated in my chest. Staring down at my body, I felt different.
In horror I held up my hands. “What have I done?” Even in mid-question, I knew I wasn’t prepared for the answer. But the irresistible scent washed over me making my mouth water.
I walked up to him, fully realizing how much I had at this very moment. Placing a finger on his lips, I flashed a wicked smile. “I’m sure in time I’ll forgive myself for what I’ve done;” The thrill of his scent spurred me onward. I felt strong and horny as hell, his perfect body shimmering in the moonlight as his mouth curled up in a half smile. “But first there is something I need to do.”
I shoved him to the ground, my strength unwavering to match his own. “This is what you wanted right?”
He raised his brows and crashed his lips into mine.
THE END
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Simply Bears: A Ten Book Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance Collection Page 51
