by Leela Ash
Arlo leaned back on his haunches and reached down for his belt. Poppy was squirming beneath him, panting and aching for his cock, and as he snapped his belt open and pulled down his jeans, all eleven inches of it sprang free.
“Oh my god,” she whispered as he took hold of it in his hand and moved closer to her.
He was so big, so fat and throbbing, she knew that he was going to hurt her, but she didn’t care. She had to have him.
Her pussy dripped with excitement and as he teased her with his thick, red tip, she opened her legs wider and held onto his arms.
“I hope you’re ready for me,” he grunted as he wrapped his free hand up into her hair and kept tight hold of her.
As he pushed himself fully inside of her, Poppy gasped with delight. A sharp pain shot through her but it was gone in seconds as the intense pleasure warmed her insides and started to rocket through her. No man had ever made her feel so good. The sensation was so incredible it was overtaking every inch of her and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from cumming.
She dug her nails into his back and gripped his huge frame tightly with her feet as he powered into her again and again. His breathing was frantic and his moans and growls so loud they were filling the forest around them. Poppy moaned into the night and as her release tensed up inside of her, she knew that she couldn’t keep herself back from the edge, she had to let herself fall over into a sweet ecstasy.
As she unraveled beneath him, Arlo’s thighs tensed and his thrusts became harder. Seeing her convulse because of him, and knowing that he had done that to her was too much for him to bear. As he shot his hot, thick load inside of her, he groaned and felt as if part of his soul had been taken. He collapsed on top of her with his immense weight and kissed her neck as the last spurts of his release powered out of him.
“Fuck,” he panted into her ear as he kissed her cheek. “That was far too good.”
Poppy looked up at him and tried to regain her breath. She had never been screwed so expertly in her life and no one had ever made her cum like that.
“It’s like we were meant to fit together,” he panted.
Arlo kissed her again and wrapped his huge arms around her.
And even though she was far too exhausted to reply, she knew exactly what he meant.
8.
“I don’t want you to go back to your cabin tonight,” he said as they lay in his bed several hours later.
After they had recouped from their crazy fuck under the stars, Arlo had swept her up in his arms and carried her into the house, to his room and made love to her again. Poppy was curled up into the nook of his arm, and they were both completely worn out and sticky with each other’s sweat.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she smiled.
She drifted off to sleep with the sounds of his breathing getting heavier beside her. It was so gruff and low, she was more sure now than ever that he was growling.
Poppy awoke with a start in the middle of the night. She sat bolt upright and looked around the room. It took her a moment to remember where she was, but it was with relief that she realized that she was at Arlo’s and not in some stranger’s bed. She reached out for him but found her fingertips stroking the mattress instead.
“Arlo?” she whispered as she looked around, realizing that she was alone.
The moon had come out from behind the clouds and it was casting silvery light all down the decking, shining in through the huge glass doors and into the room. She was naked but she wrapped the bed sheet around herself and shuffled over to the doorway and looked down the hall. The house was completely silent and there wasn’t any sign of him in the front room or the bathroom.
“Arlo?” she called again. But she knew that she was alone in the house; he was gone.
She made her way quickly back to the bedroom and looked out the doors again. She slid them open slowly and stepped out into the night. It was chilly out there but she still felt warmed through and she was about to turn and begin to walk back toward the couch and fire pit where they had started their evening when she heard the sound of branches snapping in the woodland behind her.
She froze and turned around slowly. Afraid of what may be lurking. She was sure that she could hear grunting and the sound of growls, and it was with horror that, when she turned and peered into the darkness behind her, she saw the outline of a big hulking beast. It was so big and covered in fur that as it slammed its way toward her, she almost fainted with fright.
“No!” she screamed as she held out her hand as if that in any way could defend her.
The bear was so big and powerful, the closer it came the more the deck bowed beneath its weight.
Poppy tried to push herself backward, to make it back to the doorway and inside, but she was so frightened it was as if she was frozen to the spot. She closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears. She knew that this was it, there was no way she could outrun or get away from it. She was doomed.
She thought of her mother and of how she knew that she would barely care… But then she thought of James and of what it would mean for him to lose his older sister. They had only really ever had each other, and now Poppy was going to go and get herself killed in the mountains by a grizzly bear. Even after Arlo had warned her of the dangers.
She peeked out from between her fingertips and the bear was still right in front of her. She could smell the hot stink of its breath and it opened its jaws wide and wailed up into the night’s sky.
Even though she couldn’t move her eyes from the beast in front of her, Poppy was aware of some movement out in the woodland behind it. She saw the flash of something darting quickly between the trees, and in an instant, the bear in front of her stopped and turned around as if it had sensed it too.
Poppy was cowering on the deck, right next to the wall of the cabin, her heart pounding and her palms sweating, when, suddenly, Arlo emerged from the forest, completely naked and full of rage.
The bear and he squared up to each other and Poppy’s mind was racing. Was any of this even real? Or was it just some crazy nightmare?
“Arlo!” she screamed, but he was completely focused on the bear. He flexed his huge arms hungrily and bared his own teeth and Poppy suddenly saw something come over him that was both arousing and terrifying.
The bear that had cornered her whimpered and lowered its head, it moved backward slightly, closer to Poppy, but with its shoulders hunched and its nose touching the ground.
Arlo snarled again and when Poppy looked back at him, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The man who she had just spent the past several hours exploring every inch of was changing before her. His demeanor was fiercer and his eyes were burning with power. She cowered as she watched him snarl and take another heaving step closer, but this time, she could tell that something incredible was about to happen.
He belted out a growl so loud it tore through the night and was so fierce it blew the hair back from her face from over ten feet away. He hunched his shoulders and his arms bulged with exertion, and in an instant, his skin seemed to rip open as a dark fur sprang up in its place.
Poppy rubbed her eyes. Could this really be happening? What the fuck was she witnessing?
Before her very eyes, Arlo turned from the handsome man she had got to know into a big, beast of a grizzly bear. His paws were so big and full of claws that they could have torn her apart.
She wanted to scream but she was frozen. She wanted to run but her legs and feet were heavy with fear.
The bear in front of her was also cowering and as Arlo moved forward quickly and lunged himself at the smaller bear, there was a flash of fangs, fur, and claws as the pair began to fight.
Poppy tried to hide, but she was right there and she saw it all. Arlo was so big compared to the other bear, he was like no animal she had ever seen, and as he drove the smaller bear back into the woods, Poppy honestly couldn’t believe what was happening.
She rubbed her eyes and breathed in deeply.
“This can’t be rea
l,” she whispered to herself. But then she was suddenly aware that the Arlo bear was back, and he was right in front of her.
When she looked up and saw him right there, she looked into his eyes and she knew that it was definitely him. The man she had fallen for, he could shape shift and now it all made sense. This was why he was so hot to the touch, why he seemed so different and mysterious, why he had been so secretive and cryptic.
She tried not to cry and to instead slow her breathing. The bear moved backward and seemed to heave in the moonlight and then, in an instant, it started to convulse and shudder as the fur began to disappear and the tanned, thick muscles returned in their place.
Arlo stood there, back in his human form, and to Poppy, he had never looked better. He looked so alive and so powerful. It was intoxicating.
“You’re my woman now,” he said with a pant. “And I’ll protect you no matter what.” His chest was heaving with exertion and Poppy could feel the bond between them. Something had most definitely changed.
“What are you?” she whispered, even though now she really did know.
“I’m Arlo,” he whispered. “And like I told you, it’s going to take a very special and understanding woman to love me.”
And even though there was a sadness in his eyes, Poppy knew it would all be okay. Whether he knew it yet or not, she was most certainly that woman.
9.
Lost Creek was gearing up for its summer season and the town was already bursting at the seams with new arrivals. Since Poppy had arrived in town all those months before, she never could have imagined that she never would have ended up leaving.
She wiped down the countertop in Arlo’s bar. Since she had settled in Lost Creek with her new man, a few changes had been made to keep up with the trade and demand. A diner just wasn’t cutting it anymore, the tourists in the town wanted a sports bar, and Arlo’s was the perfect venue to give it to them.
Willow hummed a tune as she twirled her curly black hair around her long, manicured finger and blew a big pink bubble with her gum. The girls had become close over the months and it was good for Poppy to have a friend there. It had helped the place feel more like home.
When her family had left, she promised James that she would call him regularly, and she had done so several times a week. He was fine back at home with her parents and was gearing up to make his own escape soon. He had his sights on college or travel, and Poppy knew that whatever he chose, he would end up in the right place. The place destined for him… Just like she had.
After learning of Arlo’s secret, Poppy knew that she could never walk away from him. He had saved her life that night at his house, he had known that she was in trouble and he had come running. There really were bears in the woods around Lost Creek, but there was something more too… And she was still learning all about it with each passing day.
She’d heard whispers from Willow that Arlo wasn’t the only bear shifter. That his close friends and some of the other original settling families had powers too, and that although it was a secret that was concealed from the majority of residents in the town, they were also being slowly discovered.
“We have to help protect them,” Willow had said. “Both the bears and the wolves.”
From what she had managed to piece together, that is what Arlo had meant by the town being divided. Two packs were in charge of Lost Creek, and tensions were rising.
“Everything will be fine,” Arlo had assured her one night. “There’s nothing to worry about for you here.”
He had kissed her and she knew that he would never lie. They were together now. They were each other’s other half and each day, although it brought its challenges, Poppy was more than grateful that she had found herself in such a unique and happy position after so many years of unrest.
She and Arlo were so well suited, and she thanked her lucky stars every day that she had been fortunate enough to meet him.
As she started to stack the glasses behind the bar, the front door swung open and his huge, broad frame stepped forward, blocking out the natural light. As always, she could feel his eyes on her and it set off the butterflies in her belly. They all flapped their wings in unison and she had grown to enjoy the feeling. It had never left her and she hoped that it never would. She liked the nervous sensation that he gave her, it drove her on and kept her hot for him.
He swept her up in his big arms and kissed her hard on the mouth. Now that she had seen what this man had inside of him, the beast that he managed to conceal but could unleash at any given moment, Poppy would always be on her toes, and she liked it that way. It turned her on and made her heart race.
She nuzzled into his neck and thought of how far they had come in such a short space of time and she realized how true it was when people said that everything could change in a day.
It really could…
And for Poppy, it had changed in the most perfect and happiest of ways. She had finally found where she was supposed to be, and she was more than excited about her future…
THE END
The Lost Creek story continues with SCAR
Bear Shifter Romance
Marked as the Alpha’s Mate
Pamela Avery
Copyright ©2015 by Pamela Avery. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Thank you so much for your interest in my work!
PROLOGUE
2012
Lisa Fuller jogged, her strides lengthening along the path in time to the music blaring over her earphones. She had decided to take the scenic route today, jogging down the forest path that was least popular among most joggers in Fidelity, Philadelphia.
It was quite early in the morning and the air was dewy, fresh, and invigorating. The smell of fresh pines tantalized her nostrils and she inhaled deeply as her feet pounded along the path. Her red hair was done up in a simple bun atop her head and she was clad in a skin-fitting exercise outfit that accentuated the generous curves of her waist and hips.
A noise like thunder rumbled overhead and she almost lost her footing as she looked around in amazement. It was still a bit too dark to tell but the skies didn’t seem to be cloudy. With a shrug, she resumed her jogging, humming in time to the music as a slight wind began to rustle the leaves of the trees lining the forest path. Lisa picked up her pace a little, almost running now.
She had gone almost a half mile along the forest path when she suddenly got the unmistakable feeling of being watched. Her eyes widened with irrepressible panic as she scanned the tall pine trees on either side of the path, extending in every direction as far as the eye could see. She saw no one. Fear coursed through her veins and almost automatically she started running, her breath burning in her lungs as she ran faster than she had ever run before.
Then she saw him. A huge, brown, absolutely beautiful, and deadly, bear with chestnut brown fur with flecks of gold. Its teeth were bared as it raced towards her. She almost froze in her terror. She couldn’t remember … are you supposed to freeze when you see a bear, or play dead, or run? While she tried to figure it out, he kept coming right at her in long lopping strides.
Raw fear clotted her blood in her veins and adrenaline burst through her in a rush as her terror took over and she faced forward and chose the “run away” option. He caught up to her effortlessly, his large paws closing about her waist as he lifted her in his great big paws and roared loud enough to wake the dead. She didn’t have to speak bear to recognize a roar of triumph when she heard it. His scent assailed her nostrils, surprisingly clean and nice. There was something strange about this bear. Why wasn’t she dead already? Her eyes fastened in fascinated horror on the pink inside of his mouth as he roared anew. The sound so loud she was almost afraid it would break her ear drums. Goosebumps erupted all over her hands and
sweat poured down her body in rivulets. His paw encircled her entire waist effortlessly as he held her closer to his face and studied her.
Then things got even stranger as some deep survival instinct took over. This was a wild animal, but there was something different about it. There was an intelligence behind its eyes. Rather than scream she chose to speak.
“Please, please,” she panted, barely breathing through her fear. “Please don’t. I have little kids depending on me! Please don’t kill me!”
She was talking to a bear, her subconscious screamed. But even knowing that it couldn’t understand a word of what she was saying – or at least shouldn’t be able to, didn’t deter her as she continued to cry and plead for her life. Every nerve in Lisa’s body strained to breaking point as the beast kept her on level with its shiny white teeth, the size of small tusks.
Lisa struggled weakly in its arms, tears coursing down her cheeks as the animal stopped roaring long enough to look right at her out of strangely beautiful grey eyes flecked with bits of golden color. The animal seemed to freeze as it looked into her clear turquoise eyes. It blinked its great big eyes as though in confusion and Lisa wished desperately that she had a gun or tranquilizer.
The bear shook her slightly staring at her as though in wonder and she screamed anew. Then it extended one paw an d unbelievabl y stroked her cheek gently. Lisa’s eyes widened in terror; was that the signal to begin eating her?
The beast made a low sound deep in its throat, its pale gaze fastened on hers. They stared at each other for a while and then with a grunt, it gently, almost reverently, with a deftness she did not think a bear could possess, placed her on her feet back onto the ground.
Lisa stared up at the immense bear, almost afraid to believe this was happening. The beast, as though understanding her disbelief, poked her slightly with one claw on its paw. She jerked backwards, almost falling over. Then with one last glance back at it, she turned and began to run, expecting every second to hear its feet thundering after her and the large furry paws closing around her neck again.
