by Bianca D'Arc
He kissed her. The kiss was filled with the knowledge that they were meant for each other and she had accepted that fact. Satisfaction and yearning for more drove him to lift her up and carry her into her bedroom. There would be no stopping them now. They were mates.
She’d agreed to be his mate. How could a guy get so lucky?
Her clothing joined his on the floor of her bedroom as he worshiped his mate, his love…the one person who was meant for him in all this wide world. Peter made love to her slowly, savoring the experience. It was every bit as powerful as their first time together. Perhaps even more beautiful because, this time, he knew it was the beginning of something that would last a lifetime.
*
Mellie came down slowly from the incredible climax Peter had just given her. They were in her bedroom. Again. He was still inside her as she lay half over him at a somewhat awkward angle. She could fix that…as soon as she caught her breath.
Peter’s strong hands roved over her hips and adjusted her. He was so strong. She liked the way he manhandled her as if she weighed no more than a feather. He made her feel feminine in a way she never really had before.
Mellie had always been kind of quirky, with her own sense of oddball style. The men she’d dated in the past had been mere boys compared to Peter. They’d been hipsters and grunge guys. Nerds, for the most part, though there’d been that one metro-sexual dude she’d almost gone for. Peter was a man’s man. Like most of the shifter males in Grizzly Cove—according to their mates—he was an animal in bed as well as out of it, and he made her feel like a woman with a capital W.
He resettled her more squarely on top of him, still riding his newly hardening cock. The motion renewed her interest, as well, and she started thinking about a long, hard ride. Emphasis on the hard.
Peter caressed her breasts as she lifted up, resting on her forearms so she could look into his lovely, intense brown eyes. She could see the bear behind his human gaze at certain moments, and it lit a fire in her veins to know that he was such a powerful being…and that he was all hers.
The possessive feeling was new and thrilling. She’d never been on such secure footing with the man in her bed before. Most of her serious relationships—not that there had been that many—had been less defined. She’d gone into them expecting more, perhaps, but in the end, receiving less than she’d hoped for. None of the men she’d taken into her life had worked out in the end for long-term relationship.
She’d been sad each time she broke up with someone, but quickly realized her heart hadn’t been fully engaged in any of those trial situations. She’d been practicing. Waiting for this. For Peter. For the one man designed just for her. The one she would spend the rest of her life loving and living with. Raising children with. Or maybe they’d be called cubs, since some of them would likely inherit their father’s shifter nature, though she hoped for at least one little girl of power to carry on the strega tradition.
Yeah, she might be getting a little ahead of herself with the daydreams, but it was fun to think about the future with Peter. And it was especially fun to practice the moves that would help populate her future with little mini-me’s.
She lifted up higher, sitting hard, taking him deep. Peter was fully erect within her now, his eyes swirling with that dark earth energy that she found so alluring. She could feel their magic sparking off each other, but it wasn’t a showy sort of clash. No, they meshed so beautifully that her energy was as low-key as his, though both were pretty intense. Together, they could have created a conflagration, if they both weren’t so much in control of their power.
She rode him hard, loving the way her touched her breasts, her body, her hips, guiding her into the motion he wanted on occasion. He let her take the lead for the most part, a willing participant in his own seduction. Mellie felt powerful. Like some sort of femme fatale. Mata Hari at her best. Beguiling and enticing her chosen mark.
Peter grunted as she squeezed his cock from within, using her body to please his in ways she hadn’t ever really dared try before. Everything was new with Peter. Her soul was cleansed by his fire. Her heart bathed in his care. She was daring in a way she could never have been with anyone else. Only Peter. Only her mate.
When she came, she screamed his name, triumphant in the ecstasy they shared. She felt him pulse within her as she froze in a spasm of pleasure so intense it almost blocked out the sun. She felt as if she was part of the Light. Part of the star at the center of existence. Part of the cosmic unity that allowed all beings to have such incredible experiences.
This was what life was all about. Loving and being loved in the most carnal way. Exchanging trust as the most basic level. Being one with another person as pleasure swamped your body and soul.
After that incredible orgasm, Mellie must have dozed because she woke up several hours later, the scent of savory herbs and cooking meat wafting in from her kitchen. Peter must have decided to forage in her fridge for something to eat and discovered the lack of leftovers. She smiled as she tidied herself and pulled on a silky robe she kept at the back of her closet.
They’d missed lunch if the angle of the sun was anything to go by. It looked like it was probably mid-afternoon, but she didn’t mind. The bookshop was closed for the day until that uncalled for magic charm dissipated.
Mellie went into the kitchen to find Peter—his muscular chest bare and sexy—just putting the finishing touches on some steaks. Her nose wrinkled as she squinted. There hadn’t been any fresh steaks in the fridge.
“I popped down to my shop and restocked your fridge,” Peter told her. “You only had rabbit food left, and I’m not big on salad.” His grin made her smile in return. The image of a giant bear eating lettuce popped into her head.
She went over to the refrigerator and opened it, surprised to find wrapped cuts of meat of every kind filling most of the previously empty space. He’d put a small fortune in fresh meat in her fridge!
“You didn’t need to do that. I meant to go shopping and pick up a few things, but I’ve been a little preoccupied.” She turned back to him. “This is too much, Peter,” she told him seriously.
He finished shutting off the burners he’d used and came over to her. “Nothing is too much for my mate,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her close for a deep kiss. Before she completely lost her head, he pulled back. “We should eat before it gets cold.”
Ever the gentleman, he escorted her to her seat at the table, pulling out the chair and seeing to her every comfort. He put the plates on the table before taking his own seat. He’d set two places next to each other at some point before she had woken up. He’d thought of everything, it seemed, from the steaks to the wine he served with it, which hadn’t been in her apartment that morning.
“Would you come to my den for dinner?” Peter asked her at one point.
“Of course,” Mellie replied. “Are you sure your grandmother won’t mind? I know she came a long way to see you.”
“She will love having you around, believe me,” Peter assured her. “I need to talk to her about Paul and see if she will talk with him.”
“Do you really think she will?” Mellie asked before taking a bite of her succulent steak, which was cooked to perfection.
“I think so,” Peter said, tilting his head as he seemed to ponder the situation. “But my babushka can be contrary sometimes. She isn’t always easy to predict.”
They talked about his early days, living in Kamchatka and learning from his family and especially his babushka. The meal passed in a haze of happiness, at least on Mellie’s part. She couldn’t really be sure how Peter was feeling, though he was certainly smiling a lot, so he probably was as happy as she was.
After the excellent steaks were consumed, Peter cleaned up the kitchen while Mellie put the bedroom to rights. She changed the sheets and put the old ones in the washer, along with some other whites that had piled up over the past couple of days. Who had time for housekeeping when you were trying to
fight giant, magical sea monsters and entertaining dragons?
When they got to Peter’s house late in the afternoon, his grandmother was nowhere to be found. Peter didn’t seem worried. Instead, he set to work on dinner preparations after telling Mellie to take a look around the house and get comfortable.
She felt a little strange wandering around his place by herself, so after a cursory look around the living room, which she had seen before in any case, she went into the kitchen area to help him. He didn’t say anything about her lack of nosiness, though she thought maybe she’d caught a glimpse of disappointment on his face before he turned away to get something out of the fridge.
He gave her some potatoes to peel and put her to work. They teased each other and stopped for occasional smooches while they worked on the meal. Helping Peter was nothing like cooking with her sister, but it was special in its own way.
“I’m going to have to teach you how to help with some of my Italian specialties,” she told him at one point as he seasoned the meat he was working on.
“I love Italian cuisine,” he told her. “I guess it’s in the blood, seeing as how I just found out the other day that I’m at least part Italian.” He grinned at her. “You’re going to have to teach me all about my heritage.”
“I look forward to it,” she told him, meaning it. “Starting with how to make the perfect meatball. What do you say we begin lessons tomorrow?”
“Just tell me what we need, and I’ll get it tomorrow,” he replied immediately. “I look forward to my first lesson.” Then, he paused to kiss her, taking her into his arms and holding her tight.
At some point during the kiss, the front door opened. Peter didn’t seem in any hurry to stop kissing her, so she was a little fuzzy on exactly how long the clinch lasted before he released her. Peter had that effect on her. Like a drug to her senses, he could make her lose track of space and time.
All she knew was that when he released her and she opened her eyes to look around, Peter’s grandmother was grinning at them from across the room. Blushing, Mellie looked at Peter, but he had a smug smile on his face. She punched him on the arm, but he didn’t budge. He merely went back to work on dinner, whistling a jaunty tune.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“It’s good to see you two working so nicely together,” Granny Ivana said with an undisguised twinkle in her eye.
Peter stopped whistling long enough to greet his grandmother and decline her offer of help with the meal preparations. Granny Ivana took a seat at the kitchen table and supervised instead.
“Did you have a nice walk?” Peter asked his babushka.
“I did. I went down to the beach and saw some of those mer people that live in the water. They seemed very welcoming,” she told them.
“They don’t just live in the water now,” Peter told her. “We’re expanding the accommodations in town every day so that more of them can either spend time, or live outright, on land. They’ve been setting up a branch office of their bank and helping us with some of their extensive business connections. In a few months, you won’t even recognize Main Street.”
“Is that good or bad?” Mellie wanted to know.
She liked the town the way it was, but she knew there had always been plans to improve the place and invite more industry. The town was just starting out. It couldn’t remain as small as it was now, forever.
“Overall, it’s a good thing,” Peter replied easily. “John has always had big plans. The mer are just helping us realize them sooner, and a lot easier. The whole concept of a bears-only town was novel. Adding mer into the mix was unexpected, but so far it seems to be a blessing.”
“There is a good energy about this place,” Granny Ivana added, nodding. “The blending of land and sea is unique, but good. It makes both camps stronger.”
Peter nodded as he went right on cooking their dinner. “That’s exactly what John and the rest of the City Council think. So far, we’re ahead of schedule with our plans for the town. By next year, we’ll probably have a lot more tourist traffic. Which is why we need to get the magical situation under control as quickly as we can.”
“Now, it is probably time for you to tell me about the new presence in your town. The magical currents changed last night, and I sense there is something you wish to tell me,” Granny Ivana said ominously.
“Is your grandmother clairvoyant, too?” Mellie asked, almost in awe.
“No. She just knows me better than anyone,” Peter admitted with a grin. “Yes, Babushka, there is much I need to say to you. I thought perhaps it would go better over a good meal.”
“Trying to soften me up for something?” Granny Ivana asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“Not really,” Peter hedged, turning around to look at his grandmother. Mellie stood at the kitchen island, between them. “It’s been an eventful day. Mellie, would you do the honors and start the story at the beginning, while I finish up here at the stove?”
Surprised that he’d turned the task over to her, but nonetheless willing, Mellie nodded. As briefly as possible, she told Granny Ivana about the visit from the dragon shifter, Paul, and all that have happened earlier that morning. Granny Ivana sat silent through the tale, though her eyebrows rose at certain points. Peter helped, adding in details every once in a while from his station at the stove, until Granny Ivana had the basics of the dragon’s visit to Mellie’s domain.
Granny Ivana sat back and huffed. “Well. You two have had an adventure, it seems.”
That was totally not the response Mellie had expected, but it would do. At least the older woman wasn’t visibly upset or cursing in Russian.
“Will you meet with him?” Peter asked quietly.
“I think, yes. I should like to see this young dragon. Perhaps he is related to us through my grandfather, or perhaps not, but I would like to see him with my own eyes and get a feel for his energy. Tomorrow, when he comes back to see you, I will be there waiting with you, Mellie,” Granny Ivana pronounced, and there was no discussion of the finer points of timing.
If Granny Ivana said something, Mellie got the feeling there was little argument. She could understand why. Granny Ivana had a presence almost as big as the dragon’s.
Peter had served up the meal while Mellie had been talking and gathering dishes to set the table. Now, she passed around the plates and silverware as Peter put the finishing touches on the display of mostly meat with a few side dishes. Mellie recognized the potatoes she’d cut up into thin strips earlier. Peter had roasted them in the oven until they were golden brown and seasoned them with herbs. They smelled divine, as did everything he placed in the center of the table.
Once the glasses, plates and utensils had been distributed, and Peter had added a pitcher of iced water with a cut up lemon visible through the glass, they all sat down. Granny Ivana spoke quietly, asking a gentle blessing of the Goddess, and then, they began to eat. Conversation progressed in fits and starts as they consumed what proved to be a delicious meal.
Granny Ivana told them more about her memories of her grandfather, the dragon. She talked of her childhood and the immense power of the grandfather she had loved so much.
“When he left us, it wasn’t in the usual way, I recall,” Granny Ivana said, her words somewhat distant as if remembering something from the far past. “We didn’t have a normal death ceremony for him. I was still quite young and didn’t question things, but one day, he just stopped being there. It was as if he’d left on a trip and, then, just never came back,” she told them. “I wonder now what really happened to him. I assume he’s dead, after all this time, but I assumed that then, and I may very well have been wrong.”
“What makes you say that?” Mellie asked, curious.
“Well, he disappeared about a decade or so after his mate died. I remember my grandmother as a very old woman with all the signs of advanced age. She had lived a lot longer than almost any other bear, or so it was said at the time, and she probably would have kept going a bit longe
r, but there was an accident, and a big tree fell on her. I was a child, but I remember the adults being very upset. Grandpa was inconsolable. I remember my parents being very concerned that he would die soon too, without his mate, but he just got very quiet and distant from us all emotionally, for a long time. He was better with us kids, and I think he stayed as long as he did for us. But, when I was a teenager, he just disappeared and where he’d gone remained a mystery.”
“If they were true mates…” Peter offered in a sad voice.
“Yes, I know. It is hard for one of our kind to survive after losing a mate. He could have gone off somewhere to die alone. I’m not really sure what dragons do in such cases.” Granny Ivana shook her head, her expression solemn. “None of us were dragons. We didn’t share in his gift. We didn’t understand him as well as we could have because we didn’t understand his animal.”
They talked of her recollections of the dragon throughout the rest of the meal. When it came time to start clearing away the dishes, Granny Ivana stood and held up one hand to call for quiet. She then went to the cabinet over the refrigerator that was seldom used and pulled out something in a dish covered tightly with plastic wrap so that not even a hint of a scent could escape.
“Babushka,” Peter said with a big grin as his grandmother came closer, unwrapping the plastic as she walked. “You found my secret weapon.”
“Secret weapon?” Mellie repeated, curious about the contents of the bowl. Not being a shifter, her nose wasn’t as sensitive, and she didn’t know yet, without a visual cue, what was in the dish.
“My Peter has been holding out on us,” Granny Ivana said with a grin, coming closer to place a huge dish filled with ripe blackberries on the table. “He’s got a berry patch on his property that’s bigger than any I’ve ever seen before. Just look at these blackberries!”
