“Yes!” she cried. “Yes!”
Too soon, she thought. She didn’t want to come so soon. She wanted this to last forever. She slowed her movements against him, going slower, and he switched pace to match her.
“I’m going to … flip,” she said, breathing heavily.
Working to keep him inside her, she rotated on the bed. His large firm hands steadied her, guided her. She turned about and got on her hands and knees. Her opening was higher now, and he had to climb onto the bed to stay inside her. Behind her now, he rammed into her, and she cried out and threw her head back. He slammed into her again, and again, then reached a hand forward and cupped her breast. Gasping, she steadied herself on her hands and knees. Behind her, Mike was making a sexy noise, half growl, half purr, and she knew he was really into it.
He bent over her, and she could feel his hard abs against her lower back. Steadying himself with his hands to either side of her on the bed—she loved the feel of his strong arms enfolding her—he kissed the back of her neck and shoulders. She shoved back and squeezed his cock with her vaginal muscles. They were so close, joined, as close as two people could be.
Almost.
He kissed the back of her neck again, and once more that rattling, growly sound came from his chest again, but different this time.
“Jess,” he gasped.
“Yes?”
“I … we can’t do it like this any longer. I’m … going … to claim you …”
She hesitated, then lowered her head, baring her neck further for him.
“Do it,” she said.
“It will put a bear in you. And it will hurt.”
“I want it, Mike. I want … I want your claiming mark.”
He slammed into her, and she whimpered. He was filling her now completely, and his arms were all around her. She was surrounded by him, penetrated by him. She shivered as his hot lips kissed her shoulders and neck again, and his teeth raked her skin, lightly. She shoved back against him again, letting him go even deeper into her. He rammed her, hard, in fast, rhythmic motions, and delirium swept her. The pressure was too intense. She couldn’t take it anymore.
Even as his teeth sank into the soft skin of her lower neck and shoulder, she detonated around him. Pain flashed through her with his claiming bite, and she could feel a trickle of blood course down her shoulder, but the pain was completely eclipsed by pleasure. Stars wheeled across her vision and sent her spinning through space. Her body shook, and he pounded himself harder against her, then threw his head back and howled. She craned her head, just a little, to see the corded muscles standing out on his neck, and he exploded inside her, pumping hot jets into her. His fluids shot into her as his cock pulsed again and again, and she came all over again as his juices overflowed.
At last, emptied and spent, he collapsed beside her, and she clung to him and shuddered against him.
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear.
Her eyes burned. “I love you, too.”
“My mate.”
“Mate.”
They were home.
Chapter 21
When they emerged back outside, the others smiled and clapped them on the back. Jess felt her cheeks burn when she realized that the others had known exactly what they’d been doing.
“Could they … hear?” she asked Mike, but he only smiled.
Taggart shoved a beer bottle into each of their hands. “For my brother and his mate!” he called, and the gathering cheered.
“Mated!” several called out.
“Woot woot!”
Taggart’s own mate Alice wrapped Jess in a hug, then turned her around and frowned at her bite. Jess had cleaned it as best she could, but she knew it was still ragged and messy.
“Don’t worry,” Alice said, “I’ve got just the thing for that.” She darted off, then came back a moment later with a first-aid kit. Jess sat down on a stump and drank her beer while Alice nursed her. “Lucky me and Taggart got here with the first shift,” she said as she worked. “I’d already started nesting, and the first thing any good country girl stores is a first-aid kit. Especially when you live with a bunch of bear shifters.” She patted the scar on her own neck. “And I know just what you’re going through.”
“You’re a shifter, too?”
“Damn right.”
Suzy was approaching, smiling but nervous. Her eyes were fixed on Jess’s claiming mark. “Is that … did Mike … ?”
Jess grinned and nodded, still overwhelmed by it all. “He claimed me. I’m one of the crew now.” Just to be sure, she turned to Alice. “That’s right, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. You’re a Pine Ridge shifter now. Patent forthcoming.”
“I have a bear,” Jess marveled. It was still incredible.
“I’m jealous,” Suzy said. “Where’s my bear?”
The party went on, the second shift of shifters coming down from the resort to check out their new digs, and at one point Connor made a big speech accepting Jess into the crew. He raised a beer in toast, and everyone lifted theirs in return. Several hugged Jess or clapped her on the back, careful not to hit the claiming mark, though it was still sore. The beer helped. At one point Suzy disappeared with a hunky bear shifter, and when she reappeared she was wobbly-legged but without a bite mark. She looked quite satisfied with what she’d gotten, though, and eventually Jess walked her to her car and waved as she returned home.
Jess, of course, would stay. She was home.
It was nighttime when Connor called all the crew from their new log houses, where they were settling in, to the fire pit, which blazed brightly. It had already become the center of the little community.
“What’s going on?” Jess asked Mike nervously.
He had an arm around her shoulders and was smiling mysteriously. “You’ll see.” He kissed her temple and whispered in her ear, “You’re going to love it.”
“Thank you again to Jess for making this all possible,” Connor said when everyone was gathered. The whole crew was here, save a very few that still had work to do at the inn. Someone had to keep it running. “We’re lucky to have her as the newest member of our crew, and congratulations to her and Mike for finding their mates in each other.”
The shifters whooped and cheered, and Jess felt herself blush at all the attention. Home, she thought again. Looking around the gathering, studying the fire-lit faces of the men and women here, all warm and smiling, she realized she did feel like she was at home. She was welcome here, and though it was like nothing she’d ever known before she knew that she loved it and wouldn’t want it any other way. She had found her people, her place, her man.
“We’ve celebrated as humans,” Connor went on. “Now it’s time to celebrate as shifters.”
More whoops from around the campfire.
Jess blinked. “You mean … ?”
Mike kissed her again, this time on the mouth. “That’s right. You’ll get to be a bear for the first time.”
“Time to pop your shifter cherry,” Rick added with a laugh.
To Jess’s shock, Mike began disrobing, right there before everyone. So did all the others present. All were shifters; human friends like Suzy had all gone to their own homes, and the mysterious Abigail was in her cabin, not taking part in the event.
“Come on,” said Barb, the policewoman, coming over. Only she didn’t seem like a policewoman anymore. Gone was her hat, jacket and, well, everything else. “Don’t you want to loose your bear?”
Rick was at her side, grinning and looking quite splendid in his birthday suit—and he seemed to know it, too. That was okay, though, because Mike looked just as good.
Jess realized she was the only one still dressed. As attention turned to her, she began to feel more naked clothed than not.
“It’s okay,” Mike said softly. “Trust me.”
She nodded and fumbled at her clothes. As she took each piece off, there were still more cheers, and she flushed in embarrassment. Despite it all, though,
she was smiling and excited as she laid her clothes in a neat pile beside her.
“Now let’s explore our new home!” Connor called. “As bears!”
One by one the shifters let their animals explode from inside them. Alice did, too, and Barb, Rick and Taggart. Last went Mike, then Jess was all alone, a naked human surrounded by huge bears staring at her. She didn’t feel afraid, though, only nervous and excited. Concentrating, she felt her bear growl inside her, eager to be unleashed. She mashed her eyes shut and let it come out, and before she knew it her bear had erupted from her, become her, and she, like all the others, was now a huge, awesome grizzly bear. Her heart beat fast and steady, and, smiling on the inside, she leaned her furry weight against Mike, who leaned back, and she could see the love and warmth in his liquid eyes.
The reddish-colored bear, Connor, gave a growl and led a procession of furred, muscled badass shifters through the log cabins and into the forest. As the trees and the smell of pine surrounded her, Jess wondered if they would see fairies tonight. She knew they were here now. She and Mike lived in Pine Ridge, home of magic and wonder and mystery.
Ambling beside her mate, she breathed deep and hoped for fairies.
THE END
She was raised to hate bear shifters. He was raised to hate humans. On the run, can they find happiness together? If you haven't read Bear Run, the first book in the Pine Ridge series, you can find it here:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CH3WC1W
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CH3WC1W
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading Bear Love as much as I did writing it. The next book in the Pine Ridge series, Bear Fire, will be out soon. To be notified when it comes out, you can sign up for my update list. I promise not to spam you. I’ll only send you an email when I have a new book coming out or a discount. You can sign up for the list HERE ( http://eepurl.com/bTIcfv ).
Oh, and please leave a review. A review means so much, not just to me but to other readers. It's the best way for readers to discover new writers, and it's very nice for me to see how people are responding to my stuff, and also find ways I can improve.
To encourage you to leave a review, just email me ([email protected]) after you've posted your review — forward me Amazon's confirmation email — and I'll thank you with a free gift of Bear Fire: Pine Ridge #4 which comes out in a few weeks (if it's not out already by the time you're reading this). So post those reviews! :) You can leave them here:
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Hugs,
Belinda Meyers
Paranormal Romance Author
Email: [email protected]
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