“Baby, I’ll make you forget your own name if that’s what you really want.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. I haven’t gone through my mating heat in a few years, so I’m safe. No strings, just sex.”
A myriad of emotions crossed his face before he finally nodded; the anger, hurt, and surprise turning into a dark hunger in his eyes. “Yeah, I can do that.”
He eased her to the ground and straddled her waist, pinning her wrists above her head with a firm grip. She arched beneath his large body, loving the feeling of being dominated by him. She tried to move but only succeeded in brushing her core against the trail of dark hair that led down to his large cock. God! Being immobile like this. Trying to escape, but unable to shake free from his strong grip. Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly women's lib, but her body yearned for this kind of mating. Not from just any male. This one. Mate. No, they weren’t going to mate she reminded her bear. They were going to fuck, hard, fast, and amazing, but not mating.
He nipped her shoulder, and she released a slow breath as he nibbled his way down to her right breast. Taking the nipple between his lips, he sucked and licked it. Her nipple tightened into a stiff peak and she felt an answering tug at the apex of her thighs. She wriggled up and down under his hard body. Oh my God!
He scraped his teeth over her aching bud, then laved away the momentary pain with his hot, smooth tongue. Closing his firm lips over the entire areola, he sucked the nipple deep. Oh Lord, it felt amazing, and she wanted more. So much more! He gave her other nipple the same focused attention, then released her firm bud with a loud pop.
“Please, I need you inside me.”
Zach nodded. His eyes had grown so dark, they were almost black. “Need you too.” His voice was rough, and low and scratchy like he was just barely holding his wolf at bay. “I can’t go easy this time. I just need to be in you, okay, baby?”
“Yes, yes, just take me already,” she shouted, grinding her hips up against him.
Zach gripped her hips firmly with one hand, pinning her in place, and rubbed the large head of his cock over her dewy slit. She moaned as he pressed slowly into her. God, he was big, and it had been so long since she had been with a man. And her B.O.B. was definitely not in the same caliber as Zach. Understatement of the year.
“Press your pelvis up a bit,” he ordered, and she complied. “You’re so tight, baby.”
Her low moans became mewls of desperation as he slowly entered her inch by wonderfully agonizing inch. She wanted more, faster, deeper, harder, but he was treating her like a china doll. He finally seated himself fully inside her, and she wasted no time before claiming his body as hers. Following the ravenous urge for release, she tightened around his cock with every ounce of energy she had. Yeah, he was on top, but she needed this more, and he seemed to understand. He met her thrusting hips and gave it back two-fold. Every hard pump left her more breathless. Her pussy grew wetter with each stroke he gave her, and when he brought the pad of his thumb to her swollen clit, she screamed her pleasure. She wiggled out of his grasp and clutched his shoulders.
Zach took her wrists with his other hand and slammed them to the ground above her head. Oh, yeah, she’d have some bruises tomorrow. But the future didn’t matter. The only thing that was real was her and her rapidly building climax, and the alpha male taking her harder than she had ever dreamt. His low growls preceded the harsher thrusts as he became savage with his fucking, and damned if her body didn’t love every minute of it.
“More!” Her voice sounded husky and low as she pressed against him.
He gave her more, his thrusts becoming frantic, as he pummeled her body into submission.
She tensed like a coil about to break and mewled, begging to release the sexual energy she’d waited a lifetime to expend.
Zach’s face contorted, his eyes fully black and his forehead tense with his impending release. He bellowed her name as he thrust deep. His hot seed surged into her as he pumped in and out, claiming his orgasm while demanding she yield to hers as well.
That’s all it took. As he continued to slam into her body, his teeth barely grazed her shoulder, and she lost all control. Her pussy clenched around his thick cock, and her thighs shook so hard she swore she exploded into brilliant hot white. She heard a keening wail erupt from her mouth, screaming his name over and over again. Then “Mate!”
Her body’s release finally subsided, and she drifted back down to earth as Zach eased out of her.
He lowered himself to his forearms, covering her body with his, his rapid heartbeat steady against her chest. “Sorry about that.” He brushed a lock of hair from her face. “I couldn’t last any longer. Next time…”
His words were drowned out as she recalled the final thing she had screamed.
Mate, Nissa’s bear was finally satisfied, practically purring the words in her head as her mind slowly came back out of her post orgasmic bliss. Dammit, she shouldn't have done that. She wrenched herself out of his arms and sprinted over to the tree trunk that held her bundle of clothes, throwing them on quickly.
Hands wrapped around her waist. “Are you okay?”
She wiggled out and held her hand up to stop his advance. “I can’t do this. Not now.”
His concerned gaze met hers. “Can we just talk?”
Mate! Now her bear was yelling at her and threatening to take over. She pushed her back down. “No! Not now. Give me some space. I can't mate with you and become a prisoner to all of this. I can’t. Leave me alone!” She screamed at him and ran down the trail further into the woods. She just needed time to think. Time to calm the hell down. And her bear wasn't happy with her. But she couldn't lose control and become a wild animal. No. She couldn’t.
No sounds followed her. Zach must have respected her request for some alone time, which made her even sadder as she ran through the woods. She tripped over a root and tumbled, landing in a heap in some bushes. That’s what you get for being such a dumbass and not watching where you were going. Okay, that time, she wasn't entirely sure her bear had said that. Her bear seemed to have turned her back, ignoring her again.
She got back up and continued at a slower jog down to the edge of the woods, and looked down at the river below. She sat down on a huge boulder and caught her breath right before the tears came. Why did she always have to make such a mess of things? The most perfect guy had come into town, and he wanted her for her. Bear and all. Even better—her bear accepted him. It was the first time in her adult life that her bear wasn't sniping at her for hanging out with a douchebag, as her bear so eloquently put it.
But every time she thought of being free from Zach, something tore at her heart like a dagger. And it wasn't her bear. It was her. She’d only known him for a few days, but mates were special. Sometimes you just knew who was perfect for you. Whether you listened to your other half or not, you still knew. Zach was her mate. But she’d rejected him, and he was probably long gone. She buried her head in her hands and cried. She’d finally found her mate but had pushed him away. Why? Because he was right. She was afraid.
Nissa didn't want to be mated. Look at her aunt and her mother, mated to men who had fought over stupid things like land and titles. Her mother had lost her life, and her aunt was stuck there cleaning up the mess. Nissa didn't want that for herself. She wanted to be free.
She listened to the quiet breeze and the water babbling below. What was she afraid of? Becoming a weak, kept woman with an arrogant asshole mate who fought for whatever he wanted? No, that’s not what had happened to her aunt. Aunt Ida was the strongest woman she had ever known. She still kicked ass, and everyone in town, whether full human or not, respected her as the most gifted healer in the whole area.
Aunt Ida hadn't been trapped in a prison. She chose to stay in this town because it was her home, and she knew she could bless those in it with her healing abilities and medical knowledge.
And how had Nissa won her first black belt in Tae Kwon Do? She laughed. Her Aunt Ida. The woman was feroc
ious on the mats. She hadn’t been stuck either. She had agreed to stay with the one person she loved just as much as her sister—her daughter, Sam.
And yeah, there were always going to be a few hard heads out there, like her uncle. But her father had been a good leader, firm, caring, the kind of alpha who stopped work to take his sons fishing. She had said no to the fishing trips. Getting dirty and smelly had never been her thing.
All those amazing people in her life. She’d compared them all to one man. One despicable man who had too much human in him. Her mind suddenly cleared and she smiled.
It wasn't the bear in the man that had made him power hungry. It had been the man in the bear.
Yes, dork. You finally get it.
She laughed and gave her bear an emotional hug. “Do you think he might still accept us?”
If he doesn't, he’s a douchebag, and we can kick his ass.
She smiled, dusted off her jeans and turned to head back. Her bear was right. They both wanted this male, and unless she was mistaken, he wanted her too. But would he want to settle down and have cubs right away? What if he wanted to stay here and start the baby-bear-making factory?
You could try talking to him, ya know. Tell him what you want.
“Yeah, good thought.”
Let’s go get our mate.
She had just started walking back down the trail when she noticed the silence around her. The birds had stopped chirping, and the annoying chattering of the squirrels who’d been arguing overhead had now ceased. It was dangerously quiet.
She tensed and opened up her senses. A dark shudder rippled through her body as she breathed in the scent of another shifter. She didn’t know what it was, but the malevolence rolling off it meant only one thing—predator. A big one.
She should shift. Dammit, even her bear was freezing up on her as she flung her top off. Come on, come on, we’re toast if you don’t get your ass moving, Nissa told her bear, but the damn thing was more scared than a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming bus. And the giant that stepped out from behind the trees was much worse than a pair of headlights and a blaring horn.
Dark Gaze. “You keep getting in our way.” The scent of danger wafted from him as he slowly shifted into a beast. The biggest lion she had ever seen. The scar running down his muzzle shuddered when he growled at her.
Nissa backed away slowly, never turning her back on the huge lion with its gleaming fangs. No time to strip her jeans off—she didn’t want to get caught with her pants around her ankles. She took a cleansing breath and grounded herself, remembering all the self-defense moves her aunt had taught her. She planted her feet, bent her knees. It was all about lower center of balance and letting her much heavier attacker’s weight work against it. It’s going to be okay, she told her bear who was curled up into a little, furry ball of damsel in distress. I’m not going to let him hurt us.
Her bear whimpered.
That’s what she got for repressing her bear for so long. A vulnerable creature who couldn’t consistently shift; who shut down in the face of true danger. And it was all Nissa’s fault. Thank God, her aunt had taught her how to take care of herself in human form. If she could catch it off guard, she could run like hell.
Nissa inched her heels up to the rock she’d been sitting on earlier. The edge leading to the river a long way below was hard to see because of the trees surrounding them. But she had the element of surprise going for her. And nothing else, since her bear was still MIA.
The large beast with the dark mane leaned back onto its haunches. Nissa held perfectly still, watching in slow motion as its muscles flexed. Its legs straightened, and it sprang from the ground. Right for her head.
At the last millisecond, she shifted her balance and bent her right leg. Sharp claws raked her shoulder as she spun and—using its momentum against it—flung the lion past her and over the edge into the river below. The angry growl stopped when it hit the rocky riverbank.
Holy crap, she did it!
She winced and clutched her shoulder, trying to catch her breath. Okay, breath or no breath, it was time to get the hell out of here.
Her bear’s anxious cry of danger wasn’t quick enough.
A growl preceded the blur of motion and the hard blow that slammed into her chest. Nissa went sailing. She crashed headfirst into the large rock. The last thing she saw was the blurry vision of an even larger lion stalking toward her.
“Zach!” she shrieked. The world went black.
Chapter Seven
Zach shouldn’t have let her go off on her own like that. He should have talked to her. Told her how he felt. No, that would have freaked her out even more, and she had run off with more than a little panic in her eyes. Okay, maybe he didn't have to press the mate issue. But he could have at least calmed her down a bit; told her he really cared for her and wanted an opportunity to get to know her better.
He’d take it slowly if he needed to. Anything to keep his mate from running from him again. But he’d seen that look before. No, she wasn’t running from him. She was running from herself. And he was smart enough to back off and give her some time. And he would—just as soon as he caught her and made sure she was okay.
His mate might not want him watching out for her, but he would. He’d make sure she was all right, and then head back to his hotel room and give her the space she needed. Besides, he still needed to do some more investigating into the lion scents he had caught yesterday.
He followed her scent of wildflowers and cinnamon. His hackles rose when a darker scent overshadowed with hers. The lions from yesterday, and they were hot on the trail of his mate. He shifted before he had the chance to strip off his jeans, bounding down the trail on all fours as the last piece of denim slid from his legs. Nobody would hurt his mate. His wolf agreed with a low growl as he raced down the trail.
He reached the clearing just in time to see one lion go sailing past Nissa’s shoulder and over the edge. A larger lion sprang from the woods knocking her into a boulder. Zach growled and surged forward. The big cat turned toward him, as Nissa shrieked his name and slumped, out cold against the rock.
My mate. Zach sprang at the larger predator. They met with a bone-jarring thud of physical aggression, fangs gnashing to catch the other’s throat, claws shredding skin. The lion was bigger, infinitely stronger, but the tight maneuvering required to fight in dense-packed trees of the forest gave Zach’s wolf the advantage. He jumped, vaulting off a massive trunk and onto the lion’s back. Ripping and clawing, he bit the cat, but it shook him off like a fucking rag doll.
Zach fell in front of Nissa. The lion was stalking them from the right. Nissa, rattled from the blow, was struggling to rise, shaking her head, a bloody mat of pine needles and dead leaf bits stuck in her hair. He had to get between them. His legs were shaking, all but the one shooting agony up from paw to shoulder. He couldn’t put the slightest weight upon it, but he’d be damned if he let that thing near his mate. He growled, still very much a threat and the way the lion’s gaze slinked from her to him said he took it that way. He couldn’t fight this thing here, not without risking Nissa. He had to lure the lion away.
He howled and leapt at the lion. Razor claws slashed his chest as it grabbed Zach by his already injured shoulder and flung him to the ground. Pain scorched his broken body as he bounced along the ground before smashing into a large tree. This thing was too big. Too strong.
His left hind leg canted at a weird angle, fresh blood running from a wound along his stomach. The pain of the broken limbs and the blood loss wearied him. Zach wanted to go to sleep right there on the forest floor. To just close his eyes for a little bit—make the pain stop.
Then his enemy turned from him and toward Nissa. No! Adrenalin coursed through his veins, and Zach surged to his feet, leaping onto the lion's back. The lion shook him off easily. Zach howled in pain when the beast sank its teeth into his left shoulder, grinding into bone before flinging him loose. It crept over him, blurred by a haze of dark red
. Zach could taste the copper of the blood in his mouth, smell it with every panting breath he took as the lion lifted its paw to deliver the deathblow. Zach was going to die without ever revealing his true feelings for his mate. The large paw swept down toward his head, then stopped.
The black bear—Nissa’s bear—batted the lion’s larger paw away, then slapped its snout.
Blood streamed from the great cat’s nose, and it stumbled back in surprise. It recovered quickly, though, physically shaking off its shock and surging into a roar of renewed aggression. But his brave, little black bear roared right back and positioned herself in front of Zach. She was trying to protect him, just as he had done for her. Her fur rippled with aggression as she bellowed a warning and stood squarely between him and their attacker. His mate was strong, brave, and the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. Our mate. His wolf corrected.
Well, Zach sure as hell wasn't going to lie there while his mate took on a lion. He rolled onto his side, but Nissa’s paw stopped him. Her body changed, shimmering once before taking human form. Her much smaller, more vulnerable, human form. Fuck! She wasn’t fully shifted, though. Caught within her shift, still part bear, she shook a staying paw at him. Wait? Zach paused. What did his little bear have up her sleeve? He tensed, prepared to jump into action.
The lion surged straight toward her, and she twisted. Its sharp claws barely scratched her shoulder, as it went soaring into the tree behind her.
She rolled out of the way, and Zach jumped onto the dazed lion’s back. He sank his fangs into its neck and bit down savagely, ripping the tendons out, spitting them onto the ground. The lion fell to the ground, lifeless. Zach drew his head back with a triumphant howl. Nissa struggled to her feet, rippling as her shift completed, bringing her fully human once more. His wolf followed suit.
“Is it dead?” she asked, exhaustion pouring from her body.
Dirt and blood spattered across her shoulders and face. Zach hated seeing his mate wounded like this. But at least she was alive. She’d heal.
Bearly Shifted: (A Howls Romance) BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (Mates of Bear Paw River Book 1) Page 5
