Bearly a Memory: Pacific Northwest Bears: (Shifter Romance)

by Moxie North

  “So, what? I say yes, and we all live happily ever after? Really, Tanner?” Brooke couldn’t keep the mockery out of her tone.

  “Well, yes. Granted we have to figure out how to get the contract on you gone. But after that’s done, then yes. We can just be together,” he said.

  “And just how do you think we are going to get rid of the contract? There are mob guys wanting to kill me because I saw them whack someone,” she said with a sneer, although her voice trembled. Brooke knew her nasty attitude was just covering how scared she was, and she also knew that Tanner could see that too.

  “I can’t answer that. I just know that I will do everything I can to keep you safe. I’m a bear; there are advantages. And I trusted you with my secret because I plan on spending the rest of my life with you. I don’t care if that means I have to follow you around the country as you run. I’ll be right behind you the entire way. You are the love of my life, and I’ll die before I let anyone hurt you, Brooke,” Tanner said. He risked her rejection and cupped her face with his hand.

  Brooke didn’t think before she rubbed her face against his palm. His scent calmed her, and she liked the heat of his skin against hers.

  “You’re still naked,” she murmured glancing down at his dick that was pointing at her like it was the third party in their conversation.

  “You care?” he asked.

  “No, it’s a nice distraction,” she admitted.

  “Well, I am more than willing to be your naked servant anytime you want when we are home,” he offered.

  Chapter 28

  “Home…” she started. “This isn’t my home, Tanner. I live in California. My parents are there. I can’t go back to work, maybe ever. My life is a mess. I’m being hunted. My boyfriend is a bear. My coping skills are pretty much drained right now.”

  “I’m your boyfriend?” he asked, his eyebrows raising in curiosity.

  “You know what I mean,” she said, glaring at him.

  Tanner risked leaning closer to her. He brought his face just inches from hers; he had her eyes so he knew she would get what he was saying.

  “Brooke, I’m your mate. In my world, there is nothing more permanent than bonding to one’s mate. I want that with you. I want to be sealed to you forever. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t do this with anyone but you. I love you, Brooke Nishi. I love how you smell like lemons and your eyes light up when you see me. I love that you are kind to people, and you smile all the time. You listen when I talk, hearing me and taking me in like my words can soak into you. I see your focus. I know you care. I want to be with you, I want to make you mine,” he said, bringing his lips to hers.

  She didn’t pull away; she even opened her mouth as he kissed her. She kissed him back.

  Brooke felt like an asshole. A hot, naked guy was proposing forever to her, and she was being a chickenshit about accepting it. True, she wasn’t sure what the rules were for inter-species lovin’, but right now, he was all man and all in to her.

  Pulling back from him, she took a breath and said, “I can’t make this kind of decision right now, Tanner. My life is in shambles. I don’t know if I’m going to see my next birthday. You saying you’ll protect me is awesome, and I’ll accept any help you are willing to offer. But I can’t promise you forever when I don’t know how long that is going to be for me.”

  Brooke had an understanding of her own mortality that was much clearer than it ever had been before.

  “I wouldn’t want you to make the choice to bond with me until you were sure. It doesn’t have to be right away. We can still be together. I can still love you with all my heart without the bonding,” he swore to her. Getting her to stay the night in his house would be a win. Getting her to stay in his bed would a dream come true.

  “Bond? I thought you said I was already your mate,” she asked confused.

  “You are my mate, just like I’m yours. Bonding is what seals us together. Two shifters would bite each other to share blood and DNA with the other. Since you are human, only I would do the biting,” he explained. He saw the shock on her face and reminded himself not all humans thought biting was sexual.

  “It would only be once, during sex. I’ve heard it hardly hurts. I’d make sure you were very happy before I did it,” he promised.

  “So you bite me and what, infect me with Yogi Bear germs?” She looked at him with an annoyed expression.

  Tanner almost laughed. “No, with me. You would still be human, just with a little shifter added in. We age very slowly, and bonding helps slow your aging down too. So we can have long, happy lives together. It will also make it easier for you to carry my cubs if we ever choose to do that.”

  “Cubs? Like tiny baby bears?!” Brooke wanted to be horrified, but the thought of cuddly fuzzy baby bears made her ‘awe’ button kick in.

  “Well yes, our children would be shifters like me,” he said. He really hoped that wouldn’t be a deal breaker. She wasn’t promising him anything, but cubs were just a fact of life. He didn’t even know if she wanted children. The fates wouldn’t match him with someone who didn’t want a family. He was sure of that.

  “Yup, too much information. I need to process this, Tanner. You are standing there all sexy, and I’ve still got bear on the brain. I need to lie down. Can you show me where I can sleep tonight? Alone,” she added at the end.

  Tanner didn’t want to push. Oh, who was he kidding, of course, he wanted to push. His bear and his dick both were telling him he just needed to cuddle a little closer, and she’d choose his bed. But Tanner didn’t want her doubting her choice for a second. He wanted her with him willingly. He’d be patient. The hard part was over. She knew about his bear. There were no more secrets. Maybe a good night’s rest would have her seeing that being with him wouldn’t be that much different than with a human.

  “Sure, baby. Let me grab my clothes,” he said, kissing her forehead and turning back to the living room.

  “Don’t think calling me baby is going to keep me from ogling your ass,” she called out as he turned the corner.

  “That one was for free,” he answered.

  Brooke let herself smile a little. It was a fine ass, but her brain told her if she didn’t get some rest, she wasn’t going to be able to make rational decisions.

  Tanner came back into the kitchen wearing his pants, the button undone. “Can I make you some tea before we go up? It might help you sleep.”

  “That would be nice, thank you.” She stepped away from the counter. As Tanner made the tea, Brooke wandered around the first floor looking at everything that was Tanner Rochon. Her eyes kept straying to the rug where a bear had been sitting not too long ago. Shaking it off, she turned her attention to the pictures of Tanner’s family covering the walls and tables in the room. She guessed they were family because they all looked like him. Big, broad men, some holding axes and saws. His legacy.

  Brooke wasn’t one to turn her nose up at a lumberjack. She thought they were sexy. Not as sexy as cops, but still not bad. There were birthday parties and holiday pictures mixed in different frames through the house. She was impressed by the beautiful china in the dining room. She’d have to ask him about that.

  The house wasn’t just where he crashed – Tanner had made it into a home. And knowing he lived alone, it meant that all the work he’d put into it was for a family he’d planned on having in the future. Brooke wasn’t sure if she was the one he was supposed to be making that family with. A very large part of her really wanted to be. Bear and all.

  Tanner walked in with a cup of tea and her duffle under his arm. He pointed towards the stairs, and Brooke started up them.

  Making it to the top landing, he walked to a door and opened it. Reaching around the corner, he flipped the light switch, and two bedside lamps bathed the room in a warm glow.

  This was a guest room that Tanner had decorated in brown and dark green, casual but inviting. His parents often crashed in this room when they didn’t want to drive back out to their cabin.

>   The bed was king size like his, and he’d purchased mission style furniture for the room, planning on keeping things generic in case he ever needed them for a nursery.

  “The door you just passed is the bathroom. There are clean towels on the rack,” he said setting her bag on a bench at the end of the bed. He moved to the nightstand and put the cup of tea down. “TV remotes are in the drawer here,” he said opening the small nightstand.

  “I’m through the double doors at the end of the hallway. The house is locked up tight. I’m going down to check again and set the alarms. Nobody is getting in here without me knowing. You’ll be safe here, Brooke,” he tried to assure her.

  Brooke looked around the room realizing she was going to be alone. Half of her wanted to drag her Sheriff into his room; the other half was still slapping her around reminding her about the bear in the room.

  Rubbing her hands together nervously, Brooke said, “Thanks, Tanner. I’m just going to sleep, and we can talk in the morning.” She said that but had no idea exactly what they were going to discuss. It was not like she had figured anything out in the last few minutes. Maybe sleep would bring clarity.

  “Goodnight, Brooke. Call out if you need anything,” he said, walking towards her. He placed a kiss on her forehead and left the room

  Tanner wanted to linger, but he couldn’t. He felt sick at her reaction to his bear. She wasn’t mean or hateful about it, just that his timing probably wasn’t the best. She was still there, still sleeping under his roof, and he had to take solace in that.

  Heading downstairs, he locked up the house, checking all the doors and windows and then set the alarm. He knew it was going to be a long night with very little sleep.

  Chapter 29

  Tanner was wide awake a number of hours later when he heard the handle on his door turn. He could smell his mate, had even heard when she’d opened her own door. He’d assumed she was using the bathroom, but never heard the other door close. She must have been standing outside his door for a few moments.

  The door creaked open, and Tanner held his breath.

  “Sheriff?” Brooke called out quietly.

  “You need something, Brooke?” He stayed where he was, laying in his sweatpants on top of the covers; his arm tucked behind his head. He’d been staring at the ceiling berating himself the past few hours.

  “I can’t sleep. Am I bothering you?” she asked, tiptoeing closer to the bed.

  Tanner could see she was in a pair of shorts that barely covered her ass and a tank top. Her heavy breasts stretched the fabric, and he could see them sway as she walked. His dick instantly stood at attention.

  “I’m not sleeping,” he replied. He wasn’t sure what she wanted, and he wasn’t going to presume. He could only hope.

  “I keep closing my eyes and seeing those men. It plays on a loop in my mind,” she said, her voice cracking in fear.

  Tanner sat up and opened his arms to her. She took off at a run and hit the bed, crawling into his embrace.

  Wrapping her up tight against him, he leaned back against the headboard. “Shhh, I’m here.”

  Brooke circled his waist with her arms and dug her head into his chest. She was shivering, trying to shake off the images that were burned into her brain.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so confused. I’m mad at you for some reason. Mad at who you are, but I still need you. You are the only one that can make me feel better,” she admitted.

  “You have a right to be mad. I handled that poorly. It was too much to tell you and too soon, with everything you have going on in your life. I’m just in a damn hurry to have you, and I got selfish. I’m sorry, Brooke. There was probably a much more delicate way of showing you my bear,” he confessed.

  “I don’t really think there was a gentler way of doing it. I wasn’t going to believe you unless you showed me. I think it was just the cherry on top of my rather crappy sundae,” she said.

  Tanner thought about that. Two people having a number of pretty bad days. Their capacity for shock was pretty low at the moment, for both of them.

  “I get that. I just fucking love you so much that I wanted to show you that I can protect you. Not only because I’m a sheriff, but the fact I have a big bear to watch over you, too,” he said.

  “Are your family members all bears? The ones you were having keep an eye on me?” she asked, just realizing the level of the secret he’d shared with her.

  “Yes, except for the humans that have married into the family. I would only trust another bear to watch out for you,” he swore.

  “Dr. Eddie?!”

  “Yup, his bear is a prissy polar bear. Can you imagine? Those are rare in our clan. Shows in his coloring though, I guess,” Tanner said thoughtfully.

  “My doctor, the polar bear. Sounds like a fucked up foreign film,” Brooke said with a snort.

  Tanner gave her a squeeze. He liked that she wasn’t shaking anymore.

  “You want to stay with me tonight? No funny business?” he offered. He wasn’t sleeping anyway. Laying there with his cock hard all night was just the torture he deserved for being a dickhead.

  “Well no, not if there isn’t going to be any funny business. What’s the point?” she said. Brooke had decided long before she tried to sleep that denying what she was feeling for her Sheriff was not in her best interests. She liked him, a lot. He said he loved her. He was big, strong, and looked at her like he couldn’t believe she was real. That certainly did something for a girl’s ego.

  She also was perpetually horny around him. She kept remembering the giant bear, but her slutty mind would jump back to before the bear when she was staring at his junk. She’d wanted to masturbate with that mental image, but she didn’t know how easily sound traveled in his house. She’d die of embarrassment if he knew she was diddling herself in the guest room.

  “Brooke, I can wait, I’m serious. I’m not some horny teenager. You just had a number of traumatic events in your life. And if I heard of a jerk taking advantage of you in your state – well hell, I’d probably lock him up for his own good.”

  “Well, that is very noble of you, but I was talking about my turn at funny business,” she said. Brooke started to inch her way down his body, keeping her eyes on his.

  Tanner didn’t need to be a detective to see where this was going. He reached for her shoulders to stop her and was shocked when she turned her head and nipped his hand.

  “Back off, Tanner,” she said with a tiny growl that amused the shit out of him.

  “How about we just cuddle?” he offered.

  That stopped Brooke short. She glared up at him. “Did you just offer to fucking cuddle?”

  The indignant tone in her voice had him mentally cringing. He sounded like a pussy. He was usually a dominant in bed, but his mate was turning him into a prude.

  “I’m trying to do the right thing. Believe me that I want nothing more than to have your sassy mouth sucking down my cock. Actually that’s not true, I’d rather be licking your pussy and making you scream my name,” he said, his eyes glowing yellow.

  “Hmm, now that sounds much more intriguing. You sound like you like talking in bed. Are you a lay back and take it kind of guy or a bossy ass in bed?” she asked. Brooke was trailing a finger over the waistband of his pants now that she’d slid low enough to be face to face with her goal. She leaned over and nipped his abs with her teeth and delighted as they flexed in away from her.

  “You don’t want to know how bossy I can get in bed, love. I’ve literally got an animal inside me that knows nothing but how to dominate. He wants me to flip you over, slap your ass, sink my cock as deep as it can go into you, then bite you as I ride you till I come. I’m not passive in bed; I can assure you.” His voice took on a rumble that she felt in her clit.

  “Oh, that sounds too good. I think that is just what the doctor ordered to make me feel better. As long as I get to taste first. You said I could,” she reminded him

  Tanner was still trying to stay no. The voice in hi
s head trying to do the right thing was getting smaller and smaller as his lust for his mate hazed his vision. His bear was reminding him that she came to them. She started talking about sucking him off. He even offered to fucking cuddle. No one could say he was driving this. But he was about to take control and after that he wasn’t sure if he could handle the outcome.

  He stared long and hard at her. She was still tickling a line across his lower abdomen with her fingertip. Her mouth inches away from his fabric covered cock. He was only a man after all, how much was he supposed to take?

  Making a choice that he really hoped he wouldn’t regret later, Tanner pushed his fingers into her hair and grabbed a handful. Not hard, just firmly. “Suck my cock, but don’t make me come. I’m going to do that in your pussy,” he growled.

  Brooke squeezed her legs together, pinching her clit to give herself a little relief. His words had all of her nerve endings sparking. She usually was the one in charge in bed. Not that she wanted to be, just that she tended to date men who found her a little intimidating. Having a man take over was hitting all her buttons just right.

  Scooping her hand into his pants, she pulled them down until his dick was exposed. It was just as fantastic as she remembered. Running her fingertips up the underside as it laid against his stomach, she watched his stomach clench again.

  “Sensitive?” she asked coyly.

  “Don’t tease, Brooke,” he growled.

  “Ha! Oh, I’m so going to tease you. You can boss me all you want; doesn’t mean I’ll always listen,” she warned before leaning over and dragging her tongue up the length of his cock.

  She heard him hiss in a breath, and his hand tightened on her head. Bringing her own hand up to his cock, she circled the head, wetting him and sucking just the tip into her mouth. She heard and felt a rumble roll over him – she was on the right track. Looking up to see him watching her, she positioned herself over him and sunk her mouth as far down his length as she could.

  He was big and thick, and she was only able to take him halfway. She brought her hand up to squeeze the base of him as she set up a slow, torturous rhythm.