Ursa Major

by Mary Winter

  It sure sounded like good-bye. Swallowing hard, Sarah pulled away, sliding their fingers apart. She stood and hugged herself. Her closed suitcase mocked her as did her laptop bag where she knew if she checked her email she’d find the tickets and itinerary for the trip.

  Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. Sarah glanced at the closed door wondering if Cameron were about to barge in on them. If this were her last night with Liam, she didn’t want to spend it fighting. Washington seemed so far away from this place, both in terms of physical miles and emotional ones. She crossed the space between them and sat back down on the bed.

  Words, all of them sounding trite, came to her lips only to be tossed aside. She looked at him, trying to memorize the strong line of his jaw, his rich, mahogany hair and those dark eyes in which she could positively get lost. “I’ll continue to do good work once I go back to Washington. I have no idea where I’ll be sent next, but I’m sure it’ll be somewhere as important as this one.” Unless my boss so thoroughly hates the report that I’m sent to cover pork projects for the rest of my career.

  Liam remained silent, giving her way too much time to think. Though she wasn’t naive about how politics worked, she hoped that her employer hadn’t gone over to the lobbyists’ side. The impartiality of her employer was one of the main reasons why she worked there. If they had ceased to be that, then she had to find a new job. And her sister probably would as well.

  The footfalls stopped just outside the door.

  “Cameron,” she whispered.

  Liam nodded.

  “I suppose he can come in. He’ll be happy that I’m leaving.”

  “If that’s what you want?” Liam raised his hand, almost as if he were to reach for her, then set it back down. “I could send him away.”

  She shook her head. “Let’s tell him the good news, then I can pack and be ready for my flight tomorrow.”

  “What time is it?”

  “I leave at 7 in the morning.” She resisted the urge to grab her laptop and fire it up to double check her itinerary. She’d written everything down on the notepad by the bed and her shorthand mocked her with the truth.

  “It’ll be a short night then, won’t it?” He asked the question almost as if he had other plans for the evening than sleeping.

  Sarah’s body zinged to life. Her breath hitched, the look in his dark eyes making heat pool low in her body. “Probably,” she admitted.

  “You can come in, Cameron. It’s not like you can’t hear us through the door anyway,” Liam called out. A moment later the door opened and a very angry Cameron strode inside.

  ~* * *~

  Liam looked from the woman he loved to his brother and back again. This wasn’t turning out well at all. Cameron’s animosity was to be expected. He felt far more strongly about keeping their secret safe, not sharing it with anyone out of their community. Liam, on the other hand, believed that certain humans, like Sarah, could be trusted. He just hoped he wasn’t wrong.

  “I’m sure you heard everything,” he said to his brother. What had happened in the former Soviet Union had happened a long time ago. Liam certainly didn’t hold it against anyone. They’d gotten out, with the Quintursa’s help, and were alive. “So you see, you don’t have anything to worry about. Sarah is returning to D.C. in the morning.”

  Cameron crossed his arms over his chest.

  Liam shook his head. Don’t argue with me, brother. Just let this one go. If I have to choose between you and Sarah, right now I’m going with her.

  “You realize I have to tell the Quintursa about this. Damn it, Liam, you let your dick rule your emotions and now you’ve violated our cardinal rule. Don’t tell the humans about us. How fucking hard could that be?” Cameron snarled.

  To her credit, Sarah didn’t flinch. She continued packing.

  “Don’t tell me about the rules. I know the Quintursa as well as you do. I’m well aware with what our other brothers do. But I also know…hell.” He growled and dragged his fingers through his hair. Now was not how he wanted to reveal his feelings to Sarah. She deserved so much more than this. Sending her back to Washington with words of love that he couldn’t act upon, because going back to D.C. with her was out of the question. Someone needed to run his business, and he had work to do up here. Someone had to keep the government from killing the grizzly bears.

  “You also know what?” Cameron stepped forward, going toe-to-toe with his older twin. “What do you know, Liam? What would change my opinion of your breaking the rules and revealing us? Why should I let you do the very thing I couldn’t?” He spun away and pounded his first on the doorframe.

  Liam took a deep breath before answering. Trust Cameron’s past to haunt him even more than being trapped in a Soviet prison would. “Because if you were in my place you would do the same thing.” He spoke softly, not wanting to bring up Gillian.

  “That’s different,” Cameron snarled. He raised his fist, but didn’t hit the wall again.

  Liam went to his brother and rested his hand between Cameron’s shoulder blades. “I don’t think it is. Look, Sarah is going back to D.C. in the morning. Let this go, Cameron. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

  Cameron shrugged away. He spun, going to the door and opening it. “I can’t believe you’d compare her to Gillian. I have to tell the Quintursa. What they do once they find out, I don’t know. But I have to tell them, brother. I’m sorry.” He stepped through the door and slammed it behind him.

  Liam stared at the closed door.

  “Who is Gillian?” Sarah’s words cut through the silence surrounding him.

  He turned, trying to wrap his mind around the present when he was mired in the past. “She was the love of Cameron’s life. We were young. She’d come up here to do an internship with the DNR. She and Cameron hit it off, but our parents were firm. We were not to get involved with humans. We could not reveal our secret. What I did with you, showing you our ritual, it’s against our law. And should the Quintursa decide, I could be killed for it.”

  “No!” Sarah flung herself at him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her face against his chest.

  Looking down at her, Liam hugged her. He squeezed tight, half afraid if he let go she’d float out of his life forever. “I don’t think that will happen. I’ve had contact with the Quintursa since you’ve been here. I believe that they would understand the situation. You are in a very unique position to help us. I won’t ask you to and that has nothing to do with our relationship, but if I can make the Quintursa believe—”

  “I will.” Sarah peppered kisses across his jaw. “I’ll help you. I’ll do anything to help. Because once I go back to D.C. that’s all I’m going to have left.”

  Downstairs the door slammed.

  His brother had gone. Liam held the woman in his arms, realizing he’d made his choice. The woman he loved over his brother. Damn, it shouldn’t have been this easy. He hoped, no he prayed, that sometime in the future he and Cameron would make up. It just might be a while.

  “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have happened like this. My mother has said that she always regretted what happened with Gillian. Things were different then. Now, we really could use a biologist on our side.” He stroked her back, loving her soft curves pressed against his chest. Her legs tangled with his, the knowledge that in less than twenty-four hours he’d lose this had his body tight.

  “It’s okay.” Sarah curled her fingers into his shoulder blades. “I just want to make sure I have memories to take back with me to D.C..” Tilting her head back, she flattened her palm on his chest, then slid it to his chin. She curled her fingers around the back of his neck. Sarah pulled Liam’s face down to hers and sealed her words with a kiss.

  She was his heaven and his salvation. As his lips moved across hers, Liam drank from her. His hands slid down her back to cup her bottom and pull her against him. Her stomach pillowed his erection and all he could think about was sinking into her wet heat. Too impatient for the bed, he spun her
around and walked the three steps it took to press her back against the wall. With his hips, he pinned her there, and was rewarded when she hooked one leg around his hips.

  He thrust his tongue into her mouth, and she greedily took it, matching his bold strokes with her own. One hand slid to his back to curl against his buttocks, the other still tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck. From shoulders to hips they touched, the layers of clothing doing little to hide her soft curves from him. Especially since he knew what they felt like.

  He kissed her like there was no tomorrow, swallowing her whimpering cries and dipping over and over into her mouth. The need for air was but a minute distraction as he changed the angle of the kiss. Her fingers clenched against his rear and he remembered them doing the same with every thrust he made into her body. His jeans grew painfully tight. Only a few hours, that’s all he had.

  Liam grabbed the hem of her sweater. He tugged it up towards her head. A little maneuvering had it sliding free and he tossed it to the floor behind them. Her white, cotton utilitarian bra could have been the most expensive lingerie, because she looked beautiful. He freed the front catch, her breasts spilling free into the palms of his hands. He groaned.

  The Great Mother had a sick sense of humor to bring Sarah to him right now. He could ask her to leave her job in Washington D.C., even though it was obvious she loved it. He wondered if she would. Money would be no problem, and the Quintursa needed someone like her to liaison between the human and the Homo interans government. It would be a win-win situation, but it would be a sacrifice he wouldn’t ask her to make. Because if she accepted, she’d most likely never see her sister ever again. The Quintursa held a tough line and what concessions they gave would come with a high price.

  He trailed kisses over her jaw and neck, trying to use the time to slow the pace of his desire. Taking her up against the wall evoked certain primal feelings in him, though it wasn’t how he would have chosen that they would spend their last hours. Of course, once he claimed her, they could always tumble to the bed.

  He groaned with the direction of his thoughts. His feather-light caresses grew bolder, the raw desire to claim his mate rising in his blood. His bear roared, demanded he take her now, and the man was having a difficult time getting the bear to obey. Liam skimmed his hands over her waist and flipped open her jeans. The zipper rasped down, and the material sagged, revealing her cotton underwear. Their color was lost on him as he tugged them down, and a moment’s separation for her to kick off boots and socks, then pull her jeans and panties down her legs.

  He stripped, heedless of the sound of tearing fabric or the fact that with them both naked, going slow was not an option. Lingering to savor her body would come later. Right now he needed the life affirming action of diving into her wet body. Grabbing her hands, he pinned them above her head, backing her once more against the wall. A low growl built in his throat.

  “I need you inside me,” Sarah whimpered.

  Her slight entreaty undid the last of his self-control. He slid a thigh between hers, lifting it to rub against her. Spreading her legs, he moved between them. “I wanted to make it good.”

  “It is good.” She grabbed his shoulders, lifting her legs to wrap them around his hips. The motion brought him in intimate contact with her and with a single flex of her hips, she took him inside her.

  Liam groaned. Ever since the ritual this was exactly what his bear wanted, to be buried balls-deep inside the woman he loved. His mate. She belonged to him. He waited, savoring the flutters along the length of his shaft, the tiny sounds she made and the way her channel seemed perfectly fit just for him. Then, when he couldn’t stand the stillness any longer, he began to move.

  Long strokes buried him to the hilt. She clutched at him, twining around his body as if she never wanted to let go. He knew the feeling.

  Her tiny whimpering cries escalated, the contractions milking his channel growing stronger with every thrust. He suspected it would always be like this between them, hot, wild. And after tonight…

  “Liam!” Sarah screamed. Her cry wrested all coherent thoughts from him.

  He clung to her, his world narrowing down to the heat of her body and his name on her lips. A low groan built in his chest. He released her hands, the palm of one hand cupping her ass to bring her even closer to him, his other delving between their bodies to play with her clit.

  Sarah came. Her sheath tightened, nearly drawing his own release from him. She sobbed his name, her head buried against his neck. Over and over again, she trembled, her gasps and cries only building his own passion.

  His balls tightened.

  So hard, so fast, he never imagined that it could be like this. With a raw, primal cry he thrust into her once more. The wall vibrated behind her and with a hoarse shout, he came. He spilled himself into her, the aftershocks daring along his limbs and into each nerve. His bear roared. His skin tingled.

  Shit! The change! Liam drew deep, harsh breaths. I’m a man. I’m human. I can’t do this to her. Fur threatened to erupt from his skin.

  “Liam?” she asked, her voice full of worry.

  “It’s okay. I’m okay.” He doubted his rough response reassured her. Damn it, not now! He yelled at his bear, and the beast receded.

  Liam gulped air into his lungs.

  “The bear just got a little antsy, that’s all.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. Tucking her against him, he straightened and carried her to the bed. He laid her down on the comforter, smoothing her hair away from her face. He snuggled beside her. A moment’s pang gripped him. This would be one of the last times he held her like this, if not the last. His shaft hardened with the thought of spending their last night together making love. She could sleep on the plane.

  Sarah snuggled into him. “Tell the bear it’s all right.” She flattened her palm on his chest and kissed the skin over his heart. “I understand.”

  And she did. Great mother that was why he loved her. She understood the wildness lurking beneath his skin, the desire he had to run wild and free somewhere where humans didn’t intrude. “Make them understand in Washington. I sensed all along that you love this place like I do. It may be my home, but you understand the untamed beauty of nature. You have to make them see.” Damn it, he didn’t want to make it any harder on her than he had to. She had to see. She had to make them believe.

  “I will,” she whispered. A sleepy sigh emerged from her throat. “Don’t worry.”

  “I won’t.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, aware that she’d fallen asleep beside him.

  Liam watched her sleep. The darkness posed no hindrance to his vision. Just enough light filtered in through the windows to illuminate her. He grabbed a blanket, not wanting to disturb her by tucking her beneath the covers and tossed it over their naked bodies. Duty pulled at him. Downstairs in his den the always-open phone line to the Quintursa waited. They had to know what Sarah knew.

  He breathed deeply, listening to see if Cameron were still in the lodge. The nighttime sounds greeted him, the whirring of the furnace, the hum of the refrigerator downstairs. He heard nothing to indicate Cameron was still here. Damn. Liam hoped Cameron hadn’t taken it upon himself to call the Quintursa. If he had…No, Liam refused to finish that thought.

  His arm started to fall asleep from Sarah’s laying on it, but he didn’t mind. Listening to her deep, even breathing, getting the chance to watch her up close and personal like this was a chance he wouldn’t miss. His brothers would laugh if they saw him now. Maybe not Cameron, it’d take him a while to get over Gillian, if he ever did. But his younger brothers would laugh to think of their big, eldest brother brought low by a woman.

  He refused to dwell on tomorrow. Liam glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Make that today. He refused to dwell on what would happen later today. When that plane took off, nothing would change, except that Sarah would take his heart back to Washington D.C. with her.

  He must have dozed off, because when he woke, their positions wer
e reversed. Sarah sat up in bed next to him. Her fingers lingered on the pillow next to his face. “I should go pack.” She started to rise from the bed.

  Liam reached out his hand and snagged her wrist. A glance over her shoulder at the clock showed only about an hour had passed. “You probably should. Though I’ll admit that if there were a way—”

  Still naked, Sarah leaned across the bed and pressed her finger against his lips. “There isn’t and it doesn’t do any good to talk about it. I have to go pack.” She replaced her finger with her mouth and gave him a quick, hard kiss. “You better go get dressed.”

  The practical part of his mind had to admit that she was right. Watching her disappear into the attached bathroom, and then listen to the shower start a few moments later conjured images that wouldn’t get either one of them to the airport on time. Taking her absence as a respite, he swung his legs over the bed and hurried from the room. Once in his own bedroom he hopped in the shower, aware of the intimacy of Sarah doing the same thing just a few doors down.

  She was right. She had to go back to Washington today. Because if she stayed, he’d want to do something stupid like marry her, so she never left his side again. His breath whooshed from his lungs. Leaning his forehead against the cool, tile wall of the shower, he wondered what had brought that crazy thought on and what his brothers would think.

  He didn’t have to contemplate on it for very long. Cameron would hate him for it. The others would only see the potential hazard she caused, not the fact that she made him the happiest as he’d been in a while. And among the Homo interans ursa, his happiness didn’t matter. Keeping his people safe did. And if Sarah stayed, there was no way she could keep his kind safe, not with her ties to the human world. Ties he couldn’t ask her to sever.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The man standing in the kitchen definitely wasn’t Liam or Cameron. He stood nearly as tall as the twins, but where they looked like light, he was dark. Sable brown hair might have given him a tousled, just rolled out of bed look if it hadn’t been cut military short. Broad shoulders dressed in a black shirt tucked into equally dark jeans and boots gave him the appearance of someone she wouldn’t want to meet in the dark. “Excuse me,” she said as she went to the counter to start a pot of coffee. She knew she needed at least a glass and Liam probably would want one before leaving to take her to the airport.