by Anna Lowe
“Admiring you,” he whispered.
She lifted her hips off the table and pushed against him, demanding more. “I need you inside me. I need you so much.”
His expression went from wondrous to wicked as he wrapped his huge hands around her hips, took a deep breath—
She took a deep breath, too.
—and pushed into her with one smooth thrust.
“Yes,” she cried at the sweet burn inside. The stretch, the perfect balance of pleasure and pain. “Drew.”
He pulled back an inch then slid in two. Back one, in two, moving in gradual steps that echoed his manner of approaching her in the café. Carefully. Slowly, as if savoring the sensation.
He set into a steady rhythm, and the need to speed into another high receded. Maybe she should savor, too. She’d been in such a rush, but suddenly, all she wanted was to rock with him for another hour or two. She adjusted the angle of her heels against his ass, and he followed her cue, pulling her whole body closer while thrusting deeper still.
Although her eyes were closed, soft white light filled her vision. Heaven. She was on her way to heaven.
Drew leaned over her body, and his heavy breaths whooshed past her ears. She could picture the puffs of condensation in the cold winter air, though all she felt was heat. Every inch of her, on fire for him.
“Drew,” she murmured. “Deeper.”
He was already deeper than she’d ever had a man before, and it burned, but still, she needed more. He needed more, too. She spread her knees wider, and he lifted them over his shoulders, finding the perfect angle.
“Oh, yes.” It was all she could do not to scream the words over and over now that Drew had picked up speed.
Deeper. Harder, her wolf begged. Want every inch of my mate.
The next time he pumped, she clenched down with her inner muscles, slowing his penetration to a delicious crawl.
He groaned against her neck, and she cracked into a grin.
“Like that?” she teased.
“Love that,” he said in a rough, gritty voice.
“So do it again.”
He pushed up on his elbows. Anything you desire.
She stared. Was that his bear she’d heard?
Drew’s eyes glowed with sheer animal power. A look she’d never seen on her quiet, reserved bear before. A look she wouldn’t mind unleashing a little more often.
Like, for a lifetime, her wolf murmured.
She spread her hands across the thick muscles of his ass and nodded.
“Oh!” she cried when he hammered to a spot he hadn’t touched before.
“Okay?” he asked through his next groan.
Was he kidding? “Okay is not the word.”
He liked that. She could tell from the sparks in his eyes, the upward curl at the corners of his mouth. And damn, did she love this version of her bear. Well, she loved both versions, but this side of him was wilder. Naughtier. More demanding. She’d have to get him hot and naked more often.
“Watch what you wish for,” he teased, reading her mind.
“Watch. I like the sound of that.” She tucked her chin and fixed her eyes on the point of their connection. It felt deliciously dirty, watching him slide in and out of her.
Maybe they were both discovering their wild sides. A dozen ambitious positions flashed through her mind. Like Drew lifting her against a wall while pounding into her again and again. Or of her dropping to her knees and taking him in her mouth. Or running through the woods in the best kind of chase. Or…or…
Her mind went blank then, and she realized the only thing she wanted was exactly this way, right now.
We’ll save the other ideas for later. Her wolf grinned.
Drew withdrew and waited, poised at her entrance. She shivered, watching the thick mass of him appear, inch by throbbing inch. His cock glistened, and his hands tightened on her hips.
God, he was a work of art. And Jesus, was he big.
Big, but a perfect fit, her wolf added.
“Drew—” she started just as he thrust forward, making her vision blur. She tightened her muscles, milking him every inch of the way.
“So good,” he said, pushing her to her limits.
She gasped and held on tight. It was beyond good. It was lightning, fire, and thunder to her soul.
“Again. Please. Please do that again.”
He pulled back, then hammered back in, clenching his teeth.
“Don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” she begged, clutching his shoulders, digging in with her heels.
He pulled out, and his eyes flashed with a look that said, I never want to stop.
“More,” she gulped, clamping her legs around him. “More.”
“More,” he replied in a hoarse voice, giving it to her. His thrusts grew faster and harder. Jerkier, too, as he slowly lost control. She tucked her chin and watched him pound into her. Noises escaped her — desperate little mewing sounds like a greedy kitten.
Drew rocked faster and faster, and she would have jolted over the picnic table each time if he hadn’t held her so close. He reached around to pull her right leg higher, changing the angle, and she cried out as he bottomed out in a whole new spot.
He might have cried out, too. She couldn’t tell any more, because her ears were filled with that roaring sound again, her whole body about to melt down.
“More,” she begged, although she was sure she’d explode any second.
His eyes flickered with a deep-seated hunger, and sweat broke out on his brow.
“Drew,” she murmured, thrusting forward as he powered in, making it more of a slam than a slide.
Her head fell back as every muscle in her body coiled for the release building inside her. Did he feel the pressure, too? Did he see the blinding light that shone into every corner of her body, making her feel incredibly alive?
“Summer,” he groaned, thrusting one more time.
She moaned as her whole body shuddered with unbearable pleasure. Drew shuddered, too, emptying inside her. His heat spread through her as her body sang and danced and raved.
“Yes,” she moaned, drawing out the high, memorizing the moment. The heat of his body inside hers. The tight grip of his hands on her waist. The stiffness of his body as he gloried in his own release.
Yes, her wolf cried, and her fangs pressed on the inside of her gums, begging to be unleashed. She found herself eyeing his neck, planning where to bite. A mating bite. A bond that would make him hers forever.
Drew was eyeing her neck, too, and she saw his bear wrestling for control.
Yes, she swore she could hear the beast murmur. A mating bite. Let me make you mine.
His nostrils flared, and she almost tipped her head back in invitation. Make me yours, Drew. Forever.
But an owl hooted, and a tiny dusting of snow sprinkled down from one of the boughs overhead. A reminder of the stark reality around them.
“We can’t,” he croaked, coming to his senses, too. “Not yet.”
The yet was the only part of the sentence she liked. But he was right. They were already risking too much by meeting like this.
She cupped his cheeks and kissed him long and hard.
“Not yet,” she conceded. “But someday…”
He nodded and cuddled her closer. “Someday soon.”
She looked up at the sky and sighed. The stars seemed brighter, the air crisper, the night darker than before. Was it her, feeling more alive than before, or had the universe changed, too?
“Come on,” Drew said, untangling his limbs from hers.
“Wait,” she protested. She loved the weight of his body over hers. She loved the closeness, the way his chest rose and fell beside hers.
“I promise you this will be worth it,” he said, pulling her to her feet.
She shivered, feeling the cold for the first time since she’d shifted from her wolf form. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” He kept his hand tight around hers as he led her down t
he path.
The night was crystal clear, but the woods ahead of them were swirling with mist, and she hesitated. What was hiding back there, out of sight?
“Trust me,” he murmured.
She hung back for a split second, then gave in. Of course, she could trust her mate.
“You don’t think I brought you here for the picnic tables, did you?” He grinned.
Well, that piqued her curiosity. “I liked the picnic table. Loved it, in fact.”
He squeezed her hand. “Me, too. But this is even better. I promise.”
A few steps more, and she could barely see through the witch’s broth of condensation. She held his hand tighter than ever.
“Um, Drew…”
“Here.” He motioned to a wooden frame that lay flat, squaring off a patch of earth.
She looked closer. Wait, that wasn’t earth. It was water, and it was steaming.
“Hot springs,” Drew whispered. His voice carried on the mist.
The tension in her shoulders disappeared, and she laughed out loud. “Hot springs?” Maybe her bear was more adventurous than she thought.
“Come on,” he said.
She slid into the steamy water, oohing and ahhing at the warmth.
“Not bad, huh?” he asked.
“Not bad,” she agreed, sliding closer.
Drew sat on the submerged bench built into the pool, and she straddled his lap.
“Not bad,” she murmured. His cock twitched against her core, and she ground against him, suddenly craving more.
“Not bad,” he whispered, holding her hips.
A second later, they were connected again, both of them rocking and sweating and murmuring in pleasure. Drew lapped at her nipples, flipping every switch in her on. She pumped over him, ever faster and harder, and when he tipped his head all the way back, she did the same.
“Yes,” she murmured as his thickness filled her. Filled her like no man ever had before.
“Yes,” he murmured, letting her take the lead for another glorious minute. Then he stood up with a mighty splash and drew her out of the water.
“I get the top,” he growled, laying her out along the wooden frame.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, rising to meet his body.
“Summer,” he murmured as he slid in.
He said her name again and again, even as he pounded her into another possible high.
“Summer,” he breathed afterward, holding her close.
“Mate,” she whispered, feeling the full meaning of the word for the very first time.
Yes, he was a bear. Yes, they were playing with fire, allowing things to go this far.
And no, she’d never regret it. No matter what lay ahead.
Chapter Eight
“See you soon,” she whispered an hour later when they dragged themselves out of bliss and back into reality.
If only she didn’t have to leave the hot springs where they’d been wrapped around each other like a couple of cubs in a cozy den.
We don’t have to, her wolf had whispered. We can stay and stay and stay.
No, she couldn’t. She had to get back to Hope Springs and see what had come of the fight. She had to find Mett and figure out what he was planning.
Drew’s eyes shimmered with a mix of pure sorrow and staunch duty. “I don’t want to go, either. But we have to.”
They drew apart slowly and formed a rough plan which started with scrubbing themselves fiercely in the water. There was no way they could carry the slightest whiff of each other’s scent back to the wolf pack.
He grimaced. “I can stop in a bar on the way back and make sure I smell like alcohol and smoke.”
She nodded. “I’ll roll in every skunkbush I can find.”
Don’t leave him! her wolf howled.
She had to. They were close to finishing their mission. Close to discovering what the future course of Hope Springs was. She couldn’t let herself quit now. Not even for her mate.
“See you soon,” he whispered.
They both stood there for a long time, looking at each other. Finally, Summer shifted into wolf form and forced herself to go with a firm shake of her coat.
She hadn’t slept a wink, but fear and curiosity gripped her, and once she was out of sight of Drew, she ran like a woman possessed. Had anyone at Hope Springs noticed her absence? What had happened with the fight? What would happen next?
Drew had told her about the anonymous appeal for help they’d received at the saloon. Was there really someone committed to finishing off the Blue Blood movement once and for all? If so, who? Thomas? One of the elders? Someone else who’d been biding their time so far? Or was it a ruse?
But first things first. She didn’t even know which of the contenders won the fight for alpha position. And the longer she thought about it, the faster she moved, anxious to find out. She ran long and hard, not letting her pace flag until she crested the last rise and stopped at the view. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, lighting the lower sky with a pinkish-yellow glow. Open country stretched as far as the eye could see, and a single set of headlights marked the state highway at this lonely hour. The earth sloped upward from south to north, and ribbons of color stood out in the rocky bluffs, showing off eons of nature at work. It was beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful.
But when she focused on the dusty settlement of Hope Springs, her face set into hard lines. The place looked so quiet, so serene, but she knew it was anything but. She sniffed and caught the scent of wolf musk, even from half a mile away. No surprise there, given the way fights pumped up every male’s testosterone — not just the men fighting but those spectating, too. The arena was mostly deserted, though two torches still flickered faintly, and the last embers of a bonfire glowed beside it, still crackling with news of the new alpha to the world.
Which alpha? she wanted to scream. Who won? Logic told her it would be Thomas, but veterans like Dryver were impossible to dismiss. She shook herself again, jogged down the slope, turned a corner—
And ran right into Mett.
She recoiled immediately, and he looked at her through narrow-lidded eyes.
“I was looking for you everywhere,” he barked.
Yeah, well, I was avoiding you like the plague, she wanted to say.
“I really needed a run,” she explained, sticking to a version of the truth. “But I got lost.”
As if I’d ever get lost, her wolf sniffed.
She shushed it before the lie showed and let her gaze drop away from Mett’s bloodshot, hungover eyes. Let him think she was sorry or embarrassed or meek. Let him think anything it took to pull off her mission.
“You missed the fight.” Gretchen strode up, wearing a deep frown of disapproval.
“I’ve seen enough fighting,” she replied, forcing herself not to glare at the older woman.
“And you nearly missed the meeting.” Mett grabbed her arm so hard, his fingernails bit into her skin.
She held back a yelp — and the punch she would have loved to plant on his chin.
“Meeting?” She looked around.
So that’s why the place seemed so quiet. Almost everyone was in the barn, and the last stragglers were hurrying in that direction.
“You can sit with us,” Gretchen said. An order, not an invitation.
Summer was still considering how to extract herself from those two when a deep voice sounded at her side.
“Kiss for the winner?”
She spun and found Thomas there. So he had won. He looked weary yet triumphant, and his eyes sparkled. And whoa – not just from the win. His eyes sparkled to see her.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Um…uh…” she sputtered. How was she going to get out of all this? Half the women in the pack would have wished themselves into her position at that moment, but Summer just felt sick. She didn’t want Thomas any more than she wanted Mett. She wanted Drew. Only Drew. Forever.
But Thomas had already nudged Mett to the side —
seething, red-faced Mett — and leaned so close, she had no choice but to give him a peck on the cheek. He smelled of shaving cream and leather polish, like a cowboy who’d just spiffed himself up. Not too bad, really, but nothing like Drew.
For the first second, Thomas was a warm, gentle presence at her side, but a moment later, he went stiff. Shit – had he picked up on Drew’s scent? Had she blown her cover?
“Um, what’s going on?” She pulled away quickly and motioned to the people hurrying toward the barn.
“I’ve called a meeting,” Thomas said. His eyes narrowed on her, and his nostrils flared.
She trembled inside. She’d been sure to brush off every trace of Drew’s scent, but a girl couldn’t swim in ecstasy all night and completely hide what she’d been up to. Did she still have that telltale glow, that sleepy scent of bliss?
She tried changing the subject. “A meeting? With who?”
“I’ve put out a call to every pack in the Four Corners and Nevada,” Thomas said, looking every bit the powerful alpha.
“Don’t see why we need outsiders meddling in our business,” Gretchen grumbled.
Thomas ignored her completely, hooked his arm through Summer’s, and strode toward the barn. She followed, trying to stifle her panic. The last thing she needed was an unknown alpha making a claim on her. Thomas had already grabbed control of the pack — who knew what he’d claim next?
Out of the corner of her eye, Summer saw a stiff, heavily bruised Dryver being helped into his truck by his men.
“You should have killed him,” Gretchen grumbled. The woman was like a leech at her side, and judging by the expression on Thomas’ face, he felt the same.
“No need to kill a good man,” he said.
Summer wondered what his definition of a good man was. Good as long as he didn’t mix with different species of shifters? Emmett Whyte had seemed fairly normal as long as he was around wolf-only company. So who knew what Thomas meant?
She walked along, wearing a neutral expression and keeping her eyes on the ground. Thomas only released her when they reached the barn door, and the second they stepped through, she hustled to one side. It took her a minute to adjust to the dim interior after the bright light of daybreak, but her nose was immediately filled with the scents of dozens of shifters. Some familiar, others unknown.
