Blaze (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 8)

by Ophelia Sexton

  Dimitri was breathing hard by the time she was ready to move on to the next step, and she found that her own arousal had intensified until it was nearly painful.

  She wanted to climb on top of him and feel him inside her as she rode him.

  She glanced up and saw that he was watching her with predatory intensity, his gray eyes sheened with gold.

  She opened her mouth and wrapped her lips around the end of his rigid length.

  Dimitri's groan was louder this time, and she felt his fingers clench in her hair. While she teased his tip with her tongue and lips, she continued to stroke his shaft with firm strokes while her other hand toyed with his balls.

  "Oh God, that feels amazing," he breathed. "Don't stop. Please."

  "Mmm," she said, overcome with desire at his words.

  She felt him shiver at the vibrations of her voice and realized that although she had intended this to be a gift for him, she was enjoying herself. A lot. She liked feeling the subtle shifts in his muscles as she touched him and relished hearing the changes in his breathing when she did something that he liked.

  After a blissful interval, she felt his thigh muscles tighten. "Have I told you that I love you?" he gasped.

  She redoubled her efforts and was rewarded when his fingers tightened painfully in her hair.

  His stomach muscles tensed, and he convulsed, driving his cock upwards into her welcoming mouth with short, sharp jerks that tasted of salt and musk. Her grip on his shaft kept him from choking her as he rode out his climax.

  He was still hard as he sighed and relaxed, his hands gentling on her hair.

  "Wow," he murmured.

  "You did good," she said, wiping her mouth and smiling up at him. "No screaming."

  "And now it's my turn," he said, pulling her to her feet. "And believe me, you're going to have a hard time staying quiet."

  "Oooh, a challenge," she said brightly, as he scooped her up and tossed her onto the bed.

  Dimitri proved equal to the challenge.

  In the end, he had to muffle her screams of pleasure with his mouth.

  Afterwards, when Damaris was curled against him with her head on his shoulder, she played languidly with the thick, dark hair on his chest.

  "I love you, too," she told him.

  Damaris didn't recall falling asleep, but when she started awake the next morning, Dimitri was gone, and the master bedroom was flooded in golden sunlight.

  Someone was pounding heavily at the front door.

  "Mitya!" roared a deep male voice tinged with a Russian accent. "Mitya, open up! Your mother wishes to speak with you!"

  "Shit," muttered Damaris, scrambling out of bed.

  Remembering that she was naked, she grabbed for the robe hanging over the back of one of the master bedroom's comfy armchairs.

  Her prospective in-laws were here, and they didn't sound happy.

  Where's Dimitri?

  * * *

  Knowing that Damaris liked to sleep late on weekend mornings, Dimitri left the house quietly just after dawn and walked over to the yellow Victorian.

  He knew that Elle would be awake and beginning her day. Now that Damaris had finally set a date for their wedding, he wanted to speak with her as soon as possible about the logistics of holding both the engagement party and the wedding on the ranch.

  The Victorian's front door stood open, letting the cool morning breeze freshen the house's interior.

  Dimitri poked his head in through the doorway, still not entirely comfortable with the local custom of just walking into an unlocked house. In some ways, he was still a New Yorker at heart.

  "Good morning," he called, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn't disturb Elle's B&B guests sleeping upstairs.

  He knew Elle, a fellow bear shifter, would have no problems hearing his greeting.

  "Mitya! Come on in," Elle replied softly from her office, which was located at the front of the house, across the hall from the living room.

  Dimitri found the matriarch of the Swanson shifter clan sitting at a big antique desk that boasted a PC with a large monitor and a printer sitting off to one side.

  The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves crowded with a collection of well-worn books and thick binders of tax and accounting paperwork.

  Elle's smile of welcome was genuine as she rose to give him a hug and a peck on the cheek. "You're up early for a Saturday, my dear."

  He returned the hug with genuine affection for the woman who had taken him in after his own parents had abandoned him on the ranch, naked and without resources. "I came to ask you a favor. Damaris and I would like to hold our wedding and an engagement party here on the ranch."

  "Of course! In fact, my feelings would have been hurt if you'd wanted to go elsewhere," Elle said. "But this is a talk that calls for coffee."

  "I thought you'd never ask," Dimitri said with relief.

  He'd been so eager to speak with Elle before her B&B guests claimed her attention that he hadn't bothered to grab any breakfast before leaving his house.

  She picked up the coffee cup sitting next to her keyboard and led him over to an antique horsehair sofa upholstered in green-and-burgundy striped fabric.

  It stood in the alcove formed by a large bay window. In front of the sofa, on a low coffee table, sat a big silver tray holding a basket of freshly baked ham-and-cheese pastries, a tall antique china coffee pot with matching creamer, sugar bowl, and a clean cup, all in a delicate rose pattern.

  "Justin usually has breakfast with me," Elle said, filling the second cup with fragrant steaming coffee. "But he and Dane decided to head down to the river and do some fishing right at sunrise. So I'm glad I don't have to eat breakfast alone today."

  "As long as I'm not intruding," Dimitri said politely and seated himself on the couch.

  "Having family drop by for a visit is never intrusive." Elle smiled at him fondly. She took a place next to him. "But tell me about your plans."

  "Well, we were wondering if the riverside pasture was available on Labor Day Weekend…" Dimitri began.

  A half-hour later, they were still discussing logistics, and Dimitri had started a To-Do list using an app on his phone. Elle, the veteran organizer of many weddings and other large events, was a fount of invaluable tips and suggestions.

  Then both of them heard the sound of a car driving up the ranch's private road from the direction of the highway.

  Elle frowned. "Now, how on earth could that be at this hour?"

  "You're not expecting any new guests?" Dimitri asked.

  Elle shook her head. "We're fully booked this weekend. But sometimes people see the sign on the highway and drop in."

  She sighed, put down her coffee, and rose as the car came to a stop nearby.

  Dimitri heard the sounds of car doors opening and closing, and the crunch of gravel under shoes.

  But the steps seemed to be moving away from Elle's house rather than towards it. Elle heard it, too, and a frown line appeared between her neatly shaped brows.

  Then Dimitri heard his mother's voice say in Russian, "That one, Mikael. With the blue door."

  Crap! His parents!

  And Damaris and Sophie were alone in the house.

  An instant later, his father began to pound heavily on Dimitri's front door. The sound broke the peaceful stillness of the cool morning air and echoed from the rolling hills and the cluster of houses surrounding Elle's Victorian.

  Dimitri was on his feet and racing out of the office before the sound of the first knock had faded away.

  "Sorry, gotta go," he said over his shoulder as he headed for the Victorian's front door at full speed.

  But Elle was right on his heels as he crossed the porch and took the stairs in a single leap.

  He only hoped he wasn't too late to prevent whatever his mother had planned.

  Chapter 20 – Uncomfortable Reunions

  It only took Dimitri a minute to reach his home.

  But when he arrived, the situation was
every bit as bad as he had been imagining.

  Dimitri's father, Mikael Medved, stood on Dimitri's porch, looming at his wife's shoulder, huge and hulking like a football player turned bodyguard.

  Dimitri's mother Anastasia had her back to Dimitri and didn't react to his approach. Her pale blonde hair was impeccably styled, as always, and she was wearing a blue-and-white summer dress that had probably cost as much as a month's rent in Manhattan.

  All of her attention seemed to be focused on Damaris, who was standing in the doorway of Dimitri's house. It looked like she had just rolled out of bed. Her hair was wildly tousled, and she held her floral-patterned robe tightly closed around her delectable curves.

  But she looked neither cowed nor scared of the two bear shifters confronting her.

  Instead, anger radiated from her like heat from fresh lava.

  Uh-oh.

  "…you have no idea what it means to belong to a shifter clan, little Ordinary," his mother was saying as Dimitri sprinted across the gravel road that separated his house from Elle's. "Our bonds of loyalty—"

  "Coming from you, that's hilarious," Damaris snapped. She looked Anastasia and Mikael up and down, her clear brown eyes incandescent with rage. "Aren't you the people who deserted your own son in the middle of enemy territory?"

  "How dare you—" Mama began.

  "And if you're such a great mother, why is Dimitri living here?" Damaris continued relentlessly. Her eyes narrowed. "I'd do anything to protect my daughter. Anything. And you—you just threw your son away, like he was trash!"

  Oh shit, thought Dimitri and increased his speed.

  Cornered by an angry bear, his mate wasn't running away like a sensible Ordinary should. She was poking the beast with a sharpened stick.

  He had told Damaris about the chain of calamitous events that had led to his move to Bearpaw Ridge, but he had never dreamed that his mate would feel so protective of him.

  Protective was supposed be his role! Still, it felt good to hear his mate defending him so fiercely.

  And she was insanely courageous to face Anastasia Medved when his mother was in one of her moods.

  "How dare you speak that way to me, little Ordinary!" Anastasia snarled, lunging forward.

  Her red-lacquered nails were curved into hooks as her hands drove for Damaris's vulnerable throat.

  Dimitri reached his porch and leaped forward desperately. He tackled his mother at full speed and sent both of them crashing through the white-painted porch railing.

  They landed hard on the grass beyond the porch, Mama on top of him.

  "Mitya!" she screeched.

  She pushed up and away from him, her face flushed with rage under her layers of makeup. Spitting a string of Russian curses that he'd never heard before, she raised her hand.

  With his mother still sitting on him, he couldn't avoid the blow that snapped his head back and made his cheek go numb.

  In the next instant, Dimitri's father landed next to them. He scooped his mate up, set her on her feet, and gave her a quick once-over to ensure that she wasn't injured.

  Then he turned his baleful glare on Dimitri.

  "How dare you attack your mother?" he growled, reaching down to grab Dimitri.

  Ash had nicknamed his father-in-law "the Terminator," and Dimitri thought it described Papa perfectly.

  Mature male bear shifters were generally built like linebackers, and Mikael Medved was no exception.

  Even clean-shaven and wearing an Italian designer business suit, Papa looked like what he was: the Medved clan's head enforcer. His short, wavy black hair was brushed with silver at the temples, and his gray eyes were as icy as a winter sword.

  Dimitri evaded his father's grasp by rolling away and coming to his feet. His cheek was still mostly numb, but he was beginning to feel sharp needles of pain driving down into the bone. Had his mother fractured his cheekbone in her rage?

  No time to worry about that now.

  "You mean after you two came to my home uninvited and attacked my mate?" he snarled, meeting his father's cold stare. "What the hell are you doing here?"

  Papa shook his head. To Dimitri's astonishment, the other shifter's shoulders slumped a little. "I tried to talk your mother out of coming, but she would not listen to reason."

  "Mikael!" Mama said sharply. "What are you saying?"

  Papa sighed. "I am trying to keep you from alienating our son…again."

  Dimitri saw his mother's mouth form an "O" of outrage. But before she could speak, Papa added, "This is not the correct way to do things, and you know it."

  ""Not to mention that this is Swanson territory, and both of you are trespassing." Elle jogged up to stand next to Dimitri.

  Mama's hot blue gaze swung to Elle.

  "I thought you said we were family now," she spat.

  "I said that Nika and Dimitri were family now," Elle replied calmly. "As little Mitya's grandparents, you are always welcome to visit…as long as you ask beforehand."

  She crossed her arms over her chest, and Dimitri saw that her normally friendly eyes had gone shifter gold. "I will not allow you to traipse into our lands to harass my guests or my family."

  "Traipse?" cried Mama, her tone shrill with outrage. "Traipse? I'm trying to save my son from making a huge mistake. And from sullying our ancient bloodline by joining himself to an Ordinary!"

  "The same way you tried to save Nika from mating Ash by kidnapping her?" Dimitri asked, feeling his rage congeal into a blade as icy as his father's gaze. "When she was already pregnant?"

  "I did what I thought was best," his mother shot back.

  "Then you have terrible judgment, Mama. Go home and leave me alone." Dimitri knew that he was taking a big risk by turning his back on his mother when she was so angry, but he didn't care.

  Right now, he needed to make sure that Damaris was okay. He sprang back up onto the porch through the gap left by the broken railing and went to her.

  His mate's cheeks were flushed, and her eyes sparked with anger. He saw a long, shallow scratch beaded with tiny droplets of blood on the side of her neck, and renewed rage coursed through him.

  "Are you all right, love?" he asked, putting his arms around her and kissing her forehead.

  "Fine," Damaris assured him. "Thanks to you, I just got yelled at, but that's all."

  He felt her begin to relax in his embrace.

  "Thank God." It had been a close call, and Dimitri knew that the sight of his mother trying to rip out Damaris's throat would provide fodder for nightmares for weeks to come.

  Right now, he just wanted to hold his mate in his arms and breathe in her sweet, comforting scent.

  He felt the brush of her fingers against his cheek, which felt like it had shards of glass embedded in it now. "She hurt you."

  "It'll be fine by tomorrow. But it looks like you got tagged, too." He forced himself to release her and very gently used the hem of his T-shirt to wipe away the blood from her neck.

  Then he turned to face his parents. His father stood with one arm draped around his mate's shoulders, mirroring Dimitri's pose with his own mate.

  Papa looked repentant as he met Dimitri's gaze, but Mama glared at Damaris, the color high in her cheeks under the pale foundation she favored.

  "Don't you ever touch my mate again," Dimitri said with quiet menace. "Or come here without an invitation. Now go away and don't come back."

  He wanted to leave it there, but Damaris was apparently more forgiving than he was. Or maybe she was trying to salvage some hope of a friendly relationship with her in-laws.

  "…until the wedding," she added firmly.

  Dimitri saw his father's eyes widen at that. Apparently, Damaris's generous gesture had hit home with one of his parents.

  "Which will be held here at the ranch on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend," Elle chimed in.

  "You can't just—" His mother always liked to have the last word.

  "Send you away?" Dimitri gave a short, bitter laugh. "Of course I can. And
if you don't settle down and behave like a rational human being, I'll ban you from the wedding. I won't allow anything to upset my bride on our special day."

  Mikael sighed heavily. "Your mate may be an Ordinary, but she has the courage of a bear." He nodded in Damaris's direction. "She'll do."

  Dimitri recognized the words as the closest thing to an apology that he could expect from his parents.

  Damaris bristled. "This was a test?" she exploded, her body going rigid beneath Dimitri's arm. "You were testing me?"

  "I wouldn't lower myself—" his mother began, contradicting his father's nod of agreement.

  Elle moved smoothly to stand next to Dimitri and Damaris.

  "Anastasia, Mikael, before you leave, why don't we go back to my place for breakfast?" she said, sweetly, cutting off any further discussion. "You must be hungry after your flight and the long drive down from the airport."

  "Don't try to distract me," Anastasia retorted ungraciously. "I have unfinished business here."

  Her gaze was still fixed on Damaris. And Damaris, her chin high, was looking back at her from the shelter of Dimitri's arm.

  "No, you don't," Elle said, smiling but her tone steely. "Your son has found his mate, and it's your duty to accept it."

  "But how can she be his mate? She's an Ordinary! How can I ever be happy with such a one in my clan?" Mama protested.

  "As if she'd want to be part of a clan of convicted felons," Dimitri snarled. He felt Damaris stiffen under his arm and added, "And I'm not part of your clan anymore, remember? I'm a Swanson and proud of it."

  His mother gasped with renewed outrage, her blue eyes glittering as if they had been sprinkled with gold dust.

  "Mitya," growled his father. "Your manners."

  Elle interjected, still smiling, "If I can find happiness with three Ordinary daughters-in-law, plus a sabertooth shifter and your daughter, I'm sure you can do the same…if you set your mind to it."

  "And who are you to give me advice?" Anastasia sniffed disdainfully. "You've stolen both of my children away from me."

  "No, you were the one who drove them away by treating them badly," Elle retorted coolly.

  Dimitri’s mother's fists clenched as she glared daggers at Elle, and he tensed, sure that this meant war between his biological mother and the woman he had come to love as a mother.