by Reina Torres
A snuffling indrawn breath turned all their heads to the bear sleeping beside Conor on the bed.
Lifting his hand, Conor chuckled and only felt the ghost of pain lance through his arm as he settled his palm on Hollis’ side. Feeling the soft curve of her hip under his hand was the best medicine he could ask for. As she settled back into her slumber, Conor continued to look around the room. He stopped short and stared at the plastic sheeting that was tacked across a large open space in the wall of his home.
After staring at it for a while, he swung his head around to look at his friends, ignoring the ache in his back, between his shoulder blades. “Either of you want to tell me what happened to my wall?”
Maggie’s lips pursed tightly together until they were almost a pale thin line against her tanned skin. “We were actually surprised that you slept through that.”
Conor sat back and waited for someone to explain.
Cage nodded toward Hollis on the bed. “It was your mate.”
Startled, to say the least, Conor shook his head.
“It’s true,” Maggie shrugged, “it was an accident, but it was Hollis.”
Before Conor was aware that his throat was hurting, Maggie put a glass of water in his hand for him to drink.
“While you were out, she was a little…”
“Crazy,” Cage offered and was rewarded with a smack on his shoulder from his mate, “Ow!”
“She was a little anxious. Being inside was making her nervous, especially because you were out for a while. And before we knew what was going on, Boone came over with the boys. Apparently, they could all feel her nervous energy.”
Conor narrowed his gaze at Maggie. The Waylands were their neighbors, but they were by no means close enough that Hollis’ bear should be able to reach them with her emotions.
Unless.
Conor looked inward to his bear for answers, and the growling grump was actually kind enough to answer.
Powerful.
Yes, she was. And his connection to her was too, if the images that his bear showed him were accurate. While Conor had been in and out of consciousness, his bear had been much more resilient.
“Boone and the boys took her bear out for a run to help her get rid of some of her energy, but somewhere in the woods she scented something that upset her.
“A sound? A scent? They had no idea. But one moment she was running through the woods at their sides and the next she was headed back here.
“And your mate is a bear who knows what she wants.” Cage’s tone was filled with amusement. “She was so determined to get back inside to you that she’d panicked when her paws couldn’t open the doorknob. Instead of changing back to human… she made her own door.”
Maggie’s laughter sounded like pure joy. “Took out the whole wall and climbed up into bed with you.”
Cage looked at his mate with a hooded look of desire. “You wanted her in your bed, but I hope you weren’t attached to that wall.”
Rolling her eyes, Maggie sighed. “We can stay a little longer, Cage.”
The jaguar shifter leaned closer and nuzzled Maggie over her mark. “I want to get you home.”
Conor didn’t know what else to say but the truth. “Go on,” he gave them a verbal nudge, “I’m almost healed up. Whatever she needs I can take care of it from here.”
Maggie’s cheeks were flushed with heat. “If you’re sure,” but she was already leading Cage toward the door, “then we’ll go home and come in tomorrow to check on the two of you.”
Maybe it was the scent of the mated pair’s obvious desire for each other, or maybe it was the way Hollis stirred beside him in bed and turned so that his palm was laid on the soft, natural curve of her belly, but it didn’t matter which one.
He wanted to be alone with his mate.
“Maybe not tomorrow.”
“But,” Maggie turned around and gestured toward Conor, “they might need something.”
“What they need, mate,” Cage gave his mate a quick smack against the curve of her backside, “is time alone. There’s no need to wait to mark her anymore. And if he doesn’t,” he gave Conor a wink, “then he’s a bigger fool than I take him for.” Cage gave his friend a nod and let his wife out of the door beside the plastic covered hole in his wall.
#
She felt the gentle stroke of his fingers over her belly, trailing awareness in their wake. Hollis stretched, listening to the satisfying crackles and pops of her joints and the sudden indrawn breath of her mate.
Opening her eyes, she saw him staring at her, his eyes fixed on her breasts.
And under his heated gaze she felt her blood rushing through her veins. She lay almost still, watching him as he drank in the sight of her bare flesh.
In turn, she did the same to him. Her mate.
Yes, mate.
The corners of her mouth tipped up at the words in her head. No, the voice.
Her bear had been silent long enough, it seemed. Now that they had been… introduced, her bear had no problem making herself heard.
And she was very insistent.
Mate.
Now.
The images that flashed in Hollis’ head left no confusion to the meaning of the words. Tangled legs. Open mouthed kisses. And yes, the mark. Her bear wanted the mark.
Demanded it.
Through their connection, still raw and torn since it had been forced to open by necessity instead of nature, Hollis assured her bear that she was completely in agreement.
And as she made the decision to take the reins in her own hands, her body gave its assent.
Her nipples tightened under his focused gaze, his eyes narrowing as her skin tightened and pebbled the darker skin of her areolas.
It was a decadent feeling to have his eyes on her and she didn’t shrink away from his open perusal or her own feelings. In fact, she reveled in them.
For her whole life she’d been so worried about pleasing everyone, doing whatever she could to get their approval.
She didn’t have to worry about that with Conor.
All she had to do to have his approval was be there.
With him.
Hollis reached out a hand and touched her fingers to his jaw, trailing her sensitive fingers against the growth of whiskers. The scratch of his stubble against her skin was heavenly, and when he turned to press his cheek into her palm she tensed. Her whole body felt like it was humming, waiting.
And then his lips pressed against her pulse that was beating wildly in her wrist.
“Ah,” she arched, her back bowing up from the bed.
When his lips moved away, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. The darkness she saw was his bear and she smiled as her own swam to the surface to look back.
“You saved me.”
The soft admission from his lips was thick with emotion, but she didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to focus on what she almost lost.
“Are you healed?” Her voice trembled as it rushed from her throat. She watched him carefully for his reply. She needed to know.
“Almost as good as new,” he smiled at her but she saw the slightest twinge of pain in his expression.
“Oh,” she couldn’t help the little sigh in her voice and cursed herself for being selfish.
Before she could turn away, his hand caught at her hip and rolled her onto her back.
“Don’t turn away from me, Hollis. Tell me what’s in your head.”
Her hand lifted and touched his chest over his heart and with her improved vision she saw the almost translucent scars that marked his skin.
She remembered seeing him when they brought him home. His skin looked like he’d been carved up and glued back together. The skin that had reformed was pink and shiny, but it had been so much better than the open and jagged wounds that the other bear had inflicted on her mate.
“Hey,” Conor touched his fingertips to her chin and gently lifted until she met his eyes, “what’s in your head right now?”
“You didn’t shift,” the words felt raw in her throat, carrying all her worries made the sound heavy and rough, “he was beating you to death and you didn’t shift.”
Conor swallowed and she saw the heavy bob of his Adam’s apple along the column of his throat.
“I couldn’t.” The pinch of the skin between his eyebrows told her how hard it was for him to explain. “I don’t know why,” he swept his thumb over the curve of her jaw, “but I couldn’t reach my bear. It was like a wall had fallen between us and I couldn’t find him,” his tone was bereft and she understood for the first time, “I felt alone inside my own body.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” she admitted to him as she tried to sort through her own memories, “but my bear showed me images… memories.”
She couldn’t help but feel the smug satisfaction of the bear deep in her soul.
“She called your bear, Conor. One minute you were dying, losing every last drop of your blood on the ground, and the next we were lying beside you. I was weeping, begging you to live, but she was the one that reached you, and brought out your bear.”
Hollis felt tears streaming from the corners of her eyes, sliding into her hair.
“I was going to lose you, Conor. And I would have given anything… everything to save you, but it wasn’t me. I didn’t do it. It was my bear.”
She felt him lean down over her and press a kiss to her face, another beside her eye, smoothing away some of her tears.
“Hollis, she’s as much a part of you as your big beautiful heart. So, don’t think it wasn’t you that pulled me back, because it was. I knew how close I was to dying and I wasn’t afraid of it, knowing that you were going to be okay. But I did have regrets.” He pressed another kiss on the opposite side of her face and as he leaned back, she smelled the scent of his skin and felt the heat rolling off his body. “I wanted to hold you again. I wanted just a few more moments with you.”
When he settled back against his pillows he sighed and looked up at the ceiling, but she felt his hand on her arm and understood. She didn’t want to break their connection either.
Taking in a lungful of air, she felt her bear get up on all four and stare at her through their link.
Now.
What are you waiting for?
Yes, she acknowledged it to herself. What am I waiting for?
She managed to kick off the light sheet that someone had drawn over her while she slept and with that barrier gone, she got up and managed to settle herself over his thighs.
When she tilted his head back the look in his eyes was magical. Heat and desire filled his gaze and his thighs tensed beneath her.
“So now we have that chance, Conor. The chance to be together. I don’t want to waste any time. Not when we were so close to having it all taken away.”
He hesitated and she wasn’t going to let him.
Rising up on her knees she braced her hands on the headboard behind him and pressed her lips to his.
She’d surprised Conor. That was easy to feel in the way he went still beneath her.
Against her.
Turning her head slightly, she kissed him again, rubbing her lips against his, drawing his scent in deeper into her lungs. He was everything she’d always wanted. Strong, loving, and he smelled like fresh air and the wild verdant life in the woods.
Her teeth nipped at his bottom lip, tugging at it to open.
And he did, on a groan that mingled with her breath.
“Hollis-” he murmured her name, half against her lips and half into the air she allowed between them.
“I want your mark, Conor.”
His eyes opened and she saw them bleed dark.
Her own bear rose up inside of her and she felt twice the feminine satisfaction knowing that she called to both sides of her mate.
Ours.
She laughed as her bear growled in her head.
“Yes,” she spoke to all of them, “they’re ours.”
With a growl on her lips, Hollis pressed herself flush against him and plundered his mouth.
Sweeping her tongue against his, she drew breath from his lungs and swallowed his moan.
His hands grabbed onto her like a lifeline, taking hold of her shoulders and then sliding around to her back.
She moved forward, pulling her knees in as she rolled her hips up and over the heavy press of his erection between her legs.
He shuddered under her, his fingers digging into her back.
In her mind, her bear tossed her head in a satisfied nod of approval. She wanted his mark too, and they both wanted to feel his possession, even if they had to do most of the work.
Not that they considered it work when Conor shifted a little and had her seated so her hips were pressed against his belly and the thick head of his cock trapped against her belly.
She pulled back from the kiss to look down. The smooth skin was tight and swollen, the tip glistening with a glossy pearl of moisture.
Her eyes snapped up and open, staring into his startled gaze.
“Later,” she promised him, her voice pitched down and heavy with her need, “I’m going to taste you. Going to take you into my throat and my hands. I’m going to have you breathless and at my mercy.”
His growl filled the air around them and his hands skimmed down her back to palm her cheeks. “Fuck, Hollis. You can have me anyway you want. You know that.”
The smile that tugged at her lips had Conor catching his breath.
“Hollis?”
Oh, she knew what was in his head. She was just as surprised at her own thoughts as he was going to be, but she was a new woman since she’d met Conor.
She was a full-grown woman, and bear shifter in her own right, it was time she tested all her boundaries and her mate had said again and again that she could have what she wanted.
One movement after another she moved backwards until she was no longer hovering over him.
“Come,” she told him, beckoning him forward with her hand, “come to me, Conor.”
He moved. Even with the questions in his eyes, he came to her in the center of their bed and let her nudge him back until he was lying down on the plush bedding.
She spared a moment to slide her palm over his cock. Her palm grazed his balls and continued over the swollen curve of his erection, and then smeared the drop of pre-cum over its head.
She saw his thighs and belly tense, muscles drawing tight as he fought the sensations riding him.
“I love looking at you, Conor. The way you were made is perfect for me. The way you feel against my skin…”
She straddled his body, her knees grazing his sides as she set her hands down by his shoulders.
“Hold still, Conor,” she could hear the teasing tone in her voice and knew by the sharp look in his eyes that he understood her mood, “let me feel you against my skin.”
His eyes followed her face as she bent her arms and lowered herself closer to him. Closer.
Brushing a kiss against his lips and then his temple. Her kiss touched his forehead, then the line of his hair to feel the strands against her lips.
Oh, he was a feast of sensation.
A tease to her senses.
And she hoped, if she moved just a little farther forward he might-
Ah, yes. Right there.
His lips brushed over the tip of her breast. Lips and then teeth.
A little scrape.
Her indrawn breath.
The soothing caress of his tongue.
A soft gasp as her knees clenched his sides.
And when he drew her nipple into his mouth, suckled gently on the pebbled tip, her hands fisted in the sheets while the heat simmering in her body began to catch and roil within her.
Deeper he pulled her in and then let go with a soft pop of sound.
“Oh, Conor.”
He said her name, or something else, she really couldn’t tell because his lips had found her other breast, rasped his tongue against the heavy swell and the
word, whatever it was, had been muffled by his hungry mouth.
Her arms buckled and she struggled to keep her position steady so she wouldn’t smother him, but it was so hard when he was loving her flesh, drinking her in.
But then his hands were there.
Settled on her hips, he guided her backwards. Further and further until she felt the slick heat of her arousal against her own stomach, trapped between their bodies.
And, oh, there it was.
A heavy touch against the curve of her ass, the wet slide of his body against hers. Hollis arched her back and felt the heavy press of his length between her cheeks.
She’d never felt so alive.
So bold.
There was no warning for either of them, for Hollis was done over thinking everything she did. She just wanted to act and feel.
Balancing her weight on one arm, she reached around behind her and took him in her hand, lightly tracing her fingers toward the base of his shaft.
When she had him still, and yet pulsing against her fingertips, she raised herself up, almost to her knees and sank back.
The moan that burst from her lips was almost a scream.
She’d never had a man inside her before. At the most, she’d experimented with her own fingers when she was sure she was alone.
The sensation had been enough to bring her to a light, fluttering orgasm, but it hadn’t prepared her for this.
She rocked slightly, forward and back, trying to take more of him into her body, but it was already a glove-tight fit. As eager as she was to have him inside, she was also just as inexperienced.
“Let me help.” Conor’s voice drew her attention to his face and she saw the dark, hooded look of desire in his eyes. He lifted his hands and set them on her knees and as she watched, he smoothed them up along her thighs, his thumbs trailing along on the insides.
Hollis sat up, almost upright, so she could watch his hands as they moved higher and higher. When they reached the apex of her thighs, he used one hand to smooth away her curls and the other to reach beneath and stroke her.
