Bear Love (12 page)

Sudden worry made Jess frown.

“I mean, if you want to live
together,” she added, and held her breath.
I
jumped into this too soon
, she thought.
I
shouldn’t have sprung it on him like that. We should have talked about it, come
to this decision together, as a team. Instead I went from zero to a hundred and
fifty in less than a second.

Instead of arguing, however, a huge
smile split Mike’s face. He surprised her with a booming laugh. “My God, woman,
when you make up your mind you really make up your mind!”

She breathed out. “So you like it?
I mean, you like the idea of living together?”

“Woman, I love it!”

He turned to her, and she rejoiced
at the heat in his eyes. Her own loins burned.

“You know,” he said quietly, “you
are
my mate.”

A giddy thrill ran through her. “I
know you’re mine,” she said just as softly.

She tilted her face up for a kiss,
and he swept in like a shot and kissed her passionately, his lips shoving
against hers as if he were famished and she were the only thing that could feed
him. She smiled against him and grabbed him by the belt of his jeans, pulling
him into the cabin.

“I thought I was supposed to carry
you,” he said.

She laughed. “Silly bear.”

She turned and they kissed again.
He slammed the door shut with one hand while he tore at the buttons of his
shirt with another.

“Hold that thought,” she said, and
tugged him some more, this time down the hall to the master bedroom. She hadn’t
had time to furnish the house much, only a few odds and ends for the kitchen,
for the most part, but she’d had the time (and motivation! That was key) for
one particular piece of furniture, and Mike’s eyes widened when she took him
into the bedroom and he beheld the massive four-poster bed dominating it. She’d
had drapes installed over the windows and a handsome lamp rose from the bedside
table. That was it.

“What do you think?” she said.

“I think it’s perfect.”

He pulled her to him roughly and
planted his lips on hers. She grew wet instantly as he parted her lips and
thrust his tongue against hers. She let out a soft sound and pressed her body
against him, delighting in the feel of his hardness.
My man. My bear.
This was it, she thought. This is what they’d been
fighting for. Him and her and this. As his hands raked her body, she knew this
was right, this is what she’d been wanting all her life. To heck with Andrew
and the dark times. This was a new life. Her
real
life. And it was starting now.

She kissed him back, passionately.
She bit his lower lip and he sort of growled, his whole body vibrating. The tremor
passed through her, and she smiled, her lips still against his. She loved that
feeling, like the purr of a big cat coursing through her. But not a cat. A
bear! A big strong bear.

She dragged him down to the bed on
top of her, and as she kissed him her hands unbuttoned his jeans and tugged
them down from around his waist. His thick fingers took care of her jeans, and
she grinned at the rasp of the denim as it squirmed free of her buttocks.

His huge erection shoved at her
crevice, but her panties held it back. Bad panties! With her legs curled up to
the side, she pulled them off, and he stepped back and yanked them the rest of
the way, sending them sailing over his shoulder to the floor. He was wild, like
an animal, and his eyes blazed with heat, their colors shifting. Heat flushed
through her, and when he came back against her she tore at his shirt, and he
maneuvered himself to allow her to pull it off him and toss it aside.

“Ready, sailor?” she said, giving
him a wicked smile.

He grinned. “I was born ready.”

She still had her blouse on, and
she shucked it off, then tossed it in Mike’s face. He laughed and swatted it
away.

“Bad mate,” he said.

“I’ll show you how bad I am.”

She stretched out her legs and
hooked her feet around his muscular ass, then pulled him to her. He growled in
ardor and stepped forward. His giant cock found her crevice but didn’t enter
it. He slid along it, going up, then down, rubbing against her clit, and she
whimpered in pleasure. She was wetter than she’d ever been before.

“Tease,” she accused.

“You know it.”

Gazing up at him, she basked in the
sight of him there, this big confident manly bear shifter with his wide
shoulders, deep chest and laughing blue eyes. His cock huge and throbbing. A
pearly drop of white gathered on the tip there. She reached down, gathered it
on her palm, then stroked his shaft, lubing him up. Not that he’d need any help
upon entry. Hell no. But she loved the feel of his cock pulsing under her
fingers.

“Ohhh,” he grunted.

“You like that?”

“Damn right.”

He bent to cup her breast, flicking
her nipple with a thumb, and she gasped and arched her back, surrendering to
his touch. Her hand fell away from his member. Devilish amusement flickered in
Mike’s eyes. Oh what he could do to her!

He bent further to suck on her
other nipple, his hand still playing with the first one, and she grabbed a bed sheet
and bit down on it as Mike’s tongue made circles around the nipple, then began
caressing it. His cock slid up and down her seam, his huge swollen balls
smacking up against her crevice with every thrust. She wanted him inside her
right now, but at the same time she wanted this to last. This was the first
time they would make love in their new home. There would never be another
first. She wanted it to be as special and memorable as possible.

Not that there was any way it couldn’t
be, really. This was
hot
.

Smiling wickedly, she pushed him
away, just a bit, then sat up.

“What’s … ?” he started, but he
shut up when she leaned forward and kissed the head of his cock. He had such a
handsome cock, so long and thick, and she admired it for a moment, then stuck
out her tongue and ran it all around his head. He moaned, long and loud, and
she smiled around him, making an O with her lips around his head, then bobbing
up and down. She had never really given Andrew much head, but that would be
different with Mike.
Much
different.

He groaned as she slid her lips
further down his shaft, taking him deeper into her. He filled her mouth, and
she liked the slightly salty taste of him. He was so warm. She slid her mouth
back up, then bobbed down, then up again, faster. A sigh escaped his lips, and
he ran his hands through her hair. His hips rocked slowly, and his hands guided
her. She bobbed up and down, faster and faster. His shaft throbbed inside her
mouth, than again. She tasted his pre-cum and grinned wider around him.

With one hand, she reached around
and grabbed his tight, muscular ass. She used the other to cup his balls and
squeezed gently. They were firm and swollen. When she tugged on them, she could
feel his whole body tremble. She moved her hand to his lower shaft, encircling
it and jerking it up toward her mouth, then down, in time to her head’s
movements. His dick pulsed inside her mouth again, more strongly this time, and
a low sound rattled up from his chest past his lips.

“No,” he said, and it sounded like
a gasp. “Not … like this …”

She stopped moving and just held
him in her mouth, feeling his big vein throb against the roof of her mouth.
Slowly, she pulled back, letting him escape. His cock stood up, proud and hard,
red and wet.

Ready.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

“In!” she panted, leaning back and
spreading her legs for him. “I want it in!”

“Are you sure?” he said, still
breathing heavily. “I don’t know if you can take it.”

“I can take it.”

He laughed and poised the head of
his cock against her opening, and his eyes sparkled as he seemed to drink in
the sight of her, naked and writhing to his touch, then he slowly, savoring it,
shoved himself in. She cried out as he filled her, delicious waves of joy
radiating through her. He pushed in halfway, then pulled out, then shoved in
again, deeper this time. She was ready for him and bucked against him, forcing
him in even more.

It was his turn to gasp. His eyes
mashed shut, and his face turned serious. She loved that look, that expression
that said he was in total thrall to her, that she had complete control of the
pleasure that she and only she could give him. She moved against him, moaning
as his cock stretched her, and she could feel it throb inside her. It pulsed
stronger.
Stronger
.

“Oh no,” she said. “Not yet.”

She pulled him down to her and
kissed his sexy lips, and he ran his hands through her hair. He gripped it
tight and angled her head back, then planted kisses along the tender flesh of
her throat. One of his hands cupped her breast and played with the nipple,
which was so hard it hurt. But it was a good hurt.

She moved against him, taking him
deeper. She was greedy. She wanted all of him, every last inch and millimeter.
Her pulse hammered as he drove into her and she bucked against him, faster and
faster. Sweat drenched her hair. The bed creaked under her and slammed against
the wall as it tilted sideways, driven that way by the fury of their
lovemaking. Of their fucking. Somehow this was both. It was more intense and
wild than anything she could ever have imagined.

She bit at his shoulder and raked
her fingers down his back, unable to help herself in the frenzy. Pressure built
and built in her.

“Yes!” she cried. “Yes!”

Too
soon
, she thought. She didn’t want to come so soon. She wanted this to last
forever. She slowed her movements against him, going slower, and he switched
pace to match her.

“I’m going to … flip,” she said,
breathing heavily.

Working to keep him inside her, she
rotated on the bed. His large firm hands steadied her, guided her. She turned
about and got on her hands and knees. Her opening was higher now, and he had to
climb onto the bed to stay inside her. Behind her now, he rammed into her, and
she cried out and threw her head back. He slammed into her again, and again,
then reached a hand forward and cupped her breast. Gasping, she steadied
herself on her hands and knees. Behind her, Mike was making a sexy noise, half
growl, half purr, and she knew he was really into it.

He bent over her, and she could
feel his hard abs against her lower back. Steadying himself with his hands to
either side of her on the bed—she loved the feel of his strong arms enfolding
her—he kissed the back of her neck and shoulders. She shoved back and squeezed
his cock with her vaginal muscles. They were so close, joined, as close as two
people could be.

Almost.

He kissed the back of her neck
again, and once more that rattling, growly sound came from his chest again, but
different this time.

“Jess,” he gasped.

“Yes?”

“I … we can’t do it like this any
longer. I’m … going … to claim you …”

She hesitated, then lowered her
head, baring her neck further for him.

“Do it,” she said.

“It will put a bear in you. And it
will hurt.”

“I want it, Mike. I want … I want
your claiming mark.”

He slammed into her, and she
whimpered. He was filling her now completely, and his arms were all around her.
She was surrounded by him, penetrated by him. She shivered as his hot lips
kissed her shoulders and neck again, and his teeth raked her skin, lightly. She
shoved back against him again, letting him go even deeper into her. He rammed
her, hard, in fast, rhythmic motions, and delirium swept her. The pressure was
too intense. She couldn’t take it anymore.

Even as his teeth sank into the
soft skin of her lower neck and shoulder, she detonated around him. Pain
flashed through her with his claiming bite, and she could feel a trickle of
blood course down her shoulder, but the pain was completely eclipsed by
pleasure. Stars wheeled across her vision and sent her spinning through space.
Her body shook, and he pounded himself harder against her, then threw his head
back and howled. She craned her head, just a little, to see the corded muscles
standing out on his neck, and he exploded inside her, pumping hot jets into
her. His fluids shot into her as his cock pulsed again and again, and she came
all over again as his juices overflowed.

At last, emptied and spent, he
collapsed beside her, and she clung to him and shuddered against him.

“I love you,” he whispered in her
ear.

Her eyes burned. “I love you, too.”

“My mate.”

“Mate.”

They were home.

When they emerged back outside, the others smiled and
clapped them on the back. Jess felt her cheeks burn when she realized that the
others had known exactly what they’d been doing.

“Could they …
hear
?” she asked Mike, but he only smiled.

Taggart shoved a beer bottle into
each of their hands. “For my brother and his mate!” he called, and the
gathering cheered.

“Mated!” several called out.

“Woot woot!”

Taggart’s own mate Alice wrapped
Jess in a hug, then turned her around and frowned at her bite. Jess had cleaned
it as best she could, but she knew it was still ragged and messy.

“Don’t worry,” Alice said, “I’ve
got just the thing for that.” She darted off, then came back a moment later
with a first-aid kit. Jess sat down on a stump and drank her beer while Alice
nursed her. “Lucky me and Taggart got here with the first shift,” she said as
she worked. “I’d already started nesting, and the first thing any good country
girl stores is a first-aid kit. Especially when you live with a bunch of bear
shifters.” She patted the scar on her own neck. “And I know just what you’re
going through.”

“You’re a shifter, too?”

“Damn right.”

Suzy was approaching, smiling but
nervous. Her eyes were fixed on Jess’s claiming mark. “Is that … did Mike … ?”

Jess grinned and nodded, still
overwhelmed by it all. “He claimed me. I’m one of the crew now.” Just to be
sure, she turned to Alice. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. You’re a Pine Ridge
shifter now. Patent forthcoming.”

“I have a
bear
,” Jess marveled. It was still incredible.

“I’m jealous,” Suzy said. “Where’s
my
bear?”

The party went on, the second shift
of shifters coming down from the resort to check out their new digs, and at one
point Connor made a big speech accepting Jess into the crew. He raised a beer
in toast, and everyone lifted theirs in return. Several hugged Jess or clapped
her on the back, careful not to hit the claiming mark, though it was still sore.
The beer helped. At one point Suzy disappeared with a hunky bear shifter, and
when she reappeared she was wobbly-legged but without a bite mark. She looked
quite satisfied with what she’d gotten, though, and eventually Jess walked her
to her car and waved as she returned home.

Jess, of course, would stay. She
was
home.

It was nighttime when Connor called
all the crew from their new log houses, where they were settling in, to the
fire pit, which blazed brightly. It had already become the center of the little
community.

“What’s going on?” Jess asked Mike
nervously.

He had an arm around her shoulders
and was smiling mysteriously. “You’ll see.” He kissed her temple and whispered
in her ear, “You’re going to love it.”

“Thank you again to Jess for making
this all possible,” Connor said when everyone was gathered. The whole crew was
here, save a very few that still had work to do at the inn.
Some
one had to keep it running. “We’re
lucky to have her as the newest member of our crew, and congratulations to her
and Mike for finding their mates in each other.”

The shifters whooped and cheered,
and Jess felt herself blush at all the attention.
Home
, she thought again. Looking around the gathering, studying the
fire-lit faces of the men and women here, all warm and smiling, she realized
she
did
feel like she was at home.
She was welcome here, and though it was like nothing she’d ever known before
she knew that she loved it and wouldn’t want it any other way. She had found
her people, her place, her man.

“We’ve celebrated as humans,”
Connor went on. “Now it’s time to celebrate as shifters.”

More whoops from around the
campfire.

Jess blinked. “You mean … ?”

Mike kissed her again, this time on
the mouth. “That’s right. You’ll get to be a bear for the first time.”

“Time to pop your shifter cherry,”
Rick added with a laugh.

To Jess’s shock, Mike began
disrobing, right there before everyone. So did all the others present. All were
shifters; human friends like Suzy had all gone to their own homes, and the
mysterious Abigail was in her cabin, not taking part in the event.

“Come on,” said Barb, the
policewoman, coming over. Only she didn’t seem like a policewoman anymore. Gone
was her hat, jacket and, well, everything else. “Don’t you want to loose your
bear?”

Rick was at her side, grinning and
looking quite splendid in his birthday suit—and he seemed to know it, too. That
was okay, though, because Mike looked just as good.

Jess realized she was the only one
still dressed. As attention turned to her, she began to feel more naked clothed
than not.

“It’s okay,” Mike said softly.
“Trust me.”

She nodded and fumbled at her
clothes. As she took each piece off, there were still more cheers, and she
flushed in embarrassment. Despite it all, though, she was smiling and excited
as she laid her clothes in a neat pile beside her.

“Now let’s explore our new home!”
Connor called. “As bears!”

One by one the shifters let their
animals explode from inside them. Alice did, too, and Barb, Rick and Taggart.
Last went Mike, then Jess was all alone, a naked human surrounded by huge bears
staring at her. She didn’t feel afraid, though, only nervous and excited.
Concentrating, she felt her bear growl inside her, eager to be unleashed. She
mashed her eyes shut and let it come out, and before she knew it her bear had
erupted from her,
become
her, and
she, like all the others, was now a huge, awesome grizzly bear. Her heart beat
fast and steady, and, smiling on the inside, she leaned her furry weight
against Mike, who leaned back, and she could see the love and warmth in his
liquid eyes.

The reddish-colored bear, Connor,
gave a growl and led a procession of furred, muscled badass shifters through
the log cabins and into the forest. As the trees and the smell of pine
surrounded her, Jess wondered if they would see fairies tonight. She knew they
were here now. She and Mike lived in Pine Ridge, home of magic and wonder and
mystery.

Ambling beside her mate, she
breathed deep and hoped for fairies.

THE
END