BearTrapped (4 page)

“No,” she said blankly.
“What an awful thought.”

“Remind me never to cross you
again
. Sit up.” He sat with his back against the wall, one knee up and one leg outstretched. He propped his forearm on his knee, watching her. She noticed he’d tacked down the covering on the cave entrance so she couldn’t tell if it was dark yet or not. She struggled into a seated position, tucking her legs beneath her butt and her dress around her knees.

The glow from the fire reflected in his
amber
eyes
. She couldn’t seem to look away
.
His muscles looked golden, and the silken strands of his dark hair enticed her fingers to play.

“How much do you know of the male anatomy?
” he asked quietly.

“Enough.” Kimber had actually only felt the penis inside her—never seen or lay hands on one. In her mind, it was a slender tube tipped with horns made for gashing and tearing. She sincerely hoped her next experience with penetration wasn’t as bad.

Braeden rubbed his middle finger on his thumb in a circle, watching her intensely. “
If you’re
going to seduce a man, you’ll need to be unafraid when you touch him. I know I’m a sore sight for
your
eyes. You’ll have to overcome my ugliness and get comfortable touching me.
”

Kimber gulped
. Heat spread through her veins
. “I didn’t say you were…
ugly.
Just not to my liking,” she lied.

He stopped rubbing his fingers together and pulled his hand down his inner thigh
until it cupped his groin
, pushing his foot out until both legs were stretched toward her. “
You might as well have.
”

She cleared her throat and twisted her suddenly damp hands in her dress, rubbing her palms on her skirt until they were dry. “
I just pictured myself with someone leaner and less hairy. Perhaps with dark skin like mine and short hair.
”

His steady gaze made her belly flutter. That forbidden pulse throbbed in her sex, and moisture gathered in her lips.
“
Basically the exact o
pposite of me. Go on and say it,
”
he said.

She made a nervous laugh and shooed his words with her hand
. She clenched her thighs tight as if that would stop the throbbing in her cleft
.
“No. I’m sure you’ll make an excellent mate for one of your kind someday. I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings. I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t. Come over here. Between my legs.”

She ceased fidgeting. “Why?”

He watched her, but she couldn’t seem to stop glancing at his hand where it rested on his groin. Ever so slowly, he rubbed himself. “Your first lesson.”

Had a sudden wind stoked the fire? Perhaps the temperature outside increased
?
Her dress felt tight around her neck and chest. Her face flamed and she touched her cheeks as if that would cool them down.

“Change your
mind?” he asked in a rough
voice
that made her insides rub together.

Kimber forced a
boldness
into her muscles and crawled closer to him, until his thighs rested on either side of hers as she knelt.

“Men like when women take the initiative. They tire quickly of the frightened maiden who must be pursued in the bedroom every night to slake their lust. If you want your pick of the men, you’ll have to take him.” His hand stopped its minute movements
and framed the bulge in his pants, riveting her gaze to the spot
.

“
What should I…
do?”

“Take my cock out. Act like you want to touch it, like you
need
to touch it, and you’
ll have your man begging a
t your feet.”

Kimber’s mouth turned
dry, and her body went rigid. “How?”
she croaked.

He leaned his head back on the smooth rock wall. “With your hands. You could use your mouth if you’re inclined to be more provocative. A mouth like yours
is
enticing
with those succulent, full lips
.”

Unexpectedly
, he didn’t seem as brutish as he had before. His clarity of language surprised her. She wondered what other aspects of him she’d overlooked. With trembling fingers and a
fortifying
breath, she slid her hands up his thick, hard thighs until they met the upper crease that marked the v of his groin. An almost imperceptible tightness made his stomach muscles stiffen in reaction to her tentative touch.

“A firmer hand, Red. Take what you want. You want this. You have to convince me that you do, that you aren’t frightened. A man knows when you’re scared of him. You’re not scared, are you?”

He was taunting her, egging her on. She narrowed her eyes, tugging the leather that tied his breeches closed until the knots loosened and the flaps parted. The same thick pathway of hair on his chest and belly continued beneath the woolen cloth, but coarser. She forgot to breathe as she
nudged
the fabric aside and shoved her hand into the opening, feeling for his cock with the same trepidation she would feel grabbing a fanged s
erpent. Velvet skin greeted her--
round and thick
flesh filled her palm
. She couldn’t seem to get her hand around it, and when she pulled it free of its fabric cage, Braeden sucked in a sharp breath that startled her.

“Oh,” she whispered once she had his man-flesh in the open.
She bent closer for a better look and noticed his hands fisted by his sides. “There’s no point on yours.”

Braeden barked a laugh. “They tend to be blunt, honey.”

“I just thought…well…I felt stabbed to death the first time.” She worried her bottom lip, rubbing her fingers along his length. As she touched him, the soft curve of his shaft straightened and the bluish veins strained against the thin skin.
She could feel his heartbeat beneath the silken skin’s surface.
A tiny bead of moisture leaked from the mushroomed head. She touched the
slippery droplet
and circled the bulbous helmet and rim.
It reminded her much the way her slit reacted when she’d touched herself before. Did they both create the slippery cream for easier procreation? She became intensely curious and excited to discover more.

He groaned and gripped his thighs with white knuckles. She glanced at his face, wondering what she’d done wrong. “Is this right?”
she asked in a husky voice.

He nodded
and closed his eyes, looking pained
. “I’m trying to control myself and c
oncentrate on not erupting.”

Kimber quirked an eyebrow, watching his face as she wrapped both hands around the length of his cock. His flesh scorched her palms like fire. She was fascinated by his heat and the way his mouth went slack as she caressed him.
Her belly fluttered to see the expression on his face.

“Pump it,” he commanded.

She experimentally pulled his shaft. “Like this?”

He choked back a groan. “Yes. You can go fast or slow. Both produce…pleasure.”

She loosely stroked him slow, then quickened her pace
, watching his nuanced reaction
.
“I feel like I’m churning cream
,” she said with a throaty chuckle. She felt wickedly naughty, doing things she had no right to be doing. Between her thighs, she felt that warm, wet feeling growing.

“There’s cream in there all right,” he groaned. He managed to open his lids. His eyes were heavy lidded and glazed, feverishly intense. She shivered in response, feeling her budding amusement dowsed by a heady dose of power. She had control over him simply by having her hand around his cock.

“
That’s enough. You keep going and I won’t be able to control myself.
You’ll need to stop soon unless
you want to see w
hat happens
,” he said in a mouth-watering, hoarse voice.

She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to do everything.
“I’ve come this far. I want to see it all.”

He cocked a grin, clenching and unclenching his hands on his legs. “Insatiable
minx,” he growled. “Have at it. I warn you, it makes a mess.
Faster, Red. Both hands. I like that twist you do. It’s good.
”

She obeyed, keeping a fast pace, drawing him into her small hands until a spasm wracked his body. He gasped, breathing erratically, and his cock jerked. She squealed, half horrified and half delighted when the fluid shot from the tip, dribbling over her hands. His long, pleasurable groan was so pleasing that she immediately wanted to clean up and begin again.
She could get used to having this kind of control over a man.

He raised a hand to stop her. “Mercy. Have mercy on me. I cannot take that again. You did well
for your first time
.”

Kimber stood and cleaned her hands off on a towel from his bag. She walked to the entrance and saw it was dark, and the snow fluttered from the sky like thousands of tiny moths. She pushed her hands into the snow to clean them, then rubbed them on her skirt to dry as she stepped back inside and affixed the skin taut across the opening. Braeden looked close to passing out, lying on the floor with drowsy eyelids.

“Is that all for tonight?”
She crossed the space, standing over him. His gaze roamed up her body like a touch, making her dress feel inadequate as a barrier.
The strange little quivers returned, but putting her cold hands on her cheeks seemed to help calm her down.

“
For tonight, y
es.
I have to give the next lesson some thought. Yo
u’ll be a master within a few weeks
at this rate
. You’re a fast learner.
”

Kimber smiled and sat by the fire, looking forward to her next surprise with a giddiness she’d never experienced.

***

Braeden feigned sleep as she lay beside him and curled against his side.
He regretted napping early, for now he couldn’t sleep.
She was warm and soft and
a madwoman who clearly had no idea of sexual relations.
While her eagerness held appeal, he admitted her innocence and youth made him want to run out into the night and never look back.
He detected that she was entering a mating heat in spite of their differences—she was innocent and young enough that she didn’t understand the slow, inexorable creep
of desire
.
Which meant
she should be off limits to him—and also meant he was extremely susceptible to her.

Braeden had heard tales of bears ma
ting with wolves and knotting
to ensure a viable pregnancy. There was something about his clan being so much larger than the she-wolves that worked against them. Whether it was true or not—he didn’t want to discover.
Actually, he did want to discover if the stories were true, and that made a mild panic enter
his bones. Had he not been so enticed by her lush woman’s body, he would never have agreed to this arrangement. He was as mad as she for thinking something like this could work
for any length of time
.

The temptation to return home to his family was great, but he worried about leaving her out here alone. In spite of the fact that their clans had formed a peace treaty between them, there were still the rogue bears with no interest or inclination in maintaining peace. The ursine clan numbers were dwindling as it was, and a lack of viable females had forced them to look elsewhere for mates
and take the chance that offspring would not share their shifting characteristics
.
The wolves were their closest match since the fox were too small and the wolverines too wild. In the south along the coast and islands he’d heard of cat clans, but no one he knew had ever seen one of them, and he had his doubts they existed. The only cats he’d ever seen had been tiny things no bigger than his foot. The very idea that they could command any land
or transform into human shape
was laughable.

Braeden resolved to figure out a way to inform Kimber that this plan of hers could not continue. He still had a conscience.

Kimber couldn’t distinguish dream from reality as sleep melted into consciousness and she found herself trapped against Braeden’s body. It was a nice dream, coaxing aching feelings of arousal in her womb. She’d found herself pursued through the forest, caught from behind, and his fingers massaging her clit until her body climbed toward orgasm—but in typical dream fashion, she’d awakened before achieving ultimate pleasure. Slowly, she opened her eyes, realizing immediately why her dreams had turned to the erotic this morning.

A warm, meaty arm cushioned Kimber’s head from the hard floor while still managing to grip one breast as if it might crawl away from her body.
His
other big paw firmly entrenched between her thighs, cupping her mound in a possessive hold. Behind her, the unmistakable prod of a cock bruised a spot in her buttocks.
She squirmed and he tightened his arms, still asleep. His breath tickled her ear, and his fingers on her groin twitched
in his sleep
, eliciting
tingles of awareness
. She bit her lip, craving more and wondering how much she could get away with and how deeply he would sleep.

Kimber eased her dress up her thighs, carefully tugging it free of his fingers until his fingertips touched her bare flesh and embedded in her wet slit. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the hot touch. She needed more than that, however, and pushed a hand down to guide her fingers over his. Like a puppet master, she moved, scrunching his fingers over her labia until she caught a magical rhythm that made her clit swell with pleasure. She thought her own touch had been exciting, but using his hand felt infinitely better. How much more so with his expert
, conscious
touch?

She tried to hold still, but arousal gripped her, making her clench and unclench her thighs
and wriggle her bottom against his erection
.
Her entire body felt flushed and excited.
She gave up
the idea of disguising her need
when he flexed his fingers and ground into her cleft from behind. He moved in a lazy way, as if half-awake.
Small, animalistic whimpers erupted from her throat, and he stiffened in response, ceasing all movement and earning a
disappointed
growl from her.

Before she
could beg him to continue, he
released her and jumped to his feet, his eyes wild and shifty.
“
I need to shovel snow. Now,
”
he announced, pulling his breeches on
like an illicit lover about to dive from a window
. He shifted foot to foot as he put on his shoes, then grabbed the handle of his shovel, and marched ou
t of the cave as if pursued
by hell hounds
.

Still gripped by unfulfilled longing,
Kimber struggled to her feet, threw on her cloak, and followed him out. Braeden
had already
cleared the entrance to the cave. The snow had collected in drifts another foot high
from the previous day
. She didn’t see the sense in doing this now, but more than that, she was uncomfortably aroused and furious that he’d left her
before she could finish
.
Sure, she could have done so herself, but the lure of finding orgasm with another person overshadowed self-pleasure.

Kimber inhaled a deep breath, holding it in for several seconds before exhaling and trusting herself to speak in a level tone.
“What are you doing?” she asked.

He didn’t pause, just continued working without looking up.
He was moving
at a brisk enough pace to work up a sheen of perspiration on his brow
,
and his chest an
d cheeks were splotchy with ruddy
skin.
“Shoveling. When I’m done, I’m going hunting.
I’ll be gone
all day, if that’s
your
concern,
”
he said through puffs of breath that billowed like smoke from his mouth.

She clenched her jaw and furrowed her brow. A headache seemed to be forming. She rubbed a thumb against her right temple, watching him in irritation as he finished one area and moved to another spot,
continuing with his vigorous pace
. “What do you call that?”

“What?
My hasty escape?
” he asked over his shoulder
, tossing a shovelful of snow to the side
.

Kimber
narrowed her eyes,
throwing her hands up before
planting
them
on her hips
. S
he stomped over to a cleared area
so she could look him in the face
. “I think you know.
This morning?
”

“
The rubbing and touching and juices flowing?
That was all you, Red. We’d have done much more if you’d had your way.
”

Hearing the
truthful
words come out in his baritone combined with the look in his eyes made her skin heat
guiltily
. Braeden
stopped and planted his shovel i
n the snow, leaned
on it and
met
her eyes without compunction
. “You’re in heat,
”
he said.

The hot flash returned full force.
Kimber felt the
blush creep up her chest and cheeks in spite of the cool wind tugging at her face and hair. “I am not. How would you know? You’re a be
ar shifter!
”
Her attempts at pretending aloofness had failed.
“I can’t be in heat because of a bear.”

Braeden grunted
, clearly amused if the crinkles at the corners of his eyes were any indication
. “
I’m half man too, just as you’re half woman.
Men
know these things.
You’re still in heat—bear or not.
”

“Why didn’t I go into heat at the festival then, surrounded by my own kind?”

He shrugged. “That I couldn’t tell you.”

She threw her hands up.
She had a good mind to stomp back into the cave. She was a glutton for punishment, however. “I know my woman’s brain is small and meager compared to yours,” she said sarcastically. “
I’ve seen
nineteen cycles
, approaching twenty
.
Perhaps you could explain how you know what my body is doing when I do not.”

“
Practically an old maid,
”
he said, hitching on
e
cheek upward in as smarmy a look as she’d ever seen.

Kimber wanted to slap him.
She could see now why he was unmated despite his attractiveness.
Her mouth dropped open on a gasp
.
The wind howled as if equally outraged. She grabbed the edges of her scarlet cloak at the outburst of air.
“And you, old man?”

Braeden straightened and stretched from propping on the handle.
He had some gall looking
indecently brawny and burly.
Taking a break had allowed his body to cool and his nipples had turned into tiny pebbles
that looked at her and asked her to bite them
. She would have been amused if she hadn’t been so insulted. She would also have enjoyed
a
more thorough exploration of the differences between a man and a woman, but now she wanted to claw his
hairy,
well-
developed abs open
until he begged for mercy
. And how could he remain shirtless in this kind of weather? Everything about him was beginning to grind on her nerves.

“Twenty six cycles this spring
, young’n
.
You might be grown, but if you knew any better, you wouldn’t be rubbing on me in the morning
and tempting fate
. Hell, you wouldn’t have come up with this plan to muddy the waters.
We had a good deal, a clean one without complications.
This is why I like my cave to myself.
Bringing your lessons in won’t do either one of us any good—not
when you’re clearly on the verge
of mating heat. I’m planning on doing what my father done in this situation with my mother.”
He strode up the cleared path as she followed
him
huddled in her cloak as if it were a cocoon.

“And what’s that?”
she asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

Braeden set the shovel near the cave’s entrance
, stabbing it into the frozen ground without difficulty
. “I’m leaving. I told you. I’ll be gone all day and won’t be back until night. Keep the fire stoked. If you
get bored and
want to be useful, get some more wood
up here from the pile
.
If not, there may be enough to last.
I’ve got some ground oats if you get hungry
and you can melt snow
, otherwise, you can wait until I return tonight to eat. I
’ll try to
be back by dark
—once you’ve had time to cool down
and come back to your senses
.”

“My senses are just fine.
What about our lessons?
Is that all?”

“Yep. You don’t like it, you could always go back to your people, take your chances on finding another man to take care of you. You’re pretty enough you should do fine, though I pity any man dealing with your temper.”

“You’ve barely
scratched the surface o
f my temper,” she snarled, following him back into the cave.

He had the gall to laugh
again
. “
That,
I figu
red
.”

Braeden snatched a rough woven cotton shirt out of his bag and pulled it over his head before swirling h
is cloak of black woolskin
around his shoulders
. The fluffy tendrils blew around his face as he lifted the skin over the entrance and glanced back at her one more time.

“
You sho
uld take care of yourself while
I’m gone, Red.
You need it.
”

Kimber g
rowled in outrage,
bent, and threw a stick at him. He ducked out, laughing as the stick missed and clattered on the stone floor.

***

Kimber had a good mind to rip up everything Braeden had brought with him
despite the fact that it was completely unlike her to act like an emotional, spoiled brat. She dropped to the floor and grabbed an article of clothing he’d carelessly tossed on the stone. One whiff of his faint, pleasing scent clinging to the garment sent an agonizing spasm whirling through her middle as if he’d just brushed himself against her. She clutched her belly with one hand, flinging the article away and squeezing her eyes shut as if that would somehow dull the hollow ache gripping her innards.
She took a deep
, shaky
breath
, and curled up on the hard surface, not daring to move closer to the bedding or anywhere else until her insides recovered
. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was in heat and didn’t realize it. Was this the person she wanted to be and wanted him to know, even if their situation was only a temporary convenience?

She didn’t like feeling angry and frustrated.
She liked feeling desperate even less. Her hot cheek on cold stone seemed to help w
ith the fever stoking her skin. Being in heat was horrible! No wonder her poor mama had so many mouths to feed if this was what she’d gone through.
Or did it lessen once mated?
The pain gave her a new appreciation for her mother. Unfortunately, the only
cure to her ailment would be rut
ting, which left her in need of Braeden, whether he liked it or not. She wasn’t sure
how long the feelings would go on
, but she knew she wouldn’t last the winter in this state. He was going to have to man up and do something
to help them both
.
She would not be taking no for an answer the next time.

Kimber sat up, feeling marginally better—enough that she could feel amusement and some pity towards Braeden. They barely knew one another and she was placing so much on his big shoulders. She wasn’t one to question her natural instincts, however.

Her sensitive nose could still detect his scent in the cave, and it was driving her mad, making her skin crawl and tingle. The bedding was the worst spot, and his bags the second worst. She emptied the bags, looking through his p
ossessions with a nosiness borne
of boredom.
He didn’t have much, mostly clothing, a few hand tools, and dry goods. She thumbed through a thick book and set it down to shake out the second bag. Small wooden figurines scattered on the floor along with half-carved wood pieces.

Kimber gathered the pieces and lined them up. A standing bear with a crown and another with a flowered wreath were the two most prominent, and as she examined them, she realized he was carving chess pieces
in his spare time
. The opposing side were wolves. Now the hand tools she’d found made sense. She was impressed with the level of detail he’d carved into such tiny pieces of wood. Perhaps he wasn’t the barbarian she’d first assumed. Reading and chess were marks of higher learning, and the game was one of the few things she’d enjoyed doing inside when she’d lived at home.

Carefully returning his belongings back to his bags, s
he resolved to go for a run and find her own food
. Sh
e didn’t want
him to think she needed to be taken care of. She wasn’t some useless female arm decoration.
A run through the mountains as a wolf would give her enough time to think of a suitable recourse to his denial. She knew good and well he’d enjoyed her touch and that he should have had the courtesy to reciprocate.

With her resolve strengthened, Kimber removed her clothing and allowed her b
east to take control and transform her body into that of the wolf with fluid ease
.
Her human mind hovered in a disembodied space within the wolf—a puppet master to the wild beast she’d become. The need to taste fresh blood pushed to the forefront along with the desire to flex her muscles in a vigorous chase.