Private Release (14 page)
She was back and standing before him.
Jared prayed it wasn’t a dream.
“Adele?”
Adele didn’t cringe or shy away as he took a step closer.
“Are you still scared of me?” He hoped she wasn’t. He remembered how she said she wasn’t fond of bears, that they occupied nightmares in her past.
“No. I’m not. Perhaps my dreaming of bears was fate’s way of telling me I’d find you one day.”
He grinned. “I’d like to think so.”
“Why didn’t you come for me?”
“You told me I couldn’t.”
Adele dropped her head and then laughed. “I guess I did.”
“You seem to accept that answer easily.”
“Étienne explained how it worked. I told you to stay away and you had no choice but to listen.”
“Do you want me to stay away now?”
Please, God, don’t ask me to stay away.
“God, no.”
It was all he needed to hear to close the distance between them. He pulled her tight against his body. Her scent was different. It was no longer green tea, but coconut and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but it was her. It was Adele and that was all that mattered. “I’d never hurt you. You know that? When I’m in bear form I’m still me.”
“I know.” She dropped her crutch and then slipped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangled in his hair. “But you did hurt me, Jared.”
“I know. I thought I was doing the right thing by the clan by marrying Cassandra, but I wasn’t. The right thing was to choose the right mate and that’s you, Adele. I love you.”
“I love you, Jared. I was a fool to leave.”
He tipped her chin and pressed his lips against hers in a possessive kiss, conveying to her that she was his. Always.
Only a kiss was not enough. Not when he’d been deprived of her for far too long. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his bedroom. He was never going to let her have a separate bedroom from him again.
Hell, he’d never let her two feet from him. Not for a long time.
When he set her on the bed and began to work on the buttons of her dress she stilled his hands.
“Étienne told me something else.”
“What?”
“You want to mark me.”
His cock hardened and he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. “I do, but I won’t hurt you.”
“Mark me,” she said.
He closed his eyes, the inner beast in him growling with appreciation. “Adele, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I do.” She undid her buttons. “Show me your claws.”
He lost all control as his claws erupted from his hands, but he retracted them again. “Now, get naked.”
She grinned. “Only if you mark me.”
“Adele…”
“No, you have to mark me right? That’s what
Mukswa
do. They mark their mates, then they’re as good as married, correct me if I’m wrong.”
“Yes. If I mark you, you’re mine.”
“Then mark me. Take me from behind and leave your mark on me.”
“I can’t scar you.”
“Your scar I would gladly bear.” She slipped her dress off her shoulder, revealing her breasts. “Mark me.”
Jared growled, losing all semblance of any control. He tossed the dress away, flipped her over onto her stomach, her ass high in the air, her pussy wet and ready for him. He thrust his cock into her slick heat. She was so tight, so hot around him. His claws lengthened and he pressed them into her flesh, scoring her skin, marking her as his mate.
She let out a small hiss of pain. “Don’t stop.”
He finished marking her and then gripped her hips as he rode her hard and fast, his cock pumping in and out of her. He let his hand drift over her abdomen, she’d put on some weight, but it was good. He liked a woman with curves. His fingers parted her folds and he rubbed her clit in time with his thrusts.
Adele cried out as she came, her pussy clenching his cock hard. Jared came, giving her all of him.
She was his now. The mark on her shoulder told everyone she belonged to him. He slipped out of her and then gingerly touched her back. Unlike
Mukswa
females Adele wouldn’t heal as fast and the beads of blood made him feel a pang of guilt.
“I’ll be back.” He ran into his bathroom and retrieved some gauze. She was lying on her side and wincing. She was in pain. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”
“It just stings. Like a scratch.”
Jared chuckled under his breath. “Well, this will help.” He applied the gauze and taped it.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to do that.”
“Yes. I do. You’re not
Mukswa,
besides I don’t want you getting your blood all over my sheets.” He chucked her under the chin and then climbed into bed beside her. “I love you.”
She touched his face. “I love you too.”
Jared kissed her. “Never leave me again.”
“Where would I go?”
“Medicine Hat apparently.”
Adele chuckled. “My grandparents live there.”
“Still, you had to put ten hours between us.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “It was safer that way.”
“Because of my animal-like nature.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“You’re impossible, Jared Stevens.”
“My sister always called me weird.”
Adele laughed. “Not weird. Sexy, but not weird.”
He growled appreciatively. “How about you show me how sexy you think I am.”
“Ever do the sixty-nine?”
Jared’s cock sprung to life. “Oh yeah.” He helped Adele get into position, her beautiful cunt just inches from his face, as her hand palmed his cock. When her tongue touched the tip of his dick he bucked his hips up at her and brought her sweet pussy to his mouth, licking her engorged clit with his tongue. The wet heat of her mouth was like heaven and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it in much longer.
And he was right. As she came against his mouth he shot his seed into hers. When they were finished he carried her to his bathroom and helped her clean up before taking her back to his bed.
Their bed.
Adele ran her finger around his nipple, making it form into a hard peak. He let out an appreciative growl and tickled her back, where he’d marked her.
“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”
“No. It doesn’t, surprisingly.” She ran her hand down his chest toward his cock.
“If you keep that up, you’ll be flat on your back again.”
“Why do you think I’m doing it?”
He chuckled. “Your heart is still beating quite fast. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m pregnant.” She leaned on one elbow and watched the look of shock spread across his face. “I thought for a bear you’d be more in tune with that. Étienne explained a bit about your kind on the car ride back to Winnipeg. Something about females and heat?”
“You’re pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Well you see—” He silenced her with a kiss.
“You know what I mean, you minx. You told me that you couldn’t get pregnant the conventional way.”
“That’s what I was told, but when I questioned my physician in Medicine Hat she said it was a one in a million.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for a human female to carry one of ours.”
“Well, you’re the only one I’ve been with in a long time.” Adele kissed him on the tip of his nose.
“Good,” he snarled playfully.
“I guess I’m really bound to you. I hope Étienne will like our baby, being as how it’ll be half human and all.”
“He’ll have no choice.”
“He said he was a tracker, bringing people home.”
“He told you that? He never tells anyone that.”
“I kind of dragged it out of him.”
Jared laughed. “You must’ve won him over.”
“I must’ve. He said he was heading out west after he dropped me off.”
Jared nodded. “I’m sure he’s gone off again on another search.”
Adele touched the scar on his shoulder. “Levi shot you?”
“Yes and I wasn’t able to shift. I couldn’t, until you released me.” He pulled her across his chest and she felt his hard cock pressing against her backside. “I love you, Adele. You’re never allowed to leave me again.”
She kissed him. “I love you too, besides I may have regained some strength, but I still couldn’t run fast enough even if I tried.”
And there was no way she’d even contemplate such a thing.
Jared and his kind were her world now. With the sting of the mate mark in her back, she knew she’d finally found where she belonged.
Amy discovered her love of the written word when she realized that she could no longer act out the fantastical romances in her head with her dolls. Writing about delicious heroes was much more fun than playing with plastic men dolls with the inevitable flesh-colored “tighty whities”.
She loves history, the paranormal, and will spew out historical facts like a volcano, much to her dear hubby’s chagrin.
When she’s not thinking about the next sensual romp, she’s chasing after two rug rats and reading anything spicy that she can get her hands on.
Amy welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
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Amy Ruttan
Fondled and Gobbled: Going Back for Seconds
anthology
Finely Aged
anthology
Tantalizing Treats
anthology
Tempting Turquoise
anthology
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Private Release
ISBN 9781419946677
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Private Release Copyright © 2013 Amy Ruttan
Edited by Shannon Combs
Cover design by Fiona Jayde
Cover photography by Artem Furman/Fotolia.com
Electronic book publication June 2013
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