Releasing the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 2) (2 page)

Scarlett held out her hand. “Come on.”

“What?”

She wiggled her fingers. “Come with me.”

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m afraid you’re going to rip that coyote’s throat out and serve it to the rest of the patrons.”

She had a point. So, with a silent curse to my bear, I stood and followed her around the side of the bar.

Brennan Callaghan was ready to explode. For the last several weeks when he’d come here for clan business or something else, I’d never seen him so tense. Each visit worsened. I could sense his bear near the surface and had been wondering why he was barely holding onto control.

Asking Simone to cover the bar for a few minutes, I waited while Brennan made his way over to me. With a smile, I grabbed his hand again. He looked down at in surprise, as though he’d never felt skin on skin before. The wolf inside of me loved the power she felt over his bear. She was an alpha but had not had that responsibility within our pack. But here, in my club and around this shifter who pushed his own animal into submission, she felt powerful. In control.

And she wanted to dominate the man in front of her right now.

“Follow me,” I said, pulling Brennan along with me. Ever since the day we met on our pack’s territory and fought side by side, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my mind. Maybe it was the way he so fiercely protected his brother’s mate. Or maybe it was the way he’d helped my uncle when he’d been injured. Either way, Brennan Callaghan had impressed the wolf inside as well as my human heart.

“Where are we going?” Brennan asked as I dragged him through a doorway he had to duck under and into my small office space. The room had once been a storage closet, but I’d blown out one of the walls and decorated everything in dark wood and with red accents. The colors of power.

When we were both inside, I dropped his hand and closed the door behind us. Turning around, I rested my back against the entrance and took a moment to enjoy the view. Like his brothers, Brennan was a beast of a man. Medium length brown hair, a strong jawline, and muscles that stretched for miles underneath his tee shirt and jeans…his beauty sent my already raging hormones into overdrive. This was mating season for the wild wolves in the area, a yearly ritual that impacted our own pack’s behavior. And while I wasn’t burdened by nature with a limited breeding season, this time of year kicked everything into high gear.

Brennan tensed and flared his nostrils. “You smell so good,” he growled.

It took every ounce of self-control I had to stay by the door and not run into his arms. My gaze traveled down to the growing bulge in the front of his pants and my wolf rushed to the surface. I wasn’t the type of girl to jump anything and everything in sight, but Brennan had changed me in ways he didn’t even know yet. “Why are you here again?” I asked with a whisper.

Brennan opened and closed his fists several times, shoulders staying tight. “I needed to see you.”

“Why?”

He shook his head. “I was going to…” His voice trailed off while he composed himself. But then he surprised me with a laugh. “Well, I was going to tell you that I had some more contracts for you to sign, but I can’t do it.” Rubbing his hands through his hair while he sighed, I waited silently. “The truth is I don’t know why I’m here. I sat in that damn parking lot for a while trying to figure it out. But he,” Brennan slapped his chest, “he won’t let me be away from you.”

“Your bear?” I asked.

He nodded and clenched his jaw. “Yes. My bear. My bear who can’t seem to get over that wolf inside of you.”

My stomach fluttered for a million reasons. The attraction had certainly been mutual but more important than that, our animals had recognized something in each other. The animal always knew when they’d found their mate. The human side might take a bit longer to come to that conclusion, but not our other halves.

“Interesting,” I said with a sexy smirk.

His eyes jerked up to meet mine. “We can’t.”

I took two steps closer to him.

“Scarlett,” he warned.

“How long have you known me?” I asked, allowing the wolf a little control.

“Not long enough.”

“Not long enough for what?” Another step. “For our animals to see something in each other? How long does it usually take for a grizzly?”

Brennan shifted from side to side as I stalked toward him. “Depends.”

“Well, what do you know about wolf mating customs?”

He crossed his arms as though he needed to hold himself back. “Not much.”

I was close enough to touch him, but instead I just stood in front of him and let my wolf look up into his eyes. “In the wild, typically only the alpha couple mates. The rest of the females wait to be chosen if the dominant male feels the need to mate with another.”

“Okay,” he said, voice shaking.

“But I’m not in the wild, and I’m not fully wolf.” I brushed my fingers along his forearms, tense with anticipation. “And I am an alpha female.” Lifting my chin, I invited him in.

“I know that,” he whispered. “But I’m a grizzly.”

Waiting for his lips to press against mine, I brushed up closer to him, the bottom of his arm pushing against my breast. “You certainly are.”

“This can’t work.”

“Says who?”

Brennan stared down at me, the yellow in his eyes unable to hide the desire inside. “Nature.”

I lifted up on my toes and kissed his chin. “Do you want me?”

“Yes.”

“Does your bear want me?”

“More than anything.”

“Then I believe that nature has already made our choice for us.”

Without another second of hesitation, Brennan wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up off the ground. His lips crashed into mine as while I held on to his silky hair. Our tongues danced in and out of each other’s mouths, trailing over our necks and back again until our lip met once more. Wrapping my legs over his hips, I felt my short leather skirt ride up far enough to expose my thongs underneath. I rubbed against his erection, thriving in the sensations it sent to my core.

“You smell so damn good,” Brennan said again. He squeezed my ass with one hand, while the other pulled on my hair to expose my neck. Hot, moist kisses trailed down my neck as he worked that sexy mouth of his all over the most sensitive spot.

When his back slammed into the far wall, I unhooked my legs and slid down to standing. My heels hit the ground and I pushed myself away. Breathing heavy and trying to find some sort of control, I held Brennan back at arm’s length.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Shaking my head, I held him still. “Shh, don’t say anything.” With boldness that came from my wolf, I grabbed the bottom of his tee shirt and yanked it up over his head. He was almost a foot taller than me, but I had my spiked boots on so I could undress him easily. Brennan gave me a crooked smile that melted my insides and made my wolf show herself. I had no doubt my eyes were a glowing bright green now, but I didn’t care. Brennan wanted her and she loved that. Pushing my hand against the bulge, I gently rubbed.

“Oh my god,” Brennan moaned, eyes closed and jaw twitching. “What are you doing to me?” he asked.

“I’m taking control,” I whispered. With quick hands, I unhooked his button and pulled down the zipper of his pants. As I slid them down over his toned ass, I let my nose brush gently against his erection. The sheer size of it told my wolf that he was worthy and the female in me couldn’t wait to feel it pulsing inside.

Brennan gasped and froze for a few seconds as I slid the jeans to the floor. Then he realized what was happening and quickly kicked off his shoes so I could finish. Standing in just his boxer briefs, I stepped back to admire him once again. Shifters were known to be muscular and in shape, but Brennan took that to a whole new level. As a grizzly, his size overshadowed even the most dangerous of my wolves. All grizzlies were large, and Brennan certainly wasn’t an exception. Muscles that glistened in the limited light made him look more like a lumberjack than a businessman.

He watched me study him with a smirk on his face. “Your turn,” he teased.

I spun around and grabbed my desk chair. Wheeling it over to him, I grabbed his shoulders and forced him to sit down. He did this willingly, otherwise I never would’ve been able to control him. And then I pressed the bottom of my boot against the chair and pushed him back up against the wall.

“Stay,” I commanded.

With a wicked grin, he raised a brow. “Yes ma’am.”

His hungry eyes devoured me and I didn’t think I’d be able to play this game much longer. Lifting my tank top over my head, I exposed the black lace bra underneath. My kind typically wasn’t very well endowed, but I’d learned long ago which bra helped accentuate everything that I had. My cleavage, real or exaggerated, drew Brennan’s attention. His eyes wandered up and down, following the curves. But then they widened as I unzipped my skirt and let it fall to the ground.

“Holy shit,” he mumbled. “I mean, wow. You’re beautiful.”

“Just stay in that chair,” I teased.

With another quick flick of my hand, I unhooked my bra in the front and pulled it away from my skin. Only the black thongs and high-heeled leather boots remained. I’d always had a part of me that wanted to be as bold as my dancers, but I’d never had the courage to do that in front of someone.

Until now. Until Brennan had walked into my life.

There was something about the bear that brought out even the most primal instincts. Watching his reaction to me only heated up my insides more. His briefs stretched against his growing erection and the moisture between my legs pooled at the thought of him inside. Stepping forward, I moved close enough that he could rest his large hands against my hips. He squeezed them a couple of times, a growling noise coming from deep within his chest.

“Still think this can’t happen?” I teased.

Brennan leaned forward and kissed my stomach. “This better happen.”

Pushing him away again, I stepped back and removed my thongs. Nakedness had never been an issue for me, I was a shifter after all. But seduction was an art that I’d been studying for as long as I’d been working in the clubs. And I imagined that I could always find a way to improve my techniques. Although when I looked at Brennan and watched him remove his briefs, I felt confident that I’d done the job I needed to.

“Get over here,” he said.

I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. “I’m in control, grizzly.”

His skin trembled with the threat, promise, and the desire to be dominated. I’d sensed that in him the first day we’d met. And while Brennan wasn’t at the bottom of his clan, his human side kept his bear so suppressed it made him smell submissive.

And my wolf devoured it.

She wanted to take him now. Show him who was in control and make him beg for more. She wanted a mate that could match her strength but allow her to rule. She wanted Brennan and his grizzly wanted her.

In two steps, I found myself straddling the chair and allowing Brennan to take my breasts into his mouth. His lips moved feverishly over my hardened nipple while I rubbed against his cock. Solid and magnificent, I felt the first waves of orgasm before he even tasted any other part of me.

“I need you,” he begged. “I need to be inside of you now.”

A few drops of liquid moistened the tip of his shaft and I used that as a lubricant to rub back and forth over my folds. He continued to work his magic on my breasts and I continued to let my clit rub back and forth over him. His fingers dug deep into my cheeks as he pushed my hips against him even harder. Sliding up and down, feeling the smooth skin of his impressive length glide between my sex, sent me over the edge. Waves of warmth and tingling sensations pulsed outward down to my toes. I cried out and Brennan bit down on my breast. Not hard enough to break skin, but just perfect enough to enhance the orgasm. I loved being bit during sex, but had shared that with only a few others. Brennan seemed to know exactly what I wanted.

Not a submissive bear anymore.

With me straddling his hips, Brennan stood from the chair and carried me over to the desk. He set me down, kissed my lips, and then spun me around so fast my hair flung around into my face. From behind, he grabbed my hands and spread them out in front of us. Pulling back on my hips, he then used his knees to spread my thighs further apart. While I liked to be in control, this side of Brennan turned me on like no one else ever had.

He grabbed my hair, exposing my neck again, and bent over me. His warm, muscular body pressed against mine as his other hand reached around and rubbed between my legs. “I’m in charge now,” he growled. Then he nipped my ear.