Southern Shifters: Bearly Dreaming (Kindle Worlds Novella) (5 page)

I found myself standing on the colorful rug again, the cabin room dark like it had been the first time I’d visited. No extra lights brightened the space, no board, no book, and no markers lay out. For that first second, I worried, but Kian appeared almost instantly, as if he’d been waiting. As if he’d missed me. And damn, I’d missed him.

Before I could take a single step, he pinned me with a stare, with a look on his face I hadn’t seen before. I froze, watching him, my heart racing in something other than fear. He moved toward me like a hunter, each step slow and precise, with a fire in his eyes that made my knees turn to jelly. The energy between us felt different somehow, the tension in the room not from frustration or fear. Something else…something warmer. Something heated and desirous. Something needful.

He stopped directly in front of me, the scent of him filling me, making me shiver. I wanted to touch him so badly. Wanted to feel him under my fingers, wanted to know what his body felt like against mine. I wanted, and he looked as if he wanted, too.

“I felt you,” he signed, those dark eyes of his locked on mine.

I gasped, shaking, every inch of me honed in on him. “I wanted you to.”

Slowly, eyes never looking away, he raised his hand, bringing it to my face, running the side of one finger down my cheek. And I swear, I
swear
, there was a whisper. A slight disturbance that I could actually
feel
. Barely a hint, but enough to make me crave more. To make me yearn.

I leaned toward him, wishing hard to
truly
feel him. Desperation zinging through my body like an electric pulse. Something sexy and hot shining through his eyes, he inched closer. Closing the gap as his gaze held me captive. As he coveted.

And then he mouthed a single phrase. Two words that made my heart practically leap out of my chest. That made me wet and wanting.

Need you.

I nodded, shaky, so fucking hopeful I couldn’t breathe. He felt it, too—the connection between us. Felt the draw of the mating bond, even if he didn’t realize what it was. He stood in front of me, looking as if he wanted to wrap me in his arms. As if he wanted to pull me, keep me, claim me. As if he wanted to devour me.

And damn, did I want to be devoured by him.

I brought my hands up, trying to force my muscles to make the motions I’d used for the majority of my life, but Kian shook his head. I waited, impatiently patient. Completely at the edge of my desire. My entire body like a lightning rod ready for a strike. So close, but not close enough. Never close enough.

He moved again. One step. Staring down at me. God, he was so tall. So broad. So much man. I ached to feel him, to touch him. To have his weight on top of me. To know what it was like to have him inside me.

Another step. If I could make my body solid, we’d be touching. Breathing the same breath, at least. He lifted his arms, bringing them up on either side of me as if to wrap around my back. To hold me. And I wanted it. I wanted to feel his arms around me so badly, I almost started to cry. My hands up, close to his shoulders as if dancing together, wishing for solidness when we closed that last little space. Barely any air between us. Both holding position, frozen in place, too afraid to try but too greedy not to.

And then I did—I tried, I moved, I placed my hands on his chest. And suddenly, my body and his met. Touched. Became solid. We were physically together in the same space. In the dreamscape. I’d gathered enough strength from my Tallan to be real…or as real as we could get.

His breath washed over my face as he pulled me into his arms. Clinging. His touch rough and desperate, his hold almost tight enough to hurt. Mine just as strong. His lips met mine, owning me, his tongue forcing my own lips apart as I sighed. He wasted no time in our first kiss. He didn’t take anything slow or soft, he didn’t nibble…he devoured as I knew he wanted to. Tongue sliding, lips moving, he kissed me with a power that made me weak. Made me melt. But he was so strong, so big and burly. He simply held me up, lifted me right off my feet. My arms flew around his neck, my fingers immediately tangling in his mop of dark curls. Soft. So fucking soft. So perfect.

His hands slid down my back, a slow and steady glide, until he grabbed my ass to pull me closer. I think I might have moaned…I know I shivered. He responded in kind, a low vibration coming from his chest. One I felt but couldn’t hear. One I couldn’t explain but didn’t feel the need to. Nipping his bottom lip, I pulled back, eyeing him, practically panting. He waited, staring back at me, giving me my moment. His chest heaved against mine, still rumbling. Damn, there was so much between us, so much heat and need, so much emotion. The mating bond was there, true and strong, ready to be finalized. Ready for us to complete the ritual. But I still had to tell him, to explain how my life and his were connected. Soon, I’d tell him soon, but first, I needed to feel more of him. Taste him. Be with him however I could.

I leaned back in, kissing his chin, his jaw, up toward his ear. Tasting, touching, memorizing the feel of him. The vibrations he gave off grew stronger, coming in waves as I reached his earlobe. A little nip. Just a tiny bit of pain, and I headed down his neck. Dragging my tongue along his skin. Biting him. Wishing I could leave a mark that he’d see tomorrow, a reminder of sorts. Wanting to let others know he was mine.

If I could just figure out a way to keep him.

His lips found mine, kissing me softly this time, eyes locked as we came together again. Gently. Calmly. As if we’d done this a thousand times. Slow swipes of his tongue. Light pressure teasing me, tasting me. And his hands. They squeezed and kneaded my ass as he held me up. My legs wrapped around his waist, my arms over his shoulders. My body wrapped around him as I wanted to be, as I dreamed I would be. And the feel of him against me was exactly what I’d hoped for.

He returned to my neck, kissing me there, blazing a path down from my chin as I tilted my head back. Breathing against my skin. His lips moved back up, tickling my jaw, and I realized he was speaking. Whispering words I wanted to hear. I needed to hear. But I couldn’t. I hadn’t heard in years, not since the day I almost drowned when I was little more than a child. My last sound had been the roar of rushing water, cutting me off from the rest of the world in a heartbeat. I’d lost my hearing in an accident, and I’d never missed it more than I did in that moment. All I wanted, all I needed, was to hear his words. Just once. To know what he sounded like. What he was saying. What I made him feel.

And being that we were in our dreams, maybe I could.

I closed my eyes and pulled every bit of magical energy into me, all my want for him, my need. I stretched my gift to the limits, changing the dreamscape. My reality was silence. I’d gotten used to it, embraced it, and refused to let anyone treat me less because of it. But this wasn’t reality. This was a dream Kian and I could share. And anything was possible in dreams.

I concentrated on the feel of his lips, the brush of his breath against my cheek. I concentrated and I wished.
Please let me hear him. Just this once. Let me hear him.

And then I did.

“So beautiful,” I whispered against her lips, diving in again and again for more kisses. Deep kisses. Long, slow kisses. Breaking apart to breathe, to pull her closer, and to keep whispering. “Amazing. I’m so lucky.”

The fact that she couldn’t hear me didn’t matter. I couldn’t hold in the words. I needed to say them to her, to get them out. I had so many things I wanted to tell her. I’d have to spend a lot more time at the library in front of Audrey’s computer, but I’d do it. I’d learn sign language so I could talk to her. But tonight, I didn’t have it in me to try. She was too warm, too soft under my hands. She was too fucking
real.

“My mate.” I licked the seam of her lips, clutching her to me, growling at her taste. The bear within me pressed forward, wanting to claim her, to mark her. Growling
mine
over and over in my head.

Mine.

Yours.

I jumped, staring down at her. I’d
heard
her. Not with my ears, not the way I would have expected, but in my head. Within my mind.

“Nyla?” My voice cracked. I’d heard her and she’d heard me. I didn’t know how, but I didn’t really know how she’d found me in the first place. Whatever magic she had in her, I wouldn’t underestimate it or doubt its power. I had a feeling the girl could do anything if she just put her mind to it.

Nyla.
I thought her name hard, willing her to hear me again. She smiled up at me, waiting, nodding that she’d heard me.
My Nyla.

She sighed and ran her nose along mine, making my bear growl happily. He liked that, liked that she was introducing herself to us in a very bear-like way. He also liked the feeling of her pressed up against us, how she was all warm and soft and feminine. I did too. And I wanted more. I wanted all of her.

Find me
. Her whisper in my mind was weak and soft but clear.

I nodded, kissing her shoulder, so fucking thrilled to hear her at all. “Where?”

Nothing, no answer. I leaned back, catching her green eyes. “Nyla, where?”

Her eyebrows puckered and she shook her head. My heart sunk. Had our chance faded away? Had that been it? She placed a finger over my lips, silencing me, nodding as if I was supposed to understand what to do next. But then I remembered...she hadn’t responded to my spoken words, but the ones I’d thought. I couldn’t speak what I wanted her to hear.

Concentrating, staring into her eyes, I pushed my thoughts out.
Nyla…where?

She licked her lips then closed her eyes tightly. Working hard, straining.

Deals Gap
. A whisper, barely more than the concept of the words in my mind. But I heard them, I grasped on to them with everything I had. I’d heard of Deals Gap and the legend of the road known as the Dragon. A place where packless shifters moved to find safety and community. I knew it was down in the lower forty-eight, somewhere in the mountains of the East, but I wasn’t sure exactly where. I could find her, though. I could get to Deals Gap and hunt for her.

“I’m coming for you,” I said. She shook her head, glancing from my mouth to my eyes and back again. Holding her close, I said the words one more time. Loudly. Drawing them out. Making sure she could read my lips. Thinking them at the same time.

“I am coming for you.”

Her face lit up, her smile wide and glorious. She lifted up to nuzzle my nose again, mouthing the word
please
, and I was lost. Fuck the distance between our lives and the fact that this was a dream. She could disappear in a second, and I’d be alone again until I found her in Deals Gap. I couldn’t let this opportunity pass us by.

Keeping my eyes on hers, I carried her to my bed and laid her on the soft, down comforter. She smiled up at me, trusting. Wanting. And, oh God, did I want, too. I wanted to feel her, taste her, watch her come apart over and over again. I wanted her in that bed for real, when I was both awake and asleep. I wanted her like no other. I wanted my mate.

I kept our eyes locked as I trailed my hand down her body. Along her collarbone, following the curve of her breast, circling her belly button over her clothes. She licked her lips, watching me, her breath coming fast, her skin pebbling. Her nipples poked hard under the thin fabric of her shirt, taunting me. Begging for attention. And I couldn’t resist. I placed my mouth over one, using my lips to pull on that tight bead of flesh. Wishing the fabric wasn’t in the way. Nyla must have felt the same way because she slid her arm between us, yanking her shirt up and off. She stared right at me as she held that fabric over the side of the bed, letting it hang from her fingers for a second, then dropped it to the floor. Brave. Daring. Half-naked.

Beautiful.

My mate was so damn stunning. Giving me all that skin with nothing blocking my gaze, nothing impeding my attention. I praised the stars that she wasn’t wearing a bra as I leaned in for a taste. Shivering when my tongue met skin.

My mouth zeroed in on her left nipple, laving it, pulling it between my teeth and biting it gently. She writhed under me, quivering, gasping, gripping me with her thighs and making me moan against her. I kept up the attention, switching from left to right, bringing a hand into the mix to keep the nipple not in my mouth teased to the perfect point. Her hands were in my hair, pulling me to where she wanted, while her back arched high. So responsive to my touch. So fucking soft and sweet and female underneath me.

But she was also quite obviously a woman who took what she wanted, for which I thanked every god ever referenced on earth. She grabbed my hand and twined our fingers together, sliding them down her body. Under the waistband of the little shorts she wore. Lower still. Not looking away as she directed me, eyes locked as I felt her for the first time. No panties in the way, nothing blocking me from warm, wet flesh as we inched down. And then I was there, right where I wanted to be. Her eyes fluttered closed as I ran a knuckle over her most sensitive skin, as I stroked between the lips of her pussy. As I brushed her clit with the side of my finger. But when she released my hand and sighed, pressing her hips up for more, I knew there’d be no more teasing.

I spread her open, her soft, tight curls tickling me. Fuck, I loved that. Watching every reaction, not wanting to push her too far, I rolled my finger over her clit. Her eyes squeezed closed and she threw her head back, teeth burying themselves in her plump bottom lip. I pressed again, a little harder, keeping up the pressure for a bit longer than the first time. She spread her knees wider, giving me every bit of access. Her body telling me the
yes
her words couldn’t.

But I wanted to see her, feel her, watch her pretty pussy as she came on my hand. I needed that. Trusting she’d let me know if it was too much, I yanked her shorts down, untangling them from her legs and tossing them across the room. She helped me, lifting her hips and legs to hasten the removal. Giving me consent with her body. Once I had her naked on my bed, I swallowed hard, so damn hard I could barely think. Dark pink, wet, with small tight curls neatly trimmed at the top. Absolute perfection. I wanted to dive into her, bury my face in that pussy and never come back up. But first…