The Steel Bear: A BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Highland Brothers) (6 page)

H
e looked in her eyes
. The woman he finally realized was his mate. Only, she had no fucking clue what that meant. He had never worried about this scenario. He had always planned on finding a she-bear. But Mila was anything but a bear.

She was a gorgeous sexy woman, begging him to fuck her until the sun came up. And there was nothing he wanted to do more. His bear was hungry for her now.

He groaned. He wanted to claim her, but he didn’t know how she would feel when she found out about his other life. The one that brought him to the cabin. He wanted to be inside her. He wanted to fill her with his cubs. He wanted to tell her she was his mate. But he had to do this the right way.

He sat forward. He saw the look of panic flash across her face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing’s wrong.” He picked her up in his arms and brought her against his chest. He heard the raw thump of her heart. “I need to tell you something too. Before we…before you’re mine.”

The worried look on her face immediately transformed into a shy smile. “I’ll be yours?”

He nodded. “But I think we need to take a breath.”

“It’s too fast, isn’t it?” She searched his eyes for an answer, but he knew there was no way she was going to guess this. “But it’s not fast. We know each other. We’ve known each other for a year.”

He squared her shoulders to face him. Her skin was soft and warm in his hands. He almost abandoned his idea, but he wanted his mate to know from the beginning. He felt happy and excited. He was getting ready to tell Mila she was the woman he was going to spend forever with.

His heart was about to jump out of his chest.

“It’s not too fast. It’s perfect.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. God, she was beautiful. Why hadn’t he seen the emerald glimmer in her eyes before?

“If it’s the condom thing…” she blushed. “I’ve been tested and I haven’t slept with anyone in a year. Not since I met you. I just couldn’t.”

He groaned. Damn. He hadn’t thought about her being with another man, but his heart beat faster knowing she had been saving herself for him all this time.

“It’s not the condom thing. But that plays into it.” He placed his hand over her heart, feeling the certain rhythm beat against his palm.

“What is it?”

“You and me. This is something you want, right?”

She nodded. “It’s all I’ve wanted.”

He smiled. She was the perfect woman. The woman who would give him cubs. The woman he would share everything with. He had heard that he would know when he found his mate. Crawford always thought it would be an instant flash of realization when he met the she-bear destined for him. Maybe it would have been like that with Mila if he had slowed down for a second and given her a chance. None of that mattered now. After kissing her and holding her in his arms his knew. She was the one.

“I want it too. But I want you to know everything about me.”

She giggled. “I think I might already know everything. The hunting cabin was new information, but I know you, Crawford. I’ve spent every day next to you.”

“I know you have. And all that time we could have been together. We could have been us. I could have claimed you every day.”

He felt her heart quicken under his touch. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I will.”

She brushed her lips over his. “Then what are you waiting for?”

It was incredible. Freeing. He was going to claim the woman meant for him. And if he were lucky, his shifter magic would be stronger than her birth control. He would fill her with his cubs, and claim her all over again. His bear growled with want.

“I’m not like other men, Mila.” He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth. “Once you’re with me, it’s forever. I’ve been looking for you my whole life. I can finally be with you the way we were always meant to be together.”

She moaned as he pulled her onto his lap. She straddled his hips. “I want that.”

He took her face between his hands, pressing his mouth hard to her lips. “You’re the woman who loves me. You’re the woman meant to love my bear.”

“I do love you, Crawford,” she whispered between breaths.

“And my bear? Do you love him?” He pulled her face in front of his so he could read her eyes.

“I love all of you. I always have.” She didn’t get it.

“Mila, I’m trying to tell you something.” He kissed her once more. “I’m a bear shifter.”

S
he looked at him
. The man she was in love with. The man she was ready to give her body. The man whose kisses turned her blood to liquid cinnamon.

“Bear? What do you mean? Like your spirit animal?” she asked.

He laughed, his broad shoulders shaking. “No. I’m talking me. I’m a bear. Always have been.” He released her face from his palms.

She shook her head. “What? No.”

“And there has never been a woman I wanted to tell. There was never any woman I thought was my mate.”

She sat back on her heels. She didn’t care they were both naked and she was about to give herself to him. Her world was suddenly tilting off its axis.

“No sense. This is…no.” She looked at him, praying she had misunderstood.

“It might be a little confusing at first, but—”

“Confusing? What in the hell are you talking about?” She didn’t mean to get mad. “This has bypassed confusing.”

“Maybe I should start over?”

She nodded. “Yes. Please.”

“I’m still the person you see. I’m still the person you’ve worked with all year. Still the architect. Still the man. But there’s another side of me. I’m a bear shifter.”

“You turn into a bear?” She couldn’t believe she had asked the question.

He nodded. “I can turn whenever I want. It’s taken me most of my life to get it completely under control, but I have it mastered. I only change when I want to. It’s not a spontaneous thing.”

“Are you going to do it now?”

“No. No. I wouldn’t do that.” He took her hands in his. She felt the warmth and strength in his palms.

She was quiet.

“Tell me what you’re thinking right now.” His brow furrowed, and his eyes locked on hers.

“I’m your mate?”

“God, yes. You are the one, Mila. The attraction you’ve felt for me all year. Have you ever felt anything like that before?”

She shook her head. “No.” She hadn’t compared her feelings to past relationships, but she knew there was nothing like it. There couldn’t be. Her love for Crawford was a force buried in her soul.

“It’s because you’re my mate, Mila. You knew before I did.” He gripped her shoulders. “I am a bear shifter. I was born into a shifter family. And there’s nothing I can do about it. This is who I am. And you say you love me. You love the man in me. I need you to love the bear too.”

She didn’t know what to say. The silence surrounded them.

The fire flickered over his shoulder. She saw the flames lowering to short orange and red coals. The cabin had started to cool. Crawford walked toward the fireplace and tossed a few logs on top.

The room danced again with the flames.

He sat on the edge of the bed. “Maybe I was wrong. I thought if I told you it wouldn’t make a difference to you. I’m now a fucking idiot twice.” He buried his head in his hands. “But I couldn’t have sex with you and not tell you who I am. What I am. And I’m definitely not ready to claim you if you don’t know what it means.”

She felt the sharp pain in her heart. It shattered her to see this mountain of a man in pain. This was the greatest test her heart had faced.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I do love you, Crawford.”

He turned toward her, his cheek glistening with a tear. “What are you saying?”

“I haven’t been in love with you for a year to walk away now.” She wanted to draw him to her breast and let him nuzzle against her, but stronger than that was the need to bring him inside her. Her sudden need for him was clawing at her. She wanted to prove it to him.

“And the bear?” he asked. His body moving on all fours, pinning her under him.

Her breath hitched in the back of her throat at the site of him hovering over her. The broad planks of his chest. The smooth muscles of his arms. He was everything she ever wanted.

She nodded. “And the bear.”

His mouth crushed hers as his tongue twisted against hers. She groaned when she felt his hands roam her body, canvassing her curves.

“You have to tell me.” His eyes locked on hers. “I can’t claim you if you don’t want me.”

She licked her lips. Was there ever any doubt she wanted this man? Every part of him belonged to her just as much as every inch of her was his. His brilliant mind. His artistry. His voice. His eyes. She loved all of it.

“I want you, Crawford. I want you to take me. Make me yours and I’ll make you mine. I’ve waited an entire year, don’t make me wait another second.”

“Oh, Mila.” He kissed the side of her neck. His hand slid between her legs, finding her wet and ready. “I’m going to fucking claim you like you deserve.”

She looked into his eyes, but before she could lock her hands around his neck, he flipped her on her stomach.

“Oh,” she cried.

He pulled her bottom in the air, and she looked over her shoulder. Her nipples brushed over the pillow. She waited for him to slam into her, quickly and powerfully, but instead she felt Crawford’s fingers in her slick folds, massaging her, settling around her nub.

“You deserve everything, baby.” His other hand reached forward, plucking her nipple between his fingers.

“Oh, God,” she bucked her hips in the air. The sensations were so intense, running the length of her body.

“Like that, baby. Feel it. Enjoy it.” He teased her opening with his hard tip.

“Crawford, please,” she begged, feeling her entrance hot like molten lava, as he stretched her around him. She wasn’t prepared for how intense it would feel as his cock readied to take her.

“Tell me. Tell me as my mate.” He pushed the head against her entrance, but not moving it any deeper.

Her hips swayed. She needed him inside her. Needed to feel him hit her from the inside out.

“Please, fuck me,” she whimpered. “I need you inside me. Fill me.” She couldn’t take it if he didn’t.

“Fuck.” He slid his hard length inside her, as she tightened around the intensity.

“Ohh,” she moaned. It was everything she had dreamed. Better. It was fire and ice filling her body. A fantasy finally taking hold of her skin and breathing flames of desire through her blood. She rocked into Crawford as his arms circled her breasts. His cock sank into her tight, wet entrance again and she called his name.

She spread her legs for him, craving the feel of him even deeper.

“Baby, you feel fucking amazing.” He gripped her hips as he pulled all the way out, then sent a thrust of sensation through her core.

She panted as her hips rocked harder, needing more. Needing him to fill her. “Fuck me, Crawford. Oh, yes. Yes.”

This wasn’t like anything she had felt before. Her body was no longer hers, but belonged to the man sending quivers through her veins. Kissing her, licking her, fucking her into beautiful oblivion.

He drove harder against her. “Come with me,” he groaned. He released her hip and his fingers danced over her throbbing nub. With one flick, she screamed as the orgasm shattered through her with fiery urgency.

She clutched at the pillows, while her body clenched around his cock. She needed it. She needed his release filling ever part of her, heating her, seeping into her. He spread her entrance wider with his fingers, giving his cock more space to drive deeper. She didn’t know he needed to be deeper inside until he slid another inch.

“Oh, Crawford, it’s so much. But I need you,” she cried.

And then she felt the warm soothing sensation fill her as he vibrated against her, spilling his release deep. It worked its way inside her body and she felt sudden fulfillment, as if for the first time she had done the most important job of her career.

Crawford pulled her into his arms, tucking her head against the heat of his damp chest.

“I feel so different,” she whispered.

“It’s the magic.” He kissed the top of her head. “Shifter magic is powerful.”

“Am I going to be a bear?” she asked, realizing she didn’t know what the shifter magic did.

“No. You are still very much a woman. My woman. Enjoy how it makes you feel. I like giving you my magic.”

“I’ve never done anything like that.” Her body completely belonged to him and she knew it. This man was hers. She ran her fingertips over his shoulder. His muscles rippled under her touch.

“I’ve never done it before either. It was fucking amazing,” he growled. “I’ve always heard mate sex is insane, but I had no idea.” She could feel the smile on his face.

“It was pretty amazing wasn’t it?” She was smiling too. All her inhibitions had faded. The worry she wouldn’t be able to satisfy him. That she wouldn’t give him all the pleasure he needed was gone. She knew her body fed his every need. It was made for this mad and his bear.

“You know what the problem is now?” He propped himself on his elbow. She gazed at the lines wrapping his torso. She would never get tired of studying his body.

“What?”

“We don’t have enough food to last in this cabin a week.” He laughed.

“A week? What about for one night?” She was suddenly very hungry.

“I might have brought some food. But I can always run back to the house and pick up a few things.”

“I don’t think I want you to leave yet.”

“You know this is forever now. I’m never leaving,” he whispered.

She felt the tear slide from the corner of her eye.

“What’s wrong? What did I do?” Crawford looked panicked.

She shook her head. “It’s just I waited so long. I can’t believe this is actually happening. It’s a happy tear I promise.”

He rubbed it with the pad of his thumb. His chest rumbled and he pushed her on her back. Her eyes lifted to his.

“I should probably apologize ahead of time.”

“What for?” she asked.

“I’m new to this. You’ve have an entire year. And I just realized how much I’m in love with you. Right now there’s nowhere else I want to be, but inside you. It’s going to take a while for me to feel like I’ve fully claimed you. My bear needs to know.”

Mila moaned, feeling him settle between her legs. Her knees fell to the side.

“Don’t ever leave,” she whispered as he pushed deep inside her. “Your bear can have me.”

Her hips rose to meet his body, and she rocked into him until they were in a heated frenzy to release each other. Their bodies melting into the other. Crawford roared as she brought him to his release.

“I’ll never leave,” he growled in her ear.

And she clung to him as she gave in the pleasure ripping through her veins.