Werebear for Valentine's: Saved by the Bear (BBW Werebear Erotic Romance) (2 page)

A scream parted her lips just as she came to an abrupt stop, her fall stopped by a small ledge. Trish winced, bewildered and surprised. The yelp subsided and she pressed herself against the stone wall of the cliff, the tiny edge just large enough for her to stand on, but not much more. A passing gust of wind could easily make her tumble over it, a stark realization that was not lost on Trish. Tears welled in her eyes, panic taking over her senses. She was too low down to get up without help and going down was not an option either. In a word, she was struck.

For lack of a better option, as her cell phone having run out of battery during the long day of distractions, she opted for the only other thing she could do – yelling for help. Her voice was shrill and echoed through the valley, tinted with fear. The complete serenity of the surroundings struck her, Trish feeling completely alone. It was a while until she could see any movement around herself. The road wasn’t used often and she wouldn’t have been surprised if no one would walk down it for the next few days. It was all the more surprising when she saw some motion down in the depths of the snowy gorge. A familiar pair of eyes looked up at her, amber depths boring into her.

Trish felt her breath sticking to her throat, the thick coat nowhere near warm enough to subdue the shiver that was running through her. His gaze made her forget her rather precarious situation for a trifling second. The man pursed his lips, looking up towards her perch. His hands were shoved into his pockets and his brown hair was slightly frosted from the light snowfall. He seemed to ponder his options.

“You’re going to have to promise me you won’t freak out,” he said, his deep voice like honey in her ears. Her stomach twisted and turned, Trish fighting to keep her calm. She frowned, but then nodded.

“I won’t.”

“Promise?” he asked. His eyes seemed to twinkle with an unmistakable, almost mischievous spark, though he was tens of feet below her. She nodded again.

“Okay then. But remember, you promised. I’m Christian, by the way,” the enigmatic man said. Trish managed a small smile. Just as she had started telling him her name, something happened that made her forget her ability to speak altogether.

The tall, broad form of the mysterious man started changing before her. His impressive body grew even taller and wider, massive muscles forming a ferocious beast as he transformed from man to bear in the span of a few scant moments. His square jaw elongated and thickened, a fearsome maw taking its place. His eyes remained much the same, the same intensity remaining in his primal form as in his human one. Trish’s mind skipped a beat as she stood witness to the magnificent shift. She had only heard about shifters, whispered rumors that seemed little more than gossip, but now she was face to face with one. And it seemed that she was going to get a lot closer to him, fast.

With nimble movements for such a big animal, the bear started scrambling up the rocky mountainside. He saw places to hang onto where Trish only saw solid rock coated with ice. She knew bears were great climbers, but apparently they needed to be tempted with a damsel in distress to really show their true colors. Trish shuddered as the animal trekked closer to her, its thick mane coated with snow by the time it was level with her. It, he, was huge and looked incredibly menacing, if it weren’t for that look in his eyes. She fought to remain calm, struggling to control her inhales. Then, the bear became a man once more.

Hanging onto small holds in the rocky surface, the bear transformed into the knight of a man who had come to her rescue. His brown coat disappeared and his body took the shape of a strong, muscled man once more. A second later, he had stepped onto the ledge, his hands snaking around her body to pull her close against him, lest they both tumble to their deaths. His scent made her head spin. Or maybe it was the altitude. It was hard to tell at that point, but she was more than grateful that she wasn’t alone in her plight. Christian grinned at her, looking as if he scaled mountains to fetch abandoned maidens on a daily basis. Trish certainly wouldn’t have minded being a bit helpless for him every now and then, even though that usually wasn’t her M.O.

“What did you say your name was?” he asked, that deep voice of his reverbing right through her. Trish cleared her voice, looking up at the much bigger man and feeling sure that he must have heard her heart pound through her chest.

“Trish.”

I can’t believe this is happening…
she thought, her knees going weak as he pressed her against his strong body. The pull she had felt towards him earlier was all the more strong now.

“Okay, Trish. I’m going to hoist you up there now, so be a sweet and try not to tip back much.” Without further ado, he twirled her around and put his strong hands around her waist. Christian picked her up like she weighed absolutely nothing, her curvy body as light as a feather in his arms. Trish felt like she was almost thrown up over the ledge, scrambling on her hands and knees away from the deathly railing. Christian climbed up right on her heels and helped her up before she could even really tell what had happened. He brushed a lock of her auburn hair out of her face and smiled brightly, standing so close to her that she thought he would take her breath away once again.

“Pleased to meet you, Trish.”

CHAPTER THREE

Christian had insisted on walking her home, lest she tumble off the side again, and Trish hadn’t found any desire to argue with the commanding man. Her mind still reeled from what she had seen and staring at the gorgeous beast of a man before her just made it all the more real. She had invited him up for tea, her curiosity getting the best of her.

I can’t let him go without finding out more about him!
Of course, that was a clever excuse she concocted for herself to just spend more time with him. He was far more compelling than anyone she had ever met and the thought of just letting him roam off was not something she could tolerate. Besides, he was even cuter up close.

Trish futzed around with tea and cookies, heart-shaped as it was Valentine’s Day after all, while Christian amused himself with eyeing her possessions. She had an ample collection of vintage dolls, something that she was sure creeped out just about every man she invited to her place, but Christian had said that everybody needed their quirky little obsession. Trish couldn’t agree more. And he was well on his way to becoming her new object of interest, if he would only let her. She brought him a big steaming mug of tea and set the plate of cookies on the small table, her eyes staying expectantly on the man as she took a seat on the couch. Christian sunk right next to her, again way too close, but not nearly close enough.

She smiled shyly, becoming way more flustered in his presence than she intended to. From the moment she had laid her eyes upon him, she had felt as if there was something pulling her towards him. It couldn’t have just been a coincidence that he had happened to be at just the right place at just the right time when she fell. Her stomach knotted, big blue eyes seeking out his amber pools. The words got stuck in her throat, the man waiting patiently and quietly for what she wanted to say. It felt incredibly odd – he could anticipate her every step and every word, being much more mindful of her than she could have imagined. Her shoulders dropped and she relaxed under his soft gaze, the intensity between them warping into something softer, something safer.

“What were you doing there?” she asked, her voice a bit raspy.

Christian’s eyebrows shot up and he smirked. The slight stubble on his chin made him look a bit older than he was and that musky, masculine scent of his made her head spin pleasantly.

“At the cliff, you mean? Well, I felt that you were in trouble.” He pursed his lips and she tilted her head a bit, staring at him with wide-eyed wonder.

“You…felt it?”

Christian nodded, one of his big palms coiling around Trish’s delicate fingers. His warmth made her heart beat faster and where he touched her, she felt sparks flying immediately. Her core tightened and she found herself more aroused than she could have ever expected, having known him for such a short amount of time. But, he was no ordinary man. The werebear had found a woman for himself, the perfect one, and the bond between them was impossible to ignore. It would need time to blossom and harden, but the tendrils were there and had wrapped around both of them tightly.

“Yes. I felt it. It was a sharp pain in my chest, like something was threatening to rip my heart out. I knew right away where you were and that you were in danger. I couldn’t let anything happen to you.” Christian smiled, raising his fingers to her face and tucking one of the blonde locks of hair behind her ear. The way his fingertips razed across her skin made her spine tingle. If any other man had been saying the things he was, she wouldn’t have believed them. Trish would have been more than sure that they were being ridiculous and trying to sweeten her up for their own dirty plans, but Christian was not like that. She wasn’t sure why she knew that, but she just did. She had felt his presence before she had seen him at the cliff, so why couldn’t he have felt it even stronger, considering the power his bear must have held?

“Oh,” she murmured, sinking into his eyes. He made her lose all control over herself. All she wanted was to curl up in his wide lap and kiss him deeply. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears and his words just made her flood with warmth and need. Trish almost didn’t recognize herself, but she couldn’t let the moment pass. The perfect man had shown up, a picture of chivalry and masculinity, and she couldn’t care less that he was a bear. Or, well, it just made things better. Surprising herself more than she did him, Trish leant forward and her lips touched his gently.

Christian returned the kiss, first softly and carefully, but the passion compelling them both onward. His hands slid around her and he pulled her in his lap, her curvy form melding against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled back from the kiss for a moment, her head spinning and a shudder running through her. Trish felt like she should have been mortified by what she was doing, but she couldn’t find an ounce of regret in herself. He tasted delicious and being surrounded by his strength and calmness seemed to wipe away all her worries.

“I’m sorry, I-“ she began, wanting to apologize for her straightforwardness, but the man just shushed her with a finger on her lips.

“Don’t be. I feel the same way. It’s right.”

Trish smiled brightly and dove in for another kiss, claiming his mouth before he could take hers. As coy and careful as she usually was, apparently there was a bit of a beast hidden inside her gentle frame as well. It just needed a big, strong and kind werebear to light the flame.

CHAPTER FOUR

Their lips mashed together, tongues finding each other’s mouths and exploring them with the kind of hunger that only comes with finding just the right person. Or bear, in Trish’s case. She straddled him, her aching sex yearning to be closer to him. Trish’s Valentine’s Day had taken a definite turn for the positive and she wasn’t about to waste it. By the way Christian’s hands roamed her lush curves and pressed her against his cut body, it was obvious that he shared her sentiments. Trish moaned slightly as he grazed her lower lip with his teeth.

The man released a guttural growl, the kind that would have made her back away in apprehension if it hadn’t had just the right tint of softness to it. The bear was close to the surface, the man’s excitement allowing freer reign for the beast, but Trish was sure Christian was completely in control. His two sides had come together for that perfect moment when he found the woman that completed him. They had felt inexplicably drawn to each other and only when he had left the diner, not wanting to overwhelm her, Christian he truly understood what had happened. That blonde-haired, blue-eyed gem of a woman was the one he had been searching for so long – his other half. His mate. The missing piece of the puzzle.

And now, having her in his arms, he never wanted to let her go again. Her hands tugged at the fabric of his t-shirt until she pulled it over his head, revealing his wide chest and toned abdomen. He was as if carved from rock, hardened by work and molded by hardships. As she ran her fingers down him, she could feel small bumps under her fingertips. He was littered with scars. Trish filed it away for the future. She wanted to know all she could about him, but there was more important business to attend to. The aching in her core was becoming hard to deal with and she wanted him, all of him. The thick bulge in his jeans was taunting her and she wanted to see and feel what the man was hiding.

He ginned at her eagerness, glad that his lust was met equally. She had seemed like such a gentle daisy, but there was spunk and sass in Trish. When she was in mortal danger, she had remained calm and in control and even the sight of a werebear shifting didn’t cause her to lose her hard-earned steeliness. She was more than impressive and Christian was certain that he had found a softer match for himself, one that could whittle down his hard edges and soothe his harsh corners. And the way she tasted…damn. Who knew that he could live just miles from the little town all his life and never know that his other half was hiding in a tiny diner almost within arm’s reach? He had a lot of time to make up for.

Trish giggled as he unbuttoned her blouse with fumbling fingers, the buttons too small for him to manage with any kind of nimbleness. She batted him away gently, undoing them herself. For just the slightest moment, Trish was worried about what he would think about her body, but the look of lust and appreciation that mingled in his eyes soothed any uncertainties she might have had. He leant forward and kissed down her neck and across her chest, his fingers undoing her bra and letting the white lacy garment fall from her chest. Trish gasped as he captured one of her nipples between his teeth and flicked his sharp tongue across it with quick, small flicks. She groaned, her back arching and her nails clawing at his arms as he teased her relentlessly, his tongue and warm mouth on her breasts feeling amazing.