Bear Mated: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranomal Romance (Pine Ridge BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) (9 page)

Running his thick fingers through
her hair, he said, “My queen. My mate.”

“My king,” she said. “My …
mate
…”

She cried out as pleasure swept her
and carried her up into dizzy heights. She pumped faster and faster, lost in
the orgasm. It went on and on, rolling over her, then back, then over her
again. Suddenly she went rigid, gasping. Her cries echoed and reechoed off the rock
walls. Her bliss must have triggered his. He burst inside her like a bomb going
off, his hot jets squirting deep inside her, pulse after pulse. She could feel
his cock throb again and again as his balls emptied. This only made her come
again. At last they subsided, her legs still around him and his cock still
buried to the hilt.

She kissed his diamond, then
brushed her lips against his.

“My mate,” she repeated, panting.

He kissed back. “Mate.”

Barbara was on duty when the call came in. Instantly she
leapt up and joined Officer George Baines and Lt. Veronica Huxley, the only
other two officers on duty, in the parking lot.

“This is it!” Barbara said, jazzed.

Huxley’s face was grim. “This had
better work, Barb.”

“It’ll work,” Barbara said. “Trust
me.”

“Let’s move,” said George with a
look to the north, where the alarm was coming from, audible even from here.

Each jumped into their separate
squad cars and raced through Pine Ridge toward the location that had sent out
the electronic burglar alarm. Barbara grinned at the feel of the steering wheel
beneath her hands. It was good to have a car again. After her first few days
back she’d thought Huxley was going to refuse to issue her another cruiser, but
apparently showing up with all the stolen property (albeit with some of it
smelling a bit strange, and other pieces a little sticky) had done its work.
Plus Lt. Huxley had been intrigued by Barbara’s plan to catch the Glitter Thief
and his feathery bride.

It’ll
work
, Barbara told herself.
It’ll
work.
Rick himself had done the alterations to the upper windows of the
only two jewelry shops in town. She hadn’t even known he was handy like that,
but then of course he’d been a construction worker for years, so that shouldn’t
surprise her. It helped that there were only two jewelry stores in town, and
both had agreed to this.

There! Howell’s Select Gems hove
into view around a corner, and Barbara slammed on the brakes. Parking at the
curb, she jumped out and joined
Hux
, who was already
there, and George, who was just arriving, his eye shining. Alarms blazed from
the small jewelry shop right in downtown Pine Ridge, and Barbara was tempted to
stick her fingers in her ears at the racket.

Seemingly not bothered by it, the
unflappable Lt. Huxley brought a loudspeaker to her lips and said through it,
“Come out with your hands up! We have you surrounded!”

Of course they didn’t expect the
thief—or thieves, maybe—to do any such thing. They only had to scare them into leaving
by the upper windows.

Indeed, just a moment later one of
the second-story windows opened and two winged shapes shot out into the night …
and were quickly enmeshed in the net that wrapped around them—a booby-trap
courtesy of Rick Barnes, kickass bear shifter and fated mate of Officer Barbara
Thompson.

Barbara couldn’t contain a laugh as
the struggling eagles fell from the second story and landed on the pavement—lightly,
since they weighed too little to land hard. They gripped velvet bags surely
laden with stolen diamonds in their talons.

Barb,
Hux
and George rushed up to them, guns drawn, just as the eagles Shifted and became
humans again. Thrashing and cursing, the two naked thieves glared up at the
cops.

“Damn you!” said the woman that
must be
Brytha
. Barbara thought she could see why
Tom—and that must be him, spitting and swearing to the side—had been willing to
risk so much for her. She was buxom and gorgeous, with a strong jaw and fiery
eyes.

“How did you know?” the man that
must be Tom asked wretchedly.

He had asked this of Lt. Huxley,
perhaps perceiving that she was the boss, but the lieutenant surprised Barbara
by raising her eyebrows and turning to Barbara.

“Barb, I’ll let you take this one.
And,” she added, as if reluctantly, “I’ll let you write it up as your collar,
too. It
was
your plan.”

“The plan worked like gangbusters,”
agreed George, who was always agreeable. He was a nice but bland man, a
likeable beta to
Hux’s
alpha.

To
Brytha
(ignoring Tom, who was laboring for breath), Barbara said, “Simple. You—or Tom
here—always targeted individual homes before. But I knew that you’d just lost
all the jewels you’d spent so much effort stealing. You wouldn’t want to start
up so slowly again. You’d want it all back right away. You’d
have
to target a jewelry store this
time. You’d avoided them before, but you couldn’t help it now. My only worry
was that you wouldn’t return to Pine Ridge. But all your other crimes had been
here, so I thought it a safe bet that you’d try your luck here again.”

“Bitch!” said Tom. “You people have
no place in this. This is between me and
Brytha
.”

“The owners of those jewels might
have something to say about that,” said Lt. Huxley.

“They can’t appreciate the jewels
like me and
Brytha
could have,” Tom said, then cast a
tender glance sideways at his mate. “We would have raised our young surrounded
by those jewels. Imagine
Brytha’s
eggs ensconced in a
nest of glittering diamonds. We would have had such an amazing clutch.”

“Kings and queens, every one,”
Brytha
agreed with a trace of sadness.

Barbara shoved her gun back in its
holster. “Maybe you still will someday,” she said. “In ten or twenty years.
Less with good behavior.”

“Read them their rights,” Lt.
Huxley said, “and let’s wrap this up.”

It was eight at night, but Barbara
knew the Pine Ridge Crew would be up late, so after locking up Tom and
Brytha
and filling out the necessary paperwork, she drove
through town to the great, castle-like Pine Ridge Ski Resort, which was covered
in scaffolding and surrounded by construction equipment as the bear shifter
crew remodeled it. Its previous owners had left it in serious disrepair.
Barbara still didn’t know why the bear shifters had been ordered to rehab the
resort, but she was glad they had. It would be good for the whole town to have it
up and running in style again. Also, Rick had told her Connor, the alpha, would
tell her the Big Secret soon. Barbara was giddy at the thought.

She parked and entered to find
several of the bear shifters partying in the grand, half-ruined lobby of the old
hotel. The bear shifters had been woodcutters on the edge of town (or somewhat
beyond) not long ago, living in a trailer park, but with the new job had come
new digs closer to the site, and they weren’t all settled in yet. Like some of
the others, Rick just slept at the job site. There were certainly plenty of
rooms. Soon Barbara expected that he would move in with her or that they’d find
a new place together. They’d talked about it a lot but hadn’t decided yet. For
the moment it was just fun to think about.

About a dozen bear shifters, most
brawny, sexy lumberjack types, were listening to country music pumped out by
the huge speakers and drinking beer from a keg while what looked like friends
and groupies circulated among them. It was almost eleven o’clock by now, but
the shifter crew was still awake and having fun. Several smiled at Barbara and
clapped her on the back as she made her way amongst them.

One, a cute young woman with short
blond hair, came up to Barb smiling and threw her arms around her.

“Barb! You made it! I was beginning
to think you’d wimp out again.”

Barbara hugged Alice Cooper back.
Over the past few days she’d begun to get to know the feisty young woman and
had discovered a deep bond with her. Alice had been raised by redneck idiots who
hated bear shifters, but she’d found true love with a shifter and had overcome
her own upbringing so much that she now had a bear of her own.

“I’ve got great news,” Barbara
said. “I—”

She squealed in delight as strong
arms folded around her. She turned to see Rick Barnes smiling down at her. He
kissed her—a long, passionate kiss on the lips that shot heat into Barb’s
cheeks, then broke off.

Alice shoved a plastic cup filled
with foamy beer into her hand, clapped her on the back, smiled and moved off
with Taggart, her mate, seeing that Barb and Rick needed a moment alone
together.

“What’s the news?” Rick said,
obviously having heard.

Barbara grinned and told him about
Tom and
Brytha
. He kissed her again. They raised
plastic cups to each other, clinked them and drank.

“Your net-traps worked like a
charm,” Barbara said. “The owner of the jewelry store tonight told me you
should patent them.”

“Well, if eagle shifters keep
stealing stuff, I’ll think about it. One thing is for sure: those prisons are
going to have a hard time holding those two. Unless they put nets up over all
the yard.” He laughed again. “They could make the prisons into aviaries!”

She grinned at the image of prisons
populated by giant beautiful birds flapping about a huge glass house with
countless roosts and aeries. “If Tom and
Brytha
escape,” she said, “I hope they have enough sense to steer away from Pine Ridge
this time, at least.”

“Don’t count on it. I don’t think
brain power is their strong suit. But maybe they’ll discover the joys of cubic
zirconia
next time.”

“Here’s hoping.”

“Who’s this?” said a booming voice,
and Barbara turned to see huge, red-haired, Viking-like Connor approach, beer
in hand. His green eyes blazed out of his handsome, fire-bearded face with
authority and intelligence. “Ah, it’s Barbara Thompson.
You’re
the one that got Rick that day off work.”

Barbara blushed. The first day
she’d met Rick, when she’d nearly crashed into him on the road, had been his
day off. But the next hadn’t been, and he’d had to lose a day’s pay to help her
out.
Maybe I should’ve let him keep a
diamond, after all
, she thought, then instantly chastised herself for the
notion.

“Sorry about that,” she muttered.

“Nonsense.” Connor winked, letting
her know he wasn’t really upset, and she relaxed. “Heck, I should thank you. We
probably got more work done
without
Rick here to brag about his exploits than we
would
have.”

“Hey!” said Rick, but he didn’t
really sound offended. He shrugged, then smiled and said, “Hell, you probably
did.”

Connor waved a hand dismissively.
“Now that you’re here, Barb, we won’t have to worry about his exploits any
more.” He glowered at Rick. “
Will
we?”

“No, sir,” said Rick easily. “I’ve
found my mate. All my exploits from now on will be with her, and you don’t talk
about that with the crew. Well, not unless it’s really
cool
.”

Now it was Barb’s turn to say,
“Hey!” But she was smiling. “It would have to be really
really
cool,” she amended.

Connor visibly softened. He shook
Rick’s hand. “Congratulations on finding your mate, my friend. I hope we’re all
so lucky.” He embraced Barbara and said, “Thank you for making an honest man of
Rick. And welcome to the crew.”

“Crew?”
she echoed, as Connor moved off through the crowd. “What does he mean by that?”

“Only that … you know, you’re my
mate,” Rick said. “That means you’re part of the crew. Kind of. An honorary
member.”

“How would I become an official
member?”

“I’d have to Claim you.”

“You mean … bite me. Turn me.”

He nodded solemnly. “That’s right.
But I’m not pushing you. You don’t need to Turn to be with me. And like Connor
said, you’re already an honorary member.”

She downed a foamy sip of keg beer.
It was starting to go to her head, making her feel warm and fuzzy. “I’ll think
about it,” she said. “I don’t have to decide now, right?”

“Take your time.”

She placed her free hand against
his belly. He wore a tight T-shirt, and she could clearly see his abs through
it. His flesh was hard beneath her palm. And beneath
that
was a raging bear that only she could control. Did she really
want one of her own?

She smiled.

“What is it?” he said.

She threw back her head and
laughed.

“What
is
it?” he asked again, and he was starting to grin now, too,
infected by her good humor.

Trying to contain herself, she
said, “Imagine me as a bear-cop! Chasing after a criminal as a bear!”

He laughed and crushed her to him,
then planted a kiss on her lips. “You’d be
hella
sexy,” he said. “
Hella
-sex
ier
.”

“I want it,” she said. “But not
today. Not tonight. Tonight all I want is you, and this.” She leaned into him,
but indicated the gathering with an arm, then nestled that hand too against
him. Around her the party continued, and strangely she felt more at home than
she’d ever felt since her mom passed. Here among this motley crew of bear
shifters she had found peace and unity.

Rick kissed her on the forehead,
right where the diamond had been. In some ways, she felt it still was.

“That’s all I want, too,” he said.

She inclined her head to him, and
he ducked down and pressed his lips to hers. Smiling into the kiss, she opened
her mouth to receive him.

THE END