Big Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES Fur BEARS Book 4) (5 page)

Nick growled and pushed his tongue deeper into her mouth, exploring and tasting her thoroughly. His hips subtly ground against her, his cock straining against his jeans.

Zoe melted in his arms, moaning softly as he kept kissing her. Nick wanted to kiss this amazing, wonderful female forever. She was everything he had ever dreamed of. Hot and sweet, soft and strong. She was so perfect.

He could tell she was getting wetter and the scent of her juices was driving him to the edge of his control and sanity. He had to stop now, even though letting her go was the last thing he wanted to do.

He wanted to keep touching her, holding her, kissing her. And he wanted to savor every luscious inch of her.

With a ragged breath, Nick released her slowly and stepped back. Zoe swayed on her feet as she unconsciously leaned towards him. They were like two magnets, gravitating inexorably towards each other.

When her eyes finally focused on his face, Zoe blinked and gave a long, dreamy sigh.

“You,” she whispered.

The crowd hooted and whistled, and Zoe's eyes rounded. She suddenly seemed to realize where she was.

With a gasp, she backed away and put both hands to her cheeks.

“Oh...I…did I just kiss you...in front of everyone?” Her face grew impossibly redder. “Wow. Just..wow. I...I've never done this before.” Biting her lip, she muttered under her breath, “I've never
felt
this before.”

“Felt what, Zoe?” Nick said in a low voice.

She started and stared at him. “I...I'm not sure...what I'm feeling,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “I just feel very, very hot, incredibly, unbelievably hot...”

Nick took a step towards her but she held up a hand and turned to the audience. “Thank you, everyone! What a kiss...I mean, what a night! Yeah! Thank you for making the auction a success! Woohoo! Thank you, thank you! I love you!” She sounded a little drunk as she blew kisses at the crowd.

The curtains fell and Zoe abruptly spun on her heel and ran backstage. She didn't even look at him.

Something was happening to her. Her eyes were glowing and Nick had felt her body temperature shoot up when she was in his arms. He knew that female shifters experienced changes in their body temperature when they were in heat, but Zoe—Zoe was human, right?

Her scent had been human initially, but now there was a subtle change in her scent, and she looked alarmed and confused.

“Zoe!” Nick tried to follow her but when the hospital staff saw Nick backstage, they accosted him, crowding round him to shake his hand and clap him on the shoulder. Many thanked him for his generous donation to the hospital and asked him out for drinks.

When he could finally extricate himself from the noisy, jubilant group, Zoe was nowhere to be found.

The Sheriff's Band was playing again, and when Nick ran back out to the hall, he saw people drinking and dancing exuberantly to the music. The hospital director was thanking everyone for making the auction a success. Some people were starting to leave while others stayed on to party.

He heard people calling out to him but he ignored all of them and scrambled out to the parking lot. He pushed through the jostling crowd and finally caught sight of Zoe.

She was jumping into her little car and starting the engine. Her eyes were showing too much white and even from this distance, he could scent her fear.

“Zoe, wait!”

He almost mowed down a group of burly bear shifters and their mates as he dashed towards Zoe's car. He only realized it was Tristan Gray and his brothers when they called out to him but he didn't stop. The Gray family had showed up in full force with banners and balloons to support Gramma and Ne-ma.

Snarling, Nick skidded to the spot Zoe's car had been just a few seconds ago. The woman had peeled out of the parking lot in a blind panic.

Nick ran to his car and almost tore the car door right off when he yanked it open.

“Nick! Hey, what's the hurry? We...”

Nick glanced in his rear-view mirror and saw Damien and some of his mates running after him. But Nick didn't stop for them. He wasn't stopping for anyone.

He had to get to Zoe right away. Something was happening to her. But whatever it was, he was not going to let her go through it alone.

Zoe gripped her steering wheel and tried to steady her breathing. She knew she was driving too fast, but she needed to get away from the crowd, from Nick, from everyone.

Something was happening to her. She could feel it but she couldn't understand it.

Her body felt too hot, like her blood was boiling in her veins. She could hear an insistent, agonized roar in her head, and she kept seeing images of fur and feathers.

Fur?

Feathers?

What the hell?

Her senses were going wonky.

What was going on with her?

Could her dormant shifter genes have woken up suddenly?

Both her parents were half human, half shifter. But their shifter side had never emerged. Her parents couldn't shift at all. They were both bookish, mild-mannered people, and they'd lived their lives as full humans.

Zoe had been raised as a human, and to everyone, even themselves, they were just a normal, human family. Her parents were only half shifter, so her shifter genes were so diluted that she never considered herself a shifter at all. In fact, other shifters couldn't even detect that she had shifter blood in her. She was, for all intents and purposes, a human woman.

Zoe had never thought of herself as a paranormal. But what if...she had an animal in her that was just biding its time, waiting for the right moment to rip out of her skin?

How she wished her parents and grandmother were still around. She sure could use their advice and guidance at this moment.

Zoe made a strangled sound and wrenched the steering wheel hard as her car veered up the side of the curb and almost collided into a lamp post.

Swearing and scolding herself, Zoe managed to get her car back on the road. She forced air into her lungs as she tried her best to concentrate on getting herself home in one piece.

Even though she felt unnaturally hot, she knew she wasn't burning up with a fever. She was a nurse, she should know. But what could this be? Could this be some sort of allergic reaction?

Zoe's eyes bugged. She couldn't possibly be allergic to...Nick, could she?

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to think clearly and logically.

She'd only felt these changes in her body after Nick kissed her. The kiss wasn't bad. In fact, it was amazing. Nick was a fantastic kisser, and she had been thoroughly, utterly aroused. She hadn't wanted the kiss to end. She wanted more. She wanted him. She had wanted to...mate with him.

Zoe gasped at the realization. She'd wanted to bite him and mark him hard. She wanted to mark him so everyone would know that he was hers.

Hers!

“No, no,” she whispered. “This is not right. I...am not right.”

Something was definitely wrong with her. She had never wanted to bite and mark a male before. She'd had a few boyfriends but she had never felt this urge to mark any of them. Sex was well, just sex. Sometimes it was even good. But she just knew that with Nick, sex wouldn't be just sex. Something in her had awakened to Nick's touch and kiss. Something deep in her recognized his body, his scent, his toe-curling kiss.

“What am I?” Zoe swallowed. “Am I a shifter, or am I just a freak?”

She slotted her car into a lot in front of her building and scrambled up the steps to her second-floor apartment. Unlocking the door clumsily, she stumbled in and slammed the door behind her.

With her back pressed to the door, she stifled a cry as her eyes rounded in shock.

Unblinkingly, she stared around her apartment.

She hadn't switched on the lights. The entire apartment was in darkness. Yet she could see everything with startling, terrifying clarity. She could see her furniture, her shoes, the photos beside the TV, even the tiny words on her cup on the coffee table.

What was happening to her? Her eyes were changing.

Her senses were becoming...sharper.

Even her body no longer felt like her own.

Everything about her seemed to be changing.

And it all started with a kiss.

“I shouldn't have kissed him,” she whispered.

She raised her trembling fingers to her lips and closed her eyes. With a groan, she hissed, “Oh, but I want to kiss him again. I want him...”

Her entire body shook as a violent bolt of desire exploded in her core. She squeezed her thighs together to try to stop the tormenting ache between her legs. It was no use. Her body could only be sated by one man.

A tortured sob tore from her chest. “Oh Nick...I need you...”

Nick watched Zoe bolt from her car and run straight up to her walk-up apartment. He had sped after her in his car, and his heart had almost lurched right out of his chest when he saw her drive up the curb and narrowly miss that lamp post.

She managed to keep her car on the road for the rest of her drive home, but she was still driving too fast and too recklessly. She hurtled past right lights and rounded corners dangerously. She was clearly upset, but why?

Was she upset about the kiss?

From the way she responded, she seemed to crave more. He could scent her desire and arousal, and her eyes had glowed when she looked at him.

Nick remembered that feral light in her eyes. For a heartbeat, he had glimpsed an animal behind those large, amber eyes.

But he couldn't identify her animal. Her scent had been human, up until he kissed her.

Nick's frown deepened. What kind of shifter was she? There was no doubt that she had shifter blood in her, but her scent wasn't anything he had encountered before.

Nick got out of his car and went after her. He wasn't leaving her alone. Something was going on with her. He would not leave her, no matter what.

He didn't care what sort of shifter she was. She was his.

She was afraid, but what was she scared of? Him?

His bear snarled angrily. The beast was mad that his female was running from him.

Taking the steps three at a time, Nick stopped in front of her door and forced his bear to back down. He braced his palms against her door and inhaled sharply. Zoe was on the other side of the door. He could smell her, feel her, and he could scent her tears.

“Zoe...” he growled. “Zoe, it's me, Nick.”

When she didn't answer, he forced himself to take a long breath and gentle his voice. “I know you're there. Please open the door. Don't shut me out. I won't hurt you, Zoe. I won't ever hurt you.”

“Go away,” she begged.

“No. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here, and I'll remain here, just outside your door. I'm here, with you, Zoe,” Nick said softly.

After a long while, he heard her muffled voice. “I'm scared, Nick.”

At her words, Nick had to stop himself from kicking her door in so he could reach her and rescue her from whatever was frightening her. But that would probably scare her even more. Whatever was scaring her, was inside of her. Forcing his raging animal down, Nick asked quietly, “What are you scared of, Zoe?”

“I...I don't know.” She had stopped sniffling, and there was a trace of anger in her voice now. “I don't know what I am. And I'm scared...of me.”

Nick pressed his forehead against the door and said, “Zoe, will you open the door? Just let me in. We can figure this out together. Whatever it is, whatever you are, we'll figure it out. And if we can't, there are people who can help us. You don't have to do this alone. You are not alone, Zoe.”

He waited. After a minute, he heard the lock turn and the door opened a crack.

Zoe gulped audibly and opened the door wider.

Nick stepped into her apartment and watched her as she locked the door behind him. The glow was gone from her eyes, but her scent had definitely changed. The human scent was fading, and something else was coming to the fore.

Zoe turned to face him but she didn't make any move to come nearer to him. “You're a shifter, right?” she said without preamble.

“Yes. I'm a bear shifter.”

She nodded. “Can you...see everything clearly in this apartment?”

“Yes.” He didn't ask her why she didn't switch on the lights.

“So can I.”

Nick understood at once. “Your vision has changed. You can see well in the dark now.”

“Y-yes. I don't...”

“Zoe, are your parents shifters?”

She gave a jerky nod. “Both my parents are half-shifters.”

“What kind of shifters?”

“My dad was half human, half eagle-shifter. And my mom was half human, half lion-shifter. But neither of them could shift. The shifter gene seemed to be dormant in my family.” She let out a strange little laugh. “I am not even half shifter, like my parents. I'm only what? Less than a quarter shifter? Right? So how could I have an animal in me? And what animal is it? Is it an eagle or a lion? How the fuck...” Her voice was rising in pitch and volume, and there was a note of hysteria in her voice.