Her Bear for Life (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Second Chance Shifters) (5 page)

Chapter Eleven – Mia

Mia was quiet on the way home. She was processing too much stuff internally to worry about making conversation.

Drake seemed lost in thought as well, so she doubted he even realized she hadn’t spoken.

They were inside his home, standing in the kitchen while Drake poured them each a drink, when Mia asked the question that had been burning in her mind since they left the restaurant.

“Is that what it’s like for you?” Mia leaned against the counter and looked up into the chocolate warmth of his gaze. “Am I it for you?”

Drake turned and leaned his hip against the counter. He handed one glass of amber liquid to her while he lifted his to his lips.

“Do you really have to ask that, Mia? Don’t you know by now?”

Mia tilted her head and looked at him thoughtfully.

“You’ve never explained things that way. I mean, I knew you loved me. Even though we were young, and I’m just human, I felt that instant connection when we met, and I knew I wanted to be with you, but… Is it just me for you? If I left, would you spend your life alone rather than finding someone else?”

Drake set his glass on the counter and moved to her. His hands came down to cup her face and he dipped his head low, eyes locked on hers.

“You have been it for me since the second I laid eyes on you. I knew you were my mate when we were fifteen, but I didn’t want to scare you with the words, even though I know you felt it too. Now that we’re finally together, I hope to never let you go. but, to answer your question, yes, if you left, I’d spend the rest of my days alone.”

Mia closed her eyes, savoring the emotion she felt coming off of him, which matched what she felt within herself.

“And the biting?”

“That was what we call in our clan a claiming ritual. That was me saying that you’re mine, forever and always. And Mia, even though I hadn’t told you what it meant, you instinctually claimed me as well.” Drake laid his forehead gently on hers and added, “You’ve always been mine, and now you are in the eyes of my clan as well. We just need to make it official.”

“Official?” she asked, pulling back slightly to meet his gaze once more. “How?”

“Stay with me. Live with me. Marry me, Mia,” he said, his thumb running along the edge of her jaw tenderly.

Her heart leapt within her chest at his words, and her eyes filled with tears. She wanted that, God, she wanted to be with him so badly she ached with it.

“Yes!” Mia gushed, her smile so wide it threatened to split her face. “I never want to leave you again, Drake. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Drake swept her up, lifting her in his arms as he brought his lips down to seal her promise with a kiss.

The kiss intensified as he moved toward the sofa and laid her down gently, then lifted her skirt up and left her mouth.

Head back and lips parted, Mia panted out Drake’s name as his expert tongue drifted over her panties. His head dipped and he nuzzled her with his nose, and rather than causing her embarrassment, the audible sound of him smelling her sex caused excitement to course through her, making her even wetter than she’d been from his touch.

“I love the smell of you, Mia, sweet, delicious, perfection,” Drake grumbled, his voice deep and gruff. “I can’t wait to taste…”

Drake pushed the material of her panties to the side and wasted no time getting that taste.

Mia moaned as he licked her, pausing every few seconds to flick his tongue perfectly over her needy clit. Unabashedly, she tilted her hips, thrusting her pussy into his open lips, then cried out when he slid first one, then two, fingers inside of her and began pumping them in and out. When he started growling low in his throat, Mia thought she’d go out of her mind with all of the competing sensations.

His fingers fucked her, his tongue licked her, and his nose nuzzled her clit, all while the vibrations from his groans seemed to heighten all of her senses. When Drake moved his mouth and sucked her clit in to his mouth, Mia came hard and fast, her body shaking with the glory of her release.

While she was coming down, Mia felt Drake move her panties back, then kiss her lightly on the inside of her knee, before pulling her skirt down and rising above her. She felt the hard length of him, like granite, as he positioned himself above her and began kissing up her neck.

Even though she just came, Mia thrust her hips up instinctively, rubbing his cock against her and causing him to groan sexily right below her ear.

“It’s your turn,” she said when she could speak again. The thought of wrapping her lips around his long, hard cock already caused her body to throb with need.

Drake nuzzled her neck sweetly before sucking her earlobe into his mouth.

Putting her hands up, she pushed lightly, trying to indicate that she wanted him to move, so that she could reverse their positions and get to work on relieving some of his obvious need.

Drake chuckled and sat up, but before he could lay back and let her have her way with him, his phone rang.

“It could be work,” he said apologetically, as he got up to grab his phone off of the counter.

“What’s up, Ty?” Drake said, after checking the front of the phone and pressing answer. His eyes came to her on the couch, causing her to stand up and walk toward him. “Okay, yeah… we’ll be right there. Thanks, brother.”

“What is it?” she asked when he hung up the phone.

“Your mom’s awake.”

Chapter Twelve – Drake

Drake could tell that Mia was happy that her mother was awake, but wary of the fact that she’d kept so much from her over the years. That she’d essentially kept Mia and Drake apart, with the help of Mia’s father, and hindered them having a life together.

Mia was angry with her, but wanted to make sure that her mother was well before she mentioned anything about being back together with Drake.

That was why, rather than going in to that room at his fiancé’s side and questioning her mother about the robbery himself, Drake had agreed to let Mia go in alone and had his sergeant, Mika, get Mia’s mother’s statement.

He agreed that he probably wasn’t ready to see her mother yet, not after finding out that she’d been lying to him for all of these years, which was why Drake decided to focus on the positive, rather than the negative.

Mia’s mother was awake and his quick chat with the doctor assured him that she would make a full recovery. Even if it took them a while to forgive her, Drake didn’t want to see anything bad happen to Mia’s mother.

Besides, now that Mia had agreed to be his wife and stay with him forever, Drake really didn’t want anything clouding his day.

“What’s up, Drake?” Ty asked, as he walked up to where Drake was waiting for him outside of the tattoo parlor. He motioned to the sign. “Why’d you want me to meet you here?”

“I’m stopping in here to make sure my appointment’s still on for this afternoon,” he replied with a grin.

“You’re getting a tattoo?” Ty looked at his friend curiously and asked, “Of what?”

Tyson had tons of tribal tattoos marking his coffee colored skin, but Drake had never shown an interest in getting a tattoo… until now.

Rather than tell Ty what he was getting, Drake lifted his shirt to show the now faint markings of Mia’s teeth.

Ty’s eyes widened and his lips split into a grin.

“You’ve claimed each other.”

Drake nodded.

“I came by afterwards and had the tattoo artist copy the marks while they were still fresh, so that I could have her mark tattooed permanently on my chest.”

“I’m so happy for you, man,” Ty said, clapping his hand on Drake’s shoulder. “You deserve this. You both do.”

“And, that’s the real reason I asked you to meet me,” Drake said, gesturing to the jewelry store across the street. “I’d like to have my best man with me when I pick out Mia’s engagement ring.”

Tyson’s head swung from the storefront back to his friend’s face, not bothering to conceal his joy at Drake’s news.

“Best man?”

“Well, I thought it was a foregone conclusion, but if you want me to ask…” Drake began with a chuckle. “Tyson, will you be the best man at my wedding?”

“Yes!” Ty said, clapping his hands together with glee, causing them both to laugh at his exaggerated enthusiasm.

“Whew,” Drake said with mock relief. “That was more stressful than proposing to Mia.”

Tyson stepped forward to pull Drake into a hug and said, “In all seriousness, I’m happy for you, brother, and I’d be honored to stand by your side while Mia becomes your wife.”

Ten minutes later they’d confirmed Drake’s tattoo and were standing at the jewelry store counter.

“That’s the one,” Drake said, pointing to the ring that seemed to be winking at him from beneath the glass. With opal inlay and a large princess cut diamond, the ring screamed Mia to him. It was delicate yet strong, and beautiful in its simplicity, and Drake knew it would look perfect on her hand.

The clerk pulled the ring out from behind the glass and set it before him.

“It’s perfect,” Ty said as he picked it up. The ring looked even more dainty in his large hand.

Drake looked at the clerk and said, “I’ll take it,” then waited for it to be boxed as a sense of serenity came over him.

This was right. He could feel it.

“Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, Sheriff,” the clerk responded with a genial smile. “And congratulations.”

Drake had just stepped out on to the sidewalk when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, replacing it with the small black box, looking at the screen before answering.

“What’s up, Mika? Anything new from Ms. Carter?”

“That’s why I’m calling, boss,” Mika’s deep voice rumbled through the phone. “Mia stayed with me while I questioned Ms. Carter about that night, and when I asked about the artifact, Ms. Carter remembered where she put it. Mia just left to go to the house and find it. I told her to wait, to let me call you and have one of our cars go over, but she wouldn’t hear it. Said she knew right where it was and would bring it to you at the station after retrieving it.”

“Shit,” Drake said, knowing that if Mia got it in to her mind to do something, no one, not even the large and intimidating Mika, could make her change it. “No worries, Mika, you stay there and finish your report. I’m with Ty now, we’ll head over to the house and head her off.”

“Yes, sir,” Mika said before he disconnected.

“What is it?” Ty asked, ready for action.

“Mia’s mom knows where the artifact is, so Mia left Mika at the hospital to go find it and bring it to us.”

Tyson shook his head. He knew Mia was stubborn.

“How the hell’s she even getting there? Didn’t you drop her off?”

Drake didn’t know how she’d get to her mom’s, but he knew Mia, and figured she was likely already there. He knew she was thinking of getting the bowl, or vase, or whatever it was, and not of the possible danger. But still, Drake was gonna tan her ass when they got home.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to head over there.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Chapter Thirteen – Mia

She ran up the stairs and in to the attic, her heart pounding from her run from the hospital to the house. Mia was glad she’d thrown on sweatpants and sneakers when they’d gotten the call that her mother was awake. It was impossible enough for her to run when she was suited for it, so being in heels would have made the trip a lot longer. As it was, the amount of time it took her to run the ten blocks was shameful.

“Looks like I need to start hitting the gym,” Mia muttered, as she moved through the dusty attic.

She passed her old doll house, her mother’s wedding dress, and a collection of old roller skates, before she fell to her knees and pushed back a small area rug. Moving her hands until she found the loose board, Mia wedged her fingers in the crack and lifted.

Mia had been the one to find this hiding spot when she was a little girl. She’d hidden toys, presents, and eventually cigarettes in the floor of the attic for years before anyone else found her coveted spot.

It was the cigarettes that got her caught, and her mother had grounded her for a month when she’d found them, forbidding Mia from ever hiding anything in the attic again.

It looked like her mother had taken over the hiding spot as her own. It had never occurred to Mia that her mother would have started using it and would hide the artifact in there.

Lifting the board, Mia didn’t immediately see the vase that had been handed down for generations; instead, she found a dusty old hot pink shoe box. Sitting back on her heels, Mia placed the box on the floor in front of her, opened the lid, and gasped.

The letters.

All of the letters she’d written since the day she’d left were in the box, addressed to Drake and unopened.

Running her finger along the edges of the envelopes filling the box, Mia felt her eyes well up

and wondered for the hundredth time why her parents had done this to her. Why keep her away from Drake? Why intercept her letters and hide them? Didn’t they care about her happiness? Were they that cruel?

              Obviously they are, Mia thought, as she set the box to the side so that she could take it with her when she left the house.

Reaching inside, she felt around the dark space until her fingers hit something hard, and she lifted the vase out, blowing some of the dust off. Mia smiled at the family heirloom that her mother had always promised would come to her eventually.

“Thanks, I’ll take that,” an unknown voice said from behind her, causing Mia to turn her head abruptly, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders.

A man stood blocking the entry to the attic, gun raised and pointed right at her.

He was of average size and had greasy hair, a crooked nose, and what looked like three-day-old clothes.

“C’mon,” he said menacingly. “I’ve been waiting for you to show up here for days, having to deal with cops and fucking bears. If I wasn’t getting paid so good, this shit wouldn’t be worth it. Now, move your fat ass and let’s go.”

Mia bristled at the insult and asked haughtily, “Go? I thought you came for the vase.”

“It started out with the vase, but when your dipshit mother screwed things up by getting shot and causing you to fly your fat ass to town, my job got a lot bigger.” The greaser chuckled at his own rude joke, then added, “Now move it. I gotta get you to the rendezvous point to deliver you and the vase, and I’d like to be gone before that podunk sheriff arrives.”

Pissed at the thief, mildly worried about the gun, and curious to see who wanted the artifact, Mia walked past him and down the stairs, giving him a wide berth as she wondered if fighting him would be a wise move or not.

Deciding that she’d rather find out what was going on than take the jerk down and get away, Mia let him lead her to a blue Ford pickup, while plotting her revenge.

“Get in and lay down and outta sight.”

Mia followed his instructions, and as they pulled away, she swore she heard the sound of sirens in the distance.

“Too late, assholes,” her captor said in a creepy, singsong voice as they drove off.

After a few moments of silence, Mia asked, “Where are you taking me?”

No answer.

She tried again. “Who hired you?”

Still, nothing.

“Why—”

“Shut it,” he snarled, and Mia figured it was best to just wait and see what happened.

After she counted to sixty twenty times, they pulled off the road and hit what felt like rough terrain. A few minutes later, the truck slowed and then stopped.

“C’mon fatty, let’s go.”

“Really?” Mia asked, fed up with his stupid comments. “Is that all you’ve got? You can’t come up with something more cutting than fat, fat ass, and fatty?”

He glared at her as she sat up and got out of the truck. She surveyed the heavily wooded area but didn’t see anyone or anything that would give her any answers.

The greaser walked up behind her and shoved her in the direction he wanted her to move. His gun pressed into her shoulder blades as they walked through the trees. After a quarter mile, they entered a clearing, and Mia saw what looked like a small shed, but when they got closer, she realized it was one of those tiny houses that were sprouting up all over the place.

Mia’s attention was drawn to the door when it opened, and she stopped in her tracks with a gasp.

“Dad?” Shocked to see him standing there, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to once again save you from yourself.”