Lord of the Bears (Wild Ridge Bears Book 1) (12 page)

Rage poured through me. I clenched my jaw so hard it felt like my eyes
might burst. “You’ve said enough,” I managed to choke out. “Now go. If and when
I have something else to say, I’ll get in touch with you. Just you. I don’t
want anyone else setting foot on my property. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say
it again. I’ve claimed sanctuary here for Nora. You know what that means.”

Cullen nodded and swallowed hard. His eyes flicked back to Nora’s over
my shoulder. “I do. The question is, does she?”

“Jax?”

I squeezed my eyes shut tight and exhaled. Before I could say anything,
Cullen answered for me.

“It means you’re safe, but only so long as you stay here. If you try to
leave Jax’s property or venture out anywhere on the rest of the ridge, it could
be dangerous for you. Deadly even. It means you’re a prisoner here, Nora.”

Nora took her hand off my shoulder and staggered back into the living
room. I shot one last glare at Cullen. He put his hands up in surrender and
finally walked away. I slammed the door shut behind me. Nora stood in the
living room. Her eyes were wide with fear and she trembled. Then, she said the
words that cut through me like a thousand knives.

“Jax. What the hell have you done to me?”

Chapter Thirteen

Nora

I couldn’t breathe. As Jax shut the door and came toward me, warring
emotions drove out reason. I wanted to go to him. The need for his touch poured
through me. My every nerve ending thrummed with echoes of the pleasure he’d
given me and that I still craved. But, I was scared. I knew whatever was going
on with the rest of the bear clans was serious, life threatening even. And here
I was, a stranger thrust into the middle of it. It seemed I’d done more than
just put my trust in Jax not to hurt me when I stepped into his car and came
here. If I understood Cullen, my very life depended on him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes filled with pain as he came toward me.
As much as I demanded answers, my heart flipped inside of me. I’d do anything
to take that tortured look out of his eyes. I went to him, pressed my hands
against his chest and leaned up to kiss him.

“Jax, tell me. Tell me all of it. I can’t help you if you keep me in the
dark.”

Jax sighed and took my hand. He led me back to the couch and sat facing
me. “I was selfish to bring you here before making sure you understood
everything it meant when you did. It’s just, I couldn’t help it. If Simon and
the other clan members got to you first…”

“They would have killed me.” It was a statement and a question. Jax’s
eyes flashed with dark anger and his hand tightened around mine.

“That,” he said, his tone deep and stern, “would never happen. No one
will ever hurt you as long as I have breath in my body. We may be part beast,
but we’re not monsters. Not the way you think. They wouldn’t have wanted to
kill you.”

“But I’m not normal either, am I? I mean ever since I found you, I’ve
belonged to you. Or you belonged to me. Both.”

Jax nodded. “
Aman Cara
.”

“You said that before. Soulmates?”

He smiled. “That. Yes. But, fated. There’s magic in you.”

Magic. He said it with such certainty, I could have almost believed it.
“But how? Why? I’m just Nora Gentry from Traverse City, Michigan. My dad works
construction and my mom’s a bank teller. I’m not some witch or shifter, or
whatever it is.”

“I know. I can’t say I completely understand why some women have this
gift and others don’t. It’s random. But only women with that special quality
can be with a bear like me. We can’t be with human woman. At all. There aren’t
that many women like you left in the world. And there are a lot less than there
are bear shifters. What you have is something most bears never find their
entire lives. Women like you are…sought after by men like me.”

“You’re saying I’m a unicorn.”

Jax smiled. “A little bit, yeah.”

“That’s why the testosterone show at the door? Your friend Cullen was
looking at me like he wanted to eat me.”

Jax’s eyes darkened and he moved closer to me. “You can trust Cullen.
He’s worried about me and you, but his family clan and mine swore an oath to
each other long ago, before either of us were born. If anything ever happens to
me, you have to promise me you’ll go to him. He’ll keep you safe.”

My heart raced. “What could happen to you? Jax? What was that all
about? The other clans think I’m some sort of spy for Damon Spence? God. I’m so
sorry. I should have told you about those pictures. They were an accident. I
didn’t even know I was taking them. And now Damon’s got them, and the rest of
the clans think I’m a threat.”

Jax closed his eyes and let out a breath. That slow sigh told me
everything I needed to know and shook me to my core. Of course that’s what they
thought. I’d trespassed onto Jax’s property, snooped around taking pictures,
not once but twice.

“I told you, Damon Spence is trouble. I don’t know how much you heard,
but he’s been in touch with Simon Marshall. Simon’s the head of the Marshall
clan, and he’s not my biggest fan, let’s just say. He very much wants me off
the ridge so he can take over my claim here. With you in the mix, I think it’s
a pretty safe bet that his ambition is only going to grow.”

My throat went dry. If women like me were rare, and this Simon Marshall
coveted Jax’s claim, I realized just how precarious my position here might
really be.

Jax leaned forward and kissed me. He may have meant it to simply
reassure me, but the moment his skin touched mine again, desire ignited in me.
I felt starved for his touch all over again.

“I need you,” I gasped, finding the strength to break his embrace.
“God. It makes it hard to think. Is that part of this…this…gift you’re talking
about?”

Gasping, Jax nodded. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Yeah. It’s getting hard for me to control. It’ll ease. At least, that’s what
I’ve always been told. But, if you choose to…if you stay as my…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. Warmth flooded me, and the air grew
thick with wanting. If I stay. If I choose. Mates. Jax was my mate. Just a few
days ago I would have found the idea preposterous. Like this was just some drug-induced
or fevered dream. But, the second I’d stepped foot in that forest and found
him, it was if the world started making sense for the very first time.

I’d been rudderless, drifting up until now, never quite knowing what I
wanted to do with my life. I reacted to circumstances but never really chose my
own destiny. I went to college because that’s what was expected of me. I chose
marketing as my major because my father told me it was the smart thing to do.
Aaron had been the first boy to come along who showed interest, so I followed
him too. I loved art, photography, but I’d been too scared to take the risk of
pursuing it. I thought back to the day Damon suggested I head out to the ridge to
take those photographs. I knew now he might have been using me all along. But
at that moment, when he’d pulled up the location on a map, something had
sparked inside of me. I thought it was ambition at the time; maybe it was. But,
as I sat there on that couch looking into the deep pools of Jax’s eyes, the
truth slammed into me.

“I’ve been choosing. All along. I can’t explain it, Jax, but it feels
like everything in my life has lined up to put me right where I am. Here. In
front of you.”

A tremor ran through him. Those dark eyes of his clouded over, and I
sensed the beast inside of him struggling to the surface. It thrilled me. Since
we met, he’d been trying in one way or another to keep him from me. Now, I
reached forward and ran my fingers along the rough stubble of his jaw.

“Is it safe if we go outside?” I said, my voice a choked whisper. The
instant I had the thought, it blossomed into a burning desire.

Jax nodded. “I’ve claimed sanctuary for you here as long as you stay.
The bear clans have to honor it. My land extends for a long distance all the
way around, even down to the waterfall. I’d love to show it to you.”

“I want that. Can we go now?”

It was fully dark now, and a bright  half-moon rose high above the
pines on the edge of Jax’s property. It seemed the perfect time for beast and
man, and I wanted to know them both.

We said nothing else to each other. Jax took my hand and took me
outside the sliding glass door that led to the balcony wrapping around the
second floor of his house. High up in the trees like this, I could almost feel
like I was flying. We went down the steps to the side of the hill. Jax showed
me a rough trail cut into the woods. He held branches aside to help me pass. It
seemed we had the world to ourselves. It grew darker as we walked downhill. If
my step faltered, Jax was there to catch me.

Down and down we went until we emerged from the thick tree line into a
clearing that took my breath away. We stood on a low cliff with about a ten-foot
drop into dark, churning waters. On the opposite side of the small canyon,
surrounded by lush, green trees, the waterfall rose high, cascading down the
ridge in front of us.

I knew what Jax needed. I needed it too. I finally turned to him. “It’s
okay,” I said, touching his face again. “You’ve held him back long enough. I
know you won’t hurt me. He’s part of you.”

Jax turned to face me. He clasped both of my hands in his. “Are you
sure?”

I nodded. “And I’ve seen him before. Even when you weren’t yourself, he
knew who I was. I trust you.”

Jax leaned down and kissed me, ever so tenderly. My heart raced and
heat shot straight down to my toes. Desire rose with it, making me moist again.
I wanted to see the bear, but soon, I’d need the man again, hard and deep and
wild.

Jax let go of my hands and took two steps backward. He slipped out of
his jeans and tossed them aside. He stood before me naked, with tiny beads of
sweat making him glow in the moonlight. My Jax was beautiful. Sculpted to
perfection, his tapered hips flexed, and I watched his enormous cock lengthen
and pulse. It took everything in me not to drop to my knees right there and
service him. I knew he wanted it too, but there was another primal need in him
that must be sated first. Jax took one more step back then slowly dropped to
his knees.

I don’t know what I expected. For as big and powerful as he was, the
force of the shift shocked me. With an impossible, violent grace, Jax’s
shoulders rose at an angle. He threw his head back and let out a fearsome growl
that shook the branches and matched the roar of the waterfall. He stretched his
hand out, the knuckles bulged then reformed as I watched into deadly black
claws. In one great tremor, his skin turned to deep brown fur, and his whole
body grew. It only took a second or two, but the man I knew turned into the
majestic bear.

My heart stopped. The world fell silent but for the thunderous echo of
Jax’s chuff as he stepped toward me, one massive paw in front of the other. The
bear’s hot breath blew my hair back as he approached. Then, Jax rose. My eyes
went up and up as he brought himself to his hind legs. He towered over me and
blocked out the moon, then he came down hard on his front paws and closed the
distance between us. That same pull I felt all those days ago was still there.

Where a normal woman may have run in fear, I was something else. I was
an Anam Cara
,
and this was my bear. Magic. That’s what Jax said I had
inside of me. I’d brushed it off at first. Now though, I felt it thrumming
through me, pulling me toward this glorious beast. He was raw power and
strength. But, he was also mine. I knew in my core what I was to him. I wanted
nothing more than to curl myself into his deep, soft fur and let him warm me.
Those dark bear eyes of his regarded me with keen intelligence, but they were
edged in pain. He worried what was to come, but I knew he would fight to
protect what was his.

Primal instinct took over and I reached out for him. Jax swung his
great domed head low. With my hands flat, my fingers splayed wide, I placed one
on his head, the other I sank into the deep, sable fur just above his shoulder.
His hair was softer than I imagined, feeling more like mink. His powerful
heartbeat just below my fingertips seemed to vibrate through me as well. I
inhaled his musky scent. As he took a breath, I rose off my feet and held on.
Then, Jax set me down and let out a sharp roar. I took a step back and watched
him.

Jax went up on his hind legs again. When he came down, the earth shook
beneath my feet. For as big as he was, he moved with lightning speed and grace.
He bounded down the ridge and splashed through the water, catching the silvery
shape of a fish in his front paws. My face split into a wide grin and I laughed
with renewed exhilaration as Jax ran through the stream, letting his wild bear
roam free.

With each breath I took, I felt rooted to this land and to Jax. He
belonged here. The land seemed as much a part of him as the bear did. My heart
ached to think anything I might have done might force him to leave. He didn’t
have to tell me what banishment meant. I could feel it. If he were ripped away
from this place, it would kill him. I didn’t want to finish the thought, but it
hovered there just below the surface. What killed Jax might kill me too.

Jax moved off into the trees, hunting quarry beyond where I could see.
I felt him, though, in a way I didn’t quite understand. I couldn’t hear him.
His thoughts weren’t mine. But, it felt as though an invisible rubber band
bound me to him. The further he went, the more it stretched, but we were still
connected somehow and I felt safe. This was part of the magic he tried to tell
me about, and I felt its power coursing through me just like my blood, which
seemed to heat whenever he was near. I don’t know how long he stayed away. An
hour or two, nothing more. I found a small hollow cut into the ledge above the
waterfall and curled under it and slept. It seemed he made something grow wild
in me as well that night. Being out there under the stars felt just as natural
as if I’d slept here my whole life.

With each breath I took of the cool, crisp forest air, this place
seemed to fill me as much as Jax had. I could test it later, but I had the
sense I could find my way around the forest just as easily as Jax did now.
Cullen’s lands were to the east. Though I’d never met Simon, I felt a looming,
dark presence far in the distance to the north, and I knew his lands were
there. I also knew that for now, I was safe. There were others here. Some bear,
some not. Jax could explain it later, but I guessed Jax’s mining crew lived
close by. Strong men and families who depended on him for their protection and
livelihood.