ROMANCE: Awakened by the Alpha Bear (Werebear Fantasy Billionaire Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Alpha Male Bear Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance Short Stories)) (38 page)

The ceremony went by quickly.
Both husband and wife turned to the staff with love in their eyes and music
begin to play as they walked back towards their house. There was no need for a
long reception after both of them knew what they wanted and raced towards their
bedroom. Reginald settled onto the bed and watched as Melania nervously and
very carefully removed the dress from her amazing body. She stood in front of
him, breathing in anticipation, clad only in a petticoat and stockings with her
breasts heaving, and she was amazing.

“You’re so beautiful.” He held
his hand up, and she moved to him allowing him to pull her towards him. She was
seated on his lap as he let his back rest against the headboard. “I’ll be very
careful with you Melania, and we won’t begin until I have you good and ready
for me.”

She nodded. There was no need
to tell him she had never participated in the act of love before because he
already knew. He took her mouth and kissed her gently at first as he pulled her
petticoat over her head. His kisses became deeper as he unclasped her bra and
let her breast spill out. She moaned as the air hit them. He took each one in
his hands and cupped them gently.

“So beautiful,” he almost
whispered. He stood with her so he could take down her stockings and underwear
and she stood naked before him. Holding her at an arm’s length he drank in her
luscious curves and appreciated his wife in all her glory. He undressed himself
quickly and stood before her allowing her to get a good look at all of him before
he guided her down on the bed.

He chuckled slightly as her
eyes widened at the sight of his erection and moved to kneel on the bed in
between her legs. He started at the knee trailing soft kisses up her leg to the
top of her thigh. She felt desire pool in her abdomen and heat starting to
build up between her legs. He moved up her stomach dipping his tongue into her
belly button and causing her to shiver before he moved up her ribcage slowly.

When his mouth encircled her
nipple and sucked lightly, she bucked into him. Her hips shot up
uncontrollably, and she felt how hard he was. He didn’t take her then but paid
very close attention to one breast and then moved to the other as she moaned
her frustration. He chuckled as his mouth moved over her collarbone and up the
side of her neck.

“Be patient my love. It will be
worth it.” He whispered into her ear before he darted his tongue inside making
her gasp and buck at him once again. It was torture as he nibbled there and
moved back to her jawline to kiss around her chin and torture the other ear.
She was more than ready for him and squirmed beneath him to let him know.

He raised up and brought his
hardness to her wanting center bringing his mouth to hers to kiss her as he
pushed into her slowly trying to gauge her comfort.

“You’re so ready for me
Melania,” he grunted and pushed all the way into her a sharp pain followed by
pleasure spread through her and then he begin to move. She was taken into a
whole new level of pleasure. It was one she didn’t know existed until this very
moment. They climbed together to a beautiful release, falling into a peaceful
sleep afterwards, still entangled together in the sheets and pillows.

The next month went by in a
flurry of happiness. Reginald and Melina laughed and cuddled, made love, and
bathed in each other’s affection. It was perfect and almost made her forget
about the strange events of her first day. She did occasionally go by the door
she was forbidden to enter and wonder what could be on the other side. She
would go and stare at the pictures on the wall trying to find some difference
that would show her they truly weren’t all of the same man.

As the end of the month
approached, Reginald started to become more distant from her, it was like night
and day when he started to pull away.

“Are you not coming to bed?” He
sat behind his desk with a faraway look in his eyes as she moved towards him.

“In a little while,” he didn’t
look at her.

“I’ll make it worth it if you
come now sweetheart.” She wiggled a bit trying to entice him.

“Tomorrow is our night apart,
you understand.” He did look at her then with a touch of sorrow in his eyes.

“Yes sir, I do,” she said,
becoming cold and formal, “I will remain in the guest room for the evening.”

He seemed to relax and stood
from his desk. Moving across the room, he pulled her into him and kissed her
hard. It started in a commanding way, like he was sealing her promise to stay
in the room with a kiss. Soon, his resolve melted away, and he softened his
kiss, pressing his tongue into her mouth. Without warning, he slung her over
his shoulder and ran with her to the bedroom.

“Tonight, we make love, wife.”
He yelled and she laughed as he threw her onto the bed and crawled on top.
Later, when he was sleeping peacefully, she lay on her side and stared out the
window at the almost full moon.

The night of her solitude had
arrived, and she peered out the guest room door. She had half expected to see a
guard planted there, but her husband truly trusted her. It was almost enough to
make her feel guilty for what she was about to do, but she’d made up her mind.
It was something that had to be done. She needed to know what she had gotten
herself into, so she could decide if it was something she could deal with for
the rest of her life.

As she approached the forbidden
door, she heard some of the house workers speaking to him. Erick’s voice was
the loudest and a guttural moan that could only have come from her husband
chilled her to her core.

“Let’s get the chains in
place,” Erick said, “It’s almost time, and we want to have the doors shut.”

Melania stilled behind the wall
that led to the hallway. She could just see them there with the doors open. The
forbidden doors were open all the way, and her husband stood in between them.
She could see the room wasn’t a room at all. He was standing in a closet, and
there were chains coming down from the ceiling.

 The transformation of his body
was starting. She saw a rippling beneath his skin and his neck started to
stretch.

“Hurry,” Erick moved to get to
the chains. “It’s happening faster this time.” Her husband’s skin sprouted fur
all over and his bones cracked as the shape of his body rearranged itself. His
mouth and nose stretched forward and a large mouth full of teeth appeared
there. His ears stretched and grew towards the sky into large furry wolf ears.
Wolf was the word she hadn’t wanted to utter, hadn’t wanted to believe, but
there he was.

His head turned right toward
her, and he threw off the house servants and raced forward. A loud growl escaped
him as his eyes, the same gorgeous, gold eyes, met hers. She was caught. He ran
down the hall and through the wall. He took a flying leap and crashed through
the wall going down onto all fours and running quickly towards the woods.

She clutched her chest and
looked at the now angry house staff. Erick approached her glaring.

“You didn’t follow the rules.
It was simple. You just had to stay in your room. Now, he will do something
untoward this evening. You don’t know how your husband gets when the wolf takes
over.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know he
would see me.”

“He didn’t see you. He sensed
you.”

“I didn’t know.” She looked
down at her feet and Erick continued.

“Now, I suppose you’ll go and
spread the news to everyone you can. Werewolves exist, and you can get a book
deal about being married to a werewolf.”

“No,”
she whispered. Erick looked taken aback.
“No?”

“I wouldn’t do that to my
husband. His burden is my burden, and any child we may have will have this same
affliction, yes?”

“The master has never had children
ma’am. I’m not even certain he can.” Erick was completely shocked she has taken
what she had seen so well.

“Okay. When my husband returns,
tell him I’ll expect him to come to bed.”

“It will be in the morning,
ma’am.”

“Even so, send him to me.”

She was surprisingly calm for
someone who just found out her suspicions had been true. He was a werewolf, and
they did exist. There was no way to know what he would do to her when he
returned, but she would take it in stride. She had married him and that included
this side of him. She fell asleep once again looking out of the window at the
full moon.

That morning, she felt someone
nudge her. She slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at her husband and saw
blood ran down the side of his face from his mouth and over his neck. She flew
out of the bed.

“Reginald, you’re hurt!” She
exclaimed running her hands over him looking for the injuries.

“It’s not my blood, love.” he
looked sadly down at her.

“Whose blood is it?”

“If we’re lucky, it’s just an
animal. If we’re not, I suspect someone will be missing from the village.”

“Then, it was an animal.” She
nodded to show she was certain and shooed him towards the bathroom. “Into the
shower you go, and then, we’ll talk.”

He was surprised she could
tell, but he didn’t question her and moved into his bathroom to clean the blood
from his body. She waited anticipating his return.

“You aren’t mad?” She looked up
at him when he emerged clean and wrapped in a towel. He moved quickly towards
her and took her face in his hands.

“No, I’m not mad. I was upset.
I don’t want to hurt you, and I can’t control the wolf. You shouldn’t have been
near me. I told you the rules were to protect you and me.”

“I know my husband, but we
should not keep secrets from each other. How do I become like you?”

“You don’t want this burden, my
love. You don’t want to be controlled by your wolf. There’s no guarantee my
bite won’t kill you.”

“Those pictures that cover the
room in there are all you, are they not?”

He avoided her eyes, “They are.
I only lied to you to protect you from the truth.”

“My point is,” she continued,
“you’re going to be around a lot longer than I am unless something is done
about it.”

He nodded slowly understanding
what she was getting at. He couldn’t believe this woman would want to become
something else just for him.
Did she have her own motives? Did it matter?

“This is something you’re sure
you want. If so, it will be the next time I change, and you’ll have to be
chained in the closet with me.”

She nodded and kissed him
softly. “I can’t wait then.”

“It will be painful.” He kissed
the tip of her nose.”

“It will be worth the pain.”
She felt like she knew her purpose in life, and it was to be his wife and spend
eternity with this lovely man who couldn’t trust anyone else.

“Alright, my love. It shall be
done.” He was overjoyed with her decision and called the staff in to tell them
the good news. “No more hiding from her everyone. She will become like me.”

Erick laughed. “Oh no, after
witnessing your mood swings master, I don’t know how we’ll deal with a female
wolf.”

Knowing he was just kidding,
Melania laughed right along with them.

“I love you, sir,” she said
quietly to her husband, who beamed as wide as he could despite the soreness in
his body and the ache in his head.

“I love you too, my Melania.”
He kissed her and knew they would be happy forever.

THE END

Destined
for the Dragon Prince

Chapter
One

The dull, gray clouds hung low in the sky.
Another afternoon downpour would begin soon. That’s the way the weather was in
South Florida. Gabriel would be glad to see the mountains of Georgia over the
next two weeks. He hated the heat, but it was the only thing that kept him
hidden from the others. With keen eyes and ears of the world around him, the
young advisor watched as the world scuttled about. He took a deep breath. The
rain was on the way. Little things, like pressure and density in the air, let
him know, and somehow, that all too familiar tingle raced through his body.
Controlling the urge, the young man smiled and only exhaled a slight puff of
smoke. From behind, his assistant entered the room. His itinerary in hand, she
began to speak.

“You asked me not to make your reservations
and I didn’t. I am not butting in, but in case there are emergencies, how will
I contact you?”

Jamie was a doll. She worked for the firm
for ten years and only moved up to senior admin assistant. She failed the CPA
test four times and gave up when her mother passed. Gabriel felt that her drive
to move forward died along with her mom. She was quite efficient and well
versed in rule and law, but that damn test kept getting in the way.

“You may use my cell. I'll keep it on
vibrate the entire time. But I doubt you will need me. You know the office and
the clients better than most. I trust that your judgments will be solid ones.”

Gabriel turned and flashed a competent
grin. All she needed was confidence. Unfortunately, no one had given her much,
and she just went with the flow of whatever the world gave her.

“You will be gone for two weeks. I just
want to know that I have a lifeline if I need one. Are there other duties
assigned to me in your absence?”

“No, the list I sent is complete. You'll be
fine.”

Gabriel grabbed his jacket from the back of
the chair and easily shrugged it into place. His broad shoulders and fit frame
adorned the custom-made suit very well. At six foot two, he was an Adonis among
men. Carved and curved in all the right places, he made all the women swoon and
smile widely when he passed by. He usually ignored their advances, but soon, he
would have to change his tune. The dark haired, brown eyed, handsomely chiseled
creature was in line for a very special purpose that he had to fulfill. 

Jamie watched him move about and gather his
belongings. There was something about the way he moved, so fluid. He seemed to
glide across the room, never really touching the floor. Jamie felt it was just
his presence and manly swag that made her notice such things. She too had a
crush on the man, but hid it better than others.

“I'm leaving this afternoon, and I'll be in
contact at some point. Don’t fret, you got this.”

Gabriel’s eyes made contact with hers, and
in those moments, she felt more empowered than she had her entire career. “Yes
sir. Have a wonderful vacation.”

Gabriel exited the building and loaded into
his BMW SUV. He headed for 75 north and would continue on that route for hours
until the changeover somewhere around Canton, GA. The place was a family
favorite for years, centuries actually. It had always been a part of their clan.
They owned the land and everything around it. It was tricky hiding the fact you
were at least five centuries old and that you really had no need to work. But
it was the only way to blend in and survive. 

Some new song blared on the radio, and with
the click of a button, he willed it away, too much noise for his sensitive
ears. Gabriel always marveled at technology. He had been a part of the world
since before there was time. He watched empires rise and fall. His kind slept
within the earth and only rose during times of man’s stress. He chose to stay
awake and be a part of its change and not awaken a stranger within it. Many of
his kind gave up too soon and vowed to sleep until the earth ended and awaken
in its ashes. Gabriel felt that prophecy a bit cold and wanted to help. Just
then, a tone chimed, it was Ashington. He knew what the call was about
immediately.

“Yes, Ash, I know what you're going to
say.” Ashington was his right hand and had been for the last three centuries.
His job, to keep the clan intact, was often difficult with Gabriel at the helm.

“Okay, have you chosen? Have you booked
your tickets for the quest? Have you done anything that will put me at ease?”

Ashington, high strung as ever, was in
panic mode on the other side. There were only four weeks left in the Dragon
Year and there was still much to be completed.

“No.” Gabriel’s one word answers always
made Ash nervous.

“No, you haven’t chosen, no you haven’t
booked, is there a yes anywhere in this statement?”

“No, to everything. I have done nothing.”

“For God's sake, Gabriel! Do you not
understand the responsibility you hold? Your union must be consummated and the
quest complete in four weeks. Not to mention, your new bride must accompany you
on said quest. Meaning, she needs to understand who you are. Is any of this
concerning you?”

“Yes and no. We have no idea of how or if a
mortal woman can adjust to such a position. In the past, there were alternative
clans that held our beliefs and knew our ways. I don’t want to cause harm to
someone who has no idea of what they are getting into.”

There was a brief silence as Ash took in
what his leader relayed.

“I understand and I have done everything I
can to keep the elders at bay, but we have to do something. You have to do
something.”

“I know. I know. I will have a decision in
the morning.”

Gabriel pressed the button on the steering
wheel ending the call. The man took a deep breath and scrolled through a mental
list of possible candidates. Most of them had married and moved on. Seems his inability
to commit outweighed the dashing smile and smoldering good looks.

For the next five hours, the open road was
just as empty as his future. He had to secure his birthright or the last
neighboring clan would assume their territory and their name. It would be a
disgrace that would follow him for all time. The family’s code of honor would
be stricken from the Wall of Draco and forever equaled with shame.

Gabriel bit his lip as he continued on the
long road to Ellijay. The quiet, little resort area was just the thing he
needed to help him escape all the negative thoughts running through his mind.
Maybe the answer would come to him if he stopped thinking about it.