Silent Bear: Paranormal Holiday Shape Shifter Romance (North Pole Book 2) (3 page)

Chapter Four

Mark finished putting the eggrolls on the cookie sheet and waited for the oven to preheat. Considering he’d basically kidnapped her, Tracey seemed to be handling her captivity well. Soon they would have to talk about the past, and the future, but first he wanted to see her relax.

When he found her buried in the snow, he’d roared in anguish when he initially didn’t see her chest move or feel her breath. Only after he’d nudged her did she show any signs of life. She’d run far from Santa’s Village and the ice storm had moved in faster than anticipated.

Tracking her had proven difficult in the powerful wind, and he feared he would never find her. The swift moving ice was extremely uncomfortable in his large form, and he couldn’t imagine how it felt on her fox fur.

He rubbed his chest and put the food in the oven. If he lost her, he’d lose a piece of himself.

Tracey opened the door and appeared dressed in a long-sleeve pink thermal top, and matching pink fluffy pants with red hearts all over them. The outfit accented the highlights in her hair and he wondered when fluffy pink pants became sexy. She’d taken off her bracelets and earrings, and covered her feet in white socks.

“You look beautiful,” he said, because he couldn’t not say it.

She gave him a quizzical look and glanced at her outfit.

“Yeah, right.”

She sat on the couch, propped her feet on the edge of the coffee table, and sipped her hot cocoa while staring at the TV.

“This is one of my favorites, but we can change it if you want. I don’t care what we watch.”

“This is fine,” she said, still gazing at the screen. Avoiding him. He knew her well enough to know she didn’t care about the movie. Her fixation on the screen was her form of hiding.

“How are you feeling?”

“Good,” she lied.

He waited for her to look at him and raised an eyebrow in question.

She sighed. “I’m a little sore.”

“Just a little?”

“Yeah. The rest and the warmth from the blanket helped a lot.” Time ticked by and he watched as she wrestled with the next words. “Thank you for coming after me,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome, but just so we’re clear, you won’t ever try something like that again,” he said and went to pull the eggrolls out of the oven.

“The hell I won’t,” she yelled at him. “You don’t own me, Mark Halverson, and you have no say in what I do and don’t do.”

He turned around to find her standing a foot behind him. His animal instincts kicked in and he growled as his canines elongated. The urge to mark her and protect her at all costs rose to the surface.

“Don’t you care for your well-being at all?” he roared. “What if I hadn’t put down the cookie sheet before I turned around? I could have hurt you.”

She froze like a deer caught in the headlights, but she didn’t run or cower from him. He knew she could hold her own when battling his bear and her strength made him love her more.

“Oh, and by the way,” he took a step closer, “whether you decide to admit it or not, you are my mate. Once I mark you, I
will
protect you at all costs and I
will
tell you what you can and can’t do, especially of you decide to compromise your own safety. I suggest you start getting used to it now. You will never go running around in the tundra alone again, do you understand?”

He expected her to fight or dispute his territorial claim, but she seemed to know what he needed and she gave it to him.

“Yes. I agree that running out into the tundra alone was a mistake. I won’t do it again,” she whispered.

He leaned down and covered her mouth with his. His lips claimed hers brutally and instead of pulling away, she kissed him back with the same possession. The moment their lips touched, his cock hardened to the point of pain. Sparks of electricity raced over his skin and the chemistry was exactly as it had been a year ago, proving they were destined to be together.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her toward his body and stood to his full height. Unless she wanted to dangle like a rag doll, she had to hold on. Her arms encircled his neck and she linked her ankles behind him, just above his ass.

He kissed her chin and left a trail down her neck. He couldn’t get enough of her, and their heavy breathing, combined with the sound of his name whispered from her lips, pushed him over the edge.

Everything around them seemed to disappear and all that remained was his desperate need to mark and claim her as his own.

He took two steps toward the bedroom when her stomach growled again.

Immediately aware of her need to eat, he pulled back and reached around to carefully unlock her ankles.

“No, it’s okay. Please don’t stop,” she said, breathlessly, and kissed him again.

“You need your strength, and we should talk first anyway.”

He didn’t want to talk, but she needed to replenish her body. The long run through the ice and snow had left her battered and weak. He’d been selfish to kiss her, but he couldn’t muster up any real remorse. After nearly a year, she still felt as if she were made just for him.

She sighed, but she didn’t object anymore. He gently placed her feet back on the floor, and she let go of his neck faster than he’d hoped for.

“You’re right. Let’s eat,” she said and started to step around him.

He grabbed her waist and kissed her on the forehead.

“Go sit down and I’ll bring everything out to the coffee table.”

She silently followed his suggestion and a couple of minutes later, he handed her a plate of mini eggrolls.

“Here you go, baby girl,” he said.

“Hey, could you not call me that?” she asked, taking the plate from him.

“You don’t like it?” he asked, disappointed. He’d been calling her baby girl since their last kiss, and he’d grown to love the endearment.

“No.” She didn’t offer up any explanation and he didn’t ask for one. Her request was a step in the right direction and he didn’t challenge her.

“Sorry, princess. I didn’t know.” He preferred baby girl, but he could work with princess.

She gave him the same half smile he’d received in the cookie shop, but she didn’t protest the new sentiment.

They ate in silence, and after she finished, her eyes started to droop. He took her plate and invited her to use his thigh as a pillow.

“Come on, get some rest, princess.”

She accepted his invitation and placed her head on his thigh. He grabbed the quilt from the back of the couch and covered her with the festive throw.

Minutes later her soft, deep breaths warmed his leg and he placed his hand on her waist. The need to touch her, to connect in any small way, couldn’t be ignored.

Talking would have to wait until the following day.

***

Tracey woke to the smell of bacon drifting in from the other room. She looked around to find herself back in the bedroom, covered in the red velvet blanket from Santa. The sheets on the bed hadn’t been pulled back, but the other side looked slept on and she wondered if Mark had stayed with her all night.

The last thing she remembered was falling asleep on his thigh. His thick, muscled thigh. Her mouth had been inches away from his cock and she had to force herself not to stare. When he’d pulled her against him during their kiss, she’d felt his hard dick against her belly and she wanted a taste. He wasn’t a small man, and while most women might be intimidated by his impressive size, she wasn’t one of them.

Thinking about how close she’d been to seeing him naked caused her pussy to tingle. She wanted him, but more than anything, she wanted him to want her. Last night he’d made her believe, until he forced her to eat instead of taking her to the bedroom.

She’d eaten the eggrolls by rote, and focused on all the times he’d shared her flaws over the past year. Remembering the hurtful comments had quickly doused any desire she’d felt for him, and suddenly sleep couldn’t come soon enough. Luckily, he hadn’t forced her to talk.

She knew today would be different.

Determined to stand her ground—she didn’t want a mate who didn’t like her—she went into the kitchen to face him.

“Good morning, princess. How are you feeling?”

Mark was loading up two plates with heaping piles of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.

“Good. Hungry,” she laughed when she saw the two plates up close, “but I can’t eat all that.”

“Are you sure? You still need to replenish after yesterday,” he smiled.

“Yeah,” she laughed, “I’m sure.”

“Well, eat what you can and I’ll finish the rest.”

“Okay,” she said and sat down at the table.

He sat across from her and started eating. She watched him for a few bites, but suddenly she felt famished. She dug into her food as if she hadn’t eaten in days, and a few minutes later she’d cleaned her plate.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I ate all of that.”

“It’s good you did, we have a lot to do today.”

“Like what? We’re snowed in,” she reminded him.

“Yes, but we still have to build a snowman and decorate the Christmas tree.”

She’d noticed the bare tree in the corner the night before, and she couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. It would be fun to put up some ornaments.

“That sounds like fun. What should we do first?”

“The snowman. Hopefully it won’t be too cold with the sun out, and we’ll be done and back inside before the temperature starts dropping.”

“Good idea. Thank you for making breakfast. Let’s clean up and I’ll get dressed.”

They worked together in silence—he washed and she dried—and she couldn’t help but think about what life would be like if they did mate.

Once I mark you, I will protect you at all costs and I will tell you what you can and can’t do.

She liked his words from the night before more than she wanted to admit. If only they had been spoken from love instead of obligation, she would have let him bite her without protest.

Could she take Santa’s advice and put aside her pride and replace it with love? Could Mark learn to love her, or would she always be his consolation prize? She wanted a mate who loved her heart and soul, not someone who merely tolerated her, but how would she convince him to let her go?

When they were done, she quickly dressed and put on her pink parka and matching hat and mittens. Streaks of blond and pink hair peeked out from under the cap and she smiled at herself in the mirror. Even though most men didn’t like her hair color, the look made her feel bold and sexy.

She walked out of the bedroom and met Mark next to the front door.

“Ready?” she beamed.

“You look like a fairy princess,” he commented.

Her smile fell. She should have known better than to expect him to praise her looks.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she tried to smile. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, I tried to make us a path, but we’ll have to climb a little bit to get on top of the snow. Let me go first and I’ll pull you up.”

“Okay.”

They went out and once he pulled her up, they began making their snowman. She rolled the ball for the head while Mark worked on the bottom. When he asked where she wanted to put the snowman, she turned to see a huge ball of snow and Mark grinning like crazy.

Next to his effort, her ball looked like a shrunken head.

“Wow, I think you should be on snowman duty every year. That thing is huge,” she said.

“You got it, princess,” he said. “Hey, why is the head so small?”

“Apparently, I’m only good at making small snowballs like this,” she said and threw a baseball sized snowball in his direction.

“Oh really?” he questioned and bent over to grab a handful of snow.

Realizing her mistake, she ran behind a tree, but Mark chased her down and tagged her with a loosely packed snowball the size of a soccer ball. She face planted in the snow and laughed hysterically as he approached with a second ball.

She couldn’t get out of the snow fast enough and he tagged her again with the lightly packed powder. When she stopped giggling, she held up her arms in defeat.

“I surrender,” she said.

Mark grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the snow.

“Good, because I didn’t want to have to bury you in snowballs,” he said and kissed her forehead.

She loved the kisses, but she hated that he treated her like a child.

“Let’s go finish our guy,” she said and tromped through the snow back to the front of the cabin.

Mark followed and soon they had man of snow taller than her mate. He gave her his hat and scarf, and then grabbed her by the waist and lifted her over his shoulders. She pressed round peppermints into the head to make his eyes, nose, and mouth, and then she placed the hat on his head and tied the scarf around his neck. When she was finished, Mark carefully lowered her back to the ground and they stood back and observed their creation.