The Winter Bear's Bride (Dubious Book 2) (12 page)

He went there, as low as he could go, using the child she carried to get her to agree to give him another chance. She lay in silence, and his heart clenched. Perhaps it was too late? Perhaps what he’d done had ruined everything between them?

No, he couldn’t think that…

“Even if you don’t want me, don’t love me…” he carried on, desperately filling the silence between them so she couldn’t say no and put him from her. “At least let me look after you and the child. Make sure you’re safe and protected.”

The awful pause as she just looked up at him, her face smooth and expressionless ate at his composure. Then, finally, she nodded, and he almost groaned with relief.

“Thank you,” he muttered in a thick voice, trying to resist crushing her to him in a hard embrace. “Oh
snow
, thank you.”

Instead, he held himself perfectly still as she lifted a hand to touch his face. A soft sigh escaped him as her fingertips brushed the scar there, and her expression switched from the blank mask to burgeoning realization.

****

“Scar…Aevar?”

He was Aevar. The boy she’d loved and lost.

The knowledge hit her like a blow as he nodded. “Yes. I couldn’t go by that name anymore. As far as anyone knew, Aevar was dead. I had to become someone else. Had to become some
thing
else.”

She nodded. That was understandable. If her father had known he’d survived, he’d have moved heaven and hell to track him down and finish him off. But…

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice was low, still wary. She couldn’t believe that this was happening. She’d heard the words when he said he loved her, but couldn’t quite make them sink in. “Why did you…”

She couldn’t finish that for a moment, fresh tears welling up. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “Why didn’t you bond me?”

The question wasn’t the one she’d been meaning to ask, but it didn’t matter. As soon as the words were out, she winced at the tortured tone in her voice and realized that was what she’d really wanted to know. His identity… She looked at him again and saw her Aevar, the boy she remembered, in the set of his eyes and in his smile.

She’d always known it was him, deep down. Which was why she’d trusted him when he’d come to her in secret. Because he’d always been hers.

His expression was somewhere between disgusted at himself and in pain. “Because I… No, there is no excuse. I did it to hurt you because I thought you didn’t care about me. And I am so,
so
sorry. Believe me, my love, if I could do all this again, I’d bond you in an instant.”

The sound of truth rang in his words, and she found herself reaching out again, wanting to ease his pain.

“I…” She trailed off, frowning as she marshaled her thoughts.

She loved him, always had. As Aevar the boy. As Scar the formidable warrior. As the husband who hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her at nights, even when he couldn’t make the connection with her in the day.

“You were cruel and unkind.” He flinched at her words, but nodded, owning up to them. That honesty made her wriggle to sit up, her hand on his broad chest. “But I played a dangerous game, too, thinking I could outwit you and I’m sorry. That was low of me.
Not,
” she said quickly, “that it excuses some of what you did.”

“But…?” he asked, hope in his dark eyes. “Will you forgive me? Perhaps even…come to love me again one day?”

“I love you now,” she admitted. “I always have. Now please…take me home?”

****

He did, gathering her up into his arms, still stark naked.

Less than an hour later, they returned to the keep. Scar…Aevar, she reminded herself, fully clothed now. She’d giggled a little when he’d first picked her up until she realized that the only reason he’d shifted so quickly—too fast to remove his clothes, destroying them in the process—had been to save her from falling to the crevasse she hadn’t known was there. He’d ruined his clothes to save her.

Now, though, all her thoughts were on the Einar, her husband’s clan, as he carried her through the main gates. Not wanting to look around and see the same condemnation in their eyes as before, she chose instead to look at Aevar. No, she decided as she studied his handsome profile, Scar suited him better. It was the name he’d chosen for himself, as he’d played the hand life had dealt him and played it well. Most people she knew, even the hardiest adult bear warriors, would have given up if they’d been beaten as he had and left for dead. Yet he hadn’t. He’d fought to live, had grown up and fought back, amassing a clan of warriors around him and making a name and a reputation for himself as he fought to correct the corruption in the clans. The corruption that was her father.

His love for her had been his weakness, and he’d put all those years of work at risk to claim her as his bride. Thinking she was doing the right thing, she’d nearly ruined his plans.

“Don’t think so hard,” he murmured, his eyes alight with laughter and love as he slid a sideways look at her. He carried her easily, as though she weighed nothing, her body cradled protectively in his arms. “You get the cutest little crease in the middle of your brow. It’s…uhm…”

He cleared his throat, looking away uncomfortably, and she frowned.

“It’s what?” she asked, lifting the arm that was over the back of his shoulders to play with the ends of his loose hair. She loved his hair. It was softer than it looked and felt like silk against her skin.

His gaze snapped to hers, and she caught her breath at the heat he didn’t try to hide. “It’s sexy. Carry on frowning and you’ll bring me to my knees.” He leaned in and nuzzled her nose with his. A soft, lover’s touch. “Because the only other option is taking you up to bed right now.”

She arched an eyebrow, aware of the people massed in the main courtyard, but ignoring them. “Is that a problem?”

For a moment, she seemed to have stunned him into silence, then he cleared his throat.

“I didn’t think such an offer would be welcome,” he admitted. “Not just yet. Maybe not even until after the baby was born.”

She blanched. “You want to make me wait that long? Don’t you…you don’t find me attractive. Not while I’m with child.” It wasn’t a total surprise; some men didn’t. She just hadn’t thought Scar would be one of them.

“What?” He stopped right there in the middle of the courtyard, the walls of the hall and north tower looming over them. Dropping his voice so only the two of them could hear, he carried on, “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I find you attractive. If we weren’t in public, I’d tumble you to the ground like I wanted to in that damn hall of your father’s and take you here and now. But this time,” he warned, his eyes flashing with dangerous heat, “I won’t stop until my fangs are in your shoulder and the whole keep knows my name.”

Her lips quirked. “The whole keep
does
know your name.”

“Sassy wench,” he growled, but a smile teased his lips. “You’ll pay for that. I have better things you can be doing with your mouth than answering your lord back.”

His expression sobered a little. “My heart, I will love you to the day I die and the fact you’re pregnant? With
my
child? That only makes you sexier. But…I don’t want to hurt you or the baby.”

Her heart softened and she reached up to run her fingertips over his cheek. Her big, tough warrior wasn’t so tough after all, “You won’t hurt either of us, so don’t worry.”

He’d opened his mouth to reply when a deep, male voice intruded on their moment. “Welcome home, Lady Analise. I’m glad the lord found you safe and well and convinced you to return to us.”

Surprised, she looked around to find Arick offering a small smile. Behind him the rest of the warriors were massed, and behind them, the keep servants. All of them were looking at her and she wanted to curl up into a small ball, hiding her face against Scar’s throat. These people didn’t like her and they never would. But she didn’t give into her fear. Instead, she sat up taller in Scar’s arms and nodded to the big warrior.

“Thank you, Arick. It’s good to be home.”

She didn’t offer any explanation. What had happened was between her and her husband, and she intended to keep it that way. Arick inclined his head and stepped back as Scar strode forward. Each warrior they passed nodded and murmured a welcome. Apart from Jaxon, who grinned broadly.

“Welcome home, my lady. Perhaps now the lord will be less of a bear with a sore head. He’s been a right pain in the ass for the last few days.” He grinned and ducked as Scar took a step forward and mock-growled.

“Boys! Boys!” She patted Scar’s chest, offering Jaxon a small smile. “Thank you for your welcome…the welcome from all of you.” She lifted her voice to include all the warriors and staff. “It means a lot.”

“Enough. My lady is tired now, so will retire to her bedchambers,” Scar announced, cutting off the rest of the welcoming committee by striding through it to the double doors of the main hall.

Silence stretched between them as Scar carried her through the keep, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. Instead, need and heat shivered through Analise’s body, winding tighter and tighter the nearer they got to his…their bedchambers.

He didn’t rush, his steps measured, but within minutes he pushed the door open with one huge shoulder and carried her over to the bed as it shut behind them. He didn’t put her down, instead looking at her like she was the sun, the moon and the stars combined. It was the kind of look she’d dreamed of getting her whole life, and her heart filled with joy.

“Ana…are you sure about this?” He frowned, his expression concerned. “We can wait. As long as it takes, I don’t care…just having you back, in my arms, is enou—”

She pressed her lips against his, cutting his nonsense off mid-flow. A deep rumble sounded in the back of his throat and he held her tighter against him. Only for a moment, before he started and eased up as though scared he would hurt her.

Exasperated, she broke the kiss. “Scar…I won’t break! I’m pregnant, not bloody ill! Now kiss me…take me to bed and claim me, or else!”

“Or else what?”

His eyes darkened, heat filling them as he slid her down the front of his body. Pressed against him the way she was, she felt every hard plane of muscle and divot of definition. She felt everything. Her arms wound around his neck as her toes reached the floor, her lips turned up for his kiss. The thick bar of his cock pressed insistently against her soft stomach, and she sighed into his mouth. Wanting…needing him to touch her, to hold her.

“Or else.” She pulled back to mutter against his lips. Her hand slid boldly down the front of his body to stroke against the raging erection constrained by his leathers. “I’ll have to claim you.”

He groaned, a world of desire in the sound, and looked down at her. His hair framed his face, and his eyes burned with need. For her.

“That would be worth it,” he whispered. “You touching me, after everything, is more than I dared hope for.”

His hands joined hers, unsteady as he tore at the lacings over his groin. Her breath caught in her throat as he opened them, his cock leaping into her hand. Watching his face, she wrapped delicate fingers around the thick length and stroked. Not gently, but firmly, just as he liked.

He groaned, tension snapping his body tight, but he didn’t move to stop her. Instead, he watched her, the only movement he made when his tongue snaked out to wet his lips. Her gaze riveted to his face, she watched him watching her as she pleasured him in long strokes. His nostrils flared, the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes creasing and, barely a minute or two later, he covered her hand with his.

“I can’t… Snow help me, I’ll fucking explode,” he murmured, crowding her back against the bed.

She gave a little cry of surprise and delight, clutching at his shoulders as she fell back onto the soft surface. Within a heartbeat, he was braced over her, his lips covering hers in a torrid kiss filled with desperation. Sensing his need went beyond the merely physical, she welcomed him into her embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingertips played in his hair, sliding through the long strands as he plundered her mouth with a hard tongue.

She wasn’t all compliance, though. Instead, she teased and evaded, then fought him for dominance. He growled, but she didn’t care, digging her nails into his back to warn him in return. That small action broke the dam of his control. With a harsh grunt, he pulled at her skirts, yanking them up around her waist. Breaking the kiss on a harsh breath, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I wanted this to be soft and gentle,” he said tightly, “but I can’t. I need you too much.”

She smiled, bunching his hair at his nape with her hand. “My husband isn’t either soft or gentle…and I wouldn’t have him any other way.”

He closed his eyes, and she got the feeling he was praying or sending thanks, then he opened his eyes, and the hot look there speared her to the core. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She smiled, then gasped as he pressed the broad head of his cock against the entrance to her body.

With one quick move, he buried himself so deeply inside her, she wasn’t sure where she ended and he began. He froze, their gazes connected and in that moment she felt the soul-deep link that connected them. He felt it, too…she saw it in his eyes.

Then his eyelids fluttered and he started to move. Far from being hard and fast as she’d expected, his body moved in a sensual rhythm against her. Over her. With each long stroke of his cock within her, he built the fire between them, fanned the flames and worked it up toward an inferno.

Soft moans in the back of her throat, she followed his lead, wanting nothing more than to stay like this, with him, for the rest of her life. With each thrust and retreat, each lean down and soft kiss, he wrapped her heart closer to his with ties she knew would never be broken. Ties of a love that had started to blossom when they were younger, only now brought fully to fruition.

It didn’t take long. His thrusts sped up, becoming closer together and harder. The bed rocked beneath them. Emotion wrapped around the heat building in her body and before she knew it, he’d brought her to the edge of ecstasy.