Wild Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Rescue Bears Book 2) (9 page)

S
hane paced the floor
, trying to get a hold of Lily. His calls went to voicemail. His texts fell on dead air. She must have turned off her phone. He was about to go find a ride to his bike when Levi came to the door. Shane didn’t want to deal with this now. His mate said she was leaving town. He had to stop her.

Levi stepped up on Shane’s porch and leveled his gaze at his errant chef. Shane knew that part of being a better bear was coming clean with Levi.

“Shane. You know we have to work together as a crew. You could have put the entire mission at risk.”

“I found my kid.”

“You broke rank.”

“We aren’t at war anymore, Levi.”

“We might not be at war, but lives are still at stake.”

“The life of my son.”

“I was protecting your son.”

“Did you really expect me to stand by and wait for someone else to find him?”

“You’re unstable, Shane.”

“I’ve faced my bear, Levi. I have control now.”

“I have to ensure the safety of every person involved on a mission.”

“We need to trust each other, Levi. I have control of my wild bear. Now I’m free. If you want me to stay, you have to trust my instincts.”

“I want you here, Shane. You and your family.”

“I need to get my girl.”

“You need a ride?”

“Let’s go.”

Shane tried to text Lily on the way into town. She wouldn’t respond. If she left, he didn’t know what he would do. Levi drove in front of Lily’s apartment complex. Shane gripped the handle and opened the door before the truck come to a full stop. Shane jumped out of the car as Levi put on the breaks.

“Go get your mate, Wild Bear,” Levi said.

“Thanks,” Shane said. “For everything.”

He shut the door and turned towards the stairs. He took them two by two. Lily’s car was full of boxes in the parking lot. He had to find her now. He sniffed the doors as he walked down the balcony until he came to the end. Her scent was strongest there. The door opened as he raised his hand to knock. Lily stood in front of him, her eyes full of sorrow.

“What are you doing here?” Lily said, sniffling wearily.

“I’m done running, Lily,” Shane said, reaching out to her. She moved away from him and out of his grasp. “Please don’t run from me now.”

“Shane, this can never work. I can finally see that.”

Someone down the hall opened their door and looked down at him. Shane cleared his throat and put his hands on his hips.

“Can we at least talk about this inside?”

“I don’t see what else there is to talk about, but come in anyway.”

She stepped aside, and Shane entered the room. It was a tiny, dark, one-bedroom apartment. Everything was gone except for a few pieces of used furniture. Theo immediately ran to Shane and hugged him around the waist.

Shane ruffled the child’s hair and held him close to his hip. He was so impressed with his son. The little guy had shown himself to be strong and crafty. Shane was proud of him, even though he shouldn’t have done it.

“What do you have to say?” Lily said, crossing her arms.

“I’m in control now, Lily. I’ve conquered my demons. I’ve tamed my wild bear. It’s because of you. I love you. I need you,” Shane said, putting it all out on the table. That was what he had to say. Those words were the truth, pure and simple.

“Where is this coming from?” Lily said. “I thought you were too dangerous to be with me.”

“I was, Lily. But I’ve changed.”

“You have control of you bear now?” Lily said, her voice tight.

“I know I’ve hurt you. I’m standing here, accepting my mistakes. I’m asking for your forgiveness if you can ever give it to me.”

“It’s not that easy, Shane. We can’t talk about this in front of him. Sweetheart, go play in your room,” Lily said, looking down at Theo. He’d been sitting on Shane’s foot the entire time.

“There’s nothing to play with in there. I want to be with Daddy,” Theo said.

Lily let out the breath, puffing out her cheeks. She looked at Shane for help, for a solution. The bear inside him swelled with pride. It felt good to be on the same page with his bear for once.

“We can talk at my cabin. It’s more comfortable there. I’ll ask Levi’s mate Juliet if she can watch Theo for a while.”

“Okay,” Lily said, looking down at the Theo.

Shane sent a text to Juliet and received one back a few moments later.

“She’d love to watch him for a while. I’m going to need a ride back. My bike’s still out on the highway.”

“Let’s go. Come on, Sweetie. Mommy is going to talk to Daddy.”

Theo skipped out the door after Shane, and Lily followed them. Shane picked up the cub and carried him down the stairs. Lily opened the back seat, put Theo inside, and unlocked the passenger door.

The short trip to the lodge was filled with Theo’s chatter recounting the night he’d spent in the woods with Shane. Lily drove silently, looking worried and uncomfortable. He was determined to put her mind at ease. Once and for all, he would give her what she needed. The old bad bear was gone.

Once they made it to the lobby of the lodge, Juliet was waiting there with open arms for their cub. She was a petite woman, and Theo came up to her mid-chest at just five years old.

“Hi,” Theo said, walking up to smiling Juliet. “Mommy says you are going to play with me while she talks to my daddy.”

“That’s right, Theo. We’ve got a great playground here at the lodge. Would you like to show me some of those acrobatic skills I’ve been hearing so much about?”

“Um…” Lily started.

“Mommy. I can do it. You always try to keep me from showing myself.”

Lily frowned, deflating. She’d been trying to keep him safe. Just like Shane had been trying to keep her safe.

“Okay, Theo. Just be careful.”

“Yay!” he said, clapping his hands.

“I’ll take care of him,” Juliet said, winking.

Theo’s shifter skills had been the talk of the crew since they’d found him in the woods. The kid had evaded five grown shifters with top of the line equipment for an entire day. The kid was already a legend. He doubted Theo could hurt himself on a jungle gym. Lily was a human and there was much of shifter life that she didn’t understand.

An idea started to cultivate in Shane’s mind. Something he should have thought of a long time ago. Most human women who mated with shifters remained human. But not always.

Juliet took Theo out the front door of the lodge, telling how much fun they were going to have. Shane took Lily’s hand in his. Gently, he led her out the back toward his cabin. They walked along the path with the manicured grounds. The cabins were secluded in their own stands of trees.

They came to Shane’s cabin, and he opened the front door. Lily hadn’t spoken since Theo had gone off with Juliet. He couldn’t read her tight expression. She seemed sad and tired as hell. His heart hurt, seeing her like this, knowing he was partially the cause.

She went to sit on his couch and he built a roaring fire in the fireplace before coming to sit beside her. She was wearing a thick gray cardigan with a black printed t-shirt underneath. She’d put black makeup around her eyes at some point, but it was a little smeared at the edges.

Shane wanted to hold her and take away her sadness. He sat there, paralyzed. Would she let him?

“Lily,” he started, finally reaching out to touch her shoulder.

She turned to him, her expression blank. “How did you tame your bear? What changed?” she said in a soft voice.

“I was going to make love to you. I felt myself slipping away and my bear taking over my mind. I just knew I couldn’t allow it. I allowed it to happen again.”

“Was your bear in control the last time?” she asked, putting her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide.

“Yes. I was ashamed. I could barely remember. What I did remember sent me into a fit of lust every time I thought to of it. I couldn’t do that to you, so I left. Last night, I was able to stop my bear from hurting you.”

“You didn’t hurt me the last time. It was fantastic.”

“But I didn’t remember it. Just like the times I’ve hurt people. The war made it worse than ever. The brutality of it fed the demons. I couldn’t trust my bear with you. Theo brought us back together. But it was my love of you that finally healed me.”

“What upset me most is that it took your bear breaking through your mind for you to tell me that I’m yours. I’ve waited so long for you to say it, and it came from your wild bear instead of you. And when you came back, you pulled away.”

“I’m not running anymore, Lily,” he said.

“How can I believe you now?” she asked.

“I have an idea. I think it could solve everything.”

“Really? What kind of idea is this?”

“In the past, I was trying to protect you from my bear because you are a fragile human. But what if you weren’t a human?”

“Not a human? What then?”

“A shifter. Like me. A bear.”

“You want to turn me?” she said, looking away out the window, her eyes focused on nothing.

He took her hand in his. It was cold, but he rubbed it between his, warming it up. She turned back to him, her eyes brightening for the first time.

“I always wondered what it would be like,” she said.

L
ily took
Shane’s hands in her own and looked up into his sparkling blue eyes. He was asking her to be his. He wanted to mark her, change her. She’d been waiting for him to ask that for fifteen years.

Ever since the day he’d run to the woods for the first time, she’d wished he would take her with him. She’d always wanted to be a bear, to be strong and wild like Shane. To be able to do the things Theo could do. To understand them both the way they understood each other.

A single tear dropped from her eye and plopped on the couch. Shane lifted his hand and wiped the tear stain from her cheek.

“You want that?”

“Yes,” she said. “I want that so much.”

Shane reached out with both hands and cupped her face between his palms. He guided her toward him and kissed her all at once. Sharp excitement cut through her gut, and she was flushed with passion. Lily climbed up on his lap, feeling the primal need that happened between two fated mates. It had an effect on human women, just as it did on their shifter mates. The pheromones were intense and palpable, and Lily was ready to let go to them.

Shane ran his hands down her sides, his body hard under her without a moment of hesitation. She kissed his full lips, and Shane held her bicep, pulling her against him. He rocked under her, showing her just what he had waiting. His hand ran up the back of her neck and his fingers threaded through her hair. Their tongues danced as needy moans oozed from Lily’s throat.

“Say you won’t leave me, Shane,” she said.

“I’ll never leave you again, Lily. I swear to you,” he said, turning her over on her back.

He sank between her legs. His ruddy beard flicked under her chin as Shane grasped her breast. She rocked against his hardness, pulling him against her. His mouth devoured her neck and his tongue lapped up her earlobe, sending a thrill of sensation down her spine. Her nipples pricked and she grew slick between her legs. Shane looked into her eyes, his feral gaze shining with readiness.

“I want to smell your sweet scent when you beg me to make you mine.”

“Don’t make me beg, Shane. Because I will. Please don’t hurt me now.”

She couldn’t lose him again. It would destroy her. Lily was taking her one last shot at true love. She was holding on to that precious spark of belief that she could live happily ever after with the man she’d always wanted. The man who’d left her yearning for years. If he let her down, she’d be done for. But if he came through?

“I won’t make you beg, Lily. I’ll beg you. I’m begging to see your sweet breasts,” he said, lifting her shirt up over her voluptuous form.

He pushed the cups of her bra away and ran his wet tongue over the round globes of her breast before flicking it up to her peaked nipple. He twirled it around her taut bud, teasing her with the light pressure.

Lily moaned and gripped his hair. Shane sucked her nipple into his mouth and massaged it with his tongue before moving to the second one. It sent electric sensations down to her core, making her sharply aware of her need for him.

Shane pulled back and tore his shirt off. He sat over Lily with his tattooed chest and arms on display. The scars of war and childhood showed under the scrawled text and the graphic pictures on his skin. Lily sat up and ran her hands over his flesh, wanting to absorb everything that was in him. He was the enigma who had always been just out of reach. Now he was there, promising to make it all right.

Lily tore off her shirt and bra, and Shane slid out of his pants and helped her out of hers. The heat from the fire warmed her bare skin, but she longed for Shane’s body to fill her with a deeper warmth. She reached for him as he hooked his fingers in his boxers. She pulled him on top of her and he kissed her again, their bare skin caressing each other. He was solid muscle and pure man. The broken bear inside him had made him wild and hot for her. She’d always craved him. Even his broken nature had called out for her to heal him with her touch.

Shane kissed down her body, looking up at her with his bright blue eyes. He licked her soft belly and pulled her panties off her feet. Shane pulled Lily up to sit on the couch with her legs wide. He knelt between them and pulled her hips toward him. She gasped, going all gooseflesh. The heat of the fire flicked over her exposed wetness. Shane growled, his eyes focused on her as if on a feast. He leaned down and reverently licked her once, there between her legs. She squirmed on the couch, but he held her hips in his strong hands, keeping her still.

He growled again and bent into it. Shane licked up and down her slit, lapping up her need. His wet tongue slid over her clit and flicked inside her core. Lily gripped the couch cushions. She wanted him to mark her. Take her. Make her his. She didn’t need to come like a maniac. Which was exactly what it seemed Shane was trying to make happen.

She wasn’t going to have a choice because if he kept licking her like that, she would lose her mind. He sucked her bud into his mouth and pulsed around it as he slid a finger inside her core. His tongue pumped into her clit as he sucked her. Lily gasped and let go. The world became one gigantic fireworks display as her body pulsed under Shane’s touch.

“Oh God, Shane,” she moaned.

Shane looked at her, and she could see the shining light of his bear coming through his eyes. It scared her but it didn’t stop her. He growled and she could see the hint of his sharp teeth behind the line of his upper lip.

“Lily, I have control,” he growled.

“Don’t stop, Shane,” she said. “Take me. Make me yours. Please.”

She turned around with her knees on the couch and leaned over the back. Shane’s hands slid up her thighs and gripped her hips. Lily was prepared for whatever Shane did now. He could be as wild as he wanted. As long as he made her his, she wanted everything he had to give.

She felt his massive girth smack against her pussy. She looked back at him as he slid a hand down her back and pressed it against her pelvic bone.

“Mine,” he growled. “My mate.”

His nostrils were flaring and his eyes flickered in the firelight. Lily bit her lip and closed her eyes, resting her cheek against the soft back of the couch. Shane angled himself against her opening, and he slipped easily inside her ready core.

He inched forward, and Lily sucked a breath through her teeth. Shane was big. She hadn’t remembered how big. Her mouth dropped open as he pushed forward, not stopping. She was so wet, his long, thick cock glided into her, pressing hard all her swollen pleasure points. As he sank to the base, she felt herself break into a throbbing orgasm.

“My mate likes my cock deep inside her,” he growled.

“Yes,” she gasped, sucking her lower lip.

“And I’ll never forget the pleasure in your eyes.”

He drew back and thrust again, making her orgasm crest and roll. Shane was here and in control, but it was just as primal as the last time. Sex was not like this with ordinary men. It was additive to be this high on lust, and she never wanted to come down. Shane popped her back and forth on his cock, making her mind fly off somewhere wild and crazy while her body spiraled in delight. His insistent rocking hips never let up and she continued to come.

“I want to keep you like this forever,” Shane whispered into her ear.

Lily moaned. All the passion they’d had for each other all these years was bursting through and taking over. His hands slid up her sides and over her breasts, drawing her back against his chest. He nuzzled through her hair and started to kiss her neck. His hands roved her body, her breasts, her clit. She felt the sharp edge of his teeth on her neck. His fingers rolled her clit and nipples.

His teeth pressed painfully against her neck, sinking deep into her flesh. This was it. She gasped and held her breath. He bit hard, and his orgasm exploded inside her. She was marked and changed.

She could feel the venom in his bite. The special saliva would change her very DNA and make her like him. He held her against him, his cock still pulsing in her womb. His teeth gripped her hard as he grasped her breast.

Lily’s mouth hung open and her eyes were pressed closed. Slowly, Shane began to pull away. His teeth retracted and he slid from inside her. With a deep breath out, Shane took her in his arms and pulled her down to sit with him on the couch.

She rested with her head against his chest. He was panting, and her neck hurt. She could feel the venom already coursing through her. It wouldn’t be long until she, too, could shift.

He had really done it. He’d marked her. He’d changed her. She put her hand on his chest. He couldn’t run from her now. They were connected, body and soul. And she was a bear now. She could match him if she needed to. But somehow, she doubted she’d ever need to now. She looked at him; his bear had receded and he seemed so clam. He leaned forward and kissed her hard before leaning back and letting out a breath.

“We’re mated,” he said.

Her heart felt so light and free. Even with the shifter DNA surging through her blood, she felt a surprising new sense of peace, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It swept over her and filled her with joy. She hugged Shane hard around the chest and growled, laughing. She was so happy. She started to tickle him under the arms. He jolted up and growled at her with a grin and light in his eyes.

“I’m worn out, woman.”

“Can’t keep up now?” she said, digging her fingertips into his flesh.

“Want to try me?” he replied, grabbing her arms and tossing her back on the couch.

“Okay. So you’re still stronger than me,” she shrieked.

She hadn’t felt this alive in so long. Maybe ever. She grabbed for his ticklish spot. He grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her head.

“There, now I have you,” he said, mirth in his eyes.

“I belong to you. But I have to be free,” she said, trying to break away to tickle attack him again.

His chest rumbled with a low growl, his eyes searching her body.

“You want to wrestle?” he said.

“Maybe,” she said.

“Fine, let’s go,” he said, yanking her up from the couch.

He tossed her over his shoulder and slapped her ass. Lily shrieked as he carried her bodily through the cabin. He didn’t let her down until they were in the bathroom. It was a functional but slightly old fashioned room with pink tile. Lily giggled at the girly rose tile that lined the top of the shower.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“Time for a wash down, mate. You’re a dirty girl.”

She slapped his shoulder. He flinched and laughed as he turned on the water. He held back the curtain for her to walk inside once he’d tested the water for the right heat. She slid around him and stood under the warm stream. It felt heavenly. Her body still ached from his touch.

She was alive with sensation, and washing away the fatigue of the day felt like heaven. He stepped in behind her and started to soap up her body. She turned around and grabbed the soap. She ran it up the length of his already stiff cock. He pursed his lips at her as he looked into her eyes.

“You like that?” he asked. His animal was even further back this time.

“I’ve always liked it. I’ve wanted to do this since I was seventeen,” she said, kneeling down to the porcelain floor of the tub.

He was so big. She stuck out her tongue and ran it up the ridged hood of his cock. He cupped her cheek and bared his teeth.

“If we hadn’t just mated, I don’t know what I’d do right now, looking at those pretty lips near my cock.”

“Do your worst, Wild Bear,” she said, before taking him deep in her mouth.

She couldn’t take his size and gripped his base with her hands. The feel of his hot shaft in her mouth made her gush and throb. She really had wanted to do it since she was seventeen. Fifteen years was a long time to wait. Lily started to move over his cock, sucking and licking with abandon. He felt so good inside her, rubbing deep and hard against her throat.

She wanted to make him come, but he wasn’t going to let her. Shane lifted her from her knees and turned her around so that the water was running over her breasts and pussy. His shaft pressed like a steel rod against her ass. He ran his hands over her flesh, cupping her breasts and flicking her swollen clit. He would make her come so fast. The water brushed over her super sensitive skin. She was becoming more awakened to her bear by the moment. All her senses were turning up.

He squeezed her breast and twisted his finger between her legs, making her come for him. As her body pulsed with release, he turned her around, lifted her up, and wrapped her legs around his waist. She gripped his shoulders, and he positioned her against the shower wall, his cock ready to slip inside her. She was still sore from before, but there was nothing she wanted more than for him to bury himself inside her again. Slick and wet from the shower, they kissed each other madly as he pushed through. She was open, wet, ready.

“You’re mine, Lily Mason,” he said, as he pumped his hips into her.

“You’re mine, Shane Keenan,” she breathed into his ear.