by Adele Niles
When Belinda gets off the bike, her hair is windblown and her cheeks are pink. I pick her up and carry her inside. I put her on the bed and tell her to wait while I secure my bike for the night.
When I get back, she’s got her shoes off and is sitting with her legs curled under. She tilts her head and looks at me. I stand and drink in the sight of her beauty.
Then I strip off my jackets, shirt, and boots and stand there, bare-chested, before her. She inhales sharply, then crawls on hands and knees toward me. She walks her hands up my thighs to my chest. She rises on her knees and runs her hands over my muscles.
Her tongue flies out and licks my chest. My cock nearly explodes.
I push her back gently on the bed. She watches my every move.
I slip off my belt, unbutton my fly, and pull down my jeans. The tent of my cock is inches from her face and she flicks that tongue out again and licks the tip through the cloth.
I groan and my head falls back. Still, I keep it together. I’m not going to come that easy.
But she will.
I push her back down and crawl on the bed. I straddle her body on hands and knees and then lean down and kiss her. I lower my body onto hers and hold her mouth with mine.
Then I roll to her side.
I run my fingertips from her cheek to her breasts, tracing the outline of one and then the other. Then I hold one glorious globe in my hand and feel the fine heft. I squeeze it lightly and then with more strength. I listen to her groans.
I lower my mouth to her breasts and tease the nipples with my tongue. I suck the nipples until she pushes into me, pulling me down, her hands tangled in my hair.
I leave her breasts and move down her belly. Her hands in my hair pull me back, but I gently release them and continue to the fine hairs of the plump palace below. She moans.
She smells like perfume, sweet and sexy, but my bear smells a sweeter smell—the spicy aroma of her juices as her body responds to my lips.
I use my hand to part her legs. My bear fights to lap at the juices that dampen her thighs, but I hold him back.
I stoke and massage her mound while I plant kisses down her belly. I slip a finger inside of her and massage the g-spot with my finger. She pushes against me, pressing her mound against my hand. She is ready.
I move my mouth to her lushest flesh and find her clit with my tongue.
She rears up with a cry of pleasure. I suck at her sweet juices and explore every inch of her.
She spasms on my finger. I can feel the tight waves build. I bury my face in her beauty and lick at her rock-hard clit.
She grabs my hair and rides my face until she comes in a raging storm.
She pants and holds my hair as the tremors peak, then subside.
I lap every drop of her juices till my bear is satisfied. I rest my face on her soft inner thigh—then my bear wants more. I raise myself up on my knees and push her legs apart. She tries to close her legs, to hide the beauty between her thighs, but I won’t let her.
“Open your eyes,” I command.
She does and sees my full erection before her.
She gasps and reaches for it. I allow her to touch the drop of moisture that has gathered at its tip.
She encircles the shaft with her hand and shudders. She looks up into my eyes and I see tears.
“Hey,” I whisper. “It’ll be okay. But we can stop if you want to. Anytime.”
“I don’t know if I can take all of that,” she says, her voice in awe.
I lightly touch her still wet pussy. “You’re ready. It’s time. Do you want to?”
“Yes.” She nods.
I touch the head of my throbbing member to the lips of her mound. I push gently as it slides into place. My bear roars within me. This is my mate. I know it. I have longed for her taste, her scent, all of my life. And now she is going to be mine. I come down on all fours, my cock at her entrance and my face above hers. I kiss her gently, and then harder. I suck her mouth into mine –
And I thrust.
She bucks hard against me, wrapping her legs around my back. I watch the wave of pain pass over her and I pause. Once she starts wriggling around, trying to find friction, I begin my ride. I pump into her as she pushes up to me. We wrestle together as two wild beasts.
I feel the walls of her squeeze around me. I know I can last in this moment forever—but my bear wants more. I wrap my arms around her and pull her up on me as my back arches and I come, yowling at the lightning bolt of release.
She cries out with me in her own cascade of pleasure.
I hold her as we rocket together and then fall back on the bed.
She lies on top of me, breathing in ragged breaths.
I stroke her head. “The wait is over.”
She looks up at me. “It was worth the wait.”
* * * * *
Light is trying to peep around the mountains by the time I take her back to her Jeep. I stand and stroke her hair. I don’t want to let her go. But she has to see after her mother and I’ve got Howlers sniffing around, so we step out of our dream and into the dawn.
“I want you with me,” I say.
“I’ll get away as often as I can,” she says.
“I want to be with you too.”
Chapter 12
Belinda
He is everything I imagined and more. His massive arms and chest shelter me and his possessiveness protects me.
I want to please him, just like he pleased me.
It’s only been an hour since I’ve left him when a text comes from his number.
You complete me. You are my fated mate.
I can’t believe my good fortune. Was it fate the brought me out here? I may never know.
But I do know I like it.
I crawl into bed and pull the covers over my naked body. He told me I must never sleep any other way.
His scent is still on me and I luxuriate in the fragrance, remembering his heat, his strength, and the tender way he cared for me. It was the best first night I could have imagined.
I’m drifting into a daydream, replaying it all in my head, when my bedroom door slams open.
I should have locked it.
“Belinda,” my mother says. Then she stops, her nose crinkling.
“Where have you been? You smell like the men’s room in the subway!”
I open one eye to regard her. “How do you know what a men’s room smells like?”
“I shared a bathroom with your father,” she says. “Until I insisted on separate rooms.”
Gods! Was it really her who’d insisted on separate rooms?
“Mom, I’m tired. Could you shut the door on your way out?”
She doesn’t clear the doorway “When did you get in?”
“None of your business, Mom. I’m an adult.”
“It is my business, as long as you’re living under my roof!”
I roll over, both eyes open now. “If it’s anybody’s roof, it’s Dad’s roof, Mom. He’s the one who paid for it.”
She deflates before my eyes. Damn, I’ve wounded her again. Why do I keep doing this?
But then she looks up and hisses, “And if he knew about your whoring around, he’d kick you out!”
She steps back and slams the door.
Now I know why I keep lashing out at her. Because she’s a bitch. The relationship between us seems to be getting worse.
* * * * *
It’s afternoon before I wake up, remnants of sweet dreams still in my head. I yawn and stretch and feel his presence. I know I have to shower, but I don’t want to. His maleness is keeping me warm.
But—on the other hand—if I wash it off, I can always get more.
After I shower and do a little work on some nature shots in the woods around the house, I let myself jump in my Jeep to go into town.
I text Drake: On my way into town. Can I bring you anything?
Just that hot ass, he texts back.
I smile and make myself drive at a reasonable speed
down the curvy mountain roads.
* * * * *
It turns out Drake has some private rooms at the old church, his privilege as Alpha and Prez of the URSA. Of course, nothing’s private when there’s a party going on, so that’s why he keeps his room at the motel.
But today there’s no party, except the party between us.
When he sees me, he kisses me like he’s a lion and I’m his supper. He runs strong, eager hands over every inch of my body as though checking that I am real.
All this makes me hot, and that’s exactly what I tell him. Which is when I learn about the private rooms.
As soon as we’re up there and the door is bolted, I hop up on the bed.
“I learned a lot last night,” I say with a grin. “Want to show me some more?”
“How about you showing me?” He smiles. “Last night was kinda dark and I was kinda busy…”
I tip my head, but then oblige him. I take off my shoes and stand up on the bed.
Usually I’m pretty shy about my body, but not with this guy. He looks at me like I’m Venus on a half shell, and I want him to have whatever he wants.
He lounges back on a chair and watches me strip while I watch his bulge get bigger.
When he looks like he’s about to rip out of his jeans, I sit on the edge of the bed and spread my legs wide.
He gets up to accept the invitation, undoing his belt on the way. When he reaches me, though, I stop him with my hand and undo his fly myself. I peel down his jeans and then ease the top of his briefs over his masterful tool.
The elastic from the underwear presses up under his balls and his manhood thrusts outward toward my mouth.
I know what to do.
I take his massive cock between my lips. I’m tentative at first. With a moan of pleasure, I suckle the head and then run my tongue down his shaft as he moans.
This is music to my ears.
I take more in my mouth this time.
I look up at him and then rise on my knees on the bed. I run my lips up and down his cock. His groans are getting louder. His breathing is louder.
“Belinda,” he says. “I’m gonna come…”
But I don’t pull back. I know what I want, and I want it now.
He grabs my hair and pushes into my face. I feel his ass clench as he explodes the moment I release him from my mouth.
When he’s finally drained, he staggers back against the wall, panting. He cuts his eyes to me. “I thought you said you was a virgin!”
“I was.”
“Then how…?”
“Research,” I laugh.
Before he can say anything else his phone rings. It’s silent and only mumbles I few things I can’t really make out. Quickly, he hangs up the phone and looks at me.
“Go home, Belinda, and stay inside.”
“Why?”
He turns to me with a vicious snarl. “I said, go!”
This is a side of him I’ve never seen.
But I go.
* * * * *
And so my life establishes a new routine. I’ve gotten interest from some publishers concerning my proposed coffee-table books featuring the old Dutch church and the stone houses, and I have another one in the works on the local wildlife. At nights I sneak out whenever he wants me, and in the days I join him whenever he says I can. My mother barely speaks to me—which I take as more good fortune.
As time goes on, however, it seems the Howlers are causing more trouble and he has his hands full with them and less time for me. My mother, of course, notices I’m spending more time at home. She can’t resist commenting.
“Before your father left, I hardly saw him at all,” is the bomb she lets drop today.
I whirl on her. “And you probably won’t see much of me before I leave either.”
But it’s too late. Her bullet hit the mark.
Was Drake being pulled away from me? Or was he pushing me away from him?
Chapter 13
Drake
I throw my phone against the wall. Damn these fuckers. Can’t they catch a clue? They’re not welcome here and they’ve gotta go.
The problem is the Howlers taste their own shit. The meth, heroin, and Fentanyl they push is eating holes in their brains. Sure, the URSA supply weed and shrooms for the locals, but those just make you happy, they don’t make you dead. The Howlers push the hard stuff because they want addicts. They want control. They want to build an empire.
Fine. They can build one. But not here.
And now there’s word they’re going to make another push into Maiden’s Fork today.
Which means another day without Belinda.
I retrieve my phone—which has a super protective case because of my tendency to throw things against walls—and consider texting Belinda.
But I decide against it.
It would just be one more excuse about some big problem that might not even happen at all. Any woman as bright as Belinda is going to start wondering what’s really going on.
Damn. I’ve finally found my mate and she’s so ripe and ready to be marked by me for life, but now I got werecoyotes to deal with. I know I’ll be patient because this is my fated mate and I will soon be bound to her forever. But she’s only human. Will she wait?
I don’t have time to think about it further. An alert has just come in over my phone. The Howlers are lining up their bikes on the outside of town.
It’s going down.
Within thirty minutes, every bro is in one of the lines at both ends of the two roads that run through Maiden’s Fork.
A couple of scouts are set up on the mountain roads, but if the Howlers want to bring their rusty bikes on these roads, they’ll have to go single file, and picking them off will be easy.
Word’s out for the locals to stay inside. The newcomers in the mountains will hear it on the news and stay clear.
Now it’s a waiting game.
The wait isn’t long. We can hear the Howlers coming and we fire up our bikes so they can hear us. But they keep on coming.
There’s an unspoken rule against using guns because that’ll bring down the Feds. But you never know with the Howlers. They get cranked up enough, they might figure they can handle the Feds.
I make a quick conference with Griffin and we make a plan. It’s not the most ingenious, but it’ll work. Zane goes around with supplies and the bros get to work. Soon, a line of sand covered tire tacks crosses each entry.
Unless the Howlers can get their old ladies out there with shovels and brooms, their bikes won’t make it over the line.
The bros idle fifty feet back of the line and wait.
At about noon, we see the first wave.
The bikes come in lines, not a vee, probably because no one’s got the gonads to be out front. When they hit the tacks, bikes start going down. Between the twisted forks, bent frames, bodies, and tacks, this stops the next line and adds to the chaos.
URSA bros are laughing until the first coyote starts to phase. Another unspoken rule is we don’t advertise we’re shifters because we don’t want to end up in some cage for show-and-tell.
Apparently not so with the Howlers. Werecoyotes start popping up all over the line. The sound of cracking bones and howls fills the air as their bodies reform. Soon there’s a wall of snarling, slathering werecoyotes easing toward the URSA.
The bears in each one of us responds without our bidding. There are bawls of anger and pain all around as the huge black bears tear through their human skins.
Two lines of roaring and snarling animals stand at each of the entry roads to Maiden’s Fork. At an unspoken signal, the coyotes begin the charge.
A black bear can handle four or five coyotes at a time. But these coyotes got us outnumbered with greater odds than that. And they’re flailing on meth. But URSA is fighting for its home and protecting sows and cubs. They’re not gonna back down.
I get hit right away by a big gray coyote. He sinks his fangs through my arm. I toss him to the side, but the wo
und is still there and the blood is flowing fast. My shifter blood will heal the wound, but there might not be time enough before I get another one. If I go down, they’ll sever my head and then I’m done. The trick is to stay on your feet.
I stop another coyote with a jugular-opening bite to the neck and use him as a club as he bleeds out. I see Zane tossing coyotes like they’re confetti on New Year’s Eve. Griffin is slower, but more accurate, making each bite count.
But I see bros dropping, too. Covered with coyotes. If they don’t heal in time, it will be the end.
But it will be a hero’s end.
I bellow my rage and pride to the sky and wade in deeper. I grab coyote necks, legs, and tails and swing them till body parts break and bright coyote blood flies.
I see some beginning to sneak off now, snapping and snarling with their tails between their legs.
I bay to my bros to redouble the charge. We break through their lines. We throw gray bodies left and right. The ones that remain scatter in disarray.
I rise to full fury and yowl victory to the skies.
I drop to all fours and sniff at my wounds. These will heal, but they could use some help. I phase back to human form.
I step over a wolf body that suddenly stirs. I jump back, prepared to do battle again.
But this wolf phases back to human, too, and I see it is E. J.
I let out a low warning growl.
E. J. tries to straighten to a stand, but he’s in bad shape. He’s spitting blood, probably from an internal wound. But he returns my growl, even from his doubled over stance.
He sways, holding an arm that’s bent at an odd angle. He hisses between clenched teeth. “So you win this time, Drake, but maybe you lose too.”
I come at him, growling. “What are you talking about?”
I can feel the bear in me preparing for the lunge.
E. J. lifts his head, though it costs him to do it. “Did it occur to you, URSA, that protecting your front exposes your flank?”
I stop. I stare. My flank? Nothing flanks these main roads other than stores and narrow mountain roads…
Old mountain roads that lead up to older stone houses. Like the newcomers like to buy. Like the one Belinda lives in.