by Thorne, Elle
Kane had never been one to back down from a challenge, and he wasn’t about to let her slip from his grasp.
“Grant.” Might as well tackle the first part of the problem first. “About the cabin.” Kane shoved his hands into his front pockets and straightened his shoulders. “Mind if I stay a while longer?”
Grant shook his head. “Not at all. Stay as long as you want. If you’re still willing to. It’s pretty bare and rustic.”
Kane nodded his thanks and turned to Astra.
Her eyes were clear, that beautiful light green that looked like dew on grass, reflecting light through to the green blades. He turned his gaze to Doc, then back to Astra.
“I was hoping to have company.”
His bear felt her pulse quicken, and it made Kane’s quicken too.
A glimmer lit her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Anyone in particular, shifter?” A smile threatened to erupt, but she managed to contain it.
Kane looked at Doc. “If you don’t mind.” He put his hand out to Astra.
Astra took his hand, hers tiny in his grip. He pulled her close, making it clear he would protect her. He would always protect her if she’d agree.
Doc nodded sagely, understanding.
She leaned in, her back against his chest and abdomen, and he wrapped his arms around her. To think this woman was willing to risk death at the hands of rovers to save the ones she loved—and him. He hoped she was developing those kinds of feelings for him.
He knew he was. And so was the bear.
The bear growled.
Fine, the bear had known first, Kane agreed. But I wasn’t far behind.
The bear reverberated a satisfied rumble deep in the recesses of Kane’s mind.
“Dad?” Astra’s voice burst with confidence and strength. “That okay?” She reached for his hand.
Doc leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You can’t be my little girl forever.”
“I have some questions.” Astra tensed in Kane’s embrace, turning a glittering gaze on Doc and Grant.
He knew she had a lot of questions. Her recent memories of her earlier life, knowing that she was special and could see shifters...
Yes, Kane acknowledged, his woman would have questions.
“They can wait for now,” he told her.
Chapter Thirty
Doc and Grant left with promises to send Joe and a wrecker up with Doc’s truck for them to use, and to take her Jeep away to be fixed. They said they’d send groceries and a cooler with Joe.
What more could a girl want?
“Chocolate,” she’d murmured to Doc, knowing that no matter how much she lowered her voice, Kane and his bear would hear.
She caught the smile on his full lips, and if Doc hadn’t been there, she’d have... Yeah, she’d have done a lot of things!
In the warmth of the cabin, sheltered from a chilly wind and the world’s worries, Astra nuzzled Kane’s chest, the top of her head tucked in under his chin.
Kane stirred the spaghetti with one hand. His other hand was cupping her ass, pulling her close. The sauce bubbled in a pan on the other burner. The last time she’d made spaghetti...
Wow, it hadn’t even been a week since the night she’d gotten the call from Grant to come by for dinner—and examine the shifter she wanted nothing to do with.
They’d been here two days and her body was tingly, sore, numb, and pleasantly bruised in all the right places.
She sighed, then breathed in deeply, inhaling his maleness, relishing his scent, desire stirring deep within her. She couldn’t get enough of her man, and he didn’t seem to be able to get enough of her.
His hands were always on her curves, her hips, her shoulders, the small of her back... It was as if he couldn’t stand to not hold or touch her. She could live like that forever.
It was like she’d never known any other life but Kane. Everything she’d done and been had been overshadowed by the last couple of days with him.
The phone buzzed on the counter.
She’d kept it charged using Doc’s truck, which Joe and the wrecker had dropped off for her. The Jeep was in the hands of Doc’s capable mechanic in town, and the cooler was full of chocolate, along with a couple of beers and some perishable foods.
“Ignore it,” Kane said, his lips against her temple, right at the hairline. He pressed her against the counter. “I have better things for you to do.”
She tilted her head and gave him a flirty smile. “Like what?”
“Strain the pasta.” He handed her the colander with a wicked smile.
“Is that all?” She pressed her hand against his cock.
Its hardness pushed back.
In her own pants, her body buzzed, and her panties became soaked. Her breasts swelled at the thought of his desire.
“Fuuuuuck.” His voice was a low growl. He flipped the burner off. “Hold that thought. And don’t move your hand.”
“At all?” Astra ran her hands up and down his steely length.
“Don’t move it away. But you can move it all you want.”
He dropped the colander in the sink and poured the water and pasta in on top of it. He flipped the burner under the saucepan off, then grabbed her by the hips.
Astra squealed, half in delight, half in anticipation and desire for this muscular hunk of a man.
He shoved his tongue deep into her mouth, claiming her lips and tongue.
“I want your pussy to hug my cock. But first it needs to hug my tongue.” Kane unzipped and removed her pants in one deft move, then rose and pulled her top over her head.
He picked her up and carried her to the sofa, flipped her so she was facing away, and laid her over the arm, face down.
Astra heard the chair being dragged and then her panties were pulled down, over her hips, legs and toes.
She glanced over her shoulder. Kane was sitting in one of the chairs, his face level with her body, lust written across his olive complexion.
He nudged her legs apart, spreading her wide. Cool air danced and played on her spread folds, making the moisture gathered even colder.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kane had to taste her. As bad as he wanted to be in her, buried deep, as bad as he wanted to bond with her and mark her as his for eternity, his mouth watered at the thought of her essence and flavor. He wanted to rub his face in her folds, make her come all over him, and then kiss her so she could taste how amazing her flavor was.
Astra moaned in anticipation, and her sounds drove Kane and his bear wild.
The bear roared in Kane’s head. He lowered her head to her inner thigh, let his lips feel the softness of her skin.
His tongue glided over her flesh, goose bumps forming, and she shivered. He nipped the tender flesh gently. A flinch and her nether lips winking were his reward. The scent of her arousal wafted stronger.
He parted her with his fingertips, resisting the urge to plunge two fingers deep within, stretching and punishing her pussy.
God, he couldn’t wait to taste her. He licked a trail, starting at her clit and rising over her slit, all the way to her tiny rosebud opening.
He flicked his tongue against her ass, then pressed her wider and flicked at the rosebud, watching it pucker.
“I want to fill you up, every hole, everywhere. I want you to belong to me.”
Astra sighed a moan. Her ass twitched and her hips pivoted and pushed her closer to his mouth. She pushed her ass upward and he pulled her higher in the air, her knees on the arm of the sofa, her feet tucked under her thighs.
He lowered his head, flicking at her clit with his tongue. “Do you belong to me?”
“Yeeessss.” Astra’s hiss erupted from her lips. “Totally.”
His heart raced that she’d accepted. Did she know what she was accepting? He had to make it clearer. “Are you ready for the couplebond?”
“God, yes, Kane. There’s no one else. There never will be.”
; He flicked her clit again with his tongue.
She jerked upward, her feet striking his chest.
Astra screamed his name. That was the fuel he needed.
“Give me that sweet cream.” He thrust his tongue deep into her sex, enjoying the hugging of her channel. He licked her inside, plunging in and out of her.
She pushed her body upward and screamed again, and her muscles tightened around his tongue as she orgasmed on his face, leaving a fine coating of creaminess behind. He rubbed his face in her folds, pressing against her pussy.
Her body quivered, and he moved his tongue faster, flicking her nerve center, striking the tiny bud with the tip of his tongue in quick succession.
“Godddd. Kane, God! It’s—oh, God, no, yes, now, now!” Without pause, she climaxed again, grinding her sex into his face.
He relished every motion, every drop, sliding his face up and down, side to side, drenching it in her juices.
He had to fuck her. His bear rumbled at the delay, and Kane growled alongside him. Rising, he slipped his pants down and released his cock, throbbing in his hand, his need for her painful, pushing him close to a threshold.
“Fuck me, Kane. Please, take me.”
His cock twitched in his hand, as if it wanted to release immediately. He gritted his teeth against the overwhelming passion, trying to keep from coming.
“Will you be mine?” He groaned the words out, running his hand up and down his throbbing cock, ready for her.
“God, yes. Forever,” she panted, her emotions clear in her voice.
He pushed her legs apart even further, loving the way her curves displayed her red velvet for him, issuing a warm, wet invitation. He lined up his cock, sucked a deep breath in, and in one deep thrust he was exactly where he needed to be.
Forever.
The bear in him roared as he grunted and pulled back, then pushed in again, driving with a force that was only matched by the intensity of his emotions. He thrust deep again, her channel gripping him, holding him tightly, the sensation so enveloping, so overwhelming, he felt a surge. Grabbing her hips, he pushed in deeper and was still.
He didn’t move for fear of allowing it to overwhelm him, to take him down a road of no return.
He was sure. He knew that his only wish was to make her happy. She would complete his life. He had to know that she was equally sure, that she wanted him as much and for all the right reasons.
The demands of a bear shifter’s woman could be pronounced—especially with his bear.
“Are you sure? I have to know you want me forever.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Astra had never been surer of anything in her life. There was nothing that she’d ever wanted as much as this man. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t need a year or even a month to know that he was the one. Whatever came up, they’d work through it. She loved him in a way she’d never thought she could love.
“Yes, Kane. I’m yours.”
With a growl, followed by a roar, he shoved in her deeply, stretching her. She felt his lips on her back, up high, then they climbed to the side of her neck, just where it met her shoulder.
One tiny kiss.
Then the searing pain of his incisors dipping into her flesh, followed by the spurting of his release in her channel, hot fluid pulsing deep within her while his mouth covered her wound, now slightly stinging.
She moaned her pleasure and her pain, her very soul touched by his. Waves of passion flowed through her as her climax joined his. She felt their mingled fluids dripping down as he filled her, crowding the fluids out, driving them to drip down.
She collapsed, her legs sliding out and extended. She stretched out, still perched on the sofa’s arm. Kane lay against her, his fingertips running patterns on her shoulders.
“I love you,” he said, his voice low, reverberating with emotion. “I know it’s early, but I think I’ve always loved you. As has my bear.”
“This supernatural stuff is scary powerful,” she agreed.
“Do you plan to reveal your skills, to do anything with them? I mean publicly?” His breath cooled the sweat-moistened skin on her back.
She thought about it for a moment. “I’ll talk about it with Doc and Grant. But I don’t think so. I feel called to be a vet. I want to finish working on that.”
He planted a kiss over the patterns he’d been tracing on her skin, then rose off of her.
She felt a loss, both physical and emotional, at his absence even though he was still there with her. “Where are you going?”
“Your phone’s been buzzing a text repeatedly. Someone is pretty persistent.” He took her hand and pulled her to a stand. “I’ll run you a bath. What do you say to the idea of my taking the tub to the front porch? How about soaking in the hot tub while you enjoy the mountain air?”
“If you keep on spoiling me, mister, I may not let you go.”
“You better not,” he snarled at her, baring his teeth, more sexy than fearsome. He handed her the phone, adding, “I’m thinking of buying some land out here. Put a cabin on it. With electricity and other amenities.”
That was all he said, then he looked at her, waiting.
“Was there a question in there?” She planted her fists on her hips.
“Vixen.” He reached down and slipped his finger between her legs, letting it rest between her folds. “The question is, how does that work for you? Are you in?”
“All in.” She moved her feet, stood with her legs apart, inviting him to take and do what he pleased.
He slipped a finger inside, driving it in and out while she tried to enter the code that would unlock the phone.
She couldn’t manage. She kept getting the wrong code, her fingers fumbling, her mind concentrating on the sensations his fingers were delivering.
She locked herself out of the phone. “Damn. Now I’ll have to wait to check it.”
“Damn, indeed.” He pushed on her back, bending her over.
She reached for the counter while he took her higher and higher with his fingers, again, and again, and again, in mind-numbing, body-quivering orgasms.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The insistent text had been an invitation to dinner at Grant’s.
Kane’s stomach grumbled with hunger, and Astra’s did the same. They’d never gotten to the spaghetti. It had cooled, then hardened, while they yielded to more pleasing pastimes. But now, hunger was kicking into high gear.
Kane pressed his foot on the gas. “I hope that Grant and Chelsea don’t intend to have a long social visit before they set the table.”
He pulled in, held the car door open for Astra, and before they could make it up the staircase to the front door, Grant opened it.
Chelsea beamed a huge smile at them.
Mae was behind them, also with a smile on her face. Astra felt like she was on the outside of a joke that everyone but her was privy to. She glanced at Kane.
His face gave nothing away, so maybe he wasn’t in on this... whatever this was.
A few moments later, they all sat down at Grant’s picnic-style table. Chelsea and Mae had put together quite a spread: a roast, potatoes, an apple pie, fresh bread.
Astra thought of the last time she’d sat here, the attraction she’d felt for Kane, the animosity she’d felt toward shifters. So much had changed. She chanced a look at her hunky shifter.
His gaze was focused on her face, and his expression told it all. He loved her, thoroughly and completely. His hand slid over her thigh and grasped her hand, enveloping her fingers in warmth and security.
Doc watched them both, a happy expression on his face. He gave her a slow wink.
She couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore. She felt like a child who had been invited to her own surprise party. “So is everyone in on this? Am I the only one who doesn’t know?”
Mae tried for an innocent look.
Doc looked away, probably so she couldn’t read his face.
Chelsea giggled, her face turning a
pretty blush pink.
Grant’s face was stoic.
Mae gave in first. “I had hoped that Kane would be good for you.”
Kane put his hands around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him.
“Why?” Astra couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Mae put her fork down, the bite still untouched on the tines. “I’ve missed having shifters in Bear Canyon Valley. It’s been lonely for far too long. Since Brad...”
Brad, Mae’s long-dead mate. Astra had heard about him from Doc.
“It was time for us to be what we used to be. A valley teeming with shifters. I bought the B&B across from the salon. That’s a good place to start the rebuilding.” She reached across the table, put her hand on Astra’s. “And you’ve been far too isolated and living inside yourself since you lost your mother. You needed something—someone. And Vax knew of Kane. I’d met Kane once, when he was much younger. I’m not sure if he remembers...” She glanced at Kane.
Kane shook his head. “No, sorry.”
“I don’t expect you to. You were young, and you had a lot going on in your life. But when Vax called and said you needed a place to stay, and possibly some help...” Mae shrugged. Tears glistened in her eyes. “It seemed the logical next step. I hoped it would turn out well.”
At the mention of her mother, Astra couldn’t help but think of all the questions she had. “About my mother. Did you know her?”
“Of course,” Mae said. “She was a dear friend of mine.”
“Did you know about—” Astra didn’t know how to phrase it. Or if she should phrase it at all.
“Her gift?” Mae looked at Doc when she said that.
Astra nodded.
“You have it, don’t you?” Doc asked. “I wondered if you had it when I saw your reaction to Kane the first time you met him. All these years I thought it had skipped a generation.” He shook his head. “Maybe I hoped it had skipped a generation, if only to save your life.”