Stone Bear: Guardian (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 3)

by Amelia Jade

  Well that’s a depressing thought. Although, if you stuck with Raphael, you’d always feel safe.

  Raphael was in the next room, and she hadn’t said anything aloud, but Karlie still blushed at the thought. It was true that whenever he was near she felt relaxed and safe, despite everything they’d gone through. Their escapes weren’t his fault, and he always rose to defend her. To protect her.

  My guardian angel.

  Her grandfather may have sent someone to come for her, but it had been Raphael that had volunteered, without knowing anything more about her. It seemed silly to her at first, but now she wondered if perhaps deep down his bear had known that she was important to him.

  Pulling the dress over her head, she shimmied into it, rearranging her hair after the fact. Her reflection in the floor-length mirror smiled back as she twirled once, enjoying the flow of the brightly colored pattern. It was pretty.

  The dinner date—and she wasn’t fooling herself, that’s what it was—would be a good test of their interaction in a normal setting, away from the heart-stopping terror of being on the run, fearful of every move they made. For once the two of them could relax and just be.

  Butterflies erupted in her stomach as it sunk in that she was going on a date. A date. With a man. A sexy one at that, who seemed every bit as interested in her. It had been a long time since she’d bothered with men, having more interest in simply seeing the world. That wasn’t to say she was completely inexperienced, but it had been quite some time since she last went on a first date.

  Pausing at the washroom, she looked through the door, then back out toward the main room where Raphael waited.

  He could wait a little longer, she thought, ducking into the bathroom and focusing on her appearance in the mirror.

  ***

  “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” he told her for perhaps the tenth time that evening.

  She blushed, also for perhaps the tenth time. “Yes, you have,” she said shyly, amused at her own reaction. “But that doesn’t mean I tire of hearing it.”

  “I just,” he paused, his eyes jumping around the room as he searched for the words he wanted, “I just didn’t truly realize how beautiful. It’s not that you looked bad during our little trip, but it’s a completely different effect.”

  “It’s okay, I get what you mean,” she assured him, not wanting him to think she’d fly off the handle at a simple statement like that. “I think you were just concentrated on the way those leggings made my butt look, and now you’re focusing on my face for the first time.”

  She’d delivered the line perfectly. Raphael, having felt relaxed at her first statement, had lifted his glass to take a calming drink. Just as he began to sip the second half of her sentence had hit home, and he snorted heavily, attempting not to splash his drink everywhere.

  “You’re not supposed to call someone out on that!” he said in mock astonishment.

  “Sorry,” she said without any meaning behind it, flashing him a smile instead.

  “But now that you admit it, your derriere did look fantastic in those pants. Quite nice and shapely, if I do say so myself,” he said wickedly, bouncing his eyebrows at her suggestively.

  Karlie couldn’t stop herself. She giggled, covering her cheeks with her hands as she blushed once more. “Stop it!” she protested.

  “You brought it up,” he said confidently, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

  They were at a fancy restaurant that the hotel had recommended to them. She knew it was likely horrifically overpriced, because there weren’t any prices on the menu. That meant the guests who dined there didn’t concern themselves with such petty things as how much dinner was going to cost.

  It was unnecessarily expensive for her, somewhere she would be perfectly okay with never having eaten at. But Raphael had wanted to take her, and she liked the way he insisted on treating her like a princess, while also not acting like she was made of glass. He held the door and offered his arm when appropriate, but he let her order her own food, take the stairs, and generally anything else she wanted to do. It was a perfectly gentlemanly level of chivalry that he could turn on and off as needed.

  She liked it, though she hoped this wasn’t the way he normally lived.

  “Is there anywhere like this in Genesis Valley?” she asked skeptically.

  Raphael laughed. “Not even close.” He leaned closer, whispering to her conspiratorially. “I shouldn’t be saying this, so you have to promise not to tell my date, okay?”

  She nodded seriously.

  “I brought her here almost as much for me as for her. I’ve always wanted to experience something silly like this.” He winked and sat back up straight as they shared a chuckle.

  Karlie felt herself relax as the honesty of his statement sunk in. He meant what he was saying, not just mouthing the words. Now that she knew the evening was something for both of them, she would worry much less about how it went.

  “That’s good to hear, because honestly, while I could stand coming here once in a blue moon, this is too much for me to do on the regular,” she said with a wave of her hand at the expensive décor and dim lighting. “Take me to a pub or sportsbar, gimme some beer and peanuts, and I’ll be the happiest date you’ve ever had.” Then something else occurred to her. “Or karaoke. Definitely okay with beer and karaoke.”

  “Now we’re talking!” he exclaimed, slamming his hand down on the table in excitement.

  Around the restaurant, heads turned to focus on them. Raphael looked around at the sudden attention before coughing and picking up his menu. She fought to not break out into hysterical laughter at the scene, knowing she would receive the same attention if she did. Still, the slow dawning of comprehension on his face as he realized the entire restaurant was now staring at him had been too much.

  “You’re cute,” she said softly as the rustle of people turning back to their tables and resuming their meals faded away.

  There was a faint darkening of his cheeks that could have been a blush. Karlie pushed her hand across the table, taking his in it and giving it a squeeze. She didn’t know why she did that just then, but it felt right, like she was supposed to. The skin-on-skin contact was…reassuring.

  “Can I ask you something?” Raphael said abruptly.

  She sat up straight, but didn’t let go of his hand. There had been something in his voice that told her that it was a serious question.

  “And what’s that?”

  She felt a nervous flutter in her heart as he inhaled deeply before speaking. “What happened between you and your father? Why was he able to use you against Ferro, against your grandfather?”

  Karlie didn’t move for a moment as the question hit home. Then she let her breath out slowly, stopping just short of making it a whistle.

  Well that changed the mood of this evening rather quickly, didn’t it?

  Yes and no. It was a question that he would have been okay to ask a lot earlier, in reality. After all, he had come to rescue her from her father’s clutches. It would be only natural for him to want to know why such a thing was possible. Having it out in the open would be good for them as well, one less secret that they didn’t need to keep between each other.

  “There was always something…off, about my father,” she started, before pausing as the waiter came by to refill their drinks. He topped off her white wine and delivered a fresh beer to Raphael, then departed as swiftly and silently as he had appeared.

  Raphael motioned for her to continue.

  “I didn’t notice it much, especially not as a young child. But to hear it from my mother’s friends as I grew older, it became clear that he wasn’t…normal, I guess. Which should have been apparent when he split with my mother. Shifters are supposed to mate for life, right?’ she said sarcastically, before taking a long sip of wine. She owed Raphael an explanation, but that didn’t make the dredging up of her memories any less painful.

  “So anyway, he was gone a lot while I w
as a child. One day, I’m supposed to be in bed, but I can’t sleep. So I go down to the kitchen to grab some milk. It always seemed to put me right to sleep. But before I get there, I hear my parents arguing. My mother asks him not to go. To stay. To stay for me,” she said heavily. “He told her to trust him. That she needed to trust him.”

  Raphael looked at her sharply. “That’s why when I said you needed to trust me in the van, you went all blank on me,” he said.

  She nodded. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting it to happen. It’s just, now that I think about it, it’s the first time a man has actually told me I have to trust him. The others have just sort of earned my trust, you know? I didn’t realize that line would hit so hard.”

  He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, letting her know it was okay. She nodded rapidly, trying to press on.

  “Anyway, he never came back. It took me a decade, but I finally managed to track him down despite my mother saying I shouldn’t. In hindsight, I should have listened to her.” She rolled her eyes. “Like parents are ever allowed to be right.”

  He laughed lightly, and she immediately remembered he’d had no parents.

  “Raphael, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it—”

  “Shh,” he said, hushing her. “It’s okay. I’ve had a long time to accept it, and it’s one of those things that I can still understand the humor behind, even if I didn’t experience it firsthand myself. Don’t worry about it.” He raised her hand to his mouth, gently brushing her knuckles against his lips.

  “Thank you.” Her hand tingled from his kiss.

  “So what happened when you found him?”

  She frowned. “Nothing nice. I called him out in public, he said never to come near him again. That he despises me for what I am. Things like that,” she said with a shrug, ignoring the shock on Raphael’s face. “So I went and found Grandfather. He told me it was probably for the best. That’s when he began to dote on me, treating me like his own daughter.”

  A smile broke through her look of distaste as warm memories of time spent with her grandfather bubbled to the surface, helping to dispense the chill of the memories and emotions her father provoked.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said.

  “Me too,” she agreed. “Me too. There’s nothing I can do about it now though. It sucked, and it’ll probably never stop hurting. But I’ve begun creating new memories and emotions to fill the void, and I’m sure that in time I’ll get over it.

  A distressed look crossed his face as she spoke the last sentence, but he banished it so quickly she wondered if she was seeing things.

  The arrival of their food served as a distraction, and as she bit into the tender and succulent perfectly grilled prime rib, any concerns she may have had right then faded away, replaced by the bliss of medium-rare meat seasoned to perfection.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Raphael

  The door flung open so fast they almost tumbled through.

  “You know,” she said, her arms wrapped around his neck.

  “Yes?” he replied before kissing her furiously.

  “At some point”—she hungrily kissed him some more—“we’re going to have to talk.”

  “Mm-hmm,” he agreed, his lips never leaving hers. Behind them the door closed on its own. He moved them to the lounge area, their shoes falling off somewhere along the way.

  “Hey,” she said, pulling back slightly. “Stop.”

  He cursed internally. Despite his reply, she must have felt the tension ripple through his body.

  “Stop what?” He frowned, trying to play innocent.

  “Getting tense.”

  There was a brief, split second of hesitation, then he relaxed slightly and smiled. “Sorry, it’s harder than you might think to stay relaxed when there’s five foot eight of brunette hotness wrapped around your waist.”

  She laughed and kissed him hard, but he could sense it in her that she knew he was just masking it. He had to. How else could he justify falling in love with a dragon shifter? It seemed ridiculous on the surface, and it got even worse the more he thought about it. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he did love her, and his bear went absolutely apeshit when she wasn’t around. It needed to be with her, and it had made that pointedly clear to him.

  He had spent hours trying to figure out a way to make things work with Karlie. But the truth was, once they got back to Genesis Valley she would be gone from him. Ferro wouldn’t find it acceptable for her to become intimate with him. Not that he didn’t like Raphael—the two actually had a decent relationship.

  No, it came down to the simple fact that he would die old while she was still an infant in dragon terms. If she was allowed to fall in love with him, she might do something stupid when he passed away, or his death might cause her to be permanently scarred from love.

  You’re assuming that she isn’t already falling in love with you.

  The thought echoed around his head as her soft fingers began to deftly undo the buttons on his shirt, removing them one by one. Her lips followed her hands, the tender skin pressing against his exposed chest as she made her way down to his stomach and below.

  He froze, unmoving, as she made quick work of his belt, his jeans sliding past his ankles with a swiftness that surprised him. His eyes tracked her hands as she splayed her fingers wide and pressed them up the inside of his legs and across the bulge of his stiff cock. It was still constrained by his boxers, unable to become fully erect until freed, but it was as hard as it could be from her touch.

  Her fingertips danced across his sac, making his knees waver.

  “Do you need to sit down?” she teased sultrily from her crouch in front of him.

  Wordlessly Raphael nodded. She licked her lips, placing a gentle, teasing kiss on his cock through the cotton of his boxers.

  Then she pushed him backward.

  “Hey!” he cried out, his knees connecting with the back of a couch. He wobbled, and then under the press of her hand, fell back into the thick cushions that adorned the couch.

  “Better,” she said with a wink, before forcing him to lift himself slightly as she dragged his boxers off.

  She stood up, and he reached forward to help her with the dress.

  “No,” she said with a light slap of his hand. “Just watch.

  His eyes widened at her tone, his mouth drying up quickly. In front of him she grasped a bunch of her dress cross-armed, and in one smooth motion, removed it over her head.

  She wasn’t wearing any underwear.

  “Oh,” was all he could manage.

  “It’s been a long dinner,” she told him, sinking one knee down onto the couch next to him.

  “Uh-huh,” he managed to say as her breasts passed tantalizingly close to his face while she settled her other knee over the top of him.

  He could feel the warmth of her pressed against the tip of his cock, the slight wetness of her pussy a tease he wasn’t sure he could resist. His cock tightened and swelled even larger as his arousal grew, and Karlie’s smile only grew wider.

  “Better,” she said with approval, reaching behind her to grasp his cock with one hand. With her fingers firmly wrapped around his shaft, she rubbed it back and forth against her opening.

  He could feel it becoming moist, and then all of a sudden, it slipped inside of her.

  “Holy shit,” he whispered, watching as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head as she sank down onto him in one swift motion.

  Her arms reached forward, resting on the back of the couch on either side of his head. They began to shake as she took him all inside of her at once.

  “Oh wow,” she whispered after a moment. “That was…intense.”

  “Agreed,” he said, surprised by just how strong every touch, every emotion was right then. “Come here,” he said, pulling her down to him so he could kiss her once more.

  Her hands were clasped on either side of his head, and her fingers pushed upward into his hair.

  You
need to tell her how you feel.

  Her breasts dragged against his chest as she began to ride him.

  Later…

  Karlie had the power of a dragon shifter in her body. Thick legs and a torso that matched it carried up to her breasts. They swung freely, her hard nipples rubbing against the soft chest hair that spread across his upper chest, trailing off as it dipped toward his abdomen. Instinctually his hands reached up to cup them.

  “Oh,” she gasped as his warm palms made contact with her soft, cool skin.

  His motions brought one of her nipples to his mouth, where he hungrily swirled his tongue around it before very softly giving it a gentle bite, much to Karlie’s surprise and eventual delight. She wrapped one of her hands around his head, pulling it tight to her breast as she bounced up and down slowly upon his cock.

  Playing a hunch, he wrapped his hands around her back, and softly dug his nails in, dragging them down her skin. Karlie’s head fell back and she let out a long, loud moan that only trailed off as he ran out of room on her back.

  “Harder,” she whispered fiercely in his ear.

  Raphael obliged, and this time her moan was closer to a scream as her hips moved faster. She kept rocking against him, and he felt himself slipping closer and closer to the edge.

  Karlie suddenly whispered in his ear, calling out his name as she began to shake. Her hands tightened around the back of his head, pulling him tight into her. His cock was strained to the limits of his climax as her walls tightened and relaxed rapidly around it while her orgasm rocketed through her.

  The instant she began to calm down, he grasped his hands around her waist and stood up. He walked forward until her back slammed against the wall as he kissed and bit her neck. Hands dug into his hair, pulling him away from her neck, so that Karlie’s hungry lips could find his. They kissed hard as he thrust into her. Each time he buried his cock within her she cried out, the sounds muffled by his lips.

  “The bed,” she hissed, pulling away from him for a second.

  He grunted, turning and laying her down on her back.

  “Now, hard,” she told him fiercely, her eyes boring into him.