by M. L. Briers
Mari tossed her head back trying to hit his face, preferably his nose, but the feel of his hot cheek as it brushed against hers meant that she was done for. The bear had won, and yet, her wolf was still of a mind to fight him.
Stubborn to the last – she tried to buck him off, but his weight was just too much.
Cole tried to still his beast within him. The animal side of his nature was all for taking her there and then, and claiming her as theirs.
He brushed his cheek against hers as he savoured her scent, her warmth, the length of her body beneath his, warm and soft, especially where his cock was nestled between the cheeks of her backside.
“Mine.” He growled long and hard against her ear – his lips brushed her skin and he felt the kind of full body shiver that wracked through every inch of her, and he knew that his words had hit home.
“You may have caught me, but you don’t have me, yet…” Mari couldn’t help that stubborn streak. It had been long in the making and not easily subdued.
Cole brushed his lips down her neck. His fangs were already down and he longed for the taste of her blood on his tongue…
“Sure?” Cole growled, tracing his tongue over her shoulder, and she tried to buck one more time, but he held her tightly as he placed his fangs on either side of her shoulder and gentle bit down, piercing her skin with the razor sharp points of each fangs, marking her as his, and subduing the beast within her.
Mari’s breeding cycle slammed into her, full force, and roaring like a miffed she-wolf. She whimpered against the pain in her shoulder of the claim he had laid to her, and she mewed with the ache that was starting to garner traction deep inside of her womb for him…
Then her beast quietened down, and she felt a kind of calmed acceptance of him within her… it didn’t last long.
Cole released his fangs just in time. His mate had become wild beneath him, and if he was to hold her in place now, he risked doing the one thing that he could never do – hurt her.
The instant that Cole lifted his weight from her, he felt her move. Her beast had been coiled within her waiting for the moment to strike, and with a back elbow to his ribs, she knocked the air from his lungs and forced him down onto his side on the floor beside her…
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CHAPTER TWELVE
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Cole cursed as the pain shot through him, but he cursed twice as hard a few seconds later when his mate straddled his hips, her eyes were on fire, and with a hungry look that said that she was his.
Mari shimmied backwards, just a few inches, just enough to rub her sex against his erection. Her palms were planted against his shoulders, an illusion of being in control, because she knew that with one beat of her heart he could have in her back where he wanted her.
Her eyes locked with Cole’s. The bear within was furious, and she could see it, as if she could see into his very soul, and yet – Cole just twisted his head to one side and regarded her in the strangest way. It was as if he was holding back that affront, that rage that the bear felt…
“I don’t know how long I can hold my beast at bay, sweetheart,” Cole’s voice was the deepest that she’d heard it. His hands fisted at his sides as he fought for control of his inner beast, but he was giving her free rein, just for now, just for those moments…
Mari had the need within her to touch, to taste, to lick every inch of his skin and place her mark upon his body. She angled downwards, her eyes never leaving his, and her tongue traced the first of the deep scars that had been cut into his smooth skin – marks that even his shifter blood couldn’t completely heal.
Cole growled. Biting down on his need to have her at his pleasure, at his will, to allow that side of him out that would dominate her wolf, subdue it as his beast brought them both the pleasure that they craved.
He could feel the need within her. Her breeding cycle was short wiring her brain into a frenzy of lust that would be clawing at her very soul to take from him what she needed, and he was giving her that right – for now.
By the morning he would known every inch of her body – he would have taken her in ways that she couldn’t have imaged, but that he would make damn certain that she enjoyed – but for now, as long as he could hold his beast at bay… she was in charge.
Mari’s wolf clawed inside of her. It was baying for the taste of his blood upon her tongue, and yet, it wanted everything else and more. The taste and feel of his cock inside of her mouth, the thrill of possession as she garnered his seed down the back of her throat – thrusting down onto his cock and taking it so deep inside of her body that she would lose her mind as she rode him…
She was hungry like the wolf, and she wasn’t about to let the opportunity go to waste.
With blunt teeth she nipped against the hard muscle at his hip. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his hard length twitch, so close, the scent of his sex in the air as his deep growl of longing, of need, washed over her body.
With her eyes locked on his; she twisted her head to the side and ran her tongue down the side of his shaft. Every muscle in his body between her eyes and his tensed, contracted and stayed ridged as he tried to hold himself back, and then she was upon him; the base of his cock wrapped inside of her little fist as best she could, and claiming him with her tongue, her lips, her mouth…
She was insatiable.
Cole forced his head back against the floor. There wasn’t a muscle within his body that wasn’t tight enough to snap in two.
His black eyes were hooded with pleasure, with desire as he watched her like a caged predator waiting for its chance to strike out…
Even with what she was doing to him – the pleasure of her lips around his length, her tongue tasting and teasing the sensitive ridge around the fleshy crown, the way that she pressed down as far as she could take him, and the feel of her throat so damn tight around him as she swallowed him down – he still craved to have her right where he wanted her – open wide for his tongue, for his cock…
He was close to going insane – fighting the battle that he was always going to lose – and then she closed her eyes to savour the moment… and his beast went wild.
Mari wasn’t certain which way was up. One moment she was on top of him, claiming him as hers, and the next – she had been yanked away by two strong hands and a grip that she could never have shaken off even if she’d had a mind too.
Now she was on her hands and knees on the floor with the feel of the heat that her mate radiated behind her. She felt his hands on her inner thighs, forcing her legs apart, opening her to him, and her beast roared inside of her…
Then his tongue swiped a long firm line from one end of her slit to the other and she was lost. The delicious growl that rumbled through the air met her own as she forced her claws against the wooden floor and closed her eyes to what came next…
They say hungry like the wolf – obviously they’d never met a bear shifter before. With two large hands clamped against her backside, keeping her right where he wanted her, Cole buried his face against her sex and devoured her with a fever that made her see stars.
Cole licked, nipped, and ran his blunt teeth over her clit as he suckled against her flesh. Running his tongue upwards, he thrust it inside the slick walls of her channel and felt the muscles clamp down around it.
He ran one hand down between her thighs and reached out to rub his thumb against her clit, taking her with his tongue, licking and thrusting inside of her until she gave up that essence that he’d longed to sample. He drank it down – but it wasn’t enough…
Even as her claws cut through the wood of the flooring – Even as she tried to escape that clever tongue of his that had worked back against her clit, and even as she mewed and begged for his length inside of her, for a moments reprieve from the delicious torture that he was subjecting her too, he claimed another orgasm from her, and another, until her beast was frenzied, until she was crying out with the intensity and power of each claim on her mind, body and soul.
Cole could take no more. His
cock ached, his balls were practically turning blue with the need to feel those silken walls sheathing his length.
He pushed up onto his knees… His eyes took in the curve of her back as she arched it – subconsciously knowing what his next move would be.
Deep within her throat she mewed with need – her hips rocked backwards towards him until he clamped one hand down against her hip, fisted his shaft with the other, and guided the crown of his cock inside of her still throbbing channel…
She growled out one last warning from her beast, one last burst of defiance for his dominant bear, and yet, as he thrust his hips forwards, so she thrust back to meet him.
The moan that rumbled within her throat was the sweetest damn thing he’d ever heard in his life… and he needed to hear it again.
Cole wanted to pound into her, take her hard and fast to where they both needed to be, and yet, at the same time; his soul had ached for this moment for his whole life. The day when he would know his mate, claim her, bond their lives together.
He dragged his length back through the hard clamp of her inner muscles around his length, right to the crown, right to the very tip, before he pushed his hips forwards and claimed all of her, so damn deeply, as she pushed back and ground her backside against his pelvis until he thought he would lose it right there and then.
Cole used his knees against hers to open her wider to him, take her deeper, as deeply as he could, and she moaned, long and hard as her claws cut up the floorboards some more. A curse from her lips as he stretched her around the thick girth, commanded her body to accept everything that he had to give.
“Cole…” Mari growled.
“Trust we’ll get there, sweetheart,” Cole growled back, deep and hungry within his chest as he dragged his hips back away from her before taking her right back down his length again, slowly, surely, in one long push that made her back arch and her claws scratch, and that sweet moan echo inside of his mind, over and over, until neither of them could stand it a moment longer.
Cole came down over the top of her body; his chest was riding low against her back – the thick chest hair adding to the sensation building within her. His thick powerful arms sat against hers as he palmed the floor on either side of her. His knees were wedging her legs open, giving him the access that he needed to take her so damn deeply with each thrust, and even the hairs on his legs felt damned good against her skin.
His thick cock commanded her tightening muscles to allow him full entry, and his balls slapped against her clit as the sound of flesh against flesh when his hips met her backside filled their ears.
Mari was lost to the feel of him – her breeding cycle conspired with the mating pull to fog her brain and hyper her body into overload, as Cole’s thick, steely length caused the kind of friction inside of her channel that made her inner muscles clamp around him, forced him to work harder, brought him closer towards his own release than he wanted to be.
One large hand flattened against her stomach and he clamped her back against his chest as he wrenched them both upwards to their knees. His hips never missed a beat against her backside as his other hand fisted her hair and he dragged her head to one side, opening her neck and shoulder to his fiery gaze.
His breath was against her ear as he stated his claim once more and felt her shiver against him… her muscles tightening, locking, as he ran his tongue down over her shoulder and readied his fangs for the bite…
Mari’s body could take no more – he’d taken her to the very edge of the precipice and one more thrust of his cock hitting home inside of her sent her hurtling off the edge into the abyss.
Her hands hit his meaty thighs and her claws pierced the skin at the same moment that his fangs bit deeply into her flesh…
Her wolf howled at his bear knocking at the door of her soul. She opened to him, let the man and his beast inside of her, welcomed him with everything that she was and would be, as he savoured the taste of her blood on his tongue, down his throat, and the feel of her inner muscles trying to suck his seed from his balls, and their souls connected as one.
Cole released his fangs and swiped his tongue against her wound. His bite mark, his bonding claim would never heal completely, but he sealed it as best that he could as a fire so hot that it almost blinded him to anything else started to take a hold within him.
He had a fever that could only be cured by completing the bond between them, and his little she-wolf was coming back to him with a hungry growl of needing more…
His seed in her womb would subdue the frenzy inside of her from her breeding cycle, and yet it meant so much more to the both of them.
Cole wrenched his hips backwards and the sound of his mate’s furious growl would have made him chuckle if he didn’t need to be buried within her as much as she needed him.
He grasped a hold on her and spun her around, lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and brought her back down over his thick thighs, impaling her on his cock. Her legs wrapped around his hips, and his hands palmed her backside, squeezing into the flesh and raising her up his length only to thrust deep inside of her once more.
Mari’s hands had a life of their own. One fisted into his hair, and the other clawed across his shoulder blades, as her eyes opened to the sight of his neck, his shoulder, and the access that he’d given her to place her mark.
Her beast roared at the sight. Her fangs were already locked in place and her tongue tingled with the need for the taste of his blood…
“Cole…” her hungry growl rumbled within her throat… “Mine.”
“All yours, baby,” Cole ground out, knowing what his mate needed, and his hips pounded, and his thrusts became erratic, the closer that he got to losing his mind inside of her…
Mari’s wolf was hungry, and she wasn’t about to stand on ceremony. She bit down hard and deep into his flesh, marking him, claiming him, the taste of his blood spilling over her tongue as he roared from the pain…
She wanted to taste more, to savour every last drop, but her inner muscles were locking up and another orgasm was threatening her sanity. She released her jaws just in time, as her head went back, her body arched, and the most powerful and intense orgasm yet ripped through her entire body.
The howl that came from her lips echoed deep inside of him. Her inner muscles clamped and released around his cock, sucking the seed right from his balls with a frenzied fizz up his spine, and he slammed his cock to the hilt and threw his head back in a roar as he felt the first explosion of his seed inside of her.
Over and over, he wrenched his hips backwards, thrust deeply inside of her, until Cole thought that he would lose his mind, he gave her everything that he had until he was done.
~
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~
“Well, check. My job here is complete,” Connor said as he dropped down from the branch and turned back towards the woods. He bit out a curse as Justice stood like a statue in the midst of the foliage. “Are you trying to kill me?” Connor ground out.
“If only it were possible,” Justice grinned.
“Wait,” Connor sniffed the air. He could smell the trees, the grass, even the ice cold of the air that said that winter was about to get very nasty indeed, but what he couldn’t smell was the alpha. “My nose isn’t defective.”
“And yet, here I am. Stealthy… no?” Justice’s grin widened and Connor’s eyes narrowed.
“Those damn witches,” he bit out. “What the hell did they do?” He grumbled.
“I’m in stealth mode.” Justice announced. “Just a little spell that they wanted to try out and I volunteered.”
“Why would you?” Connor screwed up his face in disbelief.
“I saw how it could be useful in matters of war,” Justice shrugged those broad shoulders.
“We’re at war?” Connor feigned surprise.
“Not yet,” Justice tossed up a shoulder.
“Are we planning one, and if so – against whom?”
“No, but never say never.” Just
ice offered back and Connor scowled back at him.
“I think you’re losing your mind.” The vampire offered as he lifted a hand and shook his head, starting passed the alpha.
“I think its sour grapes because I snuck up on you.” Justice tossed back with a small chuckle.
“I think you’re delusional,” Connor tossed back over his shoulder.
“I think you’re sulking and pouty like a female.” Justice liked that he’d thrown the vampire for a loop. In all the years that he’d known Connor he’d never been able to get one over on the man; until today.
“And what happens when one of the pack attacks you because they can’t scent you?”
“They get their ass chewed out.” Justice growled. “Besides, it wear off.”
“In the meantime, watch your back.”
“Yes, Mother.”
~
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~
“I wanted to thank you,” Mari stood there with her hands fisted at her sides and a pained look upon her face as she regarded Tyler’s mate with mistrust.
Chelsea sat in the rocking chair that Tyler had made for her with his own two talented hands and regarded the she-wolf with interest. It was obvious that Mari would rather be anywhere but on her doorstep.
“No need. It’s what the pack does.” Chelsea offered back.
“Yeah, well. You didn’t have too,” Mari shrugged her shoulder, more than uncomfortable with having to be nice to one more damn witch. “I’m sure that Tyler didn’t give you an easy time of it for joining the hunt without an escort.”
Mari knew shifter men and they were protective to a fault. When trouble arose they liked to be in the front line with the women and children behind them, way, way behind them.
“Tyler had his say and when I’d heard enough I changed the subject,” Chelsea gave her the kind of suggestive look that made Mari’s eyebrows lift up her head.
“That worked?” She looked a little reluctant to ask.
“Like a charm – every time.” Chelsea informed her with a mischievous grin. Mari snorted, but she’d keep that one in mind. “Occupy the little head and the big head goes bye-bye.”