by Ruby Shae
Instead, he pushed her knees up, spread her legs, and growled low at the sight of her beautiful pink cunt. Her sweet honey glistened the plump, bare lips of her pussy, and he couldn’t wait to taste her.
He leaned forward and swirled his tongue around her wet hole, and she cried out as her hips shot off the bed. He grabbed her hips in a bruising grip, licked her hole again, and then jabbed his tongue into her pussy. She cried out again, threaded her fingers through his hair, and held the short spikes in a death grip.
Joel welcomed the pain, and continued sliding his tongue in and out of her pussy. She squirmed and thrashed below him, testing his hold on her hips, but she couldn’t break free. Her sweet honey filled his mouth, and he couldn’t get enough of her unique flavor. When he felt her pussy contract wildly, he replaced his tongue with two fingers, and covered her clit with his mouth.
He alternated between licking and sucking on the swollen jewel as his fingers moved in and out of her core, and Mindy’s moans and mews grew louder and echoed around the room. Now that he no longer held her down, she fucked his fingers and simultaneously ground her clit against his tongue.
Her enthusiasm was fucking sexy as hell, and he liked the fact that though she’d been nervous before, she didn’t hold back or hide from him. His cock throbbed, and he wanted to sink into her sweet pussy and feel her clamp down on him.
More of her honey gushed out, soaking his digits, and he flattened his tongue against her clit as he entered her one more time. He curled his fingers, and Mindy exploded, moaning long and loud as her pussy clenched around his fingers like a vice.
When she relaxed her muscles, and focused on breathing evenly, he slowly pulled his fingers out of her cunt, kissed her mound, and then laid down beside her.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Don’t you want to finish?”
“I want you to ride me.”
She assaulted her poor lip again, and vehemently shook her head.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“That’s because it’s a great idea,” he smiled.
He placed a chaste kiss on her lips, rolled onto his back, and grabbed the base of his cock with one hand. He pointed the thick, heavy flesh toward the ceiling, and gave her hand closest to him a squeeze.
“C’mon sweetheart,” he said. “Fuck me.”
She sat up and eyed him warily, as if working out an excuse not to climb on top of him. Seconds later, when, he assumed, no good reason presented itself, she tentatively swung her leg over him, and slowly sank down on his dick.
Holy fuck!
Heaven…she felt like fucking heaven, and he knew he would not last long. Hell, his dick throbbed now, and she hadn’t even moved. Being surrounded by her warmth set him on fire, and he wanted to see all of her.
He reached up, and pulled one strap of her bra down over her shoulder.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, batting his hand away, and reaching behind her. “You’re not ruining by bra, too.”
“Then you’d better take it off, because I want to see those gorgeous breasts bounce as you do me.”
“Joel…”
“Do it now, sweetheart.”
She removed her bra, and tossed it on the floor.
“Perfect,” he said, palming the heavy mounds.
He slid his thumbs over her nipples, and she involuntarily rocked her hips.
“Yes, that’s perfect,” he praised. “Ride me, sweetheart.”
She moved up and down his cock, slowly at first, as he rolled her nipples between his fingers, and gently pulled on the hard pebbles. Mindy moved faster, and he grabbed her hips as his cock started to throb.
Her pussy tightened around his dick, and she placed her palms on his chest, leaned forward, and rode him faster. He moved both hands to her round ass, and sank his fingers into the soft generous globes.
He pulled one hand back, spanked her hard, and was instantly rewarded.
She cried out, and sweet honey gushed from her core as she came. He shouted his release a second later, and his body tingled from head to toe, as her pussy milked him dry.
Mindy collapsed on top of him, but made no effort to separate their bodies. That was fine with him. He was mesmerized by his mate, mind, body and soul, and he never wanted to let her go.
He wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head.
In one week, he would find out whether or not she felt the same.
Chapter Five
Mindy tucked the oversized throw around her legs, and smiled. The soft Sherpa fabric was covered in playful polar bears posing with presents and trees on an ice blue background, and the pattern reminded her of Joel.
Which had been his intention.
The throw was her sixth Secret Santa present.
To keep you warm, because I can’t.
With Love,
Your Secret Santa Bear
The day after their last date, hunters had arrived in the Arctic tundra, and put everyone on edge. With only a week until Christmas, the Enforcers were stuck working double and triple shifts as they tried to figure out the motives of the men.
They were either searching for Santa’s Village, which Joel explained was common around the holidays, or they were hunting polar bears.
The latter was what kept her awake at night.
Even though she knew shifters could heal from most things, they weren’t invincible, and a shot to the head would kill him instantly. The fact that it had been five days since she’d last seen him didn’t help matters. She wanted to see him—touch him—and confirm for herself, in person, that he was safe.
The night they’d made love had been amazing, and she hadn’t even minded waking up alone. Well, not after Joel had returned with pizza and breadsticks.
Later, he’d revealed waking up first, holding her until the sound of her stomach growling was too loud to ignore, and then leaving for an all-night pizza parlor.
While he was gone, she’d woken up sexually sated, sore, and smiling, but her happiness hadn’t lasted long. Sadness swamped her when she’d noticed his clothes and shoes were gone, and her stomach had taken that moment to growl, reminding her of the fact that she’d nearly begged him to skip dinner and fuck her.
She’d known a relationship between them wasn’t probable, but she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t hoped. Luckily, in those few unhappy minutes, the only thing she’d regretted was falling asleep, and wasting the few precious moments they had together.
When Joel walked in the door a short time later, she’d jumped out of bed and raced down the hall to welcome him back. Halfway between the bedroom and the man, she’d realized the stupidity of her actions, but it was too late.
He’d noticed her enthusiasm, but instead of berating her, he’d held the food boxes in one hand, and opened his arms to welcome her naked embrace.
“I missed you, too, sweetheart,” he whispered.
He placed his free hand on her ass, pulling her closer, and her pussy tingled at the memory of the spank he’d placed there a few hours before. As if reading her mind, he pulled his hand back and smacked one of the soft globes, and then kissed the top of her head.
“Go get some clothes on before I fuck you instead of feed you.”
She’d rather be fucked, but her stomach took that moment to growl again, and from the look on his face, she knew her only choice was to eat. As much as she wanted to make love to him again, they’d spent the rest of the night curled up on the couch, talking, watching TV, and eventually sleeping.
The following morning, Joel had been called into work, and though they’d talked on the phone a few times, and she’d received two more Secret Santa gifts, she hadn’t seen him since.
The first new gift had been a large plastic tub of her favorite peppermints. Unlike the canes that were so popular around the Pole, she preferred the soft, round, bite-sized balls. The gift had surprised her more than the others, because the mints weren’t readily available in the Pole, and so she
didn’t eat them often. She wasn’t sure how he’d found out about her preference, but the effort only made her love him more.
Tonight would have been their second date, but when the band called to cancel their performance for the evening, she’d known her dinner date would be next. It hadn’t happened right away, but a few hours later, he’d called and apologized.
She’d been disappointed, but she understood why he’d waited until the last minute. He really wanted to see her, and he’d been hoping for some kind of resolution involving the hunters.
Unfortunately, the only change hadn’t been good news. The men continued to track the polar bears, and they were getting dangerously close to the secret entrance of the Pole. With Christmas only four days away, their dinner date held no importance in the grand scheme of things.
She still didn’t know how he was delivering the gifts, but the latest had been waiting on her doorstep when she’d arrived home from work.
She’d read the card, smiled, and then unwrapped the cozy blanket.
After heating up a frozen meal, she’d curled up on the couch with the box of mints, a cup of hot cocoa, and her favorite Christmas movie. The throw chased off the evening chill, but it made it nearly impossible to stop thinking about Joel, and after hours of failed attempts, she picked up the phone and dialed his number.
“Mindy?” He didn’t say hello. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said. She wasn’t sure he would even answer the phone, but she hadn’t meant to worry him. “I just miss you.”
“I miss you, too, sweetheart,” he said. “What are you doing up so late?”
“Just hanging out, and enjoying the season,” she smiled. “By the way, I love the throw. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Hopefully, this will all be over by Christmas.”
“So no progress then?”
“Unfortunately, no. I just got off, and I have another shift at eight.”
Less than six hours. She shouldn’t have called.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll let you go.”
“How about joining me on a little adventure first?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“There’s something I want to show you…”
***
Joel lightly knocked on Mindy’s door, and waited. He knew it was crazy to take his mate out so late at night, but he was beyond caring. The trouble with the hunters had already infringed on his plans, and with Christmas coming soon, he needed to be resourceful.
Mindy’s call had come at just the right time, and he figured he might as well utilize the fact that they were both awake. He still had three gifts to give her, but he didn’t feel comfortable sharing the final two until she knew about his past.
She deserved to know where he came from.
Mindy opened the door dressed in her warmest coat, and the hat, mittens and scarf set he’d given her. He walked inside her apartment, and locked the door.
“Are you layered under there, sweetheart?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “I have on two shirts, two pairs of socks, and my pants are fleece lined.”
“Good,” he said. “Are you ready?”
“Where are we going?”
“I’d rather not say, if that’s okay. Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Hold onto my arm, and clear your mind.”
Joel watched Mindy take a deep breath, and close her eyes.
She was so perfect for him, that after he’d touched her, it physically hurt not to claim her. If she agreed to be his mate, he didn’t plan on letting her out of his bed for a week.
He closed his hand around his medallion, took a calming breath, and filled his mind with the place he wanted to go.
A second later, he and Mindy stood in the middle of a snow-covered forest. He glanced to his right, and immediately spotted the tree he’d been looking for. Fear welled up inside him, but he forced the feeling down. Even though he felt the need to tell Mindy everything, he wasn’t the same boy Santa found all of those years ago.
“What is this place?” she asked, tentatively.
“I heard your parents passed away unexpectedly. Is that true?”
She frowned, but answered his question.
“Yes, they died ten years ago, when I was eighteen. The police say they drove their car off a cliff, and labeled it a double homicide, because there is no evidence to prove otherwise, but I still have a hard time believing it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago, and acceptance has made it easier to cope.”
“Acceptance?”
“Accepting the things I can’t change. My parents died a tragic death, possibly on purpose—which sucks—but nothing I do will ever change that. I miss them like crazy, but sometimes you just have to let things go.”
Let things go.
Had he ever truly let the past go?
Stupid question!
It didn’t matter as much as it used to, but he hadn’t truly moved on. If he had, he would have told Mindy about it on their first date, and then never thought about it again. Unfortunately, her opinion about him mattered, and if she did agree to be his mate, he wanted her to know exactly who he was…or wasn’t.
“I wasn’t born in Santa’s Village,” he blurted.
“You weren’t?”
“No. Sixteen years ago, on Christmas Eve, Santa found me huddled against that tree, nearly dying, in my bear form.” He pointed at the tree to his right. “I was sixteen, cold, alone, dehydrated and starving. I don’t know who my parents are, Mindy, and if I ever did know them, I don’t remember. I only ever remember being alone.”
“Does that mean there are other polar bear shifters in the world?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. The only thing I know for sure, is that I wasn’t born in the Pole. That’s why my hair is different. Santa says he only learned of my existence that night, and that he doesn’t know my parents, or where I came from.”
“That must have been difficult to handle, especially as a teen.”
“It was. I started training as an Enforcer with the others right away, but I put a lot of extra pressure on myself to fit in. That’s how I ended up playing the guitar. Santa gave it to me as a way to channel all of my extra energy. Playing an instrument made me different, special in a way, and it helped me learn to control my emotions.”
“And then you were able to accept your new life,” she smiled.
“I’ve never thought about it that way before, but, yes.”
He wasn’t lying, and her easy assessment amazed him. Once he’d learned to play the guitar, the burden of his past never truly went away, but burying it had become easier…until his mate arrived nearly a year ago. He could have saved himself a lot of heartache if he’d just been honest from day one.
She rose up on her toes, placed one hand on the nape of his neck, and kissed his chin.
“I know it’s not a secret, especially among the Enforcers, but I didn’t know anything about your past before tonight,” she said. “Thank you for sharing this with me, Joel. I, for one, am glad you’re different.”
Tiny flurries of snow began to fall from the sky, and he smiled. He knew they had to go back soon, but in that moment, for the first time in his life, he understood what people meant when they talked about inner-peace.
He wrapped his arms around his mate, and kissed her.
Chapter Six
Mindy smiled as she walked down Main Street on her way to Joel’s home. It was Christmas Eve, and even though the threat of the hunters still remained, the excitement in the air was contagious.
The bottoms of her earlobes were sticking out of her beanie, and felt nearly frozen, but she didn’t care. She wanted to show off her pretty new earrings.
The seventh gift from Joel had arrived at the end of her shift the night before, and she’d been wearing them ever since. The quarter-inch
, princess cut peridot gemstones were studded in white gold, and they suited her style perfectly.
When she’d called to thank him for the gift, Joel had asked her to visit him today between their shifts. She’d just finished her morning shift at The North Star, and they had a few hours before he had to go out on patrol. She couldn’t help hoping he wanted to do more than talk.
It had been three days since Joel had taken her to the forest, and told her about his past, and that night had ended in a shared kiss that warmed her from the inside out. She wanted to touch him again, and feel the heat of his body touch her, preferably as he filled her with his thick, hard cock.
Joel’s home wasn’t the biggest in the Pole, but it was big enough. He had a spacious floor plan with two large bedrooms, two baths, a large family area, and a comfortable kitchen and dining room. The front yard had a walkway the length and width of a golf cart, but the fenced in backyard was big enough for children to play.
She marched down the walkway, and was about to knock on the door when she heard several voices coming from the inside.
“I triple dog dare you to ask her,” one said.
It sounded like Trey, but she couldn’t be sure.
“Fine,” Joel answered. “I will ask her tomorrow, but then you have to finally talk to that pretty wolf you like so much. And I mean really talk, about more than just the weather.”
“He has to ask her out,” another voice said.
“Yes!” Joel barked. “You have to ask her out. That will make us even.”
Even?
Mindy couldn’t listen anymore.
Nothing had changed.
Just like on Halloween, Joel allowed his friends to dictate his life, and apparently, he needed something to even out the time he’d spent with her so far. The past two weeks—the presents, the sex, and the mock interest in her—had all been a joke. Something to help the men pass the time between band practice and patrols.