Bears of Burden: STERLING

by Candace Ayers

  I nodded, gazing into her clear brown eyes, praying that I’d be able to melt away her furrowed brow. I never wanted Chloe to feel like she was in danger ever again. I would eagerly end anyone who threatened her. Hell, I’d wipe out the entire world if that’s what it took to keep her safe.

  She kissed me again, and I picked her up in my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist. I could smell her arousal and feel the heat and wetness from between her thighs pressed against my belt. Damn, it was nearly enough to make me lose all control.

  Gritting my teeth, I moved her through to my bedroom. I wanted to make Chloe scream with pleasure and ecstasy before I allowed myself to be lost in her.

  Chapter fifteen

  It felt like tingles of electricity were tearing up and down inside my body and collecting at my core. The dampness of my arousal was flooding between my legs.

  Nathan’s arms around me and his and body pressed against me were on fire, but it was nothing compared to the scorching gaze he held fixed on me. His eyes were glowing again, the navy midnight storm brewing within him, hypnotizing me.

  Nathan laid me gently on the bed, parting the soft robe and exposing my body to the cool temperature of the room. My nipples pebbled, and goose bumps ran lightly across my skin as he moved his body away from mine and stood looking down at me.

  My chest heaved, nerves and anxiety now mixing with my desire as I lay completely exposed to him. His eyes were hooded and wanting, and his gaze drank in every curve and crevice of my body.

  “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.”

  His voice was horse and ragged, his obvious hunger causing my body to tremble in anticipation of his touch.

  He removed his shirt, button by button, his scorching gaze never leaving my body. When his chest was finally exposed, the taut muscle and undulations of his six-pack looked like they had been carved from marble. The raw, animalistic power that I knew simmered below the surface terrified me, but my body desperately ached for him.

  He discarded his pants on the floor, and stood before me in designer boxers that could hardly contain his thick, heavy erection. My legs drew together in response to his sheer size, but he leaned forward and gently parted them.

  “Don’t hide from me Chloe,” he breathed, “Please.”

  He didn’t remove his boxers. He knelt up on the bed, running his fingers up and down my thighs, and as I started to relax, his fingers travelled slowly upward.

  He extended his index finger, and ran it lightly along the sensitive lips of my core. I felt my muscles spasm and widen in response, and blushed at the juices that coated his finger. He inhaled sharply and his cock twitched beneath the cotton of his boxers.

  He continued to softly trace between my legs with his finger, exploring, his eyes watching my face for responses. My clit tightened and hardened, and as the tip of his finger traced it gently, my entire body quivered.

  Parting my legs wider, he slid me further up the bed. He began to kiss lightly up the length of my thigh, closer and closer to my center. Instinctively and wantonly, I moved toward him, desperate for more.

  He smirked, teasing me. I felt cool air dance between my legs as he blew gently on me. My head felt light as I gasped with pleasure, no longer able to look at what he was doing, I could only feel; my blindness making the sensations all the more overwhelming.

  I felt his tongue lick the length of my pussy, it’s heat after the cool air made me cry out. My whole body responded, from the shivers at my neck to the curling of my toes.

  He lapped up my juices with his tongue, long and flickering licks that sent firecrackers shooting inside me. As the waves of my orgasm started to engulf my body, he pressed deeper, his tongue burrowing into my folds and his mouth clamped tightly over my pussy. Orgasmic waves crashed violently over me. Somewhere, I heard myself crying out his name, but I was lost in oblivion.

  Weak but wanting more, I rose up on my elbows. He smiled at me, a dirty and wicked grin that fluttered my stomach.

  He removed his boxers, his erection long and heavy jutting out above his swollen ball sack. This time, rather than feeling overwhelmed by his size, I widened my legs greedily and felt my muscles expand and contract with need.

  The tip of his cock glistened with his seed. Before he could take control, I sat up and pulled his hips toward me. I glanced up at him, checking his reaction. The smirk was gone, and now his expression read surprise and full-blown lust.

  I licked the tip of his engorged erection causing him to groan in response. The heady feeling of having this powerful man at my mercy was intoxicating. I slid my lips over him, wrapping them around his girth, tasting his hot, salty warmth in my throat.

  I moved my mouth up and down his shaft feeling his heart rate accelerate wildly. When he entwined his fingers into my hair and balled them into fists, gripping my head, I sucked harder. A cry escaped his lips and he pulled away.

  “I don’t want to come like this,” he responded gruffly, “I need to be inside you.”

  I released him from my mouth, and fell back onto the sheets. My body temperature felt a hundred degrees hotter than it should, and droplets of perspiration ran between my breasts.

  With his cock slick and coated in my saliva, he gently pushed at my opening. He bent his head and took my nipple between his teeth, teasing it with his tongue as inch by inch he slid himself inside me.

  I could feel my body stretch to accommodate him, his thickness and length stretching me and filling me completely. As he moved, the delicious friction of our skin caused me to cry out.

  “Are you okay,” he rasped, his eyes suddenly full of concern.

  “God, yes – don’t stop.”

  He pushed deeper inside me, then gently pulled back, finding a rhythm which would too soon make me lose all control. My legs wrapped around him, my heels digging into his sculpted ass. He buried his face between my breasts, a low growl emanating from deep within him.

  Our rhythm increased, growing faster and hotter. I wanted more. A deep yearning was spreading throughout my veins, the muscles of channel clutching at him, driving him inside me.

  I felt the waves of another orgasm starting to build. He grasped my bottom, drawing me upwards, allowing himself to plunge deeper, filling every part of me.

  “Fuck,” he cried, and rode into me with a thrust that sent an orgasm ricocheting through every nerve ending in my body. I screamed, loudly, and then felt his hot throbbing pulses as his seed flooded into me.

  Chapter sixteen

  I drew her body closer to mine. She sighed with contentment as I kissed her lightly on the forehead. I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off her. My fingers lightly traced the soft skin of her breasts, gently teasing the nipples as they hardened under my touch. She was exquisite. So beautiful.

  I could feel my cock growing hard again, pushing against her thigh. When she smiled wickedly at me, I turned her over so that she faced the window and I could bury my head in her soft hair, and sink my fingers into the full, round orbs of her ass.

  “Again?”

  I could hear the smile in her voice, and nuzzled her neck in response.

  “This is entirely your fault,” I grinned, “But I’ll be gentle.”

  In this position I had to be. It was more aligned with natural bear mating, and had my bear crying out to claim her. Scratching at my skin to take control. I wouldn’t allow it. I desperately wanted to mark Chloe, claim her as my mate, and to bond fully with the woman I now knew without a shadow of a doubt owned my heart and soul. But she was human, and it was too soon to ask for forever from her.

  I kissed her shoulder blade, lightly running my tongue over the smattering of freckles that decorated her skin, tasting her sweetness. I closed my eyes, keeping my bear’s urges to bite her at bay.

  My cock pressed against her ass cheek, my pre-cum leaving a trail on her skin. I slid between her legs. She was wet and warm and groaned softly as I entered her.

  Her arm reached back to clasp my thigh, and we moved against one anot
her soundlessly, lost in the languid, lazy friction that was pounding waves of heat through our bodies.

  “I never want you to leave my bed.” I sighed against her skin.

  “Then I won’t,” she replied softly. She turned over to face me, breaking us apart.

  She kissed me deeply, her tongue finding mine with a renewed, needful energy. She drew me back inside her, and then straddled me. I clutched at her waist, watching her beautiful, soft, curvy body glide up and down on my cock.

  Fucking hell.

  She was a complete goddess. Her dark hair gently fell around her breasts as they swayed and bounced gently with her motion. Her breathing came in short gasps and her legs clasped against the sides of my body. She was close.

  I watch her, mesmerized by her beauty as she took her pleasure from me. I thrust upward, moving my hips off the bed. Her eyes widened and pussy clenched me tightly as she cried out, my name falling sweetly from her lips.

  That was all it took. I couldn’t hold back any longer and my entire body exploding in release.

  “Fuck Chloe.”

  She collapsed down next to me, smiling up at the ceiling.

  “That was incredible,” she sighed.

  I wondered if she could feel it. The strengthening of our bond every time we touched one another. I felt more in tune with her body, her moods. As if part of her now inhabited me.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked, feeling my own stomach knot with a ravenous appetite.

  “Starved,” she laughed.

  “I’m going to order in, I don’t really feel like sharing you with the world right now. We can eat on the terrace.”

  “Good, I feel the same way,” she gave me a mischievous look, “I also don’t think we should move too far from the bed.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  Chloe stood and retrieved herself a fresh white shirt from my closet and brought it back to the bed. I smiled. Just the thought of watching Chloe spend the evening in a shirt that only just covered her sexy ass made my balls ache.

  “This will do,” she smiled back at me.

  I reached for my cell. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten at home in the evening. And I’d never done it with a woman before. It felt good. Natural. For the first time since I’d moved in five years ago, my apartment suddenly felt like a home.

  Chapter seventeen

  Nathan’s terrace was spectacular. Its view overlooked the twinkling lights of the city below and the mountains beyond. A few candles I’d found in Nathan’s kitchen drawers flickered on the table.

  We’d ordered Korean food, the take out boxes cluttered the table because Nathan had distracted me with neck kisses when I’d tried to plate up the food. He held my foot in his lap, his fingers running up and down my leg while we ate. The evening was perfect, and I wanted to get lost in the moment but all I could think about was returning to his bed.

  Something strange had happened when we slept together. I didn’t understand it, and I wasn’t sure if it was just my hormones going crazy after sex, but I felt connected to him on a deeply profound level that I couldn’t explain. This whole thing just felt so… big.

  “Do you feel…?” I started to ask him if he was experiencing the enormity of emotions that I was, but stopped suddenly afraid he’d think I was crazy.

  He smiled at me, his eyes burning bright.

  “The connection?” He replied.

  “Exactly. I feel like…I don’t know – like I can feel your moods, like you’re inside my head. Or something…” I trailed off. I needed help here, before I started sounded like an infatuated teenager.

  “Good,” Nathan answered sounding relieved. “Yes, I feel it. It’s the start of the bonding process,” he cleared his throat and I could feel a nervous energy pass between us, “I don’t want to scare you off, but I think, I know, that my bear wants to… claim you. As my mate.”

  “Wasn’t what we just did – mating?” I asked, confused.

  “Not exactly,” he smirked, “When a shifter claims his mate, he marks her.

  “Marks her?”

  “A claiming bite.”

  He laughed when he saw my expression.

  “The bite is a mark that tells the world, and other shifters, that his mate has been claimed. Forever bonded,” he continued. “Once mated, the process is irreversible. I know you’re not ready for that yet.”

  Wow.

  “Are you?” I asked, with genuine amazement.

  “Yes,” he replied simply, “But as a shifter, I know. I can feel – in every fiber of my being, that you’re mine. You’re it for me. It’s not the same for humans. I can’t expect you to feel the same way. So we’ll wait.” He shrugged, unperturbed by the intensity of the conversation.

  I thought about it. The crazy potency of feelings I had for Nathan, which in retrospect I’d felt even that first day in the forest. It had grown exponentially in the ridiculously short time I’d known him, but forever?

  Was I ready for forever? I knew without a doubt that Nathan was the one for me. I couldn’t walk away, even if I wanted to. Now that I had experienced our connection, there wouldn’t be a day or an hour that my body and soul didn’t yearn to feel it renewed.

  “I will never pressure you into anything,” Nathan held my gaze, “My feelings for you won’t change, however long it takes you to decide.”

  I nodded. A blissful contentment saturated my entire being. This incredible man loved me, without wanting anything in return. I felt humbled.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  A man appeared through the kitchen doors, grinning at us both.

  “Yes you fucking are,” Nathan growled at him.

  “Hey, you’re one of the girls from the forest,” he smiled at me and held out his hand, “I’m Byron – and I hear I’m the reason you spent the night in a dank basement – my sincerest apologies.”

  The brother. I shook his hand, bemused. I had thought I’d feel anger toward the man responsible for such a mess, but there was something about him – a recklessness and a rebel charm that made it impossible to hate him on sight.

  He looked so much like Nathan, but Nathan cultivated an image of raw masculinity tempered with a strength and control that would put the fear in any Ivy League business mogul. Byron was the kind of guy that put fear into the hearts of mothers – the poster boy for broken hearts, unwanted pregnancies and bad choices.

  “You’re not forgiven.” Nathan snapped.

  “Chloe – I am so sorry.” Byron beseeched my forgiveness again, practically getting down on one knee in earnestness.

  “It’s okay,” I smiled at Nathan, “It’s nice to meet you Byron.”

  “You too,” he shot his brother a look of triumph.

  “How are you feeling,” I asked, “after your fight?”

  “Fully recovered, so my generous brother is kicking me to the curb.”

  “You’re lucky I haven’t thrown you off the roof, idiot.”

  Byron ignored him and turned his attentions back to me.

  “Tell me about your friend, Bri – the girl who was so bear friendly in the forest.”

  I laughed. Not in a million years would Byron appeal to Brianna. His good looks couldn’t be denied, but Bri was violently allergic to any whiff of ‘bad boy’ impulses.

  “Brianna,” I corrected, “She works at the same company I do. I’ll introduce you if you like.”

  He beamed at me, delighted. He didn’t have a chance in hell, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Besides, after all my failed matchmaking attempts, perhaps I wasn’t the best person to judge what my friend actually wanted.

  “Alright, you got what you came for – now get out,” Nathan commanded.

  Byron backed away with his arms out in mock surrender.

  “It was lovely to meet you Chloe. Call me if he gets out of hand.”

  Nathan rose to his feet, furious, and Byron turned and ran from the terrace. I burst out laughing. Seeing Nathan antagonized by his younger brothe
r showed me a new side of him, one I hadn’t seen yet, and it warmed me.

  “I’m going to get him a collar and a bell,” Nathan said in disgust.

  “He’s harmless – and it all turned out okay,” I soothed him, “I can think of a million things we can do to distract you, if that’s what you want?” I teased.

  He grabbed me, his mood suddenly light and playful.

  “That’s what I want,” he smirked.

  “Good, it’s what I want too,” I smiled up at him and batted my lashes and he tightened his grip around my waist.

  “And while we’re at it, we’ll talk about that claiming thing.” I looked up into his eyes, wanting him to read the unspoken promise in mine. He nodded perceptibly.

  Suddenly I could think of nothing I wanted more than Nathan, forever.

  THE END

  Want to read more? This is book one in a series. Look for Book 2, Byron: Heartbreaker Bear, which can be found in Amazon’s Kindle store.

  ZAREK

  Dragons of Plarizakian

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  When Alien Warrior Weredragon Zarek Rav meets curvy biologist Aubrey Moss, sparks fly!

  As the newest biologist at Gen-Ex, mousy Aubrey Moss wants nothing more than to please the president of the research facility, her domineering and overbearing father.

  But, despite being the top female research biologist in the country, she still can’t seem to escape his demeaning jabs and cutting insults.

  When Aubrey is tasked with a job that no one at the facility has been able to achieve, retrieving samples from one of the research subjects, an extra-terrestrial called Zarek Rav, her attraction to him is so powerful, it overwhelms her.

  Zarek’s planet is destroyed, his people on the hunt for a new home. When Zarek is wounded, the Parizakians are forced to leave him behind to shuttle the others to safety. But they’ll return, and when they do….