Under a Moonlit Night

by Lynn Lorenz

  Lily looked up at him and the words she’d sworn she would never say to him again were pulled from her. “I need you.”

  He was on her in an instant, tearing his coat off her shoulders, ripping her sleep pants from her, claws rending the material before stroking lightly against her ass, digging in enough to let her know what he was at the core. She was breathing but it was choppy; her chest rose and fell and she whimpered.

  “Take me, Chief. I need you deep inside making the hurt go away,” she whispered.

  He took her mouth. Tongues dueled, his stroking so deep, imitating what she knew he’d do with his cock. She trapped his tongue, pulled hard and suckled at it until he groaned harshly and picked her up, moving with her to the bed, never breaking contact.

  He laid her reverently on the bed, the spread cool against her back, his body a molten heat against her front. He moved off her and she keened, her body lifting up to maintain contact.

  She spread her legs and his face went hard, skin stretching tight over his cheekbones, hazel eyes bright with need. The muted light threw shadows as his muscles played and shifted under his skin. She raised her arms. What was he doing?

  “I have to know, naika. Is this the Reckoning?”

  “This is me,” she responded, her tone desperate, the need clear.

  “I took you once before it was time and it took you far from me. I cannot survive another separation from you, Lily. Tell me,” he ordered in a hard voice.

  She was shaking with a need so vicious she wondered if she’d burst into flames at the heat moving through her.

  “I dreamed, Chief, of you and me and the red-tail. He cried to the heavens and I mourned because I was far from you. You were the bear, alone. I tried to get to you, but the path wasn’t clear.” She reached for him again, coming up on her knees. He stood at the edge of the bed, face wracked with grief that stabbed at her heart.

  Her eyes burned and the tears fell, made her voice thick. “You did this, but I suffered. And I didn’t know why. I still don’t know why, but my body needs yours. The dream called me and that’s why I’m here. If that’s your precious Reckoning, so be it. But this is the woman before you, Chief. It’s the woman who wants you and it is the woman who returned to claim you.”

  She took a breath and he was over her, body pinning hers to the bed. He spread her legs and aligned his pelvis with hers. His cock was a brand between them and her body wept at the proximity.

  “Fuck me, Tyee,” she urged him breathlessly.

  He plunged into her heat and she screamed, the sound echoing around the cave.

  “I’ll do more than fuck you, Lily. I’ll possess you, make you mine for eternity,” he said against her throat before he bit the tendon that ran down her neck.

  She arched upward. Her breasts touched his chest, her arms around his shoulders. He moved her legs around his waist but he had yet to move from inside her depths. His pubic bone was against her bud and she tried to rotate her hips. His hands prevented it.

  “Unh, unh, uh,” he teased her. “Not until I say so.”

  Her eyes opened and encountered his gaze. He searched her face, the silence deafening. The only thing she could hear was her own heartbeat, until finally he must have found what he needed there.

  “Hold on to me, naika.” His gruff tone made her even wetter.

  Then he pulled back so slowly her eyes crossed. His body coiled above hers and she felt the prick of claws in her hips, wondered if she pushed him too far, taunted him too much. Then thought fled to be replaced by nothing but sensation as he plunged deep, stealing her breath and her mind with his body.

  His cock was so large that each thrust bumped against her cervix. Her internal muscles locked down, wanting to hold him deep. His hips moved against her clit, brushing and teasing her, fanning the flames higher until she wanted to scratch and beg for him to just fuck her already.

  It’d been so long since she’d felt him inside of her, but the end shimmered on the horizon and she needed release. Her body needed the affirmation. It was a drumming beat in her heart and a war chant in her head. Come. Come. Come!

  His mouth moved to her breast, the silk of his long hair draping over them. His smell clogged in her throat, cinnamon and honey. She licked her lips, desperate for more.

  “Please,” she moaned, head moving from side to side.

  “Do you feel it, Lily? Do you feel my body claiming yours?” He punctuated every word with a lick and nip at her breasts.

  She felt him, each thrust, and knew she was about to explode.

  “Do you feel me, Lily? Deep inside you, owning you, marking you so you know you’re mine?” He suckled at her breast, pulling a ragged cry from her.

  She couldn’t speak as his deep and heavy thrusts moved her across the enormous bed. He did own her. She couldn’t deny it. But did he love her?

  “Answer me, Lily. Or you don’t get to come.”

  “You bastard,” she breathed when he pulled out and positioned himself at her entrance.

  Her body bowed under the force of her need and wept at the loss of his cock within its depths.

  “And you love me, Lily.” He licked up her neck and bit her lightly on the jaw. “Don’t you?”

  She writhed beneath him, unable to control her body as it sought refuge from the storm he’d built within her. Her hips rose, trying to force his cock back inside, but he stayed still and used his hands to prevent her hips from achieving her goal.

  “Goddamn you! You did this to me, finish it!” she yelled into his face.

  He grabbed his dick and stroked it up her slit, rubbing it against her labia before thumping it lightly against her clit. She saw stars behind her eyelids. She was so close.

  “Please, Tyee. Don’t make me beg,” she whimpered so softly, she wondered if she’d even spoken aloud.

  He went still above her and anguish moved over his features. His claws sunk into the flesh of her ass and he pulled her to the edge of the bed, putting her legs on his shoulders. She had no thought other than getting him as deep as she could as quickly as she could. He’d never had her in this position and she was unprepared when he pulled his hips back and pushed into her.

  Pain and pleasure were two sides of the same coin. She understood this once he was seated fully inside of her, pubic bone flush with hers, nothing between them but heat. She felt full and ecstasy spiraled through her, tightening her womb and making her heart thud. Then his cock flexed and she came. No warning, she just imploded. Her muscles clamped down and her mouth opened on a silent scream.

  “I would never make you beg, naika.”

  She heard the words but had no time to wonder before he was pulling out again, his cock at the precipice of her pussy, the smile on his face full of something she’d never seen there—joy.

  *

  She’d broken his heart with her request. He’d never make her beg for what was hers. She owned him. Fear shot through him, the feeling inescapable. Too much was on the line for him. His heart, his soul, hell, everything. If he lost her, it would devastate him.

  Her body milked his but he was determined to make her come as many times as he could. Maybe he could make up for the separation with his body, pushing hers higher and higher until the last year was nothing but a memory he’d reduced to ashes.

  It felt so right being inside her. Something clicked in his mind when he’d entered her. Her cervix kissed the head of his cock with each thrust and he fought the climax building at the base of his spine. Fire licked at his balls, tore through him, overwhelming the shields he’d built. Sweat dropped from him onto her and their scents mingled until he didn’t know where she started and he ended.

  He thrust, mindless to anything but her pleasure. His beast growled, demanding he push harder, faster. He pushed his animal down, forced his claws to retract. He didn’t want to hurt her, he wanted to love her.

  She gasped beneath him and he dropped her legs from his shoulders, picked her slight body up and turned her over. He pushed a pil
low from the bed under her hips, lifting her beautiful heart-shaped ass in the air before he pushed into her from behind.

  She may have said something but then her body clamped on his cock and he lost the desire to care about anything but the feel of her. He pulled from her grip and drove back harder, pushing past her tight inner muscles to the heat of her body.

  She was so wet, with release and his lubrication. The sounds their bodies made as he fucked her drove him mad. She pushed back against him now, her hands fisted into the quilt, her hips moving faster and faster, pistoning on his cock. He looked down, the sight of her pussy’s pink lips wrapped around his cock something he’d been dying for.

  It pounded through him then, the sights and sounds, smells and pleas. Release snarled through his blood, centered in his balls and exploded from the tip of his dick. He roared—the bear unable to be contained. His fingers flexed into her skin and she gasped, but he continued to thrust riding her body until she’d taken every last drop from him.

  She stilled and he collapsed over her back. He moved them to their sides, spooning her back to his front and his thought before sleep took him was he was glad she’d come home.

  Chapter 2

  The dream began as it always did and Lily relished the replay. She never fought the dream in the beginning. It was only the end that made her cry out and wake in a cold sweat.

  The sky was blue above her, so blue it hurt to stare at it too long. The hawk soared high, touching the heavens then circling back to trill shrilly, mocking her with its call, daring her to dream deeper. Lily shaded her eyes against the sun, felt eyes on her and turned to stare in the distance.

  Mountains rose above the landscape and the crystalline lake below her sparkled like a gem in the brilliant sunlight. Peace drifted through her, incomplete but still soothing. But then the wind began to blow and the hawk screeched, warning in its tones and Lily looked for the source of alarm.

  There, along the edge of the lake, lumbered a bear so huge it defied description. A silvertip male, massive in size, his grunts and growls were able to be heard even from this distance. It was coming toward her, not running but a definite clip to its pace. She backed away from the tableau, sought shelter in the trees because though she knew the bear, she was afraid.

  A roar sounded and she stopped, searching the trees for safety, a place to hide amongst the ferns and moss. Other bears appeared, melting in from the shadows, chuffing and huffing, big heads swinging from side to side. A breeze ruffled the trees; leaves fell, covering the ground before her and the silvertip roared again. It must have inspired the others because they threw back their gigantic heads and did the same.

  Fear was a pulse in her heart, a choking wedge in her throat. She backed away, until she came into contact with a hard body. She turned thinking it must be a man, but it was the silvertip and he opened his maw, gaped at her, canines flashing white in the descending darkness below the trees. Where had the sun gone? Where was Tyee? He’d save her surely.

  The bear moved closer and she backed away. It roared, the hot breath washing over her, tightening her body, making her yearn for something she couldn’t identify. Then it stopped and she was so close she could see her reflection in the honey brown gaze. The bear’s claws dug into the earth and where they pricked the ground flowers bloomed.

  Lily cocked her head, unsure what that meant. The hawk trilled and drew her gaze. It sat on a branch above her, head twisting to and fro, dark eyes communicating something she couldn’t understand.

  “What is this?” she asked the bird. If she’d expected an answer she was left cold.

  The bear leaned toward her and Lily felt soul-destroying fear. It tightened her scalp, sent tremors through her limbs. There was nowhere to go. With bears behind her and the silvertip in front, Lily was trapped.

  “Help,” she croaked though who she was asking was anyone’s guess.

  The bear shimmered as if sprinkled with pixie dust and quickly, a man stood before her. Tyee—her love, her heart, her soul.

  “Tyee!” she yelped and jumped toward him but he was gone. Vanished.

  She looked around, desperation making her breaths short and quick. Her vision wavered and she wiped a hand across her face. The other bears were gone, too, but the hawk remained, peering at her from obsidian eyes.

  “What is this?” she asked again.

  The bird stared at her and in her mind, Lily heard its words, “It is the Reckoning. You must choose, flower of the valley, the bear or the man. Though you cannot have one without the other.” Then the bird opened its beak and trilled then lifted up into the trees and disappeared.

  Wind swept through her and the landscape dissolved, leaving her alone and cold.

  She woke on a silent scream, pain at her hip but a warm body behind hers, close enough to burn.

  “What is it, naika? What disturbs your sleep so?” His voice at her ear was husky and deep.

  The only difference in waking from the dream this time as opposed to the past year was she woke to warmth. Her heart stuttered in her chest and she sighed. How could she choose between the man and the bear? The man had hurt her while the bear always kept her safe.

  She ignored his question and asked one of her own. “What does that word mean?”

  He sighed loudly. She elbowed him in the gut and he laughed, the sound triggering something in her body. “I don’t think you’re ready to know what it means.”

  “Cryptic as always, eh, Chief?” She pulled away, sliding her legs off the side of the bed and sitting up.

  She stretched, muscles releasing after a solid rest. Amazing what a good fuck could do for the body. She yawned, disoriented by the cave, unable to tell if it was day or night.

  “It’s dark outside now?”

  Had she asked that question out loud?

  “No,” he responded but didn’t elaborate, instead getting off the bed and moving to a small alcove off the main room.

  She shook her head. What the hell?

  She heard a toilet flush and then water running. He had a bathroom!

  He strode out of the alcove now wearing sleep pants and Lily marveled at the sheer beauty of the man she’d given her heart to. She remembered the first time she’d seen him at his sister’s barbeque and her breath stopped in her chest.

  Darkness had fallen and she’d been about ready to leave, tired of the limited conversation. Lily was an outsider. Originally from Georgia, she’d gotten her degree in wildlife management from Texas A & M and come here to study bears. The species had always drawn her, even before she’d known there were such things as shifters. She had dreamed of them as a child. Once she’d come to Canada, nobody seemed very friendly except for Jolie Clarke, who’d invited her to the annual barbeque that celebrated spring. Jolie had seen Lily’s discomfort but asked her to stay for a little longer. Then Tyee walked into the party. All of the women stopped what they were doing, including her. Jealousy pierced her gut, wrapped around her throat and she’d wanted to wipe the looks of lust from all the others. As insane as those thoughts had been, it was nothing compared to her reaction to the man himself.

  He’d looked at her, piercing hazel gaze directed solely at her, ignoring all the others and she’d melted into a puddle of want and need. The conviction he was hers settled into her bones quickly. The need, poignant and ocean deep, solidified that conviction until it was a taste in her mouth.

  He’d made a beeline for her. He’d come to her. Others had tried stop him but he’d bypassed them easily, his goal clear. She remembered his sister’s snicker and the look in her eyes as she’d nodded at Lily. It’d been knowing, that look, and Lily had wondered at it but then been taken in completely by Tyee, thoughts of anything else gone as if they’d never existed.

  He’d touched her face. His skin rough but warm and she’d shuddered under the force of his gaze.

  “Naika,” he’d whispered and she’d been lost.

  Someone called her name, jerking her from the past.

  “
I asked if you needed to use the bathroom,” Tyee asked and Lily was pulled completely to the present. “Where were you just then?”

  She peered up at him beneath her lashes. The Reckoning had grabbed her before she’d known such a thing existed. She’d been ignorant then, a year ago. She wasn’t now. “I was in my memories, Chief.” She hopped off the bed, not bothering to hide her nudity. He knew every nook and hollow of her body. She had nothing to be ashamed of.

  His gaze heated and goose bumps rose on her skin. Her nipples furled tight and heat shot through her abdomen. “It’s this way?” she asked, determined to ignore her reaction to him.

  He nodded, his expression closed off now. “Through that alcove. I set out towels for you. There’s a natural pool that I rigged to be siphoned from the warm spring. You’ll see the faucet, turn it and it’ll fill up for you.”

  She stopped at the alcove’s entrance and turned to him. “I’m hungry. What’s for breakfast?”

  He raised an eyebrow as his gaze moved from her head to her feet and back again. That slow burn in her gut turned into a molten tsunami, sweeping need through her entire body. “You mean supper?” He shrugged his shoulders and a small smile curved his delectable lips. “Whatever you’re fixing.”

  She shook her head this time and laughed. “I don’t think so. You’re going to have to earn me back here, Chief. I’m going to take a bath and then I’m going to be hungry. Dinner better be ready when I get out.”

  Hope spread across his face and she staggered under the weight of it. Whether they made it or broke was on her shoulders. He’d left it there when he’d forced her away. That hope seemed heavy but at the same time it was exhilarating there was any left. Until she’d stepped onto Chinook land last week, she’d thought it all gone. Now it burned inside her mind, obliterating the pain of the past months, easing her until she thought that just maybe, they had a shot to make this work.

  He laughed then and the tension between them disappeared. Even as he’d been within her body earlier, the tension had snaked between them, an unseen barrier that neither had been willing to discuss. It’d been there and there was a reason.