BEAR MATE
(BBW Paranormal Romance)
MATE series
By
Natalie Kristen
MATE series
ALPHA MATE
BEAR MATE
Copyright © 2014 Natalie Kristen
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
*****
Blake Madden is a bear on a mission. Three missions, to be exact.
One: Kick-start the PAC's health program.
Two: Sniff out an elusive flower and destroy it.
Three: Claim that curvy witch as his mate.
Jasynta Morgan is a witch on a mission. Make that three missions.
One: Stop a takeover bid for her coven.
Two: Find an elusive flower and protect it.
Three: Resist—or is it seduce?—that hunkalicious werebear.
No mission has ever been this hard.
And this hot.
*****
CHAPTER ONE
Blake Madden was conscientiously typing something on his laptop which looked very tiny and fragile under his huge hands. The werebear's brows were furrowed as he squinted at the screen. And he had been squinting at the screen for so long and so hard that his eyes were watering and throbbing.
His eyes weren't the only part of him that was watering and throbbing. His mouth was watering and his cock was throbbing furiously at the sight and scent of that clever, curvaceous little witch.
Jasynta Morgan. Witch doctor and healer at the city hospital. Medical consultant to the Paranormal Affairs Council (PAC). Competent, certified practitioner of witchcraft and magick.
She was smart, sassy, and sexy as hell.
And she was his mate. The bear knows it, the man knows it, but does the witch know it?
His bear was raring to claim his mate, wanting to drag her off into a cave in the mountainside and mate with her, repeatedly. Long and hard. The mating instinct clawed at his bear, and the bear was growing impatient with the man. His mate was right here, in the very same room with him. She was right in front of him, within his reach. All he had to do was stretch out his big hands and grab her. He'd fling her sweet ass over his back and take her far out of the city. Bears could run really fast, and his powerful, muscular strides would just eat up miles and miles of terrain. In just one night, he would be able to get his mate into a cozy cave far away from the madding crowd and start his frenzied, marathon mating session with her. For nights, they would be secluded in the cave, mating to the scents of the forest and the river, tasting and taking each other, waking to the sound and smell of sex, sunrise and summer storms.
What was he waiting for?
His bear nudged him. Go on, do it!
Blake balled his fists, preparing to punch some sense into his bear. Violence was the only way to get to his beast at this time. There was no reasoning with a bear who had whiffed his mate. He had to hit the beast where it hurt. In the balls.
A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
He had to protect his mate from his hungry, horny beast. Dragging the petite city witch out into the wild for growling, grunting non-stop sex—that might just be the surest and fastest way to lose her.
She was a city gal. A healer. She was studious, conscientious and caring. He had seen her with her patients, and she always managed to put a smile on their faces, no matter how grievous their injuries. She worked magic with her healing touch and potions, and it was her Potion of Promise that had saved the life of the PAC Alpha's mate. He knew that Lucas was deeply grateful to her for saving Charlotte's life. And Lucas had showed his gratitude by—trying his claw at matchmaking.
That meddling Alpha wolf had gleefully assigned both Blake and Jasynta to work on a health campaign for New Moon City's paranormal community. At a Council meeting, Lucas had put Blake in charge of the campaign, and then asked Jasynta to come up with a miracle weight-loss potion for the city's overweight, over-eating and under-exercising paranormals. New Moon City was the first city to give official and legal recognition to paranormals, conferring them the same rights and protection under the law as humans.
Living the city lifestyle exposed both the human and paranormal residents to the same unhealthy city habits—late nights, too much junk food and caffeine, too little exercise, high levels of stress and pollution. The city hospital had reported an alarming increase in the number of vampires, weres, witches, demons, warlocks coming in with high blood pressure, near stroke and silent heart attacks.
As a result, Lucas Rieve, the proactive, take-charge Alpha of the Paranormal Affairs Council (PAC) had decided to kick-start a health campaign for the paranormal residents of New Moon City.
Blake was a Council member, and he was in charge of many of the Council's projects. He also assisted the PAC's Enforcers in their enforcement duties, helping to track and capture rogue paranormals who broke the PAC's laws and attacked the city's human and paranormal civilian population. Blake was responsible and efficient. He was many things, but he was no slimming expert.
Jasynta had been tasked to come up with a magical weight-loss potion which guaranteed visible results within twenty-four hours. Yeah, it'd definitely take some powerful magic to achieve something like that.
Results.
He had to focus on results.
Blake growled at the page of gibberish he had just typed on the screen.
Oh, there were results all right. And the result of being so near that tempting little witch was very visible indeed. There was a very painful and prominent bulge at the front of his pants.
His fists clenched harder and his balls tightened, as if bracing for a hit from his hard, merciless human fists. His bear might only have sex on his animal brain, but the man had many other things on his mind.
The man had work to do. The bear only wanted to work his mate.
Jasynta muttered under her breath and the sound of her voice made every inch of him tense and throb. Lucas had given them this spare meeting room in the PAC Headquarters to work in, and every evening after her shift at the Emergency department of the city hospital, the indefatigable witch doctor would make her way to the PAC Headquarters and work on the health campaign with him. She had set up a long work table at the corner of the meeting room. Thick, voluminous spell books, beakers and vials of potions and strange ingredients populated her work table as she worked on her miracle Weight-Loss-and-Power-Up Potion. That was the working name of her potion. It was supposed to help the sedentary city paranormals lose weight and unleash their paranormal powers, making shapeshifting, teleporting, misting and other paranormal exercises and skills less of a pain in the back and joints, and less of a stress on their weak hearts and bodies.
He listened to her low murmurings and indulged himself by taking a deep whiff of her inviting, feminine scent. His bear and his cock jerked to attention, liking the smell very much indeed. His bear began to rumble and push against the barrier separating the human from the beast. Blake pushed the bear back, but his eyes couldn't or wouldn't slide back to his computer screen. They remained on Jasynta, greedily taking in ev
ery curve and movement.
The curvy brunette had her back to him, busily mixing potions and muttering spells and chants under her breath. Occasionally, he heard a curse which he was pretty sure wasn't part of the incantation. Her glossy brown curls were pulled back in a loose ponytail and her pretty face was smudged with rainbow-colored streaks. There were rows of vials and beakers lined up against the wall on her table, containing potions with unpronounceable names. Jasynta let out a string of choice swear words, as she tucked a strand of wavy brown hair behind her ear with a huff. Shaking her head, she flipped the pages of her voluminous encyclopedia noisily and bent lower to squint at a footnote, making her white coat stretch even more snugly over her back, accentuating her generous curves.
Blake had to suppress a groan. Her wide, round ass stuck out and swayed as she shifted her weight. The witch was blatantly tempting him! The keyboard almost crumbled under his hands at the thought of bending her over the table and pounding madly into her.
Stop it, Blake growled at his bear. Stop mentally raping the good doctor.
The bear chuffed and rammed harder against the barrier, wanting out. The bear wanted action. Mentally doing the deed? The bear would show him mental all right.
The bear clawed frenziedly at him, wanting to get closer to his female. The roar in his head was fast driving all rational thought out of his head. The big bear wanted to claim his mate now. And the beast refused to listen to human reason and advice. The raging, sex-crazed bear was going to maul and terrify that sweet little witch in a lust-drenched mating frenzy.
Blake had to get his lust and his beast under control.
Fast.
But frankly, he didn't know how much longer he could resist her. She was driving him out of his mind. Her ripe, female scent filled his head with thoughts of wild, growling sex. Her ample curves made his claws and cock stab out painfully. He wanted to grab her and sink deep into her. He wanted to rake his hands through her curly brown hair and see those beautiful locks fanning out around her face as she writhed and screamed beneath him. And those bountiful, round breasts were screaming and shivering for his hands and mouth...
He made a strangled sound.
This was heaven, and hell. This was the most exquisite, excruciating torture.
How much longer could he stand it?
Jasynta cleared her throat. “Blake?”
He jerked, and the letter “F” flew from his keyboard, leaving a gaping hole in the straight rows of letters, like a missing tooth. His laptop winked at him in a toothy leering grin.
He stared at her as she approached him almost with dreamlike slowness. Her hips swayed enticingly with every step, and he could hear her heartbeat quicken, and hear her swallow nervously. He could hear her soft, rapid breaths, and see her long lashes lower and flutter over her brown eyes as she blinked. Jasynta Morgan was a walking dream, a walking, waking wet dream. Her lips moved, and he stared at those full, pink lips, imagining them wrapped around a certain huge part of his body. That sassy hot mouth would be screaming his name as he made her come over and over and over...
“Blake!”
His eyes widened at her tone. She was screaming his name all right, but it wasn't in ecstasy. It was in annoyance.
“Have you been listening to a word I said?” Jasynta planted a hand on her hip.
He answered with a sheepish, but hardly repentant, smile.
Jasynta gave a huff of exasperation. “I said, what would you like to call this potion? Somehow 'Weight-Loss-and-Power-Up Potion' doesn't quite pack a punch. It's too much of a mouthful. Not only is it unwieldy, it sounds...kind of preachy.” She wrinkled her nose, which made her look even cuter.
A low growling sound rumbled from him.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you just growl at me?”
Blake exhaled heavily and slowly. How was he to admit to her that yes, he had just growled at her, and it wasn't just an expression of his pent-up frustration. It was a mating sound, a sound of fierce possession and burning, maddening desire. He pushed his chair back and stood up, rising to his full height of six foot eight. He moved towards her, towering over her petite frame but she didn't back away. She simply tilted her chin up and stared him straight in the eye.
“You can growl all you like, but you still have to give this potion a name. A clever, catchy name that can be easily remembered so it'd be popular with the public,” she said, her brown eyes narrowing slightly as she shook a beaker of golden liquid at him.
“Why don't you name it?” he said, his voice low and deep as he became painfully aware of her nearness. He could detect the heat creeping up her body, and see the gradual blush rising to her cheeks.
Her lips parted and she blinked slowly. Her chest rose and fell as her breaths quickened. It took literally everything he had, every last ounce of willpower not to grab her and kiss her senseless.
“I...” She shook her head, as if trying to rouse herself. Taking a sharp breath, she said resolutely, “You're in charge of the health campaign. You have to give it a name that is in line with your slogan. Or jingle. Or whatever you've come up with.”
He exhaled slowly and forced his voice to remain calm and measured. Jasynta's ponytail had loosened further and a few stray brown curls were bouncing against her nape and shoulders. There were smudges on her cheeks and fingertips, and she had on a purposeful, determined look. The look she wore when she was on a mission, be it a mission to save a patient, master a difficult spell or come up with a new, perfect potion.
Jasynta Morgan took pride in her work and her potions. She wanted this potion to be perfect. The success of the campaign was important to her. She'd worked long and hard on this potion, and she clearly wanted her potion to work. She wanted it to be well received, and help improve the lives and well-being of the paranormals in the city.
Blake extended his huge hand and took the beaker from her very gingerly. If it was important to his mate, it was important to him. And he was the Council member in charge of the campaign. It was important to the PAC as well.
“This potion is to help paranormals unleash their potential,” he began slowly as he held the beaker up and watched the golden liquid catch the light and disperse it into diamond sparkles on its surface. “They get to see how fit and fab they can get, if only they'd get their furry, scaled, tailed and tailless asses in shape. They take this potion and they get to have a taste of their full powers for a day. Many shifters are now so unfit that they have difficulty shifting, and they get breathless and heart palpitations from just one shift,” Blake went on wryly. “They would experience the thrill of shifting smoothly and effortlessly for one day. Same with the vampires, demons, witches and sorcerers. Many of them now find running, misting, teleporting, firing spells and illusions extremely exhausting. These simple maneuvers increase their heart rate and blood pressure to dangerous levels, and many have suffered heart attacks and strokes while attempting these simple exercises. For one day, they would experience how it would feel to do all these with ease and confidence. So—it shows them their potential and powers. But they have to work at it. No pain, no gain. They have to maintain a healthy lifestyle and exercise and practice their skills and powers regularly to increase their speed, strength and stamina. It's not just drink up and power up.” He snapped his fingers.
Jasynta nodded, a smile curving her lips. “Exactly! That's exactly what my potion does!” she cried passionately. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Blake had to close his eyes briefly. He wanted to hear her scream yes! with passion all night long.
“Okay, I got this,” Jasynta said excitedly. “This potion is going to show them what they've got, yeah? Let them feel how they're supposed to be. Let them experience how right it feels to be fit! So—let's call it, 'The Right Stuff'! Sounds cool enough, so the younger paranormals won't be adverse to trying it. What do you think?”
A smile tugged at a corner of Blake's mouth as he handed the beaker back to her. “I think...that it's very catchy. And very cle
ver.”
He saw her blush and roll the beaker nervously between her palms. She worried her plump lower lip as she frowned down at the bubbling golden liquid.
“Um,” she began tentatively. “I...I've been working on the potion, and I'm quite sure it's ready. But—I'm not sure if there are any side effects. I haven't had anyone test it yet, so...”
“I'll test it.”
She let out a small gasp as Blake took the beaker out of her hands.
“You...you will? It's totally untried. I'm not sure...” she stammered. “It might fail...”
Blake caught her hand as she reached for the beaker. I won't let you fail.
“There's only one way to find out,” he said confidently. “I'll try “The Right Stuff' on myself. We can observe the effects, and side effects if any, and you can tweak it, before we start mass producing it and distributing them to the paranormal community. I'll be your guinea pig, lab rat, lab bear—whatever you call it, I'm it. And I don't mean just this time. Anytime you need to test a new spell or potion, I'm it.”
I'm yours.
Jasynta opened and shut her mouth, but before she could speak, he stepped closer to her and said softly, “I want to be your first.”
When she gasped, he added quickly, “The first to try your potion, I mean.”
“I...I'll need to bring it to a boil, and pour a small amount out. You're not drinking that whole lot.” She took the beaker back from him, her fingers brushing against his. He almost resisted giving up the beaker. He would drink the whole lot of untested potion if he could just touch her again.
As she turned back to her work table, he let his eyes roam slowly up her hips, up her back to her soft, round shoulders. Her ample bosom jutted proudly out of her white coat, as she straightened her back. She was holding up the beaker and mumbling some strange, complex incantation. Shifters had superb hearing, and he could hear exactly what she was muttering but the words made no sense to him. Witches' spells were notoriously convoluted, and he suspected that one had to be a cunning linguist to be able to master them.
Bear Mate: BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance Page 1