Lana didn’t ask questions, but she kept shooting Lily a certain kind of glance, one that implied she’d need to know everything later.
Seth trusted Lily not to tell her. Not yet at least. If this thing between Lily and him was going where it seemed…
How many times do you think you can mount her tonight? his bear asked. Or are you going to do that weird human thing where she gets on top?
He still wasn’t used to hearing his inner bear, and he nearly said “shut up” out loud, but he caught himself just in time and settled instead on gritting his teeth.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Seth,” Lana said. “It’s just I don’t understand how—”
“Lana,” Lily said. “Please.”
“Sorry,” she said.
She pulled up to Seth’s place, and he unbuckled his seatbelt and just said, “Thanks, Lana. It means a lot to us.”
To us, he thought. How had he known Lily so long and never realized what had been there in front of him all along?
I knew all along, his bear said.
Then why hadn’t his bear spoken up? Why had he been silent for so long?
As soon as Lana drove away, Lily pulled him into her full body, and her hands ran up and down his back. He bent down to kiss her but remembered what he had to do.
“Wait,” he said. “I have to explain first.”
“Do it later,” she said. “I want you first.”
He pushed her away. “No. You don’t know who I am, and that’s my fault. I’ve kept it from you...and the lying stops now. Once you know who I am, and once you know the secret I’ve kept from you…if you still want me after that, then I’m yours.”
“Seth,” she said, “come on. What could be so bad? It’s not like you killed someone.”
Her words bit into him, sharper than any steel teeth ever could. Yes, that’s why his bear had stopped speaking to him. He’d killed someone. They’d burned his house down, but not when his family was inside. And he’d killed in response. He’d escalated the situation, and now his mate was in danger because of it.
He met her eyes, and his face hardened. “I did,” he said. “But that’s not the whole secret.”
He walked her through the forest in the early morning light, and he told her about who started the fire and what he’d done in response. And as he told her, he realized that he’d only now forgiven himself for what he’d done. That must be why his bear had come back.
We didn’t have to kill him, his bear said. Maybe just bite him. Really hard.
“I just can’t…” Lily said. “I can’t picture...what did you do, shoot him? Was it a fight? You got angry and went too far?”
“I killed him with my bear hands,” Seth said, and then he winced at the awful joke. “With...my claws.”
“Your claws?” she asked.
“Yes. And my teeth,” he said. “The man I killed was a werewolf, the pack leader, actually.”
“A werewolf…” she said. “And so you’re a werewolf too?” Her voice was on the edge of crying, as if she thought he was playing a cruel joke on her.
“No,” he said. “I’m a bear.”
She started shaking her head, and her eyes began watering, but she was more angry than sad. “You took me out into the forest to fuck with me like this? How can you dare to toy with my emotions like this? I thought you were being real with me, and now you’re—”
She wouldn’t believe him until she saw it, so he shifted.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lily
Tears stung her eyes, and her stomach dropped at the incomprehensible words. I’m a bear. Had her friend from childhood been a pathological liar all along, or had he just become mentally ill in the last few years? She hadn’t seen too much of him, and she had no real idea what was going on in his life. Could it be PTSD of some kind, from running headfirst into so many burning buildings? He started walking into the forest, barefoot and in a hospital gown—that had been the first worrying sign. But he had been talking with such gravity that she hadn’t even wanted to question him.
A fucking bear?
She looked up at him, and she could barely see him through the salty tears blurring her vision. She had no words for him, and she considered just turning her back on him and walking away. It was the only thing she could do.
But then she saw the hospital gown bulge and split apart, and Seth fell onto his knees as he...grew. His muscles bulged and swelled, and his nails turned to sharp claws. Fur erupted out all over his body, and the next thing she knew, a full-sized grizzly bear towered before her.
“Holy shit,” she said. “A fucking bear.”
The bear—no, Seth—nodded its head up and down, and then it took cautious steps toward her. Adrenaline surged all through her body, and she tensed up. All of her instincts told her this was a threat. A huge animal that weighed over one ton and had claws bigger than her hand was right in front of her and getting closer. Her primate brain told her to run, but she knew it was Seth, so she forced herself to stand still.
He lumbered toward her, slowly, as he must have realized she’d feel afraid.
He stopped in front of her, about one foot away, and met her eyes. She stared down at him for a long moment, and then she held out her hand. He came a few inches closer and nuzzled his head against her hand. She ran her hand to the top of his head and began to pet him. Did you pet a bear? It wasn’t exactly a dog, but it wasn’t really even a bear. It was Seth.
He turned away from her then, took a few steps, and suddenly he shrunk down and shifted back into a human.
“Jesus,” Lily said. “Sorry I didn’t believe you. But holy crap, of course I didn’t believe you. A...werebear? Like, really?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess it’s pretty crazy, but I grew up with it. We’re never supposed to tell humans,” he said, “but as close as we were...I should have trusted you with it.”
He was naked, and that was incredibly distracting, but she had to let him know she was okay with this. She could be distracted after.
“I mean,” she said, “you know you could have trusted me, right?”
“I know,” he said, “but it’s just...knowing this is somehow dangerous too. You’re not supposed to know, and once you do…”
“I’m safe with you,” she said. “I figure whatever danger this knowledge puts me in, it’s cancelled out—and then some—by you being around me. I almost died in a fire before I knew, didn’t I?”
“Yeah,” he said, “but—”
“And now that I know,” she interrupted, “now that you’ll be around me more...I’m that much safer.”
His presence was so comforting. She felt invincible with him around her. Even if he couldn’t transform into a giant bear, she would feel totally safe with him.
“There’s one more thing,” he said. “Not something I’ve been keeping secret...something I just found out—”
“One thing at a time,” Lily said, and she looked up at him. Her eyes spoke wordlessly to him, and with the new understanding between them, he understood at once what she was saying.
Take me now.
They crashed together as if there was a magnetic force between them, and their lips pressed against each other. His scent filled her entire being as she tasted the warm wetness of his mouth. His hands reached down her body and tugged at her dress. She pulled down her panties as he ripped the dress from her body.
His hands ran all along her curves, and she undid her bra as if it was radioactive—as if she couldn’t risk it touching her skin for a second more.
He squeezed the thick curves of her ass, and his mouth wandered down hungrily to her breasts. He caressed them as he teased her with his lips, and she felt a powerful warmth building up between her legs. Soon he taunted her with the slightest hint of his tongue. It touched her nipples ever so gently, and each time she felt that wetness, she shuddered and held in a moan.
And then he put his mouth around one of her nipples and sucked on it, running his tongue all along it. All the
moans she’d stifled flew out with a renewed fierceness, and she heard her voice echo through the forest.
As if moving on its own, she found her hand sliding across his washboard abs. It slid down and down, along the ridge of his beautiful V-cut, until she felt the hair of his manhood.
She grabbed hold of that beautiful cock, the one she’d seen and thought she’d never be able to touch. It had filled her with longing and unbearable sadness, knowing she’d never be able to claim it as her own. But now it was hot and hard in her hand. She felt its pulsing veins and bright warmth all along her fingers, and she ran her hand up and down it.
As soon as she reached the tip of his cock, he let her breasts go and groaned. This huge and powerful man could be controlled by such a light squeeze and gentle stroke. She grinned and ran her thumb along his head until she felt a few drops of precum. She spread the sticky wetness along his shaft, and without warning his hand plunged between her legs.
His few drops of precum were nothing compared to the building torrent between her own legs. His fingers gently caressed her outer lips, and the pressure and wetness built up. Just as the heat became unbearable, he began circling her clit with his fingers.
Perfect. She never wanted him to let go of her. Soon his fingers applied pressure to her, and she heard herself moaning with abandon. How long had she been doing that?
She let go of his cock, and Seth’s skillful hands brought her further and further toward climax. Her body shuddered and convulsed, and all she could do was wrap a leg around his strong back and grab hold of him with both hands. She felt her nails sinking into his flesh as the orgasm drew near, and that made him touch her even better.
So he liked it rough?
Wetness exploded within her, and a surge of electric warmth engulfed her. He threw her to the ground, and his tongue found her clit as she began to come. He’d saved the best for last. The unexpected wetness of his tongue and heat of his breath doubled the force of her climax. She wrapped her legs around his head, and she felt leaves rustling beneath her naked back as she dripped and came all over Seth’s tongue and the forest floor.
Her hips flew up as she came, and Seth kept his mouth on her, and he kept his tongue running along her clit. She screamed his name as her arms flailed and thrashed, and finally she lost the energy to come for even a second more, and she fell flat and exhausted. She pushed his face from her wetness.
He lay down beside her unbidden, and just as she had hoped, he wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her face into his wonderful chest. Her eyes were wet with tears, and the afterglow that encircled her was divine.
“I think we should save something for next time,” he said.
She was dripping wet, and exhausted as she was, the thought of that cock inside her made her tremble.
“Are you sure?” she said.
“Well…” he started, “my bear would kill me if we stopped now.”
“Your bear?” she asked.
“It’s not like I’m schizophrenic,” he said, “or maybe it really is like that. Anyway, my bear has a kind of mind of its own, and it talks to me.”
She smiled as he stroked her hair. Each light touch from him was pure bliss. “What kind of stuff does he say?”
“Uh,” Seth said, his face turning red.
“Ah,” she said. “So he’s got a mouth on him?”
“Yeah,” Seth said. “He’s got a bit of a one-track mind. He pretty much started groaning in agony when I said we shouldn’t go further.”
“Well,” Lily said, “I wouldn’t want to make a bad first impression on your bear, so I think we should just go all the way. What does he think about that?”
Seth stood up. “He’s crazy about you. We both are.”
She grinned widely. “We’ve waited long enough. It’s not like we just met.”
And then there was no room left for words. Lily stood up, and Seth pressed himself against her back. He ran his rock-hard cock along her dripping wetness, and Lily lowered herself to her knees.
Seth leaned over her and squeezed her breasts, and she groaned, and then she felt the tip of him slip inside her. The head alone was big, and it had been so long since she’d had anyone inside her. She’d never had someone so big. He sensed her needs, and he entered slowly. His hands gripped her waist reassuringly, and she became wetter and wetter as he sunk deeper into her.
“God,” he said, “you’re so tight.”
“It’s just because you’re so big,” she said.
And then she realized he was nearly fully inside her. They were as close as two people could be. Seth must have felt the same thing, as he just held himself deep within her. He kissed her cheek and her ear, and her eyes rolled back in her head at the sheer joy of it.
The moment lasted as long as moments like that can, and then primal urge overtook her. “Fuck me hard,” she said.
His full length pulled out and then plunged back in. Again. And Again. She started to scream, and that prompted him to thrust faster and harder. Deeper. She felt his balls slamming against her, and she felt their combined wetness dripping out across her clit. She submitted fully, the top half of her body falling onto the leaves and her ass rising high up into the air. And he sped up faster and faster, until she felt nothing but heat and friction, but then as her orgasm rose once again, an intense love overtook her.
Seth was hers, and this beautiful person she’d always cared for as a friend had become so much more. She had the best of both worlds: the excitement of a new relationship, but with someone she’d known all her life.
“I’m going to come,” he yelled.
“Come deep inside me,” she said, not wanting him to have to pull out.
He sped up, and soon she felt his warm seed filling her up as he grunted. She screamed as she tightened around him, and she came harder than ever with him deep inside her.
They both finished at the same time, and they collapsed together onto the forest floor.
They stared into each other’s eyes, and she felt not only her love for him, but his for her as well. They didn’t even need to say it. They both felt it so strongly now that saying it felt wrong. They could say it later; for now they’d just feel.
They lay together for a long time, and when the afterglow had finally died down, she looked at Seth and laughed hysterically.
“What?” he said. “What’s so funny?”
“I just realized,” Lily said, barely able to speak through her laughter, “that you’re Smokey the Bear!”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Seth
Our seed is strong, his bear said, and she looks so fertile.... It’s only a matter of time now.
Seth rolled his eyes. He wanted to have kids, of course, but his bear probably didn’t know about the pill. They had all the time in the world, and Seth wanted to get married before they had kids.
They’d gone back to his place, and Lily had gotten into bed and collapsed. She needed the sleep. How long had she sat by his side while he’d slept in the hospital? She’d surely dozed off, but sleeping while sitting up in a chair wasn’t the same as real sleep.
He had a lot of loose ends to tie up while Lily slept. His phone was full of missed calls and texts. He called Pat and explained that he didn’t trust the doctors and just wanted to rest at home. Pat called him an idiot and didn’t seem to quite believe him, but Seth had done enough seemingly stupid and suspicious stuff since Pat had known him that it wasn’t too out of character.
“Pat,” he said, “did you follow up on the cause of the fire?”
“At the mill?” he asked.
“No,” Seth said. “At Lily’s house.”
“Oh,” Pat said, “yeah. They confirmed it was an electrical fire. Started in the kitchen just like she guessed...nothing suspicious. If it was arson, then the guy was some kind of prodigy at covering his tracks.”
“Good,” Seth said. “Thanks. I’ll need some time off work...my leg.”
“Yeah,” Pat said. “Obviously.”
“Not that much time, though,” Seth said. “Like I said, I don’t trust the doctors. The leg isn’t nearly as bad as they thought it was. I’ll probably be good to go in another week or so.”
“Right…” Pat said, and Seth hung up.
Seth let out a massive sigh. Relief flooded through him as he processed Pat’s news.
Lily was safe. The fire at her house was an accident. Dirk and his wolves wouldn’t bother to cover their tracks at all, and even if they’d wanted to, they lacked the finesse to pull it off.
But still, someone had tried to kill Seth. They’d known he was a bear shifter, and they’d set a trap. A literal bear trap. That was all Dirk. He didn’t need to wait to hear the official cause of that fire to know it was arson.
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