Seduction of the Bear (Bear Kamp Book 1)

by Rachel Robins

  “If it’s not salvageable, I have room at the back of the property to rebuild entirely. He won’t be coming after us anymore, Kate, don’t fret. I would walk through hell for you. Scaring your ex senseless was pure pleasure.”

  “So you didn’t kill him?”

  “No, I’m not about taking lives. He knows what it’s like to feel scared, though. He knows what I’m capable of now. It’s worse than burned houses or inspectors called into a business.”

  “Thank you. I’ve never had a defender before. It’s kind of cute.”

  “You have a defender for life now, Kate.”

  Kate stood up and walked over to Austin. Her hand reached for him. She started at his fingertips and traced her way up his arm to his neck. She took his face between the palms of her hands. The smile that came over her warmed his heart.

  “You’re a beautiful bear.”

  Austin picked her up and spun her around. When he brought her back down, he kissed her. The kiss was possessive but sweet. Knowing she knew of their mate bond made him anxious to have her again. With her mind caught up to what her soul had always known, the experience would be even more fulfilling.

  “So, Kate, will you be mine?”

  “I guess I always have been.”

  Chapter 11

  Kate

  The Kamp was winding down for the night, and the only people left in the bar were Austin’s close friends and Emma. Kate had noticed Emma and Jasper had been especially flirty through the night, but Emma was keeping her distance as well. That was unusual for Emma, and Kate couldn’t wait to ply her with questions in private.

  “Well, I guess we’re a man down now in the Kamp Krew. Austin will be picking out linens and dish patterns before we know it.”

  “Hopefully he’ll be picking out nursery colors soon! We could use a cub around this place to liven it up,” Rick said, saluting Austin with his beer.

  Kate blushed on the outside, but on the inside, her stomach plummeted. She couldn’t imagine having kids soon. When she looked over at Austin, she could tell the thought had appealed to him. His smile was huge. She shook her head and laughed.

  “Let me get used to one thing at a time, now, boys,” she joked, bringing on a round of boos.

  “Do we get to have a wedding?” Emma asked.

  “I don’t know, do we?” Kate had never thought about marrying Austin.

  “We can if you want. I think a lot of shifters that are mated to humans get married,” Austin replied with a shrug. Kate wasn’t sure if she wanted to go through with marriage. She and Austin already had so much more than she had ever had with her first husband. It seemed to cheapen the mate bond by having a wedding.

  “I don’t think I want to. The mate bond ceremony seems better, more fitting. Then we can have a big party back here like a wedding reception. That’s the best part anyways.”

  “Hell, yeah!” Jasper cheered.

  “I can live with that. No ugly dress or thousands of pictures.”

  “Hey, your dress wasn’t ugly,” Kate said, smacking Emma in the arm playfully.

  “Yeah, it was honey, but that’s okay. I still loved you.”

  “Well, when you get married one day, you can repay me. I’ll wear whatever you want.”

  Emma snorted and finished her cosmopolitan. “That won’t be happening, ever.”

  Jasper growled low, causing Kate to shift her eyes to him. Emma was staring at him now, too. Kate was dying to know what was going on between the two of them. Emma got up and grabbed her stuff, waving to everybody at the table.

  “It’s been, fun, boys. I’ll see you around.”

  Kate followed her to the door.

  “Are you okay to drive?”

  “I’m perfectly fine. I’m glad you’re happy. You deserve it.” Emma leaned in and hugged Kate tight. Kate plucked Emma’s keys out of her bag while they were hugging. When they pulled apart, she turned and tossed the keys to Austin.

  “I’m going to drive Emma home.” She started to go grab her things, but Jasper jumped up and offered himself. Emma just as quickly refused him.

  “I don’t need anybody to drive me home, thank you very much. Now give me back my keys, Austin.”

  Austin shook his head, pocketing the keys.

  “Listen to me, bear man. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Hand over my keys.”

  “Come, pretty thing, let me take you home,” Jasper said, taking Emma’s hand.

  “No, you’re definitely not taking me home. Rick, how about you give me a ride?”

  Rick looked at Jasper and then back at Emma. He put his hands up and shook his head, not wanting to be involved. Jasper’s chest rattled with another low growl. Emma turned back to him and glared.

  “Fine, but you drop me off. That’s it.” Emma stormed out the door, Jasper hot on her heels.

  Kate laughed. Her friend deserved to have somebody chase after her, and Jasper was the perfect man for the job. Austin sat back down and pulled Kate on his lap. Rick and Justin were discussing something about Rick’s casino that Kate didn’t understand. Austin chimed in occasionally, but Kate didn’t even try to listen. She was content to sit there with Austin and his friends.

  Emma’s stories about growing up in a small town had always made Kate feel homesick. She didn’t feel that emptiness anymore. Austin filled her soul in a way she hadn’t even known was possible. Sitting with him and his friends, she felt like she belonged. His friends had hugged her tight when Austin introduced her as his mate and congratulated them profusely. The regulars called them the Kamp Krew because they were always together.

  That small group of men was a family, and now Kate belonged to it as well. She looked back and forth at Rick and Justin, both equally handsome. Not quite like Austin, but too good-looking to be single. They hadn’t found their mates yet but Kate had a feeling it would be soon. She wanted that for them as well as Jasper.

  Kate had been lost in her own thoughts when the guys stood up. She said her goodbyes and walked over to the bar for her things. Austin came up behind her and put his arms around her waist. She leaned back and snuggled against him.

  “So, mate, what do you want to do now?” Austin whispered in her ear.

  Kate leaned in and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. His hands slid down her arms and to her waist. He pulled her up against him, and she could feel his hard length against her stomach. She tugged on his shirt so she could feel his skin under her fingertips. Austin must have had the same idea because his hand started to dance up her thigh.

  “I can work with that.”

  “Will you perform the mate bond ceremony with me, Kate?” His voice was raw with passion. His eyes were glowing. Kate smiled, loving the power she had over a man like him.

  “Yes.” She leaned in close to his ear when she responded, letting the ‘s’ hang. She followed it by tracing the tip of her tongue down his ear and onto his neck. A rumble sounded in his chest. He was like a cat purring that way, and she loved the way it sounded.

  Suddenly he hiked her up onto the bar and moved between her legs.

  “I’m pretty sure this is against health codes,” she teased.

  “I won’t tell if you won’t.” He pulled her shirt over her head and flipped off her bra, exposing her breasts. His mouth made love to one while his hand took care of the other. Her fingers threaded through his hair as she arched against him.

  When he looked up, his eyes were still glowing. The magic of their passion was just as strong now as it had been the first time they had kissed. They were both under its spell now, heedless of where they were. He pushed the bottom of the dress up and dipped his head so his tongue could meet her core.

  She cried out in pleasure. Her legs wrapped around his shoulders and she continued to ply his hair with her fingers. His fingers sunk inside of her, sending her over the cliff of her orgasm. Austin didn’t give her a chance to recover before he replaced his fingers with himself.

  Once he was fully inside of her, he lean
ed his head on her shoulder. He planted kisses all down her collarbone. She squirmed under him, silently begging for him to move. His hands moved to her hips as he pulled out and then slammed back down inside of her. She screamed his name. He continued that way, making slow love to her, but giving her the edge he knew she needed.

  “Austin! Please!”

  He let go then and sunk into her hard and fast until they both cried out. After their breathing had slowed down, Austin picked her up and carried her upstairs. He finished undressing her and then laid down next to her in bed.

  They made love again in the night. When the sunlight filtered through the window in the apartment the next day, Kate reached over for Austin. The bed was empty. She sat up and listened. When she didn’t hear any telltale signs of Austin, she got up and padded down the hall. The apartment was quite large for being a one-bedroom. There weren’t many furnishings, but it was clean and well kept.

  When she turned into the living room, Austin was there, looking out the window. She leaned against the door frame and took him in. He was everything she had ever dreamed of in a man. Not only in his looks, but also his soul. She knew it would seem soon to everybody else, but she had already decided to tell Austin she wanted to perform the mate bond ceremony. They had both waited far too long for each other.

  “Good morning, beautiful.”

  “Good morning.”

  He walked forward and kissed her on the forehead. She leaned into his embrace.

  “I guess we’re going to have to go get some stuff to make this place a home for a while.”

  “That sounds fun.”

  “Spoken like a true woman. I think it sounds like torture.”

  “How about a bargain?”

  “I like the way that sounds.”

  “Home goods shopping this morning. Tonight, though, I want us to carry out the mate bond ceremony.” She leaned back so she could see his expression. A range of emotions crossed his face and caused her to laugh.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely. We’ve waited too long for each other. I don’t want to wait another minute to be bonded to you for life.”

  He spun her around and kissed her hard.

  “You make me the happiest man in the world.”

  She squealed with delight.

  “I love you, Austin!”

  “I love you, too, Kate. Forever my mate, my love and my partner.”

  The End

  Thank you

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  Regards,

  Rachel Robins

  Bonus Book #1

  The Lost Healer

  Fortress Invasion Book 1

  Rachel Robins

  This book is from my Dragons of Kjota series. It’s a mid-evil setting with a dragon shifter male. It too is a romance so you’ll hopefully be able to catch on it. Even if you’re not into mid-evil romance, I recommend you give this a shot as it’s quite interesting!

  Chapter 1

  Frida looked up from the herbs that she was crushing, trying to place the noise that she was hearing. Of course, there were all the normal sounds from around the fortress of Daelfjord: the murmur of people going about their daily business, sellers calling out their wares in the market square, a blacksmith at work hammering something out on his anvil. Overhead of her shop, which was built in an alcove in the city walls, she realized she was hearing the thudding tread of soldiers running, a noise that she very nearly couldn't identify. It had been a long time now since the soldiers had been summoned to the walls…

  Slowly, she set her mortar and pestle to the side and wiped her hands on her stained apron, moving curiously from the shop. Outside, the noise of the soldiers was more noticeable—or perhaps that was just because the townspeople were falling silent, also craning their necks to stare at the walls, all wondering what the clamor was.

  “Ships coming this way!” the chilling shout rang out, and the alarm bell began to sound in the northern corner of the fortress.

  There was a moment of acute silence in the open square inside the walls. Then, people began to panic, grabbing their children and their loved ones and pulling them inside. They would lock up the doors, bar themselves inside and pray for safety. They would grab their coins, anything valuable that they owned, and hide everything away. They would grab their pans, their shovels, their rakes and prepare to protect their loved ones when the raiders broke down their doors.

  Safety was a luxury that Frida had never known. Her grandmother had been the town's healer before her, and there had never been a question that Frida would follow in her footsteps. And during times of battle, the healer's door must always be open.

  After a moment of stillness, Frida squared her shoulders, setting her mouth into a grim line, and walked back into her shop to prepare the poultices that she would need once the raiders reached the shore. It had been many years since anyone had bothered to loot their modest fortress, but she still remembered how quickly those narrow longboats could cross the open whale-roads.

  She used to dream about joining the war-kings when they raided—not because she had any desire to become a slave in some foreign land but because she had known, with some strange certainty, that it would someday come to pass. But in recent years, it had seemed that it must only be some errant figment of her imagination. The ships had never come.

  And yet, here they were.

  Frida glanced towards the open door and then moved slowly up the stairs to her room. Almost without thinking, she moved towards the chest in the corner and pulled it open, quickly digging out a pair of tan trousers and a green tunic. She stripped off her dress and surcoat and pulled on the men's clothing. Then, she carefully pulled out the sheathed seax that her father had left her.

  She had kept the blade sharp even during the years of peace, and that helped her now to hack her hair unevenly off around her shoulders. Then, she sheathed the blade and hung it from her belt. With her lack of beard and her narrow shoulders, she still doubted anyone would mistake her for a man, but she had promised her father that if the war-kings ever came for her, she would disguise herself so that they might take her for a slave but never for a wife.

  Her preparations finished, she took a deep breath and padded softly down the stairs to wait through the onslaught.

  She was able to finish a number of different poultices before the screams started. And even once they'd begun, she continued to work, using the steady rhythm of the mortar and pestle to soothe her anxiety over the outcome of the battle. Daelfjord's walls were thick, but the war-kings had ways of breaching even the thickest of walls.

  She didn't trust their soldiers to ably defend them, that was the thing. There had been too much complacency of late. The soldiers had turned to a myriad of pranks and contests to keep themselves entertained, rather than working hard the way they should have been. But then, it wasn't Frida's place to judge, only to heal.

  When two soldiers burst through her front door, Frida clutched her pestle a little more tightly, her knuckles going almost white. She swallowed hard and then finally looked up at them, surprised for a moment to see that it wasn't foreigners who were invading. From th
eir blue cloaks, she could tell they were from the south, but they were Kjotan nonetheless, the same as she and everyone else there in Daelfjord.

  She sneered at the two of them. “Raiding on your own kinsfolk?” she asked them. “Are the open seas too frightening for you? Are you too cowardly to pass over the waters to find some foreign riches?”

  One of the soldiers scowled at her and then left without a word. Clearly they had assessed her and decided that she wasn't a threat. That meant it was just her and the second soldier.

  For a moment, she fingered her seax, wondering if she would be able to take the man in a fight. But what would she do then, even if she did manage to best him? It wasn't as though she could take on a whole fortress full of raiders, and if they had already managed to enter her shop, the doubted she could count on the assistance of the soldiers from Daelfjord.

  The raider sneered at her. “You call us cowardly, and yet you hide here in a healer's shop and don't even dare draw a weapon,” the man pointed out, taking a few steps closer. He grinned, his mouth a red slash in his garishly painted face. “Agnarr, our king, has told us to bring all the able-bodied young men out to the ships. He has need of new crew-members.”

  “I'm no sailor,” Frida said, trying to keep from trembling as the man stepped closer still and stroked a finger down her cheek.

  “You're too pretty to be a sailor,” the raider agreed. For a moment, Frida was afraid he realized she was a female, but he didn't grope her like she might have expected. Instead, he reached for her seax. “Now this is a pretty piece,” he said, tapping a finger on the hilt. “It should serve me well in battle.”

  Even though Frida had known it was coming—of course she wouldn't be permitted to keep a weapon when she was in the company of war-kings and raiders—she couldn't stop herself from fighting. She chopped her hand swiftly down on his wrist, and while he swore and shook out his fingers, she backed away and drew her seax.