“You’re so gorgeous, Carly. More beautiful than anyone else in the entire world,” Zeus said between kisses, his voice low and husky.
It seemed unbelievable that this man she’d barely met could be saying this to her. But by the way he kissed her, the way he looked at her, she had to believe him. At least for now.
“If you want me, then show me,” Carly said, arching against him as he growled with approval. He kissed just below her ear, making her gasp with arousal. He trailed rough kisses up along her neck, each one a small spark of electricity that turned her on more with each touch.
His hands felt amazing at her sides, teasing and stroking just under her breasts. She pulled her shirt off in one easy motion, leaving her bared to him in her bra and jeans only.
Zeus smiled in approval, a wicked flash of white teeth that was so unlike the shy man he’d shown her so far. This was the badass under the surface, the part of him he kept hidden that she’d always sensed was there. The thought heated her even further.
Zeus cupped her breasts in her bra, rubbing his thumbs deftly over her nipples, and then reached around and unhooked it with an easy flick. Then he leaned forward, placing a long, heated kiss on each one.
She’d never been loved like this before. Never had a man so focused on her pleasure and her curves, and she savored it.
“So perfect,” he said reverently, licking each nipple as an ache rose inside her.
She wanted him. She wanted him so much she couldn’t see straight. She couldn’t respond, so she just held on to his shoulders as he brought his hands down to massage and squeeze as his lips found hers again, taking her more deeply this time, his tongue sweeping inside to own her completely.
His hands found her nipples again, and she arched back at the powerful sensation, loving how he somehow knew exactly what she needed and how to give it to her.
One hand reached down to her ass and squeezed gently, then a little harder, pulling her closer against him. She could feel his firm length and hunger shot up inside her. She wanted him filling her, taking her like no one ever had or ever could.
“You want me?” he asked huskily, a statement as much as a question.
“Yes,” she said.
“You’re sure,” he said.
“Yes,” she answered, digging her hands into his hair as his head found her nipples again, teasing and licking as his fingers toyed with the edge of her jeans.
“There’s no going back after this,” he said. “You’re mine.”
She nodded against him eagerly. She’d say anything, anything, right now to get him inside her.
He lifted her off of him and knelt above her on the bed, pulling her jeans down over her curves slowly, easily stripping her of her clothing. After staring hungrily down at her panties, he reached down and ripped them off in one quick, painless movement that had her gasping at how dominant he was.
He came over her, hands on either side, and took her mouth again. “Mine,” he whispered, his lips teasing hers.
“Yours,” she said, licking his bottom lip and drawing a growl from him.
He stood and pulled off his shirt, revealing perfect, huge muscles lightly sheened with sweat, and then reached for his jeans, watching her eyes. She let him see her bare hunger, and his eyes flashed in approval just before he removed his pants, leaving him exposed to her.
Damn, he went commando. Of course he did.
He pulled out a condom, rolled it over himself, and was on her the next second. His hard body covered hers, his muscles bunched as he held himself over her, and he stroked her hair for a second before taking her in another hard kiss. She was so wet for him, and when he reached down with a hand to test her, he growled in approval before stroking hungrily over her folds, finding the spot that pleasured her most.
She arched back with a gasp, writhing under his huge body. His massive chest pressed against her as he stroked and played, and she had no choice but to lie there and accept the pleasure as it continued to build inside her. Coiling tighter and tighter, rising higher and higher. His deft fingers focused as his blue eyes studied her face, eager for her pleasure.
Then she went, gasping for air as pleasure unlike anything she’d felt surged through her, fresh as mountain air, overwhelming as being submerged in an icy lake. It felt like she was coming alive for the first time in so long, and as wave after wave of release burst through her, she clung to him and called his name. Zeus, Zeus, Zeus.
As she finished, she looked up into his hungry eyes, panting for breath. That had felt wonderful, but she was far from done.
“More,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. “Give me all of you.”
“You already have it,” he said hoarsely, and then the next moment, he pushed inside her in one smooth thrust that had her bursting with sensation, filled more completely than ever before.
She writhed against him, trying to adjust, trying to comprehend the pleasure bursting inside her, the anticipation of something amazing that was on the way. His arms trembled slightly as he stayed carefully still, making sure she was okay. She let him see the bare hunger in her eyes and saw it reflected back at her. Whatever this feeling was, whatever was happening between them, he was lost to it too. And as she reached her arms around him and dug her nails into his back, he began to move.
And it felt unlike anything in the universe. “Don’t stop,” she said, wrapping her legs around his waist to keep him close. “Don’t ever stop.”
He growled against her neck and kept going, moving them both toward a destination that felt as exciting as it was inevitable. She’d never felt like this with a man, never known it was possible, and she still didn’t know if it was possible with anyone but the man inside her.
It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he kept moving, stroking steadily with his hard length as sparks shot through her with an incredible intensity, building a pressure inside her unlike anything she’d ever known. As he moved faster, she cried out with each thrust, holding him with all of her, stroking him with all of her, feeling how perfectly they fit together.
And as his breathing increased and she realized he was close, she felt her own body start to tip over the edge, ready to fall into something incredible. Then an explosion of light burst through her, flooding her body with a pleasure that was indescribable and almost too strong. She held Zeus’s shoulders and screamed, at the same time she heard him utter her name in a hoarse oath and go still against her, jerking inside her and stroking her through her orgasm. It was heaven—more than heaven—and she still couldn’t believe it was happening.
She held him close through the almost scary, foreign sensation and wondered how she’d gotten so lucky, how fate had brought her here at the right moment with the right man. He held her tight, staying with her every moment as they finished their release together.
And then after, he held her close as endorphins flooded her, keeping her in a fantasy state where everything felt just perfect. She wrapped her arms around him and sighed, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal. She could still feel him inside her. Still feel the warmth of his body, the intensity of his thrusts as he took her. Still feel the hard possessiveness of his movements.
As her body stayed near his and refused to calm down, she decided not to overthink what had happened. It had been wonderful and more than she’d ever expected, and no matter what happened between her and Zeus in the future, she’d never regret what they’d just done.
In fact, she hoped they did it again soon.
* * *
Zeus was wracked with guilt as he held his mate in his arms. Holding her had been the most pleasurable experience of his life, but he’d damn near taken her without protection, damn near completed the first part of claiming her as mate. The second part was telling her about his bear and letting her accept it, and he wasn’t willing to risk that yet.
It’d been the hardest thing he’d ever done to hold back, to give her pleasure but resist taking her. As he�
�d stroked inside her hot warmth, looked into her beautiful eyes, he’d wanted nothing more than to ensure she was his forever.
But it was too early, and if all Carly wanted from him was pleasure without assurances, that’s what he would give. He knew her last relationship had been bad, and maybe this was her way of exploring things without going any further.
Nonetheless, he knew she didn’t have the feelings for him that he had for her. That he’d had for months.
She’d said she was his, but that was in the depths of passion and couldn’t mean to her what it had to him.
To her, he was an attractive man who was kind. To him, she was everything. He kissed the top of her head and tried not to think about his predicament. But the soldier in him wanted a plan, wanted to know the next step in the battle to win Carly’s heart.
But he didn’t know. He’d never fought a battle like that before. He’d never wanted to win so badly.
He kept his arms tight around her, glad she seemed happy to snuggle against him. He uttered nothing, worried anything he said would give him away. He’d already blurted out things during sex that probably sounded too intense, if she’d really been able to think about them.
He’d been caught up in the moment, in a pleasure he hadn’t known existed. Being with his mate in general was a kind of peace this weary soldier had never thought he’d experience. But making love to her, being inside her, that was coming home.
She rested in his arms, her breathing returning to normal, her curves going soft against him as she stretched out in front of him. He spooned her from behind, loving how her body curved in front of him. He could sense she was quietly thinking, and he would have given anything to be able to hear her thoughts at that moment, to know what she wanted from him or what exactly he could do to make her his forever.
Instead, he pressed his lips to her hair again, loving the softness of it, the sweet smell of female. His bear purred in contentment, and she laughed, snuggling against him.
“What’s that sound?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said quickly, pulling her close.
She laughed and pushed against him, sitting up to look at him. Her bare breasts glowed and her soft skin tantalized him. Even though he’d just taken her, his body already begged to do it again.
She put a hand over her breasts with a self-conscious smile and stifled a giggle. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “It sounds like your stomach’s growling.”
“Yes, I’m hungry,” he said, eyeing her.
She chuckled and pulled the covers up against her, looking shy. The moment stretched between them, a tension he couldn’t really understand. But they’d just made love, and that had changed everything.
The sound of his alarm going off jerked him unpleasantly from the little world they’d been sharing, far from gangs or danger or death.
He covered her with blankets and stood, pulling on his jeans as he crept stealthily to the door. Someone had breached the perimeter. He had a small hope it was Ares, but he wasn’t taking any chances, not with his mate here and vulnerable.
“Stay here. I’ll be back,” he said.
She nodded quietly, and he loved the confidence in her eyes as she watched him go. His mate trusted him to protect her. And luckily, thanks to his past as a soldier, he knew that trust wasn’t misplaced.
There was no one in the world that could take her away from him. Not without the fight of a lifetime.
7
Zeus ran down to the first floor, checking his phone for additional information.
It had alerted him of the initial breach a couple minutes ago. Zeus swore to himself. He should have been paying more attention. The alarm in the house only went off if he ignored the initial warnings, so whatever was outside had already been there for a few minutes.
He hoped Ares really was just a numbskull who always forgot to deactivate the alarm. But as Zeus came to up to the door, he opened a small closet to his right, slipped on his boots, and pulled out a leather vest that he kept hung there that held a few helpful things.
Just in case.
Zeus slowly pushed open the front door but didn’t come outside. He listened for sounds coming from the forest, scented the varying smells that wafted toward him on the afternoon breeze. Pine needles. Bark. Aspen logs.
And something else.
Zeus quietly stepped out onto the porch, every muscle tensed, ready for action.
From his right, he heard movement and turned quickly to face three large men charging directly at him, brandishing knives.
In an instant, Zeus’s mind and body sprang into action. Putting years of sparring and military hand-to-hand combat to use, coupled with his supernatural bear strength, he engaged the three of them at once.
He grabbed the outstretched hand of the lead man and flung him backward. Then, with one swift kick of his steel-toed boot, he struck the hand of the man on his right, sending his large knife clattering to the side. The man backed off, nursing his now-broken wrist. Zeus rushed toward the last man, passing his swinging knife and catching the man’s arm in a vise between his chest and elbow. For a moment, the man looked at Zeus wide-eyed in shock, right before Zeus pulled the man’s face forward into a ferocious head-butt, knocking the man backward and toppling over the railing of the deck onto the dirt.
As he fought, Zeus heard engines roar to life nearby. He came back to the man with the broken hand and knocked him out with a swift hook to the jaw, just in time to see motorcycles coming over the road leading into the clearing, whooping and firing their guns into the air and at him.
The sounds of the gunshots rang through the forest, and Zeus rolled behind a wood pillar at the corner of the porch out of the line of fire. He brandished a compact pistol stowed in the left pocket of his vest and pulled the slide to chamber a round.
“We’re here for the girl. We know you got her inside!” one man yelled as the bikes drove up to the front of the house and waited.
Zeus wondered how it was they’d found him out here. And even if they did find out, he’d never thought the Red Devils would try to come this far from their home turf, even for Carly.
If they wanted to bring the war to his doorstep, then he was more than willing to oblige. Anytime.
“Give up now and we promise not to kill ya!” shouted another. As he did, several men came off their bikes and took cover in the underbrush at the edge of the clearing. They were armed. They were ready.
They were about to get their asses kicked.
Zeus looked over his shoulder and saw about ten bikers waiting at the front of the house, engines idling. He guessed there was probably three or four more in the thick ferns and brush that surrounded the house as well.
“Do you accept the terms of your surrender?” the lead man asked Zeus. He wore a red and black bandana and had a large, polished chopper of a motorcycle.
Zeus wasn’t up for negotiations. He turned over his left shoulder, aimed down the sights of his .45, and fired one shot at the leader, dropping him to the ground.
“Consider that my surrender,” Zeus called to the stunned group of men.
In an instant, the forest exploded with sound. The men swore unspeakable things and revved their engines, circling around the house. Zeus knew he was too exposed here on the deck, and he needed to draw fire away from the cabin to protect Carly. So he leapt over the side railing and rolled to the ground, coming onto his feet and bolting for the nearest patch of trees. All around him, he could hear bullets whizzing past and engines screaming as they approached.
As Zeus ran, he aimed and shot the front tire of one of the bikes as it zoomed toward him, and it veered out of control and careened into the forest with its rider. Just as another swiped past him, he slid beneath a large fern and ducked behind a tree.
Using his newfound cover, he fired on two men sprinting up the stairs and heading into the house. Both men slumped over before they could reach the door.
So long as Zeus fought, nobody would ever come near his m
ate. He’d make sure of that.
More shots ricocheted around him, and Zeus ducked behind another tree. As much as he wanted to go into the clearing, guns blazing, he knew he had neither the ammo nor the manpower to do so. And the last thing his mate needed was a dead protector.
To his right, one of the men that earlier had disappeared into the tree line came toward him, not knowing Zeus was hidden there. Hoping to conserve his ammunition, Zeus pulled a throwing knife and hurled it toward the man, hitting him square in the chest. The goon yelped and dropped to the ground.
Zeus hurried to where he fell and grabbed the scuffed, worn-looking pistol on the ground near his body. Though it didn’t look like the most reliable weapon, two was better than one.
Welding both firearms, Zeus fired on the circle of moving bikes, aiming for tires, engines, gas tanks, and the riders themselves. Though his accuracy certainly would have been better with only one gun, Zeus knew he needed to cull their numbers quickly in case they had reinforcements on the way.
No matter how unlikely it was, Zeus always planned for the worst.
Immediately, bikes began overturning and riders fell to the ground. Those that weren’t flung from their bikes or shot down quickly got the picture and dismounted, scattering for the road. Zeus fired off the last rounds in both pistols and went back into cover, discarding the thug’s pistol and putting a fresh magazine in his own gun. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another man making for the house and shot him down.
A split second after that happened, Zeus heard a loud pop across the clearing and felt searing pain rip into his side. Instinctively, he went prone and rolled behind a tree, out of the line of fire, before whoever was shooting got another chance.
Now on his back, Zeus looked over his body and saw blood welling up on his side.
Shit, he was hit.
Big Bad Bear Page 5