Loved by a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 1)

by Lauren Lively

  "His back. I don't know how bad it is."

  "Bannack says that it took several minutes for the reaction to start."

  Pyra let out a loud grunt and forced Lynx back down onto the ground. By now both men had bloody gashes in their arms and Pyra had blood streaming down his face from where Lynx had apparently reared up and broken his nose.

  "Yes. He didn't start acting like this until the Covra were already gone and I pointed out that he was bleeding."

  "Hopefully that means that they didn't get too much venom in him and that I'll be able to get it out easily."

  "Have you ever heard of this before?" Bannack asked from the doorway.

  "No, but I've dealt with other venomous creatures. I'll do the best I can. Pyra, when you feel like you have enough control, flip him over onto his belly. Bannack, come around the side and as soon as he's over, grab onto one of his arms and help Pyra hold him. This is going to be painful, so make sure you are holding him down hard enough and expect some screaming."

  He said it all with such calmness that Bannack almost thought that Ciyrs was joking, but when he looked at him, he could see the intensity in the healer's eyes and he knew that he was absolutely serious. Bannack hurried around to Lynx's other side, poised to help Pyra hold him down. A moment later Pyra released the hold that he had on Lynx with his knee in his chest and let go of one of his arms so that he could flip the man over onto his belly. Lynx thrashed, nearly forcing Pyra back, but Bannack grabbed hold of him and together they were able to fight him back to the ground.

  They held him in place long enough for Ciyrs to press the contraption to the long gash down Lynx's back and start turning the handle at the top. Lynx let out a primal scream and his entire body tensed. Ciyrs turned the handle faster, seeming to intensify the drawing of the venom the more the warrior responded. Finally Lynx's body relaxed and he seemed to collapse onto the floor. Bannack could see his eyelids fluttering over his closed eyes and hear his labored breath, but his body didn't move even as he and Pyra started to ease their grip on him.

  "You can let go," Ciyrs told them, seeming to notice how cautiously and reluctantly the two men were releasing their hold on Lynx, "He's going to be asleep for a good while. I'm going to have to heal him up now, and all of that takes a lot out of you." Ciyrs gestured for his bag and Pyra handed it to him, "Where do you want me to take him? He's going to have to have somewhere to lie down."

  Bannack watched as Ciyrs started pulling bandages and healing ointments out of his bag and setting them on the floor beside Lynx's prone figure.

  "Here," Pyra finally said.

  Bannack and Ciyrs both look up at him sharply.

  "Here?" Ciyrs asked, "Why?"

  Pyra gestured at the bed against the wall, the one with the woman that Bannack had completely forgotten even existed. It looked even stranger now to see her lying there, not reacting in any way to everything that had just happened around her.

  "He says that she is his mate."

  "But she's…"Ciyrs started to protest and Pyra held up a hand to stop him.

  "I'm well aware," Pyra said, his voice sounding tired as if the fight with Lynx had taken everything out of him physically and emotionally, "but it is none of my business who he thinks is his mate. We all know what it's like when we first found our mate. It might not have been the easiest thing in the world, and it might not have made terribly much sense at the time, but we knew. Even those of us who tried to deny it," he shot a glare at Bannack, who tried to pretend he didn't see it, "and if being with Eden and watching all of you find your mates has taught me anything, it is that we never know what's going to happen. If he thinks that this woman is supposed to be his mate, I think that he should be here with her. If nothing else, make him more comfortable so he heals better."

  Bannack and Ciyrs nodded, and Bannack could only imagine that the healer was thinking back, just as he was, about when he found his own mate. It wasn't an easy process, and one that changed his life from the very first moment that it started. As hard as he had tried to deny his immediate and intense love for Loralia from the first time that he saw her, he had felt the changes that came over him even before he had laid eyes on her. The intensity, aggression, and anger that had coursed through him had been like nothing he had ever experienced, and though he was able to explain those feelings away as being a part of his reaction to the impending battle, he had not been able to give the same explanation to the overwhelming arousal that had come over him as he approached the underground mirror realm and did not ease until he had finally accepted his love for Loralia and completed his bond with her.

  If Lynx had experienced anything like Bannack had when he first met Loralia when he saw Rain, he could only imagine how difficult it was to compound that with not knowing if he would ever see her alive, and then to be infected by the Covra. Being near Rain was the best thing for him as he went through his challenging recovery.

  "If the two of you could step back a little," Ciyrs said, holding his hands out to guide Bannack and Pyra back away from Lynx, "I'm going to heal him now."

  Bannack and Pyra followed the instruction, taking a few steps back away from Lynx so that Ciyrs could kneel closer to Lynx's prone form. He was not breathing as hard now and his eyes had started to settle, but Bannack knew that wouldn't last. Ciyrs could heal virtually any injury or illness if he got to it fast enough, but the process was neither simple nor pleasant most of the time. The healer pulled Lynx's tattered and bloodied shirt off and tossed it aside before positioning him so that his back was fully accessible.

  Ciyrs rubbed his hands together and took a breath before placing them over the gash on Lynx's back. A faint glow appeared under his palms and a moment later Lynx let out a low groan. His body writhed and Bannack could see his hips rise up slightly. It was one of the uncomfortable reactions to the healing process, an unexplained level of arousal that was nearly as sudden and intense as the reaction that came from being close to meeting their mate. This reaction was the primary reason that the warriors preferred to be alone when they were getting healed, and why, even though Ciyrs had been able to transfer some of his impressive healing abilities to his mate when he first healed her, he didn't like it when Elianna healed the men.

  After a few minutes of Ciyrs keeping his hands over the gash in Lynx's back, he pulled them away and checked the injury again. Reaching back into his bag, the healer withdrew several bottles and a handful of long bandages. Bannack watched him coat the gash with several thick layers of ointments and ground plants and then look up at Pyra.

  "Help me sit him up so that I can bandage him."

  Pyra crouched down beside Lynx and propped him up, helping Ciyrs stabilize him as he wrapped the bandages tightly around his body. When he was fully bandaged, the three men lifted Lynx off of the floor and carefully placed him on the bed beside the woman locking in her sleeping state. Though there was enough room on the large bed to place him so that he wasn't touching her, Pyra tucked him under the covers and moved Lynx's hand so that it rested against Rain's arm. Bannack was glad to see this simple gesture. Even though neither of them were conscious, maybe the physical contact would provide some level of comfort and peace.

  Chapter Seven

  Lynx bit down into his bottom lip, withholding a groan as he tried to control himself. He could feel the softness of Rain's mouth making a slow, torturous path down his chest from the soft dip between his collarbones. She followed the touch of her lips with the gentle, almost imperceptible glide of her tongue. When her mouth reached his belly, she let her tongue dip into his navel, and the feeling sent a shiver through his body.

  He had never had a craving like he did at that moment, but he didn't want to rush the delicious feelings so he gripped the sheets beside him and squeezed his eyes closed to keep himself from taking her head in his hands and pushing it down.

  As if she could sense his need, Rain traced her mouth down the rest of his belly at a slightly faster speed, occasionally f
ollowing the slick of her tongue with the nip of her teeth against his skin. Finally he could feel her hot, moist breath ripple along the length of his erection and just that one simple sensation caused him to arch his back off of the bed. She waited until he relaxed again to let her tongue trace along him, pausing to concentrate for a few delirious seconds on the sensitive bundle of nerves tucked just under the head before parting her lips further and taking him fully into her mouth.

  The feeling nearly overwhelmed him and Lynx continued to struggle to control himself. He wanted to sit up, grab Rain, throw her down, and mate with her until he could no longer move, but at the same time he was reluctant to give up the incredible sensations she was creating inside him and also didn't want to frighten or upset her. It was a delicate balance, at once wanting to take complete control and having enough trust in her to give himself over to her. The combination of the relinquishing control and the hot, intense feeling of her mouth along his cock was something that Lynx had never experienced, but his body moved and reacted on instinct, his hips slowly and subtly rolling to push himself deeper along her tongue to encourage her to suck him harder.

  Finally he couldn't control himself anymore and he lifted his hands from the bed, gripping her shoulder with one and burying the other into her hair so that he could guide her into a faster, deeper rhythm. Part of him worried that he had gone too far, that he had exerted too much aggression and dominance over her, but Rain seemed to enjoy it, letting out a soft moan and relaxing her mouth to welcome the thrusts of his hips. As she lowered her body to accept him deeper, Lynx felt her nipples graze against the skin of his thighs and his arousal threatened to topple over.

  He pulled her back so that he withdrew from her mouth and took her by her upper arms. Coming up off of the bed, Lynx turned Rain so that he could lower her down onto the bed with her head resting on the pillows where he had just been lying. Her body stretched out beneath him and the impossible, crystal blue of her eyes stared up at him with such openness and trust that he felt his emotions swell almost painfully in his chest. The urgency dissipated as a need to savor and cherish her took over. Lynx lowered his head and touched a kiss to her throat and then another to the soft dip between her collarbones where he could feel her fast heartbeat pounding up at him from beneath her skin.

  There was a need for her inside him, something that he could never have explained or even understood before that moment, and he sought to fulfill it completely. His hands stroked down her body, dipping into her curves and memorizing the soft swells of her hips, breasts, and belly. His tongue slid out from between his lips to run a long, slow lick from the valley between her breasts up to the tip of her chin. Her skin tasted warm and salty, her breath rang in his ears, and he could feel her body trembling beneath him. He wanted to experience her with every sense and meld with her into one existence.

  Lifting up again to stare into her eyes, Lynx eased himself over her and settled his hips between her thighs. Her long, smooth arms wrapped around his neck and he felt her draw her knees up as if welcoming him into her body. He took a long breath and began to push his hips forward, but just before he sank into her, his eyes snapped open and the entire beautiful image dissolved around him.

  Deep, radiating pain in his back overtook the pleasure her mouth had given him, and cold sheets replaced her trembling body. Lynx sat up sharply and gasped at the pain that intensified in his back. His hand came to his chest and he felt the rough bandages. Suddenly things started coming back to him. He remembered the fight with the Covra and the pain of his injuries. He remembered watching Bannack and Pyra fight alongside him. Then he remembered the sudden, all-consuming feeling of hatred and aggression toward the two men. He could feel only the need to destroy them, and then there was blackness.

  Lynx dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, rubbing at them to try to clear his mind. He was aware of the feeling of a mattress beneath him and a thick blanket covering from his hips over his legs. His upper body was bare except for the bandages and the cool air of the room sent a chill across his skin. When he pulled his hands away from his eyes he could briefly only see bright colored sparks dancing in the darkness, and then they faded into hazy vision. The room around him was dark, but light from outside came in through the window, allowing him to see what was around him. He glanced down and saw Rain lying beside him, her position unchanged since when he first saw her. Having her so close to him was comforting and he ventured to run his fingers down the curve of her cheek.

  As soon as his fingers touched her, Lynx experienced the same sudden flash of vision that he had had the first time he touched her, giving him the same glimpse into the last few seconds of her being awake before the Covra had come out and locked her right there in her bed. Something about the vision struck him strangely this time that hadn't occurred to him the first time. He touched her again, letting himself experience those moments again, and came out of them wondering why she had crawled into bed when the sun was still up and the room was filled with the rich light of late afternoon.

  Suddenly he realized that he didn't know where Pyra, Bannack, or any of the other men were. He needed to know what had happened between the moment when he was overcome by the desire to kill them and when he awoke beside Rain. The vivid, intense dream about Rain repeating torturously in his mind, Lynx carefully climbed out of the bed and left the room.

  Feeling on edge and worrying that the Covra would suddenly appear again, Lynx took a few steps down the hallway before he heard Pyra's voice from downstairs. He was speaking in a hushed tone, but even speaking as quietly as he could, Pyra wasn't able to keep his voice much lower than what many people would consider a normal conversational tone, and Lynx moved toward it feeling comforted that he didn't feel the compulsion to attack his friend.

  "Lynx!" Ciyrs said when Lynx turned the corner from the stairwell into a large open room toward the back of the house.

  He didn't remember when the clan's healer had arrived at the house, but he was relieved to see him. He wasn't sure what had happened to him or what exactly Ciyrs had done to ensure that he woke up out of it feeling relatively normal, but he was incredibly relieved that he had been there. From what he could remember feeling in the moments before everything went black, it was very possible that he might not have survived the incident had his friends not acted quickly to ensure that he did.

  "It's good to see you up and about, buddy," Pyra said from a couch near a fireplace on the back wall.

  "How long have I been out?" Lynx asked, settling gingerly onto another couch beside Bannack.

  "A while. Are you feeling alright?" Bannack answered.

  "Other than the horrible stabbing pain through my back and being confused as all hell, I think I'm doing fine. Tell me what happened."

  As Lynx listened to Pyra and Bannack recount their battle in the bedroom against the Covra and then his sudden descent into a murderous rampage and then Ciyrs's healing, Lynx found his mind continuing to wander back to Rain. He couldn't keep this thoughts off of her, from the look of her lying there locked in her sleep in the bed, to the dream he had had about her as he lay beside her after being healed. As his mind flashed back and forth between the images, something that Pyra said snapped him back into the conversation.

  "What?" he asked.

  Pyra looked at him quizzically.

  "What?"

  "What did you just say?"

  "I was just saying that you said something about their eyes and then the creatures started leaving, but we didn't know why."

  "She didn't see them, so she couldn't fight them," Lynx muttered.

  "What are you talking about?" Pyra asked, but Lynx was already on his feet.

  "Where are all of the others?"

  "They are in the other houses. We decided to stay here for the night before we keep going in the morning so that you could rest."

  Lynx was shaking his head and starting for the door before the others could even get up to follow him.

>   "No. We aren't leaving here until we figure out what's going on, and I think I can help us do that. I need to find Ero."

  Chapter Eight

  Lynx ignored the mutters and the shouted questions when he ran into the main room of the third house down from where he had awoken and rushed directly to Ero where he crouched in front of the fire, prodding at the glowing embers with a sharpened iron rod. The night outside was dramatically colder than the day had been and Lynx could still feel the sting of the air on his skin as he grabbed hold of Ero's back.

  "Ero, I need you to come with me."

  "Seriously, Lynx? You scared the shit out of me. I could have fallen into the damn fire." He glared at Lynx for a moment before his expression suddenly changed to one of shock, "Lynx! Are you OK? We've all been sitting around scared you weren't going to wake up."

  "I'm fine. I need you to do me a favor."

  "What do you need?"

  "Remember how you were telling me that Zuri sent her journal with you?"

  "Yeah, I have it in my bag upstairs."

  "Could you get it and come with me?"

  Without asking for an explanation, Ero rushed out of the room and Lynx heard his footsteps go up the stairs and down the hall. He could only assume that the house was laid out in essentially the same way as the one where he had been and that Ero was headed to one of the row of bedrooms on the upper floor. A few seconds later he heard the footsteps approaching again and Ero appeared back in the living room gripping the journal and a pencil.

  "What do you need me to do?"

  A few of the other men in the room had stepped slightly toward him as if waiting for him to include them in what he was saying to Ero, and Lynx turned to them.

  "I need everyone to bring their torches and their light sticks. Anything they have that glows."

  Lynx waited while the men gathered their light sources from the supplies that they had brought and then led them out onto the street. The warriors who had taken up residence in two other houses along the street came out to meet them, but Lynx told them that they could go back inside and rest. He needed the light, but he didn't need that big of an audience. The men he had already gathered would be enough for what he needed to do.