Warlock and the Bear

by Mina Carter

  At the mention of the nightclub, run by a friend of his in the nearby city, things began to make sense. He didn’t remember her from his visit, but that wasn’t unusual. She wasn’t his type. His type ran to small and curvy with fur at certain types of the month. But, as a coven princess, she would be looking to make alliances with Passenfal, even with a disgraced son of the line. He hadn’t paid too much attention to her during the demon incident. Her level of magic was low to middling, and there was no way she was from one of the major covens, probably a backwater one making a play for power by promising his father they could get him back into the fold.

  Morgan’s face set as he looked at her. “Why would you do that?”

  She sauntered closer. “Because I want to see this resolved without bloodshed. It’s so,”—she shuddered—“uncivilized. Please, Lord Arran. We can resolve this, and no one needs to get hurt. We’re not bothered about the bears. We’re just here for you.”

  He’d left his coven because his father was an asshole who’d driven his mother, a normal, away. That loss, and the inability to see it was all his fault, had turned his father into a cold-hearted bastard Morgan wanted nothing to do with. Just like he wanted nothing to do with the politics and mind-games of a coven ever again.

  But… if it saved his friends.

  If it saved the woman he loved…

  He loved Lilly.

  The thought exploded through him with the force of a nuclear bomb, and he realized he’d always loved her. Right from the moment he’d met her, he’d known. He’d just been lying to himself, trying to protect himself because he was a coward.

  He focused on the female witch again, his gaze direct and focused.

  “You’re sticking your neck out a lot here. What’s in it for you?”

  Ms. Wicca’s smile grew even broader as she walked toward him, a sway in her hips.

  “Because you’ll be my consort. As soon as I saw you in that club last year, I knew you were the one.” She trailed a blood-red-taloned hand over his chest and shoulders as she circled him. “No bear woman will ever be good enough for you.”

  He winced internally to hear her say that, and suddenly realized how bad it sounded. It wasn’t that Lilly wasn’t good enough for him, he wasn’t good enough for her.

  And in a heartbeat, he made his decision. He didn’t want to live life without Lilly. His magic he could live without, but not the woman who made his heart beat in his chest.

  Leaning in, he didn’t bother to keep his voice low as he replied. “You can tell my father to go fuck himself. I’m happy right where I am. And you? I wouldn’t touch you with Anderson’s cock, darling. Prep the spell. I’d rather have Lilly than magic.”

  Chapter 11

  Morgan was a lord. An honest to goodness magical lord. Nobility. Lilly, hidden in the shadows near the back door of the barn, sucked in a gasp at the revelation.

  " You can tell my father to go fuck himself. I’m happy right where I am. And you? I wouldn't touch you with Anderson's cock, darling."

  As declarations went, Morgan's growled comment wasn't what most people would consider romantic. But to Lilly it was the most romantic thing she'd ever heard. Until he spoke again.

  "Prep the spell. I'd rather have Lilly than magic."

  She pressed her hand to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. He'd chosen to give up his magic for her.

  He'd chosen her.

  Before she could get too teary and emotional though, Anderson's head snapped up, and he sniffed the air in suspicion.

  Shit. They were running out of time.

  She'd wanted to wait until the rest of the clan got here. In a move of either supreme arrogance or utter stupidity, they'd left Bennett's cell on him, perhaps figuring that the matestruck bear would be too far gone to use it. He might have been, but his bear was intelligent enough to realize Lilly could use it to call for help. So she had, but only gotten Dean's voicemail.

  Fuck it, of all the times for the prime to turn his damn cell off.

  "We got company," Anderson snarled his voice deepening with his bear.

  "Crap. Go go go!" She yelled at Bennett, and between them, the two bears destroyed the back wall of the old barn as they crashed through it.

  "What the fuck!”

  "Bears!"

  "Kill them!”

  The barn erupted into yells and bellows as Anderson and Harrison both dropped their heads and charged Lilly and Bennett.

  For a moment her gaze collided with Morgan's. A brief moment filled with emotion as she tried to convey everything she felt in a single look. He nodded, and relief surged through her. He knew. Knew that she'd heard his declaration, his decision, and what it had meant for him to make it.

  Then he wheeled away, the blue flames over his arms ramping up to inferno levels as he took on the two magic users. That wasn't a fight she could help him with, so she turned to the one she could win.

  The whole exchange with Morgan had taken less than a second and both enemy bears were still only halfway through their change as they lumbered toward her and Bennett. It was almost laughable. Anderson seriously thought he could take Dean Sterling on in a pit challenge? The big prime would tie this asshole up into a human pretzel before he'd even managed to poke fur through his pores.

  She'd heard their plan and it was just as ridiculous. The loss of his fated mate wouldn't make Dean distracted and more docile in a fight. The only thing it would do was make him even more lethal. He wouldn't just track down every single person involved, his vengeance would ensure even their great-grandparents felt the backlash.

  Bennett roared and shifted, meeting Harrison in a clash of mountainous fur. She had no idea how it worked with Bennett himself asleep, but she had to trust his bear. The creature was honorable and intelligent. It hadn’t led her wrong yet.

  So she concentrated on Anderson, time slowing down as he lumbered toward her, a smile of triumph spread over his furry face as he clocked she was still in human form. He thought he had her. That there was no way she could change in time to fight him.

  Already, his massive front paws were spread to swipe at her head and stomach, disemboweling her even as he decapitated her. Not even a full-blooded shifter could survive something like that. With such massive wounds, she wouldn’t have time to shift to heal the damage before she bled out.

  But she wasn’t just a full-blooded shifter. She was alpha. She launched herself forward, her bear exploding out of her human body between one heartbeat and the next.

  She barely felt the pain as her bones cracked and lengthened, her body gaining mass and muscle. Her muzzle pushed forward, fangs already bursting through her gums and dropping down to fill her larger mouth at the same moment paws the size of dinner plates hit the packed dirt floor.

  Thundering forward, she met Anderson in the middle of his charge in a collision of heavy muscle and fur. A roar of fury ripped from her throat as she laid into him with teeth and heavy claws. She became a force of nature, her only goal to kill her opponent.

  Within seconds, she knew she could. Anderson was older than her, and far less powerful. His bear was strong, yes, but he wasn’t an alpha, much as he wanted to be. But he wanted it for the wrong reasons. He wanted it to make people obey him, to fear him, to worship him… and completely forgot that the role of an alpha was to protect those weaker than himself.

  She was alpha. She was stronger. She could beat him.

  But she didn’t want it over that quickly. For everything he’d done, for all the people he’d hurt and planned to hurt, she wanted him to suffer. So, with the sounds of the magical battle raging behind her, she started to take Anderson apart piece by piece. She ignored his grunts of pain as her claws sliced deep. Time after time. Until his fur turned red and blood splattered on the floor at their feet. Still, she danced around him, giving into the fury in her soul. This asshole had hurt people, tried to use a good man, Bennett, to hurt and kill her. He’d conspired to hurt and kill her friends.

  She didn’t want to
kill him. She wanted to utterly destroy him. Carve away everything he held dear until he was a whimpering wreck of a man on the floor, begging at her feet to make the pain go away.

  The barn fell silent behind her, but she didn’t notice. She didn’t notice anything but Anderson as he stopped fighting and started to block. She didn’t notice anything else as he lost his hold on his bear. The creature, knowing it was beat, retreated within his skin, hiding so far down she couldn’t even sense it, and leaving the man, naked, and at her mercy.

  She padded forward, her massive paws leaving bloody footprints on the floor. Anderson tried to curl in on himself, protecting his stomach and head. She shoved her muzzle close to his neck, and he whimpered in fear. Growling, she opened her mouth to grip his neck and shoulder. Her fangs pressed in, indenting the skin as she increased the pressure.

  “Please don’t kill me,” Anderson begged pathetically, terror rolling from his pores in a thick, seductive perfume. Just one snap of her jaws, and it would be all over. He would be dead, and she would never have to worry about him hurting anyone she cared about ever again.

  “Lilly… he’s done. You don’t need to do this.”

  Morgan’s deep voice reached her, and she looked up to find him standing a few feet away, his hands spread in entreaty. His expression was concerned. Not for Anderson, she realized, but for her.

  “You don’t have to do this. You don’t need to kill him. It leaves a stain on your soul, babe. You don’t need that. Not for him. He’s not worth it.” He carried on talking, taking a step forward.

  At some point, he’d defeated the two witches and the rest of the clan had arrived. Dean, Creed, and a couple of the other enforcers stood behind Morgan with grim faces and blood-splattered skin. Her gaze flicked back to Morgan and she met his gaze levelly, then lifted her head in challenge.

  This was who she was, what she was. He had to accept all of her, including her bear, or they didn’t have a future together.

  Morgan smiled, his piercing blue gaze taking in her ursine form, the blood splattered fur… everything.

  “You’re beautiful, Lilly. Come back to me.”

  He held his hand out, and she dropped Anderson like a hot cake, not careful as she walked over him toward the man she loved. Between one step and the next she folded her bear form into her human one and stood before him clad in nothing but blood. To his credit, he held her gaze all the way, not looking down once.

  “Did you mean that?” she demanded, looking him in the eye. “About giving up your magic? Or did you have a plan all along? I mean... you’re a lord.”

  “None of that means anything.” He shook his head. “And there was no plan. If it was a choice between you and magic, I’d pick you every time, my love.”

  She froze, hope starting to fill her chest. “Say that again.”

  He frowned, but warmth danced in the back of his eye. “If it was a choice—”

  “No.” She cut him off. Asshole warlock. “You know what I meant. You know what I want.”

  “I do.” He smiled and reached for her hand, then knelt down. “Lilly Braun… in a choice between my magic and you, you would win every time. Neither my magic, nor any title, mean anything to me without the reason my heart beats. And,” he smirked again. “In case you missed it, that’s you. I love you. Will you marry me?”

  She blinked, blindsided, her heart thundering in her chest. “Say that again.”

  Morgan’s grin broadened. “If it was a cho—”

  She growled at him. “Not that part, asshole.”

  He chuckled. “If you’re going to call me names, I won’t propose again.”

  “Propose?”

  “Yes. Lilly, you’re my reason for living. Will you marry me?”

  They'd finally made it home after the evening's excitement. Anderson and the witches had confirmed that they'd been brought together by a third party—a local crime lord named Riley, looking to expand his territory. His name and that of the town he’d based himself in was familiar.

  Morgan grinned. As it happened, an old army buddy of his and Dean's had just put down roots there. he was sure Reese would love an opportunity for a little action, especially as his buddy, Danny, was due back in town any time soon... and Danny had no idea Reese had taken Danny's little sister Bobbi as his mate.

  But much as he'd have liked to have been there for the call to Reese, once the witches had confirmed that they hadn’t relayed his location to his father, Morgan had more important things to worry about, like the tiny woman wrapped in a towel in his arms.

  The first thing Lilly had done when they got home was shower the blood off her skin. He'd considered telling her that the towel wasn't necessary, that naked was good, really good, but the memory of what she'd done to the last guy to piss her off stayed his tongue. She was glorious when she was mad, but he liked his skin in one piece, thank you very much.

  "That spell you did to free Bennett was amazing," she murmured as they lay together on her bed. She'd only just stopped shivering, the after effects of adrenaline and shock. While she was an enforcer, and used to kicking ass and taking names, her days usually didn't involve threats of death or most of her clan being wiped out by outside forces.

  "Oh, it was nothing," he shrugged at the praise and trailed his fingertips over the bare skin of her back above the towel. "Once I figured out what they'd done, it was easy to replicate the shift magic to remove the strike."

  "Really?" She looked up at him with interest. "You can manipulate shift magic that easily? I thought only primes could do that... " she frowned. "Does that mean you could trigger my shift even if I didn't want to?"

  He shook his head. Her concern was understandable.

  "The only reason it worked is because Bennett's bear let me in. Shift magic is a very specific form of magic. It's like DNA." he explained. "Or survival instincts. It’s hard-coded. It's what lets you guys shrug off most minor enchantments."

  "Oh?" she looked at him with interest. "So how did they manage to enchant him at all?"

  He grimaced. The spell had been a nasty one. After seeing it, he was embarrassed to be a magic-user.

  "It was a twisted version of a love spell. They used herbs and the real attraction Bennett had for you and boosted it massively, tipped it over into obsession, and triggered matestrike. The reason it didn't work is because Bennett's bear is capable of independent action. I knew a wolf that could do that once. It's fascinating.

  "And even if I think your bear is the cutest thing ever, I would never do that to you. I would never take away your choices like that."

  The burst of warmth and pleasure in her eyes told him it was the right answer, and she snuggled closer. So close he was forced to catch his breath at the feeling of her soft body, her curves, pressed up close and personal against him. He'd removed his shirt before lying down to hold her so all it would take would be for that towel to slip a little...

  "Thank you," she breathed, turning in his arms to press a kiss against his lips.

  His arms tightened around her and he kissed her back. Gently at first but with increasing passion. She wasn't the only one affected by the events of the day. He might not be shaking on the outside, but he'd come so close to losing her he knew the bruise on his heart would take a while to heal.

  "I can't believe you made me ask twice," Morgan broke away to whisper against her lips. "I was on my knees and everything."

  Her grin was swift and unrepentant. "Perhaps I just like a guy on his knees."

  Heat and amusement hit him like a wave.

  "Is that so, minx?" He tickled her side, making her laugh and squirm to evade him. The towel slipped and he found himself with an armful of curvy, naked woman.

  He flipped on his back sprawling her over his chest and driving his hand into her hair to kiss her deeply. By the time he lifted his head, their breath was ragged.

  "You can have me on my knees any time, beautiful," he murmured, looking deeply into her eyes. "But don't expect me to be doing somet
hing fit for public viewing."

  The heat and darkness in her eyes was enough to make him catch his breath, his cock jerking savagely where it was trapped between them.

  "Is that so?"

  Mischief curved the corners on her lips, and she rolled her hips. He swore at the added stimulation, well aware there was only a thin banner of cloth between him and where they both wanted him to be.

  "Well, why aren't you there already then, my lord? "she murmured, reaching up to graze her currently human-blunt teeth against his stubbed chin.

  "I said that out loud, didn't I?" he groaned, already boosting her up so he could tear open the fly of his jeans. His cock sprang free to slap against her inner thigh.

  "Uh-huh." She caught her breath as he pressed against the entrance to her body. He surged upward, filling her in one hard thrust that made them both gasp.

  He closed his eyes as a shudder rolled through his body from the top of his head all the way down to curl his toes. Whenever he was inside her, it was like he was coming home.

  She was his home and always would be.

  He'd have stayed there, savoring the sublime feeling of being buried balls deep in her welcoming heat, but his little bear had other ideas. Placing a small hand in the middle of his broad chest, she pushed upward and started to ride him, need and desire stark on her face.

  He watched her in erotic fascination. He loved her, loved everything about her. His hands tightened on her hips, helping her as she impaled herself time and time again on the thick evidence of his need for her.

  It wasn’t a gentle lovemaking, it was need and fear for each other. Raw and primal. A reaffirmation of the fact they’d survived and found their way back to each other. The air around them filled with the sounds of their joining, feminine gasps, deep, masculine groans, and the sound of skin on skin.

  It wouldn’t take him long, already feeling the familiar tingling along his spine and around his balls even as he felt his love’s pussy beginning to clench and spasm around his length buried inside her.