by Bianca James
Worried that she’d not take too kindly to having his plus size boner poking her in the stomach, he arched his back to make a gap between them. Almost instantly, she pressed herself against him, firmly and deliberately closing the gap, as she ached to feel his hardness against her once more.
Her lips parted, inviting him to explore her. Begging him to explore her. All feelings of shame and brazenness dissipated as her hormones, to which she had now surrendered complete control, surged throughout her body, bringing with them a clawing need to be taken by this brave, strong specimen of a man. She felt like she was melting where she stood and the liquid heat that surged within her pooled below her belly, where his hardness pressed hungrily.
Running her fingers through his stubble of close shaved blond hair she broke their deep, eager kiss to press her mouth to his neck and breathe in his musky, masculine scent. His was an intoxicating, heady aroma that served no other purpose than to inflame her wanton desires even more. She was long past the point of thinking that such primal lust was inappropriate.
That horse had well and truly left the barn.
Chapter 15
Curling her leg around his, pulling him tighter and closer to her, Erin tore at Spider’s expanse of back and shoulder muscles as she sought to feel every one of the undulating muscle groups with her probing fingertips. She’d never felt anything like it. He was rock hard, but at the same time, there was softness beneath her fingers as he rippled and flowed at her touch.
Bringing her mouth back to his, their tongues sought each other and twirled and snaked together, performing a mating ritual of their very own. Spider snatched a handful of Erin’s hair, pulling it hard as he kissed her possessively, plundering her mouth like he couldn’t get enough of her.
The urges threatened to overwhelm her. She broke away again, breathless.
“What are you doing to me?” she sighed in his ear.
“If you have to ask that, then we really should stop.”
“No . . . I mean how are you doing this to me? I don’t do this. This isn’t me. Why do I feel like I’m so . . .”
“Horny?” he ventured.
She slapped him on the arm. “No, you idiot, not horny, but drawn. That’s what it is; I feel drawn to you, like this is right, somehow. But part of me says I shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t even know you.”
“Trust me,” he said into her mouth, “trust yourself. I feel it, too.”
And so does my bear!
As he kissed her, more gently and sensually this time, she became aware, once more, of the heat pooling between her legs and she pressed her sex against his hardness, seeking the pleasure of his mighty erection. It’s length stretched from her belly all the way down to her moist mound. She wanted him. Wanted him to fill her and take her like he couldn’t get enough of her. She wanted to feel him crave her as she desired him. Profoundly and deeply.
His hand slid from her lower back to the thigh she had wrapped around him. His fingers found every curve along the way and still it felt like he wanted more of her as he explored her butt and midriff before sliding his long, firm fingers lower to her waiting pussy.
Shuddering with anticipation as his hand approached, she willed it to move faster. She wanted, no, needed him to touch her there before she exploded. So strong was her desire to be pleasured by him that she actually felt like she could come just at his touch.
As his fingers slid across the fabric of her pants ready to cup her sex in the warm palm of his hand, he stopped.
“No,” she keened wistfully. “Please . . .”
But Spider wasn’t listening, at least not to her. He cocked his head slightly, his acute bear instincts having been piqued by a distant sound. Feet, wait . . . paws pummeling the damp forest floor as they ran. Large paws. Two bears.
“What is it?” Her selfish pleasures were shunted aside as she picked up on Spider’s focus being fixed on something she wasn’t yet aware of.
Two minutes later Spider made his way to the door. He hadn’t reached it when the door shoved open and a breathless Jarrad and Jack tumbled through the opening. Erin noticed that they both appeared unharmed. And unarmed. Strange.
“We were hoping you’d be here,” Jarrad said with a smile. “Those guys are real pissed and I think they mean business this time.
“This time?” Jack probed.
“I second that,” Erin added for good measure.
Erin and Jack looked to each other, each recognizing that on different levels they were both outsiders and there was more to what was going on that either of them had been made privy to.
“Okay, if I’m going to be shooting guys —”
“And I’m getting shot at —” Erin interjected
“As I was saying,” Jack continued with a sharp glare to shut Erin up, “if I’m going to be shooting guys who are shooting at me, then I ought to know what I’m getting myself into. I’m not a local, remember.”
Jarrad and Spider looked at each other. Jarrad tilted his head discretely toward Erin. They both looked to Jack.
The awkwardness was broken by Erin.
“It’s time you boys manned up.” She looked at all three of them, one at a time. “I’m not going anywhere, it’s like a zillion degrees below zero out there, so I won’t be stepping out while you have your secret squirrel boys club meeting, so you might as well spill the beans right now. I almost got killed today because of you all and I’ve got a right to know.”
“You nearly got killed because you were being nosey and spying on people you had no right to be spying on, Miss . . .”
“Erin,” she submitted. “My name’s Erin Parker.”
Nice name, thought Spider, wishing they’d taken the time for introductions before they started . . .
“Great,” Jarrad’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “now that we’re all buddied up, Spider, do you want to tell the story?”
With a heave of his chest and a sigh, Spider shoved off the wall he’d been leaning against and stepped into the middle of the room.
“Okay, I’ll catch the two of you up as best I can.” He looked at Jack and Erin, wondering how much of the story to tell.
In the end, he told them everything. Everything but the three of them being bear shifters. He didn’t think Erin was ready for that on top of everything else.
Maybe she’d never be ready.
Chapter 16
“I still don’t get it.,” Erin shook her head. “You took the cartel’s money and gave it away. You don’t have their money or the SD card with their bank routing numbers is now worthless, so why are they waging world war three on Big Bear Mountain?”
“Revenge. It’s as simple as that,” Jarrad stated. “They’ve taken Elle, my mate . . . wife. They’re using her as bait to get us all in their trap, and then wipe us all out. For good.”
“Something’s not right with that story. There’s more to it than that. I’ve been a reporter long enough to know when a story stinks and this one smells like dead fish.”
“You’re a reporter?” Spider challenged.
“What do you think I was doing spying on you? This was supposed to be my big break. My big exclusive ‘page one’ exposé.”
“So when you said your editor knew where you were, you weren’t lying?” he continued probing.
“No. Well, yes. Kind of. I mean, I have an editor, but he thinks I’m covering a symposium about . . . well, I’ll save you the details but it’s a boring as batshit and I wanted to find out what was going on up here with all the guns and gunships and stuff blowing up.” She shrugged. There was not much else she could say.
“So what’s your special ‘spidey sense’ telling you is wrong here? Good guys rip off the bad guys. Give away money like Robin Hood. Bad guys come and kill them for payback. Seems simple enough to me,” Jarrad proposed.
“Sure, but why set the trap? They’ve got enough resources, guns, manpower, missiles and gunships to come at you and take you all out, one by one. Why the elaborate kidnap ruse
? Doesn’t it seem a bit sophisticated for a bunch of gangsters whose idea of subtlety normally involves posting body parts, a piece at a time, to those they’re trying to manipulate?”
“So what are you suggesting?” Spider queried.
“That there’s something else they want and you either don’t know what it is or you do and you’re not telling me the whole story. If I were into betting, I’d be going all-in on you guys holding out on me.”
Erin folded her arms as a look of triumph gleamed in her eyes. She was nobody’s fool and was determined to let them know it.
“I haven’t got time for this crap. None of it matters. I’m going to get Elle back and I’ll do it alone of that’s what it takes.” Jarrad moved toward the door.
“We don’t even know where they’re holding her,” Spider pleaded.
“I think I might be able to help with that,” Erin announced with beaming confidence.
“You?” Jarrad paused and looked over his shoulder.
“I told you, I’ve been watching these guys for a while. I didn’t realize until tonight that you and the other guys weren’t on the same team. Now I’m seeing the big picture.”
“And where in this big picture is my wife?” Jarrad’s tone was skeptical.
And she told them. Everything she’d seen before they captured her and the shooting started.
It all made perfect sense. The three ex-military men looked to each other and silently acknowledged that it made perfect strategic sense. They should have figured out themselves, but it took a cooler head to prevail and point them in the right direction.
Spider walked behind Erin to gather up the rest of his clothing that remained discarded on the floor. As he passed her, the back of his hand brushed against hers. A small gesture but she knew it meant thank you and a lot more besides. Her fingers found his and she gave his hand a quick squeeze as it passed. That brief, moving gesture left her hankering for more. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin against hers again. All over her body. What was this man doing to her?
“So, what do we do now?” Jack asked nobody in particular.
Erin picked up her H&K machine pistol from the floor. “We saddle up.” She ejected the magazine, inspected it, slapped it home again with her palm and then chambered a round. “Lock and load.”
Chapter 17
Jack, Jarrad and Spider all looked at one another, each equally confused. All equally compliant. Who was this woman and why were they taking orders from her? It was as if she had cast a spell over them as they all nodded in silent agreement.
“I saw a whole bunch of cabins, like army barracks, not far from here. I think that’s where they’re holed up,” Erin explained.
Spider spoke up, “The old logging camp, where the workers use to stay back when they allowed logging around these parts. I know the place. Nobody goes there, so it makes sense they’d make that their base.”
“You think that’s where they have Elle?” Jarrad asked, looking from Erin to Spider.
“I’d bet on it,” Jack weighed in. “They wouldn’t split their team up if they were setting up an ambush, using her as bait.”
“It’s a big logging camp. Too big for us to search quickly with just the three of us,” Spider protested.
“Four of us.” Erin added hastily, not wanting to be left out. She slung her weapon over her shoulder to emphasize her point.
“She’s my mate. I can scent her. Don’t worry about that, I’ll find her,” Jarrad said with confidence.
“She’s your what?” Erin, ever the inquisitive reporter asked.
Jarrad looked straight at Spider. “She doesn’t know?”
Spider rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Then why was she spying on us?”
Erin coughed. Loudly. “Does someone want to tell me what you’re all talking about?”
Apparently, nobody did.
An awkward silence hung in the air as they trudged down a rutted fire break. Jack and Jarrad took point, leaving Spider to deal with Erin’s sullen silence on his own. Jack and Jarrad were getting smarter all the time where women were concerned. They’d both come a long way since joining the Big Bear Mountain shifter community. Spider still had a long way to go.
“I don’t know why you’re so upset. What’s the matter?” he pleaded.
Erin picked up her pace to widen the gap between them. Spider put his hand on her shoulder to try to slow her down so he could hear what she had to say. She brushed his hand away and continued her petulant stomp along the dirt trail.
“So, we’re not going for the stealth tactical option, then?” Jack commented as he looked animatedly at Erin’s noisy boots.
A mocking snort was her only response as she continued on. Spider trailed in her wake before passing her and stopping dead in front of her, his massive, muscular bulk forming an impenetrable barrier.
“Look, there’s more to this place than you know. It’s not all about the cartel and the war they’ve brought to our mountain.”
“Does it have anything to do with how you can get shot and not have any bullet wounds to show for it?” she ventured.
“Kind of. We’re fast healers, that’s for sure.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”
She was an outsider. A newspaper reporter, no less. He couldn’t tell her. It could ruin everything they’d started to build on the mountain. It could destroy their safe haven.
“We’re bear shifters. All three of us.” His shoulders slumped as he made the revelation. He’d betrayed the trust of the others and exposed them to an outsider. But he had to tell her. He couldn’t lie to her if she was his fated mate, as his bear seemed to think she was. But telling her meant they couldn’t be together. Girls like Erin didn’t become mates for bear shifters. Ever.
“Just how stupid do you think I am? Really? Werebears, like Twilight?” she scoffed.
“Actually, I think they were wolves, but yeah, you got the general idea.”
Erin tried to nudge her way past him. He remained unmoved, arms folded, a mountain of a man who wouldn’t budge. Now it was his turn to be stubborn. He looked over his shoulder to see Jack and Jarrad continuing on without them. They had no desire to get involved with Spider’s domestic situation.
“If you’re going to be a dick about it, then forget it. I’m over it and I’m over you.” She stepped off the path and tried to go around.
It was a heat of the moment decision. Not one he thought through a whole lot. Not at all, actually.
Without warning, Spider shifted into his bear, towering and growling over Erin. The enormous beast reared up on its haunches and roared to the full moon, enjoying the freedom and the opportunity to sniff its mate properly.
Just before she fainted, Erin remembered where she’d heard that very sound before and suddenly realized why Spider’s riotous laugh had seemed so familiar.
He wasn’t lying. That was her last thought before darkness washed over her and the gigantic bear ran off down the mountain side.
Chapter 18
By the time she regained consciousness, Spider was long gone. He’d been unable to restrain his bear thanks to the abundance of mating hormones that flooded through its body from his earlier encounter with Erin.
Blinking away the last vestiges of her blackout, Erin saw that only Jack and Jarrad remained to comfort her. Part of her still didn’t believe it. The other part was afraid it was true.
“You two aren’t going to . . .” She formed her hands into bear paws and bared her teeth, imitating a bear-like growl.
They both shook their heads. Jarrad snorted a laugh then answered, “No we’re not. I think Spider just had some stuff going on and couldn’t control his . . . shift.”
“Where did he go?”
They both pointed down the mountain, at the dense forest.
“We can’t shift back into our human form straight away. That’s part of the magic, or the curse, whichever way you want to look at it,” Jack exp
lained.
“And we can’t shift with things like this, complex stuff made of metal,” Jarrad added, grabbing Spiders abandoned H&K machine pistol and slinging it over his back.
“You’re not going to hurt me?” Her voice wavered, still unsure of their intentions toward her.
“Absolutely not,” Jack assured her, offering his hand to help her to her feet. “We really need to get going, though. Got to have Spider’s back when he shifts again. God only knows where he’ll end up. I’ve never seen his bear so worked up. What did you do to him?”
She shrugged. No way was she going to tell them what went on back at the rescue hut. Unsteadily at first she got to her feet and righted herself when she began to lose balance.
Both men moved to help her but she quickly waved them off, preferring to look after herself. “I’m fine. Let’s go,” she instructed.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Spider?” Erin asked as they surveyed the disused logger’s encampment.
Jarrad kept watch below but glanced askance at Erin, “Thanks to you, he’s a blithering hormonal mess. Once he settles down, we can use him, until then, we need to find where they’re keeping Elle.”
“So how does this scent thing work, then? Can you smell her now?”
“That’s the problem. She’s been here a while. Her scent is everywhere. I need to get closer if I’m going to find her.”
“Diversion,” Erin looked at Jack. “You and me?”
Jack looked at her uncomprehendingly. It had been a long time since someone had given him orders.
“We work our way noisily through the forest over there,” she pointed to the boundary of the encampment furthest from their position, “and draw at least some of them away, leaving Jarrad to do his bear sniffy thing.”