August: Mating Fever (Bears of Kodiak Book 2)

by Selene Charles

  He groaned as she danced expertly atop of him. Her little fingernails dug into his shoulders, making him hiss from the mixture of pain and pleasure.

  “Suck on my nipples,” she hissed.

  His eyes almost rolled to the back of his skull. Lost in the feel of her, he gladly did as she commanded. He moved his fingers around to her back to get at the strap of her bra, but he already had her lace-covered nipple covered with his lips, sucking on her and pulling the tight little bud deep into his mouth.

  The groan that spilled from her lips just then would be burned into his memory forever. It was agony and fire all at the same time.

  Lost in the rhythm of her body, he had no thoughts in his head other than making her his in every way possible.

  Finally, he was able to flick her damn bra strap apart. She wiggled her shoulders to get the bra loose and let it slide off her arms to the floor.

  The sight of her shell-pink nipples made his heart thump violently in his chest. With one hand, he cupped her right breast, squeezing and teasing that nipple with his fingers. With his other hand, he cupped her left breast like a ripe, juicy melon and feasted. He laved, sucked, and nipped, leaving a hot, wet trail in his wake.

  Her movements increased. The flex and sway of her hips demanded every inch of his pleasure, and he gladly gave himself over to her siren’s call.

  He was sure there could be no better death than this.

  In a few more expert rolls of her hips, she brought them both to the pinnacle of desire.

  “I love you, Auggie,” she groaned a minute before her sex trembled with orgasm, milking a powerful one from him too.

  He roared his release, feeling as if he’d almost blacked out at one point.

  When he finally opened his eyes, he felt weak and stupored. “You killed me,” he mumbled against the breast he still hadn’t stopped teasing.

  Her laughter was ambrosia to his ears. Her hands played gently through the strands of his hair, but he felt a heaviness to her too. He knew her well enough to know that something was wrong because of how stiff she was.

  Had she not liked it? He stilled, not liking the direction of that thought.

  “August,” she said softly.

  He knew then it hadn’t been his imagination at all. Jerking his head to the side, he watched in silent horror as she stood up from his lap and slowly began to dress.

  “We have to talk,” she said.

  “Shit.” Jumping to his feet, he shoved his fingers through his hair. “Don’t say that. Anything that starts like that after something like what we just did can’t be good. Whatever you’re about to say, Jack, don’t.”

  She already had her panties back on and was just about to tug her jeans back up. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wouldn’t look at him. “I have to go.”

  “What? No. Stop.” He grabbed for her elbow.

  But even without her eyes open, she evaded him, zipping and buttoning her jeans. She was a sprite, dancing out of his reach. One more second, and he would lose her forever. He knew it.

  Panic seized him. Now that he had committed to the idea of them, she was doing this? Hell no! He wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t—

  When her eyes opened, they sparkled with pain and sadness. “I know you said you won’t go through the ritual, but August, you have to. I’m not a selfish person. I mean, I am. Dammit, I want you like hell. I want you to choose me above anything and everyone, but not at the expense of who you are. You have to go through the ritual. You and I both know that if you don’t, you’ll never really feel whole. Somewhere out there is the right woman for you—”

  “I could give a rat’s ass about her. I don’t even fucking know her! Why do you think she even matters?” Yes, he was still naked. No, he didn’t care. He couldn’t let her leave. If she walked out that door, he knew he would never see her again. “I’m telling you that I love you, Jack. I want you. You! I’ve chosen you.”

  “And it’s selfish!” She stomped her foot, jerking her shirt over her head angrily. “To you and to her, whoever she fucking is! Think about that. All her life, she’s been waiting for you. How can we do that to her? How can I? And let’s not fail to consider that your instinct is biologically billions of years old. You might be able to escape it this year, but what about next year, or the year after that, or the year after that? At some point, you’ll have to give in, and I just—”

  Rushing to her side, he gripped her by the shoulders and dragged her violently into his chest, hugging her tightly as she clung to him and sobbed.

  Damn her, but she was right.

  Instinct was intrinsic to the Breed. He loved Jack, and he knew that. But even love was no match for the biological clock that ticked down his doom inside of him. At some point, he would become a slave to it. He would be forced into doing it.

  She would seal her heart to his, and he would leave her, just like Braden had no doubt done to her.

  “I can’t do this again.” She heaved out the words as though she were broken.

  He kissed her brow, her face, and her temple. He rubbed his palm along the back of her head in soothing up-and-down motions until she stopped crying.

  After several minutes, she finally wiped at her nose with her wrist and nodded. “I’m okay, Auggie.”

  No, she wasn’t. And neither was he. But that didn’t matter because she was right.

  Framing her face in his hands, he kissed her lips softly, shoving as much of his love and desire into the kiss as he possibly could.

  When he broke away, her fingers dug into his chest, and a look of resigned panic had set into her gorgeous blue eyes. “Good-bye, August,” she whispered.

  “Good-bye, siren,” he whispered back.

  Then, without a backward glance, she stepped out of his embrace and walked away from him forever.

  Chapter 7

  August

  A month later, the self-imposed hibernation was nearly done. Thank God. If August had to stay another minute cramped up in a tiny cabin with just his brothers for company, he was pretty sure he would be facing murder charges by the end of the day.

  Chance, who was always talking about stupid shit, said something else that August could hardly follow, something about some stupid bird that had run into the door. Phoenix was talking too, and the noises were blending into a cacophony of noise that set his teeth on edge.

  Chance rolled his eyes. “Who wants mates anyway? We can drive into town and find some willing—”

  August’s head was pounding with the third migraine that week. His temper was frayed, and he was in a foul fucking mood. Finally, he snapped. “Shut the hell up,” he growled, eyeing his stockier, younger brother with rage as he rubbed his nose furiously. “If I don’t get a say in this, you don’t get a say in this. Now just sit down, shut up, and deal.”

  “What the hell’s happened to you, August? You’re acting like a whiny bitch baby.”

  What’s the matter with me? I’ll tell you what’s the fucking matter with me. My woman is gone, and all because of some damned, stupid, piece-of-shit ritual I want no part of anymore. That was what he really wanted to say, but he was breathing too heavy to get the words out. He was seconds from turning into his bear and tearing through this GD cabin.

  Phoenix, who was normally the hothead of the bunch, gave him an arched look of surprise before responding calmly. “What August is trying and badly failing to say is that instinct is ritual that goes back to the dawn of the Breed era, and it’s an unbreakable tradition.”

  “And how we’ll teach our cubs. Yeah, yeah, blah. I got it.” Chance made a talking motion with his hand. “Whatever. Let’s just get on with this already. I’m tired and hungry.”

  That was probably the first smart thing his younger brother had said in a month.

  “Yes, let’s just get this shit over with.” Standing, August rolled his shoulders, walked to the door, and slammed it open. He walked out without an apology or backward glance. None of them really wanted to do this, so there
was no point in pretending otherwise.

  The day was overcast with dark gray clouds gathering in the distance. August smelled the rain on the wind. They were going to get soaked. Cracking his knuckles, he ran toward where the scaffolding had been set up the day before.

  He probably should have stayed around to help his brothers install the hooks, but it was a simple thing. The real reason he’d run ahead of them was to give himself time to think.

  For weeks, he’d tried working through his dilemma. He’d tried to figure some way to get out of the ritual, to prove Jack wrong, to show her he didn’t need to be a slave to instinct. But each day, the truth had only been cemented further for him.

  There was no out.

  Already, he could feel his grizzly’s need for the ritual. He felt the blood beneath his skin prickle and burn and felt the beast inside of him rouse to life as it roared and demanded its mate.

  That damned bear didn’t care that August’s heart wasn’t free anymore. The grizzly wanted what it wanted.

  He ran the short distance to the scaffolding, knowing his brothers would arrive shortly. Already, the earth was curling with potent waves of earth magick. The call of instinct and billions of years of tradition gripped him like a junkie who needed his next hit.

  Minutes later, his brothers arrived. They were shirtless and as ready as they would ever be.

  Staring up at the tree line, August whispered his goodbye to Jack.

  By the time Chance had anchored the last hook in place, he finally came back to their side.

  “Ha!” Chance snorted. “You wish. Look, little bit of rain, I still look sexy as hell. You, on the other hand? I’d hate to see the look in your female’s eyes when she gets a load of you and—”

  “Stop, both of you.” August held up his hand, causing both brothers to look at him in startled surprise. “There is no time to waste. The energy has begun to roll in.”

  Immediately, they both glanced down at their feet. But August knew they could feel what he had a while ago—the heavy press of powerful energy.

  Slave to their bears now, all three of them stepped onto the two-by-four platform and grabbed their hooks.

  Gritting his teeth for what was to come, August didn’t think. He just slammed the hooks through the muscles of his chest.

  With his back bowing in pain, he watched as the first droplets of blood trickled down his chest to the forest floor, feeding the energy that spiraled like a raging tornado around him.

  With his pulse racing in his ears, he closed his eyes. The skies opened up. Lightning and thunder crashed. He pictured Jack in his mind’s eye one final time before he lost her completely. He imagined the pretty blues of her eyes, her soft lips, her sweet breasts, the way she felt and tasted, the way she touched him.

  Then the magick consumed him. His head flooded with images of the past, present, and future of his people. Their birth as a nation, their rise to power, the unification of the Breed—all of it slipped through his mind like a moving picture.

  Finally, he felt the call of instinct hammer through his bones. He felt the magick for her take him. A scent tickled his nose then, alerting his bear to its mate, the scent of sweet, clear, arctic waters.

  His eyes snapped open, and the image that floated through his head suddenly made him break out in a wash of desire and agony of panic.

  His mate was Jackson. And Jackson was leaving today.

  With a mighty roar, he ripped the hooks from his chest, barely sparing a glance for his brothers. Phoenix and Chance were still dangling, but Phoenix was beginning to stir.

  Not wanting to be stopped by either of them, August tore from his human form into that of his grizzly and ran as though his life depended on it.

  Heart pounding with fear, he moved with the power of a raging grizzly. Ripping through trees and bushes, he headed in the direction of her cabin, which was miles from his home.

  It might have been faster to drive, but he was on full instinct mode and thought more like a grizzly than a human.

  All he knew was that he needed to get to his woman now.

  Now!

  With a growl, he pushed his limbs harder, running so fast and so hard that his fur matted with sweat.

  The only thing that kept him going was that maybe, just maybe she was still in town. Maybe she hadn’t left on time and waited on the slightest of slim hopes that she might find herself as his one.

  Please, Jack, please... don’t go yet.

  He shot his plea out to the universe, praying to the gods that one of them would take mercy on him and make a miracle happen.

  ~*~

  Jackson

  She stared at the Kodiak coastline with eyes blurred by tears.

  She’d been a delusional idiot to have even considered for a second that she might have been August’s fated mate.

  The tail end of her truck was all packed up. She didn’t have much in this world. A few books and some clothes were about it.

  She should have left that morning, but she hadn’t. And now, there she was, standing on the beach of what had once been her cabin home, soaked from head to toe from the lashing rains that had fractured the sky like dark magick, and waiting for a bear who had never shown.

  “You’re such an idiot, Jack.” She sniffed, wiping at the tears that had blended with rain on her face.

  Looking at the gray coastal waters one last time, she turned her back, determined that she was never going to return to Alaska again. She needed the waters like she needed air to breathe, which was why she was headed to Big Sur in California.

  August had always wanted to go there. It seemed stupid to keep him in her life, even in such a minor way, but she loved him. She always seemed fated to be doomed in love.

  Swallowing hard, she jogged back to her truck and got in, starting it up. Her old Chevy roared to life. She went to flick on her wipers when she spotted a massive grizzly standing on the beach she had vacated just seconds ago.

  It breathed heavily and stood absolutely still, staring at her with keenly intelligent frost blue eyes.

  This animal was Breed.

  More than that, this animal was August.

  She knew it deep in her soul.

  Frozen, she could only stare at it as it lumbered heavily in her direction. It stopped only when it got to within swiping distance of her door. August let out a rumbling growl, showing off a mouthful of fangs.

  Rather than being terrified, she smiled. Because in her heart, she’d heard his plea: I love you.

  Opening her door, she got out. She was slammed on all sides by the torrential rain, but she felt invigorated by it. Her skin began to glow in shades of mother-of-pearl.

  “Auggie,” she whispered.

  In seconds, the beautiful creature shifted into an even more beautiful man. August stood tall, proud, and completely nude before her, looking broken but also hopeful. “I love you,” he said softly.

  And even though it raged outside, she heard his words as clearly as the sweet sound of bells on a Sunday morning.

  “It’s you, Jack. Only you.”

  With an inarticulate cry, she jumped into his arms. Burying her face in his neck, she sobbed with relief and joy. “I was leaving,” she whimpered in between kisses.

  His big palm rubbed her back up and down. “I know, baby. I know.”

  “I thought it wasn’t me, Auggie. I thought—”

  Leaning back just a little so he could look her in the eyes, he said, “It’s always been you, Jackson Rose, from the first moment I laid eyes on you. And I should have known that immediately. I couldn’t have felt for you as I did if my grizzly hadn’t already approved.”

  Her jaw trembled. She didn’t know what to say to that. She wasn’t typically a blubbering, crying mess, but she’d just spent the past month in absolute misery, thinking she’d lost him forever.

  He kissed her. And the kiss... it was everything.

  She felt his love, his undying devotion to her, and this time, she even felt the rub of his
soul animal hug up against her own.

  Jackson had what she’d always wanted. “I love you, you ugly grizzly.”

  He choked on his laughter. “I never thought I’d get to hear you say that to me again.”

  “You’re really sick if you actually like being called ugly.”

  Together, they laughed at their nonsense, saying without words just how much they loved one another.

  Without even realizing she’d done it, she had somehow wrapped her body around his. Her arms wound around his neck, and her legs hooked tightly around his waist. Turning, he walked them both back to her cabin.

  In Alaska, most homes remained furnished even if no one lived in them. Good thing too because there was a bed for them to lie on instead of a cold, hard floor.

  Finding her room with ease—which wasn’t hard, considering there was only one bedroom in the place—he laid her gently on the bed. With the tender consideration of a lover, he helped her peel off her wet, soggy clothes.

  In moments, she was as naked as he was.

  Jackson opened her arms to him, and he fell into them willingly.

  This time, there was nothing but love. Their sex was soft, almost prayerful, a worship of bodies.

  When he slipped inside of her wet heat, she moaned in ecstasy, orgasming instantly. And then he was pushing inside of her, and she came again and again and again, full with the knowledge that this glorious, powerful male was all hers, forever.

  He kissed her. His tongue whispered words of praise as he suckled and nipped at hers. He tasted of berries, of the earth.

  Earth and water—that’s what they were. One could not exist wholly without the other. Water brought life and nourishment. The earth created a haven, a place to grow and be safe. He was the yin to her yang, her perfect other half.

  Sirens weren’t made to want what she did—an eternal companion.

  August was a lover who would guard her most valuable treasure, her heart, with the same care and utmost devotion with which she would guard his.

  She knew the gods hadn’t created her wrong when she’d been born wanting more. She simply was who she was. Jackson could have survived without love, but she never would have been complete until she’d found it.