A Cursed All Hallows' Eve

  She was putty in his arms. He nuzzled her neck, licking and sucking while his fingers parted her slick folds behind the stacked bales of hay. The sun had already set, but the moon wasn’t high yet. Still it was amazing, making love like this under the moonlight. Maisy felt all kinds of wonderful as he stroked her slick sex and thrust a finger into her heated sheath.

  “So tight,” he growled as he worked his thick digits in and out of her sex, “come for me sweetheart. Give me your moans,” he grunted and thrust his tongue inside her mouth in time with his fingers.

  Maisy clung to his shoulders and took what he gave. Sweet heaven, yes, it was so good. Better than anything she had ever felt. So good, she wanted to scream, but she held it in, allowing his kiss and his hands to bring her to climax faster and harder than she’d ever come before. Arthur held her through the aftershocks, kissing her cheeks and eyes, he stroked her slick heat until she stopped convulsing around his hand, withdrawing it only to lick each digit clean. The act alone made her want him all the more.

  His black eyes glittered in the dark night and for a moment she swore she could see his Bear in them. The animal was noble and humungous, larger now than he had been in his youth.

  “I don’t know what to say, um,” she scratched her head as happiness, elation, and confusion warred with each other inside of her.

  “You don’t have to say anything, baby. That was just the beginning,” he said and kissed her lips.

  “But what about you?” she reached for his hard length inside his jeans but he caught her hands.

  “You touch me now and I won’t stop until I have you bent over against this hay pile, screaming for all you are worth.”

  “Oh my,” she swallowed.

  “Exactly. Better save that for later, if you still want me that is,” he said and held her face in his hands.

  “Maisy!” the sound of someone calling her interrupted them and she struggled to right her clothing, “Maisy! The line is starting. How is the tractor coming?” Inez stuck her head out back and yelled.

  “Hello there Mrs. Ramirez,” Arthur stepped out from behind the hay and stalled Inez while she arranged herself.

  She rolled her eyes when he gave his best impression of a wolf whistle at the older woman, “Hector better watch you in that outfit,” Arthur winked at the older woman in her Supergirl costume.

  “Oh you!” Inez giggled and waved him away, “Now where is my Maisy?”

  “No worries, she is just getting some tools for me. Now, Maisy and I will have everything fixed in a few minutes, if you wouldn’t mind passing out some donuts to the youngsters and putting them on my tab?”

  “You sure, Artie?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

  “Thanks,” Maisy cleared her throat and came out from behind the hay, squashing the minor jealousy that she felt at his complimenting the woman who was not only her father’s employee but was also a cherished family friend.

  It was ridiculous of course. She had no reason to be jealous. Smexy times aside, he was clearly just a player. Big hands covered her shoulders and spun her around to face him. Arthur’s eyes glittered in the dark like black diamonds and she blinked back in surprise at the heat that was in them. Desire and something more, something that made her mouth dry and her heart speed up.

  “This is not a game. I am serious and I will prove it to you, but first things first. Let me fix this tractor for you, then either I can drive it or just sit as a passenger with you driving, but I am not leaving you tonight.”

  “Look, you don’t have to-”

  “Don’t you get it yet, Maisy Daniels? I want to stay with you. Now, I will make sure nothing happens to the tractor and you can have a chance to think. How does that sound?”

  “Um,” she bit her lip nervously and looked at the crowd forming at the small ticket booth that one of Inez’s kids was running, “alright fine. I mean, yes, stay. There are three hayrides scheduled, two family tours and one haunted ride. Maybe we can take turns driving?”

  “Okay,” he grinned and turned to the engine, “Hector did a good job with the battery but sometimes,” he was moving things and changing wires so quickly she could hardly keep up with the lightning fast way he worked and in the dark to boot, “the battery terminals and cables get corroded and the current has nowhere to go. Here, let me just,” he grunted and swapped out some cables and then looked at her nodding his head.

  Maisy got in the driver’s side and waited for him to signal, then she turned the key.

  “It started!” she yelled happily.

  “Of course, did you doubt me?” he asked and gathered his tools and the old discarded pieces into a pile.

  “Not about this,” she shrugged and hopped out.

  “You know that costume is, uh, very interesting,” he licked his lips and she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

  “Yeah, I didn’t bring one after I’d heard about my father being in the hospital-”

  “I heard. You must be worried. How is he?”

  “He is much better now, thank you. Dr. Cordoza is taking good care of him. I came home to see him of course and to help with all this. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the holidays here,” she tugged a short cape around her shoulders, covering up her bosoms as best she could.

  “Luisa is a great doctor.”

  “Do you know her?”

  “Well, yeah. You see, I am not the only Bear Shifter in Barvale, but I am afraid I can’t tell you more yet. I will be able to if you agree to be mine?” the last came out as a question and Maisy stopped in her tracks.

  “I don’t understand,” and she didn’t, not really anyway.

  “I told you, you’re my fated mate. Wanna claim you, baby. Want you to wear my mating mark.,” his voice deepened as he spoke and she responded to it in the most primal way.

  Arthur leaned forward and sucked in air, she could see his Bear in his eyes and rumbling in his chest. It was heady and powerful, knowing she affected him like that. All of her reading couldn’t have prepared her for the way she felt around him. Like when he kissed her or touched her. It was like a sense of rightness just clicked into place every time he called her his mate.

  “Come on,” he took her hand in his and led the way to the tractor, “You want to drive first?”

  Maisy nodded and he lifted her up as if she weighed nothing at all. Kissing her cheek as he did so before moving to the back to help the kids and families find a seat. Inez’s daughter Janie took tickets and Maisy took a moment to collect her thoughts.

  “Is this the script you usually read?”

  She nodded as Arthur picked up the mic and began to read from one of the scripts that went along with every Daniels Farm hayride. There were a dozen or so for each holiday and they rotated them so as to keep things fresh.

  His voice was clear, strong baritone and the families responded enthusiastically while Maisy drove along the path. The first two rides were for the families with young children. Glow in the dark paint decorated the scarecrows and hundreds of carved pumpkins were lit along the path. For the scary hayride, the teenagers they’d hired would switch things up. They had scary decorations and sound effects and the teens’ costumes were always super creepy. They would come charging at the tractor and pretend to be zombies and such. It was all in good fun and Maisy had always enjoyed this holiday more than the others.

  “You okay?” he asked when they pulled back around to the start after the second family hayride.

  “Yes,” she said biting her lip as he turned away.

  “Arthur?” she called.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes,” she repeated.

  “Wait, do you mean?” his eyes lit up and she swore she could hear his heartbeat above her own.

  “I mean yes, Arthur, yes to everything.”

  Chapter 6

  Arthur wanted to roar his happiness to the entire world as he sat next to his gorgeous mate in the sexy little costume she wore. Only his Goldilocks wouldn’t have three
bears, just one. Him. But he would make sure she never regretted it.

  Mine, his Bear growled.

  “Okay, so unlike the first two, there is no script. We just play the recording,” she hooked an old iPod up to the sound system attached to the tractor as they pulled out of the lot.

  The story was scary and some of the teenagers hooted and hollered along with it, but all the shenanigans quieted when they passed the first of the costumed players performing a clown autopsy.

  “Holy crap! I hate clowns!” screamed one of the kids followed by more shrieks as they passed the others.

  All in all, Arthur was impressed. There was an axe murderer scene, a witch who was cutting up humans for stew, and lastly a gruesome Jersey Devil dismembering some cattle. Hmm. He wondered what the real Devil would say to that. The Leeds family were good friends to the Barvale Clan, even if the elusive Shifters tended to stick to themselves.

  But none of that was really important, he realized as he sat beside the only woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. For the first time in forever, his Black Bear seemed at peace. The animal had been chuffing happily all night as they’d worked side by side. There wasn’t much time for a break between hayrides, but still, they managed to talk. None of those forced chats either. His Maisy was comfortable in her skin and he really admired that.

  He’d been concerned about them having to start a long-distance thing with New York City being so far, but when she shyly told him about her plans to move back before the spooky hayride tour began, he’d been ecstatic.

  “Do you mean it?”

  “Yeah, actually, and no it is not just because of you. You see, this morning when I was getting things ready I was looking at the old barn and I had the best idea. I need to discuss it with my father of course, but I want to go into business for myself.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, really. I want to make the Olde Daniels Family Barn a destination for events like weddings and such. I mean I saw it all the time as a CPA for small businesses operating out of Manhattan and I still have those contacts. I am sure this can be good,” she had said with an excitement that was positively contagious, “I even checked with the local Jersey Rustic B&B down the road and they would be willing to feature me on their website and blog in exchange for the same.”

  “Wow! You really have given this some thought.”

  “I told you,” she’d said and bumped her shoulder into his playfully.

  Even that platonic gesture had his cock throbbing and begging for her tight sheath. The sweet and steamy, and all too brief, encounter behind the hay had left him aching. A state he hoped to overcome by the end of the evening. Hell, it was all he could do not to throw her over his shoulder and claim her right then and there after she’d given him her answer.

  Yes. She’d said yes, and Arthur had never been happier as Bear or man. Side by side he guided the tractor along the spookier hayride and pulled to a stop to a collection of cheers from the crowd. Maisy clapped and grabbed the mic, inviting everyone to the barn for their annual soiree.

  The band was playing lively music, but Arthur couldn’t hear anything above his own heartbeat. He hopped down from the tractor and turned to grab her by the waist. Maisy’s small hands gripped his shoulders as she slid down the length of his body, her lower caught between her white teeth.

  “You smell fantastic,” he growled and nuzzled her neck with his ears.

  Another wave of her cinnamon honey fragrance reached him, and Arthur’s Bear chuffed. Luminous green eyes sparkled like emeralds, alight with mischief and desire. She was, in a word, amazing, and he was humbled by her ready acceptance of his claim. His nostrils flared, greedily he inhaled her fragrance and swallowed it down deep.

  “Mmm, maybe we can skip the soiree,” she said biting her lip in that naughty little way she had of doing that drove him wild.

  “Maisy, I want you so badly,” he groaned as she reached up and pressed her lips to his.

  He crushed her to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her gorgeous frame as he deepened the kiss. Taking it to all new levels, a sensual assault on his senses that left him blind and almost deaf to everything around them. Almost, but not quite. In fact, his Bear seemed to pick up on something or someone creeping up on them from the rows of corn stalks in the maze that should have been empty at this time of night.

  “What is it?” she asked with heavy-lidded eyes glazed with lust.

  Fuck, she was so lovely and she was his. Only his, his Bear reminded him. His little mate was definitely tempting as all hell, but first he needed her safe. Something was making the hair on his neck stand up and Arthur didn’t like that. Not one bit. He turned and tucked her behind him when the first smoke bomb came whizzing through the air and landed at his feet.

  Snarling he tucked his mate into his back and kicked the thing away, careful to aim for a mud puddle not too far from where they’d been standing. Thank goodness for rainy October days, he growled as chanting reached his ears.

  “What the-” Maisy covered her mouth and her eyes went wide as a pair of soon-to-be-dead fuckers emerged from the corn maze chanting “Crazy Maisy” dressed as bears of all things.

  A couple of people from the old barn filtered outside and Arthur recognized them as Clan, otherwise he would’ve thought twice before acting on his instincts. The smaller costumed jerk removed her mask and her nasal voice rang out, taunting his mate for the last time, he vowed as rage filled him.

  “So, Crazy Maisy you came back! I thought you could use a real welcome party. Feels more like home now, doesn’t it?” Lorna Manning snapped her gum and high fived the person in the bear costume next to her.

  “Lorna?” Maisy’s face grew paler at the infantile cruelty and Arthur growled louder.

  “You should’ve stayed out of this, Lorna,” he growled at the woman.

  She turned and pouted at him. Then her faux contrition turned into the kind of anger one expected from a spoiled child.

  “You were supposed to pick me, Artie, I gave you every chance,” she stomped her feet.

  “Hey Lorna, what about us?” the man in the costume asked and Arthur almost felt bad for him, “You said this was a joke. I am out of here,” he said and walked quickly away.

  Arthur let him go as he flexed his fists. His Bear pushed against his skin.

  “What? We all know she is crazy. She thought she saw you turn into a bear, Artie. I protected you. I never let it get around that you were the one she saw! You owe me,” she said.

  “Yeah. I guess I do. I owe you the truth,” Arthur said and looked at Maisy apologetically before stepping away from her, “you see Lorna, Maisy told you the truth that night.”

  He smiled widely, revealing sharp fangs dripping saliva. Lorna’s eyes bugged out of her head when he pulled on that familiar magic that allowed him to change shapes. One second he was Arthur, the next he was his Bear.

  “Aghhhhh!” Lorna screamed as Arthur roared just inches from her face. A second later and she slumped to the ground, but not before he noted his Clan Keeper and his mate come forward.

  “Arthur,” Taylor Devlin smirked at him, “that wasn’t very nice,” he chided as he bent and lifted the unconscious woman.

  “Yeah, well she deserved it,” his mate Krissy Devlin checked on her before turning to Maisy then Arthur, “hi, I’m Krissy and this is my mate Taylor. Now, Maisy, I was told you made those cider donuts inside?”

  “Um, yes, that’s right,” Maisy said to her, but her green eyes were glued to the nine hundred pound Black Bear that was Arthur.

  “I see, well I would love to talk to you about it. Now, you two come visit us at Bear Claw Bakery anytime. We will take care of this one, oh, and congrats on the mating!” she winked and followed her mate to their car.

  Arthur turned to his mate and waited for her to make the first move. Everything had happened so quickly and he was afraid he’d shocked her.

  “Can I touch you?” her husky vice reached his sensitive ears an
d his Bear nodded much to her delight, “oh, you’re softer than I imagined,” she said and he grunted happily as she ran her fingers through his inky dark fur along his ears, face, and neck.

  He tried to stay still as long as he possibly could, but honestly that wasn’t very long at all. Maisy gasped as her hands met skin during their next run over his neck and shoulders. Arthur still growled deep in his belly with the force of his Bear.

  “Maisy,” he pulled her to him, but before his lips could meet hers she grabbed his hand and ran.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Upstairs, now that I know I am not crazy, Arthur Lance, I want to do this the right way.”

  Chapter 7

  Maisy led the way to her childhood bedroom, tiptoeing and biting her lip in that old habit of hers before she remembered no one else was home. After speaking with her father, she rested assured that he was on the mend and doing better every second. Truth be told, it felt kind of naughty and fun bringing a boy into her old room. Especially this boy.

  “So, this is where Maisy Daniels grew up?” he grinned as she closed the door by pushing him against it.

  She couldn’t help but glance down at him. He was gloriously naked and thoroughly comfortable in his skin in ways she could only hope to learn herself. A Bear Shifter! He was real and even more fantastical, he was hers. At least, that is what he said.

  “Arthur, are you sure about this?”

  “About you being my mate? Absolutely.”

  “And you want this? To be mated to me?”

  “Maisy, it is the only thing I want in this lifetime.”

  “So, I would be right if I said you wanted to kiss me right now,” she was flirting and from the looks of things, she was doing it right.

  “I always want to kiss you, mate,” he growled, but before she could back away, his hands gripped her hips and pulled her into his chest devouring her lips with a passion she had only ever imagined.

  “Wow,” she moaned once he allowed her to breathe, and he continued to kiss along her neck and throat.