by JL Madore
"Aren't you tired?" I unzipped his jeans and he pressed forward—"Oh god."
He chuckled and broke from our kiss. "No, baby. I know I seem godlike at times, but it's just me." He surged forward and slid back. "Just your bear, your very hungry bear."
I reached behind his neck and held on. He was the perfect combination of brute strength and raw sex. Irresistible. The intensity of his love boggled my mind at times. And god help me, I even loved his bossy, grizzly side . . . uh, especially at moments when Brother Bear got possessive and demanding.
When both of us were breathless and spent, he stilled and held me in a tight embrace.
I marveled at the turn of our conversation. "So, you like the idea of the Dens?"
"I love it," he said, his breath caressing my cheek. "I love you thinking about our future. I love you wanting a place of our own. I love the fact that I'll finally make my father proud."
He lowered his mouth to mine and chuckled. "And I love you, She Who Brings Change. Now let's get you cleaned up."
He scooped under my legs, carried me to the washroom and started the shower. With gentle hands, he pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it to the hamper.
I undid my braid and loosened my hair around my shoulders. "I can't believe that Bear, The Bear, came to me."
Bruin retrieved a couple of towels from the closet as I stepped out of my skirt and draped it over the back of my make-up chair.
He chuckled and peeled off his T. "I can't believe that He bonded us without the sex and the ritual. That's a highlight for a Were and now I'll never know."
I laid my brand against his chest and laughed. "Poor guy, I'm sure you'll make do."
He winked and I was certain we'd be making do again, very soon.
A quiet knock had us both turning to the bedroom. "Shhh," Bruin whispered. "If we're quiet maybe they'll go away."
I bit my bottom lip, trying not to giggle. The knock came again and Bruin's shoulders dropped. On a huff, he shut off the water, tossed me a robe and bounded across the room. The way he stormed toward the door, I worried he might kill whoever was on the other side.
"Be nice," I whispered, securing the silk belt around my waist. "They know we're newlyweds. If they're disturbing us, it must be important."
Bruin grabbed the door handle and glanced back to me. "Somebody better be fucking dying." He growled as he swung the sucker almost off the hinges.
Bruin filled the whole frame of the door
I couldn't see who was in the hall, but when his broad shoulders stiffened and his body went rigid, I grabbed my purse and drew out my Taser.
His everyday growl expanded into a thundering rumble. "What the hell are you doing here?"
There was a long silence before Lexi's small voice rang through his snarl. "I came to apologize . . . officially . . . to her."
"Her name is Mika."
"Right. Sorry. I came to apologize to Mika for my behaviour . . . before."
"You can shove your apology up your—"
"Bruin." I hustled towards them. "Don't. It's okay. Let her speak."
"Fuck that. She almost killed you. She almost took my life from me."
"It was a fluke. Don't." I did my best impression of Mohammad moving the mountain. The only reason I got anywhere was because he let me tug him back out of the doorway. He wasn't letting her in though. He took a step back and let me slide between them, but that was as far as she was getting. Honestly, I was okay with that.
"Uh, hi . . . Mika." Lexi looked up at me and for the first time her amethyst eyes held no edge to them. "I wanted to make sure you were okay and tell you how badly I feel that my temper got away from me."
Bruin snorted and grasped my shoulders. "There you said it. Now go."
Lexi's big purple eyes blinked fast as she drew a deep breath. "I also wanted to give her . . . you . . . this." She held out an ivory card with an emerald green ivy design decorating the surface. My name was written on the front in a beautiful gold script. "I heard you weren't coming to the wedding celebration and I thought that was probably my fault. I wanted to bring you an invitation and assure you that you are a welcome part of this family."
I took the card from her tiny hands. Hard to believe that this little thing could take me down and bash my skull into the marble floor at the flip of a switch. Been there done that, got the scar tissue to prove it. Deceiving. Lexi was not what she seemed. "I appreciate the gesture."
"So you'll come? Jade and Galan will be so—"
I shook my head. "I'll explain to Jade and Galan. I'm not ready to sit across the table from you and make nice. Sorry. Must be the stupid Mundie in me but I’m sure you’ll survive. Now, if you'll excuse us, we were having a moment, before you interrupted."
Lexi shifted her weight and opened her mouth.
Before she could say anything, Bruin stepped around me and swung the door shut.
As he turned from the door and locked us in together, I realized I had never been more at home with anyone. It didn't matter if I lived in Vancouver or in a castle or in a mountainside cave. Home was where my bear was.
Bruin stalked closer, a quirky grin covering his face. "I like it when you look at me like that, She Who Drives Her Bear Crazy. I think I like that one the best."
I laughed. "I was thinking about our bonding ceremony. We may have taken a shortcut, but you're right. We should have the whole experience. I'd like to recite the ritual."
Bruin's gaze narrowed as he licked his lips. "And what if nothing more happens?"
"We'll have fun trying."
His smile grew wider. "I like the way you think, mate."
In the beat of a racing heart, we were naked and sidling closer to the bed. The surge of his magic as our clothes disappeared made me smile. "You got any other tricks you want to show me?" I burst out laughing as he lunged and we both flew through the air.
Landing on the bed, caged in his protective embrace, he pressed his brand to mine. "It's not about the tricks, baby. It's all about the love."
THANK YOU FOR READING
I sincerely hope you enjoyed, Ursa Unearthed, book one in the five book, Scourge Survivor series. If you’d like to be kept in the loop on my release dates and receive my newsletter, subscribe here: JLMadore Mailing list
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Book Three, Torrent of Tears, will be available on Amazon May 2017.
I hope you enjoy them all!
If you’d like to read an excerpt from Torrent of Tears, the third book in this series, please continue to the next pages.
Reviews help other readers find books. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.
May the Fates be kind,
JL Madore
www.jlmadore.ca
TORRENT OF TEARS
I flailed behind my head, clutching for the handle of the axe lodged between my shoulder blades. Writhing, I screamed as the strobe of mid-morning sunlight pierced the Mediterranean sky beyond the dome above. Pain burned though me. It blinded. White spots of agony and tears obscured my vision. Let death come. I was done anyway. I had failed.
They were dead because of me. I couldn't make out their faces in the fading reality of my vision, but the loss of those unknown men hollowed my heart and left me utterly shattered. Gods, what did I do wrong?
No—what was I going to do wrong?
My ass slid off the snow-covered log across from our clubhouse and I stared at the weathered boards of our childhood hideout. Unable to move until the effects of the vision wore off, I laid in the icy cold looking up at our motto carved and painted above.
Shitstorm Survivors: Come in peace or leave in pieces.
It was still there after almost two decades, scrawled in the chipped, slime green paint Bruin had 'borrowed' from the maintenance room of the castle.
The dread of my vision faded as my mind filled with memories of the four of us here, playing, training, holding strategy sessions
on how we were going to avenge our dead and make the Scourge pay. As painful as it was, it was simple then. We were a team. One united force against the evil of our realm.
When the shakes passed, I hauled my ass back onto the log and dropped my head between my legs. My body heat had melted a patch of snow, exposing the unyielding, packed dirt beneath. When had life come between the four of us? I wanted it back . . . that sense of belonging somewhere, to people who gave a shit.
The crunch of heavy footsteps from the forest path behind me had me breathing deep. The breeze was crisp and quick, fresh in my nostrils with the bite of winter. No sign of the stanky rot of Scourge. I let my gloved hand relax from the hilt of the new Guardian double edge, sheathed to my thigh and waited. Only a half-dozen people on this mountain knew the location of our childhood sanctuary and I wasn't inclined to see any of them at the moment.
"Princess?" Reign's graveled voice made my chest tighten. I leaned forward and picked up a chunk of snow and cupped it between my palms. It was spongy and wet, packing into a tight ball under my fingers. "Mind if I join you?"
I shrugged and scootched to the side to make enough room. "That bad, is it?"
"What?" he asked, lowering himself, knees cracking as the log groaned under his weight.
"I'm such a train-wreck that my father had to tromp through the forest to find me?"
"You missed your morning training session and your one o'clock class. Just making sure you're still breathing."
I nodded, tossed my snowball into the dead, ice-crusted scrub and rubbed my gloves together. Reign was quiet a long time, sitting with his arms set on his knees, turning the massive platinum ring on his thumb. In the chill of the afternoon, warmth oozed off him like a space heater. It leeched into my hip and shoulder where his massive frame made contact with mine.
Close like this, him six-foot-six and me four-ten, I waited for the security to come like it used to. When I was his little Princess and he would scoop me up and make everything right again. If I didn’t have that, I had . . . what?
Just the black void of nothingness that was my life before Maximus Reign.
"You can't fix this," I said, pressing my fingers into a fist, pushing until the pop-pop-pop of cracking knuckles filled the silence. "I thought he'd get over it by now. It's been months."
He shook his head and his long brindled hair draped between us. There was more salt than pepper in it these days, but he wore it well.
"I didn't mean to hurt her."
"No, but intentions aside, you did hurt her. Bruin has every right to be pissed. If Jade wasn't there—"
"But she was," I choked, surprised at the wave of bitterness washing over me. "She always is. Jade's the savior, Bruin's the fighter, Julian's the genius and I'm the spoiled screw up, right?”
"Just because you screwed up, doesn't make you a screw up, Alexannia Grace."
I laughed and a white cloud of breath escaped my lungs. "You only call me by my full name when it's really bad."
"You smashed Mika's head into the marble floor. Brain bleeds are really bad."
"Could you talk to Bruin? Again?" Reign made a noise which indicated that he might as well have been trying to teach Savage to sing. I sighed. "Do you think he’ll get over it by my party? I want him to be there."
"Them," Reign grumbled. "You want them to be there. Mika is his wife now, Princess. You have to get used to that, and no, I don't think Bruin has any intention of coming to your birthday party."
I sat there, watching an anorexic squirrel with a patchy grey coat digging for some forgotten cache of food. He searched here and there, uncovering fallen leaves and bits of dead forest, then shimmied up a redwood, empty handed.
"Do you ever regret adopting us?"
Reign kissed the top of my head and got to his feet. "Not for a second. Not one second in seventeen years." He stepped over to the clubhouse and knocked his scarred knuckles against the writing on the wall. Without looking back, he strode to the path and left me to myself.
I stared at our faded, slime green promise to each other and the world. Come in peace or leave in pieces. Yeah, well the irony of that statement just fucking sucked.
"Am I boring you?" Tham nipped at the soft curve of my breast and raised an elegant brow. "Where are you this afternoon, neelan?"
I shrugged.
He flopped on the bed beside me and pulled me against his velvet smooth chest. His skin was the palest ivory and smelled like the suede of his buckskins. Golden waves fell loose around his gently pointed Elven ears, down his shoulders and tickled my nose. "It will work out, Lexi. No one can stay angry at you for long."
I snuggled closer, idly thumbing his tight, pink nipple. "You're still going to be my date for my birthday, right?"
His chin rubbed the side of my head as he nodded. "Of course." He gave me a tight squeeze then pulled back. "But what exactly is a bacchanalia?"
A flutter of excitement had me smiling. "Originally, it was a wild and mystic festival dedicated to Bacchus, the Greek god of wine. Now though, it's a big fancy ball with gowns and masks and drunken revelry. It's going to be amazing."
"If you planned the event, it could be nothing other than spectacular."
I kissed Tham's chest and sat up, gathering my t-shirt from where it had fallen beside my bed. As always, Tham had lifted me out of my malaise and I could breathe deep again. He had that gift. No one could spend five minutes with this life-loving Highborne and not be drawn out of their wallowing.
"What did I pull you away from when I bootie-called you? You sounded busy."
Tham lifted up the sheet and winked when he found the lost sex toy. It was a shame that Highbornes saved their virginity for their one true mate, but the two of us excelled at making do. I bit my lip as he sauntered across my suite to my bathroom and flashed me a glorious view of his carved and dimpled ass. The way the muscles pulled and stretched as he practically glided across the floor was an actual thing of beauty.
"Galan and I went through the Gate to our village," he said. His charismatic blue gaze met mine in the reflection of the mirror. "We spent the afternoon."
"Oh? Was there a problem? Was Galan making an official visit?"
Tham shook his head. I laughed when he finished rinsing the rubber phallus and bounced it against the edge of the sink a few times to knock off the water. "No. We got a few things for Lia to try to bring her back to herself and then we went to Maryssa's workshop. He is working on a surprise for Jade and the young."
Ahh. I sighed and flopped back against my pillow. Jade and Galan were sickeningly happy these days. Galan was the perfect husband, they were expecting twins and—on the night of their Recognition—the gods had bound them as soul-mates and revealed to Jade who her parents were. Oh to be the lost love child of the god of gods.
I gritted my teeth and shook myself. Jade was my sister and deserved all the happiness the two realms could offer. It would be petty and wrong to begrudge her that. Yeah, well, colour me petty. "Hey Hotness, do you want to pilfer the kitchen and hold up with me tonight? I'm thinking . . . lock the door, lounge around naked and have a Lord of the Rings marathon. I'll even let you pause and reenact Legolas' archery moves if you want."
Tham sauntered back and pulled suede pants up his creamy, toned thighs. With the front lacings left untied he sat on the edge of the bed, his chest and abs flexing in the most delicious way. The mattress sunk under his weight and I tilted toward him. "Sorry, neelan, another night." He looked at the clock on my bedside table and then back to me.
"Big date?"
He laughed and tugged at a couple wayward spikes falling in front of my eyes. After a Tham session, my hair was usually unsalvageable. "Sort of. Julian said the package you helped me order from Victoria's Secrets arrived from the Modern Realm. I mentioned to Maryssa that I would bring it to the village tonight."
"Ooooh, and you're hoping you get a chance to try some of it out?"
Tham waggled his brows and bent to kiss my cheek. I leaned forward
, but winced when my back knotted. Tham eased me back against the pillows, his eyes narrowing on me. "Have you had Jade examine your back? It has been paining you for more than a week now."
"I'm fine," I lied.
He exhaled, unconvinced. "On second thought, mayhap I shall stay. How about I warm the massage oil and see if a gentle rubdown eases your discomfort?"
"Sounds great, but nah, you go. I don't want to deprive the Highborne females of their silk and satin experience. Besides, you haven't seen any really good consort action in ages."
He chuckled, shrugged on his tunic and then scooped his knife sheath off the bedside table. After raising a bare foot onto the side of the bed, he tied the leather cord of his sheath around his thigh. "The Haven action has been more than enlightening in its place."
"So, have you decided?"
"Decided what?" His slightly baffled expression lit up his eyes the way they did when he was game for playing.
"Your favorite type of women. After a century of exile with only fair haired blondes to choose from, I wondered if you prefer them or are you into brunettes, red-heads or raven-haired beauties?"
"Well, I am certain it is not blondes, but my preference as to what I do like has yet to be determined. Verily, I believe a thorough effort should be put forth to research the subject." Tham laughed and waggled his brow, capturing his long, blond waves and tying them back to reveal the pointed ears of his race. "Are you certain you are well, Lexi? If you need me to stay—"
Yes. "No. I’m fine." I forced myself to sit up straighter and ignored the agonizing ache gripping my shoulder blades and gouging its way down my spine. "You should go. Julian will be closing the Gatehouse soon and you want to be on the other side when he does."
Tham strode into the bathroom, rifled through my medicine chest and came back with two heavy duty muscle relaxants and a glass of water. These were the ones I saved for when Savage knocked the crap out of me in a training session. As I reached up to accept them, he pulled back and waited until I gave him my full attention. "Talk to Jade, Lexi. Tell her you are suffering or I shall."