Feeling better now she was clean, she pulled the blanket back around her and went to find him. If nothing else, she was going to have to ask him for some clothes. Hers were not warm enough. She had been at home when Kurt had called and she hadn't even had time to pull on a coat. She was lucky that at least when she changed back from her wolf that she was dressed at all. There were stories that some other animals shift naked. Now, that might have been a problem. How would he have reacted if she had appeared naked in front of him last night?
About the same as he had reacted now: when she had practically thrown herself at him, he would have turned her down. Despite his words he didn’t want her, wasn’t attracted to her. It was only the bond between them that made him want to protect her. It was an obligation, and he was too much of a gentleman to turn her away. That did not mean he intended to claim her anytime soon. She would never be free of her clan.
Back out into the hallway she walked, closing the bathroom door quietly behind her. She could still hear him moving around, but now he had moved into the sitting room. Once more, he was tending the fire.
He looked up as she came in. “There’s plenty of wood. I think while the temperature is so low it makes sense to keep the fires fed.”
She went into the room and sat down on the sofa, holding her hands out to capture the warmth. “Are you sure it’s OK with you for me to stay here?”
He placed his tools down, turning to look at her, with a frown on his face. “You know it’s OK.”
“I was worried, you know, with me being the reason you don’t have your pack.”
His frown deepened. “It’s more important to me that you're safe. You’re my mate, Fiona.”
“I know, but it doesn’t mean you want me. There’s no real choice in this thing, is there? I show up, lying in the snow and your instinct kicks in. I feel that I’ve put you in danger.”
“Because of the food?”
“That ... and I don’t know if they will come looking for me.”
“If they do, then they’ll have to go through me to get you. You are my mate and no one will hurt you.”
“I hate that I’ve brought this on you.”
He left the fire and came to her, kneeling down and clasping her hands in his. “Why don’t you say what you mean?”
“I ... I don’t know how.”
“Shall I say it for you?” he said gently. He stared into her eyes, right into her soul. She wanted to press her lips to his and have him accept her for what she was. “You’ve waited a couple of centuries for your mate, and you can’t work out how you ended up with a bear.”
Chapter Seven – Hal
There, he had put her concerns into words. She must feel strongly about being cheated where her mate was concerned. If he were a better catch, with a nice house and a good job, then he wouldn’t feel so bad. But look at him, stuck up the side of a mountain because he didn’t like mixing with people. He’d been a loner for so long now, he doubted he could change. Yes, he had friends, always showing up if one of them needed him. Yet, given the choice, he would stay away from the town. He ventured down every couple of weeks for supplies, trading in his carvings and game he had caught for the necessities he couldn’t find or make himself. The mountain always called him back.
“It’s OK,” he said, “I understand. But until I can make sure you’re safe, you’re stuck with me.”
She placed her hand on his cheek and leaned forward to press her lips to his. At first, he froze, but slowly his mouth thawed and his lips moved against hers. He sighed, his hand going to the back of her head and pulling her closer. She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him while he explored her mouth with his tongue.
Her body pressed hard against his and he could feel the hard buds of her breasts against his chest. His body slotted in between her thighs and he leaned forward to move against her. And then he pulled away.
“What?” she asked, her voice full of confusion.
“You don’t have to pity me.”
“Is that what you think that was?”
“I don't know what it was. I only know that if we go any further I won't be able to let you go.”
She placed her hand on his arm and pulled him back around to face her. “Then don’t. If you want me, I am yours. It’s just I thought you wouldn’t want me.”
“Why? Because you’re a wolf?”
“That and, well...” she paused, took a breath and then finished in a rush, “I’m not exactly a classic beauty, am I?”
He burst out laughing. “That’s what you’re worried about? That there’s something wrong with you?”
“Yes,” she said, her face dropping and he knew she was going to cry.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. At least I’m not laughing at you.” He smiled at her, brushing her white hair back from her face. “It’s only, I thought you might feel let down having me as a mate.”
“You? Why?”
“Look at me. I live up here alone, I’m not good with people, always react differently from what’s expected. Like the laughing.” He dragged his hand through his hair and took a long, shaky breath. “What I mean is that I can understand if you’re disappointed. You probably thought you were waiting for a nice wolf to come along and sweep you off your feet. Instead you get a grumpy old bear.”
She smiled weakly at him. “I think I like grumpy old bears.”
He let his breath out, a sigh of relief. “Well, at least we have that sorted out.”
“Yes. Not awkward at all,” she said lightly.
“I'm sorry, all this talk and I haven't even asked how you are feeling.”
She frowned at the change of subject. “Better, I think.”
“How much better?”
She studied him for a moment and then her cheeks flared pink, giving her pale skin colour for the first time. “What did you have in mind?”
He stood up and offered her his hand. She slipped her small hand into his giant one and let him pull her up, leading her from the room. She followed quietly, the calm between them belying the raging emotions filling him. This was it; at last, he was going to claim her and his bear could barely contain himself.
Chapter Eight – Fiona
The steps she took to his bedroom were, in some ways, harder than the climb up the mountain the day before. After waiting so long, she was about to lie with her mate. He was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen and she didn’t compare to him. Yet, he wanted her, curves and all.
Her stomach fluttered with desire. She didn’t want to speak in case she spoiled what was between them. All she could think about was how little they knew about each other, but that it didn’t matter one bit. They had decided to fulfil their destiny and make love. She would be his, and only his, for the rest of eternity. Unless the wolves found her.
She pushed that from her mind; there was no way her cousin, Kurt, and his thugs were going to spoil this for her. They weren’t here and they probably thought she was dead. In a way she was: the old Fiona was about to be no more, from this time onwards she would be different. Complete.
They entered his bedroom. The fire, still burning in the grate, made it warm and inviting. However, a shiver still passed through her as Hal turned to look at her. Was she supposed to take her clothes off? Or would he undress her? She didn’t know what she was supposed to do.
He reached out and pulled the blanket from her. She let it go, her arms dropping to her sides. Now he began to undo his shirt; it slipped to the floor and she got a real good look at his fabulous chest. Feeling braver, she took a step toward him and touched her fingertips to his bare skin.
He stood perfectly still. Only his breathing told her how his arousal spiked when her fingertips grazed his skin. Trailing along his chest, she touched his nipples, feeling them harden. She enjoyed his response to her touch, showing her more than his words ever would, how much he wanted her. Her hands went lower, feeling the hairs on his lower abdomen, knowing they led down to his cock. She
couldn’t stop from touching him there too, feeling his hard length, shocked at the size of him. But of course he would be big; everything about him was big.
He closed his eyes as she stroked him up and down, his hips circling around so he moved against her. Then his hand grabbed hers and stopped her. “My turn.”
Slowly, he undressed her. His lips tasting her skin as he exposed her flesh. He kissed and licked her heated body, sending tremors of desire shooting through her. When her breasts were bared to him, he touched the taut buds of her nipples with his fingers and then lowered his head to suck on them. She fisted his hair, holding him close while he sucked and licked her. It nearly brought her to her knees. She had never known this was how it would feel to be touched by a man, but he had more than this to give.
When he removed the rest of her clothes, she stood naked in front of him, her hands hiding her curves. He stepped closer, turning her around so that her back was to the bed and then he stepped forward, making her sit down on the edge. In one swift movement he was there kneeling before her, his hands pushing her thighs apart. She turned her head away. Too embarrassed at the thought of him looking at her so intimately.
Instead, she used her other senses. Her nerve endings translating the softness of his lips to pure pleasure as he kissed the insides of her thighs. Her hands threaded through his long hair as his head moved forever forward towards its goal. When his finger slipped inside her, she heard how wet she was, the sound leaving her both aroused and ashamed. She was so turned on by his touch. But this was how it should be between mates. They should want to worship each other’s bodies and make them feel the highest of highs.
And he did make her feel incredibly high. He might have given her a drug for all she knew; that was how much she wanted him. When his mouth covered her clit and his tongue circled it until it throbbed and pulsed, she thought she would explode. His fingers were buried inside her and she knew she would reach a shattering orgasm. Yet when it came, she was totally unprepared for how he made her feel. Every sensation was magnified as he pushed her nearer the edge. When she fell into the abyss, it was all-consuming. But still he stimulated her body, his mouth and fingers working in tandem to make her cry out.
Then it passed and he pulled back from her. She couldn’t meet his eye and wanted to drag herself under the covers and hide from him. How could he have made her feel such emotion?
And could she possibly make him feel the same way. Part of her thought she should return the favour and suck him, but she was scared to put his cock in her mouth. She had no real idea of what she was supposed to do to make him come.
But she should. Shouldn’t she?
Using her hands, she touched him, stroking his cock. But once again, he stopped her. “Not yet. If you touch me now I’ll come and I want to be inside you when that happens.”
“Inside me,” she repeated.
“Yes. Deep inside you.” He stood up and undid his pants, letting them fall to the floor. Now she saw him in all his glory. His cock was thick and long, and very hard.
She lay down on the bed, watching him as he moved towards her. A predator about to claim his prey. And she wanted to be claimed. Devoured by him, right here in his cabin.
He hovered over her, one hand either side of her head, his body positioned between her thighs. Lowering his head, he kissed her. His mouth was full of passion, his tongue probing her mouth, moving in and out in the rhythm of lovemaking. Fiona placed her hands on his chest, stroking him, touching him. Proving to herself he was real and here, when the whole thing felt like a dream.
Reaching further down, she touched his cock, stroking him and helping to guide him inside her. He inched forward, the head of his cock pressing against her outer lips. Then his hips surged forward and he penetrated her, filling her slowly.
She gasped at the invasion, his mouth stealing the cry from her lips when he took her virginity. For a moment he paused, allowing her to catch her breath, yet he was impatient, needing to claim her completely. His hips moved back, the friction between them easing the stinging sensation inside her.
Hal brushed her hair back from her face, moving inside her slowly. His lips met hers and he kissed her with a passion she had never thought possible. In that one kiss, he dispelled all of her negative thoughts about herself and her body. He wanted her, needed her and she was his, willing to give him a part of herself she had kept hidden. The part that yearned to be loved by a man, by her mate.
His thrusts became harder and their kiss deepened. His hips pulling back and then thrusting into her again. Each time harder and deeper, and she arched her back to meet him, wanting to be a part of the lovemaking rather than simply lying there. She was strong, and she wanted him to know that. To understand that she was his partner in this relationship. That the bond meant a great deal to her. His job might be to protect her, but equally hers was to be there for him, whatever he needed. At this moment, he needed to release the tension building in his body.
Sliding his hand under her, he held her firmly against him, penetrating her completely with each thrust. She kissed his shoulder, her lips trailing fire in their wake down his chest, until her tongue curled around his nipple. He groaned, a deep sound, and she knew his bear was coming to life.
As his orgasm came, his thrusts became hard and fast as he strained against her. She clawed at his back, her nails digging into his skin as he pushed her over the edge, her own orgasm matching his in intensity.
They raced each other to oblivion, and then they danced there together, their bodies finding a rhythm and movement that complemented the other. Until at last they lay spent in each other’s arms.
She was no longer a virgin and, hopefully, he had given her freedom from her clan. As surely as he had taken her freedom away from her. Now the bond between them was complete, their fates joined together by an ethereal thread no mortal eye could see.
Chapter Nine – Hal
There had been other women before her. Sex had always been pleasurable, a release, but never like this. He saw now how she was the one for him. It was something intangible, but so real he could almost touch it, especially as he came inside her. She drew emotions from him he thought men were incapable of.
Looking at her now was almost like looking at her for the first time. Her white hair, a splash of moonlight on the pillow. The blue of her eyes like deep mountain pools, reflecting the sky on brilliant summer days, when no clouds dare venture into the path of the sun. He ran his fingers over her snow-white skin and felt the heat of it. She was no ice-cold maiden; instead, she had a heat and passion that matched his own. They were meant to be together, he saw that. He knew it with every part of him. Now he had to make sure he could protect her from her pursuers. He needed to know more about her. Yet to bring it up after making love to her seemed in bad taste. So he let her be at peace in this cocoon of warmth and love he offered her.
Next thing he knew he was waking up. Beside him his mate slept, her arm across his chest, her body pressed against his. Pulling his hand down over his face, he rubbed his eyes, trying to chase sleep away before it took him back to its warm, velvety depths. The room had grown chill; he needed to get up and get the fires going again. One thing he knew: the fires were the one thing that stood between them and freezing to death.
He got up and pulled on his jeans and a sweater. Even his bear blood wasn’t warm enough to fortify him against the chill air. Rubbing his hands together, he crouched down by the fire and began the all-too-familiar task of rekindling the fire. Normally he enjoyed it; the flames were mesmerising as he watched them leap and dance. But she had changed that, for now he hated every minute he was apart from her. He wanted to be next to her under the covers, her beautiful curves moulded around his toned muscles. They complimented each other, light and dark, hard and soft. Yet she made him soft too, in his heart, in his will. He could deny her nothing and give her everything he was and more.
“Shall I make us something to eat?”
Her voice made h
im jump. He was so used to being alone in the cabin; it still felt alien to him that another person was there. It would take some time to get used to her constant presence. “There isn’t much. Well, not much that is appetising.”
“I’m sure we can find something.”
He stood up and went back to the bed, sitting down next to her. He stroked her cheek, trailing his finger down her neck and cupping her breast with his hand. Lowering his head, he kissed her pert nipple and then the other one. Her hand went around his neck, fingers playing with his long hair as she sighed contentedly.
“There is something I need to do first.” His hand slipped between her thighs, and dipped into her wet sex. She spread her legs wider to allow him better access. She didn’t need to tell him she could wait for food, not with words.
Chapter Ten – Fiona
The feel of his fingers inside her was incredible. He slid along her inner walls, finding just the right spot to make her cry out his name. In no time, he had brought her to another shuddering orgasm. Would she ever learn to read his body in the way he read hers?
Now he moved, turning her onto her back and lying by the side of her, his lips on her breasts and his cock pressing hard against her thigh. She reached down and stroked his length, her touch making him suck on her nipple harder. Hal must have the most talented mouth ever, and he could use it for the rest of their lives to draw pleasure from her body. She would never deny him.
With two fingers inside her, he brought her to the edge of another orgasm and then released her, allowing her arousal to ebb away. He stroked her skin over her curvy thighs before returning to the core of her need. Once more, he brought her so close to a shuddering climax, before easing off the pressure on her throbbing clit.
Her hand tightened around his cock and she decided to play him at his own game, whatever that was. Slipping her hand down she cupped his balls and fondled, making Hal thrust his hips forward in response. She smiled to herself as he fingered her roughly, his need for her taking hold of him. Returning to his cock, she ran her hand up and down, squeezing and releasing him. Fiona had no idea if this was what he liked, only able to tell by his reactions. It was a fun way to get to know him; exploration was much more interesting than if he told her what he liked.
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