by Sable Sylvan
“I was so worried,” said Carmen. All the emotions she’d felt started to bubble up to the surface and she couldn’t help but wipe a tear from her eye.
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” said Goldie, walking over to her men who were equally glad to see she was fine.
Aiden took Carmen into his arms and held her close to his chest, her face nearly hitting his mate mark. “There, there,” said Aiden. “There’s no need for tears, hon. I’m fine. You’re fine.”
“I was so scared though,” said Carmen. “What if something had happened to you?”
“I can handle a little cat,” said Aiden. “It was you I was worried about.”
“Why did he go after me?” said Carmen. “Why did he have to pick on me?”
“I think it was less about picking on you and more about hitting on you,” said Aiden. “He definitely shouldn’t’ve done it that way. Look. His clan is handling him now.”
Carmen followed Aiden’s gaze. The clans had all split up by now, the wolves, the bears, and lions and other cats going their own ways...but the tigers were all around Skyler, giving him a piece of their mind. “Wow,” said Carmen. “I thought for sure they’d take his side.”
“No frikkin’ way,” said Aiden. “This isn’t the middle ages. Shifters can’t go around trying to steal women just because they think they have curves to die for and they can sniff out their honeypots.”
“Honeypots?” asked Carmen.
“Long story,” said Aiden. “But listen. You ate something, right? Let’s get you back to my place and get you cleaned up and relaxed, okay?”
“Alright,” said Carmen. She held Aiden’s hand tightly as they walked back to the car. This night hadn’t gone as planned at all. It had been the most exhausting and exhilarating twenty-four hours of her life, and it was barely ten at night.
Aiden drove Carmen back up the hill slowly and kept a hold of her hand once they got back to the house, leading her up the steps. She was still shaking and upset. She’d been crying the entire time, not because she was sad, but because her body was just so exhausted that it had to let out the stress somehow. Aiden led Carmen up the stairs...into the guest bathroom.
Carmen hadn’t ever seen a bathroom like this before. The centerpiece was a giant tub in the shape of a heart meant for two. Aiden wasted no time with tricks and turned the tub on after entering some settings, before rifling through the cabinets. “Strip,” said Aiden. “I’m giving you a bath.”
“Really?” said Carmen.
“Really,” said Aiden. “What you need right now is a hot bath and some water. I’ll get you the water once the tub is ready.” Aiden found what he was looking for and carried a pile of hot white fluffy French terry towels and a few odds and ends in black plastic containers to the tub.
Carmen gingerly stepped into the tub, which was only a quarter of the way full. The water splashed around her as she lay back on the cold white tub, looking up at the stars. Stars? “Aiden, did I hit my head, because I’m seeing stars,” said Carmen.
“It’s a large skylight, do you want me to cover it?” asked Aiden.
“No, it’s really pretty,” said Carmen, watching the sky. It was clear and dark, with pinpoints of light forming galaxies and constellations. “I can see why you love it down here, Aiden.”
“Even with all the hormone crazed shifters?” asked Aiden.
“Especially with those,” teased Carmen as the water reached her breasts. Aiden paused. He hadn’t had time to appreciate Carmen’s curves as she had gotten unchanged. Carmen had been so upset just minutes before, and now, she was relaxing like he’d hoped. He smiled to himself as he pulled opened a jar and pulled out what looked like a mix of pink petals and purple flowers. He scattered them over the water and they floated for a second before they started to melt, coating the surface of the water with shades of violet and magenta that made the water look like the aftermath of the water balloon fight.
“Are they made of soap?” asked Carmen, turning back to Aiden.
“Sort of. They’re meant to make the water softer and more fragrant,” said Aiden. He opened another container and passed it to Carmen. “This is a sea salt scrub, which contains oil. It’s good for your skin. Trust me.”
Carmen rubbed the mixture on her arms and legs. It smelled of almonds and didn’t smell that salty at all. The rough particles rubbed all the dead skin off her body and she lay back in the warm water, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.
Aiden left the room and went down stairs, and was back in a few minutes with a plastic tumbler with a straw. The tumbler was full of water, with a few cucumber slices. He carried a plate that contained the rest of the cucumber slices, which he’d salted, and there was a dollop of ranch dressing on the plate as well. “I brought you a drink and a little snack,” said Aiden. “Nothing heavy, nothing that’ll keep you up all night.”
“Aiden, you’re really perfect, you know that?” said Carmen.
“Not quite,” said Aiden.
“What, you’re not a trillionaire?” teased Carmen.
“No, it’s not that, it’s just...” started Aiden. “It’s a shifter thing, that’s all.”
“What is?” said Carmen.
“The guilt I’m feeling right now,” said Aiden.
“Aiden...you didn’t do anything wrong,” said Carmen, reaching out to Aiden, who was sitting on the side of the tub, mixing the water with his hand. He stopped mixing the water and turned to face Carmen.
“I didn’t protect you,” said Aiden. “And that’s something I’ll never forgive myself for.”
“What do you mean? You stood up to that guy,” said Carmen.
“But I didn’t notice when he was harassing you in the bleachers,” said Aiden. “I should’ve heard what was going on. I should’ve seen. I should’ve—”
Carmen raised a wet hand to Aiden’s lips. “Shh. Shut it. Aiden, you’re not just a bear...you’re also human. You’re not perfect, and neither am I,” said Carmen. “And I don’t need you to be perfect. I just need you.”
“Try telling that to my bear,” said Aiden.
“To your bear?” asked Carmen.
“Every shifter can hear the voice of their animal spirit inside of them,” said Aiden. “It’s like having two souls in one body. And my bear...well, let’s just say he’s not exactly pleased with me.” Aiden’s eyes flashed bright green as the bear roared something that could roughly be translated as, that’s for damn sure.
“Well, you can tell your bear that it can shove it,” said Carmen. “If it wants me...it also has to accept you.”
“What do you mean?” asked Aiden.
“I mean, if the side of you that’s a bear wants me to be your mate, it has to accept that there’s a human side of you too, Aiden,” said Carmen. “I fell in love with the man from the moment I locked eyes on him. And the bear, well, he’s protective, but he can also be downright grizzly, am I right?”
“You’re right, as always,” said Aiden with a small smile.
“You’re a powerful man, Aiden,” said Carmen. “In and out of your animal form. But you’re more than just a man with power. You’re a person with heart.” Carmen reached up and put her hand on Aiden’s chest, over the mate mark. Aiden leaned down and cupped Carmen’s head in his hands gently, like a small songbird’s egg, and grazed his lips against hers, sucking her lip into his mouth and giving it a small nibble with his teeth.
“Let’s get you out of that bath and in the bed,” said Aiden. “I can’t handle not having you as my mate for even a minute longer.”
“Oh, but I just got settled,” said Carmen. “You started this bath, and now, you’re gonna have to help me finish it.” Carmen pulled her long black hair to the side, exposing the curve of the nape of her neck to Aiden, as well as the large, flat surface of her back. Aiden got to work, running a new loofah over her back after coating it with soap suds from a lavender scented bar of soap, painting her body with the suds before rinsing them away. Carmen wa
shed her own hair, but Aiden helped her rinse it. As Carmen sipped at the cucumber water and took dainty bites of the little snack, Aiden ran the loofah over her legs...and then, on the way back up, ran the loofah over the place where her legs met.
Carmen dropped the cucumber slice she was nibbling on. “Ooh, Aiden,” she moaned. “You know what you just did...right?”
“Yeah, babe, couldn’t help myself,” said the burly bear shifter, a glint in his eyes and a tent in his pants.
“Well, you’re gonna have to keep a hold of yourself for a few more minutes,” said Carmen, spreading her legs and running the loofah, which she snatched out of Aiden’s fingers as his jaw dropped, back over that spot. “I’ll never get clean if you insist on doing me so dirty.”
“Hot damn, Carmen, you know what happens to my body when you talk that way,” said Aiden, running a hand into his pants. He couldn’t help but touch himself as he watched Carmen put on a sexy cabaret in the tub, running that loofah back and forth over that sensitive spot that he hadn’t yet had the pleasure of enjoying.
“Help me up?” Carmen asked, holding out her hand.
“I can do you one better,” said Aiden. He reached into the tub and picked up Carmen with one arm. Carmen held onto Aiden as he held her naked, exposed body in his arms. One arm was under her knees, the other, wrapped around her torso like an anaconda around its prey. Aiden’s shirt was soaked by the water it was leeching from Carmen’s wet skin. He carried her through the doorway, into the hallway, down the halls, leaving droplets of water in their wake, until they reached his room.
The inside of the room was done in shades of rose pink, pistachio green, and robin’s egg blue, with white and cream and ivory accents. The interior was very French inspired, and it felt as if Carmen was inside rococo Versailles. There was a large picture window with two airy curtains, and a large glass table with a wrought iron base, with two matching chairs that had comfortable looking toile cushions.
“Whoa,” said Carmen softly. “This is all yours?”
“What can I say...I’m a romantic,” said Aiden.
“And what does that make me?” asked Carmen.
“Delicious,” said Aiden, putting Carmen down on the large plush bed. The bed had toile sheets, the sheets and comforter done in cream and rose pink, the pillows done in cream and pistachio green. He put a pillow under Carmen’s head, and leaned in to kiss her, and then, as she pushed up on her elbows to meet his lips with hers, he took the pillow that was next to her, and shimmied down the bed to put it below her ample hips.
“Oh, Aiden, you seem to always have surprises in store for me,” said Carmen.
“You have no frikkin’ idea,” said Aiden. He got down on the bed so that he could massage Carmen’s legs, starting at her knees, and making his way up her thighs, focusing on rubbing the backs of her thighs as well as that sensitive inner flesh that, with a mere rub of the back of his hand, could make Carmen moan. The hard pads on his hand, the marks of his bear shifter nature, were rough against her skin, and sent a shiver down her spine.
“I want you in me, Aiden,” moaned Carmen.
“I wanna be in you, baby...but first, I’ve got to get this honey pot ready,” said Aiden. He spoke these words not to her face, but to her slit, each word pushing hot air towards her entrance, making her wetter with anticipation. Aiden’s breath was warm and left her desiring more. Carmen couldn’t help but buck her hips up towards Aiden’s face...and Aiden, not one to make her beg, couldn’t help but catch her hips midair and grab her, pull her tight, and lick her, from entrance to clit, before kissing her clitoris deeply as if he was French kissing it, separating her lower lips with the tip of his tongue to reveal her sensitive nub. He ran the tip of his tongue in small circles around her clitoris and as Carmen gasped beneath him, he moved to start using his fingers in her entrance, feeling her tightness around him as he started to lick her with the broad side of his tongue.
“Aiden...oh, Aiden,” moaned Carmen. She reached down to push Aiden’s head further against her, and instead, Aiden added a third finger, widening her and making her ready to take his shaft. “Oh, Aiden...please, just give it to me.”
That’s all Aiden or the bear needed to hear. The bear that had let Aiden take over the wooing shoved Aiden’s soul aside and took over, possessing the body. The man knew about how to operate in the board room, but it was the bear who was the master of the bedroom.
Carmen saw Aiden’s eyes flash and knew something had changed...something primal, inside of him, having to do with his bear. Aiden, who could be considerate one moment and passionate the next, was in bear mode, and that could only mean one thing. The man was ready to mate...and more importantly, so was the bear. Carmen wrapped her hands around the pillow behind her head, keeping the pillow against her head as Aiden put a finger under the collar of his shirt...and rather than pull it off over his head, pulled down, hard, hard enough to rip the thin fabric that had been clinging to his chest. Aiden slipped off the rags that were previously his designer t-shirt, and revealed to Carmen a body glistening with the sweat of desire, a body which had, over its chest, that mark that had managed to assure Carmen of what she meant to Aiden.
There it was, in all its glory, lit only by the light of the moon and stars that was streaming in through the bedroom’s large windows. Aiden looked like a shadow demon in the darkness, except when the light hit his body, rather than make him disintegrate like a vampire in sunlight, it illuminated the skin and made it look absolutely angelic. Even in the low light, whenever the light hit Aiden’s pecs, Carmen could make out the symbols of the mate mark. There was of course, the garden, representing her first name, Carmen, and then, around it, the briar roses, representing her middle name, Briar-Rose.
The mark was dark, in tones of sepia, the flowers all withered except for the briar roses that were like a crown on the top half of the mate mark. There was one large rose in the center, open and visible, and the sides had smaller roses, that had, on their sides, still smaller roses. The vines around the mark were dark and black, forming vines with forms, the ‘briar’ of the briar rose, and in the center, there was the garden. The garden was the same garden that Carmen remembered in bits and pieces from memory, which she could recognize in any photograph...the garden of her namesake grandmother, a garden she had all but forgotten when she had first seen the garden seared into Aiden’s chest by the branding iron of fate.
Fate had a funny way of going about things...but Carmen wouldn’t’ve changed the path set out by fate for all the marionberry pies in Port Jameson...but even so, she couldn’t help but admit that there was something exciting about tonight, about it being the night she’d finally learn about whether or not she and Aiden were meant to be together...or whether they were just two people in love, but not fated to be.
“Take me, Aiden,” begged Carmen, rubbing her hands over the firm muscles of the mate mark. “Take me, and show me what fate has in store.”
The bear in Aiden roared and Aiden couldn’t help but let out a mighty roar with the bear as he followed the bear’s direct, simple, primal orders. Aiden pulled down his shorts before ripping his underwear off, leaving the clothing in tattered scraps by the bed as he got back onto the bed, holding his thick fuck stick in his hands. It was time for him to do what nature and fate had programmed him to do. It was time to claim his mate.
Aiden got in the bed, between Carmen’s legs, and pushed onto her, holding his shaft in his hands, rubbing the tip of it against Carmen’s clit. Carmen moved with Aiden’s body, pushing up so that she was humping him and getting wetter, preparing herself to take his package. Aiden hooked a hand under one of Carmen’s legs, hiking it up to his side so that he could slide between her legs and tease her honeypot with his cock, moving his cock down from her clit to her entrance. He swirled the tip of his cock in small circles as he made his way down, making Carmen’s pussy desperate to be filled.
Once Aiden finally reached Carmen’s entrance, all bets were off. He slid right in li
ke a hot knife through a stick of Port Jameson butter. The head of the shaft moved in one slick motion from the entrance to her pleasure spot, and as soon as Aiden hit it, Carmen moaned. Aiden twitched his cock, so that he could make Carmen moan again without even having to pull out.
Carmen gripped the sheets. She’d known Aiden was big, but she hadn’t expected him to be that big...or for her body to be able to take it. She had to admit that she was expecting pain...but Aiden, a generous and skilled lover, had made her body so wet and made her so relaxed with the bath and the oral that while yes, her body wasn’t used to the feeling of fullness, she felt no pain at all...only the pleasure of being claimed by the man who had finally let his bear take over and do the hard work.
Carmen let go of the sheets as Aiden rocked out of her and then slammed back in, pressing against that inner pleasure spot hard and fast. The G-spot: so few women have ever had the ability to feel just what that magic spot can do, but Aiden knew exactly how to hit it every time in just the right way, the helmet-shaped tip of his cock pressing against the cushiony flesh as if it was a button meant to dispense pleasure...which it pretty much was. Carmen had never felt that particular brand of pleasure before, and she felt like she was floating...so she grabbed onto Aiden as if for dear life, as if he was the rock that was keeping her grounded through a storm, against a tsunami or a tornado or some other disastrous force of nature. At the same time, Aiden was that force of nature, although instead of causing her harm, he was causing her immense amounts of pleasure that were as intense as any storm, any monsoon, any blizzard.
Carmen dug her nails into the back of her boyfriend. To think of the man above her as her “boyfriend” felt weird, especially given that he was not only her boyfriend, but a loaded billionaire, a big bad bear shifter, and, as she was in the process of learning, one of the world’s foremost experts on the female body and the ways to pleasure it and bring it to orgasm in record time. While Carmen weathered the storm of passion that Aiden had unleashed onto her body like a tsunami overtaking a small tropical island, a storm of her own was brewing inside of her, and this one was hotter and wetter than any hurricane, and it was about to take her body and soul over...and it’d take Aiden’s body and soul back with it.