“Was your bear in control the last time?” she asked, putting her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide.
“Yes. I was ashamed. I could barely remember. What I did remember sent me into a fit of lust every time I thought to of it. I couldn’t do that to you, so I left. Last night, I was able to stop my bear from hurting you.”
“You didn’t hurt me the last time. It was fantastic.”
“But I didn’t remember it. Just like the times I’ve hurt people. The war made it worse than ever. The brutality of it fed the demons. I couldn’t trust my bear with you. Theo brought us back together. But it was my love of you that finally healed me.”
“What upset me most is that it took your bear breaking through your mind for you to tell me that I’m yours. I’ve waited so long for you to say it, and it came from your wild bear instead of you. And when you came back, you pulled away.”
“I’m not running anymore, Lily,” he said.
“How can I believe you now?” she asked.
“I have an idea. I think it could solve everything.”
“Really? What kind of idea is this?”
“In the past, I was trying to protect you from my bear because you are a fragile human. But what if you weren’t a human?”
“Not a human? What then?”
“A shifter. Like me. A bear.”
“You want to turn me?” she said, looking away out the window, her eyes focused on nothing.
He took her hand in his. It was cold, but he rubbed it between his, warming it up. She turned back to him, her eyes brightening for the first time.
“I always wondered what it would be like,” she said.
16
Lily took Shane’s hands in her own and looked up into his sparkling blue eyes. He was asking her to be his. He wanted to mark her, change her. She’d been waiting for him to ask that for fifteen years.
Ever since the day he’d run to the woods for the first time, she’d wished he would take her with him. She’d always wanted to be a bear, to be strong and wild like Shane. To be able to do the things Theo could do. To understand them both the way they understood each other.
A single tear dropped from her eye and plopped on the couch. Shane lifted his hand and wiped the tear stain from her cheek.
“You want that?”
“Yes,” she said. “I want that so much.”
Shane reached out with both hands and cupped her face between his palms. He guided her toward him and kissed her all at once. Sharp excitement cut through her gut, and she was flushed with passion. Lily climbed up on his lap, feeling the primal need that happened between two fated mates. It had an effect on human women, just as it did on their shifter mates. The pheromones were intense and palpable, and Lily was ready to let go to them.
Shane ran his hands down her sides, his body hard under her without a moment of hesitation. She kissed his full lips, and Shane held her bicep, pulling her against him. He rocked under her, showing her just what he had waiting. His hand ran up the back of her neck and his fingers threaded through her hair. Their tongues danced as needy moans oozed from Lily’s throat.
“Say you won’t leave me, Shane,” she said.
“I’ll never leave you again, Lily. I swear to you,” he said, turning her over on her back.
He sank between her legs. His ruddy beard flicked under her chin as Shane grasped her breast. She rocked against his hardness, pulling him against her. His mouth devoured her neck and his tongue lapped up her earlobe, sending a thrill of sensation down her spine. Her nipples pricked and she grew slick between her legs. Shane looked into her eyes, his feral gaze shining with readiness.
“I want to smell your sweet scent when you beg me to make you mine.”
“Don’t make me beg, Shane. Because I will. Please don’t hurt me now.”
She couldn’t lose him again. It would destroy her. Lily was taking her one last shot at true love. She was holding on to that precious spark of belief that she could live happily ever after with the man she’d always wanted. The man who’d left her yearning for years. If he let her down, she’d be done for. But if he came through?
“I won’t make you beg, Lily. I’ll beg you. I’m begging to see your sweet breasts,” he said, lifting her shirt up over her voluptuous form.
He pushed the cups of her bra away and ran his wet tongue over the round globes of her breast before flicking it up to her peaked nipple. He twirled it around her taut bud, teasing her with the light pressure.
Lily moaned and gripped his hair. Shane sucked her nipple into his mouth and massaged it with his tongue before moving to the second one. It sent electric sensations down to her core, making her sharply aware of her need for him.
Shane pulled back and tore his shirt off. He sat over Lily with his tattooed chest and arms on display. The scars of war and childhood showed under the scrawled text and the graphic pictures on his skin. Lily sat up and ran her hands over his flesh, wanting to absorb everything that was in him. He was the enigma who had always been just out of reach. Now he was there, promising to make it all right.
Lily tore off her shirt and bra, and Shane slid out of his pants and helped her out of hers. The heat from the fire warmed her bare skin, but she longed for Shane’s body to fill her with a deeper warmth. She reached for him as he hooked his fingers in his boxers. She pulled him on top of her and he kissed her again, their bare skin caressing each other. He was solid muscle and pure man. The broken bear inside him had made him wild and hot for her. She’d always craved him. Even his broken nature had called out for her to heal him with her touch.
Shane kissed down her body, looking up at her with his bright blue eyes. He licked her soft belly and pulled her panties off her feet. Shane pulled Lily up to sit on the couch with her legs wide. He knelt between them and pulled her hips toward him. She gasped, going all gooseflesh. The heat of the fire flicked over her exposed wetness. Shane growled, his eyes focused on her as if on a feast. He leaned down and reverently licked her once, there between her legs. She squirmed on the couch, but he held her hips in his strong hands, keeping her still.
He growled again and bent into it. Shane licked up and down her slit, lapping up her need. His wet tongue slid over her clit and flicked inside her core. Lily gripped the couch cushions. She wanted him to mark her. Take her. Make her his. She didn’t need to come like a maniac. Which was exactly what it seemed Shane was trying to make happen.
She wasn’t going to have a choice because if he kept licking her like that, she would lose her mind. He sucked her bud into his mouth and pulsed around it as he slid a finger inside her core. His tongue pumped into her clit as he sucked her. Lily gasped and let go. The world became one gigantic fireworks display as her body pulsed under Shane’s touch.
“Oh God, Shane,” she moaned.
Shane looked at her, and she could see the shining light of his bear coming through his eyes. It scared her but it didn’t stop her. He growled and she could see the hint of his sharp teeth behind the line of his upper lip.
“Lily, I have control,” he growled.
“Don’t stop, Shane,” she said. “Take me. Make me yours. Please.”
She turned around with her knees on the couch and leaned over the back. Shane’s hands slid up her thighs and gripped her hips. Lily was prepared for whatever Shane did now. He could be as wild as he wanted. As long as he made her his, she wanted everything he had to give.
She felt his massive girth smack against her pussy. She looked back at him as he slid a hand down her back and pressed it against her pelvic bone.
“Mine,” he growled. “My mate.”
His nostrils were flaring and his eyes flickered in the firelight. Lily bit her lip and closed her eyes, resting her cheek against the soft back of the couch. Shane angled himself against her opening, and he slipped easily inside her ready core.
He inched forward, and Lily sucked a breath through her teeth. Shane was big. She hadn’t remembered how big. Her mouth dropped open as he pushed
forward, not stopping. She was so wet, his long, thick cock glided into her, pressing hard all her swollen pleasure points. As he sank to the base, she felt herself break into a throbbing orgasm.
“My mate likes my cock deep inside her,” he growled.
“Yes,” she gasped, sucking her lower lip.
“And I’ll never forget the pleasure in your eyes.”
He drew back and thrust again, making her orgasm crest and roll. Shane was here and in control, but it was just as primal as the last time. Sex was not like this with ordinary men. It was additive to be this high on lust, and she never wanted to come down. Shane popped her back and forth on his cock, making her mind fly off somewhere wild and crazy while her body spiraled in delight. His insistent rocking hips never let up and she continued to come.
“I want to keep you like this forever,” Shane whispered into her ear.
Lily moaned. All the passion they’d had for each other all these years was bursting through and taking over. His hands slid up her sides and over her breasts, drawing her back against his chest. He nuzzled through her hair and started to kiss her neck. His hands roved her body, her breasts, her clit. She felt the sharp edge of his teeth on her neck. His fingers rolled her clit and nipples.
His teeth pressed painfully against her neck, sinking deep into her flesh. This was it. She gasped and held her breath. He bit hard, and his orgasm exploded inside her. She was marked and changed.
She could feel the venom in his bite. The special saliva would change her very DNA and make her like him. He held her against him, his cock still pulsing in her womb. His teeth gripped her hard as he grasped her breast.
Lily’s mouth hung open and her eyes were pressed closed. Slowly, Shane began to pull away. His teeth retracted and he slid from inside her. With a deep breath out, Shane took her in his arms and pulled her down to sit with him on the couch.
She rested with her head against his chest. He was panting, and her neck hurt. She could feel the venom already coursing through her. It wouldn’t be long until she, too, could shift.
He had really done it. He’d marked her. He’d changed her. She put her hand on his chest. He couldn’t run from her now. They were connected, body and soul. And she was a bear now. She could match him if she needed to. But somehow, she doubted she’d ever need to now. She looked at him; his bear had receded and he seemed so clam. He leaned forward and kissed her hard before leaning back and letting out a breath.
“We’re mated,” he said.
Her heart felt so light and free. Even with the shifter DNA surging through her blood, she felt a surprising new sense of peace, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It swept over her and filled her with joy. She hugged Shane hard around the chest and growled, laughing. She was so happy. She started to tickle him under the arms. He jolted up and growled at her with a grin and light in his eyes.
“I’m worn out, woman.”
“Can’t keep up now?” she said, digging her fingertips into his flesh.
“Want to try me?” he replied, grabbing her arms and tossing her back on the couch.
“Okay. So you’re still stronger than me,” she shrieked.
She hadn’t felt this alive in so long. Maybe ever. She grabbed for his ticklish spot. He grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her head.
“There, now I have you,” he said, mirth in his eyes.
“I belong to you. But I have to be free,” she said, trying to break away to tickle attack him again.
His chest rumbled with a low growl, his eyes searching her body.
“You want to wrestle?” he said.
“Maybe,” she said.
“Fine, let’s go,” he said, yanking her up from the couch.
He tossed her over his shoulder and slapped her ass. Lily shrieked as he carried her bodily through the cabin. He didn’t let her down until they were in the bathroom. It was a functional but slightly old fashioned room with pink tile. Lily giggled at the girly rose tile that lined the top of the shower.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
“Time for a wash down, mate. You’re a dirty girl.”
She slapped his shoulder. He flinched and laughed as he turned on the water. He held back the curtain for her to walk inside once he’d tested the water for the right heat. She slid around him and stood under the warm stream. It felt heavenly. Her body still ached from his touch.
She was alive with sensation, and washing away the fatigue of the day felt like heaven. He stepped in behind her and started to soap up her body. She turned around and grabbed the soap. She ran it up the length of his already stiff cock. He pursed his lips at her as he looked into her eyes.
“You like that?” he asked. His animal was even further back this time.
“I’ve always liked it. I’ve wanted to do this since I was seventeen,” she said, kneeling down to the porcelain floor of the tub.
He was so big. She stuck out her tongue and ran it up the ridged hood of his cock. He cupped her cheek and bared his teeth.
“If we hadn’t just mated, I don’t know what I’d do right now, looking at those pretty lips near my cock.”
“Do your worst, Wild Bear,” she said, before taking him deep in her mouth.
She couldn’t take his size and gripped his base with her hands. The feel of his hot shaft in her mouth made her gush and throb. She really had wanted to do it since she was seventeen. Fifteen years was a long time to wait. Lily started to move over his cock, sucking and licking with abandon. He felt so good inside her, rubbing deep and hard against her throat.
She wanted to make him come, but he wasn’t going to let her. Shane lifted her from her knees and turned her around so that the water was running over her breasts and pussy. His shaft pressed like a steel rod against her ass. He ran his hands over her flesh, cupping her breasts and flicking her swollen clit. He would make her come so fast. The water brushed over her super sensitive skin. She was becoming more awakened to her bear by the moment. All her senses were turning up.
He squeezed her breast and twisted his finger between her legs, making her come for him. As her body pulsed with release, he turned her around, lifted her up, and wrapped her legs around his waist. She gripped his shoulders, and he positioned her against the shower wall, his cock ready to slip inside her. She was still sore from before, but there was nothing she wanted more than for him to bury himself inside her again. Slick and wet from the shower, they kissed each other madly as he pushed through. She was open, wet, ready.
“You’re mine, Lily Mason,” he said, as he pumped his hips into her.
“You’re mine, Shane Keenan,” she breathed into his ear.
17
Shane and Lily sat wrapped in towels under the blankets of his bed. They cuddled there for a while before Lily reached for her phone and looked for messages.
“Come back,” Shane said.
When he’d marked Lily and turned her, all the pain he’d been keeping buried deep inside seemed to fade away. His bear was quiet and sated for the first time since before his mother died.
“We have to get Theo. Juliet can’t watch him all day,” Lily said.
“Yes, she can.”
He pulled her back under him, her round breasts arching into view. He pursed his lips, and she giggled. She kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, one hand clutching her cell phone. She laid back and smiled at him.
“When am I going to change?” Lily asked, worry just behind the joy in her eyes.
“When you want to.”
“I could do it now?”
“As soon as the bear is born inside you, then you can call to it.”
“I think I can feel it, just below the surface of my mind. It’s calling to me.”
“Yes,” he said, nipping at the bite marks on her neck.
Turning Lily into a bear had been electrifying. Nothing had ever made him feel so alive. And at rest inside. He was invigorated, in control. It was as if the balm he had always needed had been right in fron
t of him the whole time.
“Can I do it tonight?” she asked.
“Mm-hm,” Shane said, breathing in the scent of her skin.
The past didn’t matter anymore. He had Lily by his side now. She was what he’d needed to finally be free of the past.
“Where am I going to live?” she asked.
“You can live here.”
Somehow, fate had brought them together. Lily and Shane were meant to be together. They were meant to heal each other’s wounds. They fit. Shane should have known all along. But he’d been blinded by his own rage. He couldn’t fix what he’d done, or the bear he’d been. But he could be a better bear now.
“Here?” she asked.
They hadn’t talked about any of this before they’d driven headlong into each other’s arms. Everything she owned was in her car. Moving into Shane’s cabin seemed to be the perfect solution.
“Sure. Why not? I’ve got an extra bedroom for Theo.”
“Levi wouldn’t mind?”
“No. Levi and I are cool.”
“Of course I’ll move in with you. We’re mated now, and I’m going to shift soon. I can’t believe it. I haven’t felt this good in years. It’s amazing.”
She reached up and kissed him passionately before she pushed out of bed. She was stronger, he could tell already. Lily’s face was brighter; the greyness of stress seemed to be washed away. Her curves looked plump and round.
She found her clothes and pulled them on quickly before sending off a text to Juliet. Shane slid into his own clothes at a more leisurely pace. Watching his mate do these mundane things was sexy as hell. He’d never let himself appreciate how hot Lily was because he’d always pushed it away. Now he could appreciate her as much as he wanted. And he planned to do a lot more of it.
He growled and grabbed her ass as she made her way to the door. Lily gasped and looked up at him with a growl of her own.
“I can see this is going to be fun,” she said, a sparkle in her eye.
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