Mark of the Bear (Hades' Carnival)

by N. J. Walters

  His expression remained stern and forbidding. Kellsie tried to take a step back, but he still had one arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him until her breasts were touching his chest. Her nipples puckered and strained to get closer. She no longer felt the cold, not with the heat rolling off his large body.

  Her panties were damp and she knew her sex was swollen and moist. A pulsing ache grew deep within her core. Kellsie wanted him. This dream man had done what no other man had done for years—he’d made her want him. But that only made sense since he was a figment of her imagination.

  He brushed a lock of her hair away from her face. “Kellsie,” he began. Suddenly, she didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to hear what he had to say. She wanted him. Nothing else mattered. She had no idea how much longer she’d sleep. The last time they’d met in a dream she’d been afraid and pulled back, ending the encounter before it really started.

  Not this time.

  This time she wanted it all. Wanted to slide her body over his, feel his weight on top of her as he thrust his hard cock into her body. There was no doubt he wanted her, if the solid erection pressed against her stomach was anything to gauge by. She could feel the heat and the pulse of his shaft through her shirt and it sent an answering bolt of need firing through her.

  She didn’t want words. And really, what kind of promises could a fantasy man make? This could be the last time she ever dreamed of him.

  Kellsie reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt and dragged it over her head. Marko stilled. She sensed every part of him was alert and ready to pounce. She shivered at the intensity in his gaze.

  “I want you.” Reaching behind her back, she unhooked her bra. A quick shimmy and the straps fell down her arms. The wisp of material was caught between them.

  Marko picked it up and held it to his nose. He inhaled, dragging in her scent. Kellsie was momentarily embarrassed, knowing it had to smell more like sweat than her bodywash.

  He rubbed the material against his cheek. The action was incredibly sensual. She could almost imagine they were her breasts he was touching. Her nipples ached and she leaned inward to rub them against his hair-roughened chest.

  Marko groaned and tossed her bra aside. He caught her face between his two massive hands, framing it. “Are you sure?”

  Wow, a dream man with a sense of honor. She smiled. “Yes, I’m sure.” And she was. She ached for him in a way she never had for any man. He might not be real, but in this world, in this dream, he was real enough.

  She’d worry about her growing obsession with a fantasy when she woke. For now, she wanted to simply enjoy the sensations coursing through her.

  Marko leaned down, his long hair brushing the sides of her face as he touched his mouth to hers. It was a brief caress, a whisper. But it made her toes curl in her sneakers. Warmth spread throughout her as he let his hands slide down her neck and arms. One hand settled on the small of her back, urging her even closer. The other came to rest on her left breast.

  Kellsie didn’t even try to suppress her moan of pleasure as Marko cupped her breast. He palmed it, weighing it in his hand. His thumb brushed her turgid nipple, sending a blast of heat straight to her sex.

  She squirmed, pushing her breast closer.

  “Beautiful,” he whispered. His lips skimmed over her cheeks, nose and forehead. He nipped lightly at her chin and nibbled along her jawline.

  She tunneled her fingers into his hair and tugged his mouth back to hers. “Kiss me,” she ordered. Not giving him time to act, she plastered her lips against his. His mouth was firm yet gentle as he tasted her bottom lip and then the top one. She gasped, her lips parting, and his tongue snuck inside.

  Heat exploded through her like a fire burning out of control. He tasted so damn good she knew she’d never get enough. He was addictive. And, for tonight, he was hers.

  She rubbed her tongue over his. The hand at the base of her spine shifted to the back of her head. He kissed her as though she was the only woman who could satisfy the hunger in him. It was a heady feeling.

  His shaft throbbed against her belly. She wanted to get closer to him. Her pussy positively ached to feel him. She loosened her grip on his hair and grabbed at his shoulders. She slung one leg over his left hip and gave a little jump, hooking her other leg around his right hip. She held on tight, tilting her pelvis until her mound was hard against his cock.

  It felt better than she’d imagined. Hot and thick, he pulsated against her core. His hard hands cupped her ass, holding her securely. She’d never doubted for a moment Marko would support her and keep her safe.

  That thought gave her pause. She didn’t trust any man. History had shown her she had to look out for herself, not depend on anyone. But this was only a dream, wasn’t it?

  Sadness threatened to intrude on her erotic interlude. Reality reared its ugly head.

  What was she thinking? What was she doing? It might be a dream, but it felt so real. She couldn’t let herself get attached to a figment of her imagination. Heck, she was already halfway in love with him. He was strong and honorable and…crazy. He thought he was a shapeshifter, an ancient warrior, a bear. And maybe he was. In this place, in this dream, he could be anything.

  As if sensing her distraction, Marko broke away from their kiss. He was breathing as heavily as she was. He looked at her, his dark eyes growing sad and distant. He expected her to back away and was fully prepared for it.

  That alone gave her the courage to move forward. After all, it was just a dream.

  Mordecai glared at Brittany. “What do you mean we don’t know where they are?” Kellsie had freed the bear and then they’d both disappeared.

  Brittany shrugged, appearing totally unconcerned. “Everyone is looking, but they’re not anywhere on the carnival grounds or in her trailer.” Behind her, he could see members of the crew rushing around like bumbling idiots.

  He dragged a hand through his hair, barely keeping from ripping out the heart of the succubus in front of him. It was no wonder Hades needed him and his brethren in his war if he surrounded himself with such simpletons. “Then expand the search. They must be in the forest somewhere.” Mordecai stared out at the surrounding darkness, knowing they could be anywhere.

  “Why don’t you just ask Hades?” Brittany snapped the gum she was chewing, looking more like a petulant twenty-year-old than a three-hundred-year-old succubus.

  “Why don’t you ask him?” Mordecai snapped. Really, the girl was too stupid to live. Hades would not be pleased to arrive only to find out they’d lost the bear and the woman. Mordecai did not want to be the one to tell Hades he’d lost them.

  Brittany paled. “No, that’s okay.” She backed away. “I’ll keep looking.”

  “You do that,” he muttered. He continued to gaze out over the landscape, searching the darkness, searching for any hint of power or life force. They must be in a cave somewhere. The thick stone would be capable of blocking his ability to find them.

  Time was running out for all of them. “You can’t stay hidden forever,” he muttered. If they couldn’t find them, Hades would when he finally deigned to grace them with his evil presence. For now, they would search and hope for the best.

  Mordecai left the lights of the carnival and the loud din of voices behind and headed into the thick woods.

  Chapter Nine

  Marko was torn between honor and need. No, not need. That was too tame a word for what was flooding through his veins. He had to have Kellsie. More than he needed air or food or water, he needed her. No other woman could sate him, satisfy the craving deep in his soul.

  That worried him.

  Was she really his savior or would she be his downfall? There was no room in his life for a mortal woman. Nothing was more important than fulfilling his duty. He had to keep them both alive for the next twenty or so hours. He had to find a way to try to free his remaining brothers-in-arms. And he had to find out what happened to Roric. When that was done, he had to attempt to rescue his La
dy from Hell.

  He really had no time for sex with Kellsie.

  But what was between them went far beyond sexual desire. He recognized that even if she didn’t. Frustration ate at Marko at her continued belief that what was happening wasn’t real. He knew she thought she was dreaming. They’d met in a dream only days before. He remembered it now and knew it had been a foretelling of her arrival.

  This woman, this fragile human female had reached deep inside him and touched his soul. There was no other way for him to describe it. Like most animals, he trusted his instincts, and he’d known immediately that she was meant for him. But the human side of his nature feared it was much more than that.

  Kellsie was his mate. She belonged to him.

  And that could never happen. Even if they survived the battle with Hades and his demons in the coming hours—which was iffy at best—she was human and he was immortal. He would love her only to lose her in the blink of an eye. It would be better to walk away now before he was pulled deeper under her spell.

  The bear inside him growled and roared in anger at the thought. He agreed with the animal half of himself and would take what was she was offering. It was an unexpected reward after years and years of torment. He’d be a fool not to make love to Kellsie. And Marko was nobody’s fool. Bears might seem slow and lumbering to those who did not know any better, but they were intelligent creatures. He would not turn down the gift before him.

  He stared down into her stunning blue eyes. He could see the heat, the lust reflected there. But he could see something more. Uncertainty and need mixed together, as though she expected to be rejected, didn’t quite trust him not to hurt her in some way.

  His warrior woman had been emotionally injured in her life. The last thing he wanted to do was add to those wounds. But he would. There was no turning back for either of them. She was a pawn in this game between the gods just as he was. His fate was hers. No matter what happened, they were tied together for the rest of her life.

  Resolve hardened within him. Kellsie Morris belonged to him. She had been given to him, a prize worth fighting for, an offering of redemption and he would not fail her. He would protect her at all costs and, if it came to it, he would give his life for hers.

  In the meantime, he would give her pleasure, the kind of which she’d never known. Leaning down, he laid his lips against hers and felt her slight hesitation before she gave herself fully to the kiss.

  He was in awe of her bravery. Whether she believed him a dream or not, it didn’t really matter. He knew what was happening between them was real and so would she soon enough. He would give her this interlude of pleasure. It was the least he could do, and it was something they both deserved.

  He teased her tongue with his, encouraging her to play, to take whatever she needed. She tasted fresh and tart and warm. The hunger burning in his belly was nothing compared to the hunger flaming in his soul. He needed her touch, her hands on his body. Anywhere. Everywhere.

  Her legs wrapped around his flanks, gripping him and keeping her close to his body. The heat from her pussy enveloped his dick even through all their clothing. Her full breasts were plastered against his chest, her puckered nipples nudging his flesh. Even with her arms wrapped around his neck and her lips returning his avid kiss, it wasn’t enough.

  He had to get closer.

  He tore his lips away from hers, gasping for breath when she began to nibble on the taut cords of his neck. He needed a bed. Marko didn’t want their first time together to be in the dirt on the hard ground, but he didn’t have much choice. There weren’t any feather mattresses close by. But there was something he could do to make things nicer for Kellsie.

  “Stop.” He grabbed her wrists from the back of his neck and tried to peel her away. “Kellsie, wait.” She squeezed her thighs around his waist and ignored him. She peppered his face and neck with butterfly kisses.

  Growling, Marko shook her lightly. “Not yet.”

  His words finally seemed to penetrate the sensual haze she was lost in. He was sorry he had to distract her. By the Lady, he was being stupid. He should just take her hard and fast against the cave wall and be done with it.

  No. She could get hurt that way. Her skin was soft and fragile and would be torn by the jagged rock.

  Tension filled her now where moments before she’d been lost in passion. Marko wanted to roar with frustration. Her limbs were no longer trying to cling to him but pushing him away.

  He released her and she took a step back. She crossed her arms over her bare chest and glanced at the ground in search of her top. “Kellsie.” He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “The ground is too hard. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She relaxed almost imperceptibly, but he saw it and it gave him hope that all was not lost. “You can be on the bottom.”

  Her words had his cock jerking, trying to find a way out of his pants. It was all too easy to picture himself stretched out on the ground with Kellsie on top of him. Her breasts would sway with each stroke as he buried his thick cock deep into her warm, welcoming heat. Her hair would brush against her shoulders and back, a cascade of sunshine to help warm him after his years of cold imprisonment.

  She frowned and looked around. “Why did I dream a cave and not a four-star hotel? That sucks.” She closed her eyes and scrunched them tight, muttering under her breath for a moment before opening them again.

  “What are you doing?” Everything about her fascinated him, including her thought processes.

  “Trying to change location.” She sounded so disgruntled by her failure he drew her into his arms and hugged her, rocking her gently from side to side.

  “I can’t give you a hotel.” The image of a decadent room with a huge mattress and acres of silk popped into his brain. He’d caught a glimpse of such a place about two thousand years ago in the Orient when the demons had moved them into an emperor’s palace for a short while.

  They’d kept them mostly in caves, especially in the early years, but sometimes they’d left them in better places for a decade or two at a time. He’d liked those times best of all because that’s where he’d managed to learn about the evolution of mankind and the changes in the world. They’d been kept in palaces, in museums and even in a dusty warehouse in New York at the turn of the last century. Everywhere they’d been kept, he’d soaked up all he could about the world. Bears were naturally curious and it had helped keep him sane.

  He’d love to see the emperor’s palace again someday. Better yet, he’d love to take Kellsie to such a place and spend days making love to her. He shoved the thought aside. He had here and now and she was looking at him expectantly. “But I can make things a little nicer. Wait here.”

  He released her and hurried outside, anxious to find what he needed. He heard her call his name and it occurred to him that she might be afraid of being alone in the dark. “I won’t go far,” he called over his shoulder.

  He stopped a few feet from the cave and examined the trees. There were plenty for him to choose from. He stared at his hand and willed it to change. The hand morphed into a hair-covered paw tipped with long, lethal claws. “As good as an axe,” he muttered as he sliced through branches of a pine tree. He didn’t stop until he had a nice sized pile at his feet. That would do it. Marko allowed the paw to shift back to a hand and quickly hefted the pile into his arms.

  Kellsie was pacing when he returned. She whirled to watch him as he entered and he could see her eyes widen. His vision was much keener than hers and he could see her as clearly as if they were standing in the midday sun.

  “What’s that?” She came to his side and reached out her hand to touch one of the branches.

  “Your bed.” He dumped them on the floor just inside the door so the moonlight would shine upon them. He positioned the thick, soft branches on the ground. When he was satisfied with the arrangement, he grabbed her long-sleeved top and laid it over the pile. He frowned and quickly skinned out of his pants and added them. He
wished he could conjure something better, but clothing and weapons were as far as his powers went at the moment. He hoped in time they would return full force. Until then, he would have to make do.

  Kellsie gasped and he glanced over his shoulder. She was looking at his ass. He smiled at the way her hand was reaching out, as if she wanted to touch him. When she saw him watching her, she yanked her hand back by her side, curling her fingers against her palm.

  Marko straightened and went to her. Her eyes widened as she studied his erection. She could have no doubts as to how much he wanted her.

  She swallowed hard as he picked up the tail of her braid and slowly undid it, letting her hair cascade over her shoulders. “We need to add your pants to the top of the branches. That should just about do it.”

  She nodded and didn’t stop him as he unbuttoned her jeans and pulled down the zipper. It was strange to see such things in person. He knew what zippers were and how to work them, but he was amazed by such a creation. And he knew the world was filled with such wonders. But the greatest wonder in the world was standing in front of him, allowing him to remove her clothing, making herself vulnerable to him.

  His heart swelled as he went down on one knee in front of her and urged her right foot up. He tugged off her sneaker and sock before skimming the thicker material of her pants off. Then he did the same with the left foot. The only thing left was the tiny fragment of material that covered her mound. Panties. He knew from absorbing the information from the world around him that they were called panties and were designed not so much to cover a woman but to drive a man insane. He wanted to touch the treasure they hid from his view, to stroke his finger over her heated folds to see if she was damp with arousal.

  Marko traced the thin band that ran over her flat tummy just below her belly button. Her skin was warm and her muscles quivered beneath his touch. He leaned inward and inhaled deeply, drawing her womanly scent into his nostrils. She was just as sweet and spicy as he remembered from his dream. This time he would do more than just smell her. This time he would taste and savor every part of her body.