by Ruby Forrest
“You got yourself a good one there, brother.” Darian’s voice made them both jump. Bronte looked around to see him slip into the room from where he had been hiding behind a shelving unit, likely to give them a private moment. “Don’t be letting her slip through your fingers.”
“I have no intentions of ever letting her slip through my fingers again.” Brett shook his head, saying, “Once was enough.”
Bronte suddenly remembered the way she had run from him at the hotel and she felt sick to her stomach with how she had treated him. “Brett, I am so sorry. I…I thought you were hiding something from me. I couldn’t let you confess your love for me and blind me to whatever the hell was going on.”
Brett sighed at that and nodded as though he understood perfectly. “I never should have put you in that situation. I should have known you would be clever enough to figure out there was something going on.”
“Alright, enough chit chat,” Stetson said as he strutted into the room, looking as though he was growing impatient. “You all healed up, Brett? Can we get you out of here now?”
“Why so impatient, brother?” Brett smirked at Stetson as though he was simply asking the question to tease him.
“Don’t test my patience, idiot,” Stetson snapped. “Let’s get you home. Bronte looks like she could do with a shower and a change of clothes and, well, you just need clothes period.”
Bronte suddenly felt embarrassed for Brett though he did not seem to care that he was completely naked in front of his brothers. Something told her they had been like that all too many times before together. When she looked down at herself though she realized that Stetson was right. She definitely did need a shower. His blood was still on the front of her dress, the reminder of how close she’d come to losing him making her go still with remembered fear.
***
Brett’s heart thundered as he thought of what he was about to do. He had allowed Bronte to shower alone, figured that she might need a little space after everything she had learned about him, but he could not bring himself to wait for what he was about to do. He knew that if he didn’t do it now, he might never get the chance to do it and he could not let Bronte walk out of his life without first laying all his cards on the table.
Standing outside the bedroom door, he waited to hear the door to the ensuite bathroom click open before he raised his knuckles and knocked just loudly enough for her to hear. He didn’t want to make her jump. She’d had enough of a fright already.
“Come in,” she called to him almost instantly, and Brett felt his heart flutter at the sound of her voice. He hesitated for a moment before finally reaching for the door handle and entering. He found her wrapped in a towel with her long, luscious hair swept over one shoulder. She smiled when she saw him and his entire world lit up.
“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I didn’t want to disturb you while you were freshening up, but I just couldn’t wait any longer.”
“Wait for what?” Bronte asked him and her eyebrow wiggled as though she believed it might have been something a little more risqué than what he had planned.
“Bronte, there is something I need to ask you before I lose my nerve and never tell you how I truly feel,” Brett explained, speaking low as he wandered over to her, took hold of her free hand that wasn’t holding up her towel and took a deep breath. “You are the most amazing woman I have ever met, and I could not allow you to walk out of my life…”
“Who says I am going to walk out of your life?” Bronte interjected, and she looked cutely confused. Brett could not help but feel relieved at her question. Perhaps that meant she was considering staying after all.
“Please, Bronte, let me finish what I have to say,” he told her gently as he reached up and stroked the hair away from her face. “You are the most amazing woman I ever met, and I could not allow you to walk out of my life without first telling you that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
He saw the breath catch in her throat and her eyes widened, though she didn’t look alarmed, just surprised.
“Bronte Welch…” He took another deep breath as he lowered himself down onto one knee and produced the ring box from his trousers pocket. With a second breath, he opened it, and asked, “Will you marry me?”
He saw the tears spark at the corners of her eyes and for a moment he thought he had done nothing but upset her. He wanted to slam the box shut, push it back into his pocket and forget it had ever happened. Then she began to smile, and the tears began to stream down her face. He heard the small whimper of happiness from her lips and it lifted his sinking heart.
“Yes! Yes! I will marry you!” she exclaimed as she dropped down onto her knees in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed her lips against his with bruising force, but he didn’t care. He kissed her back just as hard, until finally they eased off and he reached around to take hold of her hand and slip the ring onto her finger.
And just like that it was done. Their lives were entwined, and he had gotten the chance to ask her the question he had been dying to ask since the end of their very first date all those months ago. Happiness overwhelmed him as he took her into his arms all over again.
As though it was forgotten, Bronte allowed the towel to slip from her grip and suddenly he found her naked before him. His animal instincts began to overwhelm him, and he found it extremely difficult to control himself.
The more passionately she kissed him, the less control he had, and soon he found himself reaching for her hips to pick her up into his arms and carry her to the bed. The gasp that escaped her lips as he dropped her onto the mattress only excited him more. The need to be inside her, to truly claim her as his own was so overwhelming that he reached down to unbuckle his belt and drop his pants.
“I want you inside me,” she whispered into his ear as she held on to the back of his head and his hard cock hovered between her legs. “I want you deep inside me.”
That was all he needed to know. Reaching down to stroke her pussy, he found her already wet and ready for him as though her body had anticipated what was to come. He dipped his finger deep inside her a couple of times just to be sure that she was ready for him before he leaned forward and thrust himself deep inside her.
She gasped as she continued to hold on to his head, pressing her lips firmly against his own, even as she began to moan deep in her throat. Their love making was hot and fast, their bodies melting together.
Afterwards, he wrapped her in his arms and held her close to him.
“I love you Bronte.” His words made her shiver in his arms.
“I love you too Brett.” Her words caused him to have a shiver of his own and he couldn’t help but smile as she nuzzled into his chest.
Epilogue
“You know you don’t have to come with me every time,” Brett told Bronte as Robert drove them in the direction of the forest. Bronte leaned in closer to her husband and enjoyed the feel of his arm wrapped around her as they rode together in the back of the new silver BMW that they had brought a year ago to replace the last one that Brett had claimed was ‘out-dated’.
“Being a bear is a big part of your life,” Bronte insisted. “I want to be a part of that too. Besides, I have come with you every week for the last two years. What makes you think I would change my mind on that now?”
Brett couldn’t help but smile at her. He still couldn’t understand how he had ever become so lucky as to find a woman like her, a woman who accepted him for who he was and for who his bear was. He remembered all the warnings he’d received from his brothers to stay away from her and couldn’t help but smile further. They had grown to love her almost as much as he did, welcomed her into their family as though she was a true sister, even treated her as though she had an animal pelt of her own at times with all their jibing and joking. It was amazing to see and it warmed Brett’s heart so much that sometimes, he believed it might burst.
“I’m just saying, if you had some
where else you needed to be tonight then I would understand,” Brett explained as he took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before pressing his lips to her knuckles.
“There is nowhere on earth I would rather be,” she told him with a brilliant smile that made his entire body warm with love for her. Even after two years of marriage, their love was still as strong as the very first moment Brett had realized that he did, in fact, love her. He wasn’t quite sure when the exact moment was, but he knew it was somewhere amongst the very first moments of their very first date when she had giggled, and his heart had soared to see her smile.
“Bronte, do you know you are the most beautiful woman in this whole world?” He asked, teasingly.
“I don’t think you have ever allowed me to forget it,” she answered, smiling back at him. He vowed, not for the first time, that he would do his best to make her smile just like that for the rest of her life, and longer if possible.
The car drew to a stop and Brett knew they had arrived at their destination as Robert slipped from the driver’s seat and came around to pull open the door for them.
“Thank you, Robert,” Brett said. He was still grateful for his loyal servant and the confidence he had with sharing the truth with him. He was even more grateful that Robert was not the only one he could share it with. He thought again of the day he had allowed Bronte to see what he truly was and how she had handled it in a way he never dreamed possible. As soon as Brett helped her from the car, he pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“What was that for?” She asked as she pulled her face back to look at him.
“That was a thank you,” he replied as he pressed his lips to the tip of her nose and enjoyed the feel of her breath on his chin for a moment.
“What for?”
“For accepting me for who I am,” he replied. “For accepting all of me, bear and all.”
“I love you and your bear, now and always,” she replied to him as she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes to press her lips against his. “Now let’s get you into those woods and let that bear of yours run before he goes completely insane.”
Brett smiled at that. She knew him so well, well enough to know that after an entire week of not shifting, he needed, more than anything, to let off some steam in his more dominant form, the form that would take over without control if he did not let off that steam.
“Let’s do it,” he replied to her as he stepped back, grabbed the blanket from the backseat and offered her his hand.
“I shall wait for you here, sir, madam,” Robert told them, as he always did, and they both thanked him for it.
As they walked into the forest, Brett was overly aware of just how calm and happy his soul was. He had never felt so in harmony with his two forms before. Bronte had given him something he never could have imagined. She had not only given him love. She had also given him peace.
They stopped beside his usual stump and Brett laid out the blanket for his true love before turning to her.
“My lady,” he joked, holding her hand and gesturing to the blanket with his other.
“Why thank you, kind sir,” she said. She grinned back to him as she dropped down onto the blanket. “Are you sure you are going to be alright?”
“Brett, how many times have I sat here and waited for you to finish a run?” She scowled at him as she laid herself down and got comfortable. She knew he would be a while. His bear had been cooped up far too long already. He needed to stretch his legs. “Go and have fun. Don’t worry about me. Just promise you won’t kill too many cute little creatures.”
She knew well that his bear form also had blood thirsty cravings that needed to be quenched. After getting to know the brothers a little better she had learned that Darian had accidently almost killed his lover when she had learned their secret and Stetson had killed more than a couple of people to protect himself and his brothers.
Brett didn’t need to be told twice. His entire body was itching to be rid of his human form and he began to strip off his clothes, feeling Bronte’s eyes on him the entire time. She had taken to folding his clothes and placing them on the stump for him a long time ago and he enjoyed watching her do so as she watched him shift out of the corner of her eye.
He admired her even more so knowing that she enjoyed watching his change and that left him feeling carefree as he headed off into the woods to let off the steam that had been building inside him since his last run.
Bronte waited patiently, watching the stars that danced overhead through the treetops as she played with a loose thread on the blanket.
Brett was not quiet on his return. He stomped through the trees to be sure that she heard him, as he always did so not to frighten her as he stepped out of the bushes. As soon as she heard him coming she jumped up onto her feet and began to do as she always did. She began to strip off the clothes that seemed all too tight on her body. Brett had his needs and she had hers. Now that his were satisfied, he could turn his attention to her and her naked body that needed to feel his warm, tender touch.
Bronte watched as he slipped from the bushes and stood before her. His huge animal form stood at seven feet tall and she had to crane her neck to look up at him as he towered above her, yet she could see his eyes travelling up and down her body. Though she had grown used to his bear she could not grow used to the feelings the sight of it caused within her. She was not afraid or nervous. She did not feel any urgency to run in the opposite direction. In fact she was fond of his bear form, it’s familiar skin that of Brett’s most protective and loyal instincts. His true self was represented in the traits of the bear. Then Brett padded up to her and pressed his big bear nose in the palm of her hand. He nuzzled her hand gently for a moment before beginning to shift.
Before long, he stood in front of her again as the man she had fallen in love with before she had known his secrets, before she had learned the real him and she knew that she loved him all the more because of his secrets. She had something nobody else had. She had the heart of Brett the bear and she knew nobody else would ever hold it. That was the most precious gift he had ever given her and, in return, she had given him her whole heart too. It was that knowledge that caused her to smile as he took her in his arms and consumed her mouth with his own.
Gently, he laid her down on the blanket before coming down on top of her. He propped himself up with his elbows on either side of her shoulders and held her face in both of his hands as he looked deep into her eyes.
“What has gotten you so aroused?” He asked her with a devilish smile on his face. She knew full well from two years of marriage with this man that he could smell her arousal just as much as she could feel it between her legs.
“You know exactly what your bear does to me,” she whispered back to him as she took hold of his face and brought her own up to kiss him. “You and your fine bear ass need to make love to me right now or I think I might go insane.”
“As you wish,” Brett answered. He smiled as though he was pleased to be so wanted by her as he slipped himself deep inside her. Bronte gasped as she always did, her body never truly becoming accustomed to the sheer size of him and he didn’t begin to move until she was ready. She kissed him as he began to thrust deep inside her.
“You have all of my heart, Bronte,” Brett whispered into her ear as he made love to her like it was the very first and last time, as though he had to show her in those few moments all the love he had ever felt for her and more.
“And you have all of mine, Brett, my love,” she gasped back. It was moments like those that Bronte knew she would love this man forever and the way he kissed her and held her and made love to her told her that he felt the same way too. It was those moments that brought the happy tears to her eyes, washing away all the pain and hurt she had ever felt at the hands of others. Brett had promised her that her old life was over and the minute she had married him her life had changed forever. She would never again live a life without
love, a life without him.
THE END