MARS (BBW Bear Shifter MC Romance) (MC Bear Mates Book 1)

by Becca Fanning

  She let out a long breath. “Challenges? Like to the death?”

  He raised a hand to scrape along his jaw. Mars could lie, he knew he could, and probably well enough that she’d believe him. But what was the point? Like he’d told her before, lies only caused more complications. And life was getting complicated enough without adding to his burden.

  He’d told her she could die once they were bound to one another. And here he was, telling her he was putting himself in a situation where his life was in danger. Hers, as a consequence, too.

  “Yeah. It could be to the death.”

  “Could?” she questioned doubtfully.

  “Personally, death isn’t my aim. But Jackson would aim for that, and ultimately, I’d end up having to end him because he’d never let it go.” He grimaced and worked his jaw a second. “I’m strong. Stronger than Jackson in either form. It’s highly unlikely I’ll lose, Annette. You don’t have to worry about that.

  “Shit,” he continued, not letting her talk. “I never wanted to be Vice President. If Cub hadn’t died when he did, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Instead, now, I’m left with this shit.”

  “What do you mean? If you take out Jackson, you’ll have to be President?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. VP was never my goal, so Prez sure as shit isn’t. I’m a treasurer. That’s what I do best. Cub put me in charge of the books, and that’s where I roll. But things changed when he passed.”

  She squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  That had him frowning at her, but not in irritation. He reached up and chucked her under the chin. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I’m the one who should be sorry. I’ve dragged you into this crap, and you’re in no fit state to be dealing with it.”

  Annette smacked his arm for that. “I have PTSD, yeah, but I’m not a china doll. I can deal with more shit than most people can.” She glowered at him. “Don’t make me regret telling you I have issues.”

  He widened his eyes. “I won’t make you regret anything. But my desire to protect you isn’t going anywhere. You’re the one who needs to recognize that too.”

  She bypassed that and asked, “What are we going to do?”

  “I need you to come and stay here for a while.”

  “How long’s a while?”

  “For the foreseeable future,” he confessed with a sigh. “I’m going to have to challenge Jackson within the next couple of days. Once that happens, I’ll need to be here. As Prez, I can’t live off site.” He slammed his fist into the bed. “Why the fuck couldn’t Jackson keep his goddamn mouth shut? I had it in my head that we could live away from the clubhouse for a while. That it might raise some eyebrows, but nothing too major. Now, with this fuck up, that’s never going to happen.” He sucked in a deep breath. “And I’m saying all this, making all these assumptions, when you might want to back the fuck away from me like I had the plague or something. It goes against my nature, Annette, to give you a back out clause, but you’re my mate, and I want you to want to be with me. If you don’t then I’ll just have to… deal with it.”

  For a second, she stayed silent, but as he’d made his offer, he’d tilted his chin back down. She used her thumb to make him look up at her, and for what felt like a good hour, she stared down into his eyes. What she was seeking, he didn’t know. He wasn’t altogether certain she knew either. But he watched her watch him. Saw her lick her lips, take a shuddery breath, then nod. It was hesitant. But it was a nod.

  “I’ll move in with you.”

  He let out a shuddery breath. “Thank you, mate.”

  “I’m holding you to your promise.” When he cocked a brow at that, she continued, “’I won’t make you regret anything.’”

  Mars reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers. “That’s more than a promise. It’s a vow.”

  Chapter Eight

  In the dead of night, with Mars snoring away at her back, Annette rolled from her belly onto her side.

  She couldn’t sleep.

  Mars was still drained from yesterday’s events, and whatever the hell kind of price he had to pay to the Goddesses was obviously messing with his system. When they’d climbed into bed, he’d held her close, nuzzled his hips into her ass, making her well aware of the erection he was sporting, but before she could even tease him, he was pressing his face to her shoulder and was off to visit the Sandman.

  He’d let her go, his grip relaxing while he slept, so she’d been free to fidget but fidgeting eased the nervous energy in her body but not her mind.

  The rest of the day after Mars had made his vow to her had been relatively, if thankfully, uneventful.

  He’d told her he was currently too weak to challenge Jackson after the blood sacrifice, but he would be able to offer the throwdown once she was well again. Now, technically, she was perfect. It was Mars who was under the weather. But he’d carried her from their bedroom, while she’d pretended to be unconscious, and had shuffled her into a bedroom that had a bed which hadn’t been destroyed and windows filled with glass and walls free from bullets.

  She’d felt everyone’s attention on her as he’d moved them into a more comfortable and cleaner bedroom. Had known that opening her eyes would give the game away even though she’d have loved to know what was going on. As it was, Mars told her their ruse had worked.

  They’d bought themselves a little longer before Mars had to challenge the Prez and change his fate, and now hers, forever.

  Kiko and Mundo had popped up at various points in the afternoon. Both were aware of what Mars was going to do. By the looks of it, he’d found his right hand men already. They’d brought food for them both, although she’d left her plate untouched, eating only from Mars’s, and had discussed the current situation with the MC.

  The story was off. Bobby, her editor, was going to be bitterly disappointed.

  All told, so was she, but now, things were far more complicated than they’d been just the day before. She had more things to worry about, more things to deal with… Annette had a mate. A man whose very life was entwined with her own. A man who could turn into a bear. A man who claimed she was the other half of his soul.

  She’d never figured herself as much of a romantic, but all this talk was making her sappy.

  The story no longer mattered. What did count was Mars, and what they had together.

  Maybe that was why she was restless. Whenever she brushed up against him, he had an erection. Yet still he slept.

  Christ, that must have been so uncomfortable. Either that, or a testament to just how exhausted he was.

  She nibbled her lip, tempted beyond bearing to do something about the hard on that was driving her around the bend.

  Her mind and body were in total agreement on this.

  She’d stop fidgeting, would finally stop thinking about how crazy her life had become in the space of twenty-eight fucking hours, and might actually be able to sleep if Mars helped her out a little.

  Rolling over onto her other side so she could look him in the face, Annette rested her head on his pillow, enjoying the small gusts that brushed her lips as he breathed on her.

  See? Sappy.

  He was turning her funny, and the length of time he’d known her could be quantified in hours and minutes still. Christ only knew what would happen when they’d been together for months, or God help her, years.

  Shuddering at the idea of becoming one of those women who turned to mush when anything in anyway romantic happened, she switched off her brain, preferring to focus on her body and what Mars’s proximity did to her.

  It seemed crazy to be so focused on sex in the face of everything that had been happening, but hell, she couldn’t help it. So saying, Annette reached over to place her hand against Mars’s cheek. Slowly, she traced the grooves either side of his mouth which only deepened when he smiled, and then with a lingering caress, she trailed her finger over his lips.

  His tongue peeped out in reaction, and when it swiped over the pad of her fingertip,
she felt the bolt of electricity swipe through her veins like lightning.

  A moan escaped her, one she couldn’t contain, and at the sound, Mars’s eyes popped open. At first, they were dazed, then they grew alert when he took her in and realized what she was doing.

  A slumberous cast appeared next, and the fingertip she hadn’t moved was caressed once by his tongue. He flickered it against the pad, watching as she swallowed in reaction to the tiny touch.

  She nibbled her lip when he reached for her hand, then opened her palm before pressing a kiss to the center. He moved down, onto the bands at her wrist, which he traced with his tongue. In reaction, she felt her heart start to thump as hard as it had when the bands had first appeared. He sat up a little, and moved his kiss down her arm and up to her shoulder.

  She wore nothing but one of his wife beaters, and it was so big, it might as well have had ‘easy access’ scribbled all over it. When he ducked down, the soft cotton provided no protection from his lips as they moved over her soft, pouting breasts. When he tugged at the neckline, it plumped up the curves and as he sucked down on her aching nipple, she couldn’t withhold the moan that longed to fall.

  A whimper escaped her when he raked his teeth down the puckered flesh and sensation speared her right between the legs. She grabbed his hand and shoved it between her thighs, high up so his fingers connected with her bare pussy. When he felt her wetness, he grunted and moved the digits between the slippery petals of her sex. A cry burst from her when they collided with her clit, and as he rubbed her there, pinching a little, teasing, she rocked her hips and began to ride his hand.

  He grunted around her nipple, then jerked away. He was panting, his breaths short and hard, and as he reached up, letting their mouths collide, she mewled against him. Loving his touch, needing more of it, needing more of him.

  Mars seemed to sense that because he quickly hooked his leg over hers and rolled on top of her. She immediately spread her thighs, welcoming his heavy weight. His legs were covered in soft hair that tickled her, and she burrowed her toes into his tight calves. She wished he was wholly naked, but he wore briefs. She kept a hand buried in his hair as they kissed, but Annette let her other trail down to flick the waistband. She let her fingers slide underneath, reveling in the softness of his butt, before dragging her nails down over the hard curve.

  He shuddered and exploded into action. Rearing up a little, he freed his cock, then let it rest like a heavy brand against her pussy. She cried out at the sudden, shocking heat, then moaned as he began to rock his hips back and forth, coating himself in her juices, letting her feel every hard inch of him against every soft inch of her.

  When he slipped the tip into her gate, she clenched her eyes shut as sensations rolled over her in quick succession. Then, as he started to thrust into her, filling her, she levered up and dug her heels into his ass, forcing him to come inside her immediately.

  A grunt escaped him as he hit home a lot faster than he’d intended. He growled, bending down to nip her bottom lip in reprimand, but she merely jerked her chin up a bit and dug her heels harder into his butt. He took the hint and began to move, impaling her on his shaft only to leave her almost totally empty, until only the glans remained inside her.

  The movements inspired panic in her, and she tried to cling to him, her pussy tightening down, clamping on his cock in an effort to make him stay inside.

  “I’m sorry, sorry, sorry,” she whimpered, pleading with him to stop, to give her what she needed.

  Apparently, those words were what he needed to hear, because he stopped teasing her and instead, settled deep inside her, and began to thrust. Short, sharp, deep thrusts that drove her insane while giving her exactly what she needed. He bowed his head, slipped her nipple between his lips and sucked down hard. When he bit down against the tip, she let out a holler that had him groaning, the vibrations making her pussy muscles clutch at him again.

  Almost as though that were too much, he started to climax. She could feel him stiffen up even more, the throbbing so deep inside her tight sex that she could feel every single sensation and loved it. He reached between them as he carried on thrusting, riding out his own orgasm, and it took barely thirty seconds of him caressing her clit for fireworks to go off behind her eyes. Her brow puckered as sensation hit her, but it was the feel of those sluggish pelts of cum soothing the needy walls of her sex that drove her wild.

  It should have freaked her out that he’d spent inside her, but instead, it satisfied a part of her that was her most base. She guessed that made sense considering her mate was a shifter. And if she was the other half of his soul according to his lore, then that made him her other half. Which meant she was equally as atavistic, or at least, parts of her were.

  Knowing his seed was inside her both soothed and ravaged her senses. It made her shoot high and fast, but the journey back to earth left her spent and exhausted. When he collapsed against her, heaviness overset her limbs. Sleep, thankfully, was near, and with her very own teddy bear in her arms, Annette finally felt like she could relax, and tumble into slumber.

  Chapter Nine

  The door to the bedroom slammed open, and as an alarm call, Mars figured there were few ways that were worse to wake a man up on a morning.

  He tilted his head to the side, blinking blearily at the door. When he saw Jackson, standing there, growling at him, he blinked. Then, realizing his mate was underneath him, he gathered the sheets to cover her up before returning the growls Jackson’s way.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarled at his Prez. “You come into my quarters, with my mate sleeping, and growl at me?”

  “You ask me what I’m doing? Me? I’m the fucking President of The Nomads. You don’t go around my back spilling dissension in the ranks. What the hell do you think this is?”

  “I don’t have to do shit,” Mars fought back, feeling not an ounce of shame or fear as he might have done the other morning, before Annette had come into his life.

  He spoke the truth. Jackson had stirred up mutinous thoughts all on his lonesome, but Annette’s presence was proof enough that Mars was actually willing to act upon those treacherous thoughts.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’ve done fuck all to make the men hate you. What the fuck did you think you were doing? Bringing human trafficking into our business? And even worse than that scum-sucking way of earning money, you actually gave them our address. Goddess damn you for that. My mate, my fucking mate, almost died because you’re a stupid motherfucker who never should have been Prez.”

  Jackson stalked forward, deeper into the bedroom. He was bristling, and the charge in the air told Mars that he was close to the shift. Well, he wasn’t a-fucking-lone. Mars’s bear was also close, and the snarls that tugged along the airwaves were proof positive of that.

  A movement in the corridor grabbed his attention. One of the bunnies, Marie, flinched when she saw he’d caught a glimpse of her. He made sure she knew he was staring at her, and when she ducked her chin, he knew she’d got the message—there would be a punishment coming her way. He didn’t know what she’d told Jackson, he wasn’t even sure what it was exactly that had pissed the Prez off, all Mars knew was that he was going to have to challenge Jackson far sooner than he’d intended.

  Hoping for another day’s rest, at least, he’d meant to spend the time with his mate, not fending off his stupid bastard of a clan leader.

  A soft hand touched his arm, making him flinch as he realized said mate was actually in the bedroom, watching him face off with his Prez.