Bearly Getting It: A Friends to Lovers, Shifter, MPreg-Possible Love Story

by J. D. Light

  He whimpered against my throat, and I felt him jerk inside my ass.

  I'd barely finished shooting when he sank his teeth into the spot where my neck met my shoulder just as I did the same, and the sharp pain of his teeth breaking skin, quickly turned to another toe-curling orgasm, and I shot even more cum between us, making a mess out of both of our chests and stomachs. I felt him shudder through another release, and I felt the connection take hold between us, making me feel completely and utterly whole.

  I was mated to my best friend who was the most important person in the entire world to me.

  His breathing changed against my neck at about the same time he slipped from my ass and sighed happily as I stretched out beneath him and passed out.

  Chapter Six

  I ran my fingers over the bite mark on my neck and shivered in my office chair, thinking about how many times Hunt had bitten into the flesh of my throat in the heat of passion the night before.

  It was still funny to think about how we'd missed this in the first place. Two people who only ever wanted to be around each other and were absolutely miserable when they were apart. Two men who had considered each other to be the most important person in our lives, yet we had missed the obvious.

  "Get it off of me," Presley's voice demanded from my office door, and I nearly threw myself out of my rolly chair. "I want it gone. Please. I want it cut out of my skin."

  "Pres, you scared the fuck out of me. Are you okay?"

  I'd never seen him like this. Not even when he first came to Purdy. He was pale and shaking, and his eyes were wide with fear.

  "Please Dyer," he whispered, leaning over my desk. "Whatever it takes. I want this thing off of me. It's brought me nothing but trouble my whole damn life."

  It took a long moment for me to understand what he was even talking about, but I could only blame that on my lack of sleep the night before, and the fact that I'd been completely lost in my own world when he'd burst into my office, so my brain was coming back on a bit slowly.

  "Your mark?" I asked finally.

  "Yes! Please. I know you said that it has a magic link of some kind and that people have tried to have them taken off before only for them to come back, but I can't take this anymore. There has to be a way. You guys know witches, right?"

  I eased back into my seat, gesturing for him to do the same in the chair on the other side of my desk, and after a moment he did, reaching up to fidget with his bottom lip and looking worried.

  "What's wrong, Pres? Did something happen?"

  "It's been glowing. Not always, but Dixon kept following me around when I was trying to get stuff done, staring at my butt like he found something fascinating there. At first, I thought maybe it was a toy or wrapper stuck to it, and three-year-olds are easily impressed by stuff like that, but when I felt, there was nothing there, and when I looked in the mirror, I could clearly make out the mark through my sleep pants. It looked like the wood on a fire or something."

  I swallowed hard but did my best not to let him see any reaction. "Can you stand up and turn around? I just want to see if it's glowing now." He did as I asked, and even when I turned off the light, I could see that the mark wasn't glowing right then, so I motioned him back into the chair. "Hunt's mark was doing that too, okay? At the cookout. I just want you to know you're not alone. We'll do everything we can to figure this out."

  That seemed to help a little. At least he didn't look like he was ready to flee at any moment. He nodded, and I picked up the phone, dialing my dad.

  He answered almost immediately, sounding amused. "Hey, Dy."

  Smiling, I put the phone on speaker, not wanting Presley to think I was hiding anything from him and hoping my dad's voice would help to calm him a bit more. Ridley Becker had that effect on people. It was one of the qualities that made him one of the best alpha-mates in the world. In my opinion.

  "Hey, Dad. Is Briec still in town?"

  "Yeah. She and Bennett are doing psychic readings in the parking lot at Bunny's, because Bunny chased them out of the diner with a broom."

  Presley huffed out a laugh, and I smiled, shaking my head. Bunny was Bennett's mom and Hunt's grandma, but because she was a shifter, she too absolutely could pass as younger than Hunt, just like his dad, and Bennett and she both found it hilarious.

  "I need her to come to the CRC building. We might have another chosen being tracked."

  "Tracked," Presley squeaked, his eyes once again going wide, and I cringed, wishing I'd have just mentioned the glowing mark. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

  "It's going to be okay, Pres. You've got plenty of protection here. Nobody is going to let anything happen to you."

  Thankfully, my dad was amazing, and even though I knew he was just as worried about this thing as I was, he stayed calm, before passing the phone off to my Pops. I could hear him in the background rounding up Bennett and Briec and though they started to protest, as soon as Dad mention the mark, all I could hear was movement right before Pops spoke into the phone.

  "Can Presley hear me, Dy?" he asked, his deep, calm alpha voice helping to further soothe Presley once again.

  "Yes, Alpha. I can hear you."

  "I'm going to make sure you and Dixon are protected, okay? We're going to figure out what's going on, and we're going to find a way to fix it."

  If Pops was saying that, it meant he believed it, and I was pretty sure Presley knew that too, since he seemed to relax back in the chair.

  Now to take his mind off of things… or at least refocus his energy.

  "See if you can find Fields," I said, trying not to cringe when Presley gasped. "Tell him to bring the agents he trusts the most."

  "No," Presley said, shaking his head. "Do not send Fields."

  Pops said a quick I love you before hanging up, and Presley sighed.

  "I'm leaving," he grumbled, climbing to his feet. "I'm being tracked, and you think it's a good idea to tell Fields?"

  I stood too. "Please, Pres. This is important. I need to see if you're being tracked, and if you are, you need someone around constantly to make sure you aren't taken again."

  "But why Fields? He is going to freak out."

  I gave him a sympathetic smile, because he was absolutely right. Fields was going to be overbearing and practically stuck to Presley like a damn leech, but at least Presley would be protected.

  "He just cares about you, Pres. There's nothing wrong with that."

  Presley sighed, flopping into the chair once more. "You know he's not going to let me breathe without his assistance for the next two weeks."

  I hid a smile. Fields had always been incredibly protective of Presley from the very beginning, and that first two months after they'd rescued Presley, Fields's clinginess had been welcomed, since Presley had been terrified of everyone at the leap, except the raven, but as he made his way slowly through counseling––which he'd dragged Fields to––he'd started to get his independence back, and it had come back with a vengeance.

  I'd never met a person in my life who was so determined not to rely on others for anything. He'd refused to take handouts, even if it came from the CRC, which left him working as a janitor for the building with a baby strapped to him, since CRC covered his housing, food, clothes and stuff for the baby. When he needed money outside of living expenses, he would find temporary jobs around town.

  Fields was altogether a different matter, and even though I was sure Presley had done everything short of murdering the man to get him to stop coming around, he was stuck with the overgrown puppy.

  Apparently, nobody had ever explained to Presley how not to feed the wildlife around here.

  "Do you understand why?" I asked, trying not to laugh at the irritated look on Presley's face.

  The thing about those two was, as much as Presley hated the constant attention from Fields––which I actually thought might be his perceived inferiority peeking though––I was pretty sure he would murder anyone who hurt the idiot raven shifter.

  They
were quite the pair. The man who thought he was too damaged and weak to be special to anyone, and the man who saw him as strong for what he'd survived and amazing for what he'd accomplished since.

  "Yes. He's imprinted on me like a fucking duck," Presley grumbled, but I didn't miss the way his cheeks heated slightly.

  "That's probably true."

  "He treats me like a little brother."

  I did laugh about that. Fields did not see Presley as a brother. I was pretty positive of that.

  "I would suggest you don't touch me, or my mate here will cut off your arm," Briec said from the doorway, and Presley and I both looked in her direction, just as the guard froze, glancing over at the brunette woman following the crazy, redheaded witch.

  There was no denying that Laramy was a warrior. You could see it in the tight muscles of her shoulders… and the stone-cold killer look in her eyes.

  "Briec, I can't cut his arm off. Flynn said no maiming people," Laramy supplied dryly, before turning her icy stare on the guard. "Don't make me break Alpha Flynn's rules. I respect him greatly."

  "What?" Briec demanded thoughtfully, turning to look at her mate. "I thought he said no taming people."

  Laramy opened her mouth and then closed it before sighing. "Why would he say no taming people, love?"

  "I don't know, Laramy," Briec grumbled exasperatedly, waving her hand in the air and walking further into the room. "I thought that was a code word for something only you warrior types understand. Like a shortened word for dance or something."

  "Dance? You thought Flynn was telling me in some kind of code words not to dance while I was here at the leap?" Laramy seemed genuinely shocked like she hadn't been mated to the woman for nearly a quarter of a century. "I don't… I don't even know where to… You think that was something he was worried about? And dance is shorter than taming." There was a pause where Laramy and Briec just stared at each other for a long moment and Presley and I tried not to laugh. "And I don't dance, Briec."

  Briec huffed, turning to eye Presley before reaching out and poking him in the cheek, like she was testing his texture… or something equally weird. "Laramy, my love. Did you see this town as we drove through? If this isn't a town straight out of Footloose, I don't know what is." She tilted her head blinking at Presley. "You're as pretty as Dyer. No offense, Dyer."

  Presley glanced back over at me, raising an eyebrow, and I shrugged, still holding my laughter at bay.

  Briec was… well, I wasn't entirely sure she could be explained.

  Laramy sighed, sounding an awful lot like Hunt's Papa when he decided he was tired of having another ridiculous argument with Bennett. "You're right, dear. What was I thinking? Alpha Flynn looks like just the kind of man who would ban dancing."

  Hunt walked into the room, carrying my lunch that he'd gone and gotten for me and sporting a confused frown. "Your Pops is banning dancing?" He asked, glancing from Briec and Laramy to me. "Is this because of what happened with my dad and Fields?"

  "This is the first I'm hearing of it, if he is," I said with a shrug, rather than trying to explain the conversation I'd just witnessed.

  "Who are you?" Presley finally asked the beautiful redheaded witch, a small smile on his face.

  She brightened, giving him all of her attention. "Briec. And this is my beautiful, perfect mate Laramy."

  Presley nodded at Laramy, and she did the same. "Are you shifters?"

  "Not me," Briec said brightly. "She's a gargoyle, so technically, she is, but I'm a psychic witch." Pointing at Laramy, she mouthed she's not actually a psychic at the same time her mate spoke the words out loud, and Briec shrugged. "I knew she was going to say that."

  Hunt and I both chuckled as he made it around to my side of the desk, leaning down to press a kiss to my mouth.

  Presley gasped, and I blinked over at our friend, worried the mark had started acting up again, only to find him watching Hunt and me with wide eyes and a small smile on his face.

  Damn. I'd forgotten several of our friends hadn't been able to make it to the cookout the night before, so they'd probably missed the little announcement Hunt's dad had made.

  "You guys finally figured it out, huh?" he asked, sounding… odd. I could see in his face that he was happy for us, but I could also detect a hint of sadness that made me wonder if my sweet… and salty friend longed for the type of mating that all the couples around here seemed to get. The real kind, not the kind he'd been subjected to twice.

  "We did," Hunt said proudly, smiling at Presley and then once again meeting my eyes. "I think we were the only ones who didn't realize how much more there was to our friendship, which is stupid once I get to thinking about things."

  "Yeah, you're both idiots," Presley grumbled with the same smile on his face, and I almost laughed directly into his light brown eyes, because he was one to talk.

  My face must have done a lot of sassing, because Hunt laughed, the sexy sound tumbling against my chest, and for a moment, I almost chased everyone out of the room… but there were important things to handle before I could handle other important things.

  "Briec, can you do the same thing with Presley here that you did with Hunt? I believe the same thing that happened to Hunt is happening to him."

  Hunt's attention snapped around to Presley, and he nodded. "My mark was glowing this morning. I'm not sure how long, but Dixon saw it through my pants."

  "Can you show me the mark?" Briec asked, and Presley cringed slightly, looking around the room at us before sighing and nodding.

  "It would be a lot easier if my mark was on my shoulder like Hunt's," he grumbled, standing and undoing the front of his pants before pulling the material down over his ass and then reaching back to pull the left leg of his boxers up, revealing a currently not glowing mark.

  "What the hell is going on?" Fields demanded from the doorway, just as Briec's hand hovered over the back of Presley's leg, and I almost laughed at exactly how that must have looked, but when Fields tried to advance into the room, Laramy stood gracefully, pulling her sword and holding it to the man's throat.

  Shit. I'd gotten so used to seeing Laramy with a sword strapped to her back, I'd actually kinda forgotten that it was there. I wasn't forgetting now, and neither was Fields.

  Presley gasped, starting to straighten, but Briec reached out and pushed him back down just as my Pops walked through the door, putting his hand to Laramy's lethal-looking sword, and pressing it away from him.

  "No maiming."

  "Oh," Briec said, nodding her head, even as she continued to hold her hand over Presley's leg. "He did say maiming."

  "I wish everyone would come in and stare at my ass," Presley said dryly, a bit of a blush staining his cheeks.

  "Sorry, Pres. Usually, people knock on a closed door," I grumbled, eyeing everyone trying to stuff themselves inside my office.

  Presley shrugged, long since used to living around shifters, and surprisingly not all that modest, considering what he'd been through.

  "Why do you have his pants down?" Fields demanded.

  "That's the only way I could see his ass, sweetheart," Briec replied perkily, making Fields growl.

  Presley sighed, looking at the raven shifter over his shoulder. "She's looking at my mark, Fields."

  Briec popped up suddenly, smacking Presley on the ass, and he straightened quickly, sending her a glare over his shoulder.

  "It's the same," Briec said, shrugging. "Tracker spell linked with fertility. The witch tracking him is the same one tracking Hunt." She glanced at Hunt before doing a double take and tilting her head to the side. "Or the same one that was. You're mated."

  Hunt pulled me close, and this time Fields was the one to gasp in surprise, making me smile. We were really going to have to get ahold of our friends.

  Thompsyn must have kept Bennett busy last night… and most of this morning, because I would have expected the entire leap, the tiger streak in Crossville, and every being on Terra Mortis to know it by now.

  "Yes,"
Hunt said happily, pulling the collar of his shirt down to show off his mating mark.

  "Can I look at your birthmark again?" Briec asked, stepping closer. I smacked her hand away with a growl when she tried to go for Hunt's shirt, but she just laughed and smacked me back.

  Hunt knew he'd end up losing another article of clothing if he didn't act fast, so before she could once again go after the thing, he whipped his T-shirt up and off, balling it up and holding it protectively against his chest.

  Briec smirked, walking around behind him and raising her hand to the mark, and though Hunt jerked slightly, I knew he wasn't actually hurting.

  "Nothing," she said after a long moment before smacking him hard on the shoulder, making everyone else in the room cringe. She'd been a lot gentler with Presley. Maybe because she didn’t know him. "I think when you mated him, you broke the connection."

  "So, if Presley wants to break the connection, he just needs to get mated?" I asked as Hunt started to unravel his shirt.

  Probably a good idea since his body was fucking distracting, and I didn't need a damn boner with my parents or his in the room.

  "No fucking way. Been there, done that. Almost three fucking times. I'm not doing it again," Presley said a little frantically, wrapping his arms around his middle protectively.

  Fields immediately went to him, throwing an arm over his shoulder and pulling him into his side. I wasn't surprised a bit when Presley melted into the man. As much as he protested, there was only one person in this world who truly made the man feel safe, and that was the goofball of a raven shifter looking at him like he wanted to slay his demons.

  "I'll mate him," Fields said suddenly, making Presley's head snap around to look up at him.

  I nearly groaned. Fields probably would mate him in a heartbeat and for all the reasons most people mated, but there was no way Presley was going to believe it was for anything but his protection, and I had no doubt he'd refuse.