by Yvette Hines
His life as he had known it was over. Internally, he was struggling to come to grips with that. His bear on the other hand, was pawing with excitement inside of him.
She stared at him through squinted eyes. “Have you taken a look in the mirror big guy? No one is carting you off anywhere if you don’t want to go.”
“What can I say? The males of my kind grow this way.”
“What are you…Native American and White…Samoan?”
“We’ll get to that. How about you sit and answer a few questions for me.”
Shaking her head, she caused loose and unkempt hair and that captivating gray lock to dance around her shoulders as she said, “I don’t want to play twenty questions, I just want you gone.”
“Not going to happen anytime soon.” He patted the mattress beside him.
She glanced at the spot beside him, but crossed her hands over her chest and remained where she stood. “Not going to happen.” She tossed his words back at him.
He chuckled. He always enjoyed women with a little bite to their personality, and Ebony had more than her share.
“Fair enough. Before we talk do you know a woman named Greta?”
Her brows furrowed. “Never heard of her. Who is she, the woman you were looking for?”
“My cousin.” He exhaled. It had been a glimmer of hope that possibly Greta had set him up. Sent some Were-female from another county to the hotel where Greta knew he’d been having his dinner meeting, just to try and catch him out there. His cousin made it a weekly habit to remind him she believed it was time for him to settle down and produce some cubs. If he’d given Ebony a third bite the possibility of her breeding now would almost be fact. Thank the Great Spirit he had restrained his bear.
Dainton’s bear scratched at his gut not in agreement of his supplication at all.
“Oh. Well, I don’t know her.”
“Figured as much.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Tell me where you’re from Ebony?”
Strutting to the dresser she pulled the drawer open and removed an article of clothing. Once it was on, he practically laughed at the long white conservative gown. The long sleeved item covered Ebony from her throat to her ankles. He bit the inside of his cheek not to laugh. A woman with a body like hers should be adorned in something short, lacy and black to compliment the brown hue of her skin.
“Not that I see it as any of your business, but I’m from…well I was a division president at JP and Rickland Insurance Investments and Consulting. Until I discovered the head of the company was embezzling from our middle-class client. I resigned and threatened to call the FBI if he didn’t resign as well and see that all the money was return—”
“I don’t give a damn about your business pedigree.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“I’m more concerned with who you are…not what you do. Your family. Your kind. Is your sleuth located in the city?”
“What? My kind. I’m an African-American. And the only sleuths I know about are the group of bears at the zoo.”
The growl broke from him. He gripped the mattress at his side. None of his kind cared anything for zoos or any other animal exhibits. Even if there weren’t other Were’s that were being held captive, they were still a type of genetic descendants of them, just as much as humans were.
She held her palms out to him and he noted the fear in her scent.
“I’d never hurt you, Ebony. Never. I’d give my life to protect you.”
Dropping her hands loudly against her side, she asked, “Don’t you think that is a little extreme for a woman you just met?”
“Doesn’t matter. It is the truth of our situation.”
“What situation? You’re leaving as soon as I can get your large ass out my suite.”
“This would all move a lot quicker if you just told me who your family is.”
She rubbed her hands over her head. The tight bun she’d been sporting earlier had come completely undone during their lovemaking. The dark brown, ebony locks hung wild and wavy around her shoulders.
Remaining silent, she moved toward the window beside the small kitchenette on the other side of the room. Staring out of it, into the still parking lot, she stood there with her back rod straight and quiet.
For a moment, Dainton thought she wouldn’t say anything and that she’d wait until he couldn’t take her stoic display any longer and leave. She didn’t know Were-males around their mates very well if she thought that.
He rose and crossed the room until he stood behind her, not touching but close enough that he was sure she could feel his presence. That close, it allowed him to pick up on the tension in her body. If he’d have given her the third bite he would be able to connect with her on a more open mental level and know what she was thinking, feeling.
“Ebony, talk to me. Please.”
Still, she was reserved. Finally, she spoke. “I don’t know who I am. Or where I come from.”
“How is that possible?” Reacting, he reached out and spun her around to face him.
That’s when he saw the water glaze over her eyes.
He went to pull her into his arms, but she stepped back.
“Don’t.” There wasn’t even a quiver to her voice.
He could tell she was used to keeping her emotions under a tight leash. “Then explain.”
“I’m an orphan. Literally from birth you can say.” She moved back toward the other side of the room and collapsed onto the bed as if some weight was pressing down on her.
He picked up a chair from the small table and placed it before her and sat. He yearned to be close to her, but he didn’t want to crowd her. The woman before him was struggling with some internal safe where she’d locked up all her pain and it was hurting him to see the anguish on her.
“What happened to your parents?”
She shrugged as she stared down at her hands. “I don’t know the story. What was in my file, when I took it from the orphanage director’s office, said my parents were shot in the woods outside of Yosemite Park. Some rangers heard the gunfire, a truck was speeding off by the time they arrived to find my father dead from a shot to his head and my mother struggling to stay alive with a bullet in her chest.
“One of the rangers reported the last thing my mother said was baby.” Ebony glanced up at him. “You see my mother was pregnant with me. Instead of trying to save my mother and get her to a hospital, they cut me out. My mother died during the process. They took me to the nearest hospital.”
“What about the rest of your family? Did they come looking for you?” Dainton could not imagine as close as the people in Den County were that they didn’t go on a hunt for whoever had committed such an act. And knowing that the female Were was breeding they would have searched every hospital until they discovered where the child was. It never went well for Were-bears to be raised outside of a sleuth.
“In my records it stated that my parents were naked and without identification or any means of transportation around them. The authorities had no clue where they came from or why they were around the park area. Vagabonds are how they were characterized. Until I was sixteen I was moved from one foster home to another. I had a lot of problems fitting in and was labeled a troubled child. Frequently running away into the woods no matter the distance I had to travel to get there. At thirteen I was placed in an orphanage. It took me three years to get free of that place and this time I went to the city and never looked back. Put myself through school by falsifying my records and changed my name to some ‘most likely to succeed’ girls name from a yearbook I found left at a fast food restaurant. She must have been really smart because the state school gave me a full scholarship. Once I’d graduated and got my entry-level job at JP, I had my name legally changed and to this day I give an annual scholarship to the college for an at-risk youth. So, have I given you enough of my soul to leave now?”
“What’s your real name?” He ignored the sarcasm and recognized it as part of the shield she kept around her
self. Taking her hand, he kept his gaze on her face.
She tried to pull it away, but he held firm.
“Rhonda Parks is the name I was given by someone at the hospital. Ebeneza Scrooge was the girl in the yearbook. I preferred Ebony.”
“I like Ebony as well.” He traced her delicate fingers as he continued to look at her and tried to gather his words.
“There is only one other person in my life who knows the truth about me.”
“Thank you for confiding in me.” Raising her hand, he kissed the palm. “There’s something I need to tell you, but I don’t want you to freak out.”
“Let’s see…I’ve discovered that I took the wrong man to my bed and had said man pull out all the horrid tales of my life, I’m beyond freaked.”
“We need sustenance before we go further.” Releasing her hand, he stood and walked to the other side of the bed to the phone resting on the nightstand.
“I don’t recall telling you that you could stay.” She turned and faced him.
“I don’t recall asking.” He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes.
When the line was picked up by the room service attendant, he placed his order. “I would like two orders of your honey and walnut encrusted salmon, with a side of asparagus and a whole pecan pie if you have one.”
“Hey, I don’t eat sweets and I always eat poultry over seafood.”
He thanked the man on the line and hung up. “Not eating salmon is a crime in my county and why don’t you eat sweets, especially honey?”
“When you’re a foster child or in an orphanage, there aren’t a lot of sweets that get handed to you. When there was time for it, it was never worth defending myself against the bullies that wanted to punch you for it. So, I just learned to skip it altogether. With my curves it didn’t seem to make a difference.”
“I love your curves, first of all.” He reclaimed his seat as he stared at her body. When he met her gaze again, he allowed her to see the hunger there.
Ebony placed a hand on her stomach and caused the gown to press tight against her breasts. He could see the points and shadows of those blackberry-colored nipples through the material. She was just as turned on as he was.
“Second, I think you will have a different outlook on sweets when you get a taste of honey. Now, tell me you don’t want a slice of pecan pie.”
Her eyes lit up, he knew he had her there. He’d seen the vision in her head when his tongue was buried inside of her.
She licked her lips. “I’ve never had it before. I don’t even know if I’d like it.”
It saddened him to hear how underprivileged she had been in her youth and how deprived she’d kept herself in her adulthood. He figured it had more to do with her fear of needing anything or anyone too much.
“Well, it is one of my favorites. My grandmother makes me two every year for my birthday.”
“Two of them?”
“Hey, if you haven’t noticed, I’m a big guy.”
The chestnut color of her cheeks darkened to show off a cherry undertone. Oh, yes, he was sure she had noticed quite a bit about him.
A knock came to the door and he rose.
“Um, Dainton, you planning to put on some pants or shock the hotel staff?”
He glanced down. Were’s weren’t modest at all and he was so comfortable being in the buff when he wasn’t in his bear form he hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t wearing clothes. He smiled. “For your modesty, I’ll put something on.”
She shook her head, but he did see the corner of her mouth twitch.
Swiping his pants from the end of the bed, he stepped into them and had them zipped part way before he opened the door.
“Room serv—”
The woman on the other side of the door holding the tray gaped at him. First she looked up to his face then down to ogle his chest.
Flipping her blond hair over her shoulder she gave him a sultry look. “You ordered service?”
Before he could respond the door was ripped wide and Ebony was standing between him and the flirty server. Her hands were balled into fists as she gave the woman a hard stare. “Yes we ordered food not floozy. Which did you come to deliver?”
The woman shuffled back twice. “Umm. Y-y-your food.” She stretched her arms as far as they would go and held the tray toward Ebony.”
Swallowing down his chuckle, Dainton wrapped one arm around Ebony’s waist and lifted her as he grabbed the tray with his other hand. “Thanks,” he told the scared woman as he kicked the door closed behind him and ushered the fierce she-bear back into the room.
“The nerve of her. I have a mind to find her and give her a dressing down that I’m sure her boss should have given her a long time ago.” Ebony was fuming and pacing as she waved her hands wildly around her body.
He wasn’t put off by Ebony’s aggressive action to the server, he understood it for what it was…a mate challenging someone she assumed was encroaching on what was there’s. Ebony’s bear, no matter how suppressed it had been in the past, was starting to change her.
Dainton didn’t know the full process or how long it would take for Ebony’s bear to show herself, but he knew time was of the essence, especially once he began providing her body with the nutrients it had lacked. Honey and salmon, the two most important factors of a Were-bear’s diet. Berries and nuts also provided additional vitamins they needed.
“Sit. Eat.” He pointed to the small table. Grabbing the chair from the bed on his way to carry the tray to the kitchenette area.
Still upset, she plopped down in the seat at the table.
Getting everything set up, he picked up a fork and broke off a piece of the salmon special and held it before her mouth.
She twisted and scrunched her face, a recalcitrant child. However, as he began to wave the bite beneath her nose her face relaxed some and she leaned in to smell it again.
“Just one taste.” He knew the bear buried extremely deep inside of her picked up on the syrupy delight and detected the honey notes. He waited and remembered what Cord, Den County’s new Mayor, had gone through with his mate Rena. Rena’s bear had been suppressed as well. Dainton only hoped he would be as successful as Cord in coaching her through the coming days and weeks.
“Fine.” Parting her lips, Ebony took the forkful into her mouth and closed her lips around it.
Gently sliding the utensil out, he watched her take in her first taste of honey.
She moaned, closed her eyes and stopped chewing for a moment and just allowed the food to rest in her mouth. Groaning, she consumed the food in her mouth fast then snatched the fork form him and began feeding herself. Bite after bite, she ate and moaned. Ebony let go of all etiquette and decorum.
Her face remained less than two inches from her plate as she demolished everything there.
Chuckling he started on his food. His laughter ceased when she snatched his plate and finished off what he had left.
“Hey!” he growled.
A look of shock crossed her features as she seemed to come to her human senses and stared, appalled at the two empty plates on her side of the table.
“Oh, my gracious. I’m-m-…why….” She gazed up at him. “I’m not sure what came over me.”
He relaxed his features and smiled. “No worries, sweetheart, I can order more.” He handed her a cloth napkin.
Wiping her mouth, she murmured shyly, “That is so good.”
“So you like it do you?”
She lowered her head then met his eyes again. This time she was smiling. “It was good, especially the stickiness of the honey.”
The sight halted the beating of his heart and restarted it again. The stretch of her thick, full mouth made his core tighten. “Oh, shit…just beautiful.”
Her face darkened, but the grin held. “Thank you.”
He moved their plates to the side and picked up the pie and set it between them. Handing her back the fork, he took her hand in his and held it to keep her restrained for a mi
nute. He’d been a witness to what she had done to the food with a taste and now that her bear was unleashed and hungry he had to be cautious when he set something before her.
“Before we both take care of this pie, do you know why I ordered it?”
“Because it’s your favorite, right?”
“Yes and no.”
A single eyebrow quirked up at his response as she stared at him.
He took a deep breath as he stroked the back of her hand. It was time to start them down a road they needed to travel. “I saw your vision.”
Now she was frowning, but he could feel the slight quiver in her hand. “What vision?”
“The one you had while I had you against the wall and my tongue inside of you. We were making love in a field and there were pies floating down from the sky around us.”
She snatched her hand away, her fork clattered onto the table. “You’re crazy.” She rose to her feet.
He stood.
“Ebony…sweetheart, listen to me.”
“What are you some David Angel character or something.”
It didn’t matter to him that she mixed up the names of two different illusionists, what he cared about was getting her to remain calm, things never went well when an untrained Were’s emotions were high.
“Please sit, and allow me to explain.”
She folded her arms over her breasts. “I have a better idea. How about you leave and we forget we ever met?”
“No!” he roared, louder than he intended, but his bear was fretful inside of him. The beast didn’t want to lose its mate when he’d finally found her.
Startled she jumped back.
He took a deep breath. “Sorry. Remember you never have to fear me.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“A part of you does.” He sighed and sat. He was fucking this up royally. When he got home he was planning to put in a petition with his Mayor to create some kind of manual…guide or course on how to handle situations like this.
“That is not possible, for me to know you but not know you.”
“I’m going to tell you something that is going to be hard for you to believe and understand.” He gestured toward her vacant seat. “It would be best for you to hear it sitting down.”