The woods were completely private. His twin brothers, though, had been known to roam at night in their bear form, or bring their latest lover into the wild. After he’d happened upon Ryland au natural with his latest fling, they’d tried to warn each other if they had plans for the evening and divided the woods so each bear would have their privacy.
Ryker had already built a house. Ryland still lived in town, but a piece of land had been set aside for when he was ready to build his home. If he ever was.
Quinn had never shown another woman his woods. Somehow, it had seemed too personal, too intimate to share with just anyone. Since the spot he wanted to show Paige was a couple of miles from his house, he picked her up in his four-wheel drive truck. He didn’t want her to walk through the dense forest. The trek was easy for him in bear form and he’d actually worn a path from his back door to the glade he had in mind. But he hadn’t been out in a while and he figured the way would be overgrown with weeds and brambles. He’d take her as close as he could before they had to walk.
Closing the truck door behind him, he took the ten steps leading to Paige’s front porch, two at a time, his stride long and sure. Before he reached the doorway, the porch light snapped on and the front door opened. Paige stood in the doorway, the low light from a lamp burning inside cast an aura around her head and made her brown hair gleam with gold. She was beautiful. In an instant, something clicked, settled, deep within his soul. It felt as if they were long time lovers, companions, partners. It wasn’t a feeling of deja vu, more a flash of the future.
“You look good, Paige.” And she did. As he’d requested, she’d dressed in jeans with sturdy shoes on her feet. He was proud to note she’d also dressed in layers. While the warmth of the day was slow to die out, it would be cooler by the time they returned.
“You never did say where we were going.” She shut the door and pocketed her keys, not bothering with a purse. Another plus in her favor. Her hair was clipped at the nape of her neck again. Something he didn’t like. As soon as she reached him, he pulled her in his arms and removed the large barrette holding those gorgeous locks in place.
“I don’t like your hair up. Wear it down.” His words came out in a command. He just couldn't help it. This was his mate and he wanted to dominate her. He heard his mother’s and sisters’ voices in his head and added, “Please.”
She placed her hands on his chest, leaning her upper body away from his. Her eyebrow hadn’t risen at his commanding tone, but he saw the are you really trying to boss me around look on her face that his sisters got all the time when dealing with their mates. He decided to take a page out of the twins’ playbook and put on his lost little boy look. It had gotten his brothers out of a shitload of trouble over the years.
Paige laughed, seeing right through him. “Oh, I bet that gets you out of all kinds of trouble.”
“Yep. And gets me into some pretty good trouble, too.” Unable to resist, he gave her a hard, fierce kiss before taking her arm and guiding her to the truck. Opening the door, he didn’t wait for her to try and climb into the extended cab. He picked her up and deposited her on the leather seat. He fastened her seatbelt, leaning over as he did so. Maintaining eye contact, he brushed his shoulder against the fullness of her breasts. With a grin, he snapped the belt in place.
Paige’s breath left her lungs as soon as Quinn’s body touched hers. She watched as he walked around the front of the truck and took his place beside her. Again, she questioned the wisdom of her actions. Was she doing the right thing?
Yesterday had been a hot afternoon. Hades hot. She knew without a doubt that if his brothers hadn’t interpreted them, Quinn would have taken her on the cool concrete floor with the warm breeze blowing across their heaving bodies. She clamped her thighs tightly together. She wanted that. She wanted that so freaking much. But the thought of him leaving her—and eventually he would—just about tore her heart from her chest.
Quinn started the engine and they were off. They made small talk and Paige tried to keep her tone light and upbeat. When he threw her that devastating grin, she leaned back into the soft leather of the seat and decided to go with the flow of fate. Yeah, he was a bear on the make to meet his mate. She was a woman who craved more out of a relationship. She pushed those thoughts aside. They were together in this moment, this instant and that’s all that should matter and all that did matter.
Quinn got as close as he could to the glade before parking his truck. They still had to walk about twenty minutes to reach the spot Quinn wanted to share with Paige. They travelled along the trail made by his bear deeper into the woods. Paige was proud of herself for making the hike without having to stop along the way. She was puffing by the time they reached the wide-open glen. Quinn didn’t seem to notice, thank goodness. Along the edge of the clearing was a huge trio of boulders. She could easily picture him in bear form draped across the granite sunning himself on a warm summer day. She watched as he spread out the blanket over the rough surface. She hurried to catch up, not watching where she was going and tripped over a loose stone.
“Watch it,” he admonished, even as he reached out to grab her. She fell against him.
“Easy,” he muttered, steadying her.
She witnessed the swift heat that leapt into his eyes and felt the answering fire inside herself—a flash fire, racing along every nerve, wearing her down to pure desire in an instant. The whole world surged into sharp focus. She was aware of everything in that split second. He smelled of the woods and rain and his heart was racing nearly as fast as hers. His eyes seared hers and time spun out. She was stunned by the sudden, complete arousal. She couldn’t move. She wanted this man. More than she ever had before.
He touched her cheek, his rough thumb sliding across her lips, back and forth. Her breasts grew tender, aching, and full. She boldly thrust them forward, dragging the puckered tips across his chest. “Quinn.”
She whispered his name again, and she felt the warmth of him, radiating out, enveloping her. His big hand cupped her jaw, guiding her chin up so her mouth would be ready. She let her head drop back on the stem of her neck. His mouth descended…and she was in heaven once again. Quinn’s kiss took her breath away. He lifted her off her feet, her full curves resting against the hard planes of his body. She moaned desperately into his mouth.
What do you think you’re doing? Her voice of reason asked as he deepened the kiss. Something I should have done long ago, Paige whispered back.
Paige was made to be kissed and caressed and Quinn loved the taste of her lips. He craved the sweet, soft curves molded against him and relished the soft murmurs of pleasure she made as he kissed and caressed her.
“Mmm,” she whispered when he allowed her to come for air. “I love… kissing you.”
He heard the catch in her voice as if she was unsure of revealing so much. An unnatural heat raced along the surface of his skin as his bear tried to break through. The beast wanted his mate. The animal wanted to sink his fangs into the side of her neck and claim her. He tightened his hold, his blood heating. Did she know how deliciously warm, ripe and erotic her curves were? How much he wanted her? Grinding his cock against the swell of her hip he said, “I’m going to love…fucking…you.”
She flowered open beneath the hard press of his lips, taking his tongue into the deep recesses of her mouth, all the while making those sext little sounds that set his bear further on edge. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea bringing her to the woods. His bear was ready for his freedom. The moon would soon out, the woods were fragrant and the woman was willing. Inside his head, his bear was chanting, ‘Mate. Mate. Mate.’
He bracketed her face with his hands. “I didn’t bring you here for this.”
“Oh,” her mouth formed a pout.
“I promised to show you my bear.”
Her gaze dropped to the front of his jeans and she licked her lips. “Are you sure that’s what you want to show me?”
“Go,” he ord
ered, pointing to the boulder where he’d laid the blanket. When she didn’t comply, he turned her around and gave her ass a hard slap. “Go.”
She sashayed away, the full cheeks of her ass bouncing with each step. He waited until she was seated along the rock’s smooth surface before stripping.
“Remember, it’s still me.”
“I know.” Her smile was so sweet. She was sweet. And he was a goner.
He took off his boots and socks, his jacket and his shirt. After he removed his jeans her gaze raked over him and he felt his cock harden. As the air shimmered and wavered before him, he let his bear out, giving himself over to the animal inside. He watched her put her hand to her mouth. Her eyes were deep, bottomless pools of wonder.
“Oh, Quinn, you are beautiful.”
He hadn’t shown many women his bear. Bears were solitary creatures and didn’t experience the need to run in packs like wolves or cats so they rarely shifted in groups. He thought of the first girl—a human— he’d shifted in front of when he was seventeen. She’d run away and drove off in his car before he could change back. He’d donned his clothes and followed her back to her house. She’d been sobbing in her mother’s arms and her father had been waiting outside with the keys to his car and an order never to see his daughter again.
He’d gotten over the event, but he was still cautious. With Paige, the bear had insisted he shift for her. He understood the animal’s logic. She was a mate to both sides. The man and the animal.
The moon cast a silver glow behind her, giving her a dark, mysterious look that was different from the warm, glowing picture of yesterday. Did Paige have two sides to her as well? Was she the quiet, reserved woman who had agreed to a blind date with her friend’s brother? Or was she the woman sitting in the middle of a forest with a bear shifter twenty yards away displaying absolutely no fear or repulsion? Or was she both?
A great battle raged inside Quinn. His human half was telling him to cut his loss and run. Telling him a woman like Paige was not what he and his bear needed. She looked soft, and vulnerable, and breakable. Shit, Quinn. She was a human. A human woman you were thinking of asking to carry your cubs. The other half urged him to tell her he’d give her everything she ever wanted. Be everything she ever needed. Be her mate.
A star plummeted from the heavens, leaving a silvery trail against the dark sky. He breathed in a lungful of fresh air. He loved the city, being on top of the world so to speak when he was completing a build. Here, in the deep of the forest was where his soul felt at peace, when the bear converged with the man. He took another deep breath and this time his lungs filled with the scent of Paige. With her, the bear and man could be one. He shifted again.
Paige couldn’t stop staring. One moment he was a man, the next a bear. Then a man once more. And man, what a man. Quinn’s skin was a gold layer over hard muscles that rippled and bulged. He stood with his hands fisted on his hips, the pose making his powerful arms bunch. The hair on his head looked darker, as if it were wet, falling to his shoulders. He looked primitive and magnificent and Paige wondered how it would feel to have this man completely for herself. She wanted to press herself against him, running her hungry hands over his shoulders, licking her way down his body until she knelt, taking his cock in her mouth.
“Shifting makes me horny,” he grinned as their gazes locked.
“So I see.” She licked her lips again and he growled. “Bears don’t growl.”
Quinn took a step toward the boulder. “No, but the man does. Strip.”
Paige was not one to flaunt her body. In fact, it took great courage to allow a man to put his hands beneath her blouse. She didn’t think she’d ever been completely naked when she’d had sex before. Now a man was telling—no, commanding her—to remove her clothing. For him. She realized she’d do just about anything for Quinn. Hopping down from the boulder she stood tall and proud. She unzipped her lightweight jacket and let it fall to the ground. Next she slipped off a thin, blue sweater. She still wore a white tank and her bra.
“How many clothes do you have on?”
She giggled at his pained expression. “You told me to dress warm.”
Kicking off her shoes, she turned around then bent over at the waist to remove her socks. Hearing the muffled groan behind her, she knew she’d made an impact by presenting him her ass. Oops, she thought suddenly, turning back around. Did a female presenting her ass mean something in the shifter world? Apparently, it did. He’d moved until he was only inches away.
“Off. Now.” He didn’t give her a chance to obey his guttural command. One hand came out, the fingers sporting short, sharp claws and within seconds her tank and bra had been cut away and stripped from her shoulders. Her nipples pebbled with the cold. Next, he opened her jeans and yanked them off her legs. Her panties fell away in tatters. She stood before her bear shifter, the desire she saw in him making her weak with longing.
He lifted her up and laid her gently on the blanket covering the surface of the boulder. Stripped of her clothes, the hard granite beneath her back, Paige gave herself over to the animalist experience of the moment. The sky above her was vast and beautiful. She felt so insignificant and so powerful all at the same time. The stars were just beginning to show, arranged in the familiar patterns she’d learned as a child. The night was cool and clear. She shivered as the breeze traveled over her naked body and she felt none of the insecurities that usually plagued her. She allowed the beauty of the moment to seep into her soul. The vastness of the universe, the dark sky filled with countless stars, seemed to pour down into her, revealing its secrets.
She turned her head, her gaze locked with Quinn’s and the feeling grew, then exploded. Her breath left her body as he walked around the boulder, coming to a halt at her feet. The knowledge that she’d been trying to deny since that very first night rolled over her. She loved Quinn Blackwood. He had shifted back to his human form. Remnants of his bear were still visible deep in his brown eyes. Swirls of gold made them glow in the darkness of the night. She searched his body looking for other lingering differences. It was the same as before. Broad shouldered, hard chested. His thighs were as thick around as the trees that surrounded them. His cock…Well, maybe there were some lingering effects of his shift.
“Put your arms above your head.” His voice was deeper than normal and carried a harsher note of command. She didn’t know if her easy compliance was because she’d witnessed him shifting, but she instantly obeyed him. Desire shot through her like an arrow on fire. She needed to touch him, draw him to her. She couldn’t if she was to continue to obey his command not to move. She knew he was about to take her for the first time, deep in the woods under the light of a full moon. Somehow it seemed perfect. Natural.
He stared down at her, watching the anticipation build in her eyes. The scent of her arousal filled the air. Her body was draped across the boulder, a tempting buffet. He wrapped his hand around his burgeoning cock and stroked, anticipation filling him at the thought of taking her. He watched as her head fell back and her eyes drifted shut. First, he had to taste her again.
She started at the touch of his hands on her thighs, then slowly relaxed as he parted them. He knew her inhibitions were lowered because she thought he couldn’t see her in the growing darkness. With his shifter sight, she was almost as visible to him as she would have been in the middle of the day. She was so pretty, especially there, where her thighs came together, protecting the very essence of her being. Soft, curly brown hair, neatly trimmed, covered her mound. He was glad she hadn’t shaved herself bare. He loved the natural look. He eased the blanket toward the edge of the boulder, crouching down until his face was level with the place that called to him. He leaned forward and stroked his tongue down the center of her body.
“Quinn.” She whispered his name and he marveled at the longing he heard in her voice. The desire he tasted on her pussy.
“Easy, baby. Just let yourself go.” He wanted to bring her fulfillment,
hard and fast. He wanted to take her right this very minute. He also knew he needed to prepare her body for his. His cock was longer and thicker than it had ever been. He knew the bear would be with him when he thrust himself inside Paige. That both man and animal would be having their mate tonight.
He licked her from the small puckered star of her ass to the throbbing clit above her slit. He thrust two fingers inside her, her gasp of pleasure making his cock twitch. He needed her so badly. He pumped in and out of her as he continued to work her clit. Time and time again, he bought her to the screaming edge of climax only to stop and wait until the sensations subsided. He lapped the juices spilling from her body around his fingers. He added two more fingers, unable to take this slow and easy. When she screamed and thrust her hips off the boulder, he put his hand on the swell of her belly, holding her in place. He lifted his head, his mouth glistening with her juices. “I need you open, baby. Open for me.” He thrust harder and bent his head and sucked her clit into his mouth.
Paige couldn’t control the almost animal scream that left her lips as Quinn’s fingers pumped in and out. The feeling was so intense it bordered on pain. He said he needed her open for him. Open for what? Her mind was turning to mush. Her pussy was on fire. His fingers were hard and unforgiving, his mouth wet and tight around her clit. This was so much more intense than when he had tasted her at the construction site. She felt her orgasm build, fast and furious, and she couldn’t stop it any more than she could have stopped a train collision. The pressure burst, flooding her with overwhelming pleasure.
Quinn eased his mouth away from her delicious bud. It was red and swollen and it had taken all his restraint not to let his fangs descend and press into the delicate skin. Bears marked their mates over and over again. Everywhere. He eased his fingers from her body and soothed his hands up and down her legs, waiting until the last convulsion rocked her body. He leaned over her and demanded, “Taste.” She surprised the hell at of him by capturing his tongue and drawing it deep into her mouth. His cock almost burst open with the pressure of his need. He had to get inside her. Inside her now.
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