by Lisa Lace
I'd never met a shifter in real life before you, that I know of anyway.
You, Bane and Naythan, you guys have been nothing but kind and loving and protective in everything you have done since you guys all got here.
I can see how much Bane loves Kee, and how much she loves him back. If Bane can make a were-hunter fall for a were, if they can make it work and look past each other's history's, then I can, too.
I thought Sammy was a shifter, because he was so animalistic in his attack, and because everything I'd ever heard about shifters was bad, but the worst man I've ever had contact with wasn't a shifter, he was human. And some of the best men I've ever had the pleasure, and the honor, of knowing are shifters.
I know that no one gets to choose how they are born, and that point was driven home with Ivy. We all make the best of who we are and what we are, and I'm willing to admit that I could be wrong about shifters as a whole.
Obviously there are bad shifters, as it sounds like those lions at the castle are, but obviously there are good ones as well, and I'm ashamed to admit that I've been judging them all, even though I had never met one.
I'm sorry for that. I was wrong, and I'm sorry."
Mac looked down at her, his gaze locked on hers as she spoke. He had stayed still and quiet as she spoke, but his heart was swelling with joy and love. He smiled at her, letting some of what he was feeling show on his face and in his eyes.
"My sweet Bella. You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. I owe you an apology as well. I hope you can forgive me for hiding my true self from you. The bear part, anyway. The rest was real. Everything was real, Bella.
I know I've already told you this, but that was different. I've spoken these words before, trying to reach you through your anger and betrayal, but I'd like to say them again.
I fell for you the moment I first saw you. My bear knew you were someone special, as did I, even as I wasn't sure how it would work.
I'd do anything for you, anything at all. From making you tea to protecting you with my body to keep you safe.
I know our relationship is young, but for me Bell, it is forever. Bears mate for life, so take your time, if you need to. Be sure in your choice, because once you accept my heart, it won't beat for anyone but you."
Mac stayed still, even though his bear was crying out to touch her. He wanted to pull her close and hug her tight, to rain kisses all over every inch of her, and to bury himself in her, until they both were one.
But he knew the choice had to be hers, as he'd already made his. He had chosen her long before, but for this to work, she had to choose him, too.
He inhaled sharply as she placed her hands on his chest, and as she rose to her toes, her mouth lifting toward his, he heard her whisper.
"Ivy said it best when she told me- choose open, not closed. Choose forgiveness, choose happiness, choose joy. I'm choosing those, but above all, I'm choosing love, and I'm choosing you."
Her lips pressed softly against his. As her arms slipped up and around his neck, he wrapped his arms around her. She felt so right in his arms, even better than before. Before a huge secret stood between them, now there was nothing between them but honesty and their open hearts.
She parted her lips under his, in teasing invitation, and he accepted.
He kissed her slowly, deepening the kiss as she started to melt against him, molding herself to him.
Fully aware of what happened the last time he let his need for her loose, he took extra pains to be gentle with her. He would have loved to bend her over one of the hay bales, tug her pants down around her knees and slide into her, curving his body around hers and filling her with his cock, but he knew he'd have to control his bear if he wanted her to feel safe with him.
And he wanted nothing more on this planet than for her to feel safe with him. Safe, and loved. He knew he had forever to teach her that love can be expressed both gently and passionately, so he was content to only take what she gave.
"Touch me, Mac. Make love to me, please."
Her words were an arrow to his heart. She was offering him everything she had to give, but he needed to make sure she wouldn't regret it later.
"Are you sure? You've had a hell of a day. I can wait. I can hold you and kiss you, and I can wait until you're sure."
"I'm sure now. I want your touch to be the one that lingers on my mind and on my flesh, not his. Love me, Mac. Please love me."
The rawness in her voice touched a place in him he didn't even know existed until she uncovered it. He couldn't contain the groan that escaped him as he kissed her then. His hands started to explore her, caressing her back and cupping her face as he kissed her.
He no longer had the words, so he tried to show her how he felt about her with his hands, his mouth, and his body.
She owned all of him, and she had no idea that she held his very heart in her hands.
He guided her over to the pallet he had made for himself in the hay. He sat down first, wanting any uncomfortable straw or unforgiving boards to be his to absorb. He pulled her down on his lap, and she straddled him, kissing him and slowly exploring him as he explored her.
He lay back, bringing her with him, until he lay flat.
She settled herself over him, letting him guide her and pull her close. Sitting on him, straddling him on knees and elbows, she kissed him as he slid his hands under her shirt and over the skin of her back.
His hands slid around, gripping her waist and sliding up to cradle her breasts. He worshiped her with every caress, and when she arched her back he teased her neck with slow, tender kisses.
His hands slid down to cup her ass, rubbing and teasing, pulling her closer to him so she could feel how his body was reacting to her. He grinned against her skin as he felt her hips roll, rubbing herself against his hardness instinctively.
"Careful, Bella. You know what they say," he whispered into the dark.
"What?"
Her question was more moan than word as she shifted her body, rubbing every inch of herself she could against him.
"Once you go bear, you'll never go back."
Chapter 16
She laughed, deep and throaty, as the little bit of making-up tension disappeared.
She felt him smile against her skin, and she gave herself up to him. She knew they still had many nights of discussions ahead of them, as they learned to compromise and accept each other for who they were. Bella knew she had a lot to learn about him, his kind, and how he differed from everything she'd always assumed shifters were, but one thing she knew for certain- he would take care of her.
He would, from here on out, be honest with her, and she knew that details aside, she could trust him with more than her body, she could trust him with all that she was.
Mac was not Sammy, and she was not the same Bella she had been before, either.
So as Bella kissed Mac, and let Mac lead her down the path of love and lovemaking, she knew that the body, the Bella, that she was offering him was one that no one had ever touched before.
His hands were rough but his touch was gentle as he explored her skin, peeling off her shirt and worshiping every inch she bared. His lips were soft, his light nibbles tickled and teased, and she started to slowly explore him as he explored her.
He was warm and solid under her palms, and she traced every bulge and dip of him, from his biceps and shoulders, down over his chest, running her fingertips over his abs as she marveled at how strong and yet how tender her Mac really was.
As she sat up, straddling him and teasing his stomach, his hands lifted, squeezed and caressed her breasts.
She let her head hang back, arching her breasts into his huge hands. She moaned as he ran his thumbs across her erect nipples. He pinched them gently, and when his hands slid down to follow her skin and grip her hips, the warmth of his fingers leaving her nipples and the night air caressing them instead, made them tighten into little nubs as he watched.
"Lean down, Bella. Let me taste their puc
kered sweetness."
She did, bracing herself above him, her hands on either side of his face as the tip of his tongue darted out and flicked first one nipple, then the other. He started to suck, and she leaned in closer, letting him pull her nipple deeper into the warmth of his mouth.
His hands still gripped her hips, almost as if he was afraid she'd get up, or maybe he was afraid to touch her too much or too hard, but she encouraged him, letting him know that she was enjoying this very much, by rocking her hips in his hands.
She started to grind herself slowly against the thick bulge of him she could feel underneath her, and it must have been the right move, because one of his hands stayed, sliding over her ass and helping to pull her closer and grind her harder against him, but the other hand slid around, tugging softly at the ties keeping her pants around her waist.
Her ties loosened, and she rocked against the fingers he slid slowly into her pants.
He found her already wet with need. As a finger slid between her lower lips, she hissed above him in pleasure.
He switched nipples, giving the other equal attention with his tongue as one hand kneaded her ass and the other teased her clit before sliding further and tilting a finger, sliding it inside her. She rubbed herself against his palm as his fingers slid, shallow and deep, with each rock of her hips.
She leaned forward, resting all of her weight on Mac, and getting off of her knees so that, with her help, he could tug her pants down and off completely.
Mac stripped himself as she kicked her pants away. Mac's hips raised under her as he lifted himself enough to rid himself of his pants, as Bella teased kisses down his neck and chest and sat up, straddling Mac again, only naked this time.
She scooted back some, straddling his thighs instead of his hips, so she could touch him and give him at least some of the same pleasures he'd given her.
She bit her lower lip as she looked him over. He was bigger than she'd expected, all thick and engorged. The underside was veiny, and since it pointed up toward his head, the underside was what she saw most of.
"Does it always point up at you like that?"
He laughed, looking down at himself.
"A little, but since I'm lying on my back..."
"Oh, right. I guess I expected it to point straight out, like all perpendicular. How then, how does it... How do we fit? Should I scoot up?"
"Have you never seen a penis before?"
"Oh, I've seen lots of penises. Dog penises. Horse penises. I practically live on a farm. I just haven't seen any human ones, that's all. Or a bear's for that matter. I guess I wasn't sure with you being all part animal and such, what I'd be dealing with here. I never saw Sammy's, in all the..."
"Bella, we don't have to..."
"No. I want to. I just..."
She shrugged her shoulders, not sure how to continue her thought.
"I just... don't know how to."
"Touch it. It won't hurt you."
As he spoke he reached down and took hold of himself. He fisted his shaft, tilting it and aiming it more toward her before tilting it back some and giving himself a few slow strokes as she watched, wide eyed.
He released himself, and then laced his fingers together, tucking both hands under his neck and head. He relaxed, elbows wide, and said, "Go ahead. My body belongs to you Bell, and it always will. Take a minute and get familiar with it. I'm quite sure anything you do, I'll enjoy."
She met his eyes over the length of his sprawled out body.
She was a bit embarrassed at her lack of experience, but his eyes held no judgement. A little amusement, maybe. And a lot of openness.
"I can just... play with you?"
"That's how you learn anything, right? Jump right in there and see how it works. I'll stop you if anything hurts."
He grinned at her then, and she grinned back.
She knew he was teasing her now, but as she looked him over, sprawled out before her, hers to explore at her leisure, she felt like a kid at Christmas with a new toy to discover.
She reached out, grabbing him like he'd grabbed himself. She stroked him, and her eyes shot to his as he let out a quiet rumble. It was half moan and half growl, and when she saw the heat in his eyes as he watched her and felt her hands on his body, she experienced a flash of raw feminine power.
She stroked his length again, squeezing him a bit tighter this time, and she watched his eyes as she did so.
His jaw clenched, and his eyes turned molten. He looked like he wanted to gobble her up right then and there, and she reveled in the power her untrained touch already held over him.
"You just wait until I really know what I'm doing," she gave him back a little of his own teasing. "You'll be putty in my hands."
"I've been putty in your hands since the first time I kissed you, Bell."
Her heart melted at his words. She turned her attention back to his hard length, wanting to look away from his eyes before she fell into them and never recovered.
She stroked him some more, taking the time at the top of the stroke to run her thumb over the ridge separating his shaft from his tip. Her thumb circled his round head, teasing the pearly drop of liquid there before stroking back down to his base.
"Can I lick you?"
She felt his body tense and tremble some at the question, and she noticed that he swallowed hard before he answered.
"If you want. On one condition though."
"What's that?"
"You swing around so I can taste you at the same time."
"You want to taste me?"
His next words rumbled out of his chest, deep and needy.
"More than anything in this world. Come this way. Straddle my face, and we can lick each other."
She arranged herself as he'd said, hiking a leg up and over. She looked down at him underneath her and asked, "Like this?"
"Almost."
He reached for her then, one hand finding and gripping each hip. He pulled her down until she felt his mouth against her wetness, kissing her long and slow.
"Oh, holy hell, that's mmmm..."
Her legs weakened and she was glad she was already on her knees. She bent forward over him, moving her hips as he licked and nibbled her. At some point her vision cleared and she noticed that his hardness was barely an inch from her mouth.
With every sensation he was sending through her body, she'd forgotten that tasting was her idea.
She shifted her weight some, so she was leaning on one hand, freeing the other to grip him again. She tilted him toward her and stuck her tongue out, starting with the very tip of him.
He bucked some underneath her as her lips grazed his skin, and she grinned at his cock, glad that his reaction to her mouth was as uncontrollable as hers had been.
She started to lick him, exploring and sucking, letting his moans and slight tilts to his hips guide her.
As he sped up, his face between her legs, driving her closer and closer to her edge, she matched his speed and squeezed harder, bobbing faster.
With a pained moan, he lifted her hips up, swinging himself out from under her before depositing her knees back down. He somehow swiveled, and she found that he was still under her, but now they were face to face, her knees spread over his hips.
His hand gripped himself, and he tilted his tip, rubbing it slowly along her slit, where his tongue had been moments before.
She threw her head back, and he softly bit a nipple as he teased her clit with his cockhead.
He tilted some more, sliding slowly, until he was poised at her entrance. He gave her breast one more quick kiss and then said, "When you're ready, just sit back and down."
She nodded, and bent her head, meeting his lips with hers.
She could taste herself on him and as his tongue slid against hers, she leaned back, lowering herself onto him. As inch by inch he slid home, she marveled at the slow stretch. He filled her beautifully, and when she was nearly seated she sat up straight, letting gravity seat her more fully.
She sighed as she sat still, full, connected, and she searched his eyes in the heartbeats before they began to move together.
"Welcome home, my Bella. I'm so glad we found each other."
She grinned down at him in answer, and then started to raise herself up off of him, so that she could lower herself again.
She began to ride him at her own pace, as he watched her. He rocked with her, tracing her skin with his hands as she moved over and around him.
She leaned forward, rocking her clit against his base more than raising and lowering herself, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her down, every inch of her rubbing against every inch of him.
The slick sounds of their movements filled the air and as she started to moan, chanting his name, she tried to silence herself by kissing and then biting his neck.
His chest started to rumble as he growled into her ear, "Don't bite my neck like that, Bell. You know what will happen. I'm barely in control of myself as it is."
Her rocking slowed just for a beat, then picked up its frantic pace once again.
"The difference between then and now though Mac, is that now I understand. Control be damned."
She bit his neck then, hard, sucking some and then scraping her teeth against his skin.
When he roared this time, his steel arm gripping her and rolling her, she let out her own growl, locking her ankles behind his back and riding every rough, fast and hard stroke, meeting his urgency with her own.
A few more hard strokes and she lost it, calling out his name as her nails tried to find purchase in the slippery skin of his back. Her orgasm ripped through her and she heard him roar again above her as her orgasm triggered his.
His thrusts got faster, needier, and suddenly he stilled, jerking a little as he came.
She felt his release and marveled at it. She'd never imagined that making someone else feel so good would bring her such joy.