by Anna Lowe
He turned her a little more, and she went willingly, rolling onto her back. Her right leg stretched under him while her left bent at the knee and fell open. Her fingers wound into his hair and guided his head lower, to her belly button. Lower, to the curly hair of her mound. Lower still, to the slick folds below.
“More,” she groaned. “More.”
With one finger, he traced her center line. Down, then back up. He did it again, delving deeper while sliding down and back up. And again, spreading her with two fingers and touching with a third. She cried and cooed louder every time.
“Oh… Ah… Yes…”
Her fingers threaded through his hair and pulled him closer.
He’d promised himself he’d make it a slow, gentle journey. A chance for both of them to touch, taste, and explore. But the second his tongue touched down, his mind went blank. Blissfully blank of everything but the taste, the touch, the slick heat of her. The need calling to him, the need building in her. When she lifted her hips right off the ground, he consumed her. Devoured her. He was vaguely aware of smacking his lips and making hungry, growling sounds like a bear finding his way into a jar of honey. His ears filled with a roaring sound. His mind exploded with the mingling sensation of her needy scent, her heavenly taste. He moved up and down, scrubbing his shoulders against her thighs, marking her. Being marked by her, too, because as much as he wanted to make her his, he wanted to be hers, too. Hers and no one else’s, forever and forever more.
While his tongue worked her clit, his fingers slid home. First one, then two, then a third. He was vaguely aware of her head flopping back and forth, of her nails scraping his back. Blissfully aware of the tight grip of her inner muscles on him as he circled her. He pushed her limits, found the switches that made her pant and cry and moan. Licked and touched and sucked with a crazed need for more and more and more.
“Simon!” She convulsed around him, coming undone in a series of shudders and achy sighs. “Simon!” She grabbed at him blindly, uncoordinated and out of control.
“Simon,” she panted, minutes later, melting back into the bedding with a sigh.
He rested his ear on her belly, breathing just as hard as she was. Listening to the echo of her heartbeat, traveling through her body. Letting his head rise and fall as she breathed.
Breathe in, breathe out. He closed his eyes, trying to gather the scattered strands of his mind. Breathe in, breathe out.
Tell me you don’t believe in destiny, his bear demanded, chuckling at him. Tell me you don’t believe she’s the one.
Oh, she was the one, all right.
A second later, his eyes popped open with the echo he heard in his mind. Her thoughts, mixing with his.
You’re the one, she said. You’re the one.
Chapter Six
Jessica spent the next minute patting his round, muscled shoulders. Telling herself she wasn’t crazy or stupid or delusional.
You’re the one. You’re the one, her wolf hummed to his bear.
Jesus, the wolf was right. This bear was her mate. He was the one.
“No, you’re the one,” he murmured, kissing her belly.
No, she wanted to correct him. You’re the one.
They could have gone on like that for hours, if it hadn’t been for one thing.
More. She wanted more.
She’d never abandoned herself as wildly to a man before. Never screamed her pleasure quite that loud or for quite that long. But she already wanted more.
She pulled on his shoulders, his arms.
“Come to me, bear.”
He crawled over her body on his hands and knees, coming face-to-face with her. Caging her in, just as he had before.
“Hungry little she-wolf,” he chuckled.
She ran her hands along his ribs and glanced down at his erection.
“Hungry little bear,” she shot back.
“Little?” He growled and dipped his hips, letting his hard, hot shaft rub along her belly.
Her chuckle echoed through the cave. Echoed through her mind, too, like she could already foresee a thousand happy occasions when they would love and laugh and joke. What a wonderful future they would share.
She squinted for a moment, sensing something dark and sad mixed in with the joy, like a painting in a gallery that had been hung out of place. What did destiny have in store for the two of them?
“What?” His face clouded, seeing her go distant.
She took a deep whiff of his oaky scent and banished those dark thoughts. This was not the place or time to examine what destiny had in store for her and her mate. This was the time to get to know him. To enjoy him. To make his body and soul sing the way he’d made hers come utterly undone.
She ran her calf along his and pushed her shoulders back, drawing his focus to her body.
“Like what you see, bear?” she teased, stretching her arms over her head.
The blue eyes flashed. His cock twitched. Yeah, he liked what he saw, all right.
She hooked both ankles behind his. Enough with this looming over her on all fours. She wanted him close. Really close. Inside.
“You in a hurry, wolf?” He grinned and tilted his head toward one wall. “I reckon that storm’s gonna blow all day and all night.”
She locked her fingers through his. “And I know just how I want to spend that time.”
His eyebrow arched, and his whole face lit up with a smile.
“And how exactly would that be?”
“Not with you teasing me, that’s for sure.”
His broad grin stretched. “No? Then how?”
“Do I have to spell it out?”
She ran her hands over his boulder-sized shoulders, the washboard abs, over the curve of his rear. Then she wound her hands around his waist, made a ring with her finger and thumb, and circled his cock.
He made a strangled, groaning sound.
“What was that?” She tilted her head. “Did you say you want to tease me all day?”
She tiptoed her fingers down the underside of his erection, then tickled his balls.
He shook his head. “Maybe not all day.”
She backed her hand along the whole glorious length of him and tapped the silky tip.
“Well, that’s good. Because I want more. Need more.”
“Greedy little thing,” he rasped, still on all fours.
It gave her a little high, seeing him teeter on the edge like that. Seeing him try to resist.
“I am greedy. I am hungry — for my bear.”
His eyelids dropped to half-mast, and his hips circled in time with the movement of her hand.
“Say that again,” he said in a husky whisper. “Say that again.”
With one hand, she stroked his erection. With the other, she guided his hand to her core.
“Hungry for my bear.”
His fingers dragged drunkenly across her folds, and she nearly sighed.
“Hungry for you,” she went on, flattening her hand over his, pushing him deeper. “Inside. Deep, deep inside. You, my bear.”
His mouth fell open. His face went intent as he stroked her in rhythm with her own movements. Slower, faster. Letting her set the pace.
Then a growl built in his chest, and he showed his teeth. “Shouldn’t tease a bear, you know.”
“No?” She managed to make it sound casual. “What might happen?”
He ground his teeth and thrust back against her tight grip. “Something.”
“Something good? Or something bad?” She dropped her voice on the last word, making damn sure it sounded sweet and sultry.
His eyes flashed. “Something like this.”
An instant later, he claimed her mouth in a huge, open kiss. Dropped his hips and dragged his cock against her belly, then spread her legs wider with one hand.
Oh, yes, her wolf squeaked. Hard and fast was just the wolf’s style. Later, when the fire went down along with the worst of the storm, they could do sweet and slow. And on all fours, and her on top
, and sixty-nine, and every which way they wanted. But right now, she wanted this. Straight up, hot, and hard.
“Yes…” she murmured, already desperate for the feel of him inside.
He dragged her arms over her head, pinned both there with one hand, and locked eyes with her. She shot him her best minx look, but he wiped it off her face a second later with his first hard thrust.
She uttered choppy, meaningless syllables full of oohs and ahs.
He pulled back then drove back in.
“Yes…Yes…” she called in time with each burning slide.
A bead of sweat built on his chest and dropped to hers. She tucked her chin to watch it, then watched him moving over her, disappearing inside her. In and out, in and out.
That was her mate, touching her. Her mate, needing her. Her mate, growling for her.
She looked up again and found his eyes saying all the same things she was crying out loud. Yes and more and ah and oh and most of all, you. You, you, you.
She wound her legs higher around his waist and moaned as the angle changed. He moved harder, faster. Reaching deeper each time. Deeper still when she got the timing just right and bucked up to meet the next push.
“God, yes…”
She said everything she’d ever cried in her most heated dreams but never in real life, because real life had never been as good as this. As demanding. As unrelenting. As overpowering. And it wasn’t just his size or strength or intensity — it was her hunger for him, too.
“God, Simon…”
Already, his name felt perfect on her lips.
“Jess,” he growled back. So low, it was more vibration than sound.
She took a deep breath, tightened her muscles around his cock, and watched his eyes glaze over.
“Yes…” Now he was rasping aloud, too.
The fire crackled behind him, sending an orange glow over his glistening skin. They’d shed the blanket some time ago, so all she saw was her mate. Big. Booming. Demanding. A little awed, too, as if he were as amazed by the sensations as she was. The emotional mixed with the physical, building to an ever-headier high.
The wind whistled outside, and the bedding rustled under her back. Sparks jumped from the fire, and they both began to pump harder. Harder, but in perfect time, like they’d been stealing away and meeting in this cave for years already.
He pulled her leg tighter, lifting it clear off the ground. Clutched it to his side and hammered into her, pushing her closer and closer to bliss. The cave seemed brighter, the air thicker, his scent impossibly enticing.
“More,” she moaned, desperate for the high her body was chasing.
Simon came down on one elbow, looking ferociously possessive. Looking like he’d never been more consumed with the need to get something exactly right. He snuck a hand along her hipbone and flicked his thumb over her clit.
And there it was — the more she’d sought. A blinding white light, a burning ache. The heated slide of his cock inside her. The shudder of his steely body against hers as they both flew over the edge at the very same time.
She moaned. Simon groaned in a hoarse voice. The flames in the fireplace sparked. Then he collapsed over her, panting, while she looped her limbs around him and held him tight. When she spasmed with an aftershock, he stiffened inside her, giving her a last, wild high. And then she was as breathless as he was, absolutely overwhelmed.
A dozen happy images shot through her mind. A hundred. A thousand. Images of the two of them, wrapped around each other like this, not just in winter but in spring. In summer. In the fall. An endless cycle of seasons — a lifetime of them. They could walk in the woods together, her wolf and his bear. Explore the high meadows, hunker down in storms. They could go out in town in human form, too, and dance. They would see each other through thick and thin, for better or worse.
She started covering him in long, sloppy kisses. All up one side of his face and down the other, until they were both chuckling.
“That’s my wolf at work,” she mumbled, kissing him on the lips.
“Cleaning me up?” He grinned, so loose and relaxed that she caught a glimpse of the little cub he once must have been.
“No. Marking you as mine.”
His grin changed to one that was one-hundred-percent, deeply satisfied, grown-up male.
“But, yeah, I can clean you up if you want,” she joked, giving his ear a lick.
“Hey!” he protested, catching her hands.
“Just kidding.” She smoothed a hand over his shoulder and plucked a blade of grass from his hair.
He pulled her to his chest and held her there a good, long time.
“Okay…” she mumbled, more to herself than to him.
“Okay, what?” He rolled and came to rest on his side, keeping her close with one arm.
She cupped his cheek and stroked his lips with her thumb, just the way she’d fantasized about doing before.
“I’m thinking we can get this bear-wolf thing to work, after all.”
He broke into a grin and pulled her closer. They both knew that wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded, but at a moment like this, how could either of them doubt?
He went frighteningly serious and cupped her face with both hands. “We will. I promise. I promise we will.”
They spent two days in the cave, talking and touching and loving. Napping, too, and listening to the storm. They’d get up from time to time to put another log on the fire or snack on some of the supplies he had stashed on a high nook in the cave. Then they’d hurry back to the warmth of the bedding and get started all over again.
They planned, too. Plotted. Strategized about slowly bringing her wolf pack and his bear clan around to the idea of a mixed mating.
“An alliance. We could sell it to them as an alliance,” he said, thinking out loud.
She nodded. Both their packs were small and isolated, and while shifters were strong, there were dangers all the same. Rogues. Thieves. Outside shifters, looking to steal power. An alliance made sense.
But when she thought of all the stereotypes and conceits that divided their families, she despaired.
“We’ll just have to take it one step at a time,” Simon said.
“It could take years,” she groaned.
He grinned from where he had flopped over her, and his stubble tickled her breast. “Years of meeting like this.”
She smiled. All right, that had a certain appeal. There would be a thrill to sneaking off to be together. They could hole up here in his cave. They could camp in mountain meadows or bask on the rocks by the creek. They were both young; maybe a little too young to get mated. Maybe it was best to wait.
“We’ll earn each other,” he said, hugging her fiercely. “Earn our future, one step at a time.”
She rolled over on top of him and tipped her chin up on his chest, meeting his gaze.
“You think we can do it?”
He ran his hands along her arms and nodded so resolutely, she couldn’t help but believe.
“I know we can. I know we can. And in the meantime…” His voice dropped an octave, and his hands slid over her rear.
“In the meantime?” she prompted, though she’d already caught his drift. She split into a straddle and slid along his body.
“In the meantime, we get to know each other better.” He grinned.
“Right.” She nodded, grinding her body against his. “Lots to learn.”
“Just you wait, my little she-wolf.” He grinned, helping her get aligned. “Just you wait.”
* * *
The future never felt so bright for a couple of star-crossed lovers, but Jessica and Simon have a long road ahead of them. Read DAMNATION, Book 1 in the Blue Moon Saloon series to see what they will be forced to weather before finally earning what their hearts so deeply desire. Read on or click here for a sneak peek or order your copy today! It’s available as a single title or as part of the three-book bundle, BLUE MOON SALOON, Volume 1.
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You can also read all about the “making of” Perfection in the bonus materials section of my website. I post one of these for each of my books, so check them out and enjoy!
Sneak Peek: Damnation
Book 1 in the Blue Moon Saloon series
Behind the doors of the Blue Moon saloon, alpha shifters confront their darkest fears and their deepest desires.
Jessica Macks is a she-wolf on the run from a band of murderous rogues. When she finds a job at a shifter bar, it seems like a safe haven from her hunted life on the road. But the minute she walks through the swinging doors of the Blue Moon Saloon and comes face-to-face with the man she once loved, she’s tempted to march right back out. No way, no how is she risking her heart to that infuriating alpha bear again.
Simon Voss thought he lost everything in an ambush months before: his home, his family, his past. His new job at the Blue Moon Saloon is a desperately needed fresh start on life. Then along comes Jessica, the irresistible she-wolf his clan forced him to reject years before. When Simon is obliged to hire Jessica and work side by side with the one woman to ever make his bear go wild, he’s half in heaven, half in hell. He hasn’t forgotten her, and she sure as hell hasn’t forgiven him. Is this just another path to heartbreak or his last chance to claim his destined mate?
Click here to read the excerpt or order your copy of Damnation today!
Damnation: Chapter 1
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tina asked.
Jessica forced herself to keep up a steady, confident stride and nodded firmly. “I want to do this.”
I need to do this was more like it, but pride was about the only thing she had left.