by Ruby Shae
***
Later that night, Finn waited for Belle to arrive in the parking lot of the Wild Bear. On the slow nights, she and Jared alternated who would come in first, and tonight was her night to open. He usually didn’t start working until everyone had a few drinks in them, but he liked being next to his mate, so he often came in early and lingered at the bar.
He checked his watch for the third time, and swore when he finally saw her truck turn into the lot. She’d arrived a minute before her starting time, effectively making small talk with anyone impossible.
He crossed the parking lot and pulled open her door as she gathered her keys, phone and ID case. She usually travelled light, shoving everything in her pockets, and he’d been surprised to see her with a purse the night before. He didn’t care what she did with her things, as long as she felt comfortable.
She remained calm when he opened the door, proving she’d seen him waiting for her.
“Thank you,” she said, sliding out of the cab. “What’s up?”
“Nothing’s up,” he said, closing her door. She started walking toward the building, and he caught up to her in two steps. “I wanted to have a few minutes alone with you before you went inside. I missed you.”
She stopped walking and turned to look at him, obviously puzzled.
“Why?” she asked.
The serious look on her face caught him by surprise and nearly knocked him on his ass.
“What do you mean, why?”
“I mean, why did you miss me? What do you want? I’m running late.”
She started walking toward the door again.
“Hold on a minute,” he said, grabbing her shoulder and forcing her to stop again. “Gabe’s not going to mind if you’re a few minutes late, and you know it. What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, checking the time on her phone.
He understood she might still be angry, but her avoidance was starting to piss him off.
“I’m trying to talk to you, and you’re trying to get away from me. Why?”
“Look, I know you mean well,” she said, “but this isn’t necessary. I’m fine. You don’t owe me anything and I don’t want to pretend to be friends. We’re co-workers and nothing more. Trust me, I get it and there’s no reason to discuss it further. Good luck, tonight.”
She slipped out of his grasp and continued on her mission, but he was hot on her heels. When she placed her hand on the door handle to pull it open, he stepped behind her and covered it with his own. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her flush with his body.
His dick hardened at the contact, but he didn’t try to fight it. She tried to push his forearm off her middle with the fingers of her free hand, but he pulled both of their hands off the door and crossed them over her body. He pinned her free arm to her side with their linked fingers, stopping her escape efforts. He’d effectively captured her in his embrace, and though she didn’t struggle, he heard the barely audible whimper she tried to hide before demanding release.
“Let. Me. Go.”
“Not until you tell me why you’re giving me the brush off,” he said, tightening his grip around her.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” she spat. “You wanted a break and you got one. Now you’re free to fuck anyone you want to, except me. I don’t do exes. Now, let me go and leave me alone.”
She started to struggle and when he didn’t relent, she stepped on his foot and kicked him in the knee. He growled in pain, and but he didn’t release her. When she moved to kick him again, he leaned back, taking her with him, and her swinging legs met with air.
“Damnit, woman!” he growled. “Stop trying to kick me.”
“Everything okay out here?”
They both froze, and he looked up to see Gabe holding the door open and glaring at him.
“Yes.”
“No.”
They both replied at the same time.
“Well, which is it?” Gabe asked. “Izzy?”
“We’re fine,” she sighed. “I was just reminding Lucky here that we’re over.”
“The hell we are!” he roared.
“Talk about it later,” Gabe scolded. “I need someone behind the bar.”
The man left them alone again and went back inside the building. He loosened his hold around her waist, and she quickly escaped his reach and advanced toward the door. He might not be able to touch her, but he would clear up their little misunderstanding.
“Look at me Belle,” he commanded. She followed his orders easily, and his cock hardened further. “I said we needed a break, not a break-up.”
“Same difference,” she said, pulling the door open.
“No, it isn’t. This conversation is not over.”
“Yeah, it is.”
She disappeared into the building and he stood there, staring at the closed door. The finality and sadness in her parting words nearly tore him apart and he desperately wanted to chase after her, haul her away, and keep her captive until she believed all of his promises.
Work came first, but later, when he walked her to her truck, all bets were off. Before morning, Belle would learn exactly what it meant to be thoroughly loved and wooed by her mate.
Chapter Five
Finn escorted another man out the back door and cursed when he exited the short hallway and reentered the main part of the bar. Gabe was warning another patron to keep his hands off the waitresses, and two men were arguing at the pool table.
After his encounter with Belle earlier, he’d decided to give her some space and report to work at his normal time. In order to diminish some of his lust and desire to track down his mate and force her submission, he’d decided to shift and take a run in his bear form. By the time he got back to the Wild Bear, the place was packed. Besides the normal Tuesday night crowd, a shifter motorcycle club had rolled in from the next town over, and apparently the locals didn’t play well with others.
He’d already broken up four fights and intercepted dozens more. The man he’d just escorted out the back door had been the second one that evening who had decided not to heed his warning.
He hadn’t been to the bar once, and Belle and Jared had been filling orders continuously all night. He glanced at his watch, grateful to see they only had to endure another hour and a half of madness before they could close the doors.
On his way to the pool table, a woman threw herself in his path and tightened her arms around his waist. Getting attacked by patrons was common, but they usually returned to their seats when he firmly chastised them. He reached behind his waist and undid her fingers, then put her arms at her sides and forced her to take a step back.
She looked up at him, and he inwardly cursed. The woman was drunk, slightly green, and about to puke. He grabbed her hand, pulled her down the hallway and shoved her into the men’s restroom. If he’d tried the ladies, she never would have made it.
Ten uncomfortable minutes later, he sat her down on the stairs that led up to his apartment and called a cab. While they waited, a fight broke out in the women’s restroom and he’d been forced to call the police. Before the taxi arrived for the first patron, Gabe brought back two others who had overindulged and needed a ride home.
Nearly thirty minutes later, he walked down the hallway again and immediately noticed Jared waving at him from the bar. He hastily cut across the dance floor and before he could reach the counter, Jared yelled over the people in front of him.
“She left without an escort about five minutes ago.”
Fuck!
He shoved his way through the crowd, ran into the storage room and burst out the side door leading to the parking lot. The sight before him made his bear surge to the surface and he had to fight to stay human. He let out a bloodcurdling roar and advanced on the scene.
Belle was on the ground, surrounded by the three men that had bothered her his first night in town. The leader of the three held a baseball bat, and though she rolled on the asphalt to avo
id their kicks, she could only go so far before her skin met with another boot.
They messed with the wrong bear’s mate.
He attacked swiftly, breaking the arm of the man holding the bat, and then breaking the bat in half. One of the men ran off, but the more ignorant of the three decided to fight him. He kicked the man in the chest and watched him fly across the parking lot. He slid across the asphalt and laid still.
He turned to track the other man, and saw Belle swaying on her feet. He ran over and scooped her into his arms at the same time Gabe and one of the waitresses came running out of the bar.
“Izzy,” Gabe yelled. “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
“Oh my god, Izzy,” Michelle, the waitress, gasped on the verge of tears.
“I’ll be okay…bear remember?” she smiled at her friend. “The three guys from the other night attacked me. I fought back, at first, but they grabbed my hair and pulled me down.”
“Shit,” Gabe said, looking at the two downed men. “Where’s the third guy?”
“He ran away when I broke his buddies arm,” Finn said, motioning to the guy crying on the ground.
“Fucking pussy,” Gabe growled at the man. “Take care of her, and I’ll call the police. Michelle, go back inside.”
Michelle glared at Gabe, but she followed his orders and ran back into the bar. Finn didn’t have time to consider the odd behavior; he had a mate to care for. Belle’s cousin opened his phone and pressed the button to contact the police, and Finn carried his mate upstairs to his apartment.
He laid Belle on the bed and took off her shoes, then he grabbed the ibuprofen, a glass and a bottle of water.
“Here,” he said, placing the pills in her hand, and helping her sit up. He put a cup of water in her other hand. “Drink it all.”
She followed his instructions and laid back down on the pillow. He ran his hands over her stomach and sides and she shrieked and tried to push him away.
“Oh my god, Finn, what are you doing?”
“I’m making sure you’re not bleeding,” he said, firmly.
She accepted his answer and stayed still until his search was complete. He left her side again to gather a washcloth and the first aid kit. He smiled as he remembered the first night they met.
“Hey,” he said, dabbing the two cuts on her face, “you’re bleeding all over my bed.”
She granted him a half smile before her face contorted and she let out a low growl.
“I know it hurts, but it will help you heal faster.”
She nodded, even as tears filled her eyes.
“All done,” he said.
She nodded again and stared at the ceiling.
“Are you still in pain?” he asked.
“A little. The medicine is working though. I’ll be fine soon.”
“Good. Why didn’t you wait for me?”
A lone tear escaped down her cheek, and he resisted the urge to wipe it away.
“I saw you leave with that woman and I couldn’t bear it,” she whispered.
“I didn’t go anywhere with anyone,” he said. “I was babysitting her and two others Gabe led back there. I also had to break up a fight in the women’s restroom and wait for the police. I’ve been telling you from day one that you’re mine, and yet this is the second time on the same day that you’ve doubted me.”
“You said you wanted a break,” she said, accusingly.
“No, I said we needed to take a break and slow down because you still don’t trust me,” he explained. “I realized we were moving too fast and you probably need a longer courtship. I was trying to do the right thing.”
“Oh.”
Silence stretched between them and he knew she still didn’t get it. Maybe his bear had been right all along.
“You’re not going to let me go home tonight, are you?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Okay, I’m going to take a shower.”
She sat up and he helped her stand, confident she could make it to the restroom on her own. She closed the door and he weighed his options.
His words didn’t matter because they’d been used for lies in the past. His touch didn’t matter because she didn’t believe herself beautiful. His actions didn’t matter because she suspected him of an alternate agenda.
He couldn’t seem to catch a break in his human form, but if he let his bear rise to the surface, she wouldn’t be able to run from the truth.
He stood, stripped off his clothes and followed her into the bathroom. The frosted glass doors on the square shower were full of steam, but he could still see her soft, curvy silhouette. His dick hardened to the point of pain, and his bear grunted in approval. He pulled open the glass door and joined her inside the cube.
“Finn, what are you doing in here? We both don’t fit!” she squealed.
“The hell we don’t,” he said, forcing her back against the wall.
She didn’t object, or try to run, and he proceeded to take what they both needed.
He bent down in front of her, slid his arms between her legs, looping her knees over his forearms, and lifted her off the floor. She gasped and held onto his shoulders, but she didn’t say a word as he raised her off the ground. His cock found the entrance to her pussy and he entered her in one swift thrust, pinning her to the wall.
Her pussy tightened around him, and her honey gushed out and mixed with the water spraying them from the shower head. He kissed her hard, possessive and unyielding, sliding his tongue along hers and plundering deep, mimicking what he wanted to do to her cunt.
She squirmed and wiggled around his dick, but he refused to move until he felt the familiar tingling at the base of his spine. He released her mouth, pressed his hands against the wall, and thrust in and out of her pussy hard and fast. Her calves swung wildly, mirroring her large, soft breasts and she screamed and moaned with abandon. The sounds echoed around small room, amplified by the running water.
She screamed his name as the orgasm ricocheted through her body, and when her pussy tightened around his cock, he growled and bit her on the juncture between her neck and shoulder. Belle screamed and came again, her body shaking from the intensity of her release.
When their breathing returned to normal, he licked the wound ensuring it would permanently scar, and pulled back to face her. His semi-hard cock was still buried deep inside her cunt, and he still held her off the floor. He refused to let her go until they talked.
Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
“Oh, Finn,” she breathed. “I’ve been so stupid.”
“I prefer to think of it as stubborn, hard-headed and overly cautious,” he said, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.
“I love you,” she said, hugging him.
“I love you, too, my mate,” he whispered in her ear.
Suddenly, her teeth pierced his skin and his cock sprang to life. She held on as he moved in and out of her wet channel slowly, enjoying the feel of her bite. They came together, and as she licked the wound, he felt the emotions she’d tried to hide.
Love topped the list, and his bear roared in triumph. He’d done the right thing by listening to his animal.
“Now I understand the name,” she said, smiling. The twinkle in her eye revealed her teasing.
“Oh really?” he asked.
“Yes, your mate is one lucky girl.”
“She is, but only when she calls me Finn.”
“Finn?”
“Yes, love?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, my lucky mate.”
Epilogue
Six months later…
Isabelle silently stepped out onto the porch and slowly slid the sliding glass door closed. The cool, early dawn breeze swirled around her and she welcomed the clash against her heated skin. She surveyed the trees in the nature preserve and her bear heaved a contented sigh.
She took a deep breath and trusted her animal. Everything would be okay.
Af
ter she and Finn marked each other, her whole world had tilted on its axis. Everything she thought she knew about love had been destroyed the moment her mate sank his teeth into her skin. All of his feelings, everything he’d told her the day they went out, and the night that followed, all of it wrapped around her and crumbled the last of her insecurities.
He hadn’t been lying when he’d described her attributes, including his desire for her body, and she felt secure in his love every day.
The day after their mating, the realtor showed them the house on the border of the nature preserve and they signed the papers the same day. When she saw the balances in Finn’s bank accounts, she laughed at her silly suggestion that he would want her money. Her savings were pennies compared to his.
They moved into their home a month later and the only thing missing from their perfect union was a few cubs. She’d always wanted a family, but it never seemed possible. The idea of having children left her both scared and elated.
Moments ago, she’d stood in the bathroom and stared at the two blue lines on the pink stick for what seemed like an eternity. When sweat broke out on her brow, she shoved the stick back in the box, shoved the box back in the bag and threw everything away.
Now all she had to do was tell Finn.
She didn’t want to wake him, but she couldn’t wait to tell him the news. She turned to return inside the house at the same time he pulled the glass door open.
“Is everything okay? I felt a bit of fear and anxiety coming from you. What are you doing up so early?” he asked, closing his arms around her.
Now that she’d accepted his claim, he never let a moment go by without seizing the opportunity to touch her. Sharing emotions was nature’s way of keeping a mated shifter couple together. Since they aged slower than humans, and lived twice as long, they needed a partner to last two lifetimes.
“Everything is fine,” she said.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“No, I had a wonderful reality, but I did freak for a few minutes. I’m okay now, really.”
“Okay,” he said. If she were lying, he would know, so she didn’t worry about verifying his trust. “Are you going to share this wonderful reality with me?”