His interest in Mahasti had never been about her appearance - not completely - but the reality of exploring her nude frame ignited his lust for physical pleasure. Deep down beneath the alluring features, he’d always valued the infinite kindness she showed to him, a lowly bear shifter.
“No?” Leiv repeated. Had she changed her mind?
“I will not be mounted like a slave.”
Leiv remained on his knees amidst the pillows, but a shove of her fingers against his shoulder cast him off balance until he toppled back among them.
Her return to the bed came as a crawl over the midnight black sheets until she knelt between his legs. Manicured fingers slid up his legs, passing through the dark hair and continuing upwards.
“I’ve always wanted to see you naked,” she admitted in a sensual murmur.
As most of the feralkin who transitioned from human to animal form, Leiv completely lacked a sense of modesty. He unclothed as necessary whenever the mood struck him to use his animal form. Often, he traveled Saul’s land in his natural state and lazed away his afternoons beneath the sun.
“You have seen me before. Many times, Mahasti.” Each and every time, he had hoped she liked what she saw.
“But not like this. Not close and within my reach.” Her fingers closed around his dick and delivered a playful pump.
Her sexy confidence thrilled him. His dick twitched within her grasp, and then he tilted his head back and groaned as her lips slid over his head. A flutter of her tongue over the delicate corona made him writhe in ecstasy.
“Mahasti…” Her mouth slid off of him with a playful pop. “Why do you stop? No, no, do not stop,” he pleaded.
“Would you prefer the pleasure of my mouth or my body?” she asked with another nibbling kiss. She sealed her lips at the junction between his balls and the base of his prick then tickled him with her tongue before pulling away. He raised his hips desperately to search for her mouth, pumping in futility. No woman had ever made him so hard before, so absolutely, unforgivably hard until he felt as if a single stroke would make him blow his load.
Please no. I need more of her than that, but this is maddening.
“Your, ah, hell, Mahasti. I want you.” And it didn’t matter how he had her.
“And I you.”
Silk whispered across his throbbing cock. He didn’t know where the golden scarf had come from and he didn’t ask. With Mahasti’s magic anything was possible and tonight it was to his advantage.
“I have always wondered what you would taste like,” she whispered, drawing the gossamer veil across his balls. The slow descent of her mouth over his cock introduced Leiv to a torturous rapture. Each time Leiv expected her to take him in further she retreated and replaced her tongue with cool silk. The delicate fabric feathered across his dick until she drove him wild with desire and the primal side of him broke free.
“All of me, Mahasti,” he growled. Fisting his hands in her hair secured her into place, and his taut grip held her firmly upon his cock. She deep-throated him without resistance, taking in his every inch until his eyes rolled back and guttural groans of pleasure became the only noise Leiv could make. Instinct drove him to claim her however he could, and yet, she was never truly captive. Mahasti could have become free in the blink of an eye.
The glide of her lips up and down his veined shaft was hypnotizing. Each time she came close to slipping off, Leiv pulled her back down by a handful of hair. She chuckled around his dick, sending pleasing vibrations over the sensitive crown. She reduced him to putty in her hands. Leiv’s fingers fell away from her glossy waves as his hips began to desperately pump. He was so close, pushed to the cusp of orgasm, but no matter how he thrusted and fucked her delectable little mouth, no relief came to alleviate the building pressure in his balls.
“Enough, Mahasti,” he cried. “I want inside you.”
Her responding purr nearly sent him over the edge. Absolutely enchanted, he watched Mahasti pull away, dragging her lips teasingly until the tip popped from her mouth. His slick cock gleamed with saliva. With contact between them severed, gravity angled his proud length toward his washboard abs where it awaited her next touch. Waited to learn her intimate embrace.
Mahasti shifted above him until she straddled his muscled body. With one hand grasping his dick around the base, her controlled descent lowered the genie around his dick, allowing inch by throbbing inch to enter her heated embrace. Leiv practically shuddered beneath her, pushed to insanity by her slow and measured movements. The grip that once snugly held his fingers claimed his cock in steady increments.
“More,” he begged.
“In time,” she promised.
Mahasti’s slow and sensual claiming made every second count, letting his hard dick pass in and out of her body to a shallow rhythm of her own choosing. When she finally ceased the teasing movement and allowed their bodies to join flush, she rocked atop him and trembled in delight.
“Your wish is granted, Leiv. This night is yours.”
Mine, he thought. Having her for a night only satisfied a fraction of his appetite. More than anything, he wanted her to become his. With equal longing, he wanted to share his life in return as her mate.
It didn’t take long for their frenetic coupling to become a game of dominance. With a push of his foot against the bed, Leiv rolled her beneath him. Mahasti’s onyx hair fanned like a halo around her head. Her golden skin contrasted with the black sheets, but her eyes were as bright as the summer sky.
He held her hips steady to meet his next deep thrust. Her golden legs lifted and wrapped around his waist while her fingers curled against his chest, pressing rounded nails into his skin. “H-harder,” she gasped up to him. “I want to know every inch of you.”
The wet clench of her body and her seductive entreaty encouraged Leiv to pound her tight snatch, slapping his balls against her body and grinding against her clit. He slammed into her, pistoning fast strokes.
“You are so wet. So wet, Mahasti.”
“And you hard as marble.”
Leiv nibbled her earlobe. The pleasant action earned a shudder from the muscles surrounding his cock and brought him closer to losing control. Sweet Goddess. Not yet. Not yet. I have so much more I want from her. Leiv had loved Mahasti for years, and craved the chance to love her for a while longer.
“Only for you, desert flower.”
Their bodies moved together in instinctual harmony whether Leiv was above or below her. Pillows tumbled to the floor, blankets bunched at their feet, and the candles scattered around the room burned down to waxy stubs. Her stiff nipples responded beneath his calloused fingertips, each cocoa brown tip hardening to a tight peak. Leiv playfully skated his teeth across and then soothed the aching flesh with a sweep of his tongue.
Mahasti’s mouth fell open in a soundless cry accompanied by a tightening of her whole body. The graceful curve of her back raised from the sheets and her fingers gripped his brawny shoulders. Her face contorted with ecstasy while the mesmerized shifter above her studied the beauty of her rapturous expression.
Growling, he drove home within her, jackhammering through the tremulous tension caused by her orgasm until the rhythmic squeeze urged Leiv into his own. His balls tightened until the pressure wound as tight as a coiled spring, until he was so close Mahasti’s frenetic rocking against him achieved its purpose. He came hard, spurting a hot release his eager thrusts whipped into a slick froth.
After he sagged against her, Mahasti’s toned arms and legs enfolded him close. Not even a breath of air could slip between their affectionate embrace. He nuzzled his cheek against one plump breast and closed his eyes, content with the way her fingers stroked over his short hair. Neither spoke, each waiting for the rapid pace of their hearts to settle.
Eventually, Leiv withdrew his softening cock. Still semi-rigid with lingering traces of arousal, he smeared the inside of her thigh on the backstroke. Once Mahasti nestled close against his body, he curve
d one arm around her slim frame. Eyelashes tickled his throat, a pleasant butterfly kiss beneath his stubbled jaw. But it wasn’t to last.
Mahasti’s roll from his side made Leiv turn to close his fingers around one of her slim wrists. “Stay,” he implored as he held her in place.
“It is for the best that I leave.” Her dark hair spilled over her shoulder and veiled her face from his view. Leiv propped his weight onto an elbow and strained to see her features. Her posture and positioning revealed only the svelte line of her back and a partial profile. “Is this to be only once?”
“It must be.”
“Why?”
Mahasti evaporated into mist, leaving traces of her scent lingering in the air. The presence of his lover surrounded him, filled with nurturing warmth and assurance as if that might provide a balm against the wound she inflicted to his heart.
“A day will come when you no longer see me as the woman you love, but as an immortal creature you resent with all of your heart. I cannot bear to watch. I will not.”
In another breath, she was gone.
Chapter 2
The next day didn’t bring Leiv any peace. Despite his efforts to make contact, Mahasti kept to the house and out of sight. At the night’s end after a fruitless attempt to find her in the manor, he wound up in the vault, contemplating the lamp bound to Mahasti’s soul and wondering if she’d hidden inside.
“Mahasti, please. Can we not talk? I am not upset. I would only like to talk to you.”
The lamp remained dark. Eventually, after his hope dwindled to complete disappointment, Leiv abandoned the vault and retreated from the manor. He spent the rest of the day fishing alongside Saul’s man-made lake where he ate away his bitter sorrow and chased the meal down with a fifth of vodka. He may have gotten his wish, but it came at the cost of one of his dearest friends.
With Saul away from the estate, Leiv’s chores diminished to a handful of agricultural duties. He longed for the friendly chats and conversation during their drives. As the days passed, he found other ways to hasten the passage of time. The bear shifter consulted a homesteading book from Saul’s library, spread out the plans for an additional smokehouse, and by the end of the week, he had constructed a fine secondary structure for processing their overabundance of meat.
The whole time he worked shirtless beneath the sun, the sensation of being watched never faded. She was there somewhere, and while he couldn’t smell her on the wind, his preternatural senses certainly perceived her presence.
Leiv’s suspicions were confirmed when he misplaced his screwdriver and abandoned his work to fetch a second. He made it only a step before he recognized the weight of an object in his jeans pocket. She’d given it to him somehow with her magic, but he didn’t want Mahasti’s help; he wanted her company.
By the middle of the month, Leiv had successfully transformed his frustration into productivity. He stocked the freezers, the pantry, and made enough cheese to fill a hobbit’s storehouse. Hell, he even began a personal garden for Chloe, Saul’s mate, and laid a trail of stepping stones to it from the veranda. Bear shifters of his species weren’t normally social creatures, but for the first time in all of his adult life, Leiv felt lonely. The temptation to head into the mountains and seek out company among the bears had never been stronger.
But true bears were also solitary, territorial creatures and none of them would have him either.
The hounds had a different thought on the matter. They provided furry companionship and eagerly greeted their caretaker. Leiv ensured the pair had full bowls before he retired for the evening.
Sleep didn’t come easy for Leiv most nights. It seemed he had barely fallen into true sleep when both Caucasian shepherd dogs sent up alarm howls. Leiv leapt from the bed and burst from the cabin in his human flesh. Within three steps he dropped to all fours in his bear shape. As a shifter, he ran more quickly in his ursine form than he did as a man on two legs. The magic that imbued his people granted him preternatural speed to close the distance between his door and the estate in under a minute.
Ghouls. Leiv recognized their foul scent on the breeze; a rotten, carrion stench carried to his sensitive nose.
Mahasti stood out like a star in the night. Composed of pure flames, she burned white hot at her center, the fire shifting to gold and red where her hair should have been. A brilliant ball of fire struck the closest intruder but the creature barely slowed its pace. The djinn vanished in a puff of smoke before the ghoul reached her, only to reappear behind it. A raging inferno burst from her hands and engulfed the undead monstrosity. Its dying shrieks filled the air.
Two more crossed the expansive lawn, stinking shadows moving in the dark. Leiv intercepted one with a mighty swat, tearing his claws through decaying flesh. He mauled the monster until it was a smear on the grass then turned his ferocity on the third assailant as Mahasti’s flames consumed the first.
“Leiv, the house!” Mahasti cried out. The flames surrounding her flickered and dimmed enough to reveal her terrified expression. She disappeared, leaving curling wisps of smoke behind.
Only one thing could put so much fear in her voice.
Her lamp. Someone must be in the house!
The third ghoul didn’t stand a chance. Leiv charged the creature and trampled it into the ground. The ovcharkas rushed in behind him to finish off the job but Leiv didn’t stick around to ensure it remained down. He pounded toward the house and shifted the moment he hit the front veranda.
He raced through the dark house, familiar with the layout. The stairs into Saul’s subterranean hideaway were easier to handle as a man. He leapt down half of the last flight where he was immediately assaulted by the smell of an open grave. Dirt, decay, and moldering flesh accented the copper tang of blood.
Leiv transformed as he burst into the open vault. His 800 pound bulk crashed into the vampire fleeing for the vault exit. The feral bloodsucker hissed and sprang back to elude him, aided by his lanky frame and faster reflexes.
I only need to strike him once. Only once, Leiv thought. One blow from his massive paws would be enough to knock him down for the kill, but cornering a vampire was easier said than done.
Snarling, the rangy vamp feinted to the left then to the right. With Mahasti’s lamp tucked beneath one arm, he darted toward the door. An acrobatic twist flipped him into the air, but Leiv reared onto his hind legs and slammed the vampire down to the earth again. They snapped at one another, the faster and much quicker vampire weaving between each blow then snaking beneath him.
Shifters held a unique immunity to the bite of a vampire, but it hurt like a bitch. Claws slashed him, followed by a fist to the ribs that nearly cracked his bones. It would have pulped a lesser creature’s torso.
They fought like wildcats, a bear versus a metaphorical lion, all gnashing teeth and flashing claws in the flickering torchlight. I won’t let him take her. I won’t. Given motivation, Leiv ignored the pain and dragged the frenzied vampire across the stony floor. Hot, living blood splashed across the rocks as his opponent gashed him with a lucky blow to the chest.
The pain sent Leiv stumbling. He almost collapsed, but he knuckled through the pain and lunged forward. Using his considerable bulk, he slammed the vampire into the ground. He ignored the wild strikes glancing against his face and chest in favor of tearing his enemy limb from limb. Mahasti’s lamp rolled away across the floor.
Stained with blood, Leiv struggled to remain on his feet to go in for the kill. He crumpled to the floor as glittering smoke streamed from the lamp. Mahasti’s form coalesced between him and her would-be abductor, her form flaring as hot and bright as dragonsfyre. The vampire, despite his audacity in raiding a dragon’s hoard, fell back before her rage.
Leiv watched through a pained haze as the vampire went up in flames. The acrid scent of burning flesh and charred bone overwhelmed his sensitive nose.
The world around him temporarily blurred, and when it came back into focus, Leiv was
surrounded by the comforts of a guest bed, in his human guise, as Mahasti bathed the blood from his body. He jerked up into a sitting position and winced.
“The vampire?”
“Dead,” Mahasti said gently. Her fingers touched his uninjured shoulder and eased him back into a laying position.
“He tried to take your lamp.”
“He failed because of you. Thank you. Many have tried, and many will fail. He is the first to attempt such a foolish act during Saul’s absence.”
“Should we tell—”
“No,” she said clearly. “We will not interrupt his time away from home. If we tell him he will only rush back and he deserves his time with Chloe.”
“Yes, yes. You are correct.” Her gentle touch smoothed his brow and encouraged him to close his eyes.
“I should have been more mindful,” Mahasti chastised herself. “He slipped past my defenses and you’ve been hurt because of it.”
“It was nothing. These are flesh wounds, Mahasti. By morning, I will be well.”
Mahasti scoffed and touched her fingers over the pink line extending from his right pectoral to his navel. “You are healed now because of my magic, Leiv. Saul permitted me long ago to use the full extent of my abilities on you. Now rest well and recover.”
“Mahasti—”
Jasmine-scented smoke surrounded Leiv one more time. It wrapped around his senses and pervaded every fiber of his being, sweeping him away into peaceful dreams. When he awakened nearly twelve hours later, he was tucked safe and warm in his bed and she was nowhere in sight.
Chapter 3
No further attempts were made on Mahasti’s lamp during Saul’s absence, as if the dark ones sensed their efforts would be futile. Leiv patrolled the acreage excessively alongside his dogs Anton and Anastasia, traveling in his bear form while securing the property.
Two weeks later, Saul’s phone call from Texas summoned Leiv to prepare the car and head out early to beat the Los Angeles traffic to the airport. He took pleasure in handling the top-of-the-line vehicle, overpriced but filled with lavish comforts appropriate for a CEO of an upscale Hollywood production company.
Bearing Her Wishes Page 2