by T. S. Joyce
“I always wanted a record player, but I haven’t stayed in one place long enough,” she murmured.
“I’ll get you one. We’ll find whatever records you want, maybe put it over in that corner,” he said, pointing to an empty space near the hearth.
“That’s what I was thinking, too. Do you want to see our bedroom?”
“Our bedroom,” he repeated softly.
She led the way, but turned at the doorway. “This is my favorite room in the house. As soon as I saw what Link had done, this place just felt like home. Ready?”
Jenner leaned down and sipped her lips softly, then nodded.
Lena pushed open the door and was taken aback all over again. Along one entire wall was a picture window facing the sunset, and on the floor was a large mattress, covered in new, warm, forest green bedding. A small, circular wooden table, grayed with age, sat beside the bed and matched a rustic dresser on the wall opposite the window. Jenner didn’t seem to notice anything but the window as he padded toward it.
She held her place near the door just to watch him. She’d imagined it, how he would react, but now that he was really here, this cabin felt complete. He stood against the sunset, his tight black sweater and dark jeans stark against the colors there. Jenner cut a powerful silhouette with his wide, muscular shoulders, tapered waist, and long, commanding legs. When he turned to glance at her over his shoulder, his eyes practically glowed with contentment.
“Come here,” he said, holding out his hand, palm up.
The floorboards sounded hollow under her boot steps, and she smiled as her hand slid against his. The cabin had been lifted with metal beams for a reason. “I like the idea that in the winter when I sleep on our bed, you will be hibernating just below me.”
Pulling her close to his side, Jenner stared at the colorful streaks across the Alaskan sky. “I’ll like sleeping close to you, too.”
“Can you imagine it, Jenner? Watching from our bed as the leaves drop in the autumn, and when the first snowfall hits, watching big flurries falling down?” She swallowed hard at the swelling emotion filling her chest. “The second I walked in here, it felt like it was meant to be ours.”
Jenner turned her gently in his arms and kissed her, backing her against the smooth wooden wall. Heat flooded her middle as his fingertips brushed up her ribcage to her neck. Angling his face, he slipped his tongue past her lips. A helpless moan filled her chest as she stood on her tiptoes to better reach him. And when the soft rumbling growl that she’d grown to adore vibrated between them, Lena smiled into his kiss. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” she whispered.
Leaning forward slightly, Jenner gripped the backs of her knees and lifted her until she was pinned between him and the wall, her legs around him, and his thick erection hard between them. “Woman, I love you, too.”
“Never push me away again.”
“I can’t even if I tried. It’s me and you now, Lena. Whatever comes…it’s me and you.”
His mouth moved smoothly against hers, his tongue brushing hers in a delicious tease. Closing her eyes tightly, Lena gripped his sweater. She could never be close enough to him, and now she understood what Elyse had meant. Winters would be hard and long, but it would make their time together more potent. It would make every kiss and every touch mean more.
Jenner pushed his hips against hers, brushing right where she was most sensitive. His hand gripped the back of her neck as he dropped those nipping kisses to her throat. He sucked hard and ground against her again.
“Jenner,” she gasped out on a desperate breath.
He pressed harder against her, then eased off, taking her with him, languidly walking them to the bed. Easily, as if she weighed nothing at all, he lowered them down.
The plush mattress sank under her. Soft bed, hard-as-steel Jenner, encompassing her, blanketing her, making her feel safer than she ever had before. Lena arched back against the comforter as he lifted off her just enough to remove his shirt. His hair came out mussed and sexy, and she ran her hands through it just to touch him. His arms flexed as he lowered himself to her, and with his teeth, he pulled the bottom of her sweater up her stomach, brushing her skin lightly as he rucked it up. The second his lips brushed her ribs, she shivered.
A deep chuckle reverberated from him. “You like that, don’t you?”
Breath hitching, she nodded and pushed his head gently lower. The smile he flashed her was nothing shy of wicked before he pulled her jeans down her hips and let them slip from his fingertips onto the floor. Lena hadn’t ever done this with anyone else, but she was safe with Jenner. Safe to try what she wanted, safe to ask for what she wanted. He moved farther down and kissed the inside of her knee, running his hand up her outer thigh. Her breath was shaking now, but the nervous flutters in her stomach only added to her anticipation. Slowly, he worked his way up the inside of her leg with those sexy lips of his until he clamped his teeth gently onto her inner thigh. She gasped and rolled her hips toward him. Hands sliding under her hips, he pulled her closer to him and ran his tongue the length of her seam, then lingered on her clit, sucking gently, encouraging her to spread her knees wider for him.
He laved his tongue against her again, teasing. How could anything feel so good? Lena rocked against him, fingers gripping his hair as she bowed her neck back and whispered his name. When his soft humming growl vibrated from his throat against her clit, she nearly lost it completely. Jenner slid his tongue inside of her, and she was gone. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything other than heed the pace he set and move against him as the pressure in her middle built. Over and over he pushed into her until she tipped over the edge completely. Lena cried out as an orgasm crashed through her.
“Need to feel you come,” he gritted out.
And before her aftershocks had even subsided, he was undressed. Up on locked arms, staring into her eyes with such hunger, Jenner slid his swollen cock deep into her. Chest heaving, he closed his eyes and froze as she pulsed softly around him. Only when her orgasm was completely finished did he move, slowly at first, and the pressure in her middle began to build again.
The second she clamped her teeth gently over his pec, Jenner turned them over and sat up. Straddled around him, connected so deeply, Lena gripped the back of his hair and rolled her hips, setting their pace now. He’d given her control. This big, dominant, growly, strong man had pushed Bears instincts to the side so that she could have her way here in their den.
Jenner hugged her tightly as his body contracted and relaxed, contracted and relaxed. He was strung impossibly tight, and he gritted out her name as he swelled within her. So close now. When Lena sucked gently on his earlobe, the growl in his chest turned feral. He buried his face against her neck, but she wanted him to see how he owned her, body and soul.
“Look at me,” she whispered, pulling the back of his hair until those intense, darkening eyes of his were steady on her. She bit his bottom lip as punishment when he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were dark as pitch. “My bear.”
She slid over him again, and his body contracted and held. He gritted out a snarl and froze inside of her. Throbbing jets of seed shot into her, over and over as her own release pounded through her. Jenner spun her so fast her stomach dipped. He pressed her against the bed, then slammed into her with a helpless groan. God she loved him like this. Dominant. Primal. Barely in control as he emptied himself completely into her. And when his pace slowed and smoothed out, when he buried his face against her neck and his breathing had steadied, she dragged her fingernails lightly up and down his back, her face stretching with a happy smile.
“I thought I lost you,” he murmured against her throat.
“Never.”
Jenner eased out of her and lay behind her, big spoon to her little spoon. Propped up on one elbow behind her shoulder, Jenner leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
“Are you watching the sunset with me?” she asked, as quiet as a breath. The final colored streaks were
adorning the horizon in deep, fiery colors.
“No. I’ve seen a hundred sunsets. I don’t want to take my eyes off you.”
Happiness unfurled in her belly as she snuggled closer against him. She lifted his hand from her hip to her lips and let her kiss linger on his knuckles. “Jenner?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad Bear chose me.”
With a single, soft laugh, Jenner brushed his scruff against her cheek once, then whispered, “How could he not? Loyal, protective, beautiful, strong woman. You’re everything I could’ve wanted in a mate.”
“Can I tell you something?”
“Anything,” he rumbled.
As the last streaks faded from the evening sky, she sighed and pulled his hand against her cheek. “I miss you already.”
Jenner was quiet for so long she turned in his arms to face him. He rested his cheek on his arm and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “For the first time since my first hibernation, I hate that part of myself.” His eyes tightened as he brushed his gaze over her hair, then back to her eyes. “I don’t want to do it.”
Lena gave him a reassuring smile and ran her hand down his side. His tan skin was webbed with the silver scars Tobias had given him all those years ago. Her mate—so strong, but allowing her to see a side of him he shared with no one else.
“It makes no difference if you have to go to sleep or not,” she whispered, holding his gaze so he could see the honesty of her words. “I’ll be here when you wake up. Always.”
Jenner hugged her tightly against him, his heart beat steady and strong against her cheek. And as the shadows lengthened across the room—their room—he murmured the words that had become medicine for her soul. Words that she would never tire of hearing because they’d gone through so much to get right here. “I love you, Lena.”
And because of his devotion, their future together now stretched on and on. He had come in and pushed her barricaded heart open. The changes and growth she’d gone through had been painful and scary, but with Jenner, she’d finally felt like she could close her eyes and jump off the edge, knowing he would catch her. Today was the first day of the rest of their lives. And as she pressed her lips against his warm skin, his earlier words brushed her mind.
Whatever comes…it’s me and you.
For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel alone. She wasn’t a ship lost at sea.
From now until forever, Jenner would be her anchor, as she would be his.
Epilogue
Lena cocked her head and readjusted the large picture over the bed until it was straight. There was no headboard, so she’d decided to make a photo montage of differently sized and shaped pictures across the back wall instead. They were all black and white prints of her and Jenner’s wedding day.
Her gaze drifted to the picture window. Outside, the ground was covered in white, and the branches of the towering evergreens were covered in snow. Large flakes fell from the gray sky in a constant downpour. It was beautiful, but more than that, it was haunting. Sadness bloomed in her chest as she ripped her attention away from the wintery landscape. A piece of her would always hate snow now.
It had been one month since Jenner had gone to sleep. One month that felt like a year as each day dragged. Twice already, she’d given in and curled up under the house with him in her warmest winter clothes just to be close to him—her silver-furred bear.
Elyse had warned her over and over, but Lena had no way to mentally prepare for how long hibernation actually lasted. Six months didn’t sound so bad before the snow. One, two, three, four, five, six, and it would be done. She would be reunited with Jenner. But when each day dragged on for eternity, it was a different story.
The pictures scattered across the bed around her feet were an escape. This project was a way to remember how good things had been, and how good they would be again.
Soft notes sounded from the record player in the living room, and Lena reached forward, brushed her fingertip lightly over the enormous print above the mattress.
Her and Jenner’s wedding had been at the lodge in late September, and the first snow had decided to show up that day. Mom and Lena’s sisters had traveled all the way to Alaska for it and fretted over the weather for two days before the wedding, but not her. The falling snow made the most beautiful photographs.
This picture over the bed was the only one taken of her and Bear. Jenner had allowed her one, after all the wedding guests had gone inside except for Elyse. Lena had found a quiet place in the woods and set up the shot on a tripod, then Elyse had taken the picture with an old film camera. In the oversize print, she wore her fitted wedding dress, covered in crystals with a long flowing train, just like she’d always imagined when she was a little girl. The light train whipped in the wind, and though Lena faced the camera, her head was turned, as if she was waiting. Because she was. Behind her, barely visible through the falling snow, Bear was walking toward her.
Jenner had built her a darkroom on the back of the house, and she’d developed every one of these prints herself. In one, Link and the Silver brothers laughed, looking dapper in their dark suits on the deck of the lodge overlooking the snowy river. In another, Mom was wiping a snowflake off Lena’s cheek. One was of Jenner’s face when she’d first come out of the lodge in her dress. Eyes raw and open, Jenner looked at her as if he’d never seen anything more beautiful. Elyse had clicked away on Lena’s camera, capturing incredible pictures of their special day. Lena and Jenner slow dancing in the snow. Link watching the Dawsons warily with his wolf-bright eyes. Tobias and Ian talking, hands in their pockets. She and Jenner’s first kiss as the snow fell around them. Lennard, Dalton, and Chance grinning right at the camera, all with bunny ears behind their heads.
One by one, each photo she’d developed in the chemicals in her dark room were exposed as treasures.
A bark rang out, and Lena tilted her ear toward the front of the house. Link sometimes ran these woods as a wolf, just to make sure all was well, but he rarely even yipped. Must be Miki, which meant Elyse was on her way over. With a grin, Lena set down a picture of Mom crying and smiling as she hugged Jenner’s shoulders. In a rush, Lena bolted for the living room and turned down the record player, then threw the door open.
Only Elyse looked panicked and was sprinting toward her in a heavy jacket and snow boots.
“What’s wrong?” Lena called out, reaching for the rifle over the door. If something was after Elyse, she would be ready to protect her friend.
Miki was bounding in the snow near Elyse’s feet, barking over and over, clearly agitated by whatever had Elyse running so fast.
“Turn on the radio,” Elyse cried.
“It’s on! What’s happened?”
Elyse took the porch stairs two at a time and just about fell in through the front door. Miki came in, too, but at least he quit his barking. Now he was licking at Elyse’s fingers, trying to console her.
Winded, Elyse locked her hands on her knees and gasped out, “Tobias.”
Panic flared in Lena’s chest. “What about him? Is he hurt? Elyse! Talk to me!”
She lifted her gold-green eyes to Lena and said, “He radioed the house.”
“What?” Lena looked outside at the falling snow. It was mid-November, way past when the boys went down for hibernation. “Why is he still awake?”
Elyse shook her head and stood up straight, taking long, deep breaths. “I don’t know. I asked him, but he said he wouldn’t say another word until I was with you. He said he was going to radio over here.”
Baffled, Lena checked the radio, but she already knew it was on. That’s how she and Elyse talked when the weather was too bad to travel the mile to each other’s cabins.
“Lena,” the radio chirped out. It was really Tobias. “You there?”
She ripped the speaker off the box and pushed the button. “Yeah, I’m here. So is Elyse.”
“Let me hear her.”
“I’m here,” Elyse said into the speake
r, then shrugged her own bafflement at Lena. “How are you still awake? Did someone hurt you?”
“No, I never went to sleep. Listen, I wanted to try this on myself before I put Ian and Jenner at risk.”
“What are you talking about, Tobias?” Elyse asked, voice frantic.
“You two go start putting food in their dens. I’m coming to you. I’ll be there in three days. I’m going to wake my brothers up.”
“Wake them up?” Elyse whispered, her eyes gone round. “Tobias, you can’t. They’re hibernating.”
“I owe them, Elyse. I owe them. I knew I had to fix this when you were attacked by the McCalls and we couldn’t do a damned thing about it. You wouldn’t have that scar on your face if we were awake to protect you. And Jenner—” Static blasted across the line. “Lena, I owed it to him to try. I hurt him.”
Lena shook her head at Elyse’s confused look and grabbed the speaker. “Tobias, we don’t understand. And Jenner isn’t mad for what happened when you were kids. You didn’t mean to hurt him. Just…tell us what’s happening.”
Elyse was crying, but Lena didn’t understand why. She just hugged her friend tightly and waited for Tobias to tell them what the hell was going on.
“You’ll never have to worry about winter again,” he said. “You’ll never have to wait for your men to wake up.”
Elyse was sobbing against her now with her hands clasped over her mouth, body shaking. Tears slid down Lena’s cheeks in rivers as a thin thread of hope wound around her heart.
“Say it, Tobias,” Lena demanded thickly. “Say it now before we fall apart.”
Seconds ticked by, and at last the radio static disappeared. Tobias’s voice wavered with emotion as he murmured, “I’ve found a cure.”
Up Next in This Series
Tobias Silver gets his story in
Mate Fur Hire (Book 3)
Coming December 2015