by Fox, Piper
She shivered.
“Yes, to everything.”
She didn’t know what she was agreeing to, but holy hell. His hand traced the skin beneath her breast and her brain damn near shorted out.
He smirked, and before she could think of any other words, his mouth claimed hers, his lips hungry for her. He tasted so good. She wanted more. Wrapping her arm around his neck, she pulled him closer, and he moved himself over her.
His lips left her mouth and trailed down her jaw to her neck as he pushed her sweater up. Closing her eyes, she was lost to the sensations, the heat, the desire running a marathon through her.
More. She wanted more.
“More.”
The word seemed to give him a permission he’d been waiting for. In one swift movement, her sweater slid over her head and landed who the hell knew where. She arched into him as the heat of his mouth licked over the taut peak beneath the thin fabric of her bra.
His hands moved down, gripping her hips as his lips burned a new trail down the curve of her stomach. Her panties dampened as his tongue licked below her waistband before his teeth bit at the snap. This time she knew he’d growled as his hands pulled at the fabric. She couldn’t hide her surprise as he pulled the waistband, her underwear following as he pulled the pants down. She let him pull them off, leaving her exposed.
What the hell are you doing?, her brain asked.
Her body screamed, who the hell cares, as his mouth descended, his tongue finding her sensitive nub.
Her hips bucked as he pushed a finger inside her as his tongue worked her clit.
“Oh, God.”
She looked up as his mouth pulled away.
“Ryan. My name is Ryan.”
The words barely registered. “Ryan,” she said on a gasp.
Her eyes met his, and she managed one more thought. “Mallory.” She squirmed as his tongue flicked against her again, and a heat coiled deep within her belly.
A second finger pressed into her, finding a secret spot that she didn’t even know existed. The world fell away as a static energy vibrated along her body. He pressed his fingers in once, twice, and before she could catch her next breath, she exploded. Her muscles pulsed against his fingers.
Before she knew what was happening, his lips were gently tasting her mouth again. Yes, this. More things.
“Are you ready for me, Mallory?”
She nodded, her eyes struggling to open. She’d never had an orgasm like that before.
“Yes,” she said.
His fingers left her but were quickly replaced by the heat of his cock, pressure building as he pressed against her entrance. He teased her, running the head against her slit, slicking himself in her own juices.
She moaned.
“Say my name,” he said.
She blinked at him as he came into focus. He was beautiful. Her eyes remained on his face as she did as he asked.
“Ryan. Yes.”
He placed a kiss on her lips.
“What do you want, Mallory?”
She pulled in a deep breath, his woody scent all around her.
“You, Ryan. You.”
She felt insane for thinking it, but it was true. Something within her soul knew him. Wanted him, ached for him. She couldn’t turn away.
He pressed into her, her tightness stretching around him. Ryan pulled out, only to push in deeper each time.
Mallory tried to raise her own hips, adjust the angle, make him enter her faster. Harder. Deeper.
“Patience, beauty. Patience.”
Mallory tried. She whimpered in need. A heat already coiled up within her.
“More.”
His pace quickened, his cock going deeper, stroking her with each thrust. She was nearly ready to burst, every nerve on fire.
The heat of his breath against her ear added more sensations. She pressed her chest into his.
“Mine,” he said against her ear.
“Yours,” Mallory replied. God, she was his at this exact moment. She was so close. Her body one thrust away from exploding.
“Mine,” he repeated. This time she couldn’t respond as he thrust into her once more and her body exploded around him. Her muscles quivered, and she cried out at the heat of him spilling into her as a strange searing sensation radiated from her shoulder. Something new fanned its way through her as her body took from him everything it wanted, as if a deep-seated need were finally being met. She needed him more than her next breath.
As her core calmed, she slowly closed her eyes as an exhausted contentment wrapped itself around her. No, it was Ryan’s arms pulling her into him as he rolled over.
The word ‘mine’ was the last thing she heard.
Chapter 6
Ryan stroked her back. The niggling feeling in the recesses of his mind screamed that he’d just fucked up. His bear, however, was happy as some fucking drunk asshole. It really sucked to be at odds with himself and sadly his cock and his soul were on the same page taking up most of the energy to give a damn.
If she was his mate now, did that mean she would stop trying to buy him out? He wasn’t going to work for someone else, ever. He wanted his freedom.
“Fuck,” he said under his breath.
Freedom. Hadn’t that been everything? Well, he now had a fucking mate and something told him that meant he’d also just given up his freedom.
He slid his arm out from under Mallory and tried to get out of bed.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What had he been thinking?
Who fucking cared if he lost his freedom as a business owner if he’d just lost his freedom as a man? Shit.
“Ryan?”
Mallory stretched and he couldn’t stop watching as the sheet slid down one breast and then the other.
Fuck.
“I gotta go,” he said, without so much as another word. He darted for the door and whipped the thing open.
Shit. There was nearly a foot of snow and more was obviously coming down. Whatever. He didn’t care. The second one foot was out the door he shifted, his bear fighting Ryan to go back to their mate.
Instead, he pushed against his soul, the stupid beast unaware of what he had just done. They trudged through the snow, fighting the wind. His bear let go and enjoyed the freedom. Running through the woods, rolling in drifts.
Every time they looked up, though, they saw her face. Closing his eyes was worse, as memories replayed in his mind. The pink flush of her cheeks after she came for him. The way she tasted in his mouth as she grew wet for him.
Every single turn brought him closer and closer to losing his sanity without her.
Ryan tried to force the human logic aside and see what came naturally. Was there a way out of this? Would this keep his shop without him selling his fucking manhood? Yeah, once marked she couldn’t be released. She was his.
His.
Forever.
His bear nearly purred at the idea. They liked the idea of having her in their bed every night forever. Only she wasn’t a shifter.
Not only did he just sell his own soul to an unknowing buyer, the buyer wouldn’t even understand.
Shit. This was the complication of shifter-human relationships. She had no idea what he’d even just done. Humans, once marked, should recognize their true mates. She would feel the mating bond, but did that mean she would be okay with it? He’d known what was happening, sort of, and he was still freaking out.
Fuck this damn animal. His bear grumbled. No. He didn’t care if he hurt his bear’s feelings. He just landed them in scorching waters with their mate. Surprisingly, Ryan found himself not hating the sound of that.
Their mate.
She was theirs. All those luscious curves were his. Perhaps he could just fuck her into a coma until she was too tired to deny the claim.
No. Shit. Wasn’t he just saying he didn’t want a mate?
Oh, hell. For better or worse, he fucking had one. Now he just needed to man up and go face her. If he hurried, she’d still be naked and he cou
ld just sink into the curves until he was ready to face her wrath.
* * *
Ryan shook off his fur as they trudged through the snow that had nearly doubled in the time he’d been gone. Shifting, he anticipated jumping from the snow to the warmth of the cabin. His cabin.
Only as he pushed against the door, it didn’t open. He tried the latch again. Shit. It was locked. How?
“Mallory?” He said, knocking.
Nothing. No, wait. He could hear something behind the door.
Cursing.
He tried their connection, tried to see if he could feel her yet. The mate connection was new, but he could at least feel a thread of her and it wasn’t good. A mix of anger and fear. Fear? Why? He listened again. There was no way anything was dangerous. There were no other scents, no intruders.
He pounded on the door. His need to protect and comfort his mate kicking in. The desperate need to hold his mate in his arms fueling something close to panic.
“Mallory. Open up.”
Something hit the back of the door, and he heard a shout.
“Go away.”
Ryan grit his teeth.
“This is my cabin. You will open up. Now.”
Another thud. Shit. She better not be destroying his place.
“Mallory, I don’t see how you have a right to lock me out. You don’t own my property yet. I suggest you open up. Your boss won’t appreciate it if I have a lawyer bringing up trespassing to my other laundry lists of unethical performance.”
The door swung open, and he nearly fell in. Oh, thank God. The blast of heat stung against the cold in his limbs.
“It’s about time.”
He looked up in time to catch her fist as it swung at his face.
“What the hell?”
She snarled at him. “You up and left me? What the hell? You think you can just screw me and then, well, this? What is this?”
She pointed to his mark as she pulled aside the neckline of her sweater.
A part of him grumbled that he’d allowed her the time to get dressed. His cock had been looking forward to another round.
“It’s my mark,” he said. Leaning against the now closed door.
Her eyes grew wider. “I knew it. I knew it. My mom always said shifters were dangerous. Stealing women to breed with. Sacrificing us to your crazy traditions.”
He cocked his head, crossing his arms over his chest.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She pointed again.
“This. You just said it was your mark. What does this do? Do you throw me in a cage and dangle me over a volcanic opening or something?”
His eyes narrowed.
“Uh, no. This is Alaska. That might be Indiana Jones? Although I don’t think they had shifters or mating marks.”
She froze, her mouth agape. “What marks?”
He stood straight and headed for some sweatpants. “Mating marks. That, on your shoulder. It marks you as my mate.”
He snagged the pair of his sweats from the floor that had been knocked off the end of his bed during his brief lapse in judgement.
“Your, your what?”
He glanced over his shoulder and instantly ran to her as she wobbled.
“Hey there, Mallory, breathe.”
Her color was closer to the snow than it was to a healthy human.
“Mallory, it’s okay. No one is sacrificing you.”
She blinked. That was a great sign. He’d take it.
His relief was short lived as the sting of her hand across his face woke his ass to face his monumental fuck up.
Chapter 7
“What was that for?” he asked.
Mallory couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How did he not understand?
“You’re kidding, right? I’m not stupid. I mean, maybe I am a little, but I know what mate means. Just because I’d never met a shifter doesn’t mean I couldn’t have a clue what the hell a mate is. I’d rather be marked as food or something.”
He glared at her, his face turning an ugly shade of red.
“What did you expect? Did you think I’d be all happy to marry, or mate, or whatever a snarly bear I just met?” she yelled.
Mallory took another step, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle. She would not let on to weakness. She was strong. Independent. She didn’t need a man. Well, she’d needed him for a few orgasms, but she was fine now. That should hold her for the next decade of a dry spell.
Wait, wait, wait.
“If you mated me, can I still have sex with other guys?” she asked.
Mallory’s eyes flew wide open as a very pissed off Ryan charged for her.
“You cannot,” he snarled as he grabbed her by the waist. She backpedaled until her ass hit something. The counter. No, maybe a table?
She forgot to care as his mouth claimed hers. Everything that had gone through her head disappeared as she drowned in desire and need.
His hands were everywhere at once. She gasped as his fingers stroked her between her legs, only dampening her underwear more. Her legs shook as his other hand pressed against her ass, holding her to him until she cried out in pleasure.
“You will not need another man with me as your mate,” he said on a growl.
She couldn’t catch her breath as stars danced in front of her eyes, her chest heaving in air. Turning her away, he bent her over a small wood table as he gripped her pants and pushed them down. His hand cupped her sex between her legs as he leaned forward, his cock pressed against her and his lips brushing her ear.
“This is mine,” he snarled.
She gasped at the onslaught of more sensations to her already aching core. Two fingers plunged between her folds to stroke her.
His words were a breath on her ear, “This is mine.”
His fingers retreated, leaving her cold and begging for more. His hands moved up under her sweater, pinching her already taut nipples.
“You are mine.”
She shivered as the head of his cock settled against her core as he spread her legs wide.
She cried out as he pushed his cock forward, stretching her once more, her body all too ready to accept him.
“Do you hear me, mate? Mallory, you are mine.”
The sting of his rough pace stole her breath and then her body embraced it, wanting more. Everything in her wound tighter, tighter, tighter. She forgot how to think, to breathe, to do anything except feel him within her.
“Yours. Yes. Yours.”
He thrust into her again and again and he pushed her over the edge; her legs wanting to allow her to fall but her mate not allowing her a moment of reprieve. She came for him again, her body pulsing around him until finally, when Mallory was certain she couldn’t come for him anymore, his own length pulsed within her, spilling himself inside her.
As he pulled her up, her back against him, he held her as his own orgasm still racked his body and his muscle still throbbed between her legs.
Slowly, she remembered how to make her lungs work and that was when she felt her own wits coming back to her. She realized what she’d said.
She said she was his. She’d agreed. She wanted to cry at the idea that she had lost control of herself. Why? That had never happened. What had she done? And then, slowly, she felt it inside her. The heat within her, something different and not unwelcome. A pulse that wasn’t hers, but it matched. It matched the man behind her, the one at her back.
The one who still filled her.
She didn’t know what the hell this meant, though.
She slid her hand down between her legs.
“Did I not satisfy you, mate? Far be it from me to deny you more.”
His own hand covered hers as he slid her own finger down to her own clit and rubbed.
No, that hadn’t been what - her thoughts broke off as he hardened inside her and her own finger was stirring the need within her all over again.
“No. That wasn’t it. I, I.” Oh hell, what was she saying?
He pulled out of her and she nearly cried out in frustration, need, want. He’d created a monster.
An insatiable need.
“Shh, mate. I will not leave you. But I think I like you better like this.”
He picked her up and set her on the bed. He pulled her boots and jeans off completely and let his hands run up her calves to rest at her knees.
Pushing her legs apart, he smirked.
“Already so needy. I think we can have fun with this, Mate. As long as you promise me one thing.”
She blinked. What? Promise?
“Promise? What?”
She couldn’t take her eyes off of his shaft, teasing her.
“You never question that you are mine and I am yours. I will make it up to you. My mistake of mating you before you understood, but know that my soul is yours and that you will never want another.”
She nodded. The truth of his words filtered through her. Mallory would have a million questions for him, but not right now. The rightness of it all soothed her. It filled her soul.
“I promise, I am yours.”
As if he could feel her, knowing her deepest desires, he leaned down and kissed her, positioning himself between her legs.
“Now, Mate. Let me show you what being mine truly means.”
He swallowed her moan with his own lips as he slid into her and her world dissolved into nothing but pleasure and feeling.
Chapter 7
“What was that for?” he asked.
Mallory couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How did he not understand?
“You’re kidding, right? I’m not stupid. I mean, maybe I am a little, but I know what mate means. Just because I’d never met a shifter doesn’t mean I couldn’t have a clue what the hell a mate is. I’d rather be marked as food or something.”
He glared at her, his face turning an ugly shade of red.
“What did you expect? Did you think I’d be all happy to marry, or mate, or whatever a snarly bear I just met?” she yelled.
Mallory took another step, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle. She would not let on to weakness. She was strong. Independent. She didn’t need a man. Well, she’d needed him for a few orgasms, but she was fine now. That should hold her for the next decade of a dry spell.