A Very Beary Christmas Read online

  I moved back behind the counter and pulled on my jeans, aware of her sneaking peeks from beneath half-shuttered lashes. That did nothing to ease the mating heat threatening to burn me from the inside out. As if being around her wasn’t enough of an aphrodisiac, scenting her arousal and knowing she wanted me just as badly made resisting the call almost impossible.

  That was the next thing we had to talk about.

  “Chloe, I don’t quite know how to explain this. For me and my kind, it’s instinctual knowledge, but to a non-shifter, it might not make a lot of sense at first. You see, shifters have mates, and—”

  “I’m yours,” she stated.

  “What?”

  “I’m yours,” she repeated, her voice stronger and more confident. “I’m your mate.”

  “Yes,” I confirmed, stunned.

  “How long have you known?”

  “Since the first day you walked into second grade,” I admitted. “Like I said, it’s instinctual. I took one look at you and knew you were the one for me.”

  She blinked, and another fat tear rolled down her cheek.

  “More happy tears?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  Both bear and man wanted to go over and hold her again, so we did.

  “It makes sense now,” she said quietly.

  “What does?”

  “Why you were so kind to me back then.”

  “Partly, I suppose, but I would have been your friend regardless. A mate is so much more than that, though, Chloe. She’s our one. Our only. Once we find the one who’s meant for us, no one else will ever do.”

  She lifted her head as the meaning of what I had just told her sank in. “You mean, you’ve never ...?”

  “Kissed another girl? Went on a date? Hooked-up? No, never. It would have been pointless, Chloe.”

  She turned and straddled my lap. Her feminine heat soaked into my raging hard-on, making it impossible to stifle my groan. I gripped her hips, needing to hold her still before I came in my pants like some pubescent cub.

  “Me neither.”

  “What?” I hardly dared to hope.

  “I thought there was something wrong with me,” she admitted, “because I’ve never wanted to do any of those things.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, I can’t imagine not doing them ... with you.”

  My bear rose up in triumph and roared. “We’ll learn together, then. When you’re ready.”

  Her eyes softened as she cupped my face. “I’m so ready, Sam.”

  As much as I loved hearing the words, she needed to know everything.

  “I’m not just talking about sex, Chloe. You are my mate; already imprinted upon my heart and soul. You need to be absolutely, positively sure, because if I make love to you, I will mark you. I won’t be able to help myself. Our mating bond will be sealed, and it will be unbreakable.”

  She lowered her head and brushed her lips across mine. “Well, in that case ... let’s do this.”

  My cock throbbed, on board with moving forward immediately. My brain, however, still held onto some control by the finest of threads.

  “I don’t think you understand.”

  “I get it. We make love. I’m yours, you’re mine. Forever.”

  I opened my mouth to say more, but she stopped me by pressing a finger to my lips.

  “I have been dreaming about you since before I met you, Sam. Whether I consciously knew it or not, I put you in every one of my paintings, because you were already an integral part of my soul. Making it official is just decorative icing on a cake that was baked a long time ago.”

  I drew her in for a deep, soul-searing kiss. In it, I felt the absolute conviction of her words. She believed in me. She believed in us. There was no reason to delay any longer.

  I rose from the sofa with Chloe in my arms and took her into the bedroom. There, I laid her down gently and stretched out beside her. Now that she had agreed to be mine, I was going to savor her like I needed to.

  I trailed kisses along her jaw, down her neck, licking at the spot where I would mark her and make her mine forever. She shivered beneath me, burrowing her hands in my hair in encouragement and returning my kisses with equal passion.

  As I trailed my lips southward along her collarbone, toward the creamy swell of her breast, I slipped my hand beneath her top. Her skin was so smooth, so soft.

  I lifted the top over her head and stared at my mate. She was beautiful. And she was all mine.

  “You’re shaking,” she whispered.

  I was. I was so amped-up, so filled with joy and wonder and the desire to claim that my entire body was vibrating with the effort of holding back.

  “I want you so much, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t.”

  Her absolute confidence was humbling, and I vowed that I would never let her down. As I had already admitted, I didn’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. I did know, however, that I was much bigger than her and that proper preparation was key.

  We undressed each other, relishing the feel of skin to skin contact for the first time. I couldn’t imagine anything better as I explored her body with my hands and mouth, and she did the same. There was some fumbling involved, but that was okay. We were discovering each other together, and nature was leading the way.

  “Sam, please,” she pleaded later in breathy pants, tugging on my hair.

  I lifted my head from between her legs, drunk on the arousal of my mate. As much as I would have liked to continue my delectable feast, she was right. We had a claiming to be getting on with.

  I rose up over her, our bodies aligning perfectly for what was coming next. She was wet and slick and primed. Still, I hesitated.

  “It’s okay, Sam,” she said, looking deep into my eyes. “I need this. I need you. Now.”

  I pushed forward slowly, feeling her part around me. I paused when I hit resistance.

  “I love you, Chloe,” I told her.

  “I love you, too, Sam.”

  One rock of my hips was all it took to be seated deep inside my mate.

  She sucked in a breath, digging her nails into my skin.

  “You okay?” I breathed.

  “Yeah. Just give me a minute.”

  I would give her an eternity if she asked. Thankfully, it didn’t take nearly that long before she relaxed and began to squirm beneath me. I took that as my cue and began to move, slowly withdrawing and pushing forward.

  I had never felt anything like it. With each thrust, I felt us growing closer, our hearts and souls entwining. An ache and tingle swelled low and deep, at the base of my shaft, even as I felt Chloe tightening around me.

  Our hearts were hammering, our bodies covered in perspiration, when Chloe pleaded once again, “Yes, Sam! Do it!” She turned her head slightly, instinctively baring the delicate area between her neck and shoulder.

  As fire raced from my balls and into my cock, I bit down hard, marking my mate and claiming her as my own forevermore.

  Fireworks exploded behind my eye lids as I exploded deep within Chloe. I was vaguely aware of her scream as she wrapped her legs around my hips and held me tightly and deeply.

  I continued to pump everything I had into her, tasting her blood on my tongue. I had no idea how long it lasted; I just knew Chloe and I clung to each other, riding each wave as it crested, fell, and built once again.

  When the last of the aftershocks faded away, I rolled onto my back, taking Chloe with me.

  “That was amazing,” she said on a moan.

  I grunted, bear and man in complete agreement.

  Chapter 16

  Chloe

  “Best Christmas ever.” I sighed softly and snuggled against the man beside me.

  He pressed a kiss to my forehead and rubbed my back.

  The amazing thing was, both gestures felt every bit as intimate as the sex we had just had. I was floating on a cloud, my body still humming, my heart whole. I had never felt as good as I did at t
hat moment.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  “Better than okay,” I answered truthfully. I knew he worried. It had been the first time for us both. There had been some fumbling, some uncertainty, but in my opinion, that only made the experience that much sweeter. We listened to our bodies and found our way together.

  “Do you feel up to Christmas dinner?”

  I felt gloriously boneless and languid, content to remain exactly where I was. I wasn’t sure I could summon the energy to walk to the bathroom, let alone the lodge. I would much rather spend the rest of the day, and the next, in bed with Sam. However, I also knew how important family was to him, and since I was now part of his family, I couldn’t be selfish.

  “Only if you promise we can come back here tonight and pick up where we left off.”

  His eyes burned with heat, and I felt him harden against my hip. “That’s a given, baby.”

  I shivered in anticipation, wincing when I felt the pull at my neck.

  He gently stroked along his bite mark. “Does it hurt?”

  “A little, but it’s okay. I’ve felt a lot worse, believe me.”

  When he stilled, I realized my mistake. Thus far, we had avoided talking about my childhood. I had seen the questions in his eyes. If he asked, I would answer, but I wasn’t going to volunteer the sordid details. That part of my life was over, and I didn’t want to sully our new beginning by dredging up ugliness best left in the past. Besides, I could pretty much guarantee that, no matter what he had imagined, the reality was far worse. I had made my peace with it. As far as I was concerned, that part of my life was, like my father, dead and buried.

  I cupped his face, needing him to understand that the slight discomfort I felt as a result of his loving was nothing like pain inflicted out of malice and hatred. “Stop it. You didn’t hurt me, not like that. This was part of the process, right? Besides,” I reminded him, “I marked you, too.”

  Right after I had felt his teeth sinking into my skin, I had been overcome with an urge to bite him, too. Since my teeth weren’t nearly as sharp as his, I was sure what I had done to him had hurt a lot more than what he had done to me.

  “I can’t help it, Chloe. I don’t know exactly what happened with your father, but I know he hurt you. The thought of anyone hurting you, myself included, destroys me.”

  My heart swelled. “There’s no comparison, Sam. What we did, we did out of love. What he did was done out of hate.”

  “How could a father hate his daughter?”

  I shook my head. I had asked myself the same question a thousand times, but had never come up with an answer.

  “I don’t know,” I told him honestly. “All I know is it had something to do with my mother.”

  He stroked my back soothingly with his big hand, setting off a contented rumble from deep within my chest. “What happened to your mother?”

  “I don’t know that either. I don’t really remember her.”

  “Is there a chance she might be alive?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I have a vague memory of standing by a grave when I was very little. I’m pretty sure it was hers.” I didn’t tell Sam that the images in my head of that day were of a hole my father had dug in the woods himself, not in any consecrated ground. Instead of a marble headstone, the only marker had been the pile of leaves, twigs, and pine cones I had gathered and piled upon the loose dirt.

  “After he took you away,” he said quietly, “we tried to find you, but it was as if Jack and Chloe Lewis never existed.”

  “That’s because we didn’t, not really. He changed our last name every time we moved. That made it harder for anyone to track him down, I guess. When we moved on, it was usually for a reason.”

  “Do you even know your real name?”

  “No,” I admitted, lowering my gaze.

  I didn’t know who I was or where I had come from. I had spent my whole life feeling like a leaf riding a breeze from one place to the next. Occasionally, I would flutter to the ground for a while, until the next breeze came.

  Sam curled his finger under my chin and lifted it. “Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re Chloe Brown now.”

  As warmth flooded through me, I kissed my wonderful man-bear. I had a legitimate name now, not one my father made up. I had a family now, too. A home.

  He rolled out of bed and got up, gifting me with a stunning view of his sculpted backside. That warmth that had been flooding through me flared up, lighting a fire in my blood. I wanted him again, even more than I had before. How was I ever going to make it through dinner with his family? That thought brought up something I hadn’t considered until that moment.

  “Uh, Sam?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What are we going to tell your parents?”

  He laughed as he exited the bathroom with a warm washcloth. “We don’t have to tell them anything. They’ll know the minute we walk into the lodge.”

  “How?”

  “My claiming mark,” he said, leaning down to kiss my nose as he ran the cloth gently over the sensitive area between my thighs. “Plus, you carry my scent now.”

  “Do you carry mine?” I recalled the way some of the younger, attractive females at the lodge had been looking at my Sam earlier. Not all of them were blood relatives.

  “Yes,” he assured me with a smug grin. “You might as well have stamped ‘Property of Chloe’ all over me.”

  “Good answer.”

  We intended to take a quick shower together to save time and hot water, but being wet and naked around each other proved too much of a temptation to resist. We ended up having steamy shower sex, taking twice as long as we would have if we had showered separately, and we used up all the hot water. As a result, we arrived for dinner nearly an hour later than we were supposed to.

  “I’m sorry we’re late,” I told Sam’s mom amidst congratulatory hugs, but Sam’s mom was one step ahead of us.

  “You’re not late,” she told us with a grin. “I planned dinner for four o’clock. I just told him it was at three to get you two here on time.”

  She winked, and Sam laughed.

  I accepted a hug from Sam’s father and grandfather, as well. However, Sam’s warning rumble when any other male approached ensured additional congratulations were expressed solely through words and nods from well outside my personal space.

  Much like the night before, I was content to sit beside Sam and listen. This time, though, it was different, because I felt like a part of the family now, too.

  After dinner, I insisted on helping Sam’s mom with the dishes, despite her protests. It probably seemed trivial to her, but it was a big deal to me. I had never had the chance to do simple, everyday chores with my mother. When I told her that, her eyes grew shiny and she hugged me again, promising with a laugh that I was welcomed to help her anytime.

  When all was cleaned up, we joined everyone else in the big lobby. I tried to sit next to Sam, but he pulled me onto his lap instead. I worried it might appear disrespectful at first, but a quick look around showed other mated pairs doing the same thing.

  “Bears are big on PDA,” Sam murmured in my ear right after he kissed my temple.

  I had a lot to learn.

  I enjoyed watching Sam’s nieces and nephews play with their new toys. That was something I had never experienced as a kid, but watching them now, I felt the same joy in my heart. I wondered if Sam and I would have little ones of our own someday. Having kids was something I had never really thought about, and Sam and I hadn’t discussed it. One thing I did know was that Sam would make a terrific father.

  As the night wore on, I felt increasingly worn out. Sam really seemed to be enjoying the family time, however, so I didn’t say anything. I should have learned by then that my thoughtful, attentive mate wouldn’t be fooled so easily.

  We said our goodnights. I didn’t think anyone was surprised, and no one seemed offended, for which I was glad.

  By the time we made it back to Sam’s—our
—cabin, I felt completely wiped out. My whole body ached, and I could barely keep my eyes open.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” Sam apologized as he gently undressed me, then climbed into bed beside me. “We shouldn’t have stayed so long.”

  “I’m okay,” I promised on a yawn. “I’m just really, really tired.”

  “It’s the mating bond. In marking you, some of my DNA transferred to you. It will allow us to have kids someday, if and when we’re ready.”

  Well, I thought sleepily, that answers that question.

  I fell asleep with Sam’s body tucked protectively around me and a silent prayer of thanks in my thoughts, feeling more blessed than I had ever been.

  Chapter 17

  Sam

  A hard smack against my chest woke me up. Chloe groaned as if in pain, thrashing out again. At first, I thought she was having a nightmare. I spoke quietly; soothing words to bring her back from whatever hell she was reliving, but they didn’t help. Chloe wasn’t asleep. Her eyes were wide open and frightened.

  “Sam,” she gasped, breathing hard, “what’s ... wrong ... with me? Is this ... part ... of the mating ... bond?”

  Now wide awake, I turned on the light beside the bed. Chloe was as pale as the snow outside, her skin drenched in a cold sweat. Her small body was racked with head-to-toe tremors. What really slayed me was the pain in her eyes when she looked at me.

  “It ... hurts, Sam. You ... should have ... warned me.”

  My blood ran cold. This was not part of the mating bond. I had known other bear shifters who had mated humans, and some had said their mates had experienced some mild, flu-like symptoms in the first forty-eight hours or so, but nothing like this.

  I cursed myself for my weakness. Chloe had just recovered from a nasty bout of flu. Her body was still weak. I should have waited before claiming her. Less than twenty-four hours into our mating and I had already failed to keep my promise.

  “Where does it hurt, baby?” I asked.

  “Everywhere,” came her strangled reply.

  I didn’t know what to do. Chloe was suffering, and it was all my fault.