ROMANCE: Billionaire Bear Mate (Paranormal Alpha WereBear Shifter Mail Order Bride Romance) (Paranormal Romance, Bear Shifter Romance, Werebear Shapeshifter) (2 page)

That was it, those two tiny words, completely innocent by themselves, completely unsuspecting, was all it took. When put together those words were a life sentence, one I was oddly not starting to regret. I fingered the ring on my finger, twisting it slowly, feeling the permanent metal against my tanned skin. We walked away from the crowds and a little too late I took her hand as we passed them by, of course to much applause from the people around us.

We hadn’t kissed at the altar but now as my hand was firmly gripped in hers I was wondering what it would be like to kiss her. What would she taste like? I shook my head rapidly, forcing away any thoughts of that nature. I still wanted to get to know her, to know what lay beneath that teasing smile and swirling blue eyes. I knew that would come soon, she couldn’t keep it hidden for much longer. I had a feeling now that my mom knew; perhaps that was why she had refused for us to meet for too long? Curiosity was getting the better of me but I tried as best as I could to keep it hidden, to keep my burning questions to myself.

“So my wife, where are we going?” I asked casually. It was the first time I had called her my wife, at least directly to her anyway. I mouthed the word to myself again, testing it out; I could get used to it.

“You don’t know?” she asked curiously, it sounded like she was honestly shocked but the small tear at her lips and the little almost unnoticeable glint in her eyes told me otherwise. She was playing with me, nobody ever played with me.

“Of course not, my dear,” I said putting a little emphasis on the last part. Her eyebrows rose in a teasingly look, almost like she was challenging me, nobody ever challenged me; who would challenge a bear?

“Then I guess it will be a surprise,” she said, clearly trying to hold back a small laugh. Jasmine walked away from me, dropping my hand as quickly as I had taken hers. Leaving me bounding after her she moved quickly towards the waiting car. Jasmine would challenge a bear, that much was now clear.

Chapter Six

It was completely dark when the driver slowed to a stop and we arrived at where we would be staying for the next two weeks. I wasn’t sure when Jasmine had fallen asleep on my lap or when I had started running my hands through her vibrant red hair but it was almost painful to stop. We had been travelling for almost a day and it was surprising what 24 hours of travelling could do for a couple. I had gotten to know her in the time we had spent together; learnt about her job, her family and her childhood. In turn I had shared things with her, things I hadn’t really spoken to anyone about.

Of course everything had been slightly guarded; I still didn’t really know where we were or even what Jasmine really was.  Of course she knew what I was, she hadn’t even tried to hide it, but I hadn’t questioned her, I could already tell she didn’t want to share what she was hiding and for now I was reluctantly ok with that.  I felt like I knew her at least a little now; I had heard my wife laugh for the first time, I had seen her truly smile and something inside me had changed a little. My wife was normal, perfectly beautifully normal.

Reluctantly I left her, I knew it would just be for a second but it was reluctant nonetheless. Carefully I lifted her head and placed it down softly on the back seat of the car before climbing out. I nodded quickly to the driver who was already unloading our bags from the boot and made my way over to her side of the car. She didn’t stir as I quietly opened the door and she stayed still as I gently lifted her into my arms. Her head fell against my chest, a mess of fiery red and I couldn’t even begin to hold back the smile that the simple act had caused.

“Are we there yet?” she questioned softly making me jump slightly. My smile grew and I chuckled lightly at the words.

“Yes my dear, we have arrived,” I said endearingly, whatever it was she brought out in me I wasn’t sure, endearing wasn’t exactly normally in my nature.

“Do you like it? I hoped you would like it,” she asked quietly in between a small yawn as her eyes fluttered slightly.

“Of course I love it,” I answered immediately, already knowing that she had fallen back to sleep. In fact I actually had no idea where we were still, it was pitch black.

Even with my heightened senses I couldn’t make out a single thing other than the lights that streamed out from a white building behind the car. I could just about see the building and hear the sound of what seemed to be birds but that was it. I couldn’t remember seeing anything outside of the cars windows for quite a while, all there had been was darkness. Chuckling I followed our driver into the house, curious to know if this was a hotel, I had never heard of a place like it before.

“Where are we?” I asked the driver when we walked together into the lobby of what was more of a house than a hotel. I gave his back a questioning look as he struggled along with our bags, it seemed as though neither of us travelled light.

“The jungle,” the man answered simply. My mouth dropped open and I tightened my grip on Jasmine quickly so I didn’t drop her.

“Where?” I questioned again, doing everything I could to keep my voice even, it wasn’t working well.

“The jungle,” the man said again, confirming that I hadn’t gone crazy. I looked around; the house was white, immaculacy presented and clean, but almost completely void of colour, definitely not befitting of the jungle.

“Yeah, I got that bit, why are we in the jungle?” I asked, I knew I sounded stupid from the vaguely hidden smirk that formed on the man’s face.

“I’m just following your wife’s orders, sir. The bedroom is that way by the way,” the man said, pointing off down a corridor that led off the main room. I nodded slowly and left the man in the room before heading off in the direction he had pointed.

I carried Jasmine carefully despite my shaken body and mind, why where we in the jungle? I wasn’t angry, just confused; my bear on the other hand was completely ecstatic. I followed the corridor until I found the bedroom, an elaborately and expensively decorated room that was very similar to the room we had just left, other than the large bed in the centre that was. I gently placed Jasmine down on the silk covers before turning away. Stopping in my tracks, halfway back out the door I turned around. Against my normal nature I walked back over to the beautiful image of my sleeping wife and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Sleep well,” I whispered quietly and walked away.

Chapter Seven

“What do you mean I own the house?” I screamed down the phone. I owned a house in the middle of the jungle, I actually owned it.

“I don’t care, I never authorized it,” I shouted back at Linda who I knew was trying desperately to calm me down. Now Jasmine was safe in the bedroom I had no control over my voice.

“Ten million dollars Linda, are you joking?” I screamed, not even waiting for a coherent answer from the bumbling woman. The damn house had apparently cost me ten million dollars. Even my home back in the city hadn’t cost that much, I mean the cost was nothing , not really in comparison to what sat in my personal and company account but it wasn’t the point.

“How could you let this happen?” I shouted again, knowing it wasn’t her fault, knowing that she probably had nothing to do with it. She had known though, she had known and not told me. The first thing I had done when I left my wife was to phone Linda. She had been waiting for my call of course, probably fretting about it for the last week or however long it had been since the house had been bought.

“Look I’m sorry, I know you were worried about telling me,” I said, finally calming down a little. What did it matter in the end, she wasn’t the one I should be angry at.

“I know, look its fine, don’t worry about it,” I said quickly, trying to calm her down, being shouted at by a bear would worry anyone and especially someone like Linda.

“Who are you talking to?” the arrival of another voice in the room made me look up. My wife stood at the mouth of the room, her hair slight messy but otherwise perfect. I smiled at her, I just couldn’t help it, it didn’t matter what she had done.

“Nobody honey, go back to bed,” I said to Jasmine.

“I’m not angry, I’ll talk to you later,” I said down the phone, “yes, you too,” I said to Linda before hanging up the phone.

“Who were you talking to?” Jasmine said again, her voice was firmer this time, angry even. My eyebrows ruffled as I looked at her; her eyes were almost burning now, she did not look happy.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said in confusion, what was the problem?

“Who were you talking to?” she said again, her teeth almost gritted as she hissed the words. She took a step towards me now; it was a measured step that almost made me back away.

“It was just Linda,” I said innocently, holding my hands up, unsure of what exactly to do.

“I don’t believe you,” she stated. There was no wavering in her voice; it was a statement that made her eyes turn impossibly darker.

“Check for yourself, ring her back,” I said carefully, tossing her the satellite phone I had used to ring Linda on, it was just typical that normal phones didn’t work here, there was no way I was going to be able to work.

I watched my wife re-dial my secretary, her face staying stony cold as she did so. It was unnerving, she wasn’t the same person who had fallen asleep in my lap, wasn’t the woman who had avidly told me about growing up in the countryside. She nodded as Linda answered the phone but stayed quiet, scarily quiet. After just a few seconds on the phone she ended the call and looked up at me. I smiled reassuringly at her and out of nowhere the phone came flying towards me. Without a second to spare I dodged it quickly, watching as the expensive phone and my only contact with the outside world crashed against the wall and broke into half a dozen pieces.

“What’s going on between you two? That woman is clearly in love with you,” Jasmine screamed loudly, her voice high-pitched and furiously angry. I didn’t have an answer for her; I couldn’t even fully register her question. The concept of something going on between me and Linda was laughable at best; she was married and had been so for as long as I had known her.

“Well!” she shouted making me jump in shock. She had lost it; my wife of less than 24 hours was completely crazy. My mouth dropped open and as my baffled mind failed me I simply shrugged my shoulders, probably looking more bear-ish than I ever had before.

It made it worse. I had no idea how but the simple move had made things a thousand times worse. Quickly I jumped out of the way of a pure white vase and then another, both joining the phone in pieces on the floor. I just stared back at her, now a mess of red and anger I could almost feel it radiating off her, covering the distance of the room that was slowly getting smaller and smaller.

“I’m sorry?” I asked; unsure of what I was apologising for or if I really was.

That was the breaking point, in the blink of an eye she changed, burst from her skin and turned into something I couldn’t even to have begun to believe. From her body, stood on a pile of clothes was a tiger. It was vibrantly orange, majestic but above all else massive. The looming beast took a step forward, stalking towards me. This time I stumbled backwards, she was a tiger, a tiger. My bear reacted much faster than I could have and freed itself from my own bindings. In the middle of the jungle, in the whitest of rooms imaginable we stood; tiger and bear, facing off against each other.

Chapter Eight

The tiger opened her mouth to reveal a set of pearl white teeth, so bright that they even stood out in the colour-less room. I knew now why she hadn’t told me, why nobody had told me what she really was. Tigers weren’t just feared in the human world; in our world they were notoriously short tempted, protective of what they wanted and fierce when they needed to be. I could name a hundred people that would have run but I wasn’t one of them, I didn’t back down, my bear wasn’t afraid of our tigress. No, if anything I was more attracted to her, my crazy tiger of a wife and oh yes she was definitely crazy.

My bear growled as the tiger leapt towards me, I was experienced now and I dodged her jump with ease. Just because I was bigger than her it didn’t mean that I was slower as well. She growled in annoyance as I danced around her, moving around her attacks with an ease unbefitting of my large black bear. I angled my moves, slowly getting closer and closer to her, just where I wanted to be. But no, it wasn’t going to be that easy, not by a mile. Out of nowhere she leaped, catching my shoulder and pulling me down to the floor. She stood above, her teeth bared in my face and all I could do was smile back at her, the goofiest bear smile I could muster.

Another growl passed through her lips, fierce enough to make the hairs on my body stand on end but not enough to wipe the beaming smile off my face. She had checked the mystery box with the biggest of ticks but the normal box had definitely been left long forgotten. But did I really want normal? Who settles for normal? Normal was just an excuse to fit into a routine that nobody really wanted.  Taking my chance I flipped her body over and pinned her tiger beneath my paws. There was no escape now, no way to break free from my ironclad grasp. Before my eyes the beautiful orange shade of her fur disappeared and in its place was the red I had grown to like.

“You can’t challenge a bear,” I said as I let my fur slowly return skin and my human features take its place. She turned her head away from me, clearly angry that she couldn’t over-power me.

“You’re crazy, you know that right?” I questioned, laughing a little as the words came out. She turned to me now, her face every bit that of a tigers as her eyes, so perfectly blue bore into mine in a way that only hers ever could.

“And you’re a beast,” she spat back, clearly failing to find anything better to say. I couldn’t help but to burst into laughter now, she was fiery, that was for sure.

“A tiger huh? When exactly was I going to find out what I had gotten myself into?” I asked curiously, shaking my head in disbelief.

“I thought long and hard and I figured about now would be a good idea,” she said, meeting my smile with a teasing grin.

“And why not before? Our little dinner meeting perhaps?” I asked sarcastically, trying to contain the laughter that was trying to break free again.

“Ah, about that, I figured it would be better if I stayed quiet,” she said teasingly, turning her head away from me.

Releasing my grip on Jasmine slightly I used my hand to cup her sun-kissed cheek and turn it gently back to me. Her eyes widened slightly as I brought them to meet my own, inside them burned all the ferocity that remained from her tiger, it was more than just and echo. I didn’t hesitate to capture her lips with my own, claiming them for myself. She stilled for a second before deepening the kiss pushing all of her pent up frustration into my lips. Her lips tasted every bit as sweet as I had imaged them too, so much so that the feeling overwhelmed me.

The animal instinct that I had inside of me took over and I pushed down roughly against her mouth, claiming every bit of the uniquely exquisite taste for myself. My hands went to her arms; my fingers trailed up her bare bronze skin and slowly lifted them above her head. So soft, so delicate other than her fiery hair her body showed no hint of what lay so dangerously beneath. I twisted her hands together and placed them above her wild mass of red hair. She moaned against my rough lips as I let my finger trail back down her skin, feeling every part of it that I could. 

“Crazy,” I muttered as I finally pulled away from her mouth, I was breathless but it was far too soon. I missed the feeling of her immediately, the electric sensation that her lips on my own caused.

“Absolutely beautifully crazy,” I whispered as I lifted her chin gently, giving me full access to her neck. I pressed a kiss down on the exposed skin and then another and another, I couldn’t help myself. As Jasmine squirmed beneath me with each sensual press of my lips I knew that the familiar tight sensation in my body was returning.

I was aroused, aroused beyond belief as the beautiful perfect naked body of my wife shifted beneath me. Everything about her sent my blood racing, just the slight breaths that made her chest rise and fall made my body heat up. I cupped her breasts now feeling them fill my palms completely, unable to show even the slightest bit of restraint. She groaned loudly as I cupped her, leaning up to meet me eyes, showing me the lust that filled her own. I let the growl fall freely from my lips as she claimed them, showing me what she wanted as she explored my mouth, teasingly, temptingly.

Jasmine’s sweet scent filled me; it reminded me of the forest and of what I truly was. I pulled away from her lips, a regrettable move that could not be helped. It only lasted a second; one tortuous second, before I pulled her on top of me, rested her curvy body on top of my own toned chest. My hands went instantly to her sides, to her perfect curves and I found myself tracing them, feeling each beautiful groove.

Her fingers twisted into my hair as she looked down at me, bringing her lips closer but just far enough that I couldn’t reach up and meet them. My body shuddered as she licked them temptingly; removing a hand from my tangled mass of blonde she placed it lustfully on my side. Her touch, so sensual and passionate made me freeze. She knew what I wanted and I could feel the desire pulsing through her body, so ready and so wanting. I moved my hips quickly and watched her mouth drop open, her eyes widen and a moan that was so perfect fall gracefully from her ruby red lips. 

……

“Where do we go from here?” Jasmine questioned as morning began to break over the dense jungle. I watched the sun slowly rise from behind the canopy of trees, a prefect view from the house, our house. I could definitely learn to love this place, the beauty only had one earthly rival and my hands were snaked around her bare waist.

“What do you mean my crazy crazy wife?” I said chuckling slightly as I watched her eyebrows rise in a questioning look.

“Maybe you should try to tame me then,” she said in her unique teasing voice, one that caused goose-bumps to form on my skin. 

“Whoever heard of a person trying to tame a tigress?” I said softly as I watched her eyes swirl with the blue I already loved.

“Then perhaps you would have better luck trying to out run me?” she said, catching me off guard. Her body shifted away from my own and she was gone, just a flash of orange that disappeared into the jungle.

“You definitely need the head start my dear,” I shouted after my wife. Normal was overrated anyway.

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