Alpha Bear (11 page)

“On the contrary,” he surprised her by
saying. He scooched a little closer to her, adding his other hand
to the one that was already wrapped warmly around hers. “I like
knowing you can hold your own, and after being inside that circle
with you, I’m in no doubt as to your basic nature. Your magic feels
pure and good. You can be a strong ally of my people, if that’s
your inclination, but either way, you’re welcome here. I’ll square
it with the rest of the guys, but I think after they saw what you
did out there to protect us, they won’t need much convincing.”

Urse breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t
know exactly when it had happened, but Grizzly Cove had begun to
feel like home, and she wanted to stay.

“I’m glad,” she said, feeling emotional about
his turnaround. “And I promise…we’re the good guys. We don’t have
any hidden agendas or sinister plans. We don’t even do a lot of
magic most of the time. Just when it’s needed. As you see, it takes
a bit out of you, so we’ve been taught to only act when it’s really
necessary.”

“You don’t have to explain. After what I
witnessed in that circle, I trust you. And that’s not something I
say easily.” He tilted his head, his voice dropping low. “You’ve
earned both my trust and my respect.”

“I’ve always respected you, John,” she
whispered, feeling the air around them warm with a strange sort of
intimacy.

Silence fell, and he drew closer. Was he
going to…?

Oh, yeah.

John’s lips touched hers, and all coherent
thought fled, replaced by pure feeling.

He kissed like a dream. Like a conquering
hero who knew how to seduce. Like the masterful Alpha he was. And
she was drawn in, the willing partner to his passion.

Something ignited between them. Her blood
heated instantly, her heart going from zero to sixty in no seconds
flat. It was fast and furious, passionate and powerful. It was
unlike any response she’d had to a man before. John was unique. His
kiss made her want oh-so-much-more.

His tongue seduced, his taste zinged through
her body like a drug, and she was an instant addict. He moved his
hands over her body, at first just holding her, then growing
bolder, touching her through her clothes.

When his big hand cupped her breast, she
wanted nothing more than for the layers of fabric separating his
warm palm from her skin to be gone. If she could have twitched her
nose and made her clothes disappear, she would have, but that
wasn’t one of her powers. No, if she wanted skin on skin, they were
going to have to do it the old fashioned way.

Impatiently, she pushed at his shoulders,
trailing her hands downward to the hem of his stretchy golf shirt.
She liked the way he dressed—clean and simple. And easy to take
off.

He seemed to get the message and moved back
for the short moment it took to remove his shirt, pulling it up
over his head. The sexy six pack abdominals revealed by his
too-quick striptease made her mouth water. She wanted so badly to
touch.

When he recaptured her lips with his, she
allowed her hands to roam. He was hard and muscled all over,
inviting her fingers to linger.

She liked the sexy growl that vibrated
through his chest against her palms. It awoke something within
her—an animal spirit she could trace directly back to that long-ago
bear shifter in her lineage. She didn’t notice it often, but every
once in a while, she felt the presence of it, way down in her
soul.

Only now, it was much closer. It was as if
being around John had woken the grizzly. It wanted to be near its
own kind. Well, one in particular.

Her hidden inner bear was riled…in a good
way, and she wanted to hear John growl in that special way again.
More than that, though, she wanted to feel his hands on her
skin.

Like a mind reader, John finally got around
to pushing the light jacket she’d worn off her shoulders. She let
it slide down her arms and pushed it off her hands to fall behind
her. His fingers toyed with the hem of her T-shirt, and she covered
one of his large hands to urge him onward.

They broke apart again so he could pull the
shirt up and off her body, leaving her only in her bra. She wanted
that gone too, but he seemed to want to take it slow. He kissed her
again, making her his willing slave. She’d do anything he wanted.
He’d mastered her mouth, and she couldn’t wait to see how the rest
of her body would react to his advances.

Then he reached around her to unhook the
clasp of her bra.
Yes!

The thin straps were tugged slowly down her
shoulders, and then, the cups were peeled away, one at a time. All
the while, he kept kissing her, learning the shape of her body with
his hands and skilled fingers.

She loved every minute of it. Every touch.
Every caress.

And then, John moved away, letting her go.
Urse tried to follow, but he pushed gently against her
shoulder.

“Your sister is home,” he told her softly.
“She’s coming up the stairs.”

Now that was a mood killer, right there. Urse
felt like a panicked teenager caught necking at the drive-in. John
seemed to understand. He rose and put his shirt back on, then ran a
quick hand through his hair.

“I’ll go out and meet her, give her a sitrep
and tell her you’re awake. Five minutes enough?” he asked, already
heading toward the door of her bedroom.

Thank goodness at least one of them was
thinking. She nodded, already scrambling to find her clothes. Mel
was sharp-eyed, and the last thing Urse wanted was to sit through
her teasing, if she realized what she and the hunky mayor had just
been up to. It wasn’t likely she’d be able to fool Mellie for long,
but she’d give it her best shot.

This thing with John was too new. Too
fragile. Too uncertain.

Would he want a repeat? Had they crossed over
into a new sort of relationship just now? Or was this a one-off? A
moment out of time, never to be repeated.

She just didn’t know. She wasn’t sure where
she stood with him, but she did know, for certain, that she wanted
more.

John had just shown her things about herself
that she hadn’t known. He’d somehow bared her soul and left her
feeling stronger and more empowered as a woman than she’d ever felt
before. He was a good man, who knew how to make a woman feel
good…in more than just the obvious, sexual, way. He made her feel
good about herself.

And that was something she hadn’t
expected.

Nor had she expected that he was attracted to
her. The last she knew he was mad at her for lying—by
omission—about her magical nature. Okay, maybe not
mad
. He’d
seemed more disappointed and sort of annoyed because he didn’t seem
to know what to do about the situation. Not that he’d have to
do
anything. She was a witch. So what?

That wasn’t to say that she didn’t understand
where he was coming from. He’d built this town for shifters, and
everything he’d said indicated that he hadn’t really thought about
other magical races wanting to join him and his group of bears in
the new settlement. Really, though, he probably should’ve thought
about it a little more. If there was one thing she knew for a fact,
magic often attracted magic.

And bears were some of the most magical of
shifters, according to everything she’d been taught. Many of them
were shamans and mages in their own right. Holy men and women.
Priests and priestesses in various cultures. Not all, of course,
but many, according to Nonna and her other teachers who’d sometimes
mentioned shifters.

Urse got out of bed and went to her
dresser—and more importantly the big mirror above it. She looked
flushed, but maybe that could be explained by having just woken up
or something? She did her best to make sure all her clothes were in
the right places and her hair tidy before she turned toward the
door to her bedroom, which John had thoughtfully closed.

Even Urse could hear Mellie coming down the
hall now. Thank goodness for John’s sharp shifter hearing. If he
hadn’t given her a few minutes to get herself together…or if Mellie
had caught them in the act… Well, it wouldn’t have been the end of
the world, but Urse would have been really embarrassed.

As it was, she just wanted to hug the
knowledge of what they’d done—not that it was all that much, darn
it—to herself for a while. It was too new to share just yet, or put
on public display, even accidentally.

“Urse?” Mellie tapped on the door before
opening it a tiny bit. When she saw Urse standing by the dresser,
she opened it all the way and walked in. Mellie came straight to
her and hugged her tight. “You had me worried, sis,” she said
somewhat raggedly.

“I’m okay,” Urse reassured her little sister.
“It just drained me a bit, but I’m feeling better now. You know how
it goes.”

“Boy, do I.” Mellie let her go and then hiked
herself up to sit on the edge of the dresser, looking Urse over.
“And you have to do this a few more times, right? Do you think you
can handle it?” Mellie looked concerned.

“I’ll have to, but honestly, it wasn’t too
bad. John was with me. He was right there in the circle with me.”
She still couldn’t really get over that. She’d thought she’d be all
alone, but he’d been her partner, her protector and her anchor. “He
even added quite a bit of power to the spell, which I definitely
didn’t expect going in. He made it a lot stronger and a lot more
effective. Plus, I wasn’t as scared with him in there with me. I
figured if I screwed up and those tentacles came for me, John would
help me fight them off.”

“I wanted to be the one to help you,” Mellie
insisted in a quiet, hurt tone.

“You know you can’t. Not only did Nonna
forbid it, but you know as well as I do that my kind of magic isn’t
your strong point. Nor can I help you with the potions you’re going
to need to work on for the second phase of this operation.”

“Second phase?” John’s query came from the
doorway. The man moved so silently he’d snuck up on them.

Urse looked at him, his endearingly raised
eyebrow invited her to answer, but her heart was racing—both from
being surprised by his presence and a little excited about seeing
him again after what they’d done just a few minutes ago. Was she
blushing? She really hoped she wasn’t blushing.

“Come on,” she said, going for distraction
and heading for the hall. She’d have to pass John to get into the
hallway, but at least Mellie wouldn’t see the telltale flush Urse
just
knew
was racing to her cheeks. “I’m hungry. Let’s
nibble on something, and we’ll go over what comes next.”

She led the way toward the kitchen, glad when
she heard them following. She had to regain control of herself, and
the situation.

Urse busied herself making a sandwich at the
kitchen counter while the other two took seats at the table. She
looked at John, shrugged, and decided to make two sandwiches—one
for her and an extra-giant-sized one for him. They’d both been up
since before dawn, and it had to be mid-morning now, if not close
to lunchtime.

Without a word, she placed the plate she’d
made up for him in front of John, then took her own seat next to
him at the table. Mellie was on one end of the rectangular table,
unpacking a bag from the bakery and putting her purchases on a
platter.

Urse took a bite out of her sandwich, chewed
and swallowed before she spoke again. Yum. She’d needed that. The
magical work had taken a lot out of her, both emotionally and
physically. She needed to replace the many calories she’d used.

“Okay.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin.
“So, Phase Two. That would be Mellie’s part. Tell him, Mel.” She
introduced the topic and let her sister take it away while Urse
concentrated on stuffing her sandwich in her mouth.

John was intrigued as Amelia explained more
about her work with potions and the research she would have to do
before implementing her part of the plan. Apparently, there were
herbs and precious commodities to be gathered and blessed, then
prepared in just the right way. Potion work, she told him,
shouldn’t be undertaken quickly. A hasty potion could very well
have disastrous consequences.

He’d had no idea. Then again, John hadn’t
ever spent any time with magic users. Not good ones, anyway. There
had been the occasional bad guy who flung magic at them when he’d
been leading his Spec Ops team, but John hadn’t stopped to chat
before tearing the bad guys apart.

He was learning all sorts of things about
good magic today. These two young
strega
had really opened
his eyes. And Ursula, in particular, had made him think about
things beyond magic and managing the town. She’d made him think
about personal things. Things about his own future.

John hadn’t given his personal life much
thought lately. He sort of figured the town had to come first. When
that was up and running, he had hoped that a suitable female
grizzly shifter might miraculously show up and be his mate. It was
more than a little ridiculous, when he stopped to think about
it.

Ursula was real. She was here. And his bear
was making noises inside his mind that led him to believe she might
be the one.

That was even more ridiculous, but there it
was. The Alpha bear couldn’t mate with a mage and keep his
position. He doubted his men would stand for it. They all
distrusted magic other than their own. Shifter magic was one thing.
Ursula’s kind of magic… That was something else entirely, and most
likely wouldn’t be acceptable to the vast majority of his people.
The Alpha pair would, presumably, lead the others—even if bears
weren’t easily lead—and they both had to be bears, right? Not a
mage and bear pair, even if Ursula did have bear blood way back in
her ancestry. It was too faint to count. She couldn’t shift. She
was a mage. A
strega
.