Alpha Bear (24 page)

She lifted up off the table as best she could
while he pulled her pants down and tossed them away. She didn’t
care where they ended up, or that her ass was bare against the
butcher block. She’d clean it later, she promised herself
again.

What mattered now was getting John to be as
naked as she. Or at least, that very important part of him that she
wanted inside her. Now.

John’s hands caressed her body, sliding along
the insides of her thighs and making her squirm. One hand went
around to cup her butt while the other slid closer and closer to
her wet folds. He pushed one long, thick finger inside of her.

She couldn’t help herself. She moaned.

And then, he added another finger and began a
slow rhythm that made her want more. She didn’t need any more
stimulation, she needed him. Now.

Urse clawed at his shoulders, hoping he would
understand. She couldn’t form words, even if he’d stopped kissing
her long enough for her to utter them.

His finger left her, and she whimpered for
its loss. Then she heard the rasp of his zipper and seconds
later…

Oh, yeah.

Just what she wanted. He pushed inside her
quickly, giving her everything. Giving her himself.

He began to move almost at once, their pace
hard and urgent. She was with him, wanting what he wanted, craving
more of him until she had it all. She needed him more in that
moment than she needed her next breath.

He pushed into her, driving her passion
higher as their pace increased. He slammed into her, and she wanted
it hard and fast—exactly what he gave her. She squirmed against
him, her balance precarious on the end of the table, but she was
beyond caring.

At the very last, she came with a shout. And
the words she shouted in her delirium echoed through the room.

She’d said…

Oh, Goddess.
She’d said she loved
him.

John was stunned both by the power of his
orgasm and the shocking words Ursula cried out as her passion
peaked. If his mind wasn’t playing tricks and his ears hadn’t
misheard, she’d said she loved him.

Sweet Mother of All. She loved him.

And he loved her. Goddess, how he loved
her.

He buried his face in her neck as they rode
out the aftershocks. His knees were weak, but he wasn’t about to
leave the warm haven of her body. Not until he had to.

“I love you too,” he whispered near her ear.
“I love you so much, babe. You’re my world.”

She stiffened a bit, but he wasn’t letting
go.

“You do?” Her tone was filled with
unmistakable wonder, and it gave him hope.

“I really do. Did you mean what you said
before? Or was it just the heat of the moment?”

He was giving her an out and praying at the
same time that she didn’t take it. She paused for a moment before
answering, and his whole life flashed before his eyes in that short
space of time. The course of the rest of his existence would be set
by her reply. It was a significant moment.

“It was, and I did.”

“What?” His brain was a little too scrambled
from pleasure to be certain he had the right answers in the correct
order.

“It was rather heated passion, and yes, I did
mean it.” She kissed his jaw as his world started turning again. “I
didn’t fully realize the depth of my feelings until just now. We’ve
condensed a lot into a few short days. Are you sure…” She took a
deep breath, then continued, “Are you sure it’s real?”

“It’s real,” he assured her. “It happens fast
for shifters. I’ve known for a while that you’re my perfect mate. I
was just hoping you’d feel the same. Or at least that you’d be
willing to give us a chance and see where this was leading us.”

She smiled, and he could feel it against his
throat. “I’m willing. Or hadn’t you noticed?”

He chuckled. “I noticed. And I already
thanked the Goddess for sending me a mate as perfect for me as
you.” He nibbled on her ear. “I love you, Ursula.”

He lifted her off the table, his hands under
her butt and walked her down the hallway, his cock coming back to
life, still inside her, as he moved. She gasped at every sensation.
There John went again, getting her to try something new. She’d
never been with a man strong enough to carry her while they were
joined together.

He walked them straight through his bedroom
and into the master bath. By the time he had them inside the
massive shower, she was ready to come again. Each step he’d taken
had rubbed the head of his hard cock up against something inside
her that made her want to explode in ecstasy.

John pressed her up against the tiled wall,
and she didn’t even feel the chill of the marble against her back.
Nothing could penetrate the haze of pleasure he’d built up again so
quickly. Only a few more thrusts and she was singing his name as
she came again, her body convulsing around his as he joined
her.

After long moments of shared bliss, he
reached over and turned on the shower. When he finally parted their
bodies, she was glad he’d thought to bring them directly in here.
She was dripping with his come.

What had been incredibly naughty during the
encounter was now sticky and somewhat uncomfortable. But John
seemed to understand. He bathed her with a soft sponge and gentle
herbal soap that had a fresh scent that wasn’t overpowering. He
reached up into places that made her squirm and spent time tickling
other places on her body that made her giggle.

She splashed him with water, and he directed
the showerheads to tease her into a renewed interest. After he’d
cleaned her and dried her off with a fluffy, heated towel, he
carried her back into his bedroom and lay her down on the freshly
made bed.

They made love long into the night, and when
the sun rose, she stayed in bed, too tired to move, while he rose.
Between the sex and the magic expenditure of the night before—and
what was to come when the moon rose—she needed her sleep.

*

When she finally woke from an exhausted
sleep, Urse was groggy. She could hear voices coming from the main
part of the house. She roused herself enough to take a quick
shower, put on fresh clothes, and make her way into the main part
of the house.

Cam was there. She wasn’t surprised to see
him. She figured the fey knight would want to go over the plans for
the evening’s magical work—the grandest to date. Urse rolled her
shoulders, trying to ease the tension that crept in when she
allowed herself to think about what was coming.

This would be the biggest challenge of her
magical life.

She just had to keep believing that her
grandmother would never set a task before her that she couldn’t
handle. Urse had no doubt that it would be difficult, but she had
to have faith that she could do it. She had to proceed as if
success was inevitable. That was going to be her inner mantra for
the rest of the evening.

She padded into the living room in only her
socks, but she knew darn well that John was aware of every step she
took. She was learning that shifter hearing was even more acute
than she had thought. When he turned and smiled at her, her breath
caught. The man was temptation and sin, all rolled up into a hunky
package that she wanted to open again and again.

Like they had last night.

That naughty thought sent a flush of heat to
her cheeks. John winked at her, making her blush even hotter. The
devil somehow knew exactly what she’d been thinking—or if not her
exact thoughts, then something darn close.

“Ah, Lady Ursula, it’s good to see you
looking so well rested.” Cam spoke as if he didn’t see a byplay
between herself and John.

“It’s just Urse, please,” she invited as she
took a seat near John. They were gathered in the living room, a pot
of coffee on the low table in front of the couch and several empty
mugs. “Are you expecting more company?” She looked significantly at
the empty, clean coffee cups and the full pot.

“Some of the lads are outside checking the
perimeter. They’ll be along shortly,” Cam told her. “I just wanted
a few words with the Alpha, and now that we’ve done that, and
you’re awake, we can get on with tonight’s business.”

Urse was intrigued by the idea that the fey
knight had wanted a private word with John. What could they have
been talking about? And why would it be necessary to keep whatever
was a secret from the rest of John’s men?

Urse had seen the group
in action and quickly realized that John didn’t hold many secrets
from his men—at least not for long. The biggest thing he’d ever not
told them about was his idea for the town itself. From all
accounts, he’d bided his time, quietly preparing until they were
ready to retire. That’s when he’d finally revealed his plans to the
guys.

But she was certain he would never have
concealed something harmful. If one of the men had found out,
somehow, that he’d been buying up land in the Pacific Northwest and
asked him why, John would have told them all about his idea much
sooner. He would never have lied to them. It simply wasn’t the way
he led. And she would bet her bottom dollar, his guys wouldn’t
tolerate subterfuge or dishonesty in anyone they worked
with—especially not someone they had honored with the title of
Alpha.

So it couldn’t be anything bad. John simply
wouldn’t allow key information to be withheld from his team. That
only deepened the mystery as far as Urse was concerned.

What could Cam possibly have to say to John
that fit that criteria?

One thing was perfectly clear. She wouldn’t
be hearing about it today from either of them.

Sighing, she let it go, reaching forward to
pour herself a cup of coffee. Almost at the exact moment she sat
back to take a sip, the front door opened and the Chambers brothers
came in.

Brody, the sheriff, and Jack, who acted as
Game Warden, were cut very much of the same cloth. Both tall. Both
rugged. Both handsome and polite. But where Brody was more
talkative and friendly—and much better with people, in general—Jack
was more reserved.

From what Urse had seen in her weeks in town,
Jack almost never socialized or spent much time on Main Street,
where all the businesses were located. She’d seen his official
vehicle drive through many times, but he never really got out and
walked around. She supposed his work kept him busy in the great
outdoors, and he was probably more comfortable with silence than
with conversation.

Even as they sat down on the couch, it was
Brody who leaned forward, making small talk and giving John his
report, while Jack leaned back, simply observing. He was a quiet
one. Nothing wrong with that, Urse thought. But she wondered if the
old adage was true about still waters running deep.

The door opened again, and the three visiting
shifters came in, followed by Deputy Zak. Each acknowledged her
with a nod or a brief hello, then grabbed whatever space was
available around the coffee table. Some sat on the floor. Joe
Nightwing perched on an armrest, somewhat predictably, she thought,
seeing as how he was a bird shifter.

Before long, they had a cozy group, all
drinking coffee like it was going out of style and looking to John
to start the briefing. She wondered what he was going to say too.
She’d been asleep all day while he’d been up, doing things and
learning what effect her work of the night before had had on the
cove.

John started by giving everyone a clear
picture of what had happened during the day. He’d been collecting
all the
intel
, as he called it—the various reports from
everyone who was noticing changes and reporting them to him. It
occurred to her then that he was acting as the information
collection point. He was sorting through the various streams of
data from everyone out in the field and putting together the big
picture. From that, he was designing strategy tailor made to deal
with various problems that had cropped up.

For example, the few fishing boats that
called the cove home had come back with observations that might
have meant nothing individually, but in aggregate created a picture
of a calm zone in the ocean extending from the northern tip of the
cove, where they’d been last night, for about a mile in all
directions. Urse was seriously impressed. She hadn’t really thought
she’d have that much reach with her spell, but then again, she’d
never really been in tune with someone the way she was now with
John.

Because of their new harmony, her ability to
draw on his magic—and that of those he was connected to—had been a
lot easier than even just the day before. Perhaps that new ease
between them had allowed her to push the boundaries of her spell
much farther than she’d never expected.

Then there was Cam. The fey knight’s
contribution couldn’t really be calculated. At least not by Urse.
Only Cam really knew what effect he was having on her
spellwork.

It seemed the fey liked being a mystery. She
supposed it was in the nature of the beast. Fey hadn’t been known
as tricksters and magicians the world over for centuries for no
reason. He’d acted as a distraction to the leviathan last night,
when she’d needed one most, but she really had no idea if he had
contributed his own brand of magic to somehow bolster her work.

Whatever the cause, Urse was damn impressed,
if she did say so herself. Oh, she wasn’t going to get the big head
over this. She also knew full well that she could never have done
anything even remotely that big alone. It was the combination of
magics, and the willingness of the bear shifters to lend her their
strength through their Alpha, that had made it possible.

That was a rare convergence of events. After
tonight, it would probably never be repeated in her lifetime. At
least she was hoping that would be the case, because wielding such
magics was both exhausting and dangerous—and she would only do it
in the most dire of circumstances.