Bearly Enough (10 page)

She was dressed in a long purple gown that made her look
much older, except now the dress was torn and covered in chunks of dirt from
Stone’s race through the forest.

“Gabby!” she stuttered.  “The wedding.” She lurched
forward, stumbling on her feet and nearly falling over before Stone caught her.

“Don’t!” she cried, wheeling on him, her eyes flashing with
anger, before they filled with fear. “What are you?” She scurried backward on
the couch and Stone could see the panic building within her, ready to crash
like stormy ocean waves.

“No!” she screamed. “You’re—you’re a monster! I—I saw! I saw
you change! You—you were a bear and you were holding me!” she broke off into
sobs, and then jumped off the couch, and began screaming.

“Fuck,” Torin muttered, “we need to calm her down.”

Stone moved toward her, but Lucy picked up a picture frame—a
photo of his parents—and chucked it at the floor, the glass shattering into a
million pieces.

“Hey!” Torin protested.

Jeremy moved closer and Stone stood frozen, unsure of what
to do.

“Don’t come any closer!” Lucy screamed.

She reached for another frame to hurl—this one a framed
photo of Joy.

“No!” Torin and Stone shouted at the same time.

Torin lunged forward, grabbing the frame from her.

Stone grabbed Lucy at the same time, hauling her upstairs as
she kicked and screamed.

“I’m sorry,” he said, before locking her into one of Torin’s
extra bedrooms.

Lucy tried to take a deep breath, willing herself to calm
down and not panic.

It wasn’t working.

“Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic,” she repeated.

She took a shaky breath, surveying her surroundings.

It was a sparse bedroom with two windows, and she ran to the
windows, not surprised to see that she was too far up to use it to escape.

“Fuck.”

She hurried to the door to try the knob, and found it locked.

“You can’t lock me in here!” she screamed, quickly losing
her cool and yanking at the doorknob, hearing the metal clinking against the
lock.

“Stone!” she yelled, panic-stricken.

She felt the rise of fear swell inside her until she nearly
passed out. She teetered over to the bed, sitting down and resting her head in
her hands. Everything had happened so quickly that she didn’t know how she had
gotten there.

She had been enjoying the reception, chatting with some of
Gabby’s new family, and then suddenly people began flipping out. She barely had
time to register what was happening before two bears—bears!—had burst through
the trees. One of them—Stone, she had to tell herself—had come and taken her.

The bear had raced through the woods with her, and she had been
terrified, too afraid to try to jump off in fear of hurting herself. She had
run to the two men, thinking they were going to help her but then…she couldn’t
even comprehend the rest.

One moment there had been a bear, and then the next moment
that bear was changing and changing, and suddenly it wasn’t a bear, but Stone.

Stone who sat next to her in class?

Stone whom she had kissed, among other things, in his
truck. 

How was it even possible?

And then she was brought here.

Thoughts jumbled and crowded inside her mind, tumbling, and
she couldn’t make sense of anything.

She needed to sleep.

Or needed a drink.

One or the other.

Or both.

And now what?

She was being held prisoner. How long were they going to
keep her locked in this room? They couldn’t possibly keep her locked in here
forever. And what must Gabby and everyone be thinking? Her wedding had been
ruined.

Lucy went to the door again, yanking and tugging against it.
“Let me out!” she cried. “You can’t keep me locked up here.”

She banged against the door again and again, until her side
felt bruised and her lungs were hoarse from yelling.

Weak and defeated, she practically crawled to the bed. She
sank onto the mattress, pulling the covers up. Her body ached and she wanted to
cry, but even that would take too much energy.

She sank into a deep and fitful sleep.

When Lucy awoke, the light was different in the room, and
she sat up in fear, forgetting where she was.

The night came rushing back to her and she felt so dizzy
with sickness and fear that she had to close her eyes, willing it not to be
true. When the wave of nausea passed, she sat up and looked around the room.
Someone must have entered the room at some point because a tray now sat on the
floor, and she hurried out of bed.

The tray contained a big glass of water, as well as a glass
of orange juice. There were two pieces of cold, buttered toast as well as
slices of bacon, an apple, and a granola bar.

Not stopping to think, she sat cross-legged on the floor and
devoured the food, polishing off the water and then the orange juice.

Once her belly was full, she was able to think more clearly.
But more pressing matters demanded her attention.

“Excuse me!” she shouted angrily, knocking on the door. “I
need a bathroom!”

She waited, bouncing from foot to foot. If someone didn’t
open this door soon, she was going to be forced to pee on the floor.

“Hello?” she demanded, feeling more like herself despite the
circumstances. She heard steps come up the stairs and the doorknob clicked as
it was unlocked.

It opened slowly, and there stood Stone, looking exhausted
and worn, still wearing the same ratty sweatpants he had been given last night.

“Lucy,” he said, his voice filled with emotion.

She forced a steely gaze. “The bathroom?” she asked coldly.

He nodded and beckoned for her to follow him down the hall.
He paused in front of a door and Lucy went in, holding her head high. She came
out a moment later and looked at Stone, refusing to let herself feel anything.

“My dress is ruined and dirty,” she said flatly. “Am I
allowed a shower?” After that she was going to get the hell out of there, no
matter what it took.

Stone hesitated for just a second. “Of course you can
shower.” He looked around as if he wasn’t sure what to do. “I can find you some
new clothes and leave them in the bathroom for you.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes. “Fine.” She slammed the door in his
face.

“Stupid asshole,” she muttered, unhooking her beautiful,
ruined dress and letting it fall to the floor. She wanted to cry and scream but
she needed her energy and she needed to focus. She didn’t know what was going
on, or
what
Stone even was, but she had learned after years of living
with her mother that she just had to lay low and survey the situation before
acting.

Once she stripped off her clothes, she stepped into the
shower and let the hot water wash over her body. It felt amazing, and she tilted
her face up to the showerhead, closing her eyes as the water rained down over
her face. She found a bar of soap and began vigorously scrubbing at her skin.
The soap smelled faintly of mint and left her skin tingling.

There wasn’t much choice in shampoo, but she would have to
make do. She washed her hair, shampooing it twice since there was no
conditioner, and she raked her fingers through her long locks, pulling at the
knots.

She heard the door click open and she could see Stone’s
shadow enter the bathroom.

“I’ll just leave your clothes on the toilet,” he called.

Lucy watched his shadow move toward the toilet, set down a
pile, and then turn around. But he paused, standing there.

“What?” she demanded loudly.

He didn’t answer.

She yanked the shower curtain back so just her wet head
appeared.

Stone did not have his back to her, like she had thought,
but instead was facing her.

“What?” she demanded angrily, making sure the shower curtain
was hiding her body.

His eyes were dark, so dark that she could barely make out
the blue of his one eye, and they were filled with longing and turmoil.

“Get out!”

“Lucy,” he began in a strangled voice.

She went to yell at him again, but he was too fast. He took
one large step toward her and ripped at the shower curtain, pulling it down
from the wall and into a heap on the floor.

Lucy gasped as the spray from the showerhead hit the ripped
curtain and splashed in random directions.

She was stunned by Stone’s actions, not to mention his
strength, and she stood before him, naked and vulnerable as he drank in her
body. She wanted to be modest, wanted to cover herself up, but she couldn’t
think fast enough to process.

She
hated
Stone.

And yet, here he was staring at her every inch of her, from
her pale, pink breasts to the pink flesh between her thighs.

“Lucy.”

And then he moved toward her, easily stepping over the ledge
of the tub, grasping her wet, bare body with his powerful hands and pushing her
up against the cool, tiled wall.

“Don’t,” she choked, but Stone’s mouth cut her off, kissing
her hard as he squeezed at her ass and then moved to her breasts.

No! No!
Her brain yelled.
He kidnapped you. He
ruined the wedding.

She feebly pushed back against him, but it was no use, he
was too strong.

And who was she kidding? She was a creature of desire, haste
and irresponsibility. Her mind might have been yelling no, but her body was
saying something different.

Her tongue was in his mouth, her hands were clutching his
hair, and her legs were wrapping around his waist.

Stone’s chest was bare and his sweatpants were getting
soaked. Lucy didn’t even realize her hands were hooking into the band of his
pants until she was already pulling them down.

Stone groaned, pressing hard into her, crushing her against
the wall with so much force that it almost hurt.

“Why?” Lucy begged as he kissed her again, his hand sliding
up her taut stomach and squeezing her breasts.

“No questions now,” Stone growled, kissing her harder, and
hoisting her backside up so her feet were no longer touching the ground.

Lucy wanted to ask more, but she was feeling so much
pleasure, and adrenaline was coursing through her body because she knew this
was
wrong, wrong, wrong.

There was no way that she should be naked in a shower, a
shower that her captor had just destroyed with his bare hands, and now making
out with said captor.

Okay, she was doing more than making out.

They were about as close to fucking as possible, and Lucy
gasped loudly as she felt Stone’s erection press into her belly.

She felt a deep clenching within her, and she knew the
feeling.

She desperately wanted Stone to fuck her.

She wanted him to push his thick cock so deep inside her
that she wouldn’t even be able to recall her own name. She wanted him to fuck
her so hard that she wouldn’t be able to walk for days.

That is what Lucy wanted.

And if she didn’t speak up soon, that’s exactly what would
happen.

Stone was biting her lower lip, slowly pushing his hips
against her, teasing her with his dick, and baiting her with what she clearly
wanted.

“Stop,” she managed to say, pulling her mouth back from him.

“You know you don’t want that,” he breathed, rubbing his
cock along the ridge of her pubic bone.

“Stop,” she repeated, though much more weakly.

He pushed her harder against the wall and let her feet touch
down, before circling his hips. “Let me fuck you, Lucy,” he crooned, “I promise
it will be the best fuck of your life.”

Holy shit, it was like he could read her mind.

And just as Lucy was about to agree and give herself over
because her brain had clearly lost this battle, a loud pounding came at the
door.