Bearly Enough (22 page)

Jeremy couldn’t argue with that.

Stone could smell Lucy before she appeared, and when he saw
her, the bear in him awoke, growling and begging for release.

Not only was Lucy damn sexy, inspiring in him the strong
desire to fuck her, but there was a protective element as well.

Her hair was brushed back off her face, and she was wearing
dark sweats with a tan sweater. Karina must have given her some makeup because
her lips were a dark cherry color now.

Stone tried to focus on anything else in the world to keep
his dick from getting hard.

Lucy gave him a tentative look and then sat at the table.
“Thanks,” she murmured, taking a plate and helping herself.

Stone did the same thing, and Jeremy also took a seat.

“So, Lucy, I came to hear what you have decided,” Jeremy
said, taking a piece of toast.

Lucy nodded. “You said I had three days.”

“Yes, and today is the third day.”

“Wow. I thought I would at least have today,” she said. But
then she waved her hand. “It’s fine though,” Lucy said dismissively. “I’ve made
my decision, so it doesn’t matter.”

Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“I’ll stay here.”

He smiled broadly. “Excellent choice.”

She nodded.

“Now, remember that you have four weeks to find a mate-’’

“Yes, but I’ve already decided.”

“Really?” Jeremy asked tightly.

Lucy looked over at Stone. “I think it’s pretty obvious,” she
said slowly, her eyes never leaving his. “I choose Stone.” She paused. “That
is, if he’s willing to have me.”

Stone felt his chest tighten. Of course he wanted to be with
her! He would be a fucking fool to walk away.

“Of course,” he said gruffly, reaching over to take her
hand.

Jeremy bristled. “Very nice choice,” he said grudgingly,
“though I had also had a few other candidates in mind.” He took a deep breath.
“But I promise you that you will be well taken care of, and I will inform the
rest of the tribe. You will be well-respected.”

Lucy looked up, her eyes bright. “Honestly, I don’t care
much about being well-respected. What I do care about is being a prisoner in
this house. Am I free to leave the house now?”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes. “It depends on where you want to
go. You’re free to stay within the tribe’s boundaries.”

Lucy frowned. “I need to see my sister.”

Jeremy laughed. “Impossible!”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t fraternize with the other tribes.”

“Well, I think that’s really stupid. And I’m pretty sure
that you’ve never had a situation like this before. If you want me to stay
here, and to marry within the tribe, and pop out all these damn babies, then I
think it’s only fair that you give me a little freedom and allow me to have a
relationship with my sister!” Her voice grew louder as she spoke, and it was
strong and powerful by the time she was finished.

She had not given an exact order, but Stone had felt the
power of her words move through him. Since Jeremy was the alpha, he wondered if
he had felt the same pull in her words.

Jeremy gave Lucy a funny look and straightened his
shoulders. “You are new here,” he said coolly, “and there are protocols to
follow.”

“Perhaps it’s time some of those protocols changed,” Lucy
said, in an equally cool voice.

Stone thought she was pushing her luck, but he didn’t want
to jump in and stop her. And he was curious as to just how much power she truly
had, especially over Jeremy.

“I’ll consider it,” Jeremy hissed, clearly not caring for
her tone or her demands.

Lucy continued to eat, and Stone wondered if she were going
to ask any more questions. Jeremy seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Well, if that’s all, I will be on my way,” he said, his
voice stiff, as he pushed his chair back.

“I do have another question,” Lucy said.

“Yes?” Jeremy asked, clearly not amused.

“Who decides all of this? I mean, you guys didn’t even know
that I existed a couple of months ago. Who decides that I get all this money
and other things when I have babies?”

Stone sort of knew the answer, but he knew it was Jeremy’s
place to explain.

Jeremy scratched at his chin, looking weary and tired. He
nodded. “That’s a good question. And you’re right; we didn’t know that you
existed. But we have a council, and among our council we have a very sacred
belief, and a plan to set into action should we ever come across royal blood
from our very early leaders.”

“Other people are rewarded for producing cubs, too,” Stone
couldn’t help but interject. He knew that his parents had received three
generous sums—one for each of their children. Though Joy hadn’t lived long
enough to shift; she had been just on the cusp.

“So, people are alright with me getting those things?” she
asked uncertainly. Stone understood now—she was worried that she would be
disliked for getting special treatment.

“It will be fine,” Stone assured her.

Jeremy gave them a strange look and then a curt nod. “That
should be the least of your worries,” he said darkly. “Now if you’ll excuse me,
I have business to attend to.” He swiftly left the room, and vanished out the
back door.

“He is so damn strange,” Lucy said, once he was gone.

Stone nodded. Something was bugging him but he couldn’t
quite place it.

He looked over at Lucy; she had put her fork down and was
looking at him.

“What?”

“Are you okay with what just happened? I mean, I chose to
stay, but I chose you without really asking you first.” Her face was filled
with worry.

Stone got up and went over to her, taking her hands. “I’m
honored,” he said.

Lucy pushed back from the table, withdrawing her hands. “I
mean, it’s completely crazy,” she said, as if she hadn’t heard him. She sprang
up and began to pace the room. “We hardly know each other and now we’re
supposed to get married and have babies?” She looked over at him, her eyes wild
and panicked.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said quietly, “let’s not freak out.”

“But I am freaking out!” she exclaimed, rubbing her forehead
with her palms. “I mean this is completely crazy! Do we even know anything
about each other? I mean, I’ve never even had a real boyfriend. Do you know
that? Does that worry you?” her voice was getting higher. “And I know nothing
about you! Or your past girlfriends, or anything like that!”

“Okay, look. I think we need to just relax for a minute and
talk this over. One thing at a time, okay?” He carefully took Lucy’s hand and
pulled her to the couch. “There’s plenty of time to learn about one another,
alright? And it doesn’t matter to me that you haven’t had a boyfriend, or
whatever.” Stone couldn’t quite follow what Lucy was saying, but he wasn’t
really concerned. Ever since Joy had been killed, his motto was simply ‘one day
at a time.’

“What I mean is that I’ve never had a long relationship,”
she said, her lip quivering. “I don’t even know if I’m any good at it!” She bit
her lip, and her voice got stronger. “I’m stupid! And wild! And reckless!”

Stone chuckled, feeling himself get hard at the thought. “I
know,” he said in a hoarse voice, “I remember the day we cut class.”

Lucy’s face reddened and she buried it in her hands. “See? That’s
me! I do ridiculously impulsive things!”

“So what?” Stone asked, trying to ignore his growing
erection. “We can be impulsive together! And you know what? I’m the same damn
way. I’ve never been any good at keeping relationships. In fact, I haven’t even
wanted to.”

“Really?” Her voice seemed a little more hopeful.

“Really. I’m known for—’’ he didn’t want to say
sleeping
around
, so instead he said, “having short flings, so this is new for me
too.”

“Well, fuck,” Lucy said, standing up. “That means that the
two of us are going to be just perfect together.”

Stone was growing harder by the second, and the bear in him
wanted his paws all over Lucy.

He stood up too, pulling Lucy toward him. “It’s going to be
fine,” he breathed into her ear, pushing himself against her.

He heard her breath catch as she felt his erection.

She pulled back and raised her eyebrows at him.

“All this impulsive talk is making me hard,” he explained
sheepishly.

He watched as Lucy’s eyes filled with desire, and her mood
instantly shifted. “Maybe there’s something I can do to help,” she purred,
tugging at his jeans and popping the button open.

He groaned. Just the thought of Lucy touching his cock made
him throb.

“Maybe, sweetheart,” he said gruffly, watching as she pulled
his pants down and he sprang free.

Lucy kept her eyes on him and dropped to her knees, looking
up at him through her thick lashes. She took him in her hands and Stone let out
a small moan as she wrapped her hand tightly around his shaft.

“Do you think of that afternoon in the car?” she murmured,
slowly sliding her hand up and down his swollen cock.

“All the time,” he gasped, leaning his head back and closing
his eyes. His bear was so close to the surface now that he was going to need
extreme self-control to keep from his shifting.

His bear loved a good blowjob.

“Me too,” she whispered, lowing her lips to him, removing
her hand and pushing him deep into her waiting mouth.

“Oh, fuck!” he cried, unprepared. He felt his entire body quiver,
and his eyes flew open as he tried to control the wild animal raging inside of
him.

He looked down at Lucy and he saw that her eyes were wide
and fearful.

“It’s okay,” he gasped, “I’m in control.”

“Was—was that your bear?”

“Yes, but don’t stop, Lucy. Please, baby.”

She nodded, and once she seemed appeased. She continued to
suck him, stroking him with her hands as she glided her wet mouth along his
length.

Stone wondered if he had met his match in a mate. Lucy
seemed to enjoy sex just as much as he did.

“Mmmm,’’ she murmured as she increased her speed and tugged
gently on his balls.

Fuck!

He was going out of his mind, and Lucy seemed to be
barreling full speed ahead.

“Lucy,” he croaked, “baby, it feels so good.”

“Good,” she breathed, tracing her nails along his thin skin
as she bobbed up and down, fucking him with her mouth.

He was going to explode any second, and he gripped her hair,
taking control of the pace and depth, which Lucy willingly gave over to him.

He twitched once, twice, and then he gasped Lucy’s name
before coming hard in her mouth.

A strangled cry escaped his lips as he shot himself into her
mouth, and he held her tightly to him, making sure that she took every drop.
Lucy eagerly swallowed, never resisting. Finally, when Stone was spent, he
released her and she fell back to the floor.

“Oh Lucy,” he said gruffly, taking her hand and pulling her
up to him before he sank into the couch with her at his side.

She said nothing, but simply nuzzled up to his chest, and
Stone held her tightly to him as he felt the after shocks of his powerful
orgasm.

“God, that felt so good,” he said, stroking her thigh.

“I want to make you feel good,” she said earnestly.

“Sweetheart, you do. You have no idea.”

“I don’t want you to think about all the other women that
you’re going to be missing out on if you marry me,” she said in a soft voice.

Stone pulled back to look at her. “Never,” he said solemnly.
“Don’t ever worry about that. Ever. I wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t
believe that we could make it work.”

He searched Lucy’s face, making sure that she understood
him. Stone was never going to look back on his empty past, devoid of any real
emotions or relationships. He was choosing Lucy, and they had only the future
to look toward.

He looked over at Lucy lounging across his body, and desire
surged through him.

“Your turn,” he warned her, before flipping her over and
burying himself between her legs.

Lucy padded down the hall, scooping up the last of the
clothes Karina had given her, and then headed back to the laundry closet and
dumped the clothes in the washing machine. She walked back to Stone’s room and
looked around, reminding herself that it wasn’t just Stone’s room anymore—it
was her room, too.

The bathroom was the best part, and she was anxious to get
all of her things in the cabinets and drawers.

It was hard to believe that she had essentially been a
prisoner in this house, and now she was going to be living here and marrying
the owner.

Her captor.

She couldn’t dwell on that, because it confused her and
upset her, and she knew deep down that she and Stone had shared a connection
from the very beginning, even if Stone was acting on false pretenses.

It was strange how the house felt empty without Stone there.
He had gone back to her house to collect her belongings. She had wanted to go
at first, but then she realized that the thought of going there and having to
see her mother was too much. She would see her mother again someday, but this
was not the time.