Creed’s Claim(6)

She couldn’t help the squeak escaping her lips and backed up as far as she could away from him. Half-remembered things from the past swirled in her mind. Like how half the town always seemed scared of him and how he’d walked away from the accident that had killed her brother with barely a scratch. She’d put it down to sheer dumb luck at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“Shhhh, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise,” he said reassuringly, approaching her with his hands held out to the sides. The care he took eased her nerves a little bit. He obviously wasn’t going to jump her right away.

Damn. Disappointment rolled through her, displacing more of the fear. This was Creed after all. He’d never hurt her… Even in this strange, upside down world, she knew he’d never hurt her. But she had to know.

“Did my brother find out about this?” she asked suddenly, surprising even herself. “Is that what really happened that night? In the car?”

“No!” Creed’s denial was immediate and forceful. Before she knew it, he was there in front of her, his large hands gripping her upper arms. “Kait, I would never do anything to hurt you or your brother. You have to believe me.”

As soon as he’d touched her, she froze, fear running rampant through her veins. But, looking into his eyes, she saw the honesty there and relaxed a little. Something deep inside her wanted to burrow into the safety and comfort of his arms and stay there forever, but her brain, always thinking, wouldn’t let her.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

He sighed, running a hand over his close cropped hair. “Sit down.”

She did, watching as he squatted down in front of her. The shirt he wore stretched over his chest and shoulders, the tight fabric hugging the sculpted muscles beneath. Tattoos covered his arms, moving as he flexed his forearms to rest them on his thighs.

“Okay, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. Don’t freak out on me, okay? Just hear me out.” His deep voice was a quiet rumble in the silence of the room.

He held her gaze, his expression earnest as he reached for her hands. Like he needed the contact, and she didn’t refuse. His thumbs stroked over the backs of her knuckles reassuringly. Well, it should have been reassuring. The feel of his hands on hers sent all her feminine instincts haywire.

“We’re bears, Kaitlyn. Werebears.”

O…kay. Whatever she’d expected him to say, it hadn’t been that.

“Werebears?” She laughed, but the sound was unsure, dying a quick death under his steady gaze. “What…like werewolves but with turning into bears instead? Don’t be silly. Monsters like that are just made up for books and films. They’re not real.”

Even as she spoke, the memory of the men in the alley filled her mind. The weird claws she’d thought were elaborate cosplay weapons…the way they’d snarled and the darkness in their eyes.

“Oh shit.” Her hand stole up to cover her throat. “They really did have claws, didn’t they?”

Creed nodded, his expression grim. “I’m afraid so. They weren’t local bears, but occasionally we get gangs of males causing trouble. We have a team out looking for them now.”

She wasn’t listening to him, her gaze on her hand in his. His dwarfed hers, the nails short and clean.

“Do…do you have claws?” Her question was quiet, and a tendril of…not fear but, hell, she didn’t know what wormed its way into her voice. Carefully, she reached out to touch his fingers, then jumped when he moved suddenly.

“Of course. Hear me roar,” he teased softly, making a mock snarling noise and clawing the air with his fingers.

“Idiot.”

She shook her head at him, watching him as the silence settled between them. It wasn’t an entirely comfortable silence; it was one fraught with awareness. If she’d thought lying still on a couch while he tattooed her was bad, watching him watching her was even worse.

“What did you mean, when you said I was yours?”

The small smile was back, flirting with the edges of his lips. “What do you think I meant, Kait?”

“Well… It sounded like…”

Shit, she couldn’t say the words. Taking a deep breath, she blurted out, “From what they said it sounded like marriage, or something. Anderson said I was your woman. But that’s ridiculous. No one can just claim a woman like that. We’re not in the damn Middle Ages.”

His expression didn’t change as she expected. He didn’t laugh or brush it all off as a joke. The hope she clung to that this was all a setup and someone with cameras would jump out of the nearest closet and shout, “Surprise!” faded abruptly.

“In our world, no human can know of our existence. If they find out, one of two things has to happen.”

“And those are?” She’d worked out the answer but needed him to say it.

“Then they have to marry one of us…or die.”

He reached out and slid his hand into her nape, stroking his thumb against the side of her neck. “And I can’t let you die, Kait. You’re mine. You always have been. You just didn’t know it.”

Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers gently. The merest press of his mouth against hers before he broke away. He didn’t go far though, pausing to nuzzle her nose with his. The lover-like movement melted her heart and she tilted her head up, chasing his lips.

The little invitation was all he needed. With a groan in the back of his throat, he claimed her lips again. Harder this time. They were warm and firm, demanding as he moved in, parting her thighs to kneel between them.

A strong arm wrapped around her waist to pull her closer, against his broad chest. Sitting on the bed, she was that little bit taller, but felt surrounded by his strength. Protected. Her hands collided with the broad expanse of his shoulders and stopped. She spread her fingers to explore at the same moment he brushed his tongue against her upper lip. A silent request for access she couldn’t deny.

Parting her lips, she caught her breath as he surged forward and up at the same time, thrusting his tongue in to explore the soft recesses of her mouth. At the same time, he gathered her closer, pulling her from the bed and into his embrace where he knelt on the floor. Her knees ended up either side of his parted thighs, her weight supported by his arm as she nearly, but not quite, sat in his lap. All it would take was for her to wriggle forward, or for him to pull her closer so that their hips were flush. But he didn’t, and neither did she as he slowly slid his tongue against hers. Stroking and teasing her to join him in a primal dance. The hand at the nape of her neck moved up to tangle in her hair. Not to control but just to touch. To explore. He slid his fingers through the soft strands over and again. He broke the kiss to feather his lips over hers, to nuzzle her nose with his, before claiming her mouth again, deeper and harder this time.

Closing the gap between their bodies suddenly, he settled her fully against him. She gasped as she felt the thick bar of his cock pressed right between her thighs. He was…holy crap…either all werebears were built big, or he was exceptional.

A large hand on the back of her hips held her in place as he took control of the kiss, ravishing her mouth with an expertise and finesse that stole her ability to think, never mind breathe. She’d thought she was a woman of the world. She’d thought she had more than enough sexual experience and knowledge gleaned from erotica books and how-to guides in the magazines left in the break room at work to hold her own, but his kiss told her otherwise.

He played her reactions easily, controlling and dominating the kiss to get the most pleasure out of it for both of them. Her fingers curled into his shoulders, nails biting deeply and he growled, breaking the kiss to lean his forehead against hers.

“We have to slow down.” His words were soft but no less tortured, and when he pulled back to look into her eyes, she saw need and desire that took her breath away tempered with torment and frustration. “Or I’ll rip these pretty clothes right off you and take you here and now.”

The words made her shiver but she couldn’t find her voice to argue. A tender smile quirking the sides of his lips again, he smoothed her hair back from one side of her face.

“You’re mine, Kait, but that doesn’t mean I’m an ass. This is all new to you. I can wait until you’re ready. It’ll about kill me, but I can wait.”





Chapter 4





“So walk me through it again.” Since returning to the main room of the lodge, Kait had been grilling Lilly. Relentlessly and with no end in sight. Now that the shock of it all had worn off, she had so many questions. “Werebears are real, and there are werewolves as well?”

“And werehyenas.” Lilly leaned back on the sofa they’d huddled up on in the corner. The lodge was decorated like an old-style hunting lodge with lots of dark wood and solidly built, comfortable furniture.

Kait blinked in surprise. “Seriously? They’re…”

“Ugly as fuck?” Lilly grinned. “Yeah, they can be. I’ve only met a couple when they strayed into our area, but yeah…” She shuddered. “Not my cup of tea at all.”