Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Yes,” I gasp. In my lust and pleasure-soaked mind, everything is possible.
I come like a river, wetness leaking from me, making Evan’s thrusts noisy with moisture. He doesn’t stop. His hips are punishing, using me to find his own release, and when he comes, the growl he makes is all bear.
His body arches like a grizzly rearing up, and he fills my vision. I blink up at him, as his expression twists, fierce at first, then softer as pleasure slides through him.
Pleasure that I gave him.
The moments after are as different as night and day. In the same way as Robert, Evan is tender after his cruelty. He releases my hands and presses kisses to my wrists. He licks my sore nipples and strokes over the flesh of my ass that he squeezed too tightly. He tells me I’m beautiful and perfect, and I believe him because it’s how I feel—ripe and ready to burst open.
My body is a vessel of pleasure, and it’s good. Great, even.
But underneath all of that, my heart swells.
I can’t help it. I wish I could separate my emotions, but it’s never been easy for me. With sex comes a connection that's more than just sweat-slicked bodies and physical urgency.
I like this man. Care for him, even. There’s a tenderness in his fingertips that's as mystifying as it is beautiful—so little time together and yet so much feeling.
Is this what they mean about destiny? I was born on a bear moon, and that means I was made for these men as much as they were made for me? How much simpler would life be if this happened to everyone? There’d be no divorce or separation. Life would be a patchwork of people stitched together by more than just temporary lust and emotion.
It may sound foolish, like the musings of a teenager, but I like the idea that I was born for them. It makes me feel special, secure. It makes all my floundering around about whether to accept what makes me tick, or bury it for good, seem foolish.
If these men are here to accept me for everything I am because I’m destined for them, how stupid would I be not to give them the chance?
I lie on my bed with this man who can make me laugh in surprising ways.
“Goldie, baby,” he whispers against my ear, laughing in a gushing way that feels equal parts relief and happiness, and I laugh, too.
My life is falling apart, but at this moment, all I feel is joy, even though I don’t understand what the hell is happening.
21
EVAN
She’s in my arms—the mate we’ve been waiting for. She’s everything we hoped for and more: sweet but strong, intelligent and funny, pretty and curvy, independent but submissive.
It’s hard to believe she’s real. At least it was until her pleasure-scent of apples and custard surrounded me, and I sank into her body. It was like coming home, so right and so familiar, even though everything's new.
I promised myself I wouldn’t do it. Robert overstepped, and I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. Hunter’s already riled up, and this will only make it worse. I could regret it, but with Goldie’s honey-colored hair pressed against my cheek and her warm breath fanning over my neck, all I can do is breathe her in and send thanks to the Earth goddess for the gift of a mate.
She was worth the wait.
“Hunter’s going to kill you,” Goldie whispers with a smile in her voice. I snort, finding her amusement at Hunter’s disquiet funny. It’s good because she needs a rigid spine to function at the center of three powerful bears. She needs to be sassy enough to challenge Hunter’s alpha nature to earn his respect. She needs strength to bring bear cubs into this human world and raise them to face dangers, even as they develop the power to overwhelm almost any foe.
“Hunter’s growl is worse than his bite,” I muse. It’s true. He’s aggressive and demanding when he needs to be, but once Goldie’s succumbed to his power, his bear will quiet. Once they’re connected as only mates can be, she’ll understand his true nature.
I close my eyes, reveling in the feel of her warm body tucked against mine. I haven’t claimed her, but being close this way is more settling than any contact I’ve had with a woman. My bear senses deep down what Goldie is going to become to me. Her scent and touch are enough to subdue his restlessness until we’re fully connected. This contact has been enough to sate him for a little while.
I shift, pulling her over my chest so I can press a firm kiss to the top of her head. “We’ll have to head back soon,” I tell her.
“Why?” The frustration in her voice matches my own internal annoyance. If I could, I’d stay here all afternoon like this. We could fuck again, learn more about each other, sleep wrapped in each other’s embrace, kiss like we needed each other’s lips, or we’d die.