Series: Lee Savino
Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
“Stop!” I scream, picking up a rock and aiming. I reconsider and drop it–I don’t want to hit Darius. I find a big stick instead. I can handle this–I’m around large animals all the time.
“Stop it! Shoo!” I know which one is Teddy by the color of the shreds of the shirt that hang in rags around his neck. I smack him over the head. “Go away.”
As soon as the wood cracks over that massive skull, I realize what a huge mistake I made. This is a grizzly bear, not a horse. Not that I would hit a horse. But this bear could kill me with one swipe of that massive paw.
But, shockingly, Teddy makes a warbling sound and drops to all fours, ducking his head away from me.
“That’s right,” I yell, emboldened. “Go! Go home!” I poke him with the end of the stick. “Bad bear!”
He grabs the branch and breaks it in a very human-like move, and for a moment, I think I’ve gone too far, but then he wheels and bounds away in the same direction he came.
I stare after him in shock, and then a hysterical giggle comes out of my mouth. “A bad bear” –I cover my mouth to hold in the fit of giggles– “on Bad Bear Mountain.”
When I turn to face down Darius, though, I find a naked man in place of the bear. A glorious, muscled Viking man.
He’s panting, his expression strained, his fists and teeth clenched as if in concentration. He stalks toward me, eyes still gleaming gold, and lifts me into his arms, making me feel as light as a feather.
Now I know why I’m not too heavy for Darius. He’s not human. His bear probably likes his woman to have some meat on her bones. He’d crack one of those waiflike models Thom wanted me to look like in half.
“Can’t–” He seems unable to speak. He carries me up the steps of the cabin.
My brain reels and crashes into a brick wall, recognizing anew that my lover is a bear. I’ve heard of werewolves. I didn’t know about bears.
“Not–” Darius tries again. “...not safe,” he mutters. “You’re not safe with me.”
Maybe I should be afraid. Maybe Teddy was trying to get Darius to bite me and turn me into a werewolf like them. I mean bear. Werebear.
Oh my God–what is happening right now?
This can’t be real!
Except I’m certain that I am safe. Yes, my pulse is racing from adrenaline pumping through my veins, but no part of me believes Darius would hurt me. I didn’t even believe it when he was a giant grizzly bear.
Plus, Teddy said he wouldn’t hurt me.
But Darius seems to think he will.
“This isn’t right. I didn’t want you to see that.” Darius carries me to the bedroom. “Lock the door. Lock me out. You’re not safe with him.” He tries to set me down, but I cling to his neck and wrap my legs around his waist.
“Not safe with whom? Teddy?”
“With me.” He walks over to the bed and tries to deposit me, but I still refuse to be put down. If he thinks I’m going to be locked in a bedroom again–even if it’s for my safety–he’s delusional.
“I’m safe here.”
“Not with me. Not with my bear.”
I lean my forehead against his creased one. “I’m okay,” I murmur against his skin. As if he were my horse, Starlight, spooked by something on a ride, I hold the presence of quiet for him. “I’m okay. Nothing bad happened. We’re okay here together now.”
He climbs onto the bed with me still in his arms and lowers us together, his naked body covering mine. We lock eyes. His still have the wild glow of amber–I understand now what I’ve been seeing. Darius isn’t human–he is something altogether different. Maybe that’s why I was so drawn to him from the very beginning.
I sensed he was nothing like the wretched men who have surrounded me for the last ten years. I mistakenly assumed he was one of them, there to buy me, but my body knew he was different. My body went electric in his presence.
He’s my electric yes.
I reach up and touch his face. “Darius.” His eyes burn bright, blazing with his animal side.
He lowers his mouth in a ferocious kiss. He pries my lips apart with his tongue as his hips settle in the cradle of my legs.
I reach for the tie of the sweatpants to unknot it. I manage to get it undone and shove the waistband of the sweats down the curves of my hips.
“Paloma,” Darius rasps. “I don’t know if I should–”
“You should. We’re okay,” I murmur. “We’re okay.“
“It’s not safe,” Darius insists between desperate kisses. “I’m not safe. Being here with you on this mountain…” He rips open the flannel shirt I’m wearing, popping all the buttons. He’s better than a Viking. He’s glorious.