Page 14 of Bearly in Love
twelve
MADISON
Five days passed quickly.
Way too quickly, because they were genuinely the best days I’d ever had.
Bo and I fucked.
Joked.
Competed.
Laughed.
Cuddled, even.
It felt like I was living someone else’s life. On someone else’s planet, even, because Bo Stevenson had never been and would never be interested in me.
But he was.
And the thought of leaving him made my chest hurt a little more every single day.
He didn’t have a problem with it, though. He even checked the snow for me every morning and evening, looking to see if it had melted enough for me to safely make my escape.
A heavy dose of relief hit me every time it hadn’t.
Every time we screwed, I was getting more used to the insane amount of pleasure he gave me. More used to the way he felt inside me, too.
He felt like he belonged there.
Like I belonged on his lap, with his body wrapped around mine. With him claiming me in every moment, using everything but his teeth.
He hadn’t gotten close to biting me yet, but he kissed my throat frequently. Nipped it, too.
The way he was so good at holding back assured me even more that he wasn’t anywhere near interested in making our newfound connection permanent.
We were halfway through a round of COD on day six—or seven?—when I noticed Bo’s screen stop moving.
“You’re supposed to be helping me win,” I grumbled, moving a little on his lap. He’d talked me into playing on his team. His cock was hard beneath me, but that was the norm. Rocking against it like I was always caught his attention, no matter what.
“Just a second.”
When I glanced at his phone, I saw my brother’s name at the top of the screen.
My stomach tightened, and my screen stopped moving too.
I knew Bo texted Artie frequently. I’d seen them messaging most days. Bo had promised not to mention me to the asshole.
“What did he say?” I asked.
“He’s asking if I’ve seen you. The skulk finally reached out to him about you ditching your wedding.”
Crap.
If they were asking Artie, they were worried. Probably furious, too.
“How’s the snow?” I asked, even though we’d checked just an hour earlier.
“Still too thick for you.”
We were a lot higher in the mountains than the skulk was, so they were far more mobile than us.
I could only hope they wouldn’t get desperate enough to check in with Bo. We had never been friends, but Artie and I hadn’t either.
Bo’s phone vibrated, and I read the text on the screen.
Artie
I just got a call from my dad. Apparently Madison made a run for it the night before her mating ceremony. A snowstorm blew in after she left, so they couldn’t track her. You haven’t heard from her, have you?
Bo’s fingers rested on the phone.
He hadn’t answered the message yet.
He and Artie didn’t lie to each other. I knew that better than anyone.
“I didn’t technically call you,” I said. “You haven’t heard from me. You’ve seen me.”
Bo grunted.
After a moment of hesitation, he typed back,
Bo
What if I have?
Fuck.
“Come on,” I protested, gesturing to the device. “He’s going to see through that.”
“He’s not going to tell your dad.”
Artie
What did she say?
“You can’t actually—” I started, but cut myself off when Bo typed back quickly.
Bo
Her alpha sent her a list of wifely duties. Fucked up ones. Made it clear she’d basically be a sex doll to him
My entire face wrinkled with disgust at the label, but it wasn’t inaccurate.
Artie
What the fuck?
Bo
That’s what I said
Artie
Where did she go?
Bo
She doesn’t want me to say
Artie
Good
If they come to your door to ask about her, lie really fucking well about where she is
Bo stared down at the message.
I did too.
Then I ripped the phone from his hand and replied myself.
Bo
Are they coming to my door?
Artie
I don’t know. Dad was talking about a few places they think she could’ve gotten before the snow got too thick. He didn’t mention your place, but they’ve already torn apart Cub Lake. You’re not that far from the city
She’s not there, right?
Unlike Bo, I didn’t hesitate to lie to my brother.
Bo
No
Artie
Good
The alpha is really fucking pissed
Bo
Yeah
I dropped the phone on the couch’s armrest and tried to stand. Bo’s arms went around me, holding me on his lap.
“We don’t need to panic.” His voice was calm. Way too calm, considering the messages we’d just gotten.
“Why wouldn’t we need to panic?!” I demanded. “The snow is too thick for me to leave. They’re looking for me. They’re eventually going to realize they should come here to check. If they do?—”
“If they do, I’ll kill them.” Bo was still calm. Neutral. Unworried.
“They won’t be hunting alone, Ambrose. There will be a whole group of them. If a dozen kitsunes show up here, one grizzly isn’t going to be enough to keep me away from them.”
My heart pounded rapidly, sending fear racing through my veins.
I was screwed.
So freaking screwed.
I was going to have to mate with the alpha, and?—
Bo’s hand slipped under the hem of the shorts I had on. His fingers brushed my clit, and my panic faltered for a moment.
“Don’t try to distract me,” I breathed.
“You need a distraction.”
“I need to—panic.” The break in my words came with the arch of my back as he slowly rubbed my clit between two of his hot, rough fingers.
“Panicking isn’t going to help, Madi.”
“Sex isn’t either.”
“You love sex.”
“So do you.”
He rumbled in agreement. “Damn straight. Everything is going to work out, Madi.”
“You don’t know that.” My words were basically a moan.
“I do.”
“You can’t.”
Bo pinched my clit, and my hips jerked. “Sure I can.”
I shoved my shorts down my thighs, and he opened my legs wider. My back was still to his chest, and he knew what I wanted.
His cock inside me.
His ladder of piercings hitting my g-spot, making me come repeatedly.
“You’re always so fucking wet for me.” He filled me with his fingers and pulled out to spread my slickness.
“You’re always so fucking hard for me,” I tossed back.
“Every minute you’re with me.” His lips brushed my shoulder for a kiss at the base of my throat. “You’re still mine, remember?”
For a few more days.
Or less, if I ended up taking my chances at an escape out the window instead of waiting for the snow to melt.
“For now,” I said, pulling his hand away from my core so I could line his erection up with my opening.
He snarled against my shoulder as I sank down on him. “Forever.”
“Sure.” My eyes closed, my head tipping back.
“Say it.” His growl was fierce. The bear was speaking for him. Demanding I say what he wanted to hear.
“Forever, Ambrose.” I moved my hips, making sounds of pleasure as the motion drove him deeper inside me. The movement rocked those insane piercings exactly where I wanted them.
Bo’s teeth brushed my throat as I worked his cock, building the tension in my lower belly as I took myself closer and closer to the edge of my pleasure.
He wasn’t going to bite me.
I knew he wasn’t.
He was just… possessive. And trying to ease my fear.
It was working.
My climax hit hard, and I cried out in pleasure as I came around his cock.
Bo snarled again, losing control with me.
There was a sharp moment of pain at the base of my neck, followed by intense, liquid pleasure that burned through my veins like a fucking drug.
My cries became screams as I came again.
And again.
And again.
I was moaning and exhausted when the pleasure finally ended, my weight resting heavily against Bo’s chest and thighs.
“Fuck.” Bo’s voice was barely above a whisper.
There was shock in it.
Panic too.
Disbelief on top of it.
“What the hell was that?” I panted.
His fingers lifted to the place my neck met my shoulder.
His tongue followed them over the skin there. Quickly.
“ Fuck ,” he repeated, a little lower.
“What?” I asked.
There was a moment’s pause.
A long moment.
His fingers met my skin yet again.
“Ambrose?” I demanded.
“I bit you.”
Whatever else I’d been about to say died in my throat. “You what ?”
“It was unintentional.”
My throat swelled. “You unintentionally claimed me the way a bear shifter would claim his mate? While we fucked?”
Another pause.
“Yeah,” he finally said.
“What the hell?” I nearly yelled.
The Call of Duty opening screen was on the TV, the music playing obnoxiously loud in the background as I stood abruptly.
Bo’s release rolled slowly down the insides of my thighs as I yanked my shorts up and spun to face him, my hands landing on my hips. At least I was wearing a shirt, for once.
His face was pale as his eyes met mine.
He didn’t want a mate bond.
He didn’t want me . Not for anything more than sex.
“You are so fucking lucky I’m a supernatural,” I snapped. My hands shook. My knees did too. My face had to be as red as a tomato. As red as my hair .
“Yeah. I’m sure the bite’s not permanent. We didn’t make the vows,” Bo said, his voice still low. “It’s just a bite.”
“Have you ever bitten anyone before?” I demanded.
The sudden rush of possessiveness that hit me pissed me off far more than the meaningless bite he gave me. I ignored the hell out of it, obviously.
“Of course not.” He growled the words. “I don’t know what came over me, but I’ve never been with anyone to this extent before.”
To this extent , meaning, for nearly an entire week. Over and over and over and over again. Screwing like the animals we were.
Yeah.
Neither had I.
And I never would again.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t intend for that to happen, and I should’ve checked in first. It was…
instinctual. In the morning, the snow should be melted a little more,” Bo said, finally starting to regain his composure.
He was still paler than usual, but he looked less panicked than before.
“I’ll shift and try to clear a path to the road.
You’ll take my truck to make your escape, like we planned.
I’m sure your alpha won’t show up here today, if your dad just talked to Artie a few hours ago. ”
I bit my lip.