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BEAR

Bear couldn’t believe he was letting her do this. What had happened to the idea of leaving her in the middle of the night to sleep somewhere else? Apparently he had fallen asleep himself before he could move. And then he’d woken up to the sight of his new bride exploring between his legs. Lying there, watching her stroke and suck his cock was incredibly sensuous—she had the softest little hands and her mouth was so warm and wet.

He also loved the erotic sight of her bending over him with her lips wrapped around his shaft. Her breasts were still spilling out the top of her little white lace nightdress, the dusky bronze nipples rubbing against his thigh as she sucked and licked him.

Shouldn’t do this—shouldn’t let her, whispered the guilty little voice in the back of his head. What about your vow?

But his vow had been never to Bond another bride to him, Bear told himself. And they weren’t Bonding—she was just exploring his body, the way he had explored hers the night before. She really was a curious little virgin.

And her curiosity was getting the best of him. He could feel the pent-up sexual tension as his balls got tighter, getting ready to shoot.

“Gods, baby—you’d better pull off if you don’t want a mouthful of my cream,” he groaned, reaching down to stroke her hair. “Gonna come really soon.”

But instead of pulling away, she ducked lower, taking him more deeply into her sweet, hot mouth. Bear stroked her silky hair—he couldn’t hold back any longer!

With a low groan, he felt the first spurt of cream leave the tip of his cock. Aleena jerked a little and her eyes widened in apparent surprise, but she still didn’t pull off. She kept sucking and her slender throat worked as she swallowed, taking everything he had to give her eagerly, in a way that made Bear even hotter as he watched her.

Gods, she was so fucking beautiful! So sweet and eager, his curvy little bride. He stroked her hair as she sucked and swallowed, sucked and swallowed over and over as he shot his cream down her throat.

At last he finished coming and, after a moment, Aleena stopped sucking. She looked up at him, licking her lips.

“That was delicious, my Bear,” she murmured. “It tastes even more like my favorite drink. I don’t understand how that’s possible.”

“Like I said, baby—Kindred brides often find they like the taste of their husband’s seed,” he growled softly. “It has to do with the way our bodies react to each other.”

And apparently his body was reacting to her in a way it hadn’t reacted to anyone since his first wife. He wondered if his Bonding Scent was affecting her too. That might be the reason she’d been so eager to suck him in the first place.

“I see.” Aleena nodded and bent to lap a last stray droplet of cream from the tip of his cock in a way that made him want to groan again. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to Bond her to him. He could have done it too—despite the fact that he had just come, his shaft hadn’t gone soft. Male Kindred were multi-orgasmic and Beast Kindred especially could make love for hours.

His state of continued arousal seemed to trouble Aleena.

“My Bear,” she said tentatively. “I do not understand…why are you still hard? I have heard from other girls who have husbands, that once a man shoots his seed, his shaft wilts like a day-old stalk of coolom root.”

Bear rumbled laughter and stroked her hair some more. He couldn’t help loving her innocence.

“That might be true of your people, but it’s different for mine. Kindred can stay hard and come over and over again,” he explained. “That’s why Bonding Sex takes so long with us.”

“Bonding Sex?” she frowned, her eyebrows drawing together and her forehead wrinkling prettily. “What’s that?”

“It’s a special kind of intimacy that a Kindred warrior has with his bride,” Bear explained. It’s different for every kind of Kindred. For my kind, in order to Bond the woman we love to us, she must open up enough to take not just our shaft but our Bonding Knot as well.” He nodded down to the swelling at the base of his cock. “Once that happens, the Knot swells inside her, tying the Beast Kindred and his bride together for a long, slow session of love-making that produces a mental and emotional Soul Bond between the two of them.”

Her lovely pale purple eyes had been getting wider and wider as he spoke.

“So…are you going to do that to me when you change the color of my eyes? Will…will you put your Knot inside me?”

Bear mentally cursed himself for an idiot. He shouldn’t have explained the whole Bonding Sex process to her—now she would expect him to Bond her to him which would mean breaking his vow.

“No, baby—not right away,” he said at last. “I want to take things slowly with you. You’re so little—I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

Aleena lifted her chin, her purple eyes flashing.

“I can take whatever you wish to give me, my husband,” she said fiercely. “I am not afraid!”

The uncertainty in her big eyes belied her statement, but Bear found himself touched by her courage.

“Of course you’re not, baby,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. “You’re incredibly courageous, agreeing to Join with a male you’d never even met before. But I still want to take things slow.”

“Well…all right.” She nibbled her lower lip. “But I want you to know I’m ready, my Bear. When you want to change the color of my eyes, I won’t try to run away. I…I’ll spread my thighs for you, my husband, and welcome you in. No matter how big your shaft is, I’ll take you deep into myself. Into my pussy.”

Her cheeks went dark with a blush as she spoke but she kept her head high and he could hear the determination in her tone. Her words made his cock surge all over again as he pictured her lying open on the bed for him, her thighs spread as she welcomed him in.

Gods, if he didn’t stop this, he was going to want to stay in bed with her all day and he couldn’t do that, he reminded himself. Aside from the ever-present temptation to break his sacred vow, he would also miss the negotiations which were beginning today.

“You’re incredibly sweet and brave, Aleena.” Sitting up, he pulled her close and gave her a long, slow kiss on the mouth.

She kissed him back eagerly and looked disappointed when he finally drew away and started to get out of bed.

“Must you leave, my husband?” she asked.

“I wish I could stay in bed with you all day,” Bear said truthfully. “But I have some important negotiations to attend, so I’m afraid I can’t, baby.”

“Oh, of course! How foolish of me.” Her cheeks flushed again with embarrassment. “Forgive me, my Bear. I was thinking only of my own pleasure in being with you.”

“It’s a pleasure to be with you, too, baby.” He stroked her cheek again. “But I have to get going. Do you have enough to keep you busy around here? You’ve got plenty of books to read—right?”

“I do but…” She nibbled her lower lip uncertainly and Bear sensed she had something she wanted to ask.

“Yes, sweetheart? What is it?” he asked.

“It’s just that…today is the day of my mother’s medical treatment. She’s very ill, you know,” Aleena said quickly. “And I know we are just now Joined and I ought to stay in the house, but I would so love to be with her in the Healing House. She is very dear to me and the treatments are so painful…”

“Of course you can go visit her,” Bear said, seeing where this was going. “But I’ll need to take the hovercoach. What if I leave you some money so you can call your own coach to take you to the Healing House?”

Her eyes went wide.

“You would give me credit of my own to spend?”

“Of course—you’re my wife, aren’t you?” Bear went to the dresser and began looking through his wallet. He pulled out some of the triangular metallic credit chips that were used for currency and showed them to her. “Will this be enough?”

Aleena’s eyes went even wider.

“More than enough!” she assured him. “Thank you, my husband! I swear I won’t waste a single credit on anything frivolous. I’ll just go straight to the Healing House and back again.”

“Don’t be silly—get yourself some lunch or a treat,” Bear told her. “I’m not demanding that you scrimp and save—there’s plenty where this came from so buy yourself whatever you want.”

Her pale purple eyes surely couldn’t get any wider.

“Oh my Bear,” she breathed. “You are so kind to me! Even kinder than my father was to my mother before he disavowed her!”

The talk of disavowing made Bear uneasy.

“I just want you to be happy, baby,” he told her. “Now, I’d better get dressed or I’m going to be late.”

“Of course! I’ll make you something quick to eat for breakfast,” she promised, hopping off the bed. “And this time, I promise not to burn it.”

“Speaking of burns, let me look at your hand,” Bear said. He should have thought of that earlier, but she’d distracted him with that sweet little mouth of hers.

Obediently, Aleena held out her palm to him. Bear took her hand and examined it before nodding in satisfaction. The quick-healing ointment he’d applied the night before had done its job nicely and soon the protective false-skin he’d sprayed on the burns would start peeling off.

“Good,” he said nodded. “You’re healing well.” Impulsively, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss in the center of her palm. When he looked up again, Aleena was staring at him with an unreadable look. “Everything okay?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Truly the Goddess of Mercy was smiling on me when she led me to be your bride,” she said softly. “I have never met a kinder man.”

“I’m just treating you the way a husband ought to treat his wife,” Bear told her. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Now I really do have to get dressed.”

“All right! I’ll go make you something.” Aleena flashed him a beautiful smile and scampered out of the bedroom and down the stairs. And though he knew he needed to start getting ready, Bear couldn’t help watching her go. What a beautiful, sweet, curvy little bride she was.

It made him sick to think that as soon as the negotiations were done, he would have to break her heart.