Page 89 of Mated to the Mountain Bear

I drop her on the bed, watching her bounce slightly on the mattress. She pushes up on her elbows, but I’m already moving over her, caging her beneath me.

“This is what being mates means,” I say, settling between her thighs. “It means you’re it for me. First thing I think about when I wake up, last thing before I sleep.”

She shivers as my weight presses her into the mattress. “Ben...”

“It means knowing you’re mine, whether we’re here or in the city.” I let her see everything I’m feeling. The need, the certainty, the promise. “Means my bear will always know where you are. Will always find you. We’re obsessed with making you happy.”

When I finally sink into her, we both groan at the connection. It’s different this time. Deeper. More urgent. She feels it too; I can see it in her eyes and feel it in how she clings to me.

“Everything is more intense,” I tell her, moving slowly at first, trying to maintain control. “I’ll never get enough of you...”

She arches beneath me, nails scoring my back, and my words cut off in a growl.

My hands tighten on her hips, probably too hard, but she just moans and pulls me deeper.

“Ben,” she gasps. “Don’t hold back.”

My careful rhythm falters. “Zara...” This is our first time. I can’t let my control slip too far.

“I need all of you,” she whispers against my mouth. “Show me.”

Something snaps inside me. My hips drive forward harder, deeper.

She cries out, wrapping her legs around me, and the last thread of my control frays.

“Mine,” I growl, the word torn from somewhere deep in my chest. My voice doesn’t even sound human anymore. "No man will see you like this, or hear you like this, ever again.”

“Yours,” she agrees breathlessly, and that single word destroys what’s left of the man, leaving only the beast.

I flip her onto her stomach in one smooth motion, my hands gripping her hips, as I pull her back against me. She pushes up on her hands, looking back at me over her shoulder, and what she sees there makes her eyes widen.

“Ben?”

But I’m already moving, already taking, already claiming everything she’ll give me.

37

ZARA

Looking back over my shoulder, I see it happen. The last trace of the man I know disappears completely. His eyes are pure, glowing amber now, and his features have sharpened into something more primal. Ben is gone. Only the beast remains.

Adrenaline courses through my veins, but not from fear. I want to see him lose control. I want to know what this strong man really wants to do with my body, what he’s been holding back.

“Mine,” he rumbles against my skin, dark and possessive.

Nodding eagerly, I push back against him. If I’m his, then he’s mine.

Curling my hips up, I pull him deeper and gasp, his size stretching me wide and lighting up every nerve ending. The growl that bursts from his chest sends vibrations through my entire body, including where we’re connected, and I cry out at the intensity, my arms trembling as I try to hold myself up.

“More.” I demand, and my bear gives me what I want, rocking his hips forward and pushing, inch by inch, inside my yielding body.

His massive bulk keeps me pinned, even as I writhe under him, struggling to adjust to being so completely filled. It’s like he’s everywhere, taking over my body, owning me.

“That’s it, Zara. Take it all.” His voice is strained, barely human.

Ben holds me steady, one hand sliding around to circle my clit, while he pulses in and out in slight movements, so I can adjust. His hungry gaze stays fixed on where my body’s stretching around him.

“You’re doing so well.” He praises, his movements gathering momentum, his thrusts becoming deeper and faster. My breathing turns to sharp pants, each one punctuated by the drive of his hips.