Page 13 of Rose's Untamed Bear

Soon, that kiss wasn't enough anymore. Our hands grew greedy and daring. I loved the way her hands felt as they explored my skin, my chest, and my arms, and I loved the feel of her skin under my hands. The way her fragile body pressed against me, so full of trust. It wouldn't have taken much effort on my part to squeeze the life out of her; hell, I probably wouldn't have even broken a sweat. That thought scared me, even without Magnus’ alarmed roar in the back of my head.

"Rose," I pulled back, taking a deep breath. "Rose."

She ignored my calls; instead, her feverish lips trailed hot kisses down my neck, by my ear, and I groaned. I would have never, in a million years, thought that just her lips by my ear could send my cock to the stratosphere. But it did. Oh God, did it ever.

I finally had to grab her arms and pull her back, "Rose."

Her eyes were glossy with desire, a desire I wanted nothing more than to reciprocate; hell, my body was on fire, my cock stiffer than it had ever been. But my mind kept screaming at me to hold back. I couldn't risk hurting her. Not for this. Not for anything.

Finally, the fact that I was restraining her penetrated her mind; her eyes looked at me first in surprise, then in shock, "Don't… don't you want me?"

Tears threatened to spill. Tears on my proud Rose were more than I could stomach. "Not want you? You? Gods, I want you more than I want to keep breathing, Rose. You're driving me insane."

"Then…?" She looked at me in confused question.

"Rose. I could hurt you. I don't want to hurt you." I managed to press out. Hearing those words from my own lips brought the truth home even more.

"What do you mean? You would never hurt me." She protested, just like I thought she would.

"You're right.Inever would."Neither would I, stormed Magnus in my head, but I shut him down.

As if she'd heard him, Rose echoed his words, "Magnus would never hurt me either."

I had made the mistake of telling her what I called the bear, and she liked it.

"Rose, you don't understand. He is a wild beast."I am not. Don't tell her that. I would never hurt her.

Shut. Up.

Stubbornly, she shook her head. "He. Would. Never. Hurt. Me."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, bringing our foreheads together so that they touched. I couldn't look at her without wanting her just as desperately as Magnus did. "I can't risk it."

As a matter of fact, right now, it seemed safer if Magnus took control and Derrick never resurfaced again. The man's desires were just too much. I wasn't sure if I could resist her a second time. Even now, I felt the faint press of her breasts against my chest, my overstimulated senses honed in on the rapid beat of her heart, her swollen lips, her warm breath. I even scented her arousal.

"Forgive me, Rose, I can't." I cried out. Unable to help myself, I pulled her against me and claimed her lips one more timein a hot, searing kiss that nearly severed the last shreds of my remaining willpower, before I ripped myself from her.

"Derrick!"

The scream of my name from her lips tore through me. Shattered my heart into a thousand pieces, piercing my soul. I began to run. Away from her.

"Derrick, don't you dare!" She shouted in a breaking voice that stomped on the shattered pieces some more. I slowed. "Derrick!"

I closed my eyes and saw her battered body in front of me. No! No! I couldn't risk hurting her. I wasn't sure what that beast inside me was capable of. Hell, just a shadow could make me turn into a beast. What if I were inside her when that happened? No!

I began to run again, faster and faster, my body spasming and hurting as it changed forms, the pants Rose had sewn for the man in me ripped just like my heart. My breaking heart hurt even more than the physical pain of changing. And I kept moving, something I had never done before.

All the while, the shattered cry of my name followed me through the trees, "Derrick!"

Ihated him. I hated him with my entire being. And yet, I could stop neither crying and hurting, nor loving him.

He left.

He left me standing there in the middle of the forest, broken and hurt.

I fell to my knees and slammed my fists into the ground, not even feeling the last of the snow drenching my clothes. I screamed his name until my voice cracked. I cried until my eyes were swollen and my throat raw. I curled on the ground, cursing him, begging him to come back.

It was getting dark before I managed to get myself together enough that I could at least make it back to the cottage.