Free Wolf Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 4) by T. S. Joyce

her eyes to the world and cried out his name as an orgasm blasted through her on explosive pulses, gripping him as he rammed into her and clamped his teeth harder against her tripping pulse. He wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t.
    Warmth shot into her in throbbing bursts as a snarl filled Link’s throat. Over and over, he filled her until wetness trickled out between them. He released her neck and rested his forehead on hers as he slowed down and then pushed into her one last time.
    The heat in her chest intensified, burning until it was uncomfortable. She gasped out when it became unbearable, and Link went rigid above her, hands too tight on her waist and the back of her neck.
    “Fuck,” he ground out, closing his eyes as if he felt the pain, too.
    And she saw it. Something luminescent radiated from her skin, lifting from her, pulsing with power as it poured into Link on a translucent stream. A moment and it was gone, as if she’d imagined it, but when she looked into Link’s eyes, she knew she wasn’t the only one who’d been affected. His eyes were wide, shocked, as though he’d never seen her before, and he slid out of her and scrambled backward, then crouched on the edge of the bed.
    “What did you do?” he asked.
    Astonished, she sat up and pressed her palms over her heart, but her skin didn’t feel hot on the outside. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
    Her limbs should’ve felt heavy or numb if she’d given him something of herself, but she felt fine. Whole. Energized even. The only remaining effect was that her chest still felt abnormally warm on the inside.
    “You bound us.” Link shook his head back and forth, eyes wide. “You’re human. You can’t.” A long snarl left him. “Love her. I love you.” Link shook his head and held it in his hands as if he hurt. As if gripping it hard would keep him together. “I didn’t bite you! I was trying to protect you.” His voice went gravelly. “Can’t protect her from what’s coming. She’s ours now.” Link went white as a sheet. “Ours,” he repeated, his vacant eyes on the crumpled comforter. “We’ll hurt her.” Link looked at her with heartbreak etched into every facet of his face. “I’ll hurt you. You should leave. No. Get out of here. No. Stay away from me. Be okay.”
    Fury pumped through her veins. She should leave? After that incredible moment they’d shared, she should stay away from him? She was almost watching him give up on himself and on her, and she hated it. “Stop it! I see you, Link. I see all of you. Fuck the curse, and fuck you waiting around to go mad and die. If I bound myself to you, or whatever it was that just happened, it was for a reason. I didn’t just find you to lose you.” She blasted off the bed and began dressing, rage shaking her hands and making her fumble with the clothes.
    “You’re leaving.” He said it as though he expected nothing less, which made her even angrier.
    “No, I’m not. Not like you think. I’m going home because you and Wolf need to have this argument without me here listening to you ruin a moment that meant everything to me!” Her shoulders sagged, and she blinked back the damned tears because she was not a crier. Never was, never would be. “It meant everything ,” she repeated low.
    She strode toward the coat rack at the front door.
    “Don’t leave like this,” Link said from behind her.
    She turned on him. “I’m in this now, and so are you, Lincoln.” Full first name—yeah, she was pissed. “Own your fucking last name. Own the wolf and the man. Own me! Spend every moment you can with me because I see the changes in you. I hear the way Wolf growled just now. It was less, it was softer, and twice it even sounded happy.”
    “I have work,” he said with a frown. “Can’t spend every day—”
    “I don’t give a shit about your excuses, Link. Avoiding me won’t erase either of our feelings.” She narrowed her eyes at him as an idea began to form. “But