Free Bear Meets Bride: A Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance by Amy Star

suck them both, then she leaned down heavily and kissed him. She was hot, like a burning ember on his chest, and he gripped her by the neck and kissed her lewdly, savoring again the taste of her.
    “That was….”
    “No words,” he hushed her, and hugged her tightly.
    She slid off him and buried her face against his chest, letting the afterglow settle on both of them. It was only when she felt Dylan gently combing his fingers between her hair that she finally slept again. Outside, the stars were like fixed eyes, telling their narratives in the dark. Even if the story they told would have blood in it.
    But just for tonight, she wanted to tell herself. Just tonight, let me forget about tomorrow. Let me be the bear that I am, nestled in the arms of another. It was enough.
     
    *
    Morning seemed to come too soon, and with it a mixture of emotions. Sarah looked up to Dylan, who was already awake, his fingers still grooming her hair, and he was smiling at her. She smiled back and nuzzled his chest hair playfully.
    “Morning, you,” he said.
    “Morning, you.”
    In the daylight, he looked less grim. She remembered last night with almost fluid detail; the smell of blood and the panic of death, of sitting on Dylan’s lap and the excruciating task of sewing his head. She reached up and touched the bandage, as if to ascertain that none of it had been a dream. He kissed her hand.
    “How does it feel?”
    “Better,” he said, “but I’ll probably have a cool scar.”
    “I like scars,” she admitted, “but you probably have a concussion, too.”
    “Good thing I didn’t go to sleep right away then,” he winked, and she blushed. “I heard you’re not supposed to do that if you get a concussion.”
    She playfully swatted him in the chest and sat up. Her small upturned breasts flashed at him, and she yawned. He ran a finger over the smooth skin of her stomach and she flinched, tickled by his touch.
    “You really are beautiful,” he said, and before she could blush again, he sat up and kissed her on the cheek, then the forehead. She wanted to cry. Not for the old reasons – out of fear, or stress, or panic – but because of something else. Something she hadn’t dared to believe would ever happen to her, and which she still kept from entering her thoughts in any meaningful way.
    Simply feels good to be loved , she said, and left it at that. Even though she knew that was just the tip of the iceberg. But what lay underneath that simple phrase was too much right now, especially when they had other things to consider.
    “Chris,” she murmured.
    Dylan nodded and stood up, and she couldn’t help but sneak a peek at his firm buttocks as he crawled off the couch from under the small quilted blanket and pulled on his pants again. “I checked on him a few hours ago… you were asleep again, inconsolably lost in a dream,” he laughed. “You sleep deeper than he does, after all.”
    “Is he…?”
    “Sleepy and disoriented. But good,” he said. “I’m going to make some breakfast. Can you do me a favor? He was in bear form for quite awhile so I think he should make a full recovery. But I am worried about infection… I was thinking I’d make him some yarrow tea. Do you know it?”
    She nodded. “Feathery green plant, smells nice? I have basic knowledge of plants and stuff,” she said, standing up as well. It still felt odd to be naked in front of a man but there was also something refreshing about it. The skin around her crotch and legs still felt tight with the dried fluids of both of them, and she could smell it even now – pungent and sweet – and it made her shudder again with renewed passion.
    What’s happening to me , she thought. I want him inside me again. The thought, so blasé and straightforward, shocked her. She pulled on her thong and discarded shorts, and found her tank-top as well, pulling one arm through even before she was out the door.
    Outside the sun was bright, a call-back to warmer summer days.