Free Bear Naked by Jessica Sims

following the darker trail of hair down his stomach. It arrowed down to his belly button and then widened again, and I slid my fingers even further down, exploring his groin. I enjoyed his sucked-in breath, and my experimenting grew bolder. I reached down and cupped his balls, fascinated by the softness of the skin that covered them, and the heat of his body. Touching Leif felt good.
    Then, I brushed my fingers over the soft length of his cock, now flaccid against his leg, and watched as it stirred to life. “Well now,” I said in a low voice. “That’s interesting.” The heat between my legs had begun to pulse again, excitement flicking through my veins.
    “I think my body likes you,” Leif mused, and his hand began to smooth over my shoulder, caressing my skin.
    His words ruined my teasing mood. His body was responding to mine because of the pheromones I was throwing off. That was the heat, not me.
    Uncertainty leapt up again and I pulled my hand away. “Leif…you know that this will mean a baby, right? We’re not using protection and I’m not on the pill.” And females only went into heat when ovulation was assured. That was why a female shifter’s heat was such an important event in her life - they didn’t come often. My own mother had only gone into heat once in her life - and I was the result.
    “I know what this means, ‘Lina,” he said softly. “Don’t worry about that.”
    “But…I just want you to know,” I began, then paused. The words tore out of my throat haltingly, as if they didn’t want to come. “You…it doesn’t mean you have to be the father, though.”
    He tilted his head, frowning up at me, as if trying to understand where I was going with this.
    “I mean, you will be the father, of course.” I felt my face become red as I tried to put the words out into the air. “Just that you and me…right now…it doesn’t mean you have to be involved in the baby’s life if you don’t want to be. I can do it on my own. I don’t want you to feel obligated.”
    Leif stared up at me for so long that I began to get uncomfortable. His blue eyes watched my face, and I wondered what he was thinking. I had the distinct impression that I’d angered him.
    And that made me unhappy and nervous. “What?” I snapped. “I’m just trying to give you options, here. I—“
    His hand went to the back of my neck, and I fell silent mid-thought. Leif said nothing more, just rested that hand on the back of my neck. I flexed and tensed, waiting for him to do something.
    It came a moment later. He surged off of the bed, likely intending to roll me onto my back. However, the cot was so creaky and the bed so narrow that we ended up tipping it over, and both of us rolled to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and blankets. I winced as Leif’s weight thumped on top of me.
    I expected him to apologize again for startling me, but he didn’t. Instead, he crawled over me, his heavier weight pinning me to the cold wooden floor. His blue eyes were intense as they watched me. His head dipped low to my neck, and I felt his mouth press against my skin, hot and delicious.
    I moaned, desire flaring through my body. “Leif—“
    His hand tightened on the back of my neck. Before I could question what he was doing, I felt his teeth sink into my skin, and he nipped me at my neck.
    Hard.
    I gasped in shock as the bite deepened. He had the blunt teeth of any human, but for some reason, I felt the scoring of his teeth on my skin like a brand. A moment later, I realized what this was — a mate mark.
    Leif had just claimed me as his.
    Startled, I clung to him for a moment longer as he continued to bite me, cementing his claim. The mark would show, livid as a bruise, for a few days, and then would fade into a faint scarring that only a shifter could sense. But after this, no male shifter would ever think to touch me again, because Leif had declared me as his property.
    To say that I was stunned by this was an