Free Fated To Her Bear by Harmony Raines

back, wanting to keep the connection between them forever.
    If only they could stay like this, with no decisions to make. But that wasn’t life, at least not the life she was used to. And now she had come to one more decision.
    “Come on,” she said, moving from under him.
    “I was comfortable there,” he said, pulling her back to him and kissing her mouth. For a moment or two she allowed him to fill her senses once more, but then she pushed him playfully away.
    “Get dressed,” she said, slipping out of bed, trying not to feel embarrassed by her naked body, which normally she kept well covered. Grabbing her clothes, she pulled them on quickly, knowing if he pulled her back into bed, she might easily change her mind. But there was something she wanted to do. She only hoped he wouldn’t object.
    “What’s going on?” he asked, pulling on his jeans. She watched him as he reached for his shirt and covered his toned chest, and wondered if she really was crazy.
    “I want to go out. To the mountain. You’ve seen me. Now I want to see you.” She waited for him to object, but instead he reached for her sweater and pulled it on over his head.
    “Now I feel nervous. A great lumbering bear next to a horse that can run so swiftly.” He shook his head.
    Ciara stood up. “That’s how I feel next to you. All toned muscles and fit. If this bond didn’t exist, you wouldn’t look twice at me. So I should be grateful about that.” Her face dropped. “Now I feel as though I’m cheating you.”
    He came to her, moving frighteningly fast, pulling her into his arms. “Don’t ever say that. I love every inch of you, from the swell of your breasts to the softness of your skin. You are the most attractive, beautiful woman I could ever want. Never forget that.”
    He kissed her hungrily, and she clung to him until his passion made her believe every word.
     

Chapter Eighteen – Ryan
    “OK. Here goes.” He felt an unusual feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He shouldn’t be nervous, but he was.
    “I can’t wait.” She didn’t take her eyes off of him. “And if I change after, so we can go up over the mountain, you won’t eat me, right?”
    He grinned, but didn’t say what was on his mind. Her words had conjured up the thought of her taste on his tongue, of the moist heat between her thighs, and the way she sighed so contentedly when he plunged his tongue deep into her. “No. I won’t eat you.”
    “Then go!” she said, as she stood back amongst the trees, waiting for him to release his bear.
    “No pressure,” he laughed nervously.
    “None at all.”
    He could feel her excitement and he tried to grab ahold of that and let it help him overcome his fears. What if after everything, she didn’t like this side of him. You’re a bear, he reminded himself. A great, big, powerful bear. What’s not to like?
    Ryan was about to find out.
    He let his mind relax and then filled it with the image of his bear. And there his nerves kicked in again. Big bulking body, shaggy coat, usually dirty form rolling in mud and sitting in the river that flowed down the side of the mountain. Teeth that were sharp and a short snout, which usually could be found sniffing out interesting things in the dirt. Yep. What’s not to like?
    Yet he stepped into the image anyway. Because no matter what, he could not give up this side of himself. The ranch, yes, his freedom, yes. But never his bear. And she would know this. Hadn’t she said she regretted keeping her horse in check for so long?
    His body flowed out of this world, the atoms becoming unstuck from each other only to return as something else. Low to the ground, all four paws leaving their prints in the ground, his bear made its first appearance in front of their mate. And he did not lack confidence.
    One solid paw moved forward at a time as he lumbered up to Ciara. He reached out with his snout and sniffed her, pleased with her scent. She reached out and he stuck his nose into the