Free Love to Bear: A Werebear Shifter Romance by A.T. Mitchell Page A

our bodies and fluids mingling, for
what seemed like a small eternity.
    Rabid breaths were still pouring from his mouth when I
collapsed against him. Don broke the vice-like embrace around my
back.
    He shifted his erection up, holding in what he'd given
me like an animal making sure the mating act did its job. I rested my
flushed face on his shoulder, inhaling his scent.
    “ Beautiful, beautiful.” He repeated the
phrase several times, soft and nearly breathless. “You're just
like I thought, Sam. Amazing through and through.”
    “ Only because you were all the way in me.” I
smiled.
    We kissed. Finally, he took it as a sign to pull out.
He'd softened slightly, but amazingly not by much.
    I sat on his lap and he cuddled me close in his arms. A
million thoughts raced through my brain.
    Mainly, I just felt whole. Finally, finally whole, all
the pieces scattered by Ryan glued together again.
    Don's love, his touch, had worked its magic. In my
wholeness, I needed him more than ever, my flesh sweaty and eager to
feel him filling me over and over.
    “ What am I going to do with you? I'm not sure I'll
appreciate another man ever again.” I brushed my cheek on his,
savoring the feel of his stubble.
    “ You won't.” I looked up with surprise, and
his eyes sparkled with unearthly confidence. “And I'm going to
make sure you realize that every free hour you're here. Every night.
If we get you home, you're going to come back to me, or else I'll
have to come to you.”
    He'd left me speechless, so I kissed him. Deep inside, I
knew he was totally right.
    I wanted him more. Forever. And as I sensed him growing
harder and restless near my thigh, I didn't care how dangerous or
risky it would be to get my way.

    “ Here are the records, female. And here's a pen
and paper to write down anything you think we should know.”
Emmerick pushed a notepad and an old fountain pad from another age
into my hand. “You'd better have something to say too. This is
a good time to prove your worth to the council and to me.”
    I looked over, worried. Don's jaw rippled through his
cheek. He was clenching it hard, restraining himself, probably using
enough force to bite through a brick.
    “ I'll do my best,” I said. I actually meant
it too.
    I had no love for this old bully. But if it meant
smoothing things over, giving me more time to relax and enjoy my new
love? Totally worth it.
    Emmerick shot me one last stink-eye and then went out
the back entrance. We were alone in the town hall's massive side
chamber, a labyrinth of old files and books.
    With the Elder gone, Don relaxed a little. He sniffed,
rubbing his nose. I gave him a knowing smile.
    If the musty stench in the room bothered me, then it had
to be magnitudes worse for a shifter with his keen sense of smell.
And it wasn't just must. Judging by the yellowed pages and layers of
dust I scraped off the folders, no one had looked at the records for
a long time, let alone cleaned them.
    I started with the oldest, a slim journal in crabbed
writing. It was dated 1919, written by someone named Riemmeck Jones,
clan historian.
    “ Isn't that hard to read?” Don said after
awhile. He shifted next to me, clearly bored as he watched me making
out the cramped words underneath the dull lamp.
    “ Well, it's not easy. But it's very interesting.
You didn't tell me anything about how this clan came to be.” I
looked up in awe. “Is this supposed to be real history or just
a legend?”
    He shrugged. “You tell me. Nobody around here has
seen magic for generations. I know your kind says it doesn't exist
outside fairy tales.”
    My head was spinning. I read about how the clan had
started. Apparently, a group of settlers on their way to Washington
and Oregon in the middle nineteenth century had fallen foul of the
Kalispel native people while resting for the winter.
    Their leader, Robert Stanton, had an illicit affair with
a young Indian girl. When she disappeared, the tribe held up Stanton
as the obvious