Free A Slash of Savagery (Wiccan-Were-Bear) by R. E. Butler Page B

her.
    Cupping the back of her head, he looked down and met her eyes as she let his cock fall from her lips.  She gripped his arm, and he helped her to stand and they kissed.
    If his heart were actually beating, it would beat for her alone.  He had never been in love before, but he couldn’t imagine any greater feeling than what he felt for his mate.
    Tipping her face up, he kissed her lips gently and said, “I love you, beloved mate.  My heart, my body, and my soul are forever yours.”
    Her eyes shone with unshed tears.  “I love you, too, Brone.  All I am or ever will be is yours alone.”
    He held her against him as he marveled at the rightness of the declaration of their feelings.  Their relationship might be fast by mortal terms, but they had shared their memories with each other and bonded together with blood and sex.  Nothing would ever separate them, and he’d spend eternity making sure she was safe and loved.
     
    * * * * *
     
    After Brone walked Arissa to her desk and kissed her soundly, he walked back down the hallway and stopped at Cella’s office.  She smiled up at him from where she sat filling out a form.
    “Congratulations on your mating, Brone.”
    “Thank you.”
    “What can I do for you?”
    “Arissa would like a couch and television in my chamber, as well as a small kitchen, similar to the one she has in her own chamber.”
    “I can pick out something nice for her.  The kitchen will take a few days to install, though, but the other stuff I can do right away.  Anything else?”
    “Her things need to be moved into my chamber.”
    “That’s easy,” Cella said as she smiled and lifted the receiver on her desk.  “I’ll get right on those items.”
    “Thank you, Cella.”
    “I’m happy to help, Brone.  I like her.”
    Brone nodded and left, heading to his own office.  As he sat in the large leather chair behind the mahogany desk, he glanced around the room.  It was bare of any personal effects.  Unlike Cella’s office where the walls were covered with framed photos of scenery, or Mishka’s office with tapestries depicting his many conquests over the years, or Temple’s collection of sci-fi movie posters, his own office was as bare as it had been when it was built.
    He dialed the front desk.
    “Hi, Brone.”  Arissa’s voice was like a balm to his soul.
    “Do you have a photo I can put on my desk?”
    She paused for a moment and then said, “That’s so sweet.  I’m sure I can find one for you.  Nothing too sexy, right?”
    He growled lightly and she laughed.  “Thank you, beloved.”
    “Anytime,” she said and ended the call.
    Mishka appeared in the doorway, and Brone raised a brow at him.  “Congratulations on your mating.”
    Brone nodded.
    “Her wound healed well?”
    It had taken almost two days for his wound on her neck to heal into the permanent mating scar that marked her as his.  When they had mated, when he’d been buried to the hilt inside her, he had sunk his fangs deeply into her neck and drank her sweet blood.  He’d been worried about the deep wound, but it had stopped bleeding quickly and had slowly closed.  The weekly feedings would not be as deep, and she would be able to heal those wounds faster.  She also thought that she could find a poultice to help her skin knit together.  He planned to feed from her wrist sometimes, but he did love how she felt in his arms as he fed from her neck.
    “It did,” he answered.
    Mishka regarded Brone silently for a moment, and then said, “I suppose you will not want to take on long, dangerous missions on my behalf.”
    “You would suppose correctly.”
    Mishka snorted and shook his head.  “You have changed a great deal, my friend.  I did not expect that you would ever find a mate, but I am happy for you.”
    “It only took a thousand years for my beloved to appear.  There is hope for you as well.”
    “We shall see.”
    Mishka left Brone to his work, and he turned his attention to the