Page 31 of Mated to the Mountain Bear
My control snaps.
This is torture of the sweetest kind, knowing she wants me, but I’m unable to do anything about it. My bear claws at my insides, demanding I go to her and claim what’s ours. Insisting she wantsusto touch her, forourhands to bring her to climax.
But I can’t. Won’t. She doesn’t know what I am and doesn’t understand that I can hear everything.
She thinks she’s alone with her desires.
Another soft moan drifts down the hall, and I have to bite back my growl. The need is overwhelming and made worse by the memory of this morning. Her mouth on my thumb. The accidental brush of her hand against my cock. The way she looked up at me while down on her knees, wide-eyed, but eyelids heavy with lust.
I can’t take this. If I don’t find release, I’ll do something unforgivable. Something rash that will destroy the fragile trust between us.
My hand moves to the waistband of my sweatpants, hesitating only a moment, before giving in to necessity. The alternative is barging into that room and showing her exactly what she’s doing to me.
I wrap my fingers around myself, already painfully hard from her sounds and scent. It’s wrong to listen, wrong to take pleasurefrom her private moment, but I couldn’t block it out if I tried. I couldn’t pretend I don’t know she’s touching herself while thinking of me, even if I wanted to.
My thumb—the one she sucked—leads the rhythm as I stroke myself. I can still feel the ghost of her mouth, warm and wet. Can imagine what else that mouth could do.
Her breathing quickens down the hall, and mine matches pace. We’re connected in this moment even though she doesn’t know it. Moving together toward the same inevitable conclusion.
When she gasps my name again, louder this time, I have to turn my face into the couch cushion to muffle my own shouts.
Release crashes through me as I hear her find her own, her pleasure triggering mine in a way that speaks to something primal and possessive.
For long moments after, I lie still but breathe hard, ashamed and satisfied in equal measure. The scent of our combined arousal hangs in the air, marking my space with something we both want.
My bear settles slightly, temporarily sated, but far from satisfied. He wants more. He wants her mouth filled with our cock, and her belly full of our seed. Wants her beneath us, surrounding us, claimed and marked as ours.
But we can’t have that tonight. And maybe never will.
11
ZARA
Iwake to the sound of movement in the kitchen, and I sit bolt upright in bed, my heart pounding in my chest. For a moment, I’m disoriented and still wrapped in the lingering heat of last night’s dreams.
My face burns as I remember. The way I touched myself while thinking of him. The way his name escaped my lips.
God, what if he heard something?
No. The cabin’s solid, and I was quiet. Mostly quiet.
I dress quickly in more of Ben’s clothes, trying to armour myself in normalcy. But when I catch my reflection in the mirror, I see the truth written all over my face. Flushed cheeks, messy hair, and bright eyes.
The look of a woman who’s thoroughly satisfied, even if it’s by her own hand.
Get it together, Zara.
Splashing cold water on my face, I stare at the bathroom tap like it’s personally betrayed me. Another ice-cold trickle. After days without a proper shower, I’m starting to feel less than human. Maybe I should suck it up and have a cold one, but I just can’t face it. Not today.
Instead, I run my fingers through my straggly hair and twist it into a high bun.
Ben’s in the kitchen when I emerge, fully dressed. He glances up from his coffee, taking in my dry hair and frustrated expression. There’s something in his eyes, an intensity that wasn’t there yesterday, but it’s gone before I can be sure.
“Didn’t shower?”
I shake my head, not trusting my voice. He’s been so generous in opening his home to me when few people would have. I can’t complain about the water temperature like some spoiled brat.
A frown crosses his face, his mouth twisting, the pieces clicking into place. “You said yesterday you changed your mind about showering, too.”
