Her Broken Bear Read online

  Hadley bit back a sob and held on for dear life.

  Each step towards the little yellow cabin felt like an eternity. Each step they were clothed and separated from each other felt like infinity.

  “I need you,” Hadley said. She closed her eyes and accepted his size. His potency.

  “It’s the adrenaline,” Hunter whispered in her ear. “Does funny things to people.”

  She grinned. “Like make them horny as fuck?”

  Hunter began chuckling. Finally laughing so hard he had to stop walking. “Yes,” he said. “It makes them horny as fuck. Didn’t you learn shit like that when you were in nursing school?”

  Hadley shrugged and tightened her arms around his neck. “There’s knowing something intellectually, and then there is experiencing it.” She looked into his midnight black eyes. “Do you ever get used to it?”

  “Not really. You roll with it. Accept it. And then fuck like crazy when you get the chance.”

  “Hmmm,” Hadley hummed against the line of his neck. “You know, as long as I’m here, I could probably taste you.”

  His erection pushed through his sweatpants and wiggled her bottom. Seeking a deeper connection. “More,” she muttered.

  “Oh, you are going to get more,” Hunter promised as he opened the door. He set her down and made sure the door was closed firmly behind them. “So much more, you’ll be walking funny for a week.”

  Hadley giggled. “Just a week?” She started to head for the bedroom, but Hunter held her back. “What’s wrong?” she asked slowly. Confused by his sedate pace.

  “I stink of smoke and fear and frankly, my dear, you’re not exactly smelling like a bed of roses, either.” Hunter slid his fingers through her short spikey curls. Their lips touched. Parted. Tongues tangling in an ageless dance of seduction.

  “I don’t mind,” she said, shocked at the sultry, needy sound in her voice.

  “You will in about an hour and a half,” Hunter promised. He led them both towards the large shower. “Just imagine that shower, hot water pouring down. Cleansing us. While I eat your sweet pussy until you come in my mouth.” His words were said against the sensitive line of her neck, and a smattering of chill bumps tickled her spine.

  “Oh, dear,” Hadley said, feeling her knees grow a little weak at the suggestion. “I um. Yeah, water. Cleansing. Pussy.” She felt her cheeks stain pink. “I’m all about that.”

  Hunter turned on the hot water, letting the steam warm them. Haze surrounded them, and Hadley felt like she was watching a soft-focus movie. She had to remind herself that this was real. They were both here. Alive. And ready to affirm that life in the most natural way possible.

  His fingers were nimble as they slid her shirt over her head, exposing the lace of her bra. Hadley’s fingers automatically went to the hooks in the back, but Hunter’s hands were there first. “Let me,” he said.

  One by one, he divested her of her street clothes. She stood tall and proud, breasts lifted in a not-so-subtle invitation. One hand hovered over the juncture between her legs, but Hunter’s hand soon captured it. For the first time in her life, Hadley felt as though her soul was bared to another human being.

  Hunter slid the borrowed sweats off and stepped into the shower. Hot water instantly dampened his hair and created sexy rivulets along his muscles.

  “Come here, honey,” Hunter said.

  “I don’t think I can.” Hadley laughed nervously, gripping the towel rack. Her hair and skin stank of soot, but something kept her from walking into the oversized shower stall.

  “I’ll help.” Dripping water over the bathroom tile, he stepped out from under the spray of water. The sight of his body, water sluicing across skin and muscles made Hadley moan.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as he stepped back into the rain of steaming, hot water.

  “Enjoying you.” Hunter’s smile was equal parts sexy and shy. He cupped one breast, running his thumb over her stiffened nipple. He knelt before her, and she felt like a goddess offering her body for her lover’s pleasure.

  “Lean closer.” With a small whimper, she slowly leaned forward. Closer. Aching for his mouth on her while shying away from the pleasure she knew awaited her. Knowing he would do anything, complete any wish, satisfy any demand. Eager to feel the pleasure he offered so generously, she leaned in. “Oh, dear Lord,” she cried when his mouth closed over one nipple.

  Water pelted their skin, washed them clean, making them whole again in the aftermath of the fire at the line shack. The pounding of the water onto the tiles echoed the sound of the rain on the tin roof. And wherever Hadley turned, there was Hunter.

  “Oh, please, oh, please don’t stop,” Hadley whispered. Her hands reached for Hunter’s slick black hair. She held him close to her. Begging him.

  “What?” he asked, a sly smirk in his eyes. He licked, circling his tongue around her plump breast. Hunter kissed her nipple one last time and switched to the other breast. And again sucking. Scraping his teeth. Laving it with his tongue. Beginning again.

  “All of it. Everything. I never knew it could be like this.”

  Hunter’s hand went between her legs, his fingers brushing against her sex. It was almost too much and not nearly enough.

  The ache built. Intensifying. Growing and ebbing like the tide of the Atlantic Ocean. She gasped and rubbed against him. Rocking her hips. Tighter and tighter she drew until just before breaking, she shattered, releasing into his hand.

  Hadley squeezed her eyes shut, teeth clenched against a scream of pleasure, she groaned in acute need.

  “Let me taste you,” Hunter said.

  “Oh, Jeeze.” Hadley felt the blush creeping up from her chest. It was all too much. Too intimate. How did one ever get used to this, she wondered.

  Sinking to his knees, he hoisted her legs until they were braced over his broad shoulders. “Hunter, I’m too heavy for this,” she whispered but gasped as she felt the lips of her sex part to the steamy air of his breath.

  His tongue teased the outer lips of her pussy. Pulling lightly on the puffy, silken skin. Hunter’s tongue probed, going deeper. Teasing the tiny nub of her clit, but not touching it. Not yet.

  “Hunterrrr,” Hadley slurred. Her brain was mush, and she could hardly form words. Sheets of pleasure cascaded from her core out to the rest of her body. Power pulsed through her and she arched into him. Her hands curled with the need to touch him. To stroke over his honey-colored skin.

  “Patience, baby,” Hunter said, his lips brushing against the tender, sensitive flesh.

  But patience was gone. Demand took over.

  “Please. Don’t make me wait.” Whimpers tore through her throat.

  “Never.” His voice was guttural with need. He stood, grabbed his cock with one hand and held her easily with the other. While his mouth mated to hers, he joined their bodies. Their futures. Their very souls.

  Hunter

  “Glad you insisted on a shower,” Hadley mumbled. Hunter grinned. She was half asleep but still talking.

  “Smells better, huh?”

  But she was already out, snoring from the exhaustion of the fire, the lovemaking, and the inevitable adrenal fatigue.

  Hunter stayed awake, stroking the naked line of her spine. The generous curve of her bottom. Fingers straying down the smooth line of her thighs.

  Though Hadley wasn’t a fragile woman, she was so much smaller than him. He ran a finger across her wrist, admiring the delicate strength she wielded. He slid his arm under her head, and the other around her waist. He pulled her close, spooning their bodies tightly together.

  Bal settled within him, the fool bear purring in contentment. And as Hunter lay wrapped around Hadley, it was the most comfortable he’d been in his entire life.

  <<<>>>

  Hunter realized he was dreaming. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep next to Hadley. His control was still tenuous at best. But there he was. Back on Quibrian soil. Blowing shit up for Uncle Sam again.

  He trie
d screaming at his dream-self as he went around preparing to blow up the munitions location. “It’s a school, you dumb ass,” he hollered, but Hunter wasn’t listening to himself.

  Hunter tried appealing to Bal, but Bal was oddly quiet.

  Then there was nothing but smoke. Adults screaming. Children dying.

  The reek of death was everywhere. Shrieking children echoed in his brain. It mixed somehow, with the scream of Cree’s mountain lion.

  Hunter began operating on instincts alone. He receded, allowing Bal full reign. But of course, the people were afraid of an 800-pound grizzly bear charging at them. Nothing he did was right and still. People died. Bal’s roars echoed in time with the throbbing of his pulse. The cries of the children were an out of tune staccato medley. And the damn cat, icy green eyes daring him to move forward.

  Only the scent of roses kept him from hurting people. No. He shook his massive head. Not roses. A friend. A lover. A mate. But that couldn’t be right. Hunter didn’t have friends. His friends were dead. As dead as the Quibrian children he’d helped kill.

  He was broken. No mate would have him. No woman would touch him.

  War after war, he had been sent. To countries near and far. Hunter was damn good at his job. Until Quibria.

  Another scent penetrated his dimmed senses. Cut through the stench of death. It was delicate. Floral. Feminine. The sweet scent of roses on a June evening.

  With an effort, Hunter forced himself to wake up. “What the?” he muttered, stunned to see Bal’s claws.

  No, he admitted to himself. His claws.

  Panting, he realized he had shifted while sleeping and fell off the bed. Never, in the fifteen years since he’d accepted the army’s offer, had he shifted without conscious thought.

  For a moment, he refused to look at the bed. “Please don’t let her be dead,” he muttered into the quiet room. Too quiet. He tried to listen for her breathing, but his own fear made hearing anything impossible.

  Terror hit him, and he forced himself to look up. To see what he had done. The decision had already been made. If Hadley were dead, he would gladly turn the dangerous six-inch claws on himself. He didn’t want to live in a world where he had taken the life of his lover as she lay nestled into his body.

  Hunter was horrified to see if he had injured Hadley during his flashback. But instead, she continued to sleep, exhaustion making her immune to the alarm he felt. And as the scare diminished, his hearing could pick up the audible sound of her breathing

  Hadley was fine.

  He lifted one plate-sized paw and cringed even as he trailed his pad down the exquisite slope of one arm. Like an addict, Hunter needed one last fix. One last touch of her silken skin before he cut himself off cold turkey.

  With a deep, shuddering sob, he ran into the moon-shadowed night.

  Chapter Eight

  Hadley

  The morning sun woke her. She lay, blinking at the curtains blowing in the spring air. How quiet it all looked after the events of yesterday.

  At first, Hadley stretched and yawned, one hand seeking her lover. When she realized Hunter wasn’t there, her heart broke a little. He knew she was going home today, but apparently, goodbye was too much to ask.

  In resignation, Hadley packed her bags and loaded up her car. There was no point chasing a man who didn’t want to be caught.

  Lacey came out of her house a sad smile on her face. “I don’t want you to go,” she said with a little pout.

  “I’m sorry,” Hadley said. She hugged her friend and wiped at her tears. “But there’s nothing for me here. I can’t keep waiting for a man who reverts to bear form and runs away.”

  “His bear is broken, Hadley. If it helps, I haven’t seen him in human form as much as he did this past week.”

  “So, I’m just supposed to wait around forever? I have too much self-respect for that.”

  “When I first met Quinn, Cree told me something. He said all veterans pay with their lives. Some pay all at once. Others pay inches at a time.”

  Hadley was quiet, hearing both the words and the meaning behind it. “What should I do?”

  Lacey shrugged. “Hunter called for Quinn at three in the morning. They went for a run. I know sometimes they have to run. They need to connect with that part of themselves.”

  “Does Quinn have a name for his Mastiff?”

  Lacey started to laugh but realized Hadley was serious. “No, not that he’s ever said to me. Why? Does Hunter?”

  “Yeah, he calls him Bal.”

  “Aww. That’s sweet. Baloo, like in the Rudyard Kipling book.”

  “Oh,” Hadley said, putting the connection together. Baloo, the bear. Why hadn’t she put it together? Hadley sighed, playing with her keys. “It’s too much, Lacey. I want a family. A brightly lit house crowded with toys, a yard littered with bicycles, and a rescue kitty.”

  “Or two,” Lacey said. “Well, you may need to count the cats out. Hunter really doesn’t like cats.”

  “No, he really doesn’t like Cree.”

  “You aren’t lying there,” Lacey agreed with a laugh. “Did you know Hunter was willing to die in that fire yesterday?”

  “What…what are you talking about?”

  “Quinn was trapped with a boy on the other side of a burning beam. He said they would have died back there. But Hunter laid down. The mother fluffing bear laid down on the fire and gave Quinn a bridge to walk across to get to safety.”

  Tears filled Hadley’s eyes as she thought of her bear. His soulful dark eyes. The way he ran when emotions ran too high and too much was at risk for him.

  “And then Cree tried to get Hunter out of there Out of danger.”

  Hadley tilted her head. “I thought those two didn’t like each other much.”

  Lacey sighed. “It’s complicated. Cree’s mate died when they were kids. At this point, Cree only holds on to help Quinn.” She chuckled ruefully. “Or drive him crazy. But this is the only family Cree has.”

  “Why would he do that for Hunter though?” Hadley’s heart beat at the thought of a world where Hunter Bromstadt wasn’t in it anymore. One where he had died in a fire saving his friends. She massaged her heart, hoping to ease some of the burdens she felt there.

  “Cree’s mate died. He is acutely aware that he will go through his life completely alone. No woman to love. No kids to call his own. He can see, as clearly as I can, that you and Hunter are mates. Without him, you would have led the same kind of quiet life Cree lives.”

  Tears fell, unchecked, down Hadley’s cheeks. “Cree doesn’t seem too miserable.”

  “Hah, why do you think he fights so much? Too much energy. And have you ever seen him sniffing the wind?”

  Hadley shook her head. “No, he didn’t come around much while Hunter was recuperating.”

  “Well, he does,” Lacey said. Her golden eyes grew distant. “I think he still searches for her. And I worry it will eventually drive him insane.”

  “That doesn’t help me figure out what to do about a man who runs away when the truths get too real. When the pain rises to the surface.”

  “I know you need to go back to Winston. To your job.” Lacey’s smile was resigned. “Just don’t be too shocked if a hot bear shifter dude comes crawling to you, begging for forgiveness.”

  Hadley sighed heavily, her heart breaking as she started the engine and put the car in drive. “I can do a lot of things, Lacey. But I can’t heal a man who doesn’t want my help.” She closed the car door, waved to her friend, and headed east. Towards home.

  Even if her heart did break at every mile.

  Even if, over the refrain of whatever song was on the radio, she kept thinking, All soldiers pay with their lives. Some all at once. Some one inch at a time

  Hunter

  He sat on an outcropping, waiting for Hadley’s car to pass. His heart hurt as he saw her small car buzz down the road, leaving the mountain, behind her. Leaving him behind her.

  Hunter didn’t blame her. After mak
ing love to her, watching her shatter and falling apart in his arms, to shift uncontrollably. Well. It was unforgivable.

  Bal howled, pushing against his skin. Demanding they go get her. Mine

  “You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?”

  Hunter lifted one shoulder. “Hey to you, too, Quinn.”

  “Don’t give me that fucking shit! You wake me up at three in the goddamn morning because you shifted. You wanted to run so, I ran with you. And now Hadley is gone, and Lacey is sad.”

  “Hadley and Lacey will be fine. They’re friends. They can get together whenever they want.” Hunter’s voice was flat. Devoid of emotion as he continued to stare down the road he knew Hadley had taken.

  “It’s not the same. Lacey is lonely here. She was hoping they could open a clinic in town. Handle both the shifter side and the human side.”

  Hunter was quiet, listening to the sounds of the birds calling to each other. “I thought there would be peace after she left,” he admitted.

  “She’s your mate, Hunter. Your one and only. Why do you think Cree is such a melancholy motherfucker? His mate died when they were kids.”

  “If the Forces had wanted us to have mates, they would have issued them,” Hunter intoned, mimicking a speech he’d been given dozens of times. “Besides, I still owe time to Uncle Sam. I have to figure that shit out before I go deciding what I’m going to do about a curvy blonde with blue-grey eyes.”

  “You can’t hold your shifts.”

  “And if I can’t hold my shifts, I’m no good to the government.” Hunter snorted. “You don’t suppose they still do medical experiments on used up shifters, do you?”

  Quinn shuddered. “Don’t even say that. Seriously. You have three years left on your contract. You either have to figure a way to do it or figure a way out.”

  “Wish it were that easy,” Hunter thought.

  “You held it together in the fire, didn’t you?” Quinn said.

  Hunter nodded. “Yeah, but that was easy. We had a job to do. Kids to save. Black to…” His voice trailed off.

  “Black to what?” Quinn pressed.

  “Black to put back in my ledger! That’s it,” Hunter said, spine straightening fully for the first time since Quibria.