Page 111 of Cross To Bear

The bear was coming to the fore, no brown left in his eyes, only gold. Black fur prickled across his skin, claws dug into the vinyl of the bench, right before they sliced and diced my clothing, until all there was left was me and that damn toy. He pulled it free with a guttural growl, pitching it across the room to land with a frantic flutter in the sink.

“I’ve felt like I was in love with you the moment we met. Looking at you as you walked into my parents’ house was like being hit by lightning. But imagine my surprise when I worked out the feeling only got worse…” He leaned down, kissing me much more slowly. “Or better each time I saw you. I’ve spent my whole life walking towards this moment and I gotta say, it’s even better than I hoped. You ready for me, Maddie?”

I answered him by jerking his belt open then his zip down.

“You gonna take all of me? I think you are, because you’re my good girl.”

He was careful and completely out of control, all at the same time, slapping a hand down near my head, but nowhere near my newly tattooed arm. My hips were jerked forward, tilted up with his other hand, right before he found my entrance and sank right in.

Fuck…

I clawed at his back, at his hips, just to keep him where he was for a second. I was dripping wet, and he slid deep with little effort, but that wasn’t it. He pierced my soul as well as my body, that’s what it felt like, so when my eyes locked with his, I was shocked to see him similarly vulnerable.

“Bjorn—”

“I know.” He shook his head, then let out a little sob of breath. “I know, Maddie. I can see all of it now. You and me, baby, together, forever. It’ll be so good, if you let me move. I promise it’ll be everything you wanted and more.”

And it was.

I released my death grip on him, flopping back against the bench in the first thrust then as the heavy drag of his cock inside me set everything else alight, my hips chased his, wanting more. We slammed together, like an angry sea against the cliffs, over and over, making magic happen each time we came together. I didn’t know about him, but I hated each time he pulled away, needing him deeper, closer. Bjorn seemed to understand, nodding right before he kissed me hard.

His cock moved in the same pulses as his tongue, each of them trying to plumb my depths, but he’d never get far enough for me. I needed him somewhere so deep no one else could touch it and that’s perhaps why my head flipped to one side. The bite marks I’d been given ached in time with my whole body, my moans coming out louder and louder, right up until his roar silenced me and his fangs dug into my neck.

I belonged to Bjorn so completely in that moment, all of the pain and pleasure the price I willingly paid for this.

Maddie?

He spoke to me, soul to soul, jerking up to stare down at me as I looked up.

Bjorn. My mate.

The thought was like a sigh, right as my pleasure crested, my cunt snapping down, clamping tight to force his baculum to jut out and lock down inside me.

There. That. That’s what I need.

Me too, baby. He grinned then. Me fucking too.

Chapter 63

Razor

Everything was coming together, just how I’d planned, so why did I watch my brother and my girl come sloping in through the door wearing dazed grins, like it was a personal slap to my face?

She claimed me first.

I clung to that fact like it was the only thing that would keep my head above water, because maybe it was. Maddie wore my bite mark on her neck. She was mine forever, according to the lore, so why did I feel like something was missing?

Hawk was watching the lot of them from the kitchen doorway. Crash was jumping all over them like an overexcited puppy. It’d be a good thing, when Maddie finally brought him to heel, but… The look on Hawk’s face, a kind of happiness so gentle, yet so intense, I had to look twice.

“He looked after her good,” Hawk said, as if I knew exactly what he was talking about. “The tattoo hurts and it needs more work, but…” He let out a gusty sigh. “He’s got the rest of our lives to finish it.” My brother’s eyes met mine. “Right?”

He knew all of that how? I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Hawk, then Bjorn and Maddie, searching for clues. I got one as Bjorn stopped talking to Crash, his words trailing away as he stared at Maddie. They shared a secret smile, one that had the green eyed viper of jealousy stirring in my chest, because I wanted my own.

I was biding my time, not wanting to push my mate when she was healing, nor wanting to knock her off her path when it became clear she was going to show each one of us what we meant to her. That resulted in Hawk claiming Maddie, then Bjorn and the only thing stopping her from doing the same with Crash was a tentativeness around his so-called secret predilections. I’d nudged her towards Bjorn, reminding her of the key where he kept the tattoo design he’d worked on obsessively over the last three years, and now I’d need to make clear how to handle Crash, but…

When was she going to turn to me? My greedy heart couldn’t help but find another thing to complain about, because it was never satisfied. Not until I had her, all of them, right where I wanted them. But I redirected its ravenous appetite back to Crash, because she didn’t see the way he settled, going perfectly still when her hand touched his chest, then pulled away again. The tiny little caress had him finding his centre again, bringing him back to calm and I nodded, pushing away from the wall to congratulate the lucky couple.

“Beautiful, love.” I meant her, not the tattoo, but I forced my eyes down when Maddie looked my way. “A lot more delicate than your usual work, brother.”

---