Page 54 of Bear's Rejected Love

He kissed her mouth, deeply. She was fevered and desperate, kissing him back. Kissing him until she was sure that he was truly there, truly with her, and that all of this wasn’t a dream. The dream had been the feeling that led her straight to him again. That feeling kept him from being lost to all of them. That feeling brought him back. He said he wanted to be her mate, but he was her mate already. Her body knew it. Her mind. Her heart. The parts of her that she didn’t even understand. They were connected to each other, and that connection couldn’t be severed, no matter what came for them and no matter what tried.

Her legs slipped around his waist, around the solid muscle of him. His tongue slipped into her mouth and her hand came around his cock, guiding him to her entrance. He pushed inside, filling her and claiming her in one single stroke. She dug her nails into his shoulders. As soon as she started moving against him, letting him know that she was ready and she was alright, he went half wild. She hung on, clinging to him.

“Roan,” she whimpered. “I love you.”

He stopped, his eyes flying wide. The pupils were blown out and dark. He didn’t tell her that she wasn’t allowed. He didn’t panic or back off. He didn’t retreat into himself or give her a list of reasons why it was a bad idea. He didn’t run from his own feelings. The emotion was there, stamped into his face. He could have told her any or all of those things, could have told her that he wasn’t ready, that she couldn’t be ready either, that they should go slowly, that saying those words frightened him. He could have told her that he’d always known, and he’d always been afraid of it, that he’d fought that connection so hard, but he didn’t. He didn’t say anything.

The way he moved inside of her, with her, around her, told her that she’d be his first and last. He was her first and he’d be her last and all the parts in between.

He was so heavy above her and so light. He kept himself supported and half crushed her. She loved the weight of him, the way he pinned her to the bed. She loved the reality of him, his breath against her lips as he kissed her and kissed her. It might have just been their bodies meeting, but it was so much more. She’d never felt Roan like this. Like he’d dropped the walls and the protective gear and opened himself to let her in. It was just him and her, honest and warm and safe.

She arched up, meeting him, angling her hips and clinging to his neck so that she could take him deeper. He changed position as well, moving with her so that she could feel all of him. Every stroke was deeper and soon the heat she needed spiraled through her, the friction and the movement taking her deeper and deeper into that vortex of pleasure.

She came hard, losing herself in him, in the sensation, in how good it was to give him everything and get it all handed back. That claim was more than just pleasure. It was trust. It was pain. It was a future.

“Roan,” she panted. She said his name, over and over again. She cried it out until he came too, pulling out and spilling himself over her stomach. She was still pulsing, even without him inside of her, the waves still hitting her.

She clung to him, her fingers making little indents in the muscles and bronzed skin of his shoulders. She pulled his face down and kissed him and let that speak for her because there were no words.

He didn’t have any either. Just his breath, just his body, just the way he melted into her and pulled her into his arms, but it was more than any language could ever accomplish.

It was sacred.

Epilogue

Two Years Later

Roan

“Hey. You’re both up early.” Corbin sauntered into the kitchen with sleep clinging to him in the way he blinked, the mussed hair, wrinkled clothing, and flushed face. He must have literally just rolled out of bed and come to the kitchen for a drink of water, which he poured at the sink. He was always forgetting a glass of water for his nightstand.

“I thought I’d get an early start on the waffles.” Tabitha rubbed her rounded belly and laughed when she approached the counter with her big mixing bowl and whisk in hand, only to find that she could barely get within arm’s reach.

Corbin downed half the glass and set it aside. “Want some help?”

“Yes. Gladly.” Tabitha passed over the bowl, laughing. “When the twins arrive, I’m not going to have time to make everyone breakfast, and we know how much Honor and Sylvan love their waffles. I was going to start making extra-large batches and freezing them so I could just pull them out and pop them in the toaster.”

“Or I could get up half an hour early and help out getting everyone off to school. Plus, Ora and Helena love cooking. You don’t have to do it all, mom.”

She flushed. “I think this is called nesting, sweetheart. I know I don’t have to do everything, but I just want to be prepared. I don’t want you all to have to worry about the little things.”

“We like worrying about the little things.” Corbin started measuring out flour and dumping it into the bowl. “We like worrying about you. We love you.”

“Aww.” Tabitha brushed at her eyes. “If you want to make an old lady cry, then you’ve succeeded.”

“Old?” Roan scoffed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and set his hand on her belly. “You’re not old, my love.”

“Old enough that we had to have help having these babies.”

“Everyone needs help having them and lots of people need help conceiving. Josephine was amazing during the fertility treatment and she’s going to be amazing when she delivers the babies.”

When they’d decided that they wanted to add to their family, it hadn’t happened for them. After over a year of trying, Tabitha was frustrated. She’d pretty much given up hope, but Lily urged her to talk to Josephine. She’d had twins and triplets, both of them after age forty, and the three boys came along when she was nearly fifty. If anyone could make it happen, she’d know how and she’d know how to do it with minimal risk.

They’d been lucky and the whole thing had gone smoothly. Tabitha was at the start of her eighth month, and with twins, it probably wouldn’t be much longer before they made an appearance. She’d never had any scares. She’d been tired throughout the pregnancy, but never sick once. The worst thing that ever happened was she tended to get heartburn after dinner if she went to lay down because she was exhausted, so she made sure she sat up in the living room for those few hours, no matter how tired she was.

While they were going through the fertility treatment, Sam’s contact had found another three shifters who needed families. Silver and Domhnall took Tobin and Ivy, a six and four-year-old brother and sister, and they’d adopted Sylvan. She was the sweetest two-year-old who ever lived. The craziest part was that she was an owl. No one had ever known a shifter who could do a bird, unless it was him, and everyone in the clan knew about his peculiarities now. Tabitha called them talents, not oddities. No one thought it was odd. Amazing, maybe. He’d pretty much made his peace with all the animals who called his body home. His mate was instrumental in helping him, but she was instrumental in everything he’d done since she’d come back into his life a little over two years ago.

That day on his doorstep- that was the start of his true family, even if he hadn’t known it yet.

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