Awakened by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Shifter Romance Series Book 5) Read online

  His cheeks heated as he gazed at her and hers coloured too as she smiled nervously.

  “Rune read you the riot act too?” she said softly, warmth in her eyes as her brow furrowed slightly. “I got the whole speech this morning. He came to check on me and bring me coffee, and ended up trying to convince me to take things slowly and lecturing me on not getting caught up in the moment… that a bond was forever. Like I don’t know that.”

  Maverick scowled at that and scoffed. “He can hardly talk. He knew his wolf for all of five minutes before he was mating with her, claiming her as his forever.”

  Her smile wobbled a little, her nerves showing in it. “And we’ve known each other for a long time. Spent years together. You’re right. He can’t really lecture us. Besides… I didn’t listen to a word he had to say.”

  That smile grew a little mischievous.

  Maverick shook his head and sighed. “Guessing I’m not the only one who took his meddling badly and put him in his place.”

  She shrugged. “I love Rune, but honestly… this thing happening between us has nothing to do with him. This is our decision to make… and I thought about—was up all night thinking about it and wanted to come here so many times to talk to you about it. When I finally plucked up the courage, you were out running. Are you feeling better?”

  “No.” He loved the way she smiled as he issued that flat and blunt answer. “Not sure I’m going to feel better until I know… Bronwyn… I love you. I’ve never loved anyone… not the way I love you. I need to know… will you be my mate?”

  Her smile softened again. “Yes! Yes. A thousand times, yes. I want to be your mate. More than anything, Maverick. I love you too… with all my heart.”

  He closed the distance between them in a handful of strides. His heart surged in his chest as he swept her into his arms, as he claimed her lips in a soft kiss that had warmth rolling through him. That warmth turned to heat as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him to her, as her lips danced across his and their hearts raced in time with each other.

  Maverick pulled back, gripping her by her backside, holding her with her feet suspended off the ground. He searched her eyes, seeking out even the barest trace of uncertainty.

  “You’re sure about this? Rune is right. This is forever. Once I claim you, I’m never letting you go.”

  She lifted her right hand and stroked her fingers through his black hair, twining it around their tips and teasing him with that light touch. “And if I said fine, let’s not do this, you’d just let me go?”

  “Hell, no. I’m never letting you go. I need you too much. I love you too much. Even if it took me forever to convince you I’ll make a good mate for you, to make you love me as deeply as I love you, I wouldn’t stop. I wouldn’t let you go. I can’t.” Did he look as desperate as he felt and sounded as he gazed at her?

  The warmth that filled her eyes said that he did and that she liked it.

  She dropped her hand and lightly caressed his cheek. “I don’t think you could make me love you any more than I already do, Maverick. I’ve loved you from afar for decades… feel as if I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

  Gods.

  This female had his heart surging all over again, pride swelling within his chest as he gazed at her and saw she meant every word that left her lips. He had never felt so loved, so blessed.

  He claimed her lips again, his kiss harder this time, the primal instinct to bend her to his will rising to the fore as he thought about where this kiss would lead.

  Bronwyn would finally be his.

  But they were going to do things right this time.

  Maverick carried her up to his loft bedroom and gently set her down on the dark covers. He slowly stripped her, savoured revealing her to his hungry eyes and the heat that bloomed in her gaze as she watched him. Awareness swept through him as he eased back onto his knees by her feet, as he locked gazes with her. Her eyes shone with that same awareness, with the need that rolled through him too, had him aching for her.

  He stepped off the bed and stripped off his sweatpants, kicked them away and growled as Bronwyn teased him by stroking the fingers of her right hand down the valley between her breasts, sending his temperature soaring to that of the sun. She smiled, a wicked edge to it that tore a groan from him together with how she trailed her fingers lower, drawing his gaze down with them.

  Unable to resist her siren song any longer, he crawled onto the bed and covered her, kissed her hard as her soft body cushioned his. He groaned again as her legs parted to accommodate him and he nestled between them, her heat meeting his throbbing shaft. He couldn’t stop himself from grinding against her to tease her, relished her soft moan and how she arched into him, seeking more contact with him.

  Her nails scored his nape, sending a shudder down his spine and pleasure sweeping through him as his eyes slipped shut. His fangs lengthened in response, his cock growing harder as his primal instincts tried to steal control. He leashed them and held them back, rolled with her so she was on top of him, submitting to her.

  A blush bloomed on her cheeks as she gazed down at him, heat turning her eyes golden as she raked them over him, as she pressed her palms to his chest and swept them over his pectorals. Her teeth teased her lower lip as she caressed and stroked him, maddening him and cranking up his need of her.

  He reached his hands above his head and buried them under the pillow, caging them there, drawing a low moan from Bronwyn as her face crumpled, desire flashing across it.

  “You don’t know—” She cut herself off, nerves flickering in her eyes to replace the heat as she cast her gaze down at her hands, avoiding him.

  “Don’t know what?” he husked, his voice gravelly and low with the desire she roused in him, the fierce need he was battling to control. He wanted to seize hold of her and kiss her, wanted to bend her to his will, but he also wanted this moment to be perfect.

  And the best way to make that happen was to let her be in control.

  She nibbled her lower lip, leaned over him and shattered his ability to think as her breasts brushed his stomach and her lips teased his chest. He groaned and forgot what he had wanted to know, forgot everything including his name as she swirled her tongue around his nipple and then raked her short nails over his stomach. Gods.

  He tightened his grip on the pillow.

  Bronwyn breathed against his chest, “I’ve dreamed of doing this so many times.”

  He stilled. “You have?”

  He craned his neck and gazed down at her, but she refused to look at him, kept hiding in maddening him with licks and swirls of her tongue.

  “With me?” He really needed to know the answer to that question.

  Her shy glance said it all.

  She had dreamed of him, a lot of times judging by how red her cheeks were, how she could barely hold his gaze for a second before looking away from him. She didn’t need to be shy about this. She didn’t need to feel awkward.

  He loved that she had dreamed of him.

  “Was it always like this?” He relaxed into the mattress, shivered as she lightly scored her nails down his sides and shuffled backwards.

  His mind dived down wicked routes involving her mouth and his shaft.

  “No.” She pressed kisses around his navel and then downwards and his cock kicked, eager for her to reach it. “Most of the time it was like… it was like at the compound.”

  He frowned.

  Opened his mouth to ask her whether she was serious and she had fantasised about him taking her like that.

  Lost his ability to talk as she wrapped her lips around his hard length, her heat encasing him, her soft wetness driving him out of his mind. He groaned and fought the urge to rock into her mouth as she tentatively explored him, as she teased the shaft with her fingers and the head with her tongue.

  Oh gods.

  He couldn’t remember ever being on the receiving end of something like this. He had
never been the submissive one and found that he not only liked it—he loved it. He loved how she teased him, how she moaned when he did, as if she took pleasure in making him feel good. She wrapped her fingers around him and sucked, and he damn near came.

  Maverick tunnelled his fingers into her chestnut hair and pulled her up to him, claimed her mouth in a bruising kiss as need collided with what she had told him about her dreams, stoking his hunger for her.

  She gripped his shoulder and rolled onto her back, taking him with her, and he groaned as he pressed between her thighs, rocked his length along her slick heat and thought about being inside her. She skimmed her hand down his spine and over his hip, reached between them and gripped his shaft.

  “I need this.” Her whispered confession hit him hard.

  Had him drawing back and taking over from her, gripping himself and easing downwards. He couldn’t hold back the groan that rolled up his throat as he inched into her, slowly joining them, savouring it this time. She moaned with him, arched to press her chest to his and clutched his shoulders as he filled her.

  Maverick stilled and gazed down at her when he was as deep as he could go, stared into her eyes and felt connected to her in a way he had never experienced before. She lifted her hands from his shoulders and framed his face, drew him down to her and kissed him. He groaned and stole control of the kiss as he moved inside her, taking things slowly this time, drawing it out and making love with her.

  Primal instinct demanded he dominate her and take her harder, but he held it back, refusing to succumb to it. It would take control at some point, but for now, he was going to savour this moment. Her kiss was sweet as he moved inside her, long strokes that had her moaning in his arms, arching and pleading him for more. He dropped his left hand to her hip and held her in place, stopping her from writhing and pushing at his control. She moaned again, driving him on as she deepened the kiss, as she raised her knees and wrapped her legs around him. He rocked into her, each meeting of their hips bliss to him, the gentle pace of their lovemaking unravelling him, warming him to his bones.

  Making him aware of how deeply he loved her.

  And how deeply she loved him.

  He drew back, resting on his right elbow, and she opened her eyes and locked gazes with him. Everything felt more intense the moment their gazes collided, as he fell into her golden eyes and all the love they held wrapped around him. Her eyes grew hooded and she moaned and arched off the mattress, her head tipping back as her body quivered around his, clenching and unclenching him.

  Maverick followed her over the edge, groaned as release surged through him, the intensity of it robbing him of breath and making him feel hazy. He had never experienced something so incredible, so overwhelming and beautiful.

  A blush stained her cheeks as she gazed up at him, her eyes hazy and filled with the pleasure he could feel in her.

  “Claim me. I want to be yours forever.” Those words undid him, stole his heart all over again, and he couldn’t stop himself.

  He withdrew from her, flipped her onto her front and impaled her again, relishing her sweet cry as he filled her.

  She moaned as he grabbed her and pulled her up to him, so she was sitting on his thighs, his length buried deep inside her. When she ran her fingers through her hair and pulled it away from her nape, he wanted to growl and not only because the urge to sink his fangs into her grew stronger.

  The tiny 657-B tattooed low on her neck held his gaze—the mark the hunters had given her when they had captured her. A number that was around four-hundred-and-thirty higher than his own.

  They had survived hell, had been put to the test so many times, and had endured it all, emerging from it with scars on their souls and hope for a brighter future.

  One Maverick had never dared to dream would be his.

  But now it was right here in his arms.

  And he wanted it with all his heart—the heart that belonged to her.

  “Don’t keep me waiting,” Bronwyn whispered. “You promised me forever.”

  Maverick kept his promise.

  He sank his fangs into her nape.

  Claiming her as his mate.

  As his forever.

  The End

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  Read on for a preview of the first book in the highly addictive Cougar Creek Mates shifter romance series, Claimed by her Cougar

  Claimed by her Cougar - Preview

  In the tranquil morning air, a deer called out, the sound echoing around the mountains sheltering the peaceful verdant valley.

  Rath stilled, froze right down to his breathing as his ears twitched and he cocked his head, the instinct to hunt that animal sweeping through him and tugging at his cougar side.

  When the call didn’t come again, he exhaled slowly, releasing his breath and using the action to centre himself, and looked to his left, out of the window that formed a triangle on the gable end of his log cabin, nestled beneath the two sides of the pitched roof where it hung out over the deck below to provide cover.

  Mist swirled above the sweeping bend of the river that formed a barrier between him and the thick forest that blanketed the other side, where his senses had pinpointed the deer, among other creatures stirring in the early morning as darkness began to give way to light. The tendrils of fog crept over the stony bank of the river in places, crawling across the grass and into the pines that flanked the open ground on his side of the creek, reaching the deck of the cabin nearest it.

  His was too distant, close to two hundred metres from the river across the grass. It was rare for the spring morning mists to reach his home, happened only once or twice a season, the sun too swift to rise and burn them away before they could creep that far up the sloping green.

  Rath lingered and let the beauty of the scene wash over him, savouring the peace because it would be shattered soon.

  Gods, he wanted his instincts as an unmated male cougar to be wrong, but they hadn’t been yet.

  This year, there would be a gathering.

  He grabbed his long-sleeved cream t-shirt from the banister at the front of the loft bedroom and tugged it on, following it with a thick dark green fleece that had a zip that reached the centre of his chest. He pulled his faded jeans on and buttoned them as he descended the wooden steps to the ground floor of the cabin. It was small, had only two rooms on the lower level—an open plan kitchen and living room, and an enclosed bathroom—but it was more than big enough for him.

  A huff burst from his lips when he saw the fire in the log burner was low. No wonder it was so damned cold this morning. He moved around the worn beige couch and crouched before it, opened the door and tossed another log on, and warmed his hands as he waited for it to catch.

  When the fire was blazing again and the chill of morning was off his hands, he yawned and latched the door, and rose back onto his feet.

  Gods, he needed coffee.

  Rath scrubbed a hand over the two-days’ growth on his face, thought about shaving and then shrugged it off.

  He was going to be out all day again, repairing the cabin by the river and clearing up a few more odd jobs he needed to complete around the settlement at the other dozen or so cabins spread throughout the trees on his side of the river. A little insulation on his face wasn’t a bad thing.

  Winter had loosened its grip on Cougar Creek, but the mornings and evenings were still chilly, the air holding a bitter bite that was slow to go as the sun struggled to heat the land and quick t
o return once darkness fell again.

  He had been working non-stop since the snowmelt, when that damned feeling had stirred in his gut and he had found himself pacing the porch, scenting the air, hungry for a female he didn’t want and didn’t need.

  Wasn’t going to chase.

  Gatherings meant one thing for him and his brothers—patrolling the area, acting as a security force to keep the community safe when they were together and in danger of attracting attention.

  They also acted as a security force within the pride too, breaking up any fights that weren’t over a female.

  Cougars were solitary, so things always got tense when the entire pride gathered in the small village of cabins. The lodges were scattered throughout the broad band of forest that hugged the mountain behind him and the river before him, with enough space between them to keep everyone calm, but there were always a few males too riled up by the season and the reason they were at the village, and fights always broke out.

  Last time a gathering had happened, he had personally intervened in more than a dozen brawls, tearing the two opponents off each other and confining them to their cabins for a day or two as punishment.

  His three younger brothers weren’t as diplomatic. Storm in particular loved getting stuck into a fight, bashing heads and drawing blood, giving the two males a taste of his strength.

  Storm hated being in charge of overseeing the gathering, would prefer to be in the thick of it, fighting and fucking, but it was tradition for their bloodline now, and that meant his brother was confined to the side lines with the rest of them.

  Personally, Rath wasn’t interested in the gathering at all, would rather it never happened, or at least happened elsewhere, somewhere far away from Cougar Creek.

  He didn’t need females invading his territory.

  Wasn’t interested in the silent, or sometimes not so silent, invitations they issued to him.

  He would leave the job of satisfying them to the other males who would follow their instincts back to the pride village, forgoing their solitary life for a few weeks to wait for the females to come and to fight for dominance and the right to be the one who would ease her needing.