Bear with Me (Half-breed Shifter Series) Read online

  Brick nodded too. He began to turn away, but Shaw caught his shoulder again.

  “And Brick,” the older man murmured. “Between you and me, I wouldn’t want anyone else here for her except you.”

  When he released Brick and strolled away, Brick’s mouth dropped open. He’d always though Shaw Griffin hated his guts...with a burning passion. He’d thought Shaw would want anyone and everyone here for Rhea before him.

  A smile lit his face. “I knew you loved me,” he called after the human.

  Shaw lifted his middle finger and flashed Brick the bird just as the doorbell rang.

  “Shit,” they said in unison.

  Horny males were already starting to flock to the female inside experiencing her first mating heat.

  “Ready to kick ass?” Shaw asked as both men hurried to the front door.

  “I was born that way.” Brick popped his neck and shoulders and then his knuckles.

  “If you have to go furry, just try not to flash me your bare ass once you turn human again.”

  Brick winked. “What? You worried that seeing my naked sexiness would turn you gay?”

  “God, you just don’t quit, do you?”

  “That’s what the ladies love best about me. My stamina.”

  Shaw rolled his eyes and stopped at the front door before calling through the wood. “Whoever you are, you might as well leave now. If anyone makes me open this door, they’re going to have to eat the end of my shotgun. Hear me?”

  “You don’t scare us, human,” A male voice called back. “We know you got a female needing relief in there. We just want to make her feel all better again.”

  “Bastards,” Brick hissed under his breath as he peeked out the curtain to see—shit—half a dozen half-breeds planted on the front porch, looking more than eager to get inside.

  “I’m going to secure the back door,” he told Shaw, knowing it wouldn’t be long before the males stopped trying the polite way to gain entrance, and they’d force their way inside. The pheromones from a female’s mating heat did all sorts of crazy shit to males who were normally very passive.

  Trying to ignore how unhinged his own hormones were growing, he held his breath as he passed the door to the stairs and rushed into the kitchen just as some prick kicked open the back door.

  Knowing his woman—Rhea—had just been put into direct danger, Brick roared out a sound of denial. His bear ripped out of his skin before he even told it to.

  Apparently, not even his animal wanted anyone near her.

  With a swipe of his massive claws and snap of his mighty jaws, Brick didn’t even give the other shifter a chance to change into his own animal. He died instantly.

  “Holy...shit,” Shaw uttered from behind him.

  Brick spun around, snarling. But he caught himself before attacking. Forgetting that Shaw had just told him not to flash naked in front of him, he transformed back into his human skin so he could yell, “Why the fuck did you abandon your post?”

  “I heard the backdoor breaking open.”

  “Well, I got this. Get back to the front of the house.”

  Shaw merely lifted one eyebrow at Brick’s guttural command. He opened his mouth to speak but Riley rushed into the kitchen. “What’s...oh my Lord, is that man dead?”

  “The teddy bear’s feeling a little protective of our Rhea,” Shaw explained rather mildly.

  Riley glanced in surprise at Brick. He had never hurt a fly before today, but he didn’t feel a single qualm about taking someone’s life just now. No one was going to get near Rhea.

  Rhea’s mother spotted his hard cock jutting from his body, a bead of cum welling from the tip, and her eyes grew wide. “Whoa,” she said, spinning away.

  He couldn’t summon the oomph to care what he looked like. His blood was thrumming through his body, juicing him up. If he couldn’t have Rhea, he wanted to keep killing people. His testosterone was screaming at him to either fuck or fight, the dormant aggression in him springing to life with a crazy, uncontrollable vengeance.

  “We need to get this door blocked off,” he told her parents, his muscles still tense with the need for something strenuous, energy-draining, and either kinky-as-hell or violent and bloody.

  “Shit. Yeah, we do.” Shaw rubbed his hand over his mouth and glanced around, his gaze latching onto the refrigerator.

  That was all the prompting Brick needed. He picked up the hefty appliance and set it back down in front of the gaping backdoor.

  When he was done, he wiped his hands off onto his thighs and turned around to see both Shaw and Riley gawking with dropped jaws.

  “Whoa,” Riley whimpered again, looking a little freaked out by his brute show of strength.

  Still needing something to do, Brick said, “I’m going to make sure the front door’s still secure.”

  But no sooner did he speak than they heard the sound of splintering wood and breaking glass from the front of the house. “Oh, no,” Riley gasped. “I didn’t lock the door to Rhea’s room.”

  Brick didn’t bother to head toward the front, he dashed to the entrance of the stairwell. The wet-hair smell of dog told him a wolf had already gotten down there. Roaring out his bear’s battle cry, he flew down the steps.

  The wolf was at the door to the room where Rhea was being kept when Brick reached the bottom landing. Instead of trying to rush into Rhea’s room, the mangy shifter turned and faced off with Brick. Big mistake. Brick turned bear, the other guy turned into a four-legged mutt, and the fight was on.

  Thirty seconds later, it was off. Dog dead, bear still needing something to rip apart.

  “Damn it! You’re going to have to stop killing people,” Shaw shouted from behind him.

  “Then keep them from coming inside,” Brick muttered as he turned human again. He panted hard, not because of the fight the wolf had just tried to give him but because the smell of Rhea only one room away nearly sent him to his knees. He whimpered and swayed toward it.

  “Upstairs,” Shaw ordered, “Now.” But Brick only glanced at him.

  Oh, he wouldn’t be going upstairs. Not any time soon.

  In a far, distant place inside him, he screamed at himself, begging his bear not to go near her. Not like this. Not right now. He wanted Rhea to want him of her own free will. But his animal side had taken over. He was working on pure instinct.

  “Brick,” Shaw growled as Brick turned to stare hard at the closed door keeping him from his woman. His breathing was completely unsteady now.

  “She needs me.”

  “Fuck, we need you. Upstairs. Fighting off intruders. Remember?”

  But Brick shook his head. She was too close, the draw too strong. A shout from Riley at the top of the stairwell was the only thing to warn them of two more shifter wolves who tumbled down the steps, eager and crazed for pussy.

  Brick roared, wanting to rip out their throats, but Shaw was right. They were normal, average males, just like him, caught up in the frenzy, just as he was. Except he had one thing they didn’t: a love so fierce for Rhea Griffin nothing would stop him from securing her safety.

  Instead of turning to the invading shifters, he dashed to the door of her room. She was still chained to the wall and panting on the bed, but she’d ripped her clothes off into shreds, and she was no longer coherent enough to know what was happening around her.

  Rage tore through him for letting her get this bad. With a strangled cry, he rushed to the bed, crawled onto the mattress with her, and pulled her into his arms.

  The two shifters must’ve gotten past Shaw because they filled the doorway, panting and rubbing their crotches.

  “You planning on sharing that snack, bear?” one of them asked.

  “No,” Brick answered, right before he sank his teeth into Rhea’s neck.

  A bloodied Shaw shoved the two wolf shifters aside and stumbled into the room. When he saw what Brick was doing, his eyes went wide and he screamed out his denial.

  But it was too late; Brick had tagged her
as his, marked her and branded her...mated himself to her. Somewhere inside, he felt the guilt, he knew he’d done wrong. Mating with someone against their will was like the most sacred of no-no’s in the shifter world. But he hadn’t known what else to do.

  The males would’ve kept coming, they would’ve torn Rhea apart, all of them trying to get a piece of ass without caring a thing for her safety. If she was bonded to someone, she was safe. Only her mate could experience her mating heat with her.

  Realizing they were too late, the males in the room cursed and kicked the wall. The fiery lust must’ve drained from their loins because they no longer cared to reach the naked Rhea on the bed.

  Holding her limp body protectively close, Brick watched as the two filed out of the room, leaving a pissed off Shaw to glare at him.

  “How could you?” her father hissed.

  “What was I supposed to do? You know what they would’ve done.”

  Shaw just shook his head. “But this—mating yourself to her—wasn’t what I wanted. It’s not what she would want, either.”

  That got through to Brick just enough to make him feel like shit. He clenched his teeth and bowed his head even as he kept Rhea clamped firmly in his arms. What was done was done, though, and she was his now. He was not letting her go.

  “We’ll deal with that later,” he muttered just before she let out an ear-splitting scream and started to convulse.

  Shaw leapt forward, but Brick held up a hand, shouting, “Get out already! And shut the damn door. You can’t do anything now. Only I can.”

  Murder lay in Shaw’s expression as he glared at Brick. But he knew the bear was right.

  “Later,” he promised with a sneer as he backed from the room and slammed the door.

  As soon as they were alone, Brick finally focused his attention on his new mate. Panicking, he hoped to God it wasn’t too late. Then he set about trying to save her life.

  Chapter Four

  Rhea had always best loved those fairytales where the handsome prince swooped in to the prone princess and gave her soft, delicate kiss on the lips to bring her back to life. The force of that kind of love—that a simple kiss could have so much power—was probably one of the reasons she’d never settled down with anyone. Because she expected a fairytale come true.

  As a pair of lips on hers drew her from the depths and she drifted toward it—toward him—she wondered if maybe her fairytale could come true after all.

  Except this was no soft, delicate closed-mouthed kiss. A tongued spiked between her lips and glided against hers, making her back arch and her legs spread, desperate for more. Her core tightened, needing attention.

  “That’s it, baby,” A deep baritone coaxed, sucking her closer to consciousness. “Come back to me now. Or you know...just come, nice and hard.”

  A thick finger entered her, pressing deep. She moaned and bit her lip, surging her hips forward to meet each plunge.

  “Jesus Christ. Yes. Take it. Take my finger. You want me there, don’t you? You want my dick so deep inside you.”

  “Please,” she tried to beg. “Please...fuck me.” But it only sounded like garbled mush to her ears.

  “Rhea.” His voice was familiar. It soothed her. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”

  Her lashes felt heavy, but ignoring his demand didn’t seem possible. She tried twice before managing to open up and look into a pair of brown eyes that gazed at her with love and warmth.

  “Brick,” she slurred, lifting a limp hand to cup his cheek. “I’m so...” Tired, weak, turned on. “I need...”

  His fingers slipped out of her. “No,” she pleaded. That’s exactly what she didn’t need. She needed him there most of all. More. Deeper. Faster.

  “It’s okay,” he soothed. “I’m just going to take these chains off your wrists, kitten. I don’t want you tied down...not for our first time, anyway.”

  She nodded sloppily. No, she didn’t want to be tied down either. She wanted to be able to touch him, stroke him, and dig her fingers into his ass as pumped into her.

  Her wrists popped free and she attacked, suddenly alive and raring to go. Tackling him onto his back, she crawled over him and grabbed his dick hard as she straddled herself over his lap.

  “Christ, Rhea. Wait.” He grasped her hip. But there was no waiting. She needed this.

  Now.

  She sank down on him hard, craving that first thrust to be everything and so much more. And it was. Oh, God. He spiked up into her, big and long, filling her channel all the way up to her core. Hot and so fucking hard, he speared her pussy, stretching her until she almost hurt because it felt so good.

  She screamed out her pleasure and her muscles contracted as she came in one long agonizingly amazing wave after another.

  Under her, Brick shouted out his surprise. He arched up his hips, spiking deeper as his hot seed jetted into her womb. Rhea sank her fingers into his hairy chest and rode the orgasm until it settled. Then she collapsed on top of him, so satiated, she started to purr. Literally, her jaguar began to purr.

  “Holy fuck.” Brick sounded utterly stunned as he began to laugh, the sound rippling through his chest and vibrating through her ear. “That was...that was...”

  “Unreal,” Rhea answered with a hum of pleasure. Then she sat up so she could kiss him. “You are...amazing.”

  He slid his fingers into her hair and cupped her face as her mouth met his. His lips were soft, and she swore he must’ve been made for her because they molded together as if this was how they were always meant to be.

  Their tongues fucked, sliding deeper and rubbing against each other until his dick grew hard inside her. Moaning in ecstasy, she began to move on him, riding up and down on his cock and squeezing him tight within her aching, hungry muscles.

  “I knew it,” he panted as he dug his fingers into her hipbones and urged her on, his rough palms molding her soft, giving flesh. “I fucking knew it. We are so hot together. So fucking explosive.”

  “Brick.” She couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t stop to catch her breath. Her body was building again, reaching for that prize high in the sky. She felt drunk off him; she needed it all. And so much more.

  “God...damn.” He groaned and then surged up, flipping her onto her back until he was the one on top. Bending up her knees, he spread her open and held her down on the bed so she pinned in place and couldn’t move, and could only feel him as he surged forward, thrusting so deep her cervix couldn’t take the pressure. She came on a low keen, her fingernails biting into his tense ass cheeks and holding him all the way inside her while she milked the cum right out of his body.

  Once he was drained, he collapsed on top of her, his large body heavy, but a warm, secure weight she welcomed.

  A moment of clarity hit her, stealing her into her sex-fogged brain. She’d just had sex with Brick. Twice. Fast, hot, sweaty sex that had been better than any sex she’d ever had before. That might’ve been just because she was in the middle of her mating heat, but still...it had been with Brick. Her Brick. Her loyal best friend who’d always harmlessly flirted with her but had never stepped over the line into...this territory.

  But strangely enough, she didn’t think he minded. In fact, he seemed to rather enjoy it. She smiled and stroked his face. “I’m so glad it was you.”

  He lifted up onto his elbow just enough to look her in the eyes. For once, his brown gaze didn’t tease. “It was always going to be me,” he said with a certainly that thrilled her. “From the first moment you pulled me into your arms and hugged me, I’ve been yours, Rhea. I’ve just been waiting for you to realize it. I’m just...I’m so fucking sorry it happened this way.”

  The joy of his confession dimmed with his last sentence. Happened this way? What was he talking abou—

  He softly slid his finger over the pulse on her neck, and a soreness there made her frown. She lifted her fingers to the spot and gasped when she realized they were puncture wounds.

  “You...you marked me? Oh, my God, you b
astard.”

  She started to panic. She was mated. She hadn’t planned on getting mated. She didn’t even remember him doing it. How could this possible happen? She hadn’t even been conscious. Didn’t she have to at least be conscious?

  Rhea shoved at his chest, but he only held her more firmly in his arms. Then the fucking prick grew hard inside her. What was worse, her body responded. He pulled out and pushed back in, and she panted, aching for his next plunge, craving the fullness he put in her, needing him to stretch her wider and brand his body into hers.

  Tears slipped down her cheeks as her body warred with her brain. She wanted to hate him and rail at her, but if he stopped fucking her, she’d probably kill him. “I hate you,” she sobbed as her hips lifted to greet his eager thrust and her legs wound around his waist to make sure he couldn’t leave.

  “No.” He shook his head and cased her face between his hands. “Damn it, Rhea. Don’t do this. You know I would never...not unless I absolutely had to. I did it to save you.”

  And that was the problem. He hadn’t done it because he loved her. He’d been forced to bite her because it was the only way to save her.

  “But I wasn’t even awake to agree to it,” she sobbed. She would’ve stopped him if she’d been awake. She never would’ve let him sacrifice himself for her like that.

  “Fuck.” He pressed his forehead to hers and thrust into her heavily, unrelenting in his fucking. But agony filled his gaze as he watched her cry. His thumbs swiped them away but she just kept crying.

  “I love you,” he whispered, the pressure of his cock seeming to drive that point home...repeatedly. “I love you so much. Please don’t hate me. Anything but that.”

  The muscles low in her abdomen coiled taut. She tried to fight it, but her body took control. She came, and came, and came.

  Brick watched her, the light in his eyes relishing her body’s reaction until his eyes went unfocused and he groaned, losing himself in her. God, she loved him too, and she hated that he’d been forced into binding himself to her for all eternity. Because what if it all faded away once her heat was over? Would he still say he loved her after he was clear-headed? What if he regretted being her mate?