Authors: Harmony Raines
It had taken him some time to nurse her back to health, and then to regain her trust. But they had made tremendous progress together. He was about to start riding her, figuring she would be amazing to take up over the green mountain pastures to round up his cattle, when he discovered she was pregnant.
Now he knew there was something wrong with her; he simply needed this vet to quit messing around and take her job seriously. He knew he sounded crazy saying he just had a sense there was something wrong. But what else could he say?
“I know these things because I have animal senses?”
He breathed her in, catching him by surprise. Maybe she would understand. Because her scent told him all he needed to know. It also made it clear why she had behaved so oddly. She was his mate, and she was avoiding letting him know that.
But why?
The pull of him was almost too much. He knew, she had no doubt about that. But what was he going to do about it? If she just carried on and didn’t mention it, maybe he wouldn’t either. She could treat his mare and then leave; no one would know. Would it really be that simple?
“She doesn’t appear to be anaemic,” Ciara said, lowering the mare’s head. She patted the horse on the neck, feeling the strong heartbeat as she ran her hand over her chest. Sapphire turned to her, an acknowledgement in her eyes. Ciara tried to shut her out. She was no use to Sapphire at this moment, except as a vet.
“What’s your name?” he asked, breaking through her trancelike state.
She ignored him. “I’m not sure I can help any more than I have. I’ll take some blood samples and do the work-up on them. I can get the results to you by tomorrow. Unless you want me to do an internal.”
“I asked what your name was.” His voice was forceful, not to be denied.
“Ciara.” What harm would it do? Telling him her name gave him no more of a hold over her than he already had.
“Pretty,” he said smoothly. “Take off the mask, Ciara.”
The sound of her name on his lips made an exquisite heat creep though her body. She had to remain strong. “No, it’s OK. I think I’ll take the blood from Sapphire and then leave.”
“You are not leaving,” he said, and she didn’t think he was joking. A tremor passed through her, but she moved away from him and, thankfully, he didn’t stop her.
Reaching her bag, she was in two minds what to do. Run, or complete her job. She allowed her senses to reach out to Sapphire, letting the horse give her some idea of whether there was something wrong. The feeling she got back was one of sorrow and loss. Mingled with a deep-seated fear. With nothing specific to work on, Ciara knew she had to finish her job and make it back to the lab with Sapphire’s blood.
“I’ll take the samples.” She stood by Sapphire’s neck, finding the vein and allowing the vial to fill. Then she put the stopper on while putting a small amount of pressure on Sapphire’s neck, waiting for the bleeding to stop. Satisfied, she walked back to her bag. “I’ll get the results to you in the morning.”
She moved to the door, expecting him to stop her. He didn’t; he simply took the halter off his horse, patted her, murmuring soothing words which she couldn’t catch, and then followed her out.
Ciara took the opportunity to walk swiftly away. All she had to do was leave the barn and get into her car, and then she would drive away from here and never come back. One of the other vets could call with the results. Maybe she had got away with this after all.
However, just as she was about to leave the barn, his hand reached up and dragged the door to, blocking her exit. “Take off the mask, Ciara.”
“Let me go,” she said, her voice muffled as it caught in the mask.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked.
She tried to pull the door open. When it wouldn’t budge, she said, “Yes. You are the man holding me prisoner.” Why did her body betray her? It thrilled at the thought of being held prisoner by him, of him bending her to his will. Damn! That was the very thing she didn’t want. She was her own woman, and she planned for it to stay that way.
“Before you walk out of this door, I want you to take off your mask and look at me. It’s simple enough.”
She knew it was; they both knew what she was hiding from, who she was hiding from. “Just let me go,” she pleaded.
“Why is it so hard? You understand what we are. I know you do.” He sniffed her again, letting her scent roll over his taste buds. “I can’t tell what you are. But I know you’re special.”
And then she snapped, all her hurt and confusion spilling out. “Special. Is that what you call it?” She pulled her mask down, looking at him straight in the eye. “Happy? Now what, you take me upstairs and tie me to your bed? No life, no career, my only job to breed you a farm full of kids?”
He reeled back from her, as if she had slapped him in the face. “No, I won’t make you do anything. But I also can’t let you deny what’s between us.”
“Nothing. There is nothing between us. We’re strangers.” But her body betrayed her; her body wanted to be touched by him, stroked by him, consumed by him.
“You plan to just walk away from this. As if it never happened?” His voice held his shock, he reached out to touch her, to pull her to him, but he stopped short, lowering his hand to his side.
She nodded. “Pretty much. I leave, we forget this ever happened.”
“OK.” He opened the door, allowing her to walk out. But it was the longest walk she had ever made. One foot after another, dragging herself from him. The other part of her, the part which had been hidden away for so long, reared up, stamping its foot in protest. She tried to walk away from him, but after only four paces, the pull was too great.
Turning back to him, she looked him square in the face, hoping her round curves and voluptuous breasts would put him off. She was not the kind of stick-thin woman men drooled over, and looking at him, he could have his pick of any woman. But she had underestimated the mating bond, and underestimated him.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, she could feel the beat of his heart against her breasts as they pressed against him. Ciara wanted to pull away, to push him back and tell him to let her go. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him, feeling his warm breath on her cheek. The voice in her head screamed to let him go, to get out of there and never look back, that this was not what she wanted.
But the animal in her, the part she had kept so tightly controlled she could sometimes forget it was there, was finally free and stampeding off with her will power. This man was her man. The bond between them was real, strong, and unbreakable. And it had power over her.
Licking her lips, she moistened them ready for the kiss that was to come. The soft warmth of his breath caressed her neck, he breathed in her scent once more, and then he kissed her. An ache began deep in her body, expanding out, filling her with such an intense need for him she had to hang onto his shirt to stop her knees from giving out.
But she didn’t resist him. Instead, she opened her mouth to allow him to slide his tongue along her lower lip, sending shockwaves through her body. This wasn’t her, she never acted like this, not with any man, and certainly not with a man she had only met half an hour ago.
But he’s your mate
, her head kept screaming. She knew. With every fibre of her being, she knew, just as she knew this was not what she wanted, but the bond won.
Placing his hand on her bottom, he drew her to him until she felt the hard bulge of his cock against her thigh. A gasp tried to escape her lips, but he took it from her, as he took every ounce of her resistance. She was his, and he intended to leave her in no doubt about that.
Pushing his hand into her hair, he tilted her head back, kissing her with firm lips, which ignited sensations in her that had never seen life before. Her sex ached for him, a hollow ache, begging to be eased by this man. Her breasts swelled, her nipples pressing against his hard-toned chest. They melded together, the soft and the hard, warm bodies feeding off each other’s desire.
They were one, the bond pulling them together with such strength it would take a force of nature to pull them apart. He moved, propelling her backwards until her back rested against the wall. With his hands moving to her thighs, he lifted her, his body nestling between her legs.
Damn, he felt so good. Slowly he moved against her, his cock rubbing against her clit, making her arousal intensify. Ciara threaded her hands into his hair, her mouth open as she gasped in need. Slowly, with his eyes fixed on her face, he brought her to a shuddering climax. She buried her head in his chest as she cried out. He ground against her, his movements more frantic, more intense, and then he came too, the strain on his face as he let himself go, slumping forward against her.
She slipped to the ground, legs barely supporting her as her feet touched the stone floor of the barn. Embarrassed at allowing him in, allowing him to take her defences down and invade her intimate space, she turned away from him. Watching as he placed his hand on the wall and tried to regain his composure. Had it come as such a shock to him too? She could not believe that.
He had known exactly what he was doing. Trying to tempt her with his body, to cage her with his desire. She picked up her bag and left.
Dazed, he stood resting against the wall of the barn. She had taken so much out of him in this one encounter. But she had also given him a brief glimpse of how they should be together. Yet he knew he couldn’t force her to stay, no matter how much he wanted to.
Standing up, his eye caught on the lasso. It hung there, usually unused: he didn’t agree with roping and tying his cattle, he liked to be more subtle than that. The brief thought of catching her with it, stopping her escape, drifted out of his mind. He was too easygoing; he didn’t like any of his animals to be scared of him. He certainly didn’t want his mate to be scared of him.
He had been to places where animals were chained and beaten. Bears kept for their bile, caged all of their lives, no life, no hope. It was on his return from abroad that he had come across Sapphire and decided that he might not be able to save every bear, but he could save this mare.
“Damn,” he said, his fist impacting with the wall as he fought to keep control of his bear. It scraped at the corners of his mind, testing the edges for weakness. He couldn’t let it free, that was not how he wanted to claim his mate.
But his bear roared, tearing at his resolve, teeth and claws.
He pushed away from the wall, and headed outside. Too late, she was in her car, reversing, stones flicking up as she accelerated out of the farm and out of his life. Ryan stood breathless, for many minutes he watched her go. She only slowed when she was out onto the road; he could imagine her checking her rearview mirror, seeing if he was following, and easing off the gas in relief at the empty road behind her.
She would be back. He licked his lips, tasting her on his tongue. She wasn’t that strong. Was she? No, that kiss, the way she climaxed at his touch, it meant something to her. If it hadn’t, she wouldn’t have run so fast.
Going back into the barn he went to check Sapphire, still standing looking depressed.
“What is she, girl?” he asked. Ciara wasn’t like him, wasn’t a bear, he could tell. A deep feeling in his soul, she was different to him. And as he pictured her running from him, he had his first suspicions.
If she were a predator, she would have stood and faced him, but she had run. That narrowed it down. As he gave Sapphire some more hay, he pondered what his mate was, and what she would be like when he finally seduced her. He could picture her now, long black hair across his pillow as he took his time to make her cry out his name and beg him to never stop.
If there was one thing he was certain of, she would be his.
Yes
, he agreed with his bear.
Whatever it took. She would be his.
Slowing her car, she tried to take in what had just happened, her body still buzzed from the climax he had dragged from her body.
You didn’t exactly put up a fight, did you?
She pushed that thought way to the back of her mind. He had used the mating bond to influence her, taken her at a time of weakness. Well, never again, she wouldn’t give him the chance.
Easing the car along the winding road, she took deep breaths, allowing normality to enter her life once more. That was it; she could just drive back to the veterinary practice and forget this had ever happened.
Yet the thought of Sapphire, so sad and depressed, made her realise that this was far from over. Yes, she could hand the case over to one of the other vets, but they weren’t like her, they were not so uniquely positioned to be able to work out what was wrong with the pregnant mare. Only Ciara had the special gift that might be needed to find the underlying cause of this.
The town of Bear Bluff came into view and she felt much better at reaching relative civilisation. So much that she pulled over and got out of the car, heading for the coffee shop. A shot of caffeine would do the trick. It would make her forget what had happened, wake her up from this stupid fairy-tale dream she had that he would sweep her off her feet and they would live happily ever after.
Ciara wanted her feet to stay completely and utterly
un
swept. They belonged on the ground underneath her. It was only the mating bond making her think she wanted a man. She was a career woman and, as far as she could tell from watching her mom as she grew up, the two didn’t mix.
Pushing the door open, she walked into the coffee shop, deciding that the cake looked delicious too. Why not treat herself? Caffeine and sugar, now that should perk her up nicely.
“Thank you,” she said, accepting the chocolate cake and espresso. Looking around, she went to a table next to the window and sat down.
The cake tasted as mouth-wateringly delicious as it looked: homemade, with thick gooey icing. While she ate, she looked at the view of the mountain rising over the town, not looming, more protective. Ciara wondered what it was like to live somewhere like this. And what type of shifters were sitting around her in the coffee shop.