Lord of the Bears (Wild Ridge Bears Book 1) (13 page)

Later, Jax came to me. He smelled of the woods, the earth, the stream,
and that male scent that belonged only to him. Water dripped off the ends of
his hair and made his bare chest glisten. I took off my clothes as he hovered
over me, chest heaving with the exertion of his hunt. His bear was quiet within
him, sated. Now, the man required a different kind of satisfaction, and so did
I.

This time, as Jax stood before me, his great cock hard and pulsing, I
went to my knees in front of him and did what I wanted to do before. When I
took him deep in my mouth, it was oh-so-much better than I’d imagined. Jax dug
his fingers into my hair and brought me down on him. His body trembled as I set
the pace, sucking and lapping, making him harder with each and every stroke of
my tongue.

“Nora,” he whispered my name over and over again like a prayer. But it
was I who worshiped him that morning as the sun peeked out from behind the
clouds. His balls grew heavy as he tried to hold back. I wouldn’t let him. The
more I sensed him trying to keep his balance, the harder I sucked. I dug my
fingers into his hard buttocks and drew him in even deeper.

I wanted to make him lose control. As his pleasure built, so did mine.
The first slow trickle of moisture ran between my legs, and I shuddered with
the effort of keeping my own lust at bay. Jax reached down and touched me there;
his fingers grew slick with my juices. He let out a growl that sent heat racing
through me. As I stroked and sucked him, he worked me. It got hard to
concentrate, but oh, God, I managed. Jax’s whole body stiffened. He went still
as I increased my rhythm. Then, my Jax exploded and I swallowed all he had. My
sex pulsed between my legs and I almost came just from the feel of his hot seed
inside of me. But, I got a hold of myself just in time. When Jax was spent, he
reached down and helped me to my back.

Gripping my ankles in each of his hands, he spread me wide, hooking my legs
around his shoulders. Then, he drove into me as deep as he could go. I came
almost instantly as he slid into me. I cried out his name over and over as my
crescendo of pleasure peaked. My whole body pulsed with it as Jax drove into me
over and over and over again. When I came, he held himself completely still,
letting me take what I needed and more. Then, when I crested down and became
boneless again, Jax pulled me close and held me tight.

Chapter Fourteen

Jax

I never realized how incomplete my life had been until I woke up the
next morning under the waterfall with Nora in my arms. I’d taken her down the
secret trails behind the ridge. The path was too steep for a human to traverse,
but I’d shifted again and let her climb on my back. She rode me all the way
down.

As she slept, a light mist covered her shoulders, making her skin shine
like glitter in with the rising sun just ahead. I trailed my finger over the
sharp bones of her clavicle to the plump swell of her breasts. Her wine-colored
nipples rose to peaks as my breath skittered over them. She shifted in her
sleep, her tits swaying heavily. My cock grew instantly hard again and I knew
I’d need to take her again, and soon. I smoothed my palm over the slight mound
of her stomach and down to the fine thatch of blond hair between her legs. She
moaned and turned toward me, her body was already finely tuned to mine, even
while she slumbered.

As she rolled to her back, she crooked an arm over her head and her
knee fell to the side. I reached down and touched the swollen pink bud at the
juncture of her thighs. She let out a sigh and arched her back. This is how I
wanted her. Always. If it were up to me, she’d never wear clothes again. I
found beauty in every inch of her. She had the most perfectly round ass I’d
ever seen, and a memory flashed of how lovely it looked when I had her on all
fours just a few hours ago. Oh, yes. I’d need to see that view again soon too,
and often.

My whole life, I’d never truly understood what an
Anam Cara
was.
It’s what my mother was to my father. His devotion to her was absolute. She’d
tempered him in a way that made him stronger. With my mother, Sarah, at Caleb
Lord’s side, he’d turned the Wild Ridge mines into what they were today. All
the clans thrived following his example. But I knew the truth. As strong as my
father was, he was nothing without my mother.

Then, she died.

My heart seized at the memory. God. If he’d felt even half what I now
felt for Nora, I don’t know how Caleb had survived. He barely had, at that. I
remember those years as dark and desolate. Overnight, my father became hollow
and distant. He spent more time in his bear and left much of the mining
operation to me even though I’d only been sixteen at the time. It had been a
trial by fire. Then, after a year of it, he’d gone to ground and to sleep for
months. When he came back, it was better, but he still wasn’t the same. He’d
grown so overprotective of my younger sister she finally rebelled in the most
absolute way she could. She left the ridge and found a wolf to mate. I prayed
she was happy with her choice now. She told me she was, and Olivia never lied
to me.

Nora stirred; she still had one arm thrown over her head, and she
looked at me with one blinking, bright blue eye. She reached out with her other
hand and brushed her fingers along my thigh, making the hair stand on end.

“Where are you?” she asked, her voice deep and drowsy. “You look a
million miles away.”

I shook my head. “Just remembering. And understanding something in a
new way. My parents. I think I know what they felt for each other now and
everything it cost them.” It was the kind of revelation I might have kept to
myself just a few short days ago. Now, Nora had laid open my heart. I couldn’t
hide anything, nor did I want to.

She stretched, curling her long toes. Then she sat up and slid her arms
around my waist, resting her head against my shoulder. “My parents too. Theirs
is just a normal love, no shifter magic as far as I know. But, I feel like I
understand some of the ways they look at each other now.”

I smiled and kissed the top of her head. “You’re going to have to call
them soon, I think. Where do they think you are?”

Nora shrugged. “At my apartment. But, you’re right. If my dad tried to
get a hold of me and I don’t answer, he’s liable to drive up here with a U-Haul
and a shotgun.”

I laughed and pulled her into my lap. “Sounds like my kind of guy.”

“He is. You’ll like him. Ed Gentry tells it like it is. I’m not sure
he’s going to know what to make of you, but if he believes I’m important to you,
you’ll have a fan for life.”

My spine stiffened and my heart raced. “You’re more than important to
me, Nora. You’re everything.”

She nuzzled against my shoulder. I hooked a finger under her chin and
raised it until she met my eyes. Hers were clear, but a dark shadow crossed
behind them. “I feel like I should be afraid of this. It all happened so fast.”

“Are you?”

Smiling, she shook her head, and some of the shadows moved away. “I
don’t think so. I just want to know more. And I wish I could find a way to help
you with the rest of the bear clans. There’s going to be more trouble before it
gets better, isn’t there?”

I let out a sigh and reached back in the shadows of the small cave. I’d
folded our clothes back there, and as much as I wanted to stay in this bubble
with her forever, we had work to do.

“Get dressed.” I handed her jeans and shirt to her. “We’ve got time for
a quick breakfast, then I want to take you down to the mines. You should meet
the crew.”

Nora pulled a shirt over her head. God, I already wanted to rip it away
again and watch her breasts rise and fall. “I was thinking about them. They
live in the valley on the other side of this ridge, right?”

I nodded. “How did you know?”

Nora shrugged as she pulled her jeans on and slipped into her leather boots.
“I don’t know. But, ever since we first…you know…came together, it feels like I
know this land as well as you do. Maybe it’s part of the magic you talked
about.”

Nodding, I slipped into my own jeans and held my hand out for her. She
let out a little squeal when I pulled her onto my back and brought her up the
trail on piggyback. I felt the heat between her legs where she hugged me close,
and it was all I could do to concentrate on the matters at hand. In no time
though, we were at the top of the ridge where she could see the boundaries of
my land.

I pointed east. The sun broke over the small rows of houses in the
valley. Most of the men and women who worked for me lived there. A few drove in
from the Lower Peninsula. Nora’s breath caught.

“You own all of this?”

“This part of it, yes. Their fortunes rise and fall with mine. It
hasn’t always been a good bargain for them, but lately I think it has. We’re
onto what I think will be a rich copper vein. If I’m right, it’s going to be a
very good year.”

“Unless Simon Marshall figures out a way to use me to take it away from
you.” Her tone fell flat, and she stiffened beside me. I pulled her close
again.

“That’s for me to sort out. And I will. I promise.”

Nora looked up at me, her eyes narrowing. “I need a different kind of
promise from you.”

“Anything, baby.”

“Don’t make me promises you’re not sure you can keep. This connection I
have with you seems to extend to some of the other bears as well. They’re
afraid. And they don’t trust you. So they trust me even less, and at least for
now, some of them think they have good cause. I
did
work for Damon
Spence and I
was
sent here to spy on you. He told me he wanted the
pictures for the calendar, but he was also looking for evidence that you were
cutting down parts of the forest you shouldn’t be. Now, we both know he came up
empty handed on that, but he’s going to keep trying. And if he has those
pictures I took, he has evidence of something even more damning, doesn’t he? He
has evidence of what you are.”

I clenched my jaw so hard the bones made a cracking noise. Nora reached
up and put a light touch against my cheek. I turned and kissed her hand. “I’m
not afraid of him. Men like Damon Spence have been coming after the bear clans
for centuries.”

“Hmm,” she said, crossing her arms. “And I’m guessing some of them have
succeeded. You said so yourself; there aren’t many of you left in the world.
Your position here is more precarious than ever. If he can’t come at you on
foot, he’ll send drones or whatever. If those pictures get out, even the one of
the pioneer cabin, it could be enough to stir things up in the media and cause
you real trouble. The kind that I’m guessing would make all of you have to
leave this place. Then what?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away. I didn’t want to finish her
thought.

“Jax? Then what? If you can’t stay here, what happens to the bear
clans?”

A few
moments ago, I marveled at my need to share everything with her. Right
then, I hated it. “We’d fight to keep it from ever getting that far.”

“Damon Spence is powerful. Maybe powerful enough to shut the mines
down. Then you lose your land, your livelihood, your seclusion. You might as
well lose your lives. And it’s all because of me. At least, that’s what Simon
thinks, isn’t it?”

“He’s wrong!” My voice echoed down the valley and made Nora jump.

“Yes. He’s wrong. You matter to me. And now, the clans matter to me
just as much as they do to you. So, let me help.”

I didn’t like where she was heading with this. Not one bit. When I
turned to her again, I realized what I was up against. She stood with her hands
on her hips, her eyebrow arched to the sky and her mouth pursed with
determination. My Nora was beautiful. My Nora was loyal. And my Nora was
stubborn as shit.

“How?” I said, my voice taking on the bear’s growl.

“He doesn’t know about you and me. How could he? The last conversation
I had with Aaron, he was begging me to forgive him. I still technically work
for Damon. He was very adamant about that. He tried to give me a bonus to keep
me from leaving. So he wants something from me still. Badly. So let me go back
and find out. He sent me out here to spy on you, so send me back to do the very
same thing to him. We figure out what he’s planning to do, then stop him before
he can do it.”

I flexed my fingers in and out of fists. It took everything in me not
to throw her over my shoulder. The idea of her even being in the same room
again with Damon or Aaron Spence had my blood boiling with rage. But, Nora
stared me down and held her ground.

“You need me to do this,” she said. “And the clans need to know they
can trust me. Two birds, one stone, don’t you think?”

I was so focused on Nora and the potential danger she seemed willing to
walk into, my reaction wasn’t as fast as it should have been. I heard movement
through the trees. I grabbed Nora and pulled her behind me. She yelped but held
on tight when she saw what I did.

Hank’s bear came barreling through the trees, his great, black paws
reaching. He pawed the ground in front of him and let out a quick, staccato growl.
Then, he reared up on his powerful hind legs and shifted. Nora gasped behind
me. For sixty, Hank was in incredible shape. Silvery hair curled around the
rough sinew of his chest. He had the decency to stand partially behind a low
bush and hide his nakedness from her. Even so, I felt the quickening of Nora’s
pulse as I held onto her arm.

“Didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” Hank said. “But it’s been almost a
day and no one’s heard from you. We need a clan meeting.”

“And you were sent to fetch me? Not now, Hank. I’m not leaving Nora
alone here unprotected.”

Hank’s silver eyes flashed. “She’s not unprotected. You claimed
sanctuary for her. Everyone respects that. While she’s on your lands, no one
goes near her.”

“And if I leave?” Nora’s voice sounded choked. I tightened my grip on
her to steady her.

“Well, as long as you’re not headed back to the Spence’s or anywhere
else that might be misconstrued, I suppose you don’t have anything to worry
about.”

“Jax?” She got brave and stepped around me. “Tell Hank what we were
talking about. Or better yet, let me come to this clan meeting. It concerns me
too. Let me plead my own case.”

The bear rose up within me. I wasn’t sure I could control it. The idea
of letting her near any of the rest of them set my protective instincts on
fire. Not yet. It was too soon. I just got her.

“I’ll come alone,” I said, my voice thundering to shake the branches of
the nearest tree. “Nora stays put. And we settle this once and for all.”

Hank raised a brow and took a step forward. If Nora hadn’t been there,
he might have stepped out from behind that bush. He extended a hand for me to
shake. It was as good a bargain as I was going to get. He was right, even
though I hated it. I’d have to leave Nora and deal with the heads of the clans
if I was ever going to be able to bring peace back to my own clan.

I reached out to shake Hank’s hand. Time seemed to fragment. I felt
Hank’s grip tighten around mine. A fireball hit my shoulder. Nora’s scream
echoed across the valley. The ground came up fast just before the blackness
took me.