Chapter 23 Maverick
Maverick
My bear was losing his shit slowly but surely. Keeping Raven safe should have been easy. We’d spent years handling security for the rich and famous. Scaring stalkers away and removing threats when they arose.
Yet the minute we left our mate alone, she took a bullet.
Fur sprouted across my arms as my bear fought to escape, but I held him back.
The bedroom wasn’t large enough to accommodate an adult Kodiak bear mid-tantrum.
We’d cause too much damage and make the cabin uninhabitable.
And with another winter storm on the horizon, losing our shelter for the night was not an option.
My bear roared but settled when I reminded him Raven was safe. At least for now.
Thank the goddess the mage knew healing spells. By sheer luck, or poor marksmanship, the bullet missed Raven’s chest, but it had made a mess of her arm. Once the mage had healed the damage, there was no sign she’d sustained an injury, however. Not even a scar.
At least the mage had had the good sense to fry the shooter.
I poured some perfumed bath salts into the tub as I waited for it to fill with steaming hot water. My mate needed pampering. A soak in the tub would do her good. Warm her up after the fucking stupid incubus took her outside into subzero temperatures for way too long.
If he wasn’t her mate, I’d have ended the bastard. He got on my last nerve each time he opened his smart mouth. I still wanted to kill him for completing the soul-bond. Although how he managed not to wake me up was a mystery.
I’d gone into the bathroom to take care of business and then fallen asleep the moment my head hit the pillow again. When I woke, he was smirking at me while Raven lay there, flushed and confused.
Fucking incubus.
“Are you okay?” Raven’s soft voice startled me from my spiraling thoughts. She stood in the bathroom doorway, hugging herself. I could hear an argument coming from the living area and smell food, so at least the other two idiots were preparing a meal for my mate.
“No,” I admitted. “Come here.” My mood lightened as she walked willingly into my arms and snuggled against my chest. “My bear is unhappy.” An understatement. “He’s angry and upset we failed to protect you from the human.”
She looked up at me, eyes wide. “You weren’t there! And anyway, it wasn’t something anyone could have predicted.” I watched as she chewed her lip for a moment. “Humans really don’t like us, do they?”
“It’s my job to do risk assessments and predict where problems may arise.
I knew the town was mostly humans, so I should have planned for a problem if something went awry.
There have been too many incidents where magicals have hurt humans.
Not always deliberately. And yes, humans are suspicious by nature. They fear what they don’t understand.”
Raven nodded. “That’s why the Salem witch trials happened.”
“Exactly. Humans lash out when they’re scared. Back in the 1600s, the witches took the brunt of their paranoia, but there have been many other incidents over the years. It’s why the mages insist younger magicals attend special schools to learn more about our heritage and how to control our powers.”
“Adam always kept me away from humans.” Raven had not told me much about her guardian, but he seemed to care deeply for her.
“To keep you safe?”
“I guess so. He claimed our farm was the only safe place for me.” Given how often trouble seemed to find her, I suspected he was right.
She moved away as I turned the faucet off. The cabin had solar panels for hot water, but the tank wasn’t big. I wanted to make sure there was enough hot water left to rinse her hair. The others would bitch when their showers were cold, but tough shit.
“Get in the bath before it cools,” I ordered.
“Is this you or your bear talking?”
“Both,” I admitted. “Shifters have an instinctual need to take care of their mates. It’s coded in our DNA.
Running a bath for you and making sure you are warm and well-fed makes me and my bear happy.
” I lifted her sweater over her head and watched as she tugged her sweatpants off and then her underwear.
She smelled of the incubus and also the mage, which I hated, but I swallowed my jealousy. The mage had healed her, and the incubus had had her in his arms a short while ago.
My bear still didn’t like it, though.
“Get in the water while it’s hot. Your lips are blue.” I forced myself not to look at her naked body. This wasn’t about sex. She climbed into the tub and squeaked as the hot water stung her cold extremities.
“Yikes! It hurts!”
“Don’t be a baby,” I chided. “You need to warm up.”
I gritted my teeth as my bear showed me a picture of our mate freezing in the snow. I told him to stand down, but he wanted more. He roared inside me, desperate to get closer to his mate.
“Get in the tub with me,” she said, correctly reading my inner conflict.
“No, if I join you, I’ll end up—” I shifted uncomfortably.
“Please.” One word. That was all it took for me to tear my clothes off and sink into the hot water with her. The tub was barely large enough for the two of us, which meant my legs were mostly out of the water, but I didn’t care.
I had my mate in my arms, her naked body against mine, and my bear was finally happy. My cock, too, but I took no notice of that. This was about taking care of my mate, not sex.
Steam filled the bathroom, creating a cozy little world where, if I tuned out the bickering from the other room, I could pretend we were back in my cabin. Just the two of us.
“Bear?” Raven wiggled in my grip, her slick skin sliding against my chest. I groaned softly as my cock throbbed painfully, trapped between us.
“Yes, little mate?”
“Can I try something new?” My pulse quickened at the nervous yet excited note in her voice.
“Like what, little mate?” She slithered around in my grip until she faced me. I sat up more, pulling her astride my lap. My cock leaped in the hot water, drawing her attention, and she smiled.
“Can I taste you?” Her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips, and I groaned.
“Little mate…you’ve had a long day, and I don’t want to tire you out.”
Her face fell. A mortified flush tinted her cheeks as steam rose. “Oh. Of course. I’d probably be terrible at it anyway.”
“Everything you do pleases me, little mate,” I ground out, unable to stop thinking about my cock in her mouth now that she’d put the idea into my head. “And I would like it very much if…”
Goddess. I was so fucked.