Chapter 36
Bear
F in put the finishing touches on Rose’s back and wiped the marks clean. I’d tried, really tried to do the bulk of the work. Her sleeve tattoos were easy. The tracing of lines practically child’s play with my needles. But as soon as I had to work on her chest or back, I’d faint.
It was as if my body couldn’t process the extent of her injury. Or maybe it was because those lines had faded leaving nothing but pure skin behind. I couldn’t mark it up.
Anyone else who came in the shop got no mercy from me. But Rose ? Damn it. She was my unicorn. The one person I just couldn’t ink.
Fin gave me shit for all of three minutes. Then he saw the stencil.
That sobered him up.
Of course, the fucker named an outrageous price.
“ I’ll go somewhere else.”
“ Like hell you will. First hack who touches your woman, you’ll go through the fucking ceiling. Then you’ll kill ’em. At least you know it’ll get done right by me.”
And it was. I leaned in to admire the fine lines Fin had colored in. We decided it would be cool to do part of it in a deep rose flesh color to match the original scars, but then outline them with UV ink. I held up the black light to see the effect.
And practically fainted again.
Somehow , I managed to blink away the darkness hovering at the edges of my eyes and watch the light dance along her skin.
“ That’s one kick-ass tattoo.” Fin wiped at her skin again to clean up a spot that wept a little. “ Put that light up here.” He held a mirror so Rose could look at the ceiling mirror and watch the little streaks of lightning shimmer and dance. It was a work of art.
And my worst nightmare sometimes. I loved every inch of her, and on those more tormented nights, I relived that moment when I glanced up and watched her fall. Then the fire flared up. And in its glow, Carl grabbed her by the hair. My stomach did a flip-flop even though I only thought about it.
“ It’s beautiful.” Rose clutched the mirror and shifted to see the entire piece.
I traced one of the patterns that ran down the back of her leg like a striped stocking. The branches were so much smaller there. But that damn line went right down to her heel where the worst of the damage exited like a bullet wound. She could hardly put pressure on it for weeks.
Four skin grafts on her wrists, and two on her heel. She had macular holes in the vision of her right eye from the flash that might never fade completely.
But she was mobile now. There was only a slight hesitation with her left leg when she pushed too hard, or was tired. We jogged the trail together as therapy. And when she had rough days, we went to visit Beth .
Carl died on November first, the day of the martyrs, right about the moment I ass-planted on the floor again. Beth’s transplant was only a few hours later. And almost immediately she improved. So did Rose .
It had been months since then, and the day after New Year’s I’d made it official.
Rose was mine. And I hers. A set of patches on her coat read “ Property of Bear ” and a crazy hodgepodge of witch symbols were sewn into mine, along with a custom, black hat patch that read, “ Cross his witch and die.”
I found room for that right under my heart.
And she wore a hammer necklace I’d given her at Yule . It was a miniature version of mine, more delicately made with little lightning bolts carved amongst the circlets of knot work. Tiny crescent moons flanked the handle. It was one of a kind, like my witch.
My finger stopped on her foot and I quickly ran it down the arch. She flinched and kicked her leg up. That cute divot behind her knee winked at me. I wanted this woman, badly.
“ Hey Fin , do you mind?”
He read my face and the innuendo I’d broadcasted plainly. “ Of course, I fucking mind. I need to wrap her up before you maul her.”
“ Bear .”
I ignored Rose’s warning. She was naked, barely a towel between her and Fin’s elbows and hands as he worked. Meanwhile I had to watch him mark her up for the last two months. I’d shared her skin enough. “ I got it. Leave , old man.”
He sighed. “ Hey Betty Jo , remember when you flashed your ass at me?”
“ You keep telling all these idiots about that day, and you’re never going to see my ass again.”
Fin leaned in, conspiratorially. “ I tattooed a shark on her ass.”
I ran my hand up Rose’s leg and under the towel. “ Well , I guess I beat you for sheer coverage.”
He snickered.
“ Well , someone did.” He stopped to give Rose some advice about care. “ And if this asshole faints again, let me know. I’ll? —”
“ You’ll do nothing, Finnigan Curty . She’s Bear’s .” Betty Jo led him out of the private room in my shop.
It took only a few moments to apply the Saniderm . I ran my hand under Rose’s towel. “ You heard what Betty Jo said?”
She rolled over, letting the towel fall away. “ That you’re mine?”
“ Yeah , that’s what you heard.” I looked at the mirror on the ceiling because it reflected her tits nicely.
“ Lock the door.” Her hand ran through my hair, tugging on a braid as she finished ordering me around.
I did as asked and returned to her. “ How do you feel?”
Her smile was blissful. “ I love getting tattooed. It feels so good.”
I glanced at her skin. There wasn’t much of it left that was pristine.
“ I see that.” With one fingertip, I lightly traced a line of burns that flowed up the slope of her breast and forked into fractals that framed the tawny peak of her tit.
The other side matched, but like all things in nature, they weren’t completely symmetrical.
The pattern on each was different despite the illusion of balance.
I knew each line, each fork, every sensitive root.
My tongue traced each one as soon as it healed.
Now , I traced the pattern again, not stopping where the tattoo ended, but sucking on her nipple with care and determination.
She was mine, and I intended on celebrating that. Every chance I got.
Her fingers dug into my scalp. “ Please ?”
“ Lift up.” I stuck a pillow and a sterile sheet under her back, using care not to jostle the fresh bandage on her spine much. “ Okay . Let’s take this slow.”
She laughed. “ You , slow?”
“ Woman ,” I warned.
Rose wrapped her legs around mine, drawing me closer. “ I want you.”
For as long as I lived, I’d never get tired of hearing that.
I quickly shucked my jeans and slipped a condom on.
Rose led me home and that first rush of heat surrounding my dick sent a shockwave of bliss straight up my back.
It sunk into my skin and dropped right back down into my balls making me harder.
She moaned as I pushed deeper. I checked her face to make sure I wasn’t hurting her.
Her eyes were open and staring at the ceiling.
I glanced up to check the mirror. From my angle, I could see her body splayed on the table, but if I leaned back a little, I could view the place where we connected.
I pulled out, almost to the tip and sunk back in while watching my dick slide into her.
Too soon, I forgot to look because it felt too damn good, and I quickened the pace.
Every few strokes I checked her face and where her eyes tracked in the reflection above us.
On a whim, I pulled out and powered up the blacklight so I could see the flash of ink that was invisible normally. Then I worked into her again and again, checking the mirror and reveling in the sheer perfection of each line on her skin.
Rose clutched at me, and her fingers dug deep into my shoulders. “ Bear , I’m …”
Yeah , I was there, too. The experience was like fine whiskey and the smoothest open highway in the world. I couldn’t stop touching her, watching the shift of lightning across her skin, and digging deep with each thrust. “ Mine , Rose . You are mine.”
“ Yours !” She was desperate, arching into me hard, grinding her clit against me and letting the whole shop know we were more than halfway to heaven.
And it was hell because I didn’t want it to end.
But the tingling at the base of my nuts wouldn’t wait much longer.
I pounded into her, trying to make the little forks of ink under her tits flash with each beat.
My hands looked dark orange against the backdrop of her ink.
The electrified blues of the UV ink and shadowy rose-colored lines on her skin were obscured like a cloud covered the sky.
My ink shrank into deep shadows of black, almost as dark as night.
I gripped her waist and sank deep. A cry wrenched from her like a storm breaking wide open.
I waited for my own tsunami of lust to break free. But we were trapped in that liminal space between thinking and reality. Where nightmares slipped their bonds and spirits roamed like wild beasts.
And I was one of those creatures. Wild , dangerous, but one with the chaotic beating of my heart, and hers.
She hadn’t tamed me, but rather set me loose to run wild with the night horde.
I had power at my fingertips and felt her magic under my hands, more wild, even more powerful, and deeply infinite like some ancient goddess made flesh.
I loved this sorceress, and in return for that worship, was blessed with the noblest of mates a man could ever find.
My release pulsed out of me with a roar. I let the fury loose with a deep yearning to claim, conquer, and most of all, run wild. As long as this woman never let go.
Rose’s grin lit like the flare of a bonfire but didn’t fade. “ Love you,” she gasped.
“ Oh , woman…” I couldn’t speak. She’d driven thought away. I was possessed by her, owned.
“ I like it when you say it that way.”
I bet she did. “ Witch .”
A hum emanated from her that I felt in my balls.
“ That , too,” she purred.
If she could love me with all my gruffness, I could… conquer whole planets. Or maybe just one backwater town on the brink of gentrification. Someone needed to scare the townsfolk.
I leaned down to take a nip at her full bottom lip. “ Get dressed, I wanna show you off.”
“ I could stay naked.”
Oh , that was tempting. But I had a hard enough time trusting Fin with her skin, I doubted anyone else would survive. “ Later .” I pulled out and ran my hand down her leg one last time. “ Perfect .”
Her eyes flashed, as if arguing with my assessment. I flicked on the overhead lights, put the UV lamp away, and closed out the station while she slipped into stockings, then a set of black panties. I got a little distracted when she tugged on her bra and tore it back off.
“ I can’t wear it.”
“ Wear a tank top.” There was one of the shop’s black racer backs on the supply rack. I’d put it there earlier knowing she’d not want anything pressing hard against her skin.
She pouted. “ It doesn’t match.”
She dangled the sequin top she’d worn to the shop from one finger.
“ It matches just fine. No one’s going to be looking at your clothes.”
“ Give me your shirt. I don’t want to get cold.”
She had a point there. I stripped off my thermal and handed it over.
It was worse of a match than the shop shirt, but once she put it on and tugged the sleeves over her hands, it became something other than a fashion statement.
It hung on her. And anyone with half a brain could see it was my shirt.
If some idiot was stupid enough not to know, I’d educate them, fast.
Her perky tits poked at the fabric, proving there was no bra underneath. While I liked that view, I knew it would be a hard night of fighting my urge to pound someone’s face in if they stared too long. “ Wear the vest.”
“ No . I just know that will be too much under the coat.”
I smiled. She still insisted on getting her own way.
She’d taken to wearing the black duster any chance she got.
She looked like a Goth gunslinger from Hell in it.
And now that her hair was shorter, she wore a dark flat-brimmed hat on her head rather than braiding it all the time.
The hat-band had skulls and feathers stitched to it.
Not the cheap discount store varieties either.
Real animal skulls and multiple, colorful and ebony tufts bound together with red thread.
How she always managed to find those things on our runs was mind-boggling, but rarely did we go a week without a new addition to her growing altar.
It merged with mine, taking up both tables and now a shelf in our living room.
And I wasn’t even mad about the takeover, or her defiance.
She’d never be a normal woman. I’d accepted that.
Because …
Fuck normal.