14. Locke
Locke
I ran as hard and as fast as I could in the direction my mate indicated that we should continue heading. Hopefully, once we arrived, we will be able to figure out more of what her dreams were trying to tell her.
I was concerned over the possibilities that could be the source of her troubling visions. When she had her nightmare, I felt a dark presence rise with it. There was something very similar to the darkness that attacked my mate with my own darker powers. Similar, but not enough that I would be positive in claiming that they came from the same source.
I had a different concern though. I knew that the miles we traveled every day were long and far, and while my body was easily handling it, there was every likelihood that hers was not. Her only job may have been to be straddled across my broad back, but staying in one position and then holding on without proper support would take its toll on one's body. I also noticed that when I did finally let her down at night to rest, she would hold herself stiffly and move gingerly.
One of the nights when I found myself exceptionally restless, I dug through my mate’s bags to study the map she’d marked for us. By my calculations, we should reach our destination by late afternoon tomorrow. After that comes the discussion of which location we head to next. If it were up to me, I think we should head to this one first. I mused as I tapped a finger on the remaining circle. It seemed to me that it would make more sense if we finished with the locations that had similar markings before moving on to the outlier. But ultimately, the choice lies not with me but with Fare. Whatever path she chooses, my role was to follow at her side.
Just as I finished refolding and replacing the map, a strong wind blew over our meager campsite. I felt a mere brush of the pressure from the gust but little else. However, just as I was about to retreat to my side of the camp, I saw from the corner of my eye, my little one was shuddering from the cold.
Well now, I thought to myself, what kind of mate would I be if I allowed my beloved mate to suffer? And if that gives me a perfectly valid reason to hold her close, who was I to complain?
I grinned to myself as I lay next to my mate and pulled her into my warm embrace. As my warmth flowed into Fare, she relaxed into me and even pulled at my clothing to try and cover more of herself.
Morning found us intertwined together, with her head resting on my arm and my body draped around her. I inhaled a deep breath of her sweet scent and moved to rub my cheek against the top of her head. At my caress, she moaned and arched her back into me.
I groaned as her body stoked my own into a different sort of wakefulness. My body vibrated with a low growl of arousal as I pressed my hardness into her soft body. She responded in kind and pushed back into me and I felt my hand traveling on its own accord down her body, stopping periodically to grope where I could find any especially soft locations.
Just as my hand reached the apex of her thighs, something in her body shifted.
Suddenly, her willingness, her pliantness, disappeared in a heartbeat.
Her thrashing changed from throes of passion to ones of distress. When she shoved against my arms, her fear spiked in the seconds that it took me to comprehend the shift in her emotions.
As soon as I realized she was afraid of what we were doing, I pulled my hands away immediately. I jumped away from her as soon as I could.
In my haste, I lost control of my man form, and as I put distance between us, I returned to my bear form.
I stood now on the opposite side of our small campfire as I watched my mate curl in on herself, trembling. I ached to go to her, soothe her as she’d let me do before. But the bear’s instincts roared in my head for me not to make a move towards her.
Eventually, her shaking subsided and she looked up at me through small breaks in her tangled curtain of hair.
I lowered my body as much as I could and belly-crawled toward her, whimpering all the way. There was no way I could speak in a way that she would understand in this form, and my bear refused to give me back control, lest I hurt or scare her again. So I was left hoping she was calm enough to read my body language and understand the message I was trying to convey.
Luck must have been on my side this morning, for after a few shuddered breaths, she tentatively reached a hand out for me to press my snout in.
“G-good bear. Gentle Locke.” She murmured to herself as she slowly ran her hand along my muzzle. I groaned and leaned into her hand. Hesitantly, she bowed forward to rest her head on my face.
Eventually, she pulled away from me and moved to get herself ready for the day. I guess that meant that the moments between us had well and truly passed now. Taking my cue from her, I kicked dirt over the smoldering coals to ensure that the remains of our campfire didn’t start the whole forest in ablaze.
As soon as she was done readying herself and making sure our bags of supplies were repacked properly, I lowered myself to the ground so she could hang the bags over my shoulders before pulling herself onto my back. Once situated, I rose to my feet and took several slow lumbering steps before I slowly picked up speed and eventually settled into the solid gallop that comprised much of our journey.