Chapter Ten
Everything was perfect.
Poppy couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
She felt absolutely blissful. Wilder was amazing, and there were times she could even forget why they’d been brought together.
It was like the poachers who were intent to kill her were part of a whole other life.
A life she didn’t need to think about or acknowledge.
She didn’t want to remember her lonely old apartment where she was always alone. The constant hustle and bustle of the city. The need to make money. Working. She loved living off the land, being with Wilder, filling her days with everything he’d made of his life. It was perfection.
She felt at peace. For a long time, she didn’t think she was ever going to feel at peace, and yet here she did.
If only that little nagging suspicion would leave well enough alone.
She didn’t want to think about what it meant.
She didn’t want to think why the animals listened to Wilder, nor the fact he seemed to hear things that were not there.
Over the last few days, she’d noticed little oddities about his behavior.
Moments certain wildlife would come close to him, and he’d twitch his head toward the sound, but then he’d give a shake and pretend it was some kind of bug that whizzed past his ear.
Even when wasps got close, he didn’t flinch, and in fact, wasps stayed away from him as well. She couldn’t forget the bees either.
Each time he brought back more honey, there was not a single sting on him. There were times he left and told her to wait inside, and she would listen. The last thing she wanted to do was annoy him or to run the risk of getting hurt.
Wilder protected her.
Yet, there was still that niggling doubt, and then the other night with the damn coyotes.
They were dangerous and it wasn’t like anyone told a story of coyotes being friendly.
They hunted as a damn pack. They didn’t leave humans alone just to share their heat.
It was a kill-or-be-killed world, yet they didn’t attack Wilder.
They did look at her as if she could be the potential next meal, but then they took the warmth of the fire and in the next breath were gone.
She tried not to think about what that meant, but it sucked.
There was something about Wilder she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
Like that giant bear, the one that had gotten her into all this trouble in the first place, as she was determined to capture a single image of it.
Wilder being so confident it wasn’t going to hurt her, but he wasn’t even there to see it.
He wouldn’t tell her where he had wandered off to.
There were a lot of secrets in his world, like now, he was gone again, and she was inside his home. Maybe it was a result of living your life in the wilderness. He was almost more animal than human in some ways. That had to be the explanation.
She moved toward the window, overlooking the main front garden, but all she saw ahead was forest. She quickly pulled away, because the truth was, the view reminded her of so many points in horror movies. She was not a horror movie lover.
Wandering into his kitchen, she opened up the fridge to see the meat in a bowl defrosting for tonight’s dinner. There were vegetables they’d gathered together from the garden. She closed the fridge and sighed.
Wilder did venture out into the real world, as he had shelf-stable milk and a pantry full of long-life staples. He promised to take her with him the next time he ventured to town. Apparently it was quite the hike, especially lugging the stuff back.
It wasn’t that she wanted to go into town or talk to anyone. She just wanted to help support him, to do couples’ things. She actually loved this life of living off the grid, relying on the land. She would never be good at hunting, but she certainly loved to tend the vegetables.
There were still so many questions without answers, and she didn’t want to keep prying.
All of a sudden, she was pulled out of her thoughts as Wilder stepped through the front door, and the first thing she noticed was the big beaming smile on his face.
“Well, you’re the prettiest sight to see,” he said.
He brought the freshness of the outdoors with him. She couldn’t help but laugh. Poppy moved toward him, throwing her arms around his neck.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” He pressed his face against her neck.
“Why do you keep going out and leaving me like this?” she asked. Then, she gasped. “Did you see that bear? Did you see the poachers? Are they still hunting us?”
He cupped her face and tilted her head back and he had this beautiful smile on his face. “Everything is all right. The bear makes its appearance from time to time.”
“And you’re still not frightened? It was a giant bear.”
“Nothing frightens me. I told you, I respect the land, and the animals know I’m here to care for them.”
She sighed. “Do you think there is ever a chance I won’t be afraid? I hate that you’re so kind and so open and I’m afraid all the time.” She pressed her head against his chest. “I don’t want to scare them away.”
“You won’t.”
“What about the poachers?” she asked, and that uneasy slice of fear rushed down her spine. Would they ever give up, or were they still intent on seeing her dead? She didn’t like thinking about it, and wished the problem just disappeared.
“They’re still close. They’ve made camp a few miles away.”
“This isn’t good,” she said. “Why won’t they leave?”
“They’re determined to get what they want.”
“I put you in danger.” She lifted her head, and she felt her shoulders slump. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
He kissed her. “Stop it, Poppy. You’re not going to hurt me, and some hum— I mean people, they just don’t know when to let something go. It has nothing to do with you.” He kissed her lips again.
“What if I just give them the memory drive with their pictures on it?”
He shook his head. “At this point, it wouldn’t change their intentions.”
She felt an answering spark flood her whole body as she looked up at him.
They stared at one another, and it was like his eyes changed color, they went from a dark brown to almost black, then back again to brown. Poppy knew she must have imagined it. Especially as, within the next second, he picked her up in his arms and was carrying her right to their bed.
****
The poachers still being close was not Poppy’s fault. They’d been close to the house when Wilder killed one of them, which had sent them packing, but just a few miles away. They were not giving up on killing Poppy.
The only problem they had now was trying to figure out what killed their friend.
He did have them afraid, but not to the point they were willing to give up on Poppy, and he didn’t like that.
Also, he sensed her curiosity was getting the better of her.
She kept looking at him questioningly. She wanted answers.
He got it. After all, he was a bear, and he wasn’t human.
Poppy was different. He glanced over to where she lay on the bed. To keep her questions at bay, he’d made love to her all night long. He couldn’t get enough of her. There were plenty of traps around his land, and he went and set more up, so he could keep Poppy safe.
She let out a sigh, and he hadn’t even realized he’d been staring at her ass, and he quickly pulled his gaze up to look into her eyes. There was a pretty smile on her face.
“Hello,” she said.
“Good morning.”
She sighed. “It’s morning already?”
“Yes, it is.” His cock was already hard as rock. Her ass was calling to him, and he leaned over her, to kiss her cheek. “Did you sleep well?”
“You know I did. You made sure of that.”
He eased some of her hair out of the way, exposing her shoulder, and he couldn’t resist kissing her exposed flesh.
In the back of his mind, he knew he could not keep the truth from her his whole life—that would be unfair, because any kids they had were going to be bear shifters.
Shifter DNA was always dominant. There was no way he was not going to mate with Poppy.
He dreamed of breeding her. He wanted a family.
For so long now, he’d been living alone, and he hadn’t even realized what he’d been missing.
He was used to the peace and quiet, and the moment Poppy entered his life, he suddenly realized he had a chance to fall in love.
He was falling for Poppy. Hard. She called to every single part of him. His heart, his soul, his need to protect her.
He moved into position over her, and he tilted her ass so she offered up her pussy.
Sliding her legs open, he gripped his cock and found his way toward her core, as he pressed forward.
He slid deep into her cunt, and she cried out, arching up against him.
He felt every ripple of her pussy. She was already flooded with his previous releases.
His scent covered her, which is one of the reasons the other animals left her alone.
She was marked. She was owned. She belonged to him, and no animal within his forest wanted to make him angry.
Poppy moaned, but she didn’t pull away, she pressed up against him, wriggling her pussy right onto his dick.
He gripped her hip, then he pulled out, and he looked down at where they were joined, because he thought it was a fucking marvel at how perfect they fit together.
He loved how plump and inviting her ass was.
Sinking balls-deep inside her, he gripped her hip and closed his eyes, feeling her warmth surround him. She was so fucking tight.
Letting go of her hip, he moved his hand between her thighs and found her warmth. The moment he reached her clit, he paused in his thrusts and focused completely on her. He massaged her clit, feeling her pussy tightening around him.
He’d spent a lot of time last night licking her pussy.
She tasted so damn good. He truly couldn’t get enough.
Right now, all he wanted to do was pull out of her tight pussy and lick her until she came on his mouth.
Her nectar was the sweetest honey, and he truly didn’t think that was possible, as he loved the taste of his bee’s honey.
He’d gladly feast on his woman all day long.
She moaned his name, and the sound echoed off the walls.
It was the sweetest sound, and the moment he tipped her over the edge, he had no choice but to grit his teeth, because he was so close to coming apart.
The pleasure was next level. Just with the pulsing of her pussy, he was sure he could see stars.
He couldn’t take much more, and he pulled his hand away, then gripped her hips as he pounded inside her, filling her with his hard cock.
Wilder attempted to be gentle, but he was too far gone on the pleasure scale to be gentle.
He thrust hard and deep, and it was like he hadn’t known release, as with a few sharp thrusts, he filled her, spilling his seed deep inside her cunt.
Wilder tried to keep most of his weight off her, but he felt a little weak after that, and every part of him tingled. Poppy wriggled beneath him, and he moved to the side, but he stayed balls-deep inside her, not giving his seed the chance to escape. He wanted every chance to make her pregnant.
“You’re frowning,” Poppy said.
It was an odd angle to have his dick still inside her, and for her to be able to see him, but his dick was not leaving her pussy.
“I’m just thinking,” he said.
“What about?”
He looked at her and didn’t want to worry her. “Just the poachers.”
He felt her instantly tense up.
“They’ve still not gone?”
He shook his head. “They will.”
“But you’re worried.”
“No.”
This made her frown. “I’m confused.”
“They will move on eventually, or the forest will teach them a lesson about poaching.”
She gave a little shiver. “You make it sound like the forest is alive.”
“It is, Poppy. The trees, the wildlife, it’s all alive, and trust me, no one wants to fuck with nature. It has a habit of biting back.”