Chapter 4 #2
And despite the ash streaking her skin and the exhaustion hollowing her expression, she was beautiful in a way that hit harder than simple attraction.
Alive.
That was the word that kept clawing through me.
She felt alive.
The forest magic beneath her skin hummed faintly against my senses, and my Bear responded with deep, instinctive fascination.
I dipped the cloth into the water again and wiped gently at the soot streaked across her cheek.
Her skin was unbelievably soft beneath my rough fingers.
The Bear made a pleased sound low in my chest.
I kept going.
Careful.
Slower than a male like me had any right to move.
I cleaned ash from her forehead, her throat, the delicate line of her jaw.
Smoke had left dark smudges along the column of her neck, and when I brushed the cloth there, her scent deepened suddenly beneath the fire damage surrounding it.
Fresh leaves.
Wet earth.
Female warmth.
My control slipped another inch.
I should let her rest.
I should put distance between us before instinct fully overrode common fucking sense.
Instead, I shifted her higher against me, turning her toward my chest so I could reach the soot clinging stubbornly to her throat.
The coat I’d covered her in—my coat—slipped off her shoulders, and I almost groaned aloud at the fact she wore the thinnest little nightgown I’ve ever seen clinging to her curves.
Why was she wandering in the woods alone wearing only this?
I didn’t know the answer yet, and it was making me crazy.
But no more than she was.
The Bear wouldn’t let me rest until I made sure she was whole, unharmed, and so I resumed cleaning her gently, turning her towards me so I could reach the soot marring her perfect skin.
The second her body settled fully against mine, my chest rumbled violently.
Deep.
Constant.
Possessive.
The sound vibrated through both of us, and I realized with sudden shock that I’d been doing it almost nonstop since pulling her from the fire.
Claiming sounds.
Protective sounds.
Bear sounds.
And somehow I hadn’t even noticed.
But then her cheek pressed against my chest.
Her warmth seeped into me.
And for the first time since scenting her in the flames…
The Bear calmed.
Not completely.
Never fully.
But enough that the frantic violence inside me eased into something lower.
Something deeper.
Mine, the beast murmured again, no longer snarling now.
Keeping her cradled against me suddenly felt less like instinct and more like breathing.
It felt necessary to my very existence.
Her head tucked beneath my chin naturally, like she’d always fit there.
This was dangerous.
Beyond dangerous.
According to legend, matebonds weren’t common among Shifters anymore.
Especially not hybrids.
Especially not me.
They were rare.
Coveted.
My old clan mates from Forest Ridge called me an abomination.
A mistake.
And now fate had decided to hand me a female?
No fucking way.
I didn’t trust it.
Didn’t trust myself.
Her fingers were still wrapped around that burned plant.
I gently pried it from her grip.
The roots were singed but not dead.
Strange.
Most plants exposed to that level of heat would’ve been ash by now.
But she’d shielded it.
Protected it somehow.
Even though she’d been suffocating on smoke and ash.
Fuck.
I didn’t like the sound of that.
Neither did my Bear, but still, a low growl sounded inside my chest.
Respect.
Approval.
She is a protector.
And we will protect her.
I leaned back against the couch, keeping her cradled against me because every time I tried to lower her, something inside me recoiled violently.
Don’t put her down.
What the fuck? Why?
But it was like, if I did?
She might disappear.
Ridiculous.
And yet my grip tightened.
I brushed ash from her cheek carefully, revealing smooth skin beneath.
She wasn’t delicate.
There was strength in the curve of her jaw, in the fullness of her mouth, in the solid weight of her body.
This woman wasn’t built like the kind I usually sought for physical relief.
She wasn’t hard, or painted, or plastic.
She was real.
Not some dream conjured by instinct.
Her scent shifted slightly as the smoke faded.
Sweeter now.
Less sharp.
The Bear inhaled deeply.
Mate.
“You don’t get to do this to me,” I muttered.
Her lashes fluttered again.
Slowly, this time.
Her breathing deepened.
“Easy,” I whispered..
And when her eyes finally opened?
They weren’t scared.
They were confused.
And curious.
She blinked up at me with eyes the color of new grass.
“Am I… dead?”
Her voice was raspy from smoke.
“No, Honey. You’re not dead.”
Her gaze drifted across my face.
Lingered on my eyes.
I tensed, knowing what she would see.
One brown.
One green.
She didn’t flinch.
Didn’t look away.
Instead… her lips parted slightly.
And her scent shifted again.
Not fear.
Arousal.
Oh, fuck.
The Bear surged.
She feels it.
“You saved me. You carried me out of there,” she murmured.
“That’s right, Honey.”
Her hand moved weakly, pressing against my chest.
My heart jumped beneath her palm.
It was the first time a female had touched me like that without hesitation.
Without calculation.
“Your chest is rumbling,” she whispered.
I hadn’t realized it was.
But yeah, I was rumbling.
Low and constant.
Like a motor.
Like a monster.
I forced it down.
She tilted her head slightly, studying me like I was the strange one here.
“What are you?” she asked softly.
I almost laughed.
“What are you?” I shot back.
Her lips curved faintly despite the exhaustion.
“I’m something you likely never heard of,” she whispered.
“I figured.”
Silence stretched between us.
Thick.
Charged.
She inhaled slowly.
Then her eyes widened.
“Oh.”
There it was.
The moment.
Like something ordained by the cosmos was snapping into place.
Her pupils dilated.
Her breathing hitched.
“You said, um, you said mate before,” she whispered.
I clenched my jaw.
“I shouldn’t have.”
“But you said it.”
It wasn’t a question.
The Bear rose again, pressing hard.
Yes.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
The word felt heavier than anything I’d ever spoken.
Her fingers curled into the fabric of my unbuttoned flannel.
Not pushing away.
Holding on.
And for the first time since I was sixteen years old and kneeling in the dirt of Forest Ridge Clan territory, I felt something crack open in my chest that wasn’t shame.
It was fear.
Because if this female was truly mine… then the world was about to find out exactly how much of a Monster I could be.