Fated To Her Bear (Bear Bluff Clan Book 5) Read online

  He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, she could feel the beat of his heart against her breasts as they pressed against him. Ciara wanted to pull away, to push him back and tell him to let her go. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him, feeling his warm breath on her cheek. The voice in her head screamed to let him go, to get out of there and never look back, that this was not what she wanted.

  But the animal in her, the part she had kept so tightly controlled she could sometimes forget it was there, was finally free and stampeding off with her will power. This man was her man. The bond between them was real, strong, and unbreakable. And it had power over her.

  Licking her lips, she moistened them ready for the kiss that was to come. The soft warmth of his breath caressed her neck, he breathed in her scent once more, and then he kissed her. An ache began deep in her body, expanding out, filling her with such an intense need for him she had to hang onto his shirt to stop her knees from giving out.

  But she didn’t resist him. Instead, she opened her mouth to allow him to slide his tongue along her lower lip, sending shockwaves through her body. This wasn’t her, she never acted like this, not with any man, and certainly not with a man she had only met half an hour ago.

  But he’s your mate, her head kept screaming. She knew. With every fibre of her being, she knew, just as she knew this was not what she wanted, but the bond won.

  Placing his hand on her bottom, he drew her to him until she felt the hard bulge of his cock against her thigh. A gasp tried to escape her lips, but he took it from her, as he took every ounce of her resistance. She was his, and he intended to leave her in no doubt about that.

  Pushing his hand into her hair, he tilted her head back, kissing her with firm lips, which ignited sensations in her that had never seen life before. Her sex ached for him, a hollow ache, begging to be eased by this man. Her breasts swelled, her nipples pressing against his hard-toned chest. They melded together, the soft and the hard, warm bodies feeding off each other’s desire.

  They were one, the bond pulling them together with such strength it would take a force of nature to pull them apart. He moved, propelling her backwards until her back rested against the wall. With his hands moving to her thighs, he lifted her, his body nestling between her legs.

  Damn, he felt so good. Slowly he moved against her, his cock rubbing against her clit, making her arousal intensify. Ciara threaded her hands into his hair, her mouth open as she gasped in need. Slowly, with his eyes fixed on her face, he brought her to a shuddering climax. She buried her head in his chest as she cried out. He ground against her, his movements more frantic, more intense, and then he came too, the strain on his face as he let himself go, slumping forward against her.

  She slipped to the ground, legs barely supporting her as her feet touched the stone floor of the barn. Embarrassed at allowing him in, allowing him to take her defences down and invade her intimate space, she turned away from him. Watching as he placed his hand on the wall and tried to regain his composure. Had it come as such a shock to him too? She could not believe that.

  He had known exactly what he was doing. Trying to tempt her with his body, to cage her with his desire. She picked up her bag and left.

  Chapter Four – Ryan

  Dazed, he stood resting against the wall of the barn. She had taken so much out of him in this one encounter. But she had also given him a brief glimpse of how they should be together. Yet he knew he couldn’t force her to stay, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Standing up, his eye caught on the lasso. It hung there, usually unused: he didn’t agree with roping and tying his cattle, he liked to be more subtle than that. The brief thought of catching her with it, stopping her escape, drifted out of his mind. He was too easygoing; he didn’t like any of his animals to be scared of him. He certainly didn’t want his mate to be scared of him.

  He had been to places where animals were chained and beaten. Bears kept for their bile, caged all of their lives, no life, no hope. It was on his return from abroad that he had come across Sapphire and decided that he might not be able to save every bear, but he could save this mare.

  “Damn,” he said, his fist impacting with the wall as he fought to keep control of his bear. It scraped at the corners of his mind, testing the edges for weakness. He couldn’t let it free, that was not how he wanted to claim his mate.

  But his bear roared, tearing at his resolve, teeth and claws.

  He pushed away from the wall, and headed outside. Too late, she was in her car, reversing, stones flicking up as she accelerated out of the farm and out of his life. Ryan stood breathless, for many minutes he watched her go. She only slowed when she was out onto the road; he could imagine her checking her rearview mirror, seeing if he was following, and easing off the gas in relief at the empty road behind her.

  She would be back. He licked his lips, tasting her on his tongue. She wasn’t that strong. Was she? No, that kiss, the way she climaxed at his touch, it meant something to her. If it hadn’t, she wouldn’t have run so fast.

  Going back into the barn he went to check Sapphire, still standing looking depressed.

  “What is she, girl?” he asked. Ciara wasn’t like him, wasn’t a bear, he could tell. A deep feeling in his soul, she was different to him. And as he pictured her running from him, he had his first suspicions.

  If she were a predator, she would have stood and faced him, but she had run. That narrowed it down. As he gave Sapphire some more hay, he pondered what his mate was, and what she would be like when he finally seduced her. He could picture her now, long black hair across his pillow as he took his time to make her cry out his name and beg him to never stop.

  If there was one thing he was certain of, she would be his. Yes, he agreed with his bear. Whatever it took. She would be his.

  Chapter Five – Ciara

  Slowing her car, she tried to take in what had just happened, her body still buzzed from the climax he had dragged from her body. You didn’t exactly put up a fight, did you? She pushed that thought way to the back of her mind. He had used the mating bond to influence her, taken her at a time of weakness. Well, never again, she wouldn’t give him the chance.

  Easing the car along the winding road, she took deep breaths, allowing normality to enter her life once more. That was it; she could just drive back to the veterinary practice and forget this had ever happened.

  Yet the thought of Sapphire, so sad and depressed, made her realise that this was far from over. Yes, she could hand the case over to one of the other vets, but they weren’t like her, they were not so uniquely positioned to be able to work out what was wrong with the pregnant mare. Only Ciara had the special gift that might be needed to find the underlying cause of this.

  The town of Bear Bluff came into view and she felt much better at reaching relative civilisation. So much that she pulled over and got out of the car, heading for the coffee shop. A shot of caffeine would do the trick. It would make her forget what had happened, wake her up from this stupid fairy-tale dream she had that he would sweep her off her feet and they would live happily ever after.

  Ciara wanted her feet to stay completely and utterly unswept. They belonged on the ground underneath her. It was only the mating bond making her think she wanted a man. She was a career woman and, as far as she could tell from watching her mom as she grew up, the two didn’t mix.

  Pushing the door open, she walked into the coffee shop, deciding that the cake looked delicious too. Why not treat herself? Caffeine and sugar, now that should perk her up nicely.

  “Thank you,” she said, accepting the chocolate cake and espresso. Looking around, she went to a table next to the window and sat down.

  The cake tasted as mouth-wateringly delicious as it looked: homemade, with thick gooey icing. While she ate, she looked at the view of the mountain rising over the town, not looming, more protective. Ciara wondered what it was like to live somewhere like this. And what type of shifters were si
tting around her in the coffee shop.

  She guessed bears, that the town had got its name from its shifter inhabitants, because otherwise—well, that would be weird. A session of people-watching ensued. She tried to guess those who were able to change into another animal, and those that couldn’t. She was out of practice with this, not having interacted with others like her for such a long time.

  Slowly, she began to tune into the town’s inhabitants. Those who could change had different mannerisms. Not something you could point to and name, but it was there all the same. Could they see it in her? Ciara had never questioned herself before, never sought out what made her different from others. But it was there; she knew it.

  Then something else struck her. There were five separate couples in the coffee shop. It became very obvious which were bonded. The way they moved around each other, like two dancers, touching, caressing with a rhythm of their own. As if music played for them, music no one else could hear.

  Choking down her need to experience that with the rancher, Ryan, she swallowed her hot coffee and left the shop, heading back to her normal world and her real life. Yet she knew she had left part of herself behind at the ranch, and that she would never reclaim that part unless she went to him and stayed with him forever.

  “Not happening,” she said as she got back into her car and headed out of Bear Bluff.

  Each mile that went by was hard, the connection between them so stretched she thought that if she let go she would ping back towards him like a stretched elastic band. Maybe like that elastic band, there was a breaking point. A point where the bond was no more.

  Could she find the strength to find that point? Pulling into the parking lot at the practice, she felt a little better, but maybe that was the coffee and cake talking.

  “Ciara,” Anthony, another vet at the practice, said. “How did it go? I haven’t been to Bear Bluff for years. You didn’t get eaten alive by the bears, did you?”

  “Obviously,” Ciara answered evenly. Anthony had this way of flirting with her. She found it flattering, although she had no intension of encouraging him. But it was nice, who wouldn’t like a man paying you attention, especially when it didn’t happen too often because you were too curvy? But he’s not your mate.

  That reminder made her think. Maybe that was the answer; find another man to take her mind off Ryan. But when she looked at Anthony’s face, she had to acknowledge it wouldn’t be fair. There was no spark between them, no attraction.

  “Did you solve the puzzle? He was a bit vague on the phone.”

  “No,” she answered. “I have taken some blood though, so I am going to run some tests and see what it shows up.”

  “Want coffee before you start work?” Anthony asked.

  “No thanks, Anthony. I’m going to get this done now.” She noted his slight disappointment and nearly promised him a rain check, but she stopped herself and said, “I just had coffee on the way back. Thanks anyway.”

  “No problem. Maybe another time?”

  She just smiled and walked away, seeing the puzzled expression on his face. As she went to the small lab, she thought about Anthony and then realised that he might be different too. He had never said, but then why would he? But maybe he had an animal side, and if he did, maybe he knew her secret too.

  But you have a mate, the same voice reminded her.

  I know, but I don’t want one, she answered.

  However, the voice didn’t want to go away, and all the time she worked, she kept imagining Ryan. The smell of him, the feel of him against her body. The way he had so easily brought her to climax. What would it be like to lie with him? To mate with him and to know he was hers?

  A knock at the door made her jump. The machine had finished, and she looked at the results as she opened the door.

  “Yes?” she asked Anthony.

  “Phone call for you.” He winked as he handed her the phone. Then closed the door behind him.

  “Hello,” she said, but she already knew who it was going to be. The threads that connected them reached down the phone and held her in his power.

  “Ciara,” his voice said, dark and sexy. “I wanted to apologise for my actions.”

  “There’s no need,” she said, trying to keep her voice even. So, that was his game, find an excuse to ring, and then what? She listened to his next words, wanting to know despite herself.

  “No, really. I just wanted to ask you to do the tests, please. If you prefer to have someone else, call me with the results, or have a different vet come and look at her again. I’m happy with that.”

  Are you?

  “Look, Ryan, I’ve just finished the tests. If you stay on the phone, I’ll take a look.” She should have hung up, got someone else to talk to him. But she didn’t. What was wrong with her? Nothing, her other side replied. She quickly shut that voice up; this was going to be tougher than she imagined, because she was fighting with herself. Her animal side wanted this, wanted him.

  She scanned the results. Nothing jumped out at her. Double-checking, she picked up the phone once more to speak to him.

  “I can’t see anything out of the ordinary. The only couple of raised levels are still within normal parameters for a mare who is so heavily pregnant.”

  “I see.” He sounded genuinely worried.

  “Listen, let me think about it tonight and I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”

  “Thank you,” he said simply and then added, “Once more, I apologise for earlier.”

  “Already forgotten,” she said.

  Liar, the voice in her head screamed, but if Ryan thought the same, he kept it firmly to himself.

  Ciara placed the piece of paper with the results on down on the table. They showed nothing. Yet Ryan was genuinely concerned, and with his dual nature, he might be more attuned to the mare than a normal person would be.

  Damn, he was certainly more in tune with this mare, too. Now her other side had been awoken, it just wouldn’t shut up. She took the results, put them in her pocket, and then headed out for her next call, hoping to give herself some distraction from the sensations flooding her body every time she thought of him.

  Chapter Six – Ryan

  “Ryan,” Taylor said, coming into the kitchen. Ryan was making coffee, having heard his brother’s car driving up the track.

  “Yes,” Ryan said, handing a cup to his brother. It was nice to have company. His earlier encounter with Ciara was still ricocheting around his brain.

  “Thanks,” Taylor said, taking the coffee and wrapping his hands around it. ”I have a favour to ask.”

  “Yeah, Taylor.” Ryan sipped his coffee, watching his younger brother. Happier than he had ever been, Taylor glowed with contentment. He had found and married his mate. Now they were living in a converted barn next door to his mate, Melanie’s brother.

  “It’s Melanie’s birthday next week and I wanted two cows.”

  Ryan nearly sprayed his coffee all over the floor. Wiping his hand across his mouth, he said, “You want to give your new wife two cows for her birthday?”

  “Yes. You know that farm of theirs has no animals. So I thought I would give two cows to Melanie.” Taylor didn’t see the funny side at all; in fact, he looked quite serious about the whole thing.

  “OK. I’ll see what I can do. I have two that are pregnant. That would be a good start to a herd.”

  “Thanks, Ryan. Knew I could count on you. I just want to make her happy. You wait until it’s your turn, then you’ll understand.” Taylor drank his coffee, looking relieved that Melanie’s slightly strange birthday present was taken care of. However, when he looked at Ryan, he saw something different in his brother’s face and his mug left his mouth. “Oh.”

  “Oh, what?” Ryan asked, trying to cover up whatever feelings he had been displaying so openly.

  “You found her?”

  “What? Why would you think that?”

  “Because you have that look on your face. The one that says you have trouble. And unless
it’s cattle rustlers, you never have trouble. So, spill.”

  Ryan finished his coffee and went to the sink to wash the cup. “It’s complicated.”

  “It always is. Come on, Ryan. I swear this will go no further. I won’t even tell Melanie. Although she’ll be so pleased that the number of females in the family is going up. She’s desperately hoping we are going to have a girl to break the family curse.”

  There were six brothers in the Munroe family. And Rob, the only other brother who had found his mate and settled down with a family, already had two sons. No daughters had been born for generations.

  Compelled to share his news, Ryan said, “She was here earlier. But she ran off.”

  Taylor opened his mouth to make a comment and then closed it again. This was too important to joke over. “I’m sorry. Did you speak to her? Does she know?”

  “Oh, yes, she knows. Yes, we spoke. But for some reason she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

  “Then go after her.”

  “Like I said, it’s complicated.”

  “Nothing is too complicated that it can’t be resolved.” Taylor thought for a moment. “So if she knows, does that mean she is one of us?”

  “Yes and no.” Ryan turned to look at Taylor, wishing that he could look as happy as his brother did. “She isn’t a bear. But she’s something; she felt the connection. She knows about the bond, but she ran away scared. And I don’t know why. All I know is, if I push her too hard too fast, I might just lose her forever.”

  “And that would be a disaster,” said Taylor.

  “Exactly,” said Ryan.

  Chapter Seven – Ciara

  Ciara finished her calls, went back to the practice to finish her paperwork, and then headed home. A hot bath would be the answer, then a movie, sitting on the sofa with some junk food. She’d earned it. Although she conveniently forgot about the large piece of chocolate cake, she had earned earlier.