Claimed by the Bear, page 7
She bit her lip looking away. Surging upward, Creed caught her around the nape with a big hand. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t have left? Left Beauty for the city, you mean?”
She nodded, meeting his eyes. “After Mark, I didn’t want to be here. Everyone told me it was best to make a clean break… But if you’d have asked me, I’d have stayed. But I didn’t think you saw me that way. I thought you just saw me as Mark’s irritating kid sister. A brat.”
He chuckled, thumb stroking her neck softly as he sat up with her in his arms, cradling her smaller body with his. “You are a brat. But no, I never saw you as a kid.”
“Creed?” she asked, hands splayed out over his chest, her gaze intent on him.
“Yes, love?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be ill or something?”
He blinked and then looked down at himself. Shit, she was right. He felt better than he had in years.
“See? See! It wasn’t Carve!” Harrison all but screamed, his face pale as he gestured at Creed. “How could he be on his feet if it was Carve? He’d be deader than a dodo!”
His voice brought Creed back to the matter at hand and he rolled to his feet, leveling a murderous expression on Harrison. Urging Kait out of harm’s way, he stalked toward the guy, only stopping to slide a sideways glance at Dean.
“He’s mine.”
The prime shrugged and spread his arms. “He attacked while your back was turned. He’s all yours.”
The prime turned away. Lilly looked Harrison up and down before nodding curtly. “May your soul be welcomed with loving arms.”
“What?” Harrison babbled as the two bears walked to the edge of the pit and hauled themselves out, Dean boosting Kait up to Lilly. “No, no, no…you can’t leave me here with him. It wasn’t Carvix. It was horse sedative mixed with rat poison. Just something to slow you down.”
Was it fuck. He didn’t trust a word that came out this lying little asshole’s mouth.
“Makes no difference,” he growled, and anger boiled within him. This piece of shit had tried to end him. Why didn’t matter. How, or the fact that it hadn’t worked, didn’t matter. What mattered was that he hadn’t managed it…
Creed grinned nastily.
“You’ve had your fun. Now it’s my turn.”
The change ripped over him in less than a heartbeat. Fire raced through him, his body contorting as it snapped from one shape to another. Within an instant, he went from a six-foot two-hundred-pound guy to over four hundred pounds of pissed off werebear as he advanced on the terrified Harrison.
“Please, no, don’t hurt me…” the smaller man whimpered, eyes wide and no hint of his bear in them at all. Obviously the creature had decided it wanted no part of the retribution that was coming Harrison’s way.
Creed roared, jaws wide, and swiped. His massive paw cut the air, lethal claws heading for Harrison’s face. At the last moment he pulled the blow, parting the skin almost delicately. Surgically. Something deep inside told him that, with whatever the little bastard had used on him still in his system, the claw marks would scar. They’d always be there for everyone to see. For everyone to know that Harrison had tried and failed. That he’d been found wanting and begged for his life.
Standing, Creed folded his bear easily back within himself. “Fuck off, Harrison, and remember today. Remember you owe me your life.”
“Yes, Enforcer. Thank you.” Head bowed, Harrison scuttled away, getting out of the pit as fast as his legs would carry him. Creed watched him go and then looked around the clan lining the edges of the pit, making sure to meet the eye of each and every one of Anderson’s little supporters.
“Anyone else?” he demanded, throwing his arms out wide in challenge.
There was shuffling of feet but no one answered. No one was willing to step into the pit with a bear as big as he’d proven himself to be.
A hard look on his face, he swept a final bow and turned to stalk toward the side of the pit, his movements filled with the power of his bear just under his skin. There was no difficulty. No pain. He and the creature were finally one.
Looking up for a second, he met Kait’s eyes and smiled. Now he knew why he’d never been able to shift properly.
He’d been missing a part of himself.
He’d needed her… the other half of his soul.
Now he had her, she had him, and their happily ever after was just about to begin.
Chapter 7
“Do you Kaitlyn Turner, a human accepted into our midst, take this man, Creed Morris, to be your mate? To love, honor and protect each other until you depart this mortal veil?”
Kaitlyn smiled at Dean’s words, all her attention on the large man in front of her, the one who held her hands so gently in his large ones. Creed’s expression was open and honest, love shining in his bear-darkened eyes as he looked down at her. She loved seeing the beast lurking behind her man’s eyes, knowing the creature was as happy to see her as she was to see it.
“I do, happily,” she replied in a clear voice and she meant it.
While a wedding in the woods, and a bear ceremony rather than a human one, hadn’t been exactly what she’d expected, it fit perfectly. A large clearing had been decorated for the ceremony, flowers in swags and tails hanging from the branches. The whole pack, minus Anderson’s group, had turned out for the occasion, all dressed in their Sunday best.
Creed himself was dressed more formally than she’d ever seen him, a white shirt and smart pants, and a checkered bow tie. It suited him, and stole her breath at how handsome he was, all at the same time.
And he was all hers.
“Do you, Creed Morris, a bear of good standing, take his woman, Kaitlyn Turner, to be your mate? To love, honor and protect each other until you depart this mortal veil?”
“I do.” Creed’s answer was immediate, his thumbs brushing over the backs of her hands gently. “I and my bear will love you until my last breath, and beyond.”
Her eyes filled with tears at his declaration, his deep voice easily heard by all.
“As prime of this pack, I now declare you mates,” Dean Sterling announced and then smiled. “Creed, for moon’s sake, kiss your bride already.”
Creed smiled, already pulling her into his strong arms. “With pleasure, Prime. With pleasure.”
His lips covered hers, warm and firm, in a kiss that took her breath away. Not because of its heat, but the sheer promise and love it contained. A soft murmur of pleasure escaped her as he lifted his head, and she became aware that the clearing around them had erupted into cheers.
“I love you, Mrs. Morris,” Creed murmured to her as he scooped her up into his arms, the crowd parting in front of them as he carried her out of the clearing and toward the pack lodge where they were having the reception.
“Good. Because I’ve always loved you, Mr. Morris,” she told him, a smile on her lips as the congregation followed them down the side of the wooded hill. No one was in bear form, not yet, mainly because there was food to be had. She’d quickly realized that bears were hot-headed, often with hair trigger tempers… but they did love their food. Cake could both start and end fights.
“He’s smiled more than I’ve ever seen him smile,” Lilly commented, nodding toward Creed on the other side of the room. “Are you sure that’s actually Creed and not some kind of freaky alien imposter or something?”
Kait smiled as she looked over at her handsome groom, talking with Dean and the warlock, Morgan Jones. He spotted her looking and smiled back, a heated promise in his dark eyes. She bit her lip as a bolt of heat rolled through her at the look and the thought of what it meant tonight.
Lilly cleared her throat, looking embarrassed when Kait shot her a look, worried she was choking. Despite the fact she knew her friend was a big, mean bear under the delicate little frame, she still thought of her as the slightly ditzy one of their little group who fainted at the sight of blood.
Boy, had she been wrong.
“What’s got into you? Cake went down the wrong way?” Kait asked.
Banners of heat colored Lilly’s cheeks as she leaned in. “Hon, bears… we have a great sense of smell…”
“What? Do I stink or something?” Lifting her arm, Kait did a quick sniff test. Lilac deodorant and her perfume. Nothing bad.
“Uhm, no… but when you look at Creed and… well, get all lovey-dovey…” She waggled her eyebrows. Then, for good measure and on the slight off-chance Kait hadn’t realized what she meant, she thrust two fingers from one hand through the circled finger and thumb of the other.
“Ohmyfreakingod!” Kait gasped. “You can tell when I’m…”
“Turned on?” a deep voice rumbled behind her and as Creed turned her around into his arms, Lilly beat a hasty retreat. He leaned down to brush his lips over the side of her neck, just below her ear. “Yeah, I can smell when you’re turned on.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, the hand with her bouquet between his shoulder blades. “Yeah,” she whispered. “But can everyone?”
He chuckled knowingly, and the bonfire on her cheeks became an inferno. “I’m afraid so, my love. Well, apart from Kacie and Morgan. They both have human senses.”
“Ohmygod,” she whispered in mortification. “That’s it. I can’t look anyone in the face ever again.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he laughed softly and scooped her up into his arms. “I hope you said your good-byes, because we’re leaving.”
“Hey! Wait! I haven’t thrown my bouquet yet,” she protested, twisting in his arms as, behind them, their guests got wind of the fact that the bride and groom were leaving. The women surged to the middle of the room, crowding together eagerly, the few men who hadn’t been able to get out of the way quickly enough held captive in their midst.
“Throw it! Throw it!” Lilly shouted from somewhere at the back.
“Do it,” Creed rumbled, his voice pitched so only she could hear him, and his darkened gaze latched on to hers. “Then I’m taking you home and making you mine. Again. All night.”
Heat rolled through her again, embarrassment trying to crawl over her cheeks in bright banners but she refused to let it. If bears could smell her then so be it. They would just have to learn to be polite about it. Like anyone in polite society, just because they knew something about somebody didn’t mean they had to blurt it out for everyone to hear. And she refused to be embarrassed over the way she felt about Creed. He was her husband, her mate, and she loved him.
Still giggling, she adjusted her grip on the handle hidden in the flowers of her bouquet and threw it. It sailed through the air, trailing ribbons like a tail. There were screams and giggles as the women in the room clambered over each other to catch the bouquet. It was good natured, friendly rivalries coming to the fore, as they tried to outdo each other and be the one to claim the prize.
She hadn’t made it obvious when she threw, but Kait had had a specific target in mind. The tall form of the warlock, Morgan Jones. Held captive in the middle of the crowd of women, he couldn’t get away. Not even when the bouquet hit him right in the middle of his broad chest. Reflex actions came into play and he caught it, the surprised look on his face quickly morphing into one of shock as the crowd around him chuckled and catcalled.
“Looks like another wedding!”
“Who’s the lucky lady, warlock?”
Morgan turned, trying to escape but finding himself still caught. With a growl he thrust the bouquet at Lilly, next to him.
“Here, you have it.”
“Oh no, handsome!” The she-bear chuckled. “You caught it. You deal with the fallout!” She lifted her voice over the hubbub of the excited guests. “The bride and groom are leaving. Let’s have three cheers to congratulate them as they start mated life together. Hip-hip…”
“HOORAY!”
“Hip-hip...HOORAY!”
“Hip-hip...HOORAY!”
The sounds of the cheers echoed in their ears as Kait was carried from the reception by her handsome bear groom to start their new life. Together. Forever.
One Week Later…
* * *
“Here he is. How’s mated life treating you, Creed?” a deep voice announced as Creed shouldered his way through the door to the prime’s office in the lodge. Morgan Jones grinned, lounging in one of the chairs in front of Dean’s desk. Lilly Braun was in the other, and Bennett Allan, one of the younger bears in the pack, stood nearby.
Creed lifted an eyebrow at Bennett’s presence but didn’t say anything. He’d acquitted himself well after the attack that had injured both Dean’s mate, Kacie, and brought his own Kait into their world, so he had no issues with the guy being trialed as an enforcer for the pack.
“Going well. Left Kait rearranging my closet,” he rumbled as he took the seat next to the warlock. “For some reason my shirts need rearranging.”
“Yeah, Kacie did that as well. And rearranged the bathroom.” A fond look crossed Dean’s face. Newly mated himself, he and Kacie were still in the honeymoon period. “Can’t find fuck all now, and how many products do women need?”
“All of them,” Lilly replied promptly. “And remember to put the toilet seat down unless you want a pissed off mate in the middle of the night.” She shuddered. “Nothing worse than dropping down onto naked porcelain when you’re least expecting it.”
“That’s it. I am never getting married,” Morgan growled. “Far too many fucking rules—”
His grumpy answer was interrupted by the insistent chirp of a cell phone. With a frown, the warlock dug his phone out of his pocket.
“What the—” His frown deepened, and he looked up at Dean. “It’s Connor.”
“Who?” Lilly mouthed to the prime as Morgan answered the call.
“Connor. Long time, no see. How’s it going?”
“Same unit as us, way back when,” Dean replied in a low voice, his attention on Morgan. “British. Grumpy as fuck.”
“You’re kidding me?” Morgan’s voice rose a little and got the attention of everyone in the room. “You got it. Give me a location. Okay... yeah, I know the place. We’re on our way.”
Morgan cut the call and looked up. “Connor ran into some trouble in a little town not far away. Banford? Some asshole’s got his mate and he needs back up of the furry and lethal type.”
Thank you so much for reading CLAIMED BY THE BEAR!
I hope you loved reading Creed and Kaitlyn’s story as much as I loved writing it!
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The next book in the Banford and Beauty Bear Clan Series is FOR SHIFT’S SAKE.
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Petite, curvy, beautiful. She’s everything he wants, and everything he can’t have. Because she’s human, and he’s not.
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Click to read FOR SHIFT’S SAKE now!
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About the Author
Mina Carter is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of romance in many genres. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.
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minacarter.com
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