BEARly Mated to the Grizzly (Bear Clan 2)

He kissed me until I was even more breathless than I had been.

Maddix broke away and I fully relaxed back on the bed, sweat coating my body, my heart racing a mile a minute, and my entire body sated.

I was left panting, grasping for air. Maddix pull out of me and we both groaned in disappointment. He lay beside me and pulled me against his body, his muscles molding against my softness. I was never more aware of how masculine he was than in this moment.

I rested my head against his chest and closed my eyes. It was my turn to breathe his scent in now, that dark, intoxicating aroma that made me feel like I was home. He pulled me in closer and held me, his big arms wrapping around me, keeping me closer.

“I’m never letting you go.”

Good, because I wasn’t letting him go either.

Chapter Eleven

Maddix

I kept my hand around Ali’s waist as we headed into Zakari’s cabin. My brother and his mate wanted a family dinner tonight, but really that was fucking code for they wanted to meet my mate and bombard her with twenty questions and examine her.

Allison was just getting used to the fact she was mated to a shifter, so her meeting my brothers would only add to more of the overwhelming sensation, I was sure.

I stopped at the front door and turned her to face me. “We don’t have to do this now. We can tell everyone to fuck off and that we’ll see them on our own time.” I looked in her eyes, wanted to just take her back to my cabin, wanted to be selfish. I only wanted her for myself, not wanting anyone else—not even my family—to be close to her.

I was a possessive, territorial bastard, but when it came to Allison, she was my world. I survived because of her, lived each day because of her. Maybe it was insane to humans, but for a shifter their mate was their world.

She smiled softly and lifted her hands to place them over mine, which were cupping her cheeks. “Maddix, I’m fine. I want to meet your family. I want to know all about you, about them.”

I don’t know how I became so lucky, but I stood here with my mate, feeling her acceptance, scenting her emotions, the fact she was head over heels for me as I was for her. And even though she could never possibly feel the way for me that I did for her, just having her love one day was enough for me.

Just having Allison in my life was fucking perfection.

I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers, needing to kiss her, almost saying fuck it all and throwing her over my shoulder and stalking back to my cabin. I wanted her in my bed, her legs spread, my cock deep inside of her pussy. I wanted to experience her over and over again, until we were both exhausted and sweating, breathing hard and unable to walk.

But instead of doing that, because I knew she really wanted to meet my family, I pulled away and reached out for the doorknob. I didn’t knock, just walked in and took her hand in mine, pulling her gently behind me. Instantly Zakari and his mate were in front of us, his female all smiles and friendly as she started talking to my Ali.

The rest of my brothers were in the living room, lounging like they owned the place. Cason and Damon were in the middle of bullshitting about a job bid next week, and Asher had his feet propped up on the ottoman and a book in his lap. Oli held a bottle of whiskey and drank directly from it as he watched us.

I shut the door behind me, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders suddenly. I’d found my mate and my brothers were finally meeting her. It was like a full circle.

And the entire time I kept my hand around Ali’s waist, keeping her close to me.

After a few moments of introductions, we headed into the living room and I sat down, pulling her onto my lap. I saw the way her cheeks turned pink, knew my public affection might be embarrassing for her, but my bear and I needed her close at all times. Hell, I needed my brothers to see that she was mine. I’d even asked her to wear her hair up so the mating mark could be seen.

Yeah, I was that kind of mated shifter.

And as I held her, saw the way my brothers checked out the mark I’d given her, scented their acceptance and happiness for me, I knew that all that time I waited for my mate was worth it.

I knew that Allison had been worth it tenfold.

And that’s why I was never letting her go. We were stuck together for life. And fuck, didn’t that sound like heaven.

* * *

Allison

I pulled open the front door but stopped before exiting. I turned around and looked at my now empty apartment, the place I’d called home for so long. Although if I were being honest, it had never really been a home, but a place I lived at.

Where Maddix was, where I felt free and alive, where I felt happy, that’s where home was. And being with him, mated to my bear shifter, was exactly where I should be. It made me feel like I’d been missing out on so much in life, that until I found him I’d just been going through the motions.

I wasn’t sad that I was leaving the city behind, that I wouldn’t be instructing dance classes anymore. Because if I was being honest, it was a miserable experience for me. Teaching others but not able to do that same thing myself had scraped off another layer of me until I felt like just one more piece of myself was exposed.