August: Mating Fever (Bears of Kodiak Book 2) (7 page)

But the dynamics had shifted. They both seemed to understand that it was their last night together, so the unwritten rules were being tossed aside.

“What happened to Braden?” he finally asked. “Why did you leave Angoon?”

Happy as he was that she had left, because otherwise he would never have known her, August hated seeing her sparkle die.

Her words were so low, he had to strain to hear them. “I did the one thing all sirens know not to do.”

Not sure if he wanted to know more, but also knowing that he would never be able to let it die if he didn’t, he asked, “What’d you do?”

She took a deep swallow of her beer, and that act alone shocked August enough to know that whatever had happened had shaken her to her core.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she whispered, “I fell in love with him.”

It felt as if someone had just ripped the rug out from under his feet. Intellectually, he understood that he had not come first. Neither had she. But August could honestly say that he had never fallen in love before either. There had never been a woman alive who had held his interest the way Jack did.

He had never met anyone else who had made him curious enough to know everything about her. He had never willingly suffered through hell each night just by being in another woman’s presence and not being able to touch her.

Hearing her admit to him that she had been in love before felt like a blade to his chest. He clenched his back teeth, not sure what to say or how to say it.

Her hand reached for his and she gave it a gentle squeeze. “Look at me, bear.”

It was hard, but he did. And he drank the sight of her in—her oval-shaped face, her pretty blue eyes and bow-shaped lips, those high, razor-sharp cheekbones, and her delicate nose.

“He didn’t love me back because sirens aren’t capable of love.”

He cocked his head, confused. “But you just said—”

She sighed, letting him go, or at least trying to. But he snatched her hand back, holding fast to it as if it was his lifeline.

And she let him.

“I’m broken, Auggie. I’m not like normal sirens. We enjoy sex. The chase. The hunt. The feel of bodies pressed close. It’s our lifeblood. But we don’t want or need more than that. Except me. I had to leave Angoon because I was suffocating there.”

He squeezed her fingers. “And now you’re going to leave here too.”

Her smile was so sad that it made him tremble, desperate to wipe it off her face.

“Yeah, well, I just can’t seem to help falling in love with people that can’t love me back.”

As if someone had just punched a fist through his gut, August went absolutely still. Was she implying that she loved him?

Hurt shrouded her, and this time she put a little more effort into pulling her hand out of his, but he hung on, refusing to let her go.

The words he’d been dying to say all night slipped out as easy as a thought. “What if I don’t?”

This time, she went absolutely still. “What?”

Licking his lips, he plowed on. “What if I refuse to do the mating ritual? I can, Jack. I can choose not to do it.”

Her eyes widened, and in them, he read fear and panic, but also hope. The fire was small, but it was there. “You would do that for me?” Her words seemed to echo through the empty bar, causing his heart to squeeze painfully in his chest.

He nodded. “I would do almost anything for you, siren.”

Her mouth parted just slightly. Then in a flash, she was up and out of her chair, walking around the table to him.

Stunned by what she was doing, he didn’t fight her when she released his hand and placed her hands on either side of his chair, pushing him back away from the table.

His little siren was much stronger than she appeared. Her face was intensely serious as she stood up, placed her hands on the hem of her shirt, and with one smooth motion, pulled it up and over her head.

His body went rigid at the sight of her lacy black bra and her smooth, flat stomach. He swallowed hard.

Next, her fingers landed on the button of her jeans. With a flick, she had them undone. Then she was unzipping and shoving them down her long, lean legs.

His eyes feasted on the skimpy, black lace panties she wore. When her hands landed on his waist, he sucked in a sharp breath. His body was a riot of sensations—hot and cold, excited and impatient.

Was she telling him yes? Was that what this was? Was she going to seal this partnership with their bodies?

His thoughts scattered when she undid his button and zipper. Quickly, he helped her shuck off his jeans, leaving him only in his boxers and shirt.

She tugged at his hemline. “Shirt off.”

With the type of speed he wasn’t generally known for, he whipped his shirt off and tossed it over his shoulder.

Holding out her hand to him, she helped him to stand. Again with very few words between them, she pushed his boxers down.

He was hard as a rock and bobbed at attention under her touch. A happy, mewling sound slipped off her tongue that caused his flesh to tingle.

He wasn’t so delicate with her under things. With a heavy growl, he dug his fingers into either side of her panties and ripped them off, shredding the delicate lace. He would buy her another pair, or twenty, a hundred, a thousand, whatever she wanted.

August started to reach for her, but she shoved him back down into the chair. He landed with a plop, ready to growl at her. But then she was straddling his legs, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as she eased her drenched sex over the top of him.

She fisted him expertly as she positioned him. His cock slipped in smoothly as though she’d been made just for him.

Immediately, her sex magick filled the space between them, heightening the already incredible pleasure to near nuclear levels.

He groaned as she danced expertly atop of him. Her little fingernails dug into his shoulders, making him hiss from the mixture of pain and pleasure.

“Suck on my nipples,” she hissed.

His eyes almost rolled to the back of his skull. Lost in the feel of her, he gladly did as she commanded. He moved his fingers around to her back to get at the strap of her bra, but he already had her lace-covered nipple covered with his lips, sucking on her and pulling the tight little bud deep into his mouth.

The groan that spilled from her lips just then would be burned into his memory forever. It was agony and fire all at the same time.

Lost in the rhythm of her body, he had no thoughts in his head other than making her his in every way possible.

Finally, he was able to flick her damn bra strap apart. She wiggled her shoulders to get the bra loose and let it slide off her arms to the floor.

The sight of her shell-pink nipples made his heart thump violently in his chest. With one hand, he cupped her right breast, squeezing and teasing that nipple with his fingers. With his other hand, he cupped her left breast like a ripe, juicy melon and feasted. He laved, sucked, and nipped, leaving a hot, wet trail in his wake.

Her movements increased. The flex and sway of her hips demanded every inch of his pleasure, and he gladly gave himself over to her siren’s call.

He was sure there could be no better death than this.

In a few more expert rolls of her hips, she brought them both to the pinnacle of desire.

“I love you, Auggie,” she groaned a minute before her sex trembled with orgasm, milking a powerful one from him too.

He roared his release, feeling as if he’d almost blacked out at one point.

When he finally opened his eyes, he felt weak and stupored. “You killed me,” he mumbled against the breast he still hadn’t stopped teasing.

Her laughter was ambrosia to his ears. Her hands played gently through the strands of his hair, but he felt a heaviness to her too. He knew her well enough to know that something was wrong because of how stiff she was.

Had she not liked it? He stilled, not liking the direction of that thought.

“August,” she said softly.

He knew then it hadn’t been his imagination at all. Jerking his head to the side, he watched in silent horror as she stood up from his lap and slowly began to dress.

“We have to talk,” she said.

“Shit.” Jumping to his feet, he shoved his fingers through his hair. “Don’t say that. Anything that starts like that after something like what we just did can’t be good. Whatever you’re about to say, Jack, don’t.”

She already had her panties back on and was just about to tug her jeans back up. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wouldn’t look at him. “I have to go.”

“What? No. Stop.” He grabbed for her elbow.

But even without her eyes open, she evaded him, zipping and buttoning her jeans. She was a sprite, dancing out of his reach. One more second, and he would lose her forever. He knew it.

Panic seized him. Now that he had committed to the idea of them, she was doing this? Hell no! He wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t—

When her eyes opened, they sparkled with pain and sadness. “I know you said you won’t go through the ritual, but August, you have to. I’m not a selfish person. I mean, I am. Dammit, I want you like hell. I want you to choose me above anything and everyone, but not at the expense of who you are. You have to go through the ritual. You and I both know that if you don’t, you’ll never really feel whole. Somewhere out there is the right woman for you—”

“I could give a rat’s ass about her. I don’t even fucking know her! Why do you think she even matters?” Yes, he was still naked. No, he didn’t care. He couldn’t let her leave. If she walked out that door, he knew he would never see her again. “I’m telling you that I love you, Jack. I want you. You! I’ve chosen you.”

“And it’s selfish!” She stomped her foot, jerking her shirt over her head angrily. “To you and to her, whoever she fucking is! Think about that. All her life, she’s been waiting for you. How can we do that to her? How can I? And let’s not fail to consider that your instinct is biologically billions of years old. You might be able to escape it this year, but what about next year, or the year after that, or the year after that? At some point, you’ll have to give in, and I just—”

Rushing to her side, he gripped her by the shoulders and dragged her violently into his chest, hugging her tightly as she clung to him and sobbed.

Damn her, but she was right.

Instinct was intrinsic to the Breed. He loved Jack, and he knew that. But even love was no match for the biological clock that ticked down his doom inside of him. At some point, he would become a slave to it. He would be forced into doing it.

She would seal her heart to his, and he would leave her, just like Braden had no doubt done to her.

“I can’t do this again.” She heaved out the words as though she were broken.

He kissed her brow, her face, and her temple. He rubbed his palm along the back of her head in soothing up-and-down motions until she stopped crying.

After several minutes, she finally wiped at her nose with her wrist and nodded. “I’m okay, Auggie.”

No, she wasn’t. And neither was he. But that didn’t matter because she was right.

Framing her face in his hands, he kissed her lips softly, shoving as much of his love and desire into the kiss as he possibly could.

When he broke away, her fingers dug into his chest, and a look of resigned panic had set into her gorgeous blue eyes. “Good-bye, August,” she whispered.

“Good-bye, siren,” he whispered back.

Then, without a backward glance, she stepped out of his embrace and walked away from him forever.

August

A
month later, the self-imposed hibernation was nearly done. Thank God. If August had to stay another minute cramped up in a tiny cabin with just his brothers for company, he was pretty sure he would be facing murder charges by the end of the day.

Chance, who was always talking about stupid shit, said something else that August could hardly follow, something about some stupid bird that had run into the door. Phoenix was talking too, and the noises were blending into a cacophony of noise that set his teeth on edge.

Chance rolled his eyes. “Who wants mates anyway? We can drive into town and find some willing—”

August’s head was pounding with the third migraine that week. His temper was frayed, and he was in a foul fucking mood. Finally, he snapped. “Shut the hell up,” he growled, eyeing his stockier, younger brother with rage as he rubbed his nose furiously. “If I don’t get a say in this, you don’t get a say in this. Now just sit down, shut up, and deal.”

“What the hell’s happened to you, August? You’re acting like a whiny bitch baby.”

What’s the matter with me? I’ll tell you what’s the fucking matter with me. My woman is gone, and all because of some damned, stupid, piece-of-shit ritual I want no part of anymore
. That was what he really wanted to say, but he was breathing too heavy to get the words out. He was seconds from turning into his bear and tearing through this GD cabin.

Phoenix, who was normally the hothead of the bunch, gave him an arched look of surprise before responding calmly. “What August is trying and badly failing to say is that instinct is ritual that goes back to the dawn of the Breed era, and it’s an unbreakable tradition.”

“And how we’ll teach our cubs. Yeah, yeah, blah. I got it.” Chance made a talking motion with his hand. “Whatever. Let’s just get on with this already. I’m tired and hungry.”

That was probably the first smart thing his younger brother had said in a month.

“Yes, let’s just get this shit over with.” Standing, August rolled his shoulders, walked to the door, and slammed it open. He walked out without an apology or backward glance. None of them really wanted to do this, so there was no point in pretending otherwise.

The day was overcast with dark gray clouds gathering in the distance. August smelled the rain on the wind. They were going to get soaked. Cracking his knuckles, he ran toward where the scaffolding had been set up the day before.

He probably should have stayed around to help his brothers install the hooks, but it was a simple thing. The real reason he’d run ahead of them was to give himself time to think.