August: Mating Fever (Bears of Kodiak Book 2) (8 page)

For weeks, he’d tried working through his dilemma. He’d tried to figure some way to get out of the ritual, to prove Jack wrong, to show her he didn’t need to be a slave to instinct. But each day, the truth had only been cemented further for him.

There was no out.

Already, he could feel his grizzly’s need for the ritual. He felt the blood beneath his skin prickle and burn and felt the beast inside of him rouse to life as it roared and demanded its mate.

That damned bear didn’t care that August’s heart wasn’t free anymore. The grizzly wanted what it wanted.

He ran the short distance to the scaffolding, knowing his brothers would arrive shortly. Already, the earth was curling with potent waves of earth magick. The call of instinct and billions of years of tradition gripped him like a junkie who needed his next hit.

Minutes later, his brothers arrived. They were shirtless and as ready as they would ever be.

Staring up at the tree line, August whispered his goodbye to Jack.

By the time Chance had anchored the last hook in place, he finally came back to their side.

“Ha!” Chance snorted. “You wish. Look, little bit of rain, I still look sexy as hell. You, on the other hand? I’d hate to see the look in your female’s eyes when she gets a load of you and—”

“Stop, both of you.” August held up his hand, causing both brothers to look at him in startled surprise. “There is no time to waste. The energy has begun to roll in.”

Immediately, they both glanced down at their feet. But August knew they could feel what he had a while ago—the heavy press of powerful energy.

Slave to their bears now, all three of them stepped onto the two-by-four platform and grabbed their hooks.

Gritting his teeth for what was to come, August didn’t think. He just slammed the hooks through the muscles of his chest.

With his back bowing in pain, he watched as the first droplets of blood trickled down his chest to the forest floor, feeding the energy that spiraled like a raging tornado around him.

With his pulse racing in his ears, he closed his eyes. The skies opened up. Lightning and thunder crashed. He pictured Jack in his mind’s eye one final time before he lost her completely. He imagined the pretty blues of her eyes, her soft lips, her sweet breasts, the way she felt and tasted, the way she touched him.

Then the magick consumed him. His head flooded with images of the past, present, and future of his people. Their birth as a nation, their rise to power, the unification of the Breed—all of it slipped through his mind like a moving picture.

Finally, he felt the call of instinct hammer through his bones. He felt the magick for
her
take him. A scent tickled his nose then, alerting his bear to its mate, the scent of sweet, clear, arctic waters.

His eyes snapped open, and the image that floated through his head suddenly made him break out in a wash of desire and agony of panic.

His mate was Jackson. And Jackson was leaving today.

With a mighty roar, he ripped the hooks from his chest, barely sparing a glance for his brothers. Phoenix and Chance were still dangling, but Phoenix was beginning to stir.

Not wanting to be stopped by either of them, August tore from his human form into that of his grizzly and ran as though his life depended on it.

Heart pounding with fear, he moved with the power of a raging grizzly. Ripping through trees and bushes, he headed in the direction of her cabin, which was miles from his home.

It might have been faster to drive, but he was on full instinct mode and thought more like a grizzly than a human.

All he knew was that he needed to get to his woman now.

Now!

With a growl, he pushed his limbs harder, running so fast and so hard that his fur matted with sweat.

The only thing that kept him going was that maybe, just maybe she was still in town. Maybe she hadn’t left on time and waited on the slightest of slim hopes that she might find herself as his
one
.

Please, Jack, please... don’t go yet
.

He shot his plea out to the universe, praying to the gods that one of them would take mercy on him and make a miracle happen.

~*~

Jackson

S
he stared at the Kodiak coastline with eyes blurred by tears.

She’d been a delusional idiot to have even considered for a second that she might have been August’s fated mate.

The tail end of her truck was all packed up. She didn’t have much in this world. A few books and some clothes were about it.

She should have left that morning, but she hadn’t. And now, there she was, standing on the beach of what had once been her cabin home, soaked from head to toe from the lashing rains that had fractured the sky like dark magick, and waiting for a bear who had never shown.

“You’re such an idiot, Jack.” She sniffed, wiping at the tears that had blended with rain on her face.

Looking at the gray coastal waters one last time, she turned her back, determined that she was never going to return to Alaska again. She needed the waters like she needed air to breathe, which was why she was headed to Big Sur in California.

August had always wanted to go there. It seemed stupid to keep him in her life, even in such a minor way, but she loved him. She always seemed fated to be doomed in love.

Swallowing hard, she jogged back to her truck and got in, starting it up. Her old Chevy roared to life. She went to flick on her wipers when she spotted a massive grizzly standing on the beach she had vacated just seconds ago.

It breathed heavily and stood absolutely still, staring at her with keenly intelligent frost blue eyes.

This animal was Breed.

More than that, this animal was August.

She knew it deep in her soul.

Frozen, she could only stare at it as it lumbered heavily in her direction. It stopped only when it got to within swiping distance of her door. August let out a rumbling growl, showing off a mouthful of fangs.

Rather than being terrified, she smiled. Because in her heart, she’d heard his plea:
I love you.

Opening her door, she got out. She was slammed on all sides by the torrential rain, but she felt invigorated by it. Her skin began to glow in shades of mother-of-pearl.

“Auggie,” she whispered.

In seconds, the beautiful creature shifted into an even more beautiful man. August stood tall, proud, and completely nude before her, looking broken but also hopeful. “I love you,” he said softly.

And even though it raged outside, she heard his words as clearly as the sweet sound of bells on a Sunday morning.

“It’s you, Jack. Only you.”

With an inarticulate cry, she jumped into his arms. Burying her face in his neck, she sobbed with relief and joy. “I was leaving,” she whimpered in between kisses.

His big palm rubbed her back up and down. “I know, baby. I know.”

“I thought it wasn’t me, Auggie. I thought—”

Leaning back just a little so he could look her in the eyes, he said, “It’s always been you, Jackson Rose, from the first moment I laid eyes on you. And I should have known that immediately. I couldn’t have felt for you as I did if my grizzly hadn’t already approved.”

Her jaw trembled. She didn’t know what to say to that. She wasn’t typically a blubbering, crying mess, but she’d just spent the past month in absolute misery, thinking she’d lost him forever.

He kissed her. And the kiss... it was everything.

She felt his love, his undying devotion to her, and this time, she even felt the rub of his soul animal hug up against her own.

Jackson had what she’d always wanted. “I love you, you ugly grizzly.”

He choked on his laughter. “I never thought I’d get to hear you say that to me again.”

“You’re really sick if you actually like being called ugly.”

Together, they laughed at their nonsense, saying without words just how much they loved one another.

Without even realizing she’d done it, she had somehow wrapped her body around his. Her arms wound around his neck, and her legs hooked tightly around his waist. Turning, he walked them both back to her cabin.

In Alaska, most homes remained furnished even if no one lived in them. Good thing too because there was a bed for them to lie on instead of a cold, hard floor.

Finding her room with ease—which wasn’t hard, considering there was only one bedroom in the place—he laid her gently on the bed. With the tender consideration of a lover, he helped her peel off her wet, soggy clothes.

In moments, she was as naked as he was.

Jackson opened her arms to him, and he fell into them willingly.

This time, there was nothing but love. Their sex was soft, almost prayerful, a worship of bodies.

When he slipped inside of her wet heat, she moaned in ecstasy, orgasming instantly. And then he was pushing inside of her, and she came again and again and again, full with the knowledge that this glorious, powerful male was all hers, forever.

He kissed her. His tongue whispered words of praise as he suckled and nipped at hers. He tasted of berries, of the earth.

Earth and water—that’s what they were. One could not exist wholly without the other. Water brought life and nourishment. The earth created a haven, a place to grow and be safe. He was the yin to her yang, her perfect other half.

Sirens weren’t made to want what she did—an eternal companion.

August was a lover who would guard her most valuable treasure, her heart, with the same care and utmost devotion with which she would guard his.

She knew the gods hadn’t created her wrong when she’d been born wanting more. She simply was who she was. Jackson could have survived without love, but she never would have been complete until she’d found it.

August shuddered his release and moaned as he placed his forehead gently on her left shoulder blade, content to continue kissing and nibbling on her skin.

“Love you.” He feathered the words on her flesh with the press of his lips.

And this time, she didn’t fear that anything would take that love away from her. Smiling, so happy she thought she might burst from it, she toyed with the tips of his much longer hair.

This man, this reserved, calm man, was all hers. It was almost too much for her to believe.

“Love you more,” she whispered.

“Oh no.” He looked at her, deadly serious. “Not possible. I’m pretty sure I didn’t give my grizzly a chance to want anyone else, Jack. I forced you on him. I fought for you and you alone. So I’m pretty sure that means I love you more.”

He had no idea what his words did to her, how they made her feel. Her heart felt as though it would burst from too much happiness.

She hugged him tightly. “How about equals then?”

He nuzzled her nose with his. “I can deal with that. So where are we going?” He lifted a dark brow, tossing a glance out the window to her truck that she only just realized was still idling outside.

She laughed. “Going?”

“You’re all packed up.” He played his fingers along her sternum, making her suck in her belly because it tickled.

“I was going to go to Big Sur.”

The teasing light in his eyes died, and he propped himself up on his elbow. “Really? You would have gone there?”

Blinking, she decided that no matter how embarrassing it seemed now, she would be honest. “I wanted to be close to you. Even if we couldn’t actually—”

“Jack.” He said her name with a rolling inflection that caused her skin to pebble all over with goosebumps. “I love you, my beautiful, sexy siren. Wherever you go, I go. Period.”

He kissed her deeply.

It took a second for her to regain her breath, especially because she felt his penis stiffen. Her bear was ready for round two.

She laughed. “Really? I mean, you’d have to leave your bar. Your brothers. And I wouldn’t do it now. The only reason why I was leaving was because I couldn’t stand to see you with someone else.”

He traced her cheek, and she shivered from the intensity that poured from him.

“I’m going to marry you. In the Breed way, the human way, whatever you want. But we’re getting married, Jack.”

She blinked when he didn’t say anything else. “What? Like now? Right now?”

He nodded. “Yup. Right now. And then we’re going to Big Sur for a month. Extended honeymoon.”

“But... but, the bar and—”

He shook his head and grabbed her fingers, kissing the tips of each of them. “I’d already set things up with Madison before I went into hibernation. And my brothers, they’re off finding their own women. You and me have time for us, Jackson. Right now. So let’s not think about this anymore. Let’s just take it.”

Normally, the idea of things moving so quickly might have terrified her. But in hindsight, it was obvious to her that she and August had gotten to know one another beyond just the physical sense, but viscerally, deeply and spiritually. They’d been dating, as good as engaged, for a year. And she hadn’t even known it.

She laughed. “Fine. Let’s do this thing, grizzly. I ride shotgun.”

Jackson tried to wiggle out from under him, but he pinned her with his knee, holding her fast. “Before we go though, how about you tell me a little bit more about all those women you’ve been with.”

“Auggie!” She slapped at his chest, but his teasing eyes made her mock annoyance fizzle to nothing.

He was amazing and all hers.

“Well,” she said, “there was this one time that I—” Leaning up, she whispered it in his ear.

His eyes widened, his breathing notched, and a slow-as-molasses grin slid across his face. “Yeah. Let’s try that. Now. Right now. Then we’ll go,” he said in a heated whisper.

Jackson had found her happily ever after, and this time, she was never going to let it go.

~*~

M
ake sure to pick up your copy of
Phoenix
, book 3 in Selene Charles’ Mating Fever series, drops April
^22nd
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Get more Mating Fever stories! The first in each author’s series are listed below:

Mating Fever Bears