Bear Naked Truth (Southern Shifters Book 7) (7 page)

W
hen Jessa opened
her eyes she was shocked to find Calder staring down at her from only a few inches away.

"Whoa, what happened?" She asked, squirming in his arms. There was close and then there was close and it unnerved her to find him studying her.

"You fell asleep," he said. His gaze never wavered as the scrutiny of those blue blue eyes continued.

"Oh wow. You must have really worn me out." When he didn't return her smile, a prickle of fear pierced her chest. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours." The hand he had wrapped around her thigh twitched a moment before he trailed his fingers down to her knee.

"Have you been watching me this whole time? Cause if so I have to tell you that's a little weird."

His brow furrowed. "How so? It seems perfectly natural to me to study the woman I've made mine."

That prickle spread and worry added to it. With Calder there had been a lot of "mine" talk that had her worried. Shifters were possessive over what they considered "theirs" and she wasn't sure if she was free yet from the Blackwood Pack.

"What does that mean to you exactly," she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"That depends on how much you know about shifters. When it comes to love and family we do have some key differences."

She nodded. "I know. I've heard about how shifters often mate quickly so they can try and have babies. I also know that shifter females getting pregnant has become a problem as of the last few decades. And there's the elusive fated mates that hardly anyone talks about."

He pushed up on his elbows and continued tracing a pace along her hip and stomach. At this point she would normally reach for the sheet and try to cover up. She didn't hate her body or anything, but that didn't mean she didn't try to hide some of its flaws while enhancing the better parts.

"A lot of shifters don't believe in fated mates anymore. For a long time they were quite rare. Although lately a lot more of that has been happening. Four of the people who live with me at the Dark Moon have been through it, well, it will be six once Greer and Lily return from their vacation. I grew up hearing stories about how intense it could be and until I watched Niki and Dean go through it I'm not sure I believed it."

"Niki is one of the women from the bar last night?" Jessa swallowed thickly as his fingers danced lightly across her skin and traced the outline of one of her nipples. He was making it really hard to concentrate on this conversation.

"She's my friend."

Jessa couldn't help noticing how his voice softened when he spoke of the other woman. A former lover maybe?

"What about your family? Your parents maybe?"

Calder raised up and rolled her to her back. "Most certainly not my family. They live in the land of strictly arranged matings. Every thing they do is for the good of their bank account first and good of the clan second. Nothing else matters beyond that. That's part of the reason I live all the way across the country from them."

He reached between them and pushed her left leg apart so he could settle between her thighs. The familiar tingle in her belly returned as his fingers got closer and closer to her pussy.

"You look ready for more, babe." He mumbled around kisses to her breasts.

"I thought we were having a conversation. I wanted to hear more about where you came from."

He nipped her nipple with his teeth, the sharp but brief pain adding another layer of excitement to her already aching body. "The last thing a man wants to talk about when he's about to be inside his woman is his family. We'll have plenty of time for that later.

Before she could reply he captured her lips in a long, leisurely kiss in which he explored every spot he could reach with his devilish tongue.

Just the mere memory of where that tongue had been this morning made her moan deep in her throat. He growled in response, his fingers sliding that last inch of skin into the wet vee of her sex.

Jessa cried out and he swallowed the sounds. He dipped his fingers inside her and stroked deep.

Oh God. Yes.

She grabbed his hair and deepened their kiss even further. If she was going to burn up into a massive ball of heat and explosions she was damn well going to take him with her.

His fingers thrusted and her hips rocked to meet them. Her body was racing to the edge and she didn't want to stop. She tugged on his hair and broke free from the kiss.

"Oh shit. Calder. I'm going to come again."

"Good. I love watching you fall apart from the pleasure I give. Do it, baby. Come all over me."

Her back arched as all of her muscles tightened and released in one giant tidal wave of sensations. She screamed his name and scratched at his back, her nails digging deep.

Before she could come down, he was inside of her and pounding hard. She couldn't even catch her breath before the next wave of pleasure began to build.

"Babe, you're so damned tight. You have no idea how good you feel."

She couldn't respond because she had no breath, but she knew because he felt one hundred times better. Stroke after stroke he fueled the fire until she couldn't hold it back anymore.

Her eyes squeezed shut and her body convulsed as she screamed his name over and over.

"Oh shit. Your muscles, Jessa. I'm losing it."

The idea of her big strong man losing control flooded her with joy. All of her fears and worries fell away and she knew in that moment she had found the one place she was meant to be.

With Calder, a bear shifter, in a cabin in the woods.

W
ith Calder breathing
heavy on top of her, his breath teasing her hair and the shell of her ear, Jessa's heart cracked open and pulled him in. Whether they'd known each other three days or three years wasn't going to matter. They were connected and she could care less if it was because of some mysterious mystical thing.

He belonged to her and she belonged to him dammit. For once in her life she might have finally done something right.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think I get it." Sort of. How could this be so perfect? He really believed
she
was his mate? There was so much she needed to tell him before this went too far. Maybe it was too late for her heart, but he didn't know everything and that was something he might not be able to expect.

"I need to tell you something."

Calder slid from her body and rolled over onto his back. "Haven't we talked enough for one day?" he asked. "I'm beat."

"Where's your stamina now? I thought shifters had exceptional physical energy."

"It's all mental, babe. I haven't talked this much in one day since I moved here. I've got to get a break. I just want to lay here with you wrapped in my arms and listen to nature."

She kind of understood where he was coming from. When she was a kid she liked to keep to herself. Talking and socializing with other people her age had held little interest for her. She preferred the world of books.

Jessa smiled. "Kind of hard to argue with that." She burrowed closer letting her mind wander back to the past.

Her parents barely noticed how much time she spent alone. They were your average lower middle class family with two working parents trying to make ends meet. They both worked multiple jobs to pay for the nice house they lived in that they really couldn't afford. If her mother hadn't been trying so hard to shake off her less than stellar upbringing they might have had a chance at being a real family instead of people who happened to live together.

Instead they worked to the bone to support some superficial image her mother couldn't let go of that included not only a really nice house, but a new car every year, designer clothes and a maid who came twice a week to clean a house that rarely got dirty because her mother insisted the place had to be presentable for anyone who stopped by, including the maid.

It was a weird way to live. As an only child, she learned early to take care of herself and stay out of the way. Her mother's need for chaotic order meant Jessa learned to pick up after herself, cook meals before her mother arrived home from work and make herself scarce when her parents did have some down time.

Hence the books. It was fun though. Hours in the library that was easy to walk to helped her learn history when she had a particularly tough year in school and the fiction books helped her escape to different lands or even different worlds when she got stressed.

Didn’t mean she was dysfunctional now. In fact, it sounded like it made her and Calder even more compatible. She mentally checked another box on the pro side of the list she kept in her head.

Her decision to come to North Carolina had been rash and not as easy as she'd hoped. But it was turning out better and better every day.

Calder suddenly jerked into a sitting position, a look of concern stamped across his face.

"What's wrong?" She sat up, the hairs rising on the back of her neck.

"Vehicle out front." He jumped out of bed and grabbed his pants. "You stay in here and don't come out until I give the all clear."

She swallowed down the automatic argument that wanted to come out. "Okay," she whispered. This was no time to be a pain in the ass.

He hurriedly dressed, swiping a t-shirt over his head and shoving his feet into boots before he slipped out the bedroom door and closed it behind him.

With fear and self-preservation coursing through her, Jessa grabbed her own clothes and threw them on. This time opting for yoga pants and sneakers instead of a skirt and slipper socks. If they needed to make a run for it, she'd be ready.

Dressed, she crouched to the ground and lifted the bed skirt, revealing the safe she'd hidden under there her first night in the cabin. She applied her thumb to the fingerprint access plate and held her breath until the lock clicked and the light turned green.

She grabbed her nine-millimeter and shoved a loaded clip into the base. This sure as hell beat hiding under a bed or a bathroom and praying someone would save her.

Next, she sprinted over to the door and hit the light switch. It wasn't fully dark outside, but the bedroom light still gave her an advantage by eliminating shadows that could confuse her vision. While a shifter could see perfectly in the dark, she could not.

Jessa pressed her back against the wall and waited. There were voices outside, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She strained to hear. Someone made a high-pitched noise that kind of sounded like a...

Before she completed her thought, a piercing wail filled the cabin. The door opened and she held her gun at the ready, her finger resting alongside the trigger. The man who sold her the gun had asked her why she wanted it. When she'd told him she needed protection, the first thing he asked was if she was actually prepared to shoot someone.

Now, with her heart in her throat, beating a mile a minute, the answer was yes. No make that hell yes. If someone came in her home with the intention to hurt Calder or her, she was prepared to defend them to the death.

"Jessa, it's okay. Where are you, babe?"

Calder walked through the door and she froze, dropping the gun to her side. He stood there holding a baby. A little tiny ball of pink with blond hair and--

Another cry filled the room and the baby's face turned toward her. Jessa knew she was standing there with an open mouth, but she couldn't help it. Calder. Her Calder was standing in the doorway with a baby squirming in his arms.

"Easy, Hannah. I've got you," he cooed.

"Calder, here. I got the wooden spoon you asked for." The blonde woman from the bar entered behind him and both her and Calder stopped short.

"Uhm. Why does your girlfriend have a gun?" The woman asked.

He narrowed his eyes and patted the baby's butt. "Good question. Jessa?"

His question shook her out of her stupor and she realized how this must look. "Oh shit. I'm so sorry. I thought we had—I mean I thought you were an intruder."

"Where did you get the gun?" he asked.

She motioned toward the bed. "In the safe under the bed. I keep it there for protection."

"Sounds dangerous to me," the blonde woman reached for the baby and Calder turned to the side to stop her.

"I've got her."

"Looks like you've already got your hands full." She reached again for the baby and Calder swatted her hand away at the same time deftly removing the spoon from the woman's hands.

"Behave, Niki."

Ahh. The infamous Niki. The drop dead gorgeous best friend.

Niki turned to her. "I'm sorry to intrude. But this one here is teething and I've tried every suggestion I could find on the Internet."

"Where's Dean?" Calder asked, handing the spoon to the fussy little girl who promptly shoved it in her mouth.

"He and a couple of the guys from town went with Bhric. They aren't due back for a while yet."

He nodded and turned his attention to the little girl in his arms. His big hand wrapped around her tiny butt to hold her in place as his other hand patted gently at her back. God help her, it was the most beautiful thing in the world she'd ever seen. Calder had turned into a giant, gentle teddy bear. Her womb clenched. I mean how could it not?

A big, beautiful man with a baby in his arms and unconditional love stamped across his face. It was simply perfection.

And something she could never give him if they were mated. The little kernel of doubt in her brain grew to an enormous stone that pressed against her brain.

"He has a way with her. Don't know what it is, but it works. She can cry and fuss and make it sound like I'm trying to kill her and the minute he takes over, she's at peace."

Jessa fought back the tears that burned at the back of her eyes. Niki might as well have cut her open and scooped out her heart. It probably would have been less painful than to watch the beauty of this man work magic with a fussy baby.

She could only imagine how much this must mean to him. If Niki came all the way out here for his help, then she must love him very much.

Not that she was jealous of the other woman or anything. That thought twisted her stomach into knots. Okay yes, of course she was jealous. But not because of the obvious affection between her and Calder.

Because she was perfect. Perfect face. Perfect body. Perfect ability to give her mate what he wanted more than anything. A child.

What had she been thinking? The Blackwood pack had drilled into her head how that's all any of them really wanted. Babies.

I mean that is why she'd ended up with them isn't it? They needed an available and appropriate surrogate to carry the child and she wanted the money.

Jessa stepped away from them and returned the gun to its proper hiding place.

"Anyone hungry?" she asked.

"I could eat," Calder answered.

Niki nodded. "Me too."

Jessa started out of the room and Calder stopped her by cupping her cheek. "Thanks, babe."

She turned into his fingers and inhaled deep. Thank goodness she could pretend everything was fine when in reality her heart had shattered into a million pieces as she realized what she had to do the first chance she got.

Time to leave.

A
half hour
later the three of them were seated at her table, eating grilled ham sandwiches and homemade minestrone soup she'd thawed from the freezer. Good thing she doubled the batch when she made it two days ago.

"So what happened to your kitchen?" Niki asked as she spooned more soup into her mouth. "Did someone break in and that's why you thought I was an intruder."

"Niki." The low tone of Calder's voice held an obvious warning.

"What? I'm curious." The grin on her face told Jessa she knew exactly what had happened to her kitchen and why. Heat flooded her face as she pictured in her mind what had happened on this table earlier.

"I hope you cleaned this table after," Niki snorted and Calder pinned her with a look.

"Don't look at me like that," she said. "Turnabout is fair play around here. Besides Hannah and I sat in the car at the end of the road for thirty minutes before we could approach."

"Why is that?" Jessa asked, worried that there was more to the story than anyone was telling her. If there was some kind of danger lurking close by she had a right to know.

Niki tapped her ear. "Heard the screams so we tried to wait it out until you were done."

Jessa's face flamed hot and probably bright red as the implication of Niki's words sank in.

"You heard—"

"Hard to miss it. Must have been real good."

Jessa wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. The idea of them sitting in a car waiting while she and Calder had sex freaked her the hell out.

"Niki, that's enough. Did I tease you when you and Dean went through mating frenzy?"

"Yeah, you did. And it sucked."

"Trust me," he said. "It sucked a lot worse for the rest of us."

"And now you know what it feels like." She took the last bite of her sandwich and wiped her hands on a napkin.

"Ready for me to take her yet?"

All eyes were now on Calder and the baby who slept peacefully on his chest. The spoon had soothed her teething gums until she finally nodded off.

"No. I'm good."

Jessa had something on the tip of her tongue when a phone beeped from across the room. They all turned and looked.

"Not mine," Jessa said.

"Mine either. I had to change my ringtone so I could easily tell the difference between my phone and Dean's. It was getting on my last nerve to hunt mine down only to find out it was his and I could have stayed in my nice warm bed.

"Guess that leaves me." Calder strode across the room, careful not to wake the sleeping baby and picked up his phone.

"It's Bhric. I'm being summoned."

"What happened?" Niki asked.

He shrugged. "Won't know until I see him I guess. You know how he feels about talking on these things."

Niki stood and reached for her baby. "Yeah, I know. Thanks for calming, Hannah. I think you've ruined her."

Calder grinned and rubbed the wispy blonde hairs from Hannah's eyes. "Nah. She just likes me better than you."

"Calder!" Jessa gasped. That was about the worst thing a man could say to a new mother.

Niki laughed and headed towards the door. "Don't worry about it, hon. He's probably right. I wasn't exactly raised to be a mother and the job has not come naturally. But I love her and I plan to make sure she knows that. Plus, besides her uncle Calder she's got a pretty great father."

"Wait. Someone needs to stay here with, Jessa."

"Oh I'm fine. I've got protection."

Calder and Niki looked at her and then each other before they both smiled.

"Don't worry, Calder. I'm not leaving. Just going out to the car to get some supplies and give you two some privacy."

Jessa stared after the woman. On the outside she might seem odd, but she had a sixth sense about people. Especially Calder. Maybe she could talk to her and ask her to take care of him after she left. Or the very least make him understand why she had to go.

Coward.

The inner voice in her head was being a bitch. So what if she was a coward. Walking away from him would be hard enough. To make him watch her go seemed cruel.

"Babe, you okay?" Calder wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "Hopefully, I won't be gone too long. You'll be safe with, Niki. She's not your average shifter. Plus, I think she could use some help with Hannah. You like kids right?"

Jessa clenched her jaw against the sadness that engulfed her. Whatever it took she would not let him see her break down.