Delta Bear (Rogue Bear Series 2) (7 page)

T
he technique might have been
extreme, but he only had one day left to convince his mate she was going to be the alpha in his absence. Standing there in the emergency room, his hands ached to hold her. His chest tightened when she walked in the room. But he forced his bear to control the situation. It was more important to convince her to help the clan.

He looked at his arm. Her fingers had been soft and tender. The look in her eyes ripped through him. The hole had healed, there wasn’t even a scar.

The clan leaders had resisted his attempts to stop the clan absorption. He should have suspected they weren’t interested in his alpha status. It was their excuse to take control of more lands, build their clans, exert their force over the shifters in the area.

But he had until tomorrow to bring Haley to the next meeting and present her as the alpha. They wouldn’t be able to deny her power. He stared off the cliff into the distance. She had to agree. She would. She was as deeply his as he was hers. He closed his eyes, inhaling the cool wind.

All his life he had been searching for something. He thought he had found his calling with his Special Forces unit. He saved lives. He kept the country safe. It took all his energy and focus to lead his team, but every since he had taken his mate he was hungry for something else.

Haley had changed everything. Slowly, he was starting to think about what it would be like to stay in Watkin. What it would be like to raise his cubs with her. What it would be like to take his official position as the alpha, instead of always shoving it off on someone else.

He watched an eagle soar in front of him. He always thought he used his bear strength as a Delta, but maybe what he did was use it as his excuse not to embrace the real bear in him. The one that wanted to stay and protect his mate.

He shook his head. One thing at time. First, he had to get her back.

She gripped the steering wheel. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She must have lost her mind. Too many night shifts had warped her sense of reality. But she knew what she saw in the emergency room. Jax had healed in front of her.

She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised when she saw him standing on the front porch. He always seemed to know when a car was in the driveway.

“Hey.” He grinned from the porch.

“Hey.” She walked to the front steps.

It was there—the pull she felt every time she saw him. Only now she knew it wasn’t because of the intense pheromones they shared. It was magic linking them together, bonding them like no two other beings.

“I’m glad you’re here.” He took a step down so he was standing next to her.

She looked up. “I think we both knew I was going to come back.”

“I tried to tell you.”

She didn’t know if it made her angry or if it felt so right it set her blood on fire. But before she could take another breath, Jax pulled her to him, his mouth hot and urgent against hers.

He growled as his tongue slipped in her mouth. She felt a sudden sense of panic, but the growl rumbled through his chest and she relaxed into him. Nothing had sounded sexier. She knew he was happy kissing her.

She tried to breathe as he kissed her, but she was desperate to touch him and hold him. Four days away had created a hunger so deep she didn’t know if she could feed it.

“I want to take you inside and show you how much I missed you,” he whispered.

She nodded. She tried to draw him back to her lips.

“But we have somewhere we need to go.”

“What?” Kissing him had started a fire under her skin.

“Sit for a second.” He took her hands in his and lowered her to the porch steps.

“I just got here.”

“And now I need you to take your place as my mate.”

Her eyes widened. “I don’t understand.”

“I gave you as much time as I could. I gave you all the time I could. Our clan needs you right now. I have to present you as the alpha.”

She blinked. She heard him speak, but it might as well been her first year in med school. It all sounded foreign.

“Alpha?”

“Yes. While I’m gone I need you to lead them.”

“But I don’t know anything about leading people. Or bears. I’m a doctor.”

“You’ll do great. I trust you, doc.” He kissed her forehead. “Now come on, we have to get to the meeting before they start picking apart my family.”

Everything moved in slow motion as he held her hand and led her into the forest. She didn’t know how long they walked before they stopped in front of a cave.

Her knees began to shake and her heart pounded.

Jax squeezed her hand. “I’ve got you.” He nodded as he pulled her behind him.

She followed him through a tunnel and they finally emerged in a room lit with torches. A circle of people was formed in front of them.

“Ahh, he did show up.” A woman with bright red hair grinned.

“I told you I would present the alpha mate.” Jax stood behind her.

She needed his strength right now. She thought she would faint from the shaking. Her stomach lurched and her hand flew to her mouth.

“Pretty alpha.” An older man with grey streaks in his beard winked at her.

Were these people bears too? She withdrew her hand and tried to take a deep breath. The nausea seemed to ease.

“See? She’s here.” Jax squeezed her shoulders. “This is my mate, Haley. She will be the alpha when I’m fulfilling my Delta obligations.” He looked at each of the members of the circle. “My clan is in good hands. You can fight each other all you want, but you won’t shred my clan. They have a leader.”

The older man nodded his head. The woman walked toward them and Haley couldn’t help but try to back up. She didn’t like the look in the woman’s eyes. But Jax’s chest blocked her from moving. She felt his sturdy frame and felt the shelter of his body. She was safe. She knew he would protect her.

The woman looked at Jax. “So this is your mate?”

“Haley, meet Estelle. She’s leader of the Onyx Clan.”

“Nice to meet you, Estelle.” Haley extended her hand, but the woman’s palms immediately cupped her stomach. Haley looked down at the woman’s hands planted against her belly.

“Did you accept him as your mate?” she asked.

Haley nodded. It wouldn’t make for good clan politics if she told them when she asked Jax to claim her she didn’t know what she was signing up for. But it didn’t matter—according to his clan laws, she had invited him into her body and what was done was done. On top of that, did they really expect her to share what happened in the bedroom?

Estelle looked past her and into Jax’s eyes. “Tsk, tsk, Jax.”

“She’s more than capable, Estelle.” His voice was firm. “She will be a strong alpha while I’m gone.”

Estelle withdrew her hands. “I’ve seen alphas do a lot of things in my time, but I don’t think I’ve seen one leave his mate with cubs.”

“I’m not,” he declared.

Haley’s hands instantly landed on the swell of her stomach. She felt the nausea rising in her throat. Oh, God. She was going to be sick in this bear cave.

Jax reached out to steady her. “Hey, are you ok?”

She nodded, but her eyes caught his. “I think I’m pregnant.”

She knew it wasn’t medically possible. She had had ultrasounds and tests. Her ovaries were basically frozen until she did hormone treatments, but as another wave of nausea rolled through her she knew there wasn’t any other answer.

The way coffee smelled made her sick. Her favorite lotion made her throw up. She was craving everything sweet in sight. Her breasts had never felt more tender. And now, one of the bear clan leaders said she knew there were cubs. Haley knew it too.

No, it wasn’t medically possible. It would be weeks before she should even have the slightest symptom of pregnancy. No pregnancy test would confirm she was pregnant after a few days, but she could feel it. None of this had to do with science or medicine. She was standing in a cave of bear shifters. The man she had fallen in love with was a bear and she was carrying his cubs.

She reached for Jax, and his arm wrapped around her waist.

“Congratulations, Jax.” The old man slapped him on the back. “You didn’t waste any time. I think this settles things, doesn’t it Estelle?”

“Barnes, you know I won’t fight if there is another generation on the way. It’s no way for cubs to be brought up.”

Haley watched as the two shook hands. The others in the group began to file out of the meeting, each one stopping to congratulate them.

When the last one left. Haley looked at Jax.

“I’m not supposed to be able to get pregnant,” she whispered.

“I know.” He pulled her against his chest, his arms circling her.

“What are we going to do?”

H
e held her close
. So close he could feel her heart beat against his chest. This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of it was supposed to happen.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” She pushed away from him and held onto the wall closest to her.

He watched her. She was pregnant. She was carrying his cubs. He didn’t know whether to burst with pride or wallow in the shame of what he had done. He never would have claimed her like he had, only to leave her with his cubs.

He ran his hands over his head and tried to smile when she turned toward him.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Are you ok?”

She nodded. “I feel better. Can we go back to the cabin?”

“Of course.”

They walked in silence. He didn’t know what to do or say now that everything was different. He left Haley on the couch while he poured a glass of water for her.

“Here you go.”

She took the glass and drank until it was empty. “I’m crazy thirsty.”

He nodded. “I can see that.”

“It’s common with pregnancy.” He could hear the tone in her voice. She sounded like she did at the hospital, reciting medical facts. “Although, what’s not common is someone who needs a Hail Mary pass to get pregnant to be pregnant after five days.”

She wanted an explanation from him but he didn’t have one. “I’m as surprised as you are. I didn’t know it would happen.”

“How could you not know the strength of your own…your…your magic?”

He walked toward the fireplace. “I don’t know, doc. This is the first time I’ve had a mate.”

He had to do something. He stacked logs in front of the hearth and started piling them in the fireplace. He struck a match under the kindling. He waited for the warm glow to spread before he sat next to her.

“I’m freaking out, Jax. What in the hell am I going to do? I’m finishing my residency. You’re leaving. I think I just agreed to be an alpha. This is insane.”

“Shh.” He kissed her forehead. He didn’t have the answers.

She looked at him and his heart thudded louder than it ever had. He brushed his lips over hers, inhaling everything about her. Her breasts had never looked more tempting.

“Jax, we have to talk.”

“No, we don’t.” He pushed her back on the couch. “Talk to me like this.” He unbuttoned her shirt, letting the sides drift to the side.

“We’re too rough,” she breathed. “We can’t…” her words trailed off as he pulled the pants over her hips.

“I promise to be careful.” His eyes fired.

He was going to take her over and over again until they couldn’t speak. Until they couldn’t breathe. Until she knew how he worshipped her body. How much he fucking loved her.

There were things they should talk about. Like how they had walked out of a cave of bear shifters. Or how they were pretty certain she was pregnant. But one taste of his lips and her body was on fire. It had to be the pregnancy hormones. But none of that seemed to matter as Jax lowered his mouth to her breast.

Her back bowed off of the couch, offering more to his mouth. Nothing had ever felt so intense or heated as his tongue flicked over her perked nub. Everything about her nipples was sensitive. The need to feel more was gripping her. She pressed his head against her chest.

“Harder,” she urged.

He growled, “I’m trying to be careful.”

But the sensations were ripping through her like lighting strikes. His tongue lashed and toyed until she felt the slow waves quickening in her core. She bucked as his fingers slid between her legs.

“Oh, Jax.” She clawed at his back. Everything was intensified. The ripples shook her.

She looked in his eyes as he settled between her legs. “I promise I won’t hurt you.” He thrust inside her in one slow glorious thrust.

“Ohh,” she moaned. It felt so right. So full. So soothing having him buried inside her again.

Jax began to slide in and out of her and she felt the snapping in her core. She offered herself to him, wrapping her legs around his waist so he could push deeper inside. She needed it.

“More. I want more,” she begged.

He grinned. “Like this?” He sank his cock slow and hard into her, making her breathless.

“Fuck, yes.” Her head reeled back.

He growled in her ear as he moved in and out of her. Taking his time to fill her completely before sliding out again.

When they knew their bodies couldn’t take any more. Jax wrapped his arms around her and held her while they quivered and pulsed, feeling the magic hum run back and forth between them.

J
ax walked onto the porch
, leaving Haley wrapped in a blanket by the fire. The crisp air hit his bare chest. He should feel satisfied. His mate was inside. The bear war had ceased. The next heirs were on the way. Only, he knew he wasn’t being the bear he should be.

“Hey, there you are.” Haley stood in the doorway.

“Hey.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

“You look like you’re deep in thought.” She walked toward him, her hand grazing his shoulder.

“Something like that.” He wasn’t used to sharing his feelings. He wasn’t used to sharing anything. He had been alone for so long he had forgotten there was another way to exist. Haley brought warmth and light into his life.

When he was around her he forgot he was a trained killer. He forgot about the explosions. For a minute he forgot the mission wasn’t complete.

“Last night was amazing.” She smiled. “I don’t feel as nervous for some reason.”

The sunlight wisped around her hair.

“I’m glad, doc.” He touched his lips to her forehead. “I wish I could say the same thing.”

“I think you need to follow your heart, Jax.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been a soldier for so long you’ve forgotten what it means to live. You’ve fought for everyone else, protecting our freedom, guarding us from evil, but you got lost in there.” Her palm pressed over his heart. “And once you came home your family started pulling you in a different direction, demanding you be the alpha, guilting you into taking a mate.” Her eyes shot to his.

“No, that’s not why…”

“It doesn’t matter. I know what we have. I don’t really care how or why it happened.”

He stared at her, trying to process her words. Trying to figure out where she was going with this.

“You’ve given me something I never thought was possible. What I would label as a medical miracle.” Her hands slid to her belly. “I thought not being able to get pregnant made me undesirable, but the irony was it made you want me more. And look what happened.”

“What do you want me to do?” He felt the pain ache in his chest. He couldn’t leave her no matter how strong she was. They were bonded in ways he didn’t know were possible.

“Don’t stay because you feel obligated. Don’t stay because it’s some kind of bear duty. Don’t stay out of obligation. Stay because you love me. I don’t want you any other way.”

He closed his eyes. He wanted the answer to appear crystal clear. As clear as his need for her.

“Haley, I…” when he opened his eyes she was gone. The front door latched quietly.

He growled, looking at the woods. There was something he hadn’t done in a long time. Something that would calm the beast within.

He felt the power surge under his skin as he let the animal take over. His lean, strong muscles twinged and hummed as his bear appeared. He let a roar rip from his chest as he barreled into the woods.