Read Online Her Christmas Bear by Marie Mason - Free Book Online Page A

was a signal to his bear. A signal to take. To breed. Holding her hips, he slammed into her without mercy, a fierce claiming, a fierce mating, until he fell, exhausted, on top of her. His senses returned enough to realize he needed to move. Rolling to his side, he kept her near, his dick still buried deep inside her pussy, still pulsing. He pressed the hair from her face and realized she had already passed out. “Sleep, baby,” he smiled as darkness overcame him as well.
    ****
    “Where are you going?” Marcus’s deep voice from the bedroom door had Hope turning around with a squeal. When she had awoken, he’d been asleep, laying on his back, his perfect body exposed to the cold night air. Once out of the bed, she’d taken the time to pull the covers up over his waist. Covering his wonderfully, amazing cock in case it lured her back into his arms.
    “I need to leave. I called Patsy. She’s on her way to get me.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Look, this was fun.”
    “Fun?” he roared, stalking across the room until he stood in front of her. “You think this was fucking fun? You can’t just walk away.”
    “That’s exactly what I’m doing. I promised you nothing. I am nothing. Tomorrow I’ll just be a memory of a pleasant, holiday fling.”
    “You are not a damn fling, Hope. You are my mate. What am I going to have to do to convince you of that? What are you afraid of? Are you still afraid it won’t last?”
    “No, I’m afraid it will last.”
    “I don’t understand. Isn’t that what everyone hopes for? A long, loving relationship?”
    “I can’t be your mate, Marcus.”
    “Why? Do you hate shifters? Hate bears? Hate me?”
    “No, no,” she shook her head vehemently. “Of course, not.”
    “Then explain it to me.”
    “I’ve had my heart broken more than once by a man who said he loved me.”
    “No you haven’t.”
    “I beg your pardon?” She looked affronted by his statement and Marcus smiled. Which only seemed to make her angrier. She was beautiful when she was angry. He loved that she had that flash of fire inside her. He wanted a mate who would stand up to him when needed—he did tend to be a little bossy and pig-headed at times.
    “You haven’t had your heart broken because you’ve never been in love. Not the way you love me.”
    “Why you overgrown, egotistical—”
    Bending his head, he silenced her with a kiss. The cabin grew still as they kissed, each hungry for the other. Marcus out to prove she couldn’t live without him. Hope convinced that she had to.
    Finally, he pulled away, aware that if he continued to taste her, he’d pick her up and carry her back to bed. Last night she had been willing, this morning she was afraid.
    “Have you talked to Patsy about mating a shifter?”
    “Yes.” Her voice held a note of anguish that agitated his bear.
    “And what did she tell you? Did she tell you that the moment Gary saw her that he wanted her, needed her? Knew her. Here. In his heart.”
    “Yes, but Patsy’s gorgeous. What man wouldn’t fall instantly in love with her?”
    “I didn’t.”
    “Still.”
    “Still nothing,” Marcus rumbled, his frustration clearly building. “What can’t you understand? I have no choice—”
    “See,” she broke in. “That’s what is so wrong about this. You had no choice. You didn’t choose me.”
    “Fuck, Hope, that’s not what I meant.” Marcus ran his fingers through his hair, wanting to throw something. Or put her over his knee. Oh, yeah, he was going to punish his mate for putting them both through this.
    “But it’s what you said.”
    He placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. “You are mine. My mate. My beautiful, curvy, stubborn-headed, mate. A mate my bear wants to fuck until she can’t walk, until her pussy and my dick are both rubbed raw and all she can do is beg me for more.”
    “Marcus!” She protested the sexually explicit picture he was painting.
    He smiled down at her prim and prissy