Chloe

“Best Christmas ever.” I sighed softly and snuggled against the man beside me.

He pressed a kiss to my forehead and rubbed my back.

The amazing thing was, both gestures felt every bit as intimate as the sex we had just had. I was floating on a cloud, my body still humming, my heart whole. I had never felt as good as I did at that moment.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“Better than okay,” I answered truthfully. I knew he worried. It had been the first time for us both. There had been some fumbling, some uncertainty, but in my opinion, that only made the experience that much sweeter. We listened to our bodies and found our way together.

“Do you feel up to Christmas dinner?”

I felt gloriously boneless and languid, content to remain exactly where I was. I wasn’t sure I could summon the energy to walk to the bathroom, let alone the lodge. I would much rather spend the rest of the day, and the next, in bed with Sam. However, I also knew how important family was to him, and since I was now part of his family, I couldn’t be selfish.

“Only if you promise we can come back here tonight and pick up where we left off.”

His eyes burned with heat, and I felt him harden against my hip. “That’s a given, baby.”

I shivered in anticipation, wincing when I felt the pull at my neck.

He gently stroked along his bite mark. “Does it hurt?”

“A little, but it’s okay. I’ve felt a lot worse, believe me.”

When he stilled, I realized my mistake. Thus far, we had avoided talking about my childhood. I had seen the questions in his eyes. If he asked, I would answer, but I wasn’t going to volunteer the sordid details. That part of my life was over, and I didn’t want to sully our new beginning by dredging up ugliness best left in the past. Besides, I could pretty much guarantee that, no matter what he had imagined, the reality was far worse. I had made my peace with it. As far as I was concerned, that part of my life was, like my father, dead and buried.

I cupped his face, needing him to understand that the slight discomfort I felt as a result of his loving was nothing like pain inflicted out of malice and hatred. “Stop it. You didn’t hurt me, not like that. This was part of the process, right? Besides,” I reminded him, “I marked you, too.”

Right after I had felt his teeth sinking into my skin, I had been overcome with an urge to bite him, too. Since my teeth weren’t nearly as sharp as his, I was sure what I had done to him had hurt a lot more than what he had done to me.

“I can’t help it, Chloe. I don’t know exactly what happened with your father, but I know he hurt you. The thought of anyone hurting you, myself included, destroys me.”

My heart swelled. “There’s no comparison, Sam. What we did, we did out of love. What he did was done out of hate.”

“How could a father hate his daughter?”

I shook my head. I had asked myself the same question a thousand times, but had never come up with an answer.

“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. “All I know is it had something to do with my mother.”

He stroked my back soothingly with his big hand, setting off a contented rumble from deep within my chest. “What happened to your mother?”

“I don’t know that either. I don’t really remember her.”

“Is there a chance she might be alive?”

“No, I don’t think so. I have a vague memory of standing by a grave when I was very little. I’m pretty sure it was hers.” I didn’t tell Sam that the images in my head of that day were of a hole my father had dug in the woods himself, not in any consecrated ground. Instead of a marble headstone, the only marker had been the pile of leaves, twigs, and pine cones I had gathered and piled upon the loose dirt.

“After he took you away,” he said quietly, “we tried to find you, but it was as if Jack and Chloe Lewis never existed.”

“That’s because we didn’t, not really. He changed our last name every time we moved. That made it harder for anyone to track him down, I guess. When we moved on, it was usually for a reason.”

“Do you even know your real name?”

“No,” I admitted, lowering my gaze.

I didn’t know who I was or where I had come from. I had spent my whole life feeling like a leaf riding a breeze from one place to the next. Occasionally, I would flutter to the ground for a while, until the next breeze came.

Sam curled his finger under my chin and lifted it. “Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re Chloe Brown now.”

As warmth flooded through me, I kissed my wonderful man-bear. I had a legitimate name now, not one my father made up. I had a family now, too. A home.

He rolled out of bed and got up, gifting me with a stunning view of his sculpted backside. That warmth that had been flooding through me flared up, lighting a fire in my blood. I wanted him again, even more than I had before. How was I ever going to make it through dinner with his family? That thought brought up something I hadn’t considered until that moment.

“Uh, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“What are we going to tell your parents?”

He laughed as he exited the bathroom with a warm washcloth. “We don’t have to tell them anything. They’ll know the minute we walk into the lodge.”

“How?”

“My claiming mark,” he said, leaning down to kiss my nose as he ran the cloth gently over the sensitive area between my thighs. “Plus, you carry my scent now.”

“Do you carry mine?” I recalled the way some of the younger, attractive females at the lodge had been looking at my Sam earlier. Not all of them were blood relatives.

“Yes,” he assured me with a smug grin. “You might as well have stamped ‘Property of Chloe’ all over me.”

“Good answer.”

We intended to take a quick shower together to save time and hot water, but being wet and naked around each other proved too much of a temptation to resist. We ended up having steamy shower sex, taking twice as long as we would have if we had showered separately, and we used up all the hot water. As a result, we arrived for dinner nearly an hour later than we were supposed to.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” I told Sam’s mom amidst congratulatory hugs, but Sam’s mom was one step ahead of us.

“You’re not late,” she told us with a grin. “I planned dinner for four o’clock. I just told him it was at three to get you two here on time.”

She winked, and Sam laughed.

I accepted a hug from Sam’s father and grandfather, as well. However, Sam’s warning rumble when any other male approached ensured additional congratulations were expressed solely through words and nods from well outside my personal space.

Much like the night before, I was content to sit beside Sam and listen. This time, though, it was different, because I felt like a part of the family now, too.

After dinner, I insisted on helping Sam’s mom with the dishes, despite her protests. It probably seemed trivial to her, but it was a big deal to me. I had never had the chance to do simple, everyday chores with my mother. When I told her that, her eyes grew shiny and she hugged me again, promising with a laugh that I was welcomed to help her anytime.

When all was cleaned up, we joined everyone else in the big lobby. I tried to sit next to Sam, but he pulled me onto his lap instead. I worried it might appear disrespectful at first, but a quick look around showed other mated pairs doing the same thing.

“Bears are big on PDA,” Sam murmured in my ear right after he kissed my temple.

I had a lot to learn.

I enjoyed watching Sam’s nieces and nephews play with their new toys. That was something I had never experienced as a kid, but watching them now, I felt the same joy in my heart. I wondered if Sam and I would have little ones of our own someday. Having kids was something I had never really thought about, and Sam and I hadn’t discussed it. One thing I did know was that Sam would make a terrific father.

As the night wore on, I felt increasingly worn out. Sam really seemed to be enjoying the family time, however, so I didn’t say anything. I should have learned by then that my thoughtful, attentive mate wouldn’t be fooled so easily.

We said our goodnights. I didn’t think anyone was surprised, and no one seemed offended, for which I was glad.

By the time we made it back to Sam’s—our—cabin, I felt completely wiped out. My whole body ached, and I could barely keep my eyes open.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Sam apologized as he gently undressed me, then climbed into bed beside me. “We shouldn’t have stayed so long.”

“I’m okay,” I promised on a yawn. “I’m just really, really tired.”

“It’s the mating bond. In marking you, some of my DNA transferred to you. It will allow us to have kids someday, if and when we’re ready.”

Well, I thought sleepily, that answers that question.

I fell asleep with Sam’s body tucked protectively around me and a silent prayer of thanks in my thoughts, feeling more blessed than I had ever been.