“I’m going to try to be gentle,” he said. “But I’m not making any promises.” He said it with such a bright grin and friendly expression on his face that it didn’t scare her as much as the words probably should have.

She giggled and then let out a playful scream when he began to tear her clothes off. In a matter of moments, she was completely naked and breathless, laid out across as bed. He was equally bare, his muscled chest glistening in the lamplight. She bit her lip and crawled backwards on the bed, until she rested her head in a fluffy pillow.

She could see the bear inside him. It was as if the beast was superimposed over the human man. He crawled onto the bed slowly, stalking her, until he came to rest over her on all fours. His erection was stiff and ready. His eyes blazed with passion meant only for her.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked in a low growl.

“No. But I want you to do it anyway.” Her heart was racing a million miles a minute, and her breaths were coming in labored pants.

He didn’t speak; he only growled again and lowered himself over her. Pressing his hardness against her softness, his mouth consumed hers, kissing her with deepening intensity. He rocked his hips over hers, pressing himself against her desire in quickening waves pleasure.

She became languid and open as he kissed down her body, over her breasts, flicking her nipples with his tongue. He traveled lower, running his tongue over her navel, until he stopped between her legs and pushed them further apart.

He pinned them down on the bed and put his mouth to her pussy. She groaned loudly and threw her head back, her legs shaking with fear and anticipation. His tongue lapped over her clit and down over her opening. Flicking up and down along her slit to her swollen mound, his tongue awakened her need and brought it into sharp focus. She ran her fingers through his hair, gripping the sides of his head as he pleasured her with his mouth.

She called out his name repeatedly as he brought her closer to climax. A gushing wave of erotic tension built inside her. It broke free and washed over her naked body. She cried out, arching her back and gripping the sheets behind her head.

As her body clenched and throbbed, Brock rose over her, wiping his face with the back of his hand. The animal shined in his eyes. He didn’t speak. He ran his tongue over her earlobe and then pressed it inside her mouth. The hard tip of his erection pressed against her opening while he held her leg up against his side.

Her eyes shot wide, and her mouth dropped open and he began to enter her. Inch by inch of his slick, wide length slid deeper into her core. She let out a strangled moan, and he pushed himself into her depths, resting his pelvis against hers. She ran her hands over his thick shoulders and muscled back, her mind racing in a daze.

After a brief pause, Brock pulled back and began to pump his need into Ginger’s body. With each thrust of his hips, Ginger drew closer to the coming explosion. She called out to God, feeling as if she was experiencing heaven on earth. It was the first time they’d made love since after coming down from the mountain. And she realized in that moment how unbelievably good it was to be with him in this way. She never wanted to stop.

Just as her own climax hit her like a freight train of pleasure, Brock leaned down and placed his sharp teeth around the sensitive flesh on her neck. Her mind so hazy with pleasure, she barely felt the pain as his extended canines pressed harder against her skin. She whimpered when the tips broke through. She felt his tongue lapped over the blood seeping from her neck.

The relentless thrust of Brock’s hips did not lessen as he bit deep into her neck. Ginger could barely breathe and clung to him for dear life. She knew it was coming. She could feel it--the change.

He bit deep and hard, and gripped her hips tightly in his hands as his flesh smacked into hers over and over again. In that moment of heightened sensuality, a vision washed across her mind’s eye. She could see her own bear barreling towards her, roaring and growling to be heard. Brock’s teeth bit hard. She could feel blood seeping down her neck and his tongue lapping it up. He wrapped his arms around her, and held her as close to him as he could get her.

As her body wanted to come to climax again, Brock’s cock grew inside her. If she could have cried out, she would have. But his teeth around her neck seem to have stopped the sound from coming out of her throat. All at once, he shot his seed inside her, his teeth still gripped tight around the curve of her neck. The light and fireworks and emotions seem to spark and ignite, exploding all around her and through her. An intricate web of love and desire wrapped around and through her and Brock, binding them together for all eternity.

Breathless and mindless as she lay there, she felt Brock’s teeth slowly loosen their grip on her skin. He slid from inside her and licked the wound on her neck, before he rolled over to lay with his back on the bed. His arm was still around her, and he pulled her against his chest, stroking her hair as his heart beat hard under her cheek.

“Was that it? Did you do it?”

“Can’t you feel it?”

“I think so. I think I saw my bear inside my head when you bit me.”

“That’s normal,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“But I don’t feel any different.” She gripped him and gripped her own hand, assessing the pain and stiffness.

“You won’t really feel different until after the first shift.”

“When will that be?” she asked, suddenly feeling even more nervous than ever.

“Tonight is a full moon. We could do it now. Or wait a month. You just have to go out into the moonlight and will your bear to come forward.”

“Did you claim me?”

“Yes. When I bit you and made love to you, I claimed you at the same time.”

“What exactly does it mean that you claimed me?”

“It means that all of their shifters will know that you are mine. It also binds us together for the rest of our lives. Once mates have claimed each other, they can feel each other more closely, especially in animal form.”

“I’m really curious to see how that feels,” she said.

It was all so new and strange, but suddenly she felt more courageous and more comfortable with it than she ever had before. She wanted to see what it felt like to be a bear. She wanted to know what it felt like to be connected to Brock in the way he just explained. It sounded magnificently intimate, and she wanted to share it with him.

“Let’s do it now then,” she said. “I want to know what it feels like to be that close to you.”

“Come on,” he said, reaching down to take her hand as he stood from the bed. She took his hand and let herself be led downstairs and outside through the sliding doors onto the patio that looked out on the gardens. Beyond the garden was a thick forest, bathed in moonlight.

“Freezing out here,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to try to warm herself.

“You have to be naked to shift, and you will be called when you’re shifted. Let’s step down onto the lawn and let the midnight kiss your skin.”

They walked down the patio stairs and into the frost covered grass that was going into dormancy. She shivered violently in the cold, her feet feeling like frozen blocks.

“Just let it come,” Brock said. “I’ll shift first. I’ll be here for you when you make the change.”

She watched him as he contorted in the moonlight and stood beside her on all fours, furry and fanged. She felt a sharp pain in her gut as the moonlight bathed her face. She screamed as the pain sliced through her. She felt Brock’s tender, solid presence beside her, and it gave her the strength to withstand the pain. All at once, it was as if her body was torn apart, limb from limb, in every direction. Thrashing and screaming, her body grew and extended. She landed on all fours, looking at the world with new eyes.

She could feel Brock inside her mind. The connection he had told her about was definitely there. It seemed as if she could sense all of his thoughts and feelings. She could sense how deeply he loved her and how intimately connected they were to each other. The tender web of love that bound them together, made them as one.

The other glee she felt inside her heart translated through that connection, and she could tell that Brock could feel her. With a thundering roar, Brock broke out into the forest, and Ginger followed him.