****
Sasha watched Alexandra as she slept, wrapped in the haze of the painkiller she had taken. He was glad that the pill had taken effect so quickly; otherwise, the story would have unraveled. He closed his eyes, trying to breathe shallowly so as not to take in too much of the woman’s scent. If he did, he knew he would be doomed. As the scent of the woman’s fear had receded, more of her natural scent rose up—and the mingling of vanilla, sandalwood, and spice that made up her pheromones were enough to drive him wild.
Sasha clenched his teeth, remembering the woman’s car. It had been easy for him to track it down, once he had her scent. He’d followed her trail through the woods, taking advantage of the early-morning light and the strength of her smell lingering on the ground, along the trees she had brushed against. The rest of the clan had checked in through the night—verifying that the woman he’d saved was at his house, that she’d been patched up. There was no need for Alexandra to get a rabies shot; Sasha and the doctor alike had been able to smell that the punctures and bites bore no trace of the virus.
Sasha had retrieved Alexandra’s suitcase, along with her phone and its charger. The scent of her inside of the car had been overwhelming. Does she even know how good she smells? Probably not. Sasha opened his eyes at the sound of a faint murmur from the woman in his bed. That had been a mistake; but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to put her on the couch to recover from the attack. But now—now her scent would be on his sheets, his pillows drenched in it. It would be inescapable. Already Sasha could feel the tug of her pheromones. She isn’t a shifter, he reminded himself firmly.
She didn’t know about his clan, she didn’t know about his dual nature; her pheromones marked her as strictly human—she wouldn’t be able to understand. She couldn’t possibly be his mate. It didn’t make any sense. And yet, she smelled as though she should belong to him. Even carefully seated across the room from her, Sasha found it next to impossible not to get up, climb into the bed with her, and rub himself all over her to mark her with his own scent, to alert any other bears that she had already been claimed.
Alexandra stirred, and Sasha sat up in his seat, watching her intently. Her eyes opened after a moment and she groaned, burrowing into his pillows as if she didn’t quite want to wake up. “How do you feel?” he asked. Alexandra started, and turned her bright-eyed gaze towards him.
“Well,” she said with a sigh. “I feel faintly nauseated, a little achy, and like I have some kind of bizarre hangover.” She gave him a weak smile and looked at the window. “Shit—have you been sitting there all night?” She sat up. Sasha suppressed a groan at the sight of her ample breasts pressing against the fabric of the shirt he’d loaned her.
“It’s no big deal,” he assured her, smiling away the fatigue he could feel gnawing at him. “I have a couch I could have slept on if I’d wanted to.” The problem was that he hadn’t wanted to. He had wanted to stay in the room with her, breathing in her scent and watching her sleep. Sasha stood; he felt like he needed to move around, do something. “Do you want something to eat? I think I have some crackers if you think it’d settle your stomach.” Alexandra shook her head.
“I think it’ll pass on its own,” she said. She looked at him for a long moment. “The story you told me—it doesn’t make any sense.” Sasha nipped the inside of his bottom lip. He sat back down.
“What doesn’t make sense about it?” Sasha reached his mind out to the other members of his clan; he knew he should have anticipated questions, but he had been so caught up in the moment that he hadn’t considered an excuse.
“The bears. A normal guy doesn’t just roll up in the midst of a bunch of bears and walk out without a mark on him.”
“They had started wandering away,” he said. “I saw them leaving you. Must have lost their curiosity.”
“But—but don’t bears often eat carrion? Or…” Alexandra frowned. “It just—it doesn’t make sense. What happened?” Sasha sighed. There was no way around it; even drugged, she was too sharp. He thought of something—the only way out of the situation. He had sensed her response to him. In spite of her instinctive apprehension when she had seen him for the first time, Sasha knew that Alexandra was attracted to him; he had caught the shift in her pheromones, signaling the beginnings of arousal.
“I think it’s probably too fresh right now to think about very much,” Sasha said, making his voice as soothing as possible. “You should rest up. I’ll give you the gory details later.” Alexandra frowned again, but as Sasha stepped towards her, he sniffed—and caught the elusive scent of her flicker of arousal. “You can stay here for as long as you need,” he told her, moving slowly—slowly—closer. “I called someone to tow your car to the shop in town, and I got your things for you.”
“That was very thoughtful,” Alexandra said, licking her lips. “Thank you.” Sasha sat down at the edge of the bed, his gaze traveling over the lush curves of her body; he couldn’t help himself.
“I hope I don’t scare you,” he said quietly. “I swear, Alexandra—I have no intention of hurting you in any way.”
“I guess…” Alexandra glanced away from him and then met his gaze once more. “I guess if you did I’d be dead already, or at least not neatly stitched up.” She smiled slightly, and her scent washed over Sasha in waves.
Are you doing this to distract her, or because you can’t stand not to have her? It didn’t matter. Sasha leaned slightly closer to Alexandra.
“If you’re scared, tell me to stop, and I will,” Sasha told her. “Any time. You can even tell me to leave.”
“It’s your house though,” Alexandra said. Sasha caught the bitter tinge of gunpowder fear—but his sensitive nose also picked up the rising current of arousal threaded through her warm, spicy scent. It was enough to drive any man wild; he could feel the ursine part of his mind pushing him forward.
“Still,” Sasha said, pushing back the urge to rub himself all over her with an effort. “If you tell me to stop, or leave you alone, believe that I will do it.” He held her gaze for a long moment. “Even—even if you don’t say it, I’ll know if you don’t want me to continue.”
“Continue what?” Alexandra’s voice was full of confusion, but he could sense her body warming up, more of the delicious smell of her arousal threading through her scent. Sasha leaned in towards her carefully and brushed his lips against hers.
“You have to know you’re damn near irresistible,” Sasha told her, his voice deepening into a growl. He swallowed. Now is not the time to lose control. You have to get her on your side first. Then…then, maybe she can know about who you really are. Sasha deepened the kiss gradually, letting his hands carefully trail over Alexandra’s body. He kept his senses at their peak, searching for the slightest hint that she was hesitant, that she didn’t want him to continue. But as his tongue swept across her lips, Alexandra opened her mouth, and the scent of her arousal intensified.
Sasha’s arousal felt like hot lead in the pit of his stomach; he had never felt as drawn to any woman he’d been with as he did with Alexandra. “Irresistible?” Alexandra murmured against his lips, not quite breaking away from the kiss. Sasha growled lowly, cupping her breasts through the fabric of the shirt he’d given her. Her nipples stirred, hardening into firm little nubs as he rubbed and gently kneaded her flesh.
“Mmm,” Sasha moaned, shuddering lightly. He broke away from Alexandra’s lips, looking into her eyes. “Remember. Any time.” Alexandra nodded, her eyes darkening slightly with lust. Sasha leaned in once more, his hands falling down along her ribcage, seeking the hem of the shirt. He tugged the shirt upward, and Alexandra moaned against his lips, obediently raising her arms over her head.
Sasha carefully pulled the shirt up, guiding it along her arms and trying to avoid the stitches and bandages. He broke away from Alexandra’s lips to take in the sight of her body once more; he had seen her before, when he had laid her down in the bed. The sheer fact of her nudity hadn’t moved him then—he and the clan, in their transformations, spent plenty of time naked. But now, with the scent of her arousal filling his nose, the knowledge of her desire threading fire through his brain, Sasha felt his nerves tingling with a reciprocal flame. She doesn’t know it, he thought, but she’s mine. I just have to convince her.
He cupped her breasts, bringing them up to his mouth, and Sasha closed his eyes as he kissed every inch of each mound, claiming first one nipple and then the other with lips and tongue. Her skin tasted salty and faintly sweet to his tongue, both like and unlike that of any woman he’d ever been with before. Alexandra moaned out as Sasha’s tongue flickered against each nub, pitching and arching slightly in his arms. Sasha let his hands fall along Alexandra’s sides, reaching for the waistband of the pajama pants he’d loaned her. Alexandra shifted, and the scent of her fluids rose to meet Sasha’s nose. He groaned, a crackle of heat rushing through his veins. He wanted to bury his face against her slick folds, to devour her whole.
Sasha steadied himself, pushing down the animal impulses as he caressed and teased Alexandra everywhere. He moaned against her skin, pushing her gently down onto the bed as he tugged the flannel pants down over her hips. Sasha shuddered from the need to hold himself back, to keep control of his animal nature. He breathed slowly, letting one hand stray down between Alexandra’s legs, to cup her soaking wet pussy. Alexandra moaned, pushing her hips down in an instinctive movement. Her fluids flowed against his palm, coating his fingers as he slithered them up and down along her slick folds. “I want to taste you,” Sasha murmured lowly, nuzzling into Alexandra’s neck.
“G-go ahead,” Alexandra said, her voice breaking as she twisted and writhed underneath him. Sasha chuckled, stroking and rubbing her slowly, finding her clit by touch. Alexandra shivered, her legs tensing, her arms winding around his shoulders.
Sasha kissed her hungrily, stroking her even as he trailed his lips down along the column of her throat, past her collarbones, and along the line of her not-quite-flat abdomen. Sasha nipped sharply at the curve of her hip, spreading her legs gently. The scent of her fluids, her arousal, was too much to bear; Sasha could feel the desire humming and buzzing in his veins. He took a deep breath to keep his human mind in strict control and buried his face against her soaking wet folds, nuzzling and licking.
The sweet taste of Alexandra’s fluids coated his tongue and Sasha moaned against her drenched flesh, pressing his lips against her more firmly. He flicked his tongue up and down along her labia, barely missing her clit, slurping her fluids up eagerly. She tasted just as he thought she would—and Sasha’s determination to make Alexandra his intensified.
He held himself back, carefully paying attention to every sound that left her lips, to every shift of her scent, every movement of her body; heedless of her injuries, Alexandra pitched and writhed underneath him, moaning out, seemingly unable to even feel the pain that her movements were likely causing. Sasha told himself that he would find another opportunity—soon—to tease her the way he wanted to, to draw out their lovemaking. Once she had agreed to be his mate, he would take all the time he possibly could with her. For now, however, he flickered his tongue against her pleasure center, sucking and licking as he felt the tension mounting in her body, as her fluids flowed more freely onto his tongue, coating his lips. Alexandra cried out, her back arching off the bed as every muscle in her body tensed and relaxed in spasms, and Sasha rode the wave of her orgasm, lapping up her fluids, sucking as much of her sex between his lips as he possibly could while his tongue worked her pleasure center.
When she shivered, sagging against the mattress, he slowly pulled away, giving her clit a final, lingering swipe of his tongue before lifting his head back from the depths of her thighs. As Alexandra panted and gasped, sprawled bonelessly against his bed, Sasha stood unsteadily, quickly shucking his clothes; he had to feel her skin against his. He had to hold her in his arms. He had to make her come like that again—and he had to get relief of his own.