Chapter Fourteen – Julius

Julius staggered back out of the store. History was repeating itself: his mate was with another man. Not just any other man, the man who had fathered her children, who had history with her. Who had abandoned her.

He should stay and fight, but he didn’t want to cause Catherine any pain. And pain was what he would cause, with tooth and claw. Julius staggered down the street; a stranger, a woman put her hand out to him and asked him if he was OK. He waved her away, holding on to his humanity by a thread.

Fumbling fingers closed around his car keys and he took them from his pocket and jammed them home, turning the engine over. He took a breath, fighting the red mist that descended around him. Hunching over the steering wheel, he gripped it so tight his fingers cramped. That was all that stopped him from flinging the door open and going back to Liam’s store and ripping the guy’s head from his shoulders.

How dare he come back and steal his mate away?

A knock on the window alerted him to her presence. He looked up into the face of the woman he loved, the woman who was his. His primal side tried to take over. His bear would fix this problem, permanently.

“Julius. Please.” Her expression mirrored his own. Catherine, his Catherine was distraught, he couldn’t ignore her.

“Get in,” he growled, his usual calm demeanor gone.

She rushed around to the passenger side and wrenched the door open, flopping down in the seat and then slamming the door. “I’m sorry.”

He looked at her, saw the lines on her face, the silver strands in her hair. This wasn’t the woman who’d once left him to marry another. This woman was older, wiser. Catherine trusted her heart, knew the truth, and wouldn’t let that lying cheating bastard into her life again.

“Can we go somewhere?” she asked, placing a reassuring hand on his arm.

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The words in his head were filled with profanity. He didn’t want to speak them in front of his Catherine, his lady.

Julius drove out of town, and headed for the mountains. His bear needed to express his own anger, to let out the roar that was building inside him. Neither of them spoke as Julius drove to the same place they had hiked from only yesterday. Neither of them spoke as he got out and she joined him, her hands resting on his chest.

He breathed in the clean, cool mountain air, filling his lungs until it hurt and then letting it out in a slow exhale.

“I’m sorry,” Catherine repeated at last.

“I need to run.” He pulled away from her, not ready to speak. In a shimmer of air he transformed into his bear, and set off on massive paws along the trail. She didn’t follow.

Julius turned and huffed, swinging his massive body from side to side. She watched, and with a look of relief, followed him along the trail. He headed for the trees; he’d always found them calming. They’d stood for decades, waiting, watching, just as he had waited for his mate.

When they reached the trees he ran ahead, his big, lumbering body covering the ground quickly, before he skidded around and ran back toward her. He couldn’t let her out of his sight, but he needed to release the pent-up tension in his body. Catherine stood still while he ran in large circles, skidding to a halt to stand on his hind legs and rake his claws down tree trunks. He roared loudly as he let go of the devil on his back who told him he shouldn’t be taking this out on the trees. There was only one man who deserved to feel the sharpness of his claws.

“Enough now?” Catherine asked, as she stood with her arms folded across her chest, looking down on him with an expression that had gone past indulgence.

His bear hung his head, knowing how Mike and Liam must have felt to be scolded by their mother. He nodded, and then shifted back into his human form, a sheepish expression on his face. “I needed some time.”

“I got that.” Catherine tilted her head to one side and surveyed the man before her. “We’re mates, right?”

“We are,” he agreed.

“And mates never leave.” Her voice cracked as she said those words, and she turned away, wiping her tears.

“Catherine. I’m sorry.” He strode forward and caught her in his arms. “I had to get out of there or I would have killed him.”

She sniffed loudly. “I thought you were going to leave me.”

“Never.” He turned her to face him and he brushed her hair back from her face, wiping her tears from her cheeks. “But I told you before, I want you to be happy. If you choose him…”

“Choose him?” she asked hotly. “Why would I choose him? We both know he’s not my true mate!” Her incredulous expression told him just how much he’d misjudged Catherine’s reaction to Hector coming back into her life.

Julius gave a hollow laugh. “I really messed up. I should have stayed and fought for you.”

Catherine shook her head. “No, you did the right thing.”

Julius frowned. “Running away?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s a good thing?” OK, all his years as a hotel owner had not prepared him for how his mate thought.

“Yes, because I ran too. That should make it quite clear he’s nothing to me.”

Julius thought back to what Liam had said about his father. “How did he find you?”

“He didn’t find me,” Catherine said. “I think he was as much in shock as I was to find me there. He came for Liam.”

“For Liam? He wants to get to know his son. I can understand that.” He might find it difficult to tolerate Hector in their lives, but now that Julius knew Catherine’s heart belonged to him, he would find a way.

“Yes, while you were running around having your hissy fit, I thought it through. He came to find Liam after he saw the article about him and the egg hunters. The article also mentioned the store. His conscience must have got the better of him and he decided to visit his son at last.” Her fists clenched as her voice hardened. “He’d better not be here to hurt Liam again.”

“You would have made an awesome mama bear,” Julius told her.

“So, we’re good?” Catherine asked, her finger stroking his chin. “I’ve made my choice.”

“We’re more than good.” Julius lifted her up, and eased himself between her thighs as he rested her back against a tree trunk.

“How good?” Catherine asked.

He rocked his pelvis against her pubic bone, a gasp from Catherine told him he’d hit just the right spot. “This good.”

He claimed her mouth, his hand sneaking under her sweater to cup her breast in his large hand. The adrenaline that had filled his body was dissipating, but not fast enough. He wanted to claim her, to rid her of any residual scent left by that scoundrel who laid claim to his mate.

“Fuck me, Julius. Here in the forest. Mate with me.” She breathed the words into his ear, and his hand tightened on her breast, his thumb finding her taut nipple and teasing it.

“Are you sure? Once we start, I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself enough to stop,” he ground out his warning.

“Then don’t stop.” She kissed him, hard and fierce, as she slid her hand between their bodies and rolled her palm over the head of his cock.

Julius didn’t need any other invitation. He let her go, and she slid to her feet, using the trunk of the tree for support as he knelt before her, and unbuckled her jeans. He tore them down over her thighs, leaving her naked from the waist down. His nostrils flared as he breathed in the scent of her arousal, and his mouth watered at the promise of her sweetness.

Lifting her left knee, he placed her thigh on his shoulder, exposing her to him. Cath leaned back, her head turned to watch the branches above their head swaying in the breeze as he flicked his tongue over her clit. He needed more; he needed all she had to offer.

Closing his mouth over her clit, he sucked hard while his tongue flicked over the sensitive bud. Catherine plunged her hands into his hair, holding his head in place while he licked her, his teeth grazing her clit, pushing her arousal up in intensity. Julius ran a finger along the length of her sex. Damn, she was wet. Cath pressed her hips down, pushing his finger inside her. He couldn’t disappoint her, so he pushed another finger inside, stroking her inner walls, while his mouth continued to torture her.

In and out, he fingered her. Slick juices ran down his hand as he sucked her clit. She was close to coming, her fingers opening and closing as they pulled at his hair. She whimpered, not knowing whether she wanted him to stop, or keep going until she climaxed. It was too much and not enough. And he wanted to be more than enough.

He grazed her inner walls with his fingers, until at last he hit her G-spot. Her voice climbed in pitch, gasping for breath as he tortured her clit, then she exploded, her inner walls gripping his fingers, as they pulsed around them. He nearly came too, his cock, desperate to be free, to be buried inside her as she came, strained against his jeans.

When her orgasm passed, he lowered her leg and she set her foot down on the ground, her face turned away as she regained her composure. “Look at me, Catherine.”

She slowly turned her head, and their eyes met. “That was incredible. But it wasn’t enough.”

Catherine reached for his belt buckle and yanked on it. With confident fingers, she undid his belt and pushed his jeans to the ground, where they pooled around his ankles. She placed her hands on his shoulders, and he lifted her up, so she straddled him. Catherine held his cock in her hand, stroking the shaft from root to tip as she guided him into her.

With Catherine’s back pressed against the tree trunk, he thrust forward, filling her completely. He groaned, completely still as he fought for control. Her warm, wet sex wrapped around his cock, while the touch of her lips on his skin as she kissed his neck increased his arousal until he teetered on the edge of his own orgasm.

Only when he was fully in control did he pull out of her, before thrusting back into her hard. His bear simmered beneath the surface of his skin, the agony of the day making the veil between man and beast thin. But Julius would not relinquish his mate to anyone, even the other side of himself. Their lovemaking was a human action, and Julius wasn’t ready to let it end yet.

He kissed her, his hand threading its way under her sweater, and pushing her bra up so he could pinch her hard nipples. Her hips bucked and she bit his neck, the sensations joining with the thrust of his cock, and he came.

Julius moved his hand around where it supported her thighs, and pressed against her sex, toying with her outer lips, until she came, her sex gripping him, her body drawing his essence out of him.

He leaned against the tree, his fingers scraping against the rough bark as he caught his breath. “I’ve always imagined what it would be like to claim you here on the mountain.”

“I’m happy to indulge you in one of your fantasies,” Catherine told him as she quickly dressed.

“We should get back, I guess.” Julius didn’t want his mate anywhere near her ex-husband.

“We should. I ran out on Liam. Although I sent him a text to let him know I was OK.” Catherine dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “He’s replied. Hector left.”

“Then I’ll take you home.”

“I am yours,” Catherine promised. “Hector told me we weren’t mates. In a note when he left. He said I belonged to someone else. He was right. I can see it now. So why did he kiss me?”

Julius kissed her cheek, relieved to hear her say those words. But also angry that Hector had played with Catherine’s emotions once more.