putting her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide.
“Yes. I was ashamed. I could barely remember. What I did remember sent me into a fit of lust every time I thought to of it. I couldn’t do that to you, so I left. Last night, I was able to stop my bear from hurting you.”
“You didn’t hurt me the last time. It was fantastic.”
“But I didn’t remember it. Just like the times I’ve hurt people. The war made it worse than ever. The brutality of it fed the demons. I couldn’t trust my bear with you. Theo brought us back together. But it was my love of you that finally healed me.”
“What upset me most is that it took your bear breaking through your mind for you to tell me that I’m yours. I’ve waited so long for you to say it, and it came from your wild bear instead of you. And when you came back, you pulled away.”
“I’m not running anymore, Lily,” he said.
“How can I believe you now?” she asked.
“I have an idea. I think it could solve everything.”
“Really? What kind of idea is this?”
“In the past, I was trying to protect you from my bear because you are a fragile human. But what if you weren’t a human?”
“Not a human? What then?”
“A shifter. Like me. A bear.”
“You want to turn me?” she said, looking away out the window, her eyes focused on nothing.
He took her hand in his. It was cold, but he rubbed it between his, warming it up. She turned back to him, her eyes brightening for the first time.
“I always wondered what it would be like,” she said.
16
L ily took Shane’s hands in her own and looked up into his sparkling blue eyes. He was asking her to be his. He wanted to mark her, change her. She’d been waiting for him to ask that for fifteen years.
Ever since the day he’d run to the woods for the first time, she’d wished he would take her with him. She’d always wanted to be a bear, to be strong and wild like Shane. To be able to do the things Theo could do. To understand them both the way they understood each other.
A single tear dropped from her eye and plopped on the couch. Shane lifted his hand and wiped the tear stain from her cheek.
“You want that?”
“Yes,” she said. “I want that so much.”
Shane reached out with both hands and cupped her face between his palms. He guided her toward him and kissed her all at once. Sharp excitement cut through her gut, and she was flushed with passion. Lily climbed up on his lap, feeling the primal need that happened between two fated mates. It had an effect on human women, just as it did on their shifter mates. The pheromones were intense and palpable, and Lily was ready to let go to them.
Shane ran his hands down her sides, his body hard under her without a moment of hesitation. She kissed his full lips, and Shane held her bicep, pulling her against him. He rocked under her, showing her just what he had waiting. His hand ran up the back of her neck and his fingers threaded through her hair. Their tongues danced as needy moans oozed from Lily’s throat.
“Say you won’t leave me, Shane,” she said.
“I’ll never leave you again, Lily. I swear to you,” he said, turning her over on her back.
He sank between her legs. His ruddy beard flicked under her chin as Shane grasped her breast. She rocked against his hardness, pulling him against her. His mouth devoured her neck and his tongue lapped up her earlobe, sending a thrill of sensation down her spine. Her nipples pricked and she grew slick between her legs. Shane looked into her eyes, his feral gaze shining with readiness.
“I want to smell your sweet scent when you beg me to make you mine.”
“Don’t make me beg, Shane. Because I will. Please don’t hurt me now.”
She couldn’t lose him again. It would destroy her. Lily was taking her one last shot at true love. She was holding on to that precious spark of belief that she could live happily ever after with the man she’d always wanted. The man who’d left her yearning for years.
C. J. Cherryh
Learning to Kill: Stories
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Brenda Sinclair
Christopher George
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Celya Bowers
Jill Gregory
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