All that testosterone, all that masculinity… it was too much for me to take in.
And he’s mine.
I clenched my thighs together, a fresh wave of wetness spilling from me. My body knew it needed to prepare for a male like that. No doubt his cock was massive, so thick it would hurt when he pushed into me, even if I weren’t a virgin. And because my thoughts had gone in the gutter, I looked down at his crotch, my eyes widening as I saw the impressive bulge behind the fly of his jeans. He wasn’t even hard, yet I could tell his cock would be monstrous.
I’d never felt like this before. Maybe it was heightened because of my heat, or maybe I would have felt like this regardless, because I'd just found my mate?
Either way, it was the most sensual, erotic sensation I’d ever felt in my life, and I never wanted it to leave.
3
Kasias
I looked around the bar, not sure why the fuck I decided to come to town. I needed liquor and beer, my stash low but not low enough I had to be here. I knew the owner of Ginny’s, got a good deal on cases, which was all I got so I didn’t have to come to fucking town more than I had to. But I certainly didn’t need to come tonight. Yet I’d felt this pull, this inner voice telling me I did have to come to town.
My polar bear had started to grow restless, the antsy, impatient fucker, so here I was, having to deal with fucking people.
I curled my lip in disgust as I looked around the bar.
I inhaled and took note of the scents. Humans and shifters mingled, the scent of spilled beer, sweat, lust, and the promise of sex filling the air.
It fucking disgusted me. The sooner I got my shit, the sooner I could go back to my cabin and get away from everyone.
I wasn’t a “people person.” I preferred my solitude. I craved it. Being out here, amongst people, drained my energy and put me in a foul fucking mood. I was happy—or as happy as a fucking polar bear shifter like me could be—living off the land, hunting for my food, and selling my custom wood carvings and furniture. It allowed me to live my life in peace.
I didn’t want anyone or anything. I didn’t need anything or anyone.
A few human females danced sexually in front of me, and it was obvious they wanted my attention. They were also drunk, spilling beer everywhere, which heightened the alcohol scent in my nose.
They’d never be what I wanted or needed.
I needed to go to the bar and tell Tally, the bartender, to get my shit so I could get out of here. She was tolerable, because she didn’t say much to me, usually got me my order and didn’t try to small talk with me. Not that I would have regardless, but she knew to keep her distance. Everyone in town knew to stay the fuck away for me. They were afraid of me, and rightfully so.
Badlands Bogeyman is what parents told their children when they wanted to stay in line. I was that bogeyman and I lived up to my name. I snarled, bared my teeth, and scowled if anyone got too close.
I was about to stalk to the bar and get this over with when my muscles involuntarily tightened. I felt my brows pull low as this energy started buzzing through my veins. I inhaled again, my nostrils flaring slightly, my entire body tightening as I smelled the sweetest fucking thing I’d ever scented in my whole damn life.
I growled, the sound starting out low but growing in intensity the more that scent settled into every place in my body. I took note of the closest people who could hear me and stopped what they did, their eyes widening as they moved away.
I scanned the bar, knowing exactly what was happening to me, what I was scenting.
Mine.
That word filled my head.
My testosterone increased, exploded throughout my entire body, every very male part of me coming alive. My polar bear was a vicious bastard on the best of days without a mate. But knowing she was here, in this bar, made him a territorial motherfucker.
I growled, bared my teeth at every fucking male, letting them see how dangerous I really was. A mated male shifter was a violent creature, the strong sensation to protect and keep what was his overriding everything else.
But I was more animal than man, and therefore double dangerous.
“Mine,” I said out loud now, low and deep and filled with possessiveness and the territorial need to take, claim… mark what was mine.
My mate.
This frantic need filled me, as if I just now realized I’d lost something and needed it or I’d die. I searched the bar, starting at the right and sweeping my gaze slowly toward the center, and then to the left. I didn’t leave any table unturned. I scanned every darkened corner, looked at every face I came in contact with. Most wouldn’t hold my gaze for more than a second—those who knew me, that was.
And then my focus stopped on her, as if she were the positive end of a magnet and I was the negative.
“Mine,” I growled low again, that sound so deep, so vicious and animalistic, I knew everyone around me heard the vibrations from that lone word.
I had no control over my actions right now. I had no other need than making that female mine. I didn’t know her, had never seen her in my life. I didn’t even know I needed her until this very moment. But fuck did I need her. Like the air in my lungs, the blood singing through my veins, and the adrenaline moving through my body.
A drunken asshole got in my way, blocking her from my view. I pushed him away with a frustrated growl, and he stumbled forward, his drink spilling. He turned and faced me, and I let my eyes linger on his face, let my lip curl up and showed him my elongating canines. He was a wolverine shifter, nasty, dirty fighters for the most part, but one look at me towering over him, the scent of my testosterone surrounding me like a fucking suit of armor, the little bitch backed down right away.
My head swung back in her direction, and for a second, I was frantic as she was no longer there. I felt crazed, pissed that she wasn’t in my line of vision. My breathing increased, my chest rising and falling viciously. I started searching for her again, saw that she was close to the bar, her eyes on me, her lips parted. She gripped the bar top, and I absentmindedly saw Tally looking between us, her eyes wide. She knew. She fucking knew that female. Was. Mine.
No one better fucking stand in my way to get to her.
And that repeated in my head over and over again as I stalked toward my female.
4
Penny
Oh God. He was coming right toward me, and I didn't know what to do.
Everything in me urged to go to that male to let him pull me in close, to let him touch me, kiss me, fuck me right here in front of everyone so they knew I was his and he was mine.
This is crazy. This isn’t logical.
I felt alive for the first time in my life, like I’d been missing half of myself until this very moment and I laid eyes on him. But I was terrified of these new emotions. Not only was I experiencing mating heat for the first time, but I’d just found my mate.
I took a step back, not sure where the hell I was going or why I was retreating. He was coming toward me, stalking forward in all honesty. He was the biggest male in the room, the largest male I’d ever seen in my life. And he had his sights zeroed in right on me.
“Girl, I don’t know what you’re doing,” Tally said, hushed but frantic. “But trying to outrun Kasias when he’s gunning for you is probably a bad fucking move.”