A smile spreads across her face. "I knew something was going on!" She bounces into the room, the big tattooed man following her. He picks up the tranq dart off the floor.

The girl sees it, and her eyes narrow. "You shot my brother!" she yells at the man, and I now know she's Winnie, Koda's sister. He's talked about her a little.

"Not that it did any good." He tosses the dart onto the coffee table.

"It would take more than that then to stop me from losing my mate."

My brothers all shuffle in, and I can feel the tension come in with them, making Koda growl. My brothers all growl back. I move in front of him. He locks his hands on my hips so I can't leave his hold, but I'm still blocking him from my brothers.

"Everyone, cool it. My mate is pregnant, and there will not be a fight in the living room. One of the females could get hurt."

"No one is going to fight." I try to stay as calm as possible. "Koda would never hurt my brothers, would you, Koda?" I turn my head, looking up at him and giving him my pout.

"No," he growls, clearly unhappy. "Unless they try to take you from me."

"No one can take me from you," I rea.s.sure him.

I turn to look back at my brothers. "Glad to see that doe-eyed look she does doesn't just work on me." Forest says.

"Her eyes are perfect." Koda kisses me on the top of my head. "You don't need to worry about her doe eyes. Only I get them now."

"Ahh. That's so sweet. See, I told you, Stone. He's a marshmallow on the inside. No one believed me," Winnie says, coming over to me and trying to pull me into a hug, but Koda won't let me go.

"Let her go," she huffs, and Koda reluctantly lets me go with a grunt.

She wraps her arms around me. "Thank you," she whispers in my ear. "I already see the old Koda coming back." Releasing me, she steps back. "How about a family dinner? All the families come together and really meet," she says, clapping her hands together.

"No," Koda says, making me laugh.

"Koda," she says, sounding annoyed and looking over at who I'm guessing is her mate, making him the Alpha from what Koda had told me. She looks at him as if she expects him to demand we all have dinner together.

"I want to meet the man who's going to be with my sister," Flint says.

"No," Koda says again.

"What Koda is trying to say," I say, cutting in, "is that we'd love to have dinner." Koda growls behind me, pulling me back into his grasp. "Maybe next weekend. We need some alone time. He's still a little on edge. Then we'd love to have you over for dinner. I can even cook for everyone."

Winnie and my brothers start to voice their complaints.

"Winnie, let them be for a little," Stone tells her. Her eyebrows furrow a little, and she's clearly not liking what he's saying. "Maybe you'll get yourself a little niece or nephew," he adds, making me blush.

"Everyone out!" Winnie yells, trying to shuffle everyone out of the room, making Stone laugh.

We all say our goodbyes, and my brothers reluctantly leave after I a.s.sure them (four times) that I really want to stay. I promise them we'll come by tomorrow or the next day. I also get them to move a little faster when I vow to make meals for them that they could just pop in the oven.

When the door finally closes and all the locks click back into place, I don't even have a moment before Koda has me in his arms, striding towards the bedroom. He lays me on the bed and hovers above me. Reaching behind him, he grabs his collar and pulls off his shirt.

Slowly, he moves down my body, pushing my shirt up as he goes. His mouth lands on my stomach and he starts to place gentle kisses there.

"You want cubs?" he asks, and I can see the longing in his eyes.

"I want everything with you, Koda. The family I've always dreamed about. I've watched my brothers get mated one by one, and I never thought I'd get that, too. You're like my prince. Not only did you rid me of my father, but you're going to give me the life I've always wanted. A real-life happy ever after."

"I'll give you anything, Snow. Just tell me what you want."

"Just you. Make love to me, Koda"

Chapter 9.

Koda

Nuzzling her skin, I push away the rest of our clothes off until we're both naked. I need my mate, and I need all of her.

Sliding further down, I move between her legs and lick her p.u.s.s.y. I don't know how other male bear shifters are, but I can't seem to get enough of the honey between her legs. I lap at her over and over, until her body eventually shakes under me. I hope that she likes what I'm doing, because I want to be a good mate, and having my mouth between her spread legs is something I love to do.

"Koda," she breathes, gripping my hair and pulling me closer.

I suck her c.l.i.t, and she seems to like that the most, because when I do, she o.r.g.a.s.ms into my mouth. More of her honey drips from her body, and I lick it up. Just as her peak hits, I turn my mouth, biting the inside of her thigh. The mark sends her into another o.r.g.a.s.m, and my own is so close it's painful. But I hold on to it, wanting to c.u.m inside her. I lick the small bite to seal it and then kiss the tender flesh around it. Her thick thighs open even wider, welcoming me in between them.

Her body is open and ready for me, and I can't hold back any longer. Climbing up her body, I'm impatient, but I try to go slow. I want this to be perfect for her every single time.

Leaning down, I kiss her lips and lie over her gently. The taste of her sweetness pa.s.ses between our tongues, and she moans around the kiss. I push past her wet folds with my hard c.o.c.k and thrust all the way inside her. I should have taken my time, but if I have to spend one more second outside of her body, I may die.

When her p.u.s.s.y is wrapped around my c.o.c.k to the root, I finally feel like I can breathe. My mouth moves down her neck and to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and I lick her nipples, loving the feel of them on my tongue.

"So beautiful," I whisper against the full mounds.

I push them together, and bury my face in between them. The warm globes pressing against my cheeks as I nuzzle in her valley.

She giggles and says my beard tickles, but she makes no move to push me away. So I thrust into her with my face buried there, loving the soft snuggle I get with each stroke.

"What did you say?" she asks, another giggle coming from her.

I lift my face up, smiling at her because she couldn't understand my mumbles against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "I said I love you."

Her hand comes up to cup my cheek, and there is so much love in her eyes. "I love you, Koda. I love you so much."

Holding her hips, I c.u.m inside her, filling her with my warm seed. But as Mother Nature keeps reminding us, there is lots more where that came from.

I roll us over and help Snow sit up on top of me, riding my rock-hard c.o.c.k. When she has another o.r.g.a.s.m, she nearly collapses on my chest, but I catch her and hold her against me.

Thrusting into her slowly with no rush to the next peak, we lie there and pet each other for hours.

"I think you might be part bear," I say, running a bit of her hair under my nose.

She laughs, lifting her face up to look at me. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you like to cuddle almost as much as I do."

Suddenly, she starts kissing down my chest, and I love the way it feels. I love the way every part of her feels, but I especially like her mouth.

When my c.o.c.k slips free from her p.u.s.s.y, I growl, but she just keeps kissing lower, and for a second I forget to be mad.

Her mouth goes to my hip, and I nearly start to sit up. But she puts her hand on my stomach, and I look down at her.

"Snow, what are you doing?"

Tentatively, she moves lower, taking my c.o.c.k in her hand. "I just want to make you feel as good as you make me feel."

"But you do. You make me feel perfect just being my mate." I grab her wrist, trying to halt her movements, but she pulls back a little.

"Just give me a second, Koda. Relax."

I start to say something else, but her mouth goes to the tip of my c.o.c.k, and I lose all conscious thought.

"Snow," I manage to choke out as her tongue flicks across the head of my d.i.c.k. She must taste the two of us mixed together, and the thought only makes me hotter. Our pa.s.sion coating me and her licking it up. Selfishly, I want a taste, too.

"Mmm," she hums around me, and she takes me deeper.

My claws come out, and I dig them into the mattress to try to keep some control. I grit my teeth, but when she goes a little deeper, I can't stand it anymore.

Reaching down, I grab her arms and haul her up my body, turning us so she's pinned on her back and I'm on top of her. I thrust into her in one stroke and put my mouth on hers. Feathers fly around us, and I realize that I must have cut through a pillow or down blanket. I should care, but I'm so turned on, I can't stop and think about it.

When my mouth goes to Snow's neck, she's gasping for air as I keep thrusting.

"I wasn't done yet," she manages to say between ruts.

"No. You were finished," I growl into her neck and feel her p.u.s.s.y squeeze around me. She c.u.ms clinging to me, and I follow her into the fog of paradise.

Sometime later, she says she wants to try that again, and I've got her on her back before she can finish the thought. She giggles and says maybe in time I will get used to it, but I don't think that's possible. I'll never get used to having this perfect human all to myself. And I'll never get used to loving every inch of her with every inch of me. For the rest of our lives.

Epilogue.

Snow

Six months later...

My belly is growing big, but I swear the bigger I get, the more Koda can't keep his hands off me.

Life is still perfectly wonderful as my mate takes care of me and our growing cub. Apparently, bear shifters are pregnant for a long time, but I don't mind. I like feeling our baby move inside of me, and I can't help but wonder if it's a boy or a girl. Or if it will be a shifter at all.

From what Winnie tells me, the bear gene is dominant, and with a mate the size of Koda, we are guaranteed a boy bear shifter. I loved hearing that and spent hours picturing a little boy with honey-colored eyes and golden-brown hair like his father.

I hum a happy sigh and look up to see Koda carrying over a basket of blueberries for us. We are having a picnic by the lake he found me at. I'm stretched out, enjoying the sun on my face as he lies down beside me and kisses my belly.

"Have you thought about what we should name our baby?" he asks, feeding me a blueberry.

"I think you should choose, Koda. You have a strong name, and I think you will give our son one, too."

"What if it's a girl?"

I smile at him and raise an eyebrow.

"Okay. If it's a boy, I like the name Jasper."

I nod my head and smile, liking the sound of that.

"But just in case it's a girl, I like the name Snow." He reaches up and touches my cheeks, and I can feel them blush.

"Why would you want to give a girl the same name as me?"

He leans down, kissing my lips softly before whispering. "Because I can't think of anything I love more than Snow."

We kiss for a long time before I finally lean back and look into his soft eyes. His bear is happy to be outside today, and I'm happy I can do that for him. I've brought Koda into the light again, and he no longer feels afraid of what's going to happen.

He no longer has the nightmares he said he had before I came along. Instead, he sleeps and sleeps until I get up from the bed. Then he's by my side until it's time for bed again. He says that before he found me he wouldn't leave the house a lot, but now he finds reasons to bring me to new places and show me the world. I think it has to do with him knowing I was locked away for so long, even though it was for my protection. I think he feels the need to make up for lost time.

"Well, we both know it's a boy, so it's a moot point."

He smiles at me and cuddles my neck. I rub up and down his back, hearing him growl in delight at the feeling. He loves when I run my nails all over him, scratching his big body.

"If you want a girl, I will make it so."

I laugh at his serious tone. Only Koda would try and will Mother Nature to give me the s.e.x I want.