Justus Read online

  He pulled the side of her panties down and kissed her hip, and then he let out a soft growl and pulled them down further. The slow glide of the satin over her legs as he slipped them off made her pussy throb with need. Pushing her legs apart, he moved between them, his broad shoulders forcing her legs apart to make room for him. She curled her legs over his shoulders as he wrapped one hand around her thigh and used the other to spread her open. He glanced up the length of her body. His eyes were a burnished copper, nearly glowing in the darkness. She knew it was his bear, and that the creature – however he existed inside of Justus – was right there with them.

  “I see you,” she whispered, her breath catching in her throat. “I see both of you.”

  “Mine,” he said, his voice a low and growling demand.

  He licked her clit, flicking his tongue over the top and sides. He tilted his head and slid his tongue inside her, circling her entrance and delving inside. And then he growled. His tongue seemed to vibrate with the sound, and she arched her back at how good it felt.

  “Fuck,” she moaned as he flattened his hand on her stomach to keep her in place as he growled louder and more forcefully. Her stomach trembled as he pushed her leg open further and laid his tongue on her clit as he growled. She cried out as the first wave of pleasure cascaded over her. He pushed two fingers inside her, curling them up until he stroked her just right and her whole body shuddered. Another wave of pleasure poured over her as he rubbed her pussy and licked her clit. Her back bowed off the bed and she screamed his name, burying her fingers in his hair and lifting her hips.

  He lifted from her, pushing another finger into her and stretching her gently. His cock was large and thick, and she knew he was taking his time to prepare her, but she couldn’t think about anything except taking him inside.

  “Oh Justus,” she pleaded, tugging on his hair. “Come inside me. Let me feel you.”

  He lifted his hand, his fingers glossy with her climax, and sucked them into his mouth. “You taste like raw honey,” he said. “I could eat you all day long.”

  She grinned, unable to answer his compliment with one of her own as he moved between her legs and grasped his cock. The head of his thick length touched her pussy, and he paused before he began to enter her. He kept his gaze locked with hers, and she was riveted by the color of his eyes as they swirled from brown to copper. She reached for him, resting her hands on his shoulders and wrapping her legs around his waist as he pushed inside. She’d never been so completely filled in her life.

  Their bodies met and they both groaned. She slid her hands up his neck to his face and drew him down to her lips. They kissed as he canted his hips and slid slowly from her and then plunged in again. She lifted her hips and crossed her ankles, meeting his thrusts with her own. The kiss broke and they panted for breath, their bodies moving together.

  He pulled from her entirely and moved to her side, rolling her onto her stomach. She made the move to rise onto her hands and knees, but he pressed his hand to the center of her back to keep her in place. She looked over her shoulder at him and he smiled before bending over and grasping her hips. He kissed both of her cheeks and licked the valley between them, and Trina’s whole body lit up. Then he straddled her legs, tilted her hips, and entered her from behind. With her hips tilted, his cock slid into her from a different angle and when he was inside her fully, she gasped at the pulse of pleasure that sang through her. He moved out of her and stroked in hard and fast, and the head of his cock pushed against a spot inside her that made her stomach clench and her pussy flutter. She grasped the pillow under her head and moaned loudly as he took her hard and fast. Her body heated and her vision blurred as she neared another climax, a height of pleasure she hadn’t known existed. He growled her name as he pounded into her, his fingers digging into her flesh as he held her where he wanted her and drove her to orgasm.

  She gnashed her teeth and whimpered, her body tightening further as she neared the precipice. He tilted her hips a little more and on the next stroke, when the fat head of his cock pressed against her new favorite place, she fell apart, screaming her pleasure. Her toes curled and her body writhed under him as his rhythm faltered and he came, roaring her name. She felt his cock thicken inside her and the heat of his climax. He lowered himself to her, their bodies locked together, and he fit his teeth at the place where her neck and shoulder met and bit down. She felt sharper-than-usual teeth break through her skin, but she was too blissed out to feel any pain. He growled, his teeth vibrating in her flesh, and then he slowly released his hold on her. She smelled a little blood and then he licked the wound. The sensation was odd but comforting in a way. She closed her eyes and focused on catching her breath.

  Justus slid his arms underneath her and rolled to his back, carrying her with him so she was splayed over him like a blanket. His cock was still lodged inside her.

  She let her head fall back against his shoulder and rested her hands on top of his. “The swelling will go down in a few minutes,” he said, his voice rough but tender.

  “Is this a shifter thing?”

  “A bear shifter thing, yes. It’s meant to help with procreation. The longer a male stays locked in a female, the more likely she will be to carry young.”

  “Plus, it’s nice to cuddle.”

  He chuckled. “Do you forgive me for not asking if you were on birth control?”

  “I do forgive you, but you’ll have to forgive me for not being on any birth control at all.”

  He went very still under her and she would have liked to roll over and look at him, but with him still inside her, she was unable to do anything but look at the ceiling.

  “Justus?”

  “You could become pregnant, now. Are you angry with me?”

  “Why would I be mad? It was my choice to not be on birth control. I only ever go on it if I’m in a serious relationship and I haven’t been in one for a long time. I was a willing participant. Very willing.”

  He chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Things moved quickly. I didn’t mean to rush you in any way.”

  “It feels pretty perfect to me. Would you be upset if I was pregnant?”

  “Not at all. You’re my soulmate. I want to have young with you.”

  “Humans call them children.”

  “Will your family be unhappy?”

  “I don’t know. Unless you want to wear condoms, then eventually I will become pregnant. That’s what happens when sex is involved.”

  “I’m aware,” he said dryly. “I would wear them for you.”

  “Maybe after.”

  “After what?”

  She pushed his hands down her stomach until his fingers were resting on top of her pussy. “After you make me come again.”

  “Just once?”

  “For starters.”

  As he began to play with her clit, she closed her eyes with a smile. She’d come to the zoo for a job and wound up with the supernatural version of a husband. Her life had changed drastically in the span of a few hours, but she wouldn’t change anything about the direction her life was headed in. As long as she had Justus by her side, she could handle anything.

  Chapter 7

  Justus watched his soulmate sleep. After spending the afternoon and evening making love, he’d scrounged dinner for them from his refrigerator and they’d eaten and talked. She was amazing – not just beautiful, but smart and kind. His whole life he’d expected to mate with another shifter, but once the zoo started the VIP tours, his tune had changed. He realized it didn’t matter to him what his soulmate could or couldn’t shift into because the connection was what counted. He found his soulmate by chance, and he thanked his lucky stars for her.

  They’d fallen asleep together after a long, hot shower, with most of the time spent exploring each other than actually getting clean. And here she was – in his bed and his arms – and he felt like the king of the fucking world.

  Trina stirred and he watched her wake up, stretching with a squeak and blinking
beautiful green eyes at him.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey, yourself. What time is it?”

  He reached for his phone on the nightstand and read the screen. “Seven twenty-three.”

  “It’s Tuesday, right? We didn’t actually make love for a few days and pass out, right?”

  “Yes, it’s Tuesday morning,” he answered, smiling broadly.

  Her brow furrowed. “Am I supposed to work today? Cause I have to tell you, that doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.”

  “Me either. I think we can claim that we’re on our honeymoon and take a few days off.”

  “Shifters don’t actually get married?”

  “It depends. If it’s two shifters entering into a permanent mating, then probably not. If one of them is a human, then most likely yes.”

  “Is there a non-permanent mating?”

  “Permanent means the couple has bonded together and marked each other. It’s like marriage for humans. Non-permanent means that a male and female like each other but recognize they aren’t soulmates, so they stay together long enough to have young and then move on. My parents aren’t together. They were in a similar situation.”

  “Did they stay near each other to raise you together?”

  “No. My father didn’t want to be tied down with young, but he liked my mom enough to stay with her until she carried me. He was from a different sleuth and they met at a gathering of unmated bears.”

  “Do you stay in touch with him?”

  “He came to see me when I was close to shifting for the first time. My mom contacted him and he offered to let me come live with him and his sleuth. My mom’s was fairly small, and there weren’t any unmated females my age, unlike my father’s sleuth which was quite large. I turned him down.”

  “But you didn’t stay with your mom, either.”

  “I did until I was eighteen. When I graduated from school, I went to a gathering of different sleuths who were looking for members to grow their numbers. I met Marcus and Seneca. They were part of the original group that started this zoo. I liked them and the idea of working at the zoo appealed to me so I joined.”

  His mom’s sleuth didn’t have a zoo. While most shifter groups worked and lived together in different zoos around the world, some of the smaller groups would simply stay under the humans’ radar by starting a business where only their people worked.

  “My mom works at a restaurant owned by her sleuth in a tiny town in Michigan. The restaurant sits on a large parcel of land and it includes a thick forest, where the bears’ homes are. We can go visit her if you’d like.”

  “Will she mind that I’m human?”

  “She would be happy that I’m happy, and since it doesn’t matter to me that you don’t shift, it wouldn’t matter to her.”

  “I guess we need to figure out what to tell my family. My brother is going to want to give you the third degree. He can’t shift into anything, but he’s pretty good at scaring off potential boyfriends.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not a potential anything.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

  “I promise not to let your brother scare me off. You are well and truly stuck with me, Trina.”

  She linked her fingers behind his neck and drew him down to her lips. “I’m glad to be stuck with you.”

  He knew he could easily spend the day in bed, and his bear thought that was an excellent idea, but he also knew that he wanted to show her how great having him for a mate would be for her. Slipping from her embrace, he stood and moved to his dresser to pull out a pair of pants.

  “I can offer you something of mine to wear for now,” he said.

  She sat up and looked down at her clothes which were haphazardly tossed around the room. “How about a shirt for now, and then we’ll talk about going to my place for some clothes.”

  He pulled open the second drawer and gently tossed a t-shirt to her, which she tugged over her head. Standing, she looked down at herself and then smiled at him. “How do I look?”

  “Good enough to eat.”

  “You’re insatiable.”

  “And honest.”

  They walked out to the kitchen and he pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit. “I don’t really have much for breakfast.”

  “Coffee?”

  “Now that I can do. And I can ask one of the guys to get us something from the market to eat. I don’t particularly want you walking around out in public with your cute butt hanging out.”

  “I could get dressed.”

  He removed the milk from the fridge and closed the door. “Nah.”

  While he filled up the water reservoir on the coffee maker, he said, “How soon do you want to tell your family about me?”

  She hummed and tapped her fingers on the tabletop. “Probably the best thing to do is stretch it out over a few weeks. If I call my parents and tell them that I’m going to live with a guy and they can’t come over to visit us, they’ll think I’ve been brainwashed by a cult.”

  He laughed. “We don’t want them to worry. But that’s what the fake apartments are for.”

  “You mentioned that yesterday. What are they exactly?”

  He put a mug in front of her and set the sugar bowl and milk on the table, and then joined her with his own mug. She added a spoonful of sugar and a splash of milk, and he waited for the spoon so he could sweeten his.

  After taking a sip, he said, “When Justus and his mate Celeste got together, they faced a hurdle when it came to where she would tell her family she lived. Someone suggested that one of the old storage barns be transformed into what would appear to be a mini apartment complex. One of the apartments is actually finished – the water and electricity work – and it’s furnished. The other two are just facades. Celeste told her family that she was taking a job in the zoo and they offered her a place to live as part of her salary.”

  “That’s where Lexy said she’s living.”

  He nodded. “As long as no more than one family come for a visit at the same time, it’s not a problem.”

  She didn’t say anything for a long moment as she drank her coffee. “So maybe I could tell them that I was offered a place, too?”

  “I haven’t talked to Marcus yet, but that would make sense. Lexy offers you the job that comes with an apartment, and then you tell them that the sexiest male you’ve ever met has swept you off your feet.”

  She chuckled. “I’ll definitely tell them that.”

  He texted Moss and asked him to pick up breakfast in the market and bring it to the house for them. Then he texted Marcus and agreed to meet him at his house for dinner.

  Trina said, “I just realized that I left my phone and purse in Lexy’s shop.”

  Justus slid his phone across the table to her. “Call her. Just don’t promise to leave the house until dinner, because you’re all mine.”

  He stood, planting his hands on the table and leaning over to kiss her.

  “Sweet talker,” she teased.

  He left her in the kitchen and went to the bedroom to grab a shirt before Moss showed up with the food. By the time Trina was done talking to Lexy, she’d done her own sweet-talking and gotten her best friend to agree to go to her apartment and pack a bag. There was a sharp knock on the door, and Justus opened it and found Moss holding a large paper sack.

  “Don’t forget you promised to return the favor,” Moss said.

  “You got it. Thanks,” Justus said.

  He closed the door and carried the food into the kitchen.

  “Smells good,” she said, watching as he extracted two plastic food containers, a small sack, and two cartons of orange juice. He sat across from her and they both opened the containers and found them stuffed full of scrambled eggs and fried potatoes, with three strips of bacon on top. The sack held still-hot biscuits and tiny containers of butter and honey.

  “Your group made this?” she asked as she picked up a potato and popped it into her mouth.
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  “Bears have always handled the food in the park, above and below ground.”

  “That’s pretty cool. Will you cook for me sometime?”

  “Sure, what’s your favorite meal?”

  “Lasagna.”

  “I happen to be a lasagna expert.”

  “Well, then, I can’t wait.”

  * * *

  Justus waited for Trina in the family room so they could go to Marcus’s home. The day had passed quickly, and he was falling hard for his soulmate. He really didn’t want to leave the house at all, but aside from them needing to eat dinner, he wanted her to get to know his alpha.

  Trina walked out of the bedroom, sliding an earring into one ear. She looked amazing, in a flower-patterned dress that fell to the top of her knees. A wide, black ribbon was tied around her waist and highlighted her curves, and for a moment he forgot how to even speak.

  “Wow, you look so handsome,” she said, coming up to him and tugging on his tie.

  Finding his voice, he gazed down at her and said, “How’d I get so lucky to have such a gorgeous soulmate?”

  “Aw. I’m feeling pretty dang lucky, too.” She wiggled her brows. “Do we really have to leave the house? Today was so great.”

  “You’re way too tempting for your own good. Yes, we need to, even though I agree with you that staying would be more fun.”

  “Because Marcus is your boss?”

  “And because now that we’re mated, he’s kind of your boss, too.”

  “Hmmm. I hadn’t thought about that. Okay, so I’ll be my most charming self and charm his pants off.”

  His bear bristled. “Don’t be that charming.”

  She giggled. “Okay. I’ll just be myself, how’s that?”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  They left the house and followed the sidewalk to Marcus’s home. “The houses are pretty similar, but some have three bedrooms instead of two.”

  “You have three, right?”