The bear rumbled when she gave him a hug, then he pushed away from the tree to drop down on all fours, huffing at her. His big wet nose shoved into the crook of her shoulder, and he inhaled, thenpurred.
“You caught me,” Fern murmured, heat roaring through her.
He grunted, then lowered his head to nudge her legs apart.
“Hey!”
What she thought he was doing and what he had in mind were two wholly different things, though. Before Fern could react or scream again, the big bear opened his jaws and bit her thigh.
She gasped, expecting his teeth to be agonizing. But the feelings flooding her were love, lust, and pure magic, no pain in sight. Thick and powerful, pleasure coursed in tangible ribbons from the points where his canines punctured her skin. Some pooled in her leg, a magical puddle beneath her skin, but the rest wove together, flowing out from the bite, climbing ever higher, coiling, then unfurling around her heart.
“Oh,” she breathed.
With his big tongue, Elliott’s bear licked her leg, pulsing magic into the puncture wounds, and when Fern glanced down, she could make out two of the four marks, red still, but stitching closed quickly with a tickle. Elliott promptly shifted back, shrinking down to his somewhat more reasonable six-ish feet.
“Are you okay?” He dropped to his knees and inspected her marks.
“Yes, up. Here,” she panted. “Fuck.” Intense throbbing between her legs stole her ability to form a complete sentence, but he got the point. Was this the super compelling still? She thought that was supposed to end with the first bite.
Elliott consumed her through hooded eyes as he stood, dragging his fingers and his gaze up her body. “Do you feel anything?”
“Stop touching me so I can focus.” She plucked his hands away with a laugh, and he gave her space to close her eyes and relax. A new rhythm had settled into her chest—it could have been her hammering heart, but it wasdifferent, she was fairly sure. “Magic, pulsing, in here.” She tapped her sternum, then her stomach roiled once but faded. “Kiss me.”
He did, and she kissed him back as long as she could manage, running her palms over his ass and grinding his hard length against her stomach.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked, pulling away after too-short a time.
Her clit pulsed, desperate for his touch. But her heart raced, her mouth filled with spit, and the day was getting far too warm. “I feel fine,” sheconfirmed, wanting one more orgasm before the sickness took hold of her. “How abou—”
Turning to the side, she puked all over the moss-covered ground.
“All right. This is it. I love you, and we’ve got this. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she murmured as her stomach clenched again.
“Do you want to walk?” he asked.
She tried to shake her head, but wasn’t sure if she accomplished it or if it was her vision that wavered.
“I’m carrying you home.”
Itgotdarkoutside.There was a shower, cool and refreshing. Floor tiles, also cool and refreshing. A glass of water thatshouldhave been cool and refreshing, if she hadn’t immediately vomited it up again. The sun came, and she flinched away, burying herself in blankets and a warm hug. There was a thunderstorm. She sweated too much, then stood in the shower, held upright by two calloused hands. Ice cream might have happened, or PediaSure. Who knew. It was dark, then light again, and finally, she could open her eyes without pain.
“Water?” Elliott’s warm voice tumbled over to her, and she realized he was lying by her side.
“Yes,” she croaked, slowly turning her head toward him.
The mug he handed her was cool and full, and she took a small sip. When it stayed down without issue, she chugged the rest.
“Food?”
“Please,” she said with a dazed nod.
He slipped away and returned not thirty seconds later with a bowl of yogurt and berries. “Open.”
She did, and he popped a spoonful into her mouth.
“Again.”
