Bitten (Black Mountain Bears Book 2) Read Free Page B

can’t.”
    “You can’t what?” Gunnar asked, one warm hand sliding over the low rise of Jasper’s waistband, finding the bare skin just beneath the hem of his t-shirt. The delicious contact made Jasper’s stomach tighten and his pulse quicken.
    He let out a gasp, followed by, “Can’t get attached. Shit. You know this, at least I . . . I thought . . . ”
    “You thought avoiding us altogether would make it easier? You thought wrong, Jas. It only makes it harder .” As if to emphasize his point, Gunnar slid his hands into the front of Jasper’s jeans and gripped his cock, squeezing hard enough that Jasper couldn’t help but let out a loud, “Fuck!”
    Autumn’s writhing, moaning shape abruptly froze, her head turning in their direction to listen. She came up on her side, resting on one elbow, her nostrils flaring. Could she smell them? God, she probably could. Jasper’s own abilities to shift hadn’t manifested yet, so he was still irritatingly human, compared to them. Otherwise he’d have probably been able to sense Gunnar sneaking up on him.
    After a moment of testing the air, a smile crept over Autumn’s features and she simply closed her eyes, slipped her hand back between her legs, and moved her fingers again.
    In a more audible tone, Gunnar said, “You shouldn’t keep this to yourself, you know. She needs it.”
    “Wh-why didn’t you give . . . give her yours?” Jasper asked.
    Gunnar chuckled. “You saw all that? You are as filthy as I hoped.” He lowered his voice to a low rumble that vibrated through his chest into Jasper’s back. That contact felt almost as good as the hand gripping his cock and moving with sure strokes over his swollen, heated flesh.
    Jasper could only let out a frustrated groan.
    “You have amazing restraint, all things considered,” Gunnar said. “She’s nearing her estrous, which makes her more and more difficult to resist. Fuck, do I want her, but I can’t just take her. When a female names her chosen mates, the ones she chooses have to mate her together.”
    “What does that have to do with me?” Jasper asked, surprised by the gruffness of his voice. He tried to pull away, to turn. He reached down and tried to tug the other man’s hand out of his jeans. Gunnar held tighter, pulling Jasper back against him and the unmistakably huge erection pressed against Jasper’s ass.
    Autumn’s breathy cry of his name rose up through the air again, more urgent than before, like she was, indeed, calling to him. Jasper stared through the brush at her, his mind seesawing between imagining how amazingly soft she would feel wrapped around him, and the very real, very potent stroking of the large hand working its way up and down the length of his cock.
    Gunnar’s voice sounded harsh in his ear. “Do you want it all, or nothing, Stonetree? Because those are your choices. We have to leave soon. Let her mate us together.”
    Jasper clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out at least half of the torment. He still couldn’t answer, his senses too overwhelmed to choose. Why did he have to choose? Why the hell did Gunnar sound so desperate?
    Gunnar released him and took his hand from Jasper’s jeans. Jasper relaxed for a moment, leaning back against the tree when Gunnar moved away. He could still sense the other male’s body heat so close it made his skin prickle, and Autumn’s ecstasy continued to bombard his hearing.
    Jasper couldn’t decide which part confused and terrified him more: the fact that he wanted everything Gunnar seemed to be offering, or that dark hurt that lurked inside him, that threatened a loss he didn’t know if he had the strength to endure. If he got attached to someone so strongly again, could he bear it when they rejected him?
    But now he simply didn’t have the strength to say no, so he said nothing.
    “Open your eyes, Jasper,” Gunnar whispered, his face so close to Jasper’s, he could feel hot breath flowing across his lips. “You might not