Stripped Bear Read Free

girl he’d left home to escape.
    For the better part of twenty minutes, Leah made small talk with his grandmother. Cade stared, dumbstruck, his mind warring with his body, with his very instinct. He vibrated with awareness of her, the sight of her T-shirt gaping away from her ample breasts, the sweet scent that clung to her, the warm tenor of her voice sending Cade into a sensory overload that would have dropped his ass to the floor had he not already been sitting.
    “Cade?”
    He brought his gaze up to find Leah studying him, those light-blue eyes of hers almost accusing. His own brows came down sharply as he worked his jaw, willing it to unclench. “What?” He hadn’t meant the word to come out so sharply, but he couldn’t do a goddamned thing about it now.
    “I asked what you’ve been up to,” Leah remarked with an indignant frown that only served to further heat his blood. “But please, don’t let me interrupt the scowl fest you’ve got going over there.”
    Sixteen years and not a goddamned thing had changed. That wasn’t true though, was it? In a matter of seconds, everything had changed.
    “Caden hasn’t been home in over two years,” Luanne interjected. “His work has taken him all over the world. I suppose I’m lucky that he chose to indulge an old woman and come home for a visit. Aren’t I, dear?”
    Cade resisted the urge to throw the woman who’d raised him some serious shade. They’d have it out soon enough, though. “I wouldn’t dare not to come running when you call, Grandmother.”
    “Grandmother,” she said with a snort. She leaned in close to Luanne and said in a conspiratorial tone, “He only calls me that when he’s upset with me.”
    Leah cast a questioning glance his way and Cade’s gut clenched with lust. They’d barely exchanged a handful of words and all he could think about was getting her naked so he could fuck her senseless.
    He’d come home to say goodbye to his poor dying grandma. Please . She’d set the perfect trap for him. Now, thanks to her scheming, he’d be leaving this place with a mate.
    Mate .
    He would have thought it impossible if not for the physical proof. It was the female who did the claiming where shifter pairings were concerned. Shifter-human mate bonds were common enough because of their very similar physiologies. Leah wouldn’t recognize the claiming in the same way that Cade did, but she’d sense it on a subconscious level. An instinct that would attract her to him with an undeniable intensity. The bond wasn’t an emotional or spiritual thing—at least not at first—it was a physical one. A visceral, one-two punch. Cade was still reeling from the effects. This was punishment. It had to be. After years of killing and forcing of hands on behalf of the Sortiari, Cade was being punished for his actions by being bound to Leah. It was the only explanation.
    But gods, did any of that matter when he couldn’t stop thinking about how good it would feel to pound into her heat? Cade wanted to spread her thighs wide, prop one shapely calf over his shoulder as he fucked her. A growl built in his chest and he looked up to find both his grandmother and Leah looking at him. While his grandma smiled like the bear that’d found the honeypot, Leah’s eyes had gone wide. Her lips parted, making her mouth that much more kissable. Son of a bitch .
    Cade was officially fucked.
    *   *   *
    Leah found it hard to drag her gaze from Cade. It wandered back to him as though against her will as she talked with Luanne. The mindless small talk faded to the back of her mind as her eyes lit once again on Cade. Life could be so cruel. In the years since she’d seen him, he’d grown more handsome. So much so that she could hardly breathe when she looked at him.
    Tall, packed with bulky muscles that stretched his crisp blue dress shirt to its limits. A wide chest that tapered into a narrow waist, solid hips, and strong thighs. She studied his face from the periphery