The Beast And The Blessed

Seven: Damien

Damien P.O.V.

I hated not having control over my actions. I told myself repeatedly to let the delusional and breathtakingly beautiful wolf go and to mind my own business. Whatever misguided feelings she had for me were just lust. Not a mate bond.

Bears didn't have mates.

Most of them didn't even settle down. When one did, it was a huge deal to my people. They would migrate from all over the world to witness the union.

Most of them would enjoy the company of strangers during their travels. It was common for them to reproduce, but the two parties would separate and go their own way once they had enjoyed each other. Very few mated for life.

I didn't even know who my sire was; not many bears did. I would smell our relationship if I ever crossed him, but my father leaving my mother wasn't traumatic or hurtful the way other species experienced it. There were no abandonment issues under the surface. It was just a part of our life and culture. Our mothers would raise us for the first thirteen to fifteen years of our life, and then we would leave the den, old enough to wander.

I hadn't wanted to live that way, though. As a teenager and in my early twenties, I did my traveling and exploring, but now I was ready to settle down. I built my cabin and wanted to spend my life here.

The occasional woman would pass through my land, but they were always just looking for someone to fuck, perhaps to impregnate them before they went on their way, taking the baby with them whether the man wanted them to or not. Most men didn't even know the women were pregnant

when they parted.

I never had, nor would I let them put me in that situation. I would only fuck in my skin and always wrapped myself up. Even then, I would pull out, trying to be as cautious as possible.

I had planned to make a home. Maybe one day, I would settle down with another bear, fall in love, and have the cubs that my mother pestered me about whenever I visited her. I wasn't going to choose some wanderer who didn't want monogamy and let her take my cubs away from me.

My mother knew my stance on it and was over the moon that her grandchildren would be close enough to visit her.

now I was confused by

I was her soulmate. As much as I wanted to deny it and had, I still found myself being pulled back to her every second of the

at the edge of her camp, watching her carry in

I watched as she moved to a pot of water by the side of the camp and poured

had caught my scent, but she

returned to my home the night before, I still felt her. I was dreaming about the sweet way her skin had tasted and the sound of her

smell her on my skin still and knew she would be on my shorts as well. Had they not been soaking wet from the river, I would have slept in them. As soon as that thought went through my mind, I stripped out of my clothes and threw the shorts across

down from marching back to her camp and giving in. I wanted to take

I finally fell asleep, it was the best one I had in a long while. I dreamt of her, of Charlotte. When I woke up, I couldn't stop myself from seeking her out even if I wanted to,

wanted to understand it even if I couldn't act

exhale through my muzzle in response to her greeting, and she glanced over her shoulder, her hypnotizing green eyes widening when she saw me in my fur. Clearly, she hadn't been expecting me to show up this way, and it made me second guess coming at all.

by other creatures. The only place I ever felt comfortable and safe was in the forest,

had seen her before. Typically, when she was moving through the forest, she wore

toned and looked like they could go on for miles. There were several positions I wanted to put those legs

just above her waistband, and my eyes wanted

almost naked before. But seeing her here, dressed for a day around camp instead of trampling through the woods, she was in her

a lot bigger than I imagined," Charlotte whispered, moving slowly as if not to

I knew she could tell I was smiling at that comment. Her words had been innocent enough, but after a night of dreaming about how she would feel pressed naked

how I meant that, and you know it.’ Her finger pointed in my face as she stopped before me. She was so close I could bend my head forward and touch my nose against her breastbone. Did I want to touch her? Would she even let me after how many times I had walked away

her hand on the side of my neck, her fingers lacing into my black fur. I shivered

how crazy she drove me last night, I was ready to shift to my skin, back her into a tree, and slam deep inside her. While my

drawn to her and

one day, but I didn't know her or if she was the one for me, even though she claimed she was. If she wasn't, it would be cruel for me to claim her as mine and take away her chance