Sasquatch’s Claiming (Mated to the Monster: Season 2)

Chapter 1

1

T his is weird.

An eerie shiver ran down Bernadette’s spine as she walked home from the bus stop. It was like she was being watched. This wasn’t the first time she had felt this way. For as long as she could remember, she had this sense of foreboding. Her parents had always taught her to be cautious, always look over her shoulder, but lately this sense of trepidation and danger had amplified. She’d been having this sensation for months. All her life she’d lived in the north, but since moving to Thunder Bay a couple of months ago, there was just something about this place she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Like there was something just out there, hiding behind a veil of obscurity and if she just reached out, she would find it.

The thing was, when her family would come to Thunder Bay from Atikokan, when she was a kid, she felt that way too. It had gotten stronger since she moved under duress. She believed there was a deep-rooted old magic in the air. Since she’d started work at the hospital, something was not right. And she felt uneasy since her parents died in that suspicious car crash, the night after she moved to the city. She didn’t know what she was uncertain of. What she was certain was all this really geared up the night she went down to the lakefront, to that tavern by the docks.

The night she remembered nothing about and the night the very erotic dreams started. Heat flushed through her as she thought of those dreams. It was an instant arousal blossoming through her life, like an awakening almost.

A twig snapped in the bushes and she almost jumped out of her skin. She quickened her pace to get back to her apartment, where she could lock the door and be safe. Well, sort of safe. She darted up the flight of stairs, unlocked her door and ran inside. Once she was inside with the locks on, she let out a deep breath, and with her back against the door, she slid down to the floor. Her heart was still racing.

What is happening to me?

That was the question she kept asking herself over and over. There was a little part of her that wanted to go back to Atikokan and back to normalcy, but there was none of that in her old home town. Her parents were both gone, killed in that accident. The only family she had left, she didn’t want to see.

She had an uncle who tried to take a little bit too much from her, but she fought back and moved here. There was a restraining order against him, but sadly, that didn’t mean anything.

When she left Atikokan after the sale of her childhood home, she had her mail forwarded to a friend in Goderich, who sent it to her. Her uncle wouldn’t be able to find her. At least that was her hope. She couldn’t help but wonder if that’s why she was on edge. Had her uncle found her?

Her parents hated him too, yet they did nothing to keep him away. No matter how many times they moved, he came around and they let him.

“When they’re gone, you’re mine, Bernadette,” her uncle hissed against her ear as he pinned her against the wall.

“I’ll never let you touch me.” She spat in his face and kneed him hard in the balls.

He doubled over in pain. “Just you wait. You’re mine. Never forget that,” he shouted. “I’ll hunt you forever and when I have you, I’ll show you the true meaning of pain.”

She’d told her parents and they went that night to file a police report for her. She was then packed up and sent to Thunder Bay to be safe. After her parents dropped her off at this apartment, they drove home—and died.

The police said it was a moose, but Bernadette had a hard time believing that.

Her phone rang, startling her, making her heart almost jump out from her chest.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Just making sure you got home okay. You seemed distracted,” her coworker Janice said.

Janice had been there with her at the bar that night. She didn’t know what had happened to her, only that Bernadette had disappeared on the dance floor and then Janice had found her at her apartment at midnight. Just sitting in her living room and staring at the wall.

Janice had been so worried Bernadette been roofied, but there were no toxins in her bloodstream. There had been nothing. The only thing Bernadette could logic out in her mind was the grief of her losing her parents and she’d blacked out. Of course, it could be delayed grief.

She’d been in fight-or-flight since they’d died.

“A lot on my mind,” Bernadette replied. “I appreciate you checking in on me.”

“I’m going to put an air tag on you soon,” Janice teased. “You didn’t respond to my texts.”

“Sorry. I am home and I’m safe. No weird stuff. I swear.”

Which was a lie.

“Okay. Well, try and take it easy this weekend,” Janice said gently.

“I will. See you Monday.”

Bernadette ended the call and took another deep breath, closing her eyes, but when she did that, she saw warm, amber eyes staring at her from behind a thick, protruding brow. Instantly, she could feel warm, comforting, furry arms around her. The face that haunted her dreams. The one that made her feel safe.

And then the unfurling of heat in her belly.

The need.

The want.

They were like jagged fragments plaguing her. Only they were more than pockets of fantasy; they brought with them a hunger she just couldn’t contain. It was silly, but it was almost like some spell was on her, making her extremely horny and no matter how many times she pleasured herself, she just couldn’t slake the fire in her blood, the urgency that plagued her.

Her cheeks heated and she moaned.

It was doing her no good sitting here on the floor, but she was getting annoyed with how much this was controlling her life. Every day, it seemed to get worse and the one thing she knew that would quench the insatiable lust was the monster that plagued her dreams.

Only monsters weren’t real.

Why does it have to be a monster?

Except something told her that a monster mate wasn’t far-fetched.

She changed out of her work clothes and had a shower. A nice cold shower, hoping that would help. It didn’t. Instead, she ran her hands over her body, touching herself until she climaxed. It wasn’t enough.

And she was exhausted.

As she left the bathroom, a prickle ran down her spine. She cracked her patio door open just a bit to get some of the cool night air in and lay down on top of her blankets, trying to drift off into sleep. But then, as soon as she closed her eyes, she saw him again.

The beast of her dreams.

“ Bernadette,” he whispered.

He loomed over her, his long mane of hair blowing back, naked, with his mammoth cock jutting up from between his legs.

“Yes.”

He smiled at her tenderly. His huge hand reaching out to gingerly touch her face. “Bernadette. I miss you.”

“How can you miss me? I don’t even know your name.”

“I know yours.” He knelt down in front of her. His large hands on her curvy hips. “Spread your legs for me.”

She jolted awake again, her pussy throbbing, and she ran her hand over her face. She needed to get control over this. Reaching over to her nightstand, she pulled out her vibrator, but as she held it in her hand, her eyes felt so heavy, like she couldn’t control the urge to sleep.

“Sleeeeeeep,” a creepy voice hissed out of the shadows.

She fought against the need to sleep, because this wasn’t the gentle giant from her dreams. This was something else. Something evil and she wondered, before she lost consciousness, if this is why she blacked out that night.

I miss her.

It was a physical ache in the pit of his stomach as he thought about Bernadette and what she was doing, and Ben couldn’t help but wonder if this was what the mating frenzy felt like. Was this the famed Sasquatch love spell?

If it was, it sucked.

Balls.

The laws were changing. Ben knew that, but the new government ruling the protective northern realm still didn’t think it was a wise idea for magical beings to breed or mingle with the humans in their realm until they were sure boundaries were established.

King Tiene and Prince Ivar may have signed the wraith Cillian’s blood contract, but it didn’t mean they were thrilled with the changes. As far as Ben was concerned, things were moving at a glacial speed. How could he claim his bride when she was off-limits?

It was shit, because he had big plans for his little human. The woman who made his blood burn with need. Winter was coming and it would be harder to carry off a female to his cave and keep her safe. All his thoughts were completely focused on protecting her and bringing her home.

With him.

Ever since that night at Coraliane’s tavern, The Lusty Kraken, he could not stop thinking about that buxom, curvy, delicious little blonde human who had stumbled through the glamour veil. Her big blue eyes had been terrified when she saw the other beings. Ben had merely intervened to try to protect her, as there were a few not so nice monsters lurking about who would’ve gladly used her and her blood for their own ends.

From the moment he saw her, he was completely smitten, and all he wanted to do was love and cherish her.

Although, there was part of him that wondered if it wasn’t just the potent love spell that he was putting out into the air. The pheromones his kind excreted when they found their forever mate. Either way, it didn’t matter.

He wanted her.

It was torture to wait, because he was pretty sure that his older brother Adam was watching him closely, like he knew what Ben was thinking. That annoyed him too, because Adam had his mate. He had Aoife and a young one on the way.

Adam had his happily ever after.

That’s all Ben wanted.

He could still feel the memory of his little beauty’s breasts in the palm of his hands, how tight she was wrapped around his cock, the sweet scent of her burned into his olfactory senses. Every time he thought of her, he got so hard. The mating frenzy was very real. It was overpowering.

And she didn’t remember him.

That’s what hurt.

Aoife, Adam’s mate, had wiped his mate’s memory to protect her.

“You look so blue.”

Ben looked up to see Aoife’s brother, the wraith, Cillian sitting on a low branch of a tree.

He cursed under his breath seeing him there. “Don’t you have anywhere else to be?”

Cillian grinned. “No. My sister lives here.”

“She’s your half sister,” Ben groused.

Cillian shrugged. “So? You’re only half bushman.”

“Sasquatch.”

“Yeti, bushman, Sasquatch, bigfoot…isn’t it all just the same.” A sneer curled on Cillian’s lips.

Ben knew how much the wraith liked to tease. It annoyed the fuck out of him. “You need to stay out of my way,” Ben growled.

“Why? Are you going to beat your chest and hurl things at me?”

Cillian was needling him and Ben really didn’t have the energy to deal with the wraith. Not today. Cillian may have protected all of those in the north from King Tiene, but he was still a shit disturber. So instead, Ben ignored him and headed for the portal. He was done with all of this and was going to Thunder Bay, like he did almost every night, to sit outside her apartment. It was his way of protecting her, because ever since they were parted, he had this bad feeling she was unsafe. Ben might not be able to claim her, but she was his mate whether this new government, society, whatever it was, liked it or not.

He was hoping that Cillian would take the hint and leave him alone, but really Cillian wasn’t one to take hints, and his point was proven further as the wraith dropped down from the tree and floated alongside him.

“What do you want with me, Cillian?” Ben asked, exasperated.

“Oh, not much. I was going to offer you a tidbit about your beloved little human.”

Ben froze, his spine stiffened. The only people who knew about her were Adam and Aoife. Ben knew for a fact they wouldn’t tell Cillian about her, because the wraith couldn’t be trusted. Ben slowly turned around. Cillian was smirking in that smug way that made Ben want to rip his pointed face off.

“Don’t resort to violence, Ben. Ripping my face to shreds won’t work,” Cillian stated.

“Get out of my head,” Ben growled.

“Why? It’s such an interesting place to be. It’s very…lustful lately.”

Ben curled his fists and growled again, baring his sharp incisors and inflating his chest.

Cillian held up his hands in defeat. “All right, all right. I will get to the point. There isn’t much use in bandying words about with you or your brothers. So short-tempered.”

“Get on with it.”

“Your heart’s desire dreams about you. Every night.”

“How do you know this?”

“I know a lot. More than I’m willing to admit. And information can be just as powerful as blood.” Cillian’s eyes flashed red.

“Why watch her?”

“No particular reason. Truth be told, I was watching another and stumbled on her shrouded thoughts. I can see my sister’s, shall we call it, handiwork, anywhere.”

Confusion coursed through him. “How can she dream about me? She doesn’t remember me. Aoife wiped her mind.”

“The subconscious is a tricky beast and Sasquatch pheromone is strong indeed,” Cillian said. “She may not remember you to see your face, but your scent is imprinted into her cells. She reeks of the mate bond and it’s attracting the wrong sort of beasties to her. You need to stake your claim.”

“It’s against the law,” Ben groused.

Cillian shrugged. “And did your brother not break the law by taking Aoife as his? There is a protection spell of blood magic over this realm. Tiene and Ivar cannot penetrate it. Claim your mate.”

Heat and adrenaline rushed through him as he thought of claiming her like he wanted. Planting his seed in her and making her his and his alone. It’s what he wanted from the first moment he tasted her.

“Why are you doing this? What’s in it for you?”

Cillian grinned, his eyes flashing. “That is my secret to keep. I am freely giving you this information to let you know your cherished one is in danger. It’s only a matter of time before another claims her and impregnates her ripening body, and it won’t be the one she wants.”

Before Ben could ask anything else, Cillian melted away into mist. Like he always did, and there was no point in asking him anything else. The fact that Cillian gave him this information freely was a bit worrisome, but Ben had been feeling that she was in danger. Something in his gut was nagging at him, which is why he sat outside her apartment every night.

Ethan came crashing through the brush at that moment, out of breath, his gold eyes wild with excitement.

“What’s wrong?” Ben asked, staring at his brother who looked like he’d been wrestling with a Minotaur or something.

“Just had to get away from that council meeting,” Ethan groaned. “Boring as fuck. Aoife looks like she’s going to throat punch someone.”

Ben chuckled. “That doesn’t explain why you look like you were in a bar fight.”

Ethan grinned. “Oh, I was wrestling Konnor, the Kraken. That guy’s a gas.”

Ben cocked eyebrow. “I thought he had to be in water?”

“They’re in Thunder Bay at the Coraliane’s place. Aoife, Adam, everyone involved in this new realm, and since they’re at The Lusty Kraken , it allows the water folk to join in.”

“It makes sense since Coraliane is a mermaid. What did Adam think of you wrestling Konnor in the middle of a meeting?”

Ethan snorted. “We snuck out.”

“Thought Konnor was a king. Kind of reckless of him.”

“Konnor does rule the depths of Lake Superior, but even he was bored with all the bureaucracy. So that’s when we started wrestling for fun out on the shoreline.

“So, you were in Thunder Bay too?”

Ethan nodded. “Tried to find you and let you know. You would’ve enjoyed sparring with him.”

Ben sighed. “Well, I’m headed to Thunder Bay now.”

Ethan cocked his head to the side. “Why?”

“None of your business.”

Ethan just shook his head. “If Adam catches you outside that human’s apartment…”

Ben’s spine stiffened. “What?”

“I saw you the other night. Adam doesn’t know but…”

“Well, we’re not going to tell him that, are we?” Ben growled.

Ethan raised his hands. “I won’t. I swear. Just be careful.”

Ben grunted in response and headed toward the portal. “Bathe or something, Ethan. You smell like calamari.”

“Yeah, yeah. Ass,” Ethan groused.

Ben was going to do more than wait outside her apartment tonight; he was going to make sure that no one came near her. Especially if she was as ready for breeding as Cillian implied. He’d break the law to be with her or, at the very least, leave his scent on her so no one else could go near her.

Bernadette was his.

Even if he couldn’t have her quite yet.

It was a short walk to the portal that connected to the main portal terminal in Thunder Bay. He opted to take the one portal that went to the central underground hub, rather than the one they usually frequented that took them to The Lusty Kraken , which was a safe place for all otherworld beings to go. The central hub portal was farther away, but with his quick speed and long stride, it didn’t take too long.

If Adam was going to beat his ass for being near his little human, then he didn’t want his elder brother to catch sight of him in Thunder Bay. Once Ben was in the main terminal, he made his way from the hidden underground network of portals, up to where the humans converged.

He was somewhat of an expert of travelling in the human realm and at night. Her street was at a dead end backing ontoKaministiquia River. This river always bothered him. It was used as a major highway for fur trade, but since that illegal portal was closed under Kakabeka Falls, which was part of this river, there was something not quite right about it. But then again, a lot of the rivers in Thunder Bay had innocent blood in them. Innocent blood and evil waters were a powerful magic, not to mess with. Rivers weren’t always used by the merfolk, but evil things from the netherworld used waterways, especially cursed ones, to travel.

He found his usual perch in the shadows that overlooked her second-story apartment in a squat complex built on the side of the hill. Her balcony door was slightly ajar, which made his hunter senses heightened, and he drowned out all the loud noises of the city to focus on sounds of otherworldly beings and smells, and watched the shadows.

As he lifted his head to sniff the air, her perfume filling his nostrils. It was her. His precious, only there was more laced there. The honeyed scent of her arousal fired his blood. She was in heat. It was hard to fight back the urge to rut with her. All he wanted to do was give her his seed. His cock grew harder, straining against his pants.

Patience.

Ben made his way to her balcony and silently leapt up, standing close to the partially opened screen door. As much as he wanted to go inside and claim her, he couldn’t, but he wanted to be closer to her so he could always remember the saccharine taste of her from the air. It was dark in her apartment and he could hear the sounds of her sleeping, but there was a quiver in the air of magic. It was not right.

Something had put her to sleep.

And then he saw a dust demon slithering across the floor to the bedroom.

Ben growled, low.

The imp spun around, its vacant eyes widening.

“Mine,” Ben warned. “Leave before I break you.”

The dust demon said nothing, but quickly evaporated back through the sliding glass door and out into the darkness. Ben didn’t even want to think about what that little demonic sprite was going to do to her, but he knew they liked to put people to sleep to have their way with them, or torture them with sleep paralysis.

Dirty little fucks.

The fact one was in Bernadette’s apartment made him angry. She might not remember him, but she was his and he was going to protect her. Cillian’s warning rang in his ears.

Once the sprite was gone, Ben closed the patio door, locking it so no other creature could get inside. Her arousal was thick in the air and he made his way to the bedroom, to make sure she was okay. The moment he saw her in the darkness, his blood ignited at seeing her on the bed, naked with her legs spread. All he wanted to do was touch her plump little ass, suck on a coral pink nipple of her ample breasts.

Every curve of her voluptuous body was imprinted on his mind and on his skin.

His cock stirred, throbbing with need. He wanted to bury himself deeply into her tight, wet little cunt. Ben dropped to his knees at the foot of her bed, like he was under a spell, moaning and holding back from the urge to touch her.

She thrashed again and bolted up right. Her eyes locking on him, her pulse quickening.

“You.”

His heart skipped a beat. “You remember me?”

“No,” she whispered. “But you’re in my dreams. Every night.”

“I am?”

She nodded. “You protect me?”

“I do.”

“You come to me and pleasure me,” she whispered.

A jolt of heat ran through him, straight to his cock. “I can do that. If you want.”