by Loki Renard
“I don’t deserve anything,” she sniffed. “I’ve been so bad…”
“No,” he said. “I’ve denied you what you needed. And I don’t know how to give you what you want, but I can give you this.”
With one arm still wrapped around her, he reached beneath his furs and pulled out a simple stone carving that hung around his neck. It was a very simply stylized version of a bear, and somehow Addie knew just by looking at it that it was very old.
“This is the amulet my mother gave me,” Armel said. “It’s supposed to…” He hesitated for a moment. “It’s supposed to call the spirit of the bear, which gives our family our powers.”
“It’s… beautiful,” Addie breathed. She didn’t believe in amulets. She believed in biology. There were probably ways to explain Adam’s and Armel’s abilities to transform in scientific terms and she doubted any of them would include magical talismans. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that Armel was trying to bring her into his world, and he was giving her something that held great significance to him.
“I can’t tell you about what we are, but maybe having this will help you feel it.” He reached for the amulet and tugged it off his neck, snapping the leather cord. “I’ve never taken this off, not since I was thirteen years old,” he said as he extended the cords around her neck. “But I want you to wear it.”
Addie fingered the amulet. She was experiencing a strange tingling feeling… almost as if she’d eaten some kind of sherbet, but instead of feeling the fizzing in her mouth, she felt it all over her body, from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes.
“Wow,” she said, tears coming to her eyes as he tied the cord in place. “Thank you. You don’t have to. I mean… it’s so nice… but… it’s yours…”
“It’s yours,” he said, cupping her face in his hands as he kissed her deeply. “Believe me, Addie, it’s yours.”
The kiss, so loving, so forgiving, made Addie’s hips gyrate on Armel’s lap. She wanted him. Wanted him with a passion that she couldn’t help. Underneath the layers of her clothing, she was wet. There had always been something about Armel that attracted her relentlessly. Adam claimed her, made her his by bending her body and desires to his will. But Armel drew her and distance from him felt painful. That was why she had been so angry. The days of separation had been punctuated with a desire she could not fulfill at a distance.
She moaned into his mouth and he answered her need by sliding his hand into her pants, past the burning flesh of her bottom and to the hot, wet cleft between her thighs. His fingers were long enough to slide into her from behind, penetrating her pussy in slow, teasing strokes.
“Armel…” She breathed his name.
“Hmmm?”
“I want you to fuck me.”
His fingers stilled inside her and for a brief moment she thought he might refuse her.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you want me anymore? Is it because…”
He stilled her questions with a kiss. “It’s cold out here, Addie.”
“Oh.” She lowered her gaze, disappointed. “Well…”
Again her words were cut off as he pushed her gently off his lap and put her into a hands and knees position on the snow. She was well protected from the cold with her furs and gloves and didn’t feel the cold, just the crisp crunch of the ground beneath her.
“Hold still,” Armel ordered, one hand on her hip. She felt him pull the material of her pants away from her crotch, and then heard something like a tearing sound. It made her look over her shoulder, and she saw that Armel had the sharp axe head and was using it to cut a hole in the back of her furs. Before she knew it, her pussy was exposed through a four-inch-long hole in her clothes.
“Beautiful,” he said, running his palm over her exposed sex, cupping her dripping slit with his powerful hand and rubbing it gently. “You’re so wet for me.”
Addie moaned softly as Armel played with her pussy for a few more minutes, his fingers teasing her lower lips, his hand keeping her warm. Then he shifted and she felt something warmer still press against her pussy… his tongue, lapping at her lips, exploring the tender folds. His mouth was hot in contrast to the cool air around her and the difference in temperatures heightened her desire as she felt his tongue slide into her slit, penetrating her.
“Armel…” She moaned his name and arched her back, giving him more access to her sensitive sex. His tongue slid in and out of her pussy, performed a slow roll around her clit and then back up to the entrance of her body. His breath kept her pussy warm as he took his time exploring each and every fold of her lips, dipping inside her and then coming back out to find the little bud at the apex.
“You should have come to me sooner,” he said, pulling back and covering her pussy with his hand again. “You should have come to me and done this… shown me what you need. I wouldn’t have had to spank you if you had just asked me to take you.”
He rubbed her pussy lightly as she blushed. He’d known all along. He knew how much she wanted him. He could probably scent it just like Adam could.
“This isn’t fair,” she moaned.
“What isn’t? That you should want your mate to fill your tight little hole?” He pushed a finger into her slit and swirled it slowly inside her. “Or that you should have to ask… that I won’t make it easy for you like Adam does?”
In spite of the cold, Addie felt the hot flush of blushing profusely. He barely knew her at all and yet he seemed to know more than anyone.
“Ask me again,” he said softly, toying with her pussy.
“Ask you…” she whimpered. This would have been easier with Adam. Adam never made her tell him how much she needed him.
“Ask me, or we will go back to the village.”
Addie let out a soft whimper. “Please… Armel…” she moaned as his finger continued to stir her desire. “Would you fuck me?”
“Good girl,” Armel growled softly. He pulled his finger from her pussy and a moment later, something thicker, harder, and hotter took its place. Armel pushed his cock into her in one long, slow stroke, filling her with an almost casual ease. “You see,” he murmured as he started to fuck her slowly. “It’s easy to ask, isn’t it?”
“Mnnnghh… yes…” Addie admitted. He felt so good inside her, his hot, hard cock stretching her wide with every thrust. This was submission. Being on her hands and knees in the snow, asking a man she had known only for a few days to fuck her… this was submission of a kind she had never imagined she would give.
“You can be a very good girl, Addie,” Armel said, picking up the pace a little, forcing her to brace herself as his hips slapped against her fur-clad behind. “And when you are, you’re going to be fucked nice and long and hard…”
“Oh, god, Armel…” she gasped. His words were making her cunt grasp his cock even as she was flooded with fresh juices, slicking him and making it easier for him to take her as he began to fuck her just as hard as he had promised, long and hard, taking everything she had to give.
“Grind on me, Addie,” Armel commanded, stilling suddenly. “I want to see you fuck me. Show me what you want.”
She did as she was told, thrusting back against him, forcing her pussy back on his cock, impaling herself over and over. She had reached a shameless space of pure arousal, where all that mattered was him being inside her. Armel’s command made her give as good as she got—and she did, her hips writhing, her pussy squirming around his cock, her inner walls and lower lips gripping him with relentless desire.
Her breath came in panting gasps that condensed in front of her. She was working for her pleasure. Nothing was free, not with Armel. His domination was of an original kind, one that made her the active participant in her submission. He commanded more than her body. He had her mind, and her heart too. And now his hands were on her hips and he was holding her still as he took his turn, driving his cock into her with growling, grunting thrusts that made every part of her body tingle…
It was happening. The plea
sure was peaking. Every part of her was hot. She couldn’t feel the cold anymore.
She was coming… at least, she thought she was. It didn’t feel like any way she’d come before. Usually the orgasm started in her pussy and radiated out through her body. This one seemed to somehow be coming from outside her. It was as if the world was climaxing and that pleasure was reaching her like rays of a warm sun…
Dizzy… she was dizzy… and she was coming… and Armel was coming too… everything was orgasm. Her pussy milked his cock with every pulse of her heart, her bottom pressed hard back against his abdomen as he buried himself deep and shared his seed with her, filling the empty spaces with the fluid of his love…
Chapter Eight
Not all that far from Addie and Armel, the brewing trouble had come to something of a head for Adam. The pack was restless. There were rumors circulating, rumors that were giving some of the younger males ideas about potentially challenging Adam. The pack was not a static structure, and though he had been alpha since the age of twenty, that did not mean he would still be alpha tomorrow if he lost control of the younger males. Most of the young men had left the village to find work in the distant cities. Sometimes they returned with wives. Usually not. The women usually did return to give birth to their young. When they found themselves pregnant they also discovered a powerful instinct drawing them back to the pack lands, usually temporarily, sometimes permanently. The structure of their dwindling society meant that there was a number of maturing young men, many of whom did not have fathers present in the pack. Adam was the resident father figure, and he had been letting discipline slide since Addie’s arrival.
It was customary for him to make a patrol a few times daily, to make sure everyone was well and there were no problems for him to attend to. He was on one of his daily patrols when he came across several young adult men sitting outside the brewmaster’s hut. Adam knew them all well, and usually they would have greeted him respectfully. This time he gave them a brief nod and one of them yelled out to him on his way past.
“How much longer are you going to hide your girl?”
Adam stopped and glowered at the speaker. “Excuse me, Matty?”
The young man glanced at his friends, who nudged him encouragingly.
“It’s just, uh, we know there’s a woman here.”
“So?” The word dropped from Adam’s mouth like a stone.
“Is she, you know… yours?”
Adam responded to the question with a stare. It was not their place to question him, but he knew their curiosity was natural. They could scent her. They could probably scent the mating too. They knew damn well that he had taken a mate, and they didn’t understand why they hadn’t met her. Adam was the patriarch of the pack, and Addie, well, she’d be the matriarch. She had big shoes to fill.
“And why is the bear still here?”
The questions weren’t about curiosity anymore. They were a demand. Matty was in no position to be making demands. He was young, brash, and far too slender to be starting trouble, but he’d been emboldened by the mixed messages from his alpha. It wasn’t anything malicious. He was following the code written into his DNA, pure instinct to seek out any kind of weakness and take advantage of it.
The boy shouldn’t have had the courage to address Adam so bluntly. Fleeting eye contact should have been the best he could do. And yet Matty was eyeballing him about as hard as he could, his chin lifted, his shoulders squared. It was a subtle challenge, but one Adam could not afford to let go by.
He stepped toward the young man, his lip curling enough to bare a sliver of the white of his teeth.
“You question who I have in my house, whelp?”
It was a simple question, and there was no overt display of aggression or threat of violence, but Adam’s much larger physical frame, coupled with the intensity of dominance that came with his stature was enough to strike respect, if not quite fear, into the heart of the younger male.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, looking at his toes. “I was just wondering, you know, ‘cause the lady…”
Adam sighed inwardly. Explaining what was going on with Addie would not be easy and he had avoided it thus far.
“The bear is to become part of our pack,” he said. “We are growing.”
There were uneasy looks, but some curious ones as well.
“A bear in our pack?”
“The woman’s name is Addie. The bear and I have both claimed her.”
At that piece of information, the young men cast grinning looks at one another. And then Matty opened his mouth again. “Both, like… at the same time?”
Adam cuffed the young man over the ear, holding back the brunt of his power. “None of your business, whelp,” he growled, albeit with some good humor. “You’ll have to get your fantasy fodder elsewhere.”
Matty let out a little laugh as he fell away, clutching the side of his head in feigned pain. The others laughed at him too and the tension was broken, along with the challenge.
“Get out and do some hunting,” he ordered. “You’ve got far too much time on your hands if you’re sitting around talking about your alpha’s sex life.”
The young men went on their way swiftly, casting glances and grins at one another as they went. Adam went on his way too, frowning to himself. That little conversation hadn’t solved anything. The pack needed a demonstration that left them in no doubt that he was still in charge, both of his woman and his people.
Chapter Nine
“Armel…” Addie reached out to Armel, who was still right behind her and yet somehow suddenly felt very far away. “I feel kind of weird.”
“It’s okay… don’t worry… it’s okay,” he said, his voice husky. He pulled out from her and helped her to stand. The pleasure was still coursing through her, but it was… broader than it had been before. It was all around her. If she had not known better, she would have said they had made all of creation climax with them.
The air around them had grown suddenly warm. At first she thought she was imagining it, then she looked down and saw that the snow around their boots was starting to melt into rivulets of water.
“Armel! What’s happening?”
Armel didn’t answer her. He was looking at the horizon and shading his eyes as the sun became brighter and hotter. It felt to Addie as if the earth itself had moved, or perhaps the great solar ball had. One way or another, they were much closer to it than they had been moments ago, or some light that was equally powerful.
It was a spring like no other, spring in sixty seconds. The glow grew brighter and hotter and for a panicked moment Addie thought perhaps they were about to be struck by some great galactic meteor. She could not stand to look at it anymore. She shaded her eyes just as something large and powerful stepped out of the brightness, which began to fade as soon as the creature emerged.
Addie looked at Armel and saw tears in his eyes.
“It’s her.” He spoke in tones of pure reverence.
Addie didn’t know what ‘her’ was, but she found that it didn’t matter. She was transfixed by the great bear, which moved toward them with a slow but infinitely powerful gait, long claws gleaming at the pad of each toe. She looked at the bear’s great furred head and made contact with the dark eyes and felt something deep inside her untwist. She hadn’t known that she was knotted there in her heart, or that there had been so much pressure always inside her chest, but with it suddenly relieved, she could breathe deeper than she ever had before.
The bear sniffed Armel, then her. Addie sat stock still as it pressed its face toward hers, its great nose meeting hers in a gentle touch. The great bear breathed out just as Addie breathed in and she felt something move inside her. It was as if whatever essence that animated the creature had been shared, and a part of it had taken residence deep inside her chest and stomach.
The bear exhaled a second breath. Addie inhaled and with that second dose of spirit, she felt herself begin to change. It was the oddest sensation, as if she was flow
ing from one thing to another. It wasn’t painful at all, in the warmth of the glow emanating from the large bear, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Addie felt her body expanding, a strength and power rushing through her flesh and bones. Her clothes tore from her body like tissue paper, falling into scraps of fabric that fluttered away in the warm breeze. She fell to her hands and knees and looked with shifting eyes as her hands became paws, her nails became claws, her body gained bulk, and she felt as though she were wrapped in the warmest furs she had ever worn. It was her coat coming in. Part of her mind stayed clear through it all, indelibly human, but there was a new part too, an animal part that roared and saw the world in a different way. It didn’t feel like becoming something else. It felt like becoming more herself than ever before. The great bear was still with her, and it took another breath…
Then three bears stood in the clearing. Armel, Addie, and the one who had made them both.
Chapter Ten
It was ten past midnight and Adam had been pacing a track in the bear skin rug beneath his feet for the better part of the past hour. Addie and Armel were missing. None of his pack could pick up a scent. Not even his best hunters. The trail led to a point in the woods and then abruptly vanished, as if they had disappeared into thin air.
He didn’t know how Armel had performed the trick, but he was furious with himself for not having seen it coming. Armel had been far too calm about everything from the beginning—well, almost from the beginning. The attack in the cave, the one where their teeth had met and blood had flowed. That had been real. Everything since had been a plan to steal Addie away, Adam was becoming more and more sure of it by the minute.
A sudden pounding at the front door pulled him out of his impotent fury. He raced down and threw the door open to see Armel standing there, Addie in his arms.
