by Edith DuBois
The thought made her nervous and sick. She couldn’t imagine never going on tour again, never singing and playing her guitar for thousands of rapt fans, never recording another album in Nashville. “Poor Deheya’.”
“Quite the contrary. From all accounts, it appears she was very happy with her three husbands.”
“But what about her tribe? Everyone she left behind to be with those husbands? I mean, she wanted to be a great hunter, but then all of a sudden she finds herself mated and stuck with three dudes forever?”
James shrugged. “Christopher didn’t force himself upon her. She agreed. She could have said no. The woman can always say no.”
“I would definitely say no. There’s no way. I couldn’t leave my life behind.” Marina brushed her bangs off her forehead, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of being stuck in one place for the rest of her life. “I don’t know how Michelle could do this to herself. I don’t understand. Do you think maybe they tricked her? Or maybe forced her to mate with them?”
Jeremiah tipped her chin up. “I don’t know all the details, but I do know that it was Michelle who chose. They didn’t force anything on her.”
“You’re probably right.” And hell, Marina thought, maybe part of it was a sort of defiance toward her. Michelle had done the one thing to ensure that she would not go on tour with Marina, not ever again. If Marina wanted to see her sister, she’d have to come back to Savage Valley.
If only there was such a thing as happily ever after. Maybe then she could understand Michelle’s actions and could even be glad for her sister. Maybe then Marina could believe in what she was feeling for the Greenwoods.
“Hey look,” Johnny said a few moments later, distracting Marina from her troubling thoughts. She followed his gaze to the window.
The sun had already disappeared behind the mountains, leaving the sky a murky purple-gray, but still, even in the half light, she could make out the white flakes swirling past the window. “It’s snowing?” she asked in wonder.
They climbed out of the bed and padded to the window to watch the falling snow in quiet awe. Marina stood on tiptoe, mesmerized by the fantastic white mess. The men stood behind her, cozy and close, their bodies warm and protective. Jeremiah put his chin on the top of her head while Johnny and James each put a hand around her back.
For a moment, it felt like she was surrounded by a perfect bubble of magic.
And for a moment, she felt like it would never burst.
Chapter Nine
“Damn, it’s really coming down out there,” Johnny said from the window, and Jeremiah glanced up from Marina’s dancing fingers. They’d been trying out some alternate tunings with a few of Marina’s lyrics. He’d taught her an intricate picking pattern, and she’d come up with a quirky vocal melody that they’d been messing around with.
As if the electricity had been listening to Johnny, the lights flickered off and then on and then off again. They waited for a moment, but the room stayed dark.
“I’ll get candles from the storage closet,” Johnny said, and Jeremiah could hear him clomping across the wooden floor.
“You checked the animals when you got here?” James asked.
“Yep. Reba’s here, too.”
“Wait, is that the fox?” Marina asked.
“Yeah. You know about Reba?”
Marina smiled to herself. Of all the odds, she thought with a shake of her head. “Michelle told me y’all rescued her.”
When Johnny came back a few minutes later and lit a few of the candles, James turned the radio on. “Noah and Bryce will probably have something to say about this.”
“You think they’ll be broadcasting?”
“They’ll figure something out.” James fiddled with the knob and wiggled the antenna back and forth. Jeremiah heard a few clips and phrases break through the fuzz but nothing that sounded like Noah and Bryce’s station.
After minutes of searching, Jeremiah said, “Just leave it alone. I doubt those two would go out just for an hour or two of pirate radio.”
“Pirate radio?” Marina’s hushed plucking came to an abrupt halt. “Y’all have a pirated radio station here?”
“Of course,” Jeremiah said.
“Y’all are so weird.”
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen—” a voice boomed through the dimly lit room.
“Here we are,” James said, placing the radio on the wooden dresser next to the bed.
“Or should we say lions, ladies, and bears—”
“Oh my!”
Marina giggled and then whispered, “They know?”
Jeremiah nodded.
“Are they…?”
He nodded again but put a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture.
“We hope you’re having a lovely blackout. I’m…not Noah Strong—”
“And I’m…not Bryce Sullivan—”
“And you’re listening to Savage Valley’s very own pirate radio.”
“All illegal. All the time.”
“Oh, and if Mayor Cash and Sheriff Kinman are listening, well, we hope they’re having a good time during their blackout.”
“And considering the recent arrival of their, uh, new friends, we’re sure they’re going to have a very, very good time.”
“Bryce? What are you suggesting?”
“Nothing, Noah, nothing at all. Well, maybe just that the blackout’s a little more fun if you’re with someone.”
“Aw, well, Bryce, I didn’t know you felt that way. I’m honored, but I don’t—”
“That’s not what I meant, Strong.”
“Well, while Bryce and I discuss this little revelation of his feelings, how about you folks enjoy a little bit of Wanda Jack—”
“Oh no, you don’t. It’s my turn to pick the song.”
“What do you mean?”
Marina giggled as the two hosts scuffled for control over the next song. “Are they always like this?” she asked. “Or is the snow making them extra frisky?”
Bryce’s voice erupted into the room as he rushed to get his words out. “Now folks, here’s Eagle-Eye Cherry with the nineties hit, ‘Save Tonight.’”
“Hey, it’s my—” Noah Strong’s voice was cut off as the Eagle-Eye Cherry song began to play.
“Bryce and Noah are the youngest shifters from each side, the lions and the bears, and they don’t have anything better to do with their time, apparently.”
“God, I am not a fan of this song. I hope Bryce is the lion-shifter thingy. I would hate for you to be associated with such poor musical tastes.”
Jeremiah threw back his head and laughed. “I can’t wait to tell him your professional opinion. Well,” he said, extending his hand to her, “may as well make the best of it. Will you do me the honor?”
She grinned, put Abednego on the bed, and slapped her hand into his. He whipped her up and into his arms and then began twirling her around in an altogether ridiculous manner. Johnny and James started belting the awful lyrics. As Jeremiah twirled Marina around the room, they joined in with the obnoxious belting, both trying to sing louder than the other, and then dissolving into laughter as the song ended a few minutes later, leaving them breathless and clinging to each other.
“Well, folks, I’ve got a busted lip now,” Noah said with a lisp. “And y’all know the rules. Bryce, do you want to give our listeners a little refresher on the house rules?” There was a long, sullen silence. “Bryce?”
“I maintain that you hit yourself in the face.”
“What’s the rule, Sullivan?”
Bryce let out a long-suffering sigh. “If it comes to physical violence, the perpetrator—”
“That’s the one who strikes first. You, in this case, Bryce.”
“Forfeits ten songs to the victim of the attack.”
“That’s me.”
“Yeah, yeah, just choose your songs already.”
“Now, there’s no need for you to be acting all
sore about it. I’m the one that got decked.”
“Yeah, and you better hurry up and choose your damn songs before I deck you again.”
“All right, all right. Let me just see what I’ve got here.” There were sounds of some rummaging. “Folks, I’m feeling a little nostalgic with all this snow, remembering winters past and long-lost loves that just didn’t work out.” Bryce made a gagging noise that was soon drowned out by the sound of a plucky guitar and fiddle as Noah began his first song. “I’m going to have to start us off with some good ol’ Hank Williams.”
The music tripped through the room for a moment, and then the cowboy singer’s forlorn voice sang the first few lines of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” Jeremiah tightened his arms around Marina.
“My mama used to play this record all the time. She’d sit next to it and stare out the window. And when the song ended, she’d pick up the needle and start it over again.” Marina tucked her face into his shoulder and dug her fingers into his back as they began to move to the music. “Just hold me tight,” she whispered.
Jeremiah kissed the top of her head. “I got you.” After the first verse when the steel guitar kicked in, James came up behind her and wrapped his fingers in her hair.
Then they all three swayed and moved across the floor. Johnny watched them, and Jeremiah could see the lust blazed across his brother’s features as his eyes followed Marina. The wailing fiddles cut in, and Marina tilted her head back. Her eyes were burning deep into his. Leaning down, Jeremiah put his lips on the crest of her cheek. They took a step toward the bed. He put his cheek against hers and closed his eyes, feeling her warmth against his face. The backs of her legs hit the bed, and he moved his lips to her mouth.
As the last sad note faded out, there was only the flickering candlelight, the snow falling outside, and the sound of Marina’s soft breathing. He pulled the bottom of her shirt up and over her head. When he kissed her again, Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” came on. Jeremiah lowered her to the bed and then pulled her panties off.
Her body looked ethereal in the shaking orange light of the candles, and he so wanted to possess her. She ran her fingertips across her skin, circling her breasts, trailing down her stomach, and dipping between her legs. Her eyelids fluttered as she pressed inside of herself. She rocked her hips up, and he could see her wrist flexing and unflexing. He could see the muscles in her arms working to build up the pressure.
Slowly, he undressed, taking his time, watching the blush spread across her flesh as she pleasured herself. James and Johnny lay down on either side of her, each taking a breast between their teeth. Marina sucked in a breath, and he noticed how she plunged her own fingers deeper inside her pussy in reaction to his brothers’ laving.
Jeremiah crawled onto the bed. He locked eyes with Marina. He could feel his cock, hardened, full of blood, ready and straining toward her as he made his way closer. He rolled his hips. He was slow. He took his time. He wanted the exquisite torture of her pussy lips sliding up and up until she had him fully sheathed in her liquid warmth.
“Marina,” he whispered as he placed the tip of his cock against the swollen entrance of her cunt. She put her nose to his and nudged him with affection.
“I want this,” she said and clenched her eyes tightly closed. “I want you. So much.”
He kissed her and then sank inside her. They both inhaled and pressed their faces to each other. Jeremiah pushed himself deep. He felt her shudder around him as his cock pushed into the far reaches of her pussy. Then he dragged out of her. It was torture. He pushed back in. It was redemption. She shook as he slid all the way. She whimpered. She held fast. And when he pulled away, she exhaled.
They were one pulsing mass.
He could feel the way she smelled in his body, like a clinging, cloying jasmine vine that wrapped around him. It would choke him if he tried to escape, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t stop. He breathed her in. He fell deeper into her. Her scent washed through him—through his human, through his bear, through every crevice of his mind—and he could feel his cock responding.
He shoved himself into her again and again. And each time she welcomed him. Her body vibrated against him. Her arms and legs were wrapped around him, and he could feel her pussy pulsing, grasping for that white exploding welcome. He groaned and thrust in as far as he could.
Marina began shaking. “Again,” she whispered. “Do that again.”
He grasped her chin and her face and then pulled himself out to the tip. He thrust back into her, deep and hard, all the way.
“Oh,” she whimpered, her brow crinkling. Her arms and legs tightened until he could feel every tremor that washed through her body. He kept pushing his cock, in and out and so deep.
She cried out and arched against him. His cock was painfully full for a moment, and then he erupted. He felt his seed burst forth. It was flowing from his body into hers, and he pumped into her a few more times, coaxing out every drop.
“Jeremiah,” she whispered, her voice shaking. She said his name over and over, holding him and kissing his face and his mouth. He smiled into her lips.
It wasn’t until he rolled off that he realized Johnny and James had left them alone. “Wait right here,” he said. She nodded and curled up under the covers. He could feel her eyes following him as he dampened a washcloth with warm water.
With tenderness, he washed her off, pressing soft kisses against her flesh every now and then.
“James! Johnny!” he called out.
A few seconds later, he and his brothers were all snuggled next to Marina, and they drifted to sleep. The snowstorm raged white and frigid outside, but Jeremiah closed his eyes to warmth, to the feel of a beautiful woman in his arms, and to Patsy Cline crooning softly “Sweet Dreams (Of You).”
* * * *
“Shit,” James muttered as Marina’s knee came dangerously close to slamming into his nut sac. He instinctively covered himself and then let out a breath of relief when he ascertained that no damage had been done. She’d been tossing and turning for hours now.
A few seconds later, Johnny grunted, and James knew she’d nailed him with an elbow as she rolled around. Johnny threw the covers off his body and stalked out of the bedroom.
“Why do you think she’s so restless?” Jeremiah whispered.
Not surprised that both his brothers were having difficulties sleeping, James shrugged and then pulled her hair off her face, smoothing it out and stroking his fingers along her scalp. She was on her side for the moment, but her features seemed to relax a little as he petted her. “I don’t think she’s a very happy girl,” he answered. “She says she doesn’t want to stay here, but I’m not sure that’s true.”
All through the afternoon James had caught glimpses of a deep sorrow moving across Marina’s face. And then when she’d been dancing with Jeremiah, she’d clung as if she’d collapse without him holding her up. Now, in sleep, when she was at her most vulnerable, her thrashing and flailing out were just further proof that something inside Marina was unsettled.
“We can’t let her go back out there, on the road, I mean. I don’t think it’s good for her. She’s so delicate.” Jeremiah grabbed her hand and held on to it against his chest. “She’d be safe and happy here with us.”
James brought her hair to his nose. He couldn’t get enough of her intoxicating aroma. “How do we convince her? She’s so stubborn.” He smiled, remembering her clenched jaw as he’d tortured her into admitting he and his brothers were right. “The minute we brought up that part of the mating, she got nervous.”
“Yeah, she was pretty damn resistant to the idea. You know what, if I had my way, I’d tie her naked to a tree and shift in front of her. I’d catch a whiff of her scent, and the Shoshone curse would work its magic. Then we’d see how resistant she is.”
“Do it.” James chuckled at the idea. “Before she has a chance to leave.” Part of him was joking, knowing he could never do that to a woman
, no matter how much he wanted her to be his mate. He knew his brother wasn’t serious, but he had to admit to the simplicity of such a plan. Marina was so darn stubborn, he feared she would vanish before they had enough time to convince her to stay. If only they could tie her to a tree, even if they didn’t shift in front of her, at least she’d have to listen to them for a while. One could wish, he thought with a sigh. “I’ll go check on Johnny, see what he thinks of the plan.” James chuckled again but then shook his head. “More like, make sure he’s keeping his scrawny ass out of trouble.”
“There’s a blizzard outside. What could he possibly get into?”
The two of them were silent for a split second, and then they both choked down snorts of laughter.
“Forget I said that,” Jeremiah whispered. He snuggled up closer to Marina. “Okay, go on then. I’ll keep her warm while you two do the whole ‘let’s spill our guts and get emotional at midnight’ thing.”
“Asshole,” James whispered and then moved silently across the floor and into the kitchen. The first thing he saw when he walked through the doorway was a pile of clothes and a small pool of water near the door.
“Shit, Johnny,” he whispered, looking out the window. That crazy son of a bitch had gone out in this weather. James shook his head and grabbed the coffee pot to fill. Even in bear form, this kind of snow was relentless. After a while the cold would get under his fur and seep into his skin and bones. James knew he would appreciate a warm cup of joe when he got back. After James got the coffeemaker started, he headed back to the bedroom. Crawling under the covers, he snuggled in behind Marina and drifted off again, thinking he could at least catch a couple more hours of sleep before the sun rose.
He looked forward to waking up to a soft, sleep-warmed Marina and making drowsy, morning-paced love to her. It was going to be so perfect. Just so perfect.
Before drifting off, he didn’t notice that Marina had become perfectly still.
* * * *
