by Abby Blake
“What is it, honey?” Nickolas asked as he pulled Ruby onto his lap and held her close.
“I just…I don’t know how to explain to them about you three.”
“You should probably leave the whole bear part out for the moment.”
She stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes. “That’s a given,” she said with a small laugh. “After everything that has happened in the past week, my mother will be in no condition to hear anything quite so unbelievable. But Daddy will probably have the same information Persephone dug up and will demand an explanation.”
“What information did Persephone dig up?” Levi asked, looking rather defensive.
“She told me that the ‘real’ Brockman brothers were all in their sixties.”
“Oh, that information,” Levi said with an embarrassed laugh. “That’s the problem with being a shifter. Humans aren’t quite ready for sixty-year-old police officers who look as young as us. We ended up having to retire from a career we loved simply because humans kept making comments on how well we looked for our ages.”
“So what do you do now?”
“We’re…er…in between careers.”
Nickolas rolled his eyes at Levi’s answer. He’d somehow managed to make them sound like unemployed losers looking for a rich woman to look after them. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Actually,” Nickolas added, when it seemed Levi wasn’t going to explain. “We’re currently in the process of swapping lives with a couple of our cousins. It’s a long story, but basically every fifty or sixty years, bear-shifters ‘sell’ their homes to each other and take up different lives.”
“We’ve got family all over the country,” Levi said quickly. It seemed that he’d finally understood why Nickolas felt the need to explain. “We’re planning to take over the Delko farm about a four-hour drive from our fishing cabin, but we heard that the deputy sheriff in the nearest town resigned a little while ago. Apparently they haven’t been able to replace her, so we’re in the process of organizing paperwork so that at least one of us can stay in law enforcement.”
“Seriously?” Ruby asked. Surprisingly she seemed fascinated by the concept, but it was possible she would change her tune when she realized she’d be subjected to the same problems soon enough. Ruby Rickardson was well known and a high-profile personality, but even with the magic of plastic surgery and soft-lighting photography, superstars aged and died eventually. “So I would be mate to a deputy sheriff and two farmers?”
When put like that it sounded rather dull and ordinary, especially for a woman who’d lived her entire life surrounded by massive amounts of attention and money. He struggled to find something to say, but her parents entering the apartment halted the conversation.
“Ruby!” her father practically yelled as he entered the room.
Nickolas got the impression that Ruby usually leaped to attention when her father came into a room, but today she stayed where she was—snuggled into his embrace.
“Hi, Daddy, Mom,” she said as she sat just a little bit straighter without actually leaving his arms.
“You were supposed to protect my daughter,” Ewin Rickardson accused, zeroing in on Nickolas. “You said she would be safe with you.”
“She is safe with us,” Zeek said in a voice so deep it seemed he was on the verge of shifting. Nickolas shook his head minutely. Zeek ground his teeth together but calmed down enough not to do anything stupid.
“I trusted you and what happens? She gets abducted again.” The man seemed to be spoiling for a fight. Under any other circumstances Nickolas might even have been ready to give him what he wanted, but his first priority was his mate. And his mate was unlikely to appreciate any of them yelling at her father, no matter what the provocation.
“Mr. Rickardson,” Levi said in a calm, deep voice. “We realize this has been a difficult situation for everyone, but Ruby is safe now. The people involved have been arrested and won’t be able to get near her again.”
“What about next time?” Ruby’s father practically roared. The skin on his face was mottled and red, and he seemed on the verge of a heart attack.
“Ewin?” Ruby’s mother asked in a worried voice.
Ruby wriggled off Nickolas’s lap and guided her father onto one of the sofas. “Daddy,” she said very quietly, sitting beside him as the man tried not to hyperventilate. His face was almost completely red, but it seemed at least some of that was due to embarrassment as he mumbled an apology and tried not to look directly at anybody.
Ewin Rickardson’s gaze bounced around the room but eventually settled on his daughter’s face. “I can’t lose you.” His tone of voice made it obvious that he was a man who was truly hurting. “All those times I encouraged you to make the society pages, to stay high profile…I regret them all. I…I just wish no one knew you were my daughter. I want you to be safe.”
“Daddy,” Ruby said, this time more forcefully. “In the end none of that made a difference. Persephone would always have known who I was. She is the reason I was in danger. Not you, not Nickolas or Levi or Zeek. Persephone was at fault. No one else.”
“I think,” Ruby’s mother said anxiously, looking very concerned, “that Persephone thought we’d leave everything to her if Ruby wasn’t around.”
“Money? She did this for money? I wouldn’t leave that spoiled, overindulged brat a cent. Why would she think that nonsense?” Ewin Rickardson’s face had actually gotten redder with his anger. But it didn’t quite hide the fact that he was really worried that what his wife suggested was actually true. Ruby’s mom looked like she wanted to say more, but she glanced at her husband’s overwrought demeanor and stayed quiet.
Unfortunately, her theory made a whole lot of sense in a twisted, money-grabbing way, and judging by Elaine Rickardson’s face, she knew without a doubt that Persephone would have benefited greatly from Ruby’s demise. Without Ruby around, Persephone would have had the opportunity to ingratiate herself to Ewin and Elaine Rickardson. He shuddered to think what Persephone would have been capable of once she was certain she was in Ruby’s parents’ will.
Ruby’s dad was still working himself into a high probability of stroke and managed to leap to his feet and pace the floor angrily. “I’m going to hire around-the-clock professional security for you.” Nickolas tried not to bristle at the man’s words, but he knew it was simply the words of a frightened father trying to protect his daughter.
“No, Dad. You’re not.” Ruby shook her head and gave her father a soft smile. “I’m going to disappear from the spotlight and go live on a farm with Nickolas, Levi, and Zeek.”
“A farm?” Her father seemed quite confused. Maybe he thought food came from a supermarket.
“Yes, Dad. I’m going to go live a quiet, ordinary life. Maybe even have some kids of my own one day.” She glanced around the room and gave Nickolas and his brothers a warm smile each.
Her father opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it as if he didn’t want to know the answer. If it was the question Nickolas suspected, it was probably a wise decision. Ruby didn’t seem inclined to hide their relationship any longer, but in her father’s currently stressed condition it was probably a conversation that could wait for another day.
Although, it was the effect that her words had on Nickolas himself that left him speechless.
Ruby spent a few more minutes reassuring her parents that she was not only fine but would be very well protected before escorting them to the door and bidding them farewell. Ruby’s mother seemed to have grasped the meaning of the words Ruby hadn’t spoken because she stopped to wish each of the brothers good-bye and extract promises that they would not only protect her daughter but to also make sure she was truly happy.
“So,” Levi said as they closed the front door and headed back into the main living area, “you’re really okay with living with a bunch of farmers?”
“I’m not sure about just any old bunch of farmers,” she said with a cheeky grin, “
but I’m positive I want to spend my life with my three farmers.”
“You would?” Levi asked, looking as stunned as Nickolas felt. “I mean…we…ah…have money. We won’t live poor or anything. It’s probably not the sort of money you’re used to, but we’ll be comfortable enough…I think…I mean…”
Ruby smiled, placed her fingers over his mouth to make him stop babbling, and then pressed her lips to his.
“Levi, I don’t need heaps of money to be happy. I can assure you that the saying is true.” She smiled when Zeek stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “But I do need my mates. I’m sorry—” She held up her hand as Nickolas tried to interrupt, so he closed his mouth and waited. “I’m sorry I believed my cousin over you. Persephone has always been selfish and self-centered, and I should have considered her story far more closely before I panicked.” Ruby laughed in a self-deprecating way. “If I’d given it any thought at all, I might have realized that I’d never gotten out of the limo the night I was abducted the first time. Persephone had the means, the opportunity, and the motive.”
“I won’t deny it hurt,” Zeek said, “but we do understand. Mates and bear-shifters…It’s a lot to take in all at once.”
“I’m still sorry I hurt you.” But then she smiled that naughty smile that Nickolas had grown to love and added, “Maybe you should give me a sound spanking so I remember who to trust next time.”
“There isn’t going to be a next time.” Levi growled as he lifted their woman into his arms. “But I think tanning your hide just might be the best suggestion I’ve heard all day.” Ruby giggled delightedly, and Nickolas and Zeek followed them into the bedroom.
* * * *
Ruby was still laughing when Levi undid her jeans, shoved them to her ankles, and bent her over his knee. Memories of the delicious spanking Nickolas had given her wound through her mind, and she tried not to tense her butt muscles. But instead of the hard slap she’d been expecting, Levi rubbed his calloused hand all over her skin, warming the flesh and making her tingle all over.
She giggled again at the sight she must have made—pants around her ankles, ass high in the air, her pussy swelling and weeping just at the thought of what they were about to do—but she gasped when a hot, warm tongue speared into her pussy. Strong hands held her trapped, her inability to squirm away from the intense sensation just making her feel hotter. For a fraction of a second fear spiked through her as she remembered the tight grip her abductors had used, but the panic was easily quelled by her trust in these men. They would keep her safe no matter what, and she knew without question that she would never doubt them again.
“Don’t come,” Levi said in his most bossy tone. She giggled, fully intending to ignore his arrogant order, especially when then the tongue was replaced with thick fingers and all of Ruby’s thoughts turned to the race to climax. Arousal pooled low in her belly as a second hand found her clit, rubbing the swollen nub gently until she was shaking with her desire. The first slap was so unexpected that the incredible heat and small pain damn near tipped her into orgasm. But she gasped as her climax held just out of reach.
“Very good, darlin’,” Levi whispered as he moved to hold her face in his hands. He lifted her slightly and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. And suddenly her need to please her men somehow became more important in that moment than she ever would have guessed.
She gasped, panting louder as the fingers in her pussy thrust hard and deep and pulled out faster, the rhythm completely different to the one of her spanking. Everything tingled, every muscle shook, the only thing holding off her orgasm, her promise to her men.
Over and again a hand slapped onto her buttocks, the sting intensifying the incredible explosion building within.
“Come for us, Ruby.” And every cell in her body did exactly what Nickolas asked.
She shook uncontrollably, her climax washing through every inch of her body, the incredible sensation rolling over her again and again. She tried to wriggle away, but they held her still, forcing her body into overload as a second, more intense orgasm swelled and burst through every vein. She screamed, her primal reaction met with soothing strokes and whispered words of praise.
Finally, completely spent, Ruby lay quiescent across Levi’s lap. She didn’t even protest when strong arms lifted her like a rag doll and placed her in the middle of the bed. She smiled when Nickolas climbed over her, his thick cock touching her pussy lips as he pushed her legs wide with his own.
His first thrust had him crammed to the hilt, her exhaustion fleeing in the face of such incredible arousal. He grabbed her hips, holding her still as he fucked her pussy, his hips pistoning faster and faster as her need for him grew. She was shaking as another orgasm started to build, but Nickolas laughed, pressed a kiss to her lips, and then whispered, “Not yet.”
He pulled away, rolling her onto her stomach as Levi climbed onto the bed. She heard the cap from the lube bottle snap closed a moment before cool gel pressed against her anus and two thick fingers drove into her ass. She barely had a moment to adjust before a third finger was added and the delicious sting overwhelmed all reason. She began lifting up, pushing back against the fingers, begging with her body for Levi’s possession.
“Please,” she managed to force out with a whimper. Levi wrapped an arm around her middle, lifting her slightly as his cock nudged her back entrance. She moaned at the bite of pain, the stretching, burning sensation her entire focus in the universe.
But then a cock pressed against her lips. She opened her eyes, trying to lever herself up so that she could watch Zeek’s expression as she took him into her mouth. “That’s it, darling,” Levi said as he thrust hard into her ass and held still. “Let’s see if you can make him come before you do.”
Zeek laughed, his hips thrusting forward, his cock hitting the back of her throat. “Swallow, princess, and don’t you dare come.” She moaned a protest, but he just laughed again. “I’ve seen how you grind your teeth a moment before you come. I sure as hell don’t want my cock in your mouth when you do that.” She mewled an annoyed sound, but he cut it off by grabbing her face and holding his cock deep in her throat. “Concentrate, princess.”
She tried to concentrate, but Levi started moving and all reason was lost. Words were meaningless as Levi fucked her ass in counterpoint to Zeek fucking her face. Liquid heat swelled over her, and she sucked harder, her realization that Zeek was right about her grinding her teeth staving off her orgasm for just a little bit longer.
But then they both held still again as Nickolas slid onto the bed. Between the three of them they moved her to lie over his hard body, his cock poised at the entrance of her pussy. He slid in slowly, his groan music to her ears. “Holy fuck,” he whispered, his hips snapping upward as he crammed his entire length into her aching slit. “Ruby, honey, you are the most incredible woman.”
She moaned a sound of agreement and then sucked harder on Zeek’s cock, desperate now to make him come as her own need swelled to unimagined proportions. She couldn’t control the shaking as Levi and Nickolas fucked her ass and pussy harder, faster, more forcefully than she’d ever imagined possible.
Zeek pulled out, leaving only her lips wrapped around the head of his cock as her orgasm wound so much closer. She suckled the head, concentrating on keeping her teeth away from his sensitive flesh. “Holy shit, princess,” he moaned just as the first taste of cum hit her tongue. She suckled harder, drawing his orgasm out, moaning as his knees shook and he stumbled backward a step.
He dropped to his knees, his smile warm as he rubbed a thumb along her lips. “Come for us,” he ordered as both his brothers started to move even faster. The friction, the feeling of belonging, of being important to these incredible men burst through her, orgasm flowing in its wake. Over and over heat slid through every vein, permeating every cell as her men grunted and thrust deep one last time. She felt both cocks swell, their pulsing in time with the wild beating of her heart.
Eventually a
ll four of them collapsed onto the bed, their collective panting the only sound in the room.
“Is it still too early to say I love you?” she whispered to her men. Levi grinned, recognizing the question he’d asked her mere days ago.
“No, darlin’,” he said with a happy smile. “I think now would be a perfect time.”
And as each man moved to kiss her lovingly and return the words of love, Ruby realized she agreed wholeheartedly with her bear side. In the middle of her three mates was exactly where she belonged.
Epilogue
Three years later…
“Close your eyes and concentrate,” Levi said in an amused voice.
Ruby growled at him, the sound low and deep in her throat. She tried to move, but the now-familiar bulk of her furry bear body made it difficult to maneuver in the kitchen without bumping into cabinets. It wasn’t a small room by any description, but it certainly wasn’t built for her furry alter ego.
“Come on, darlin’, concentrate.”
She growled at him again. If shifting into a bear at the moment required her concentration, she wouldn’t be shedding fur in the damn kitchen. She had no idea why this was happening now. Until recently she would have said she had good control over her bear side. But at the moment all she had to do was feel just a little bit horny and her she-bear made an unscheduled appearance. Turning back into human form had been taking more and more effort the last few times, and quite frankly she was getting damn sick of it.
“Again?” Zeek asked as he came into the kitchen. Was he for real? Hell, talk about state the obvious. She wanted to swat him one with her big paw.
Nickolas came into the room, summed up the situation in one glance, and headed over to her. “I just got off the phone with Violet.” Ruby tilted her head, hoping he would interpret that as a “keep talking” gesture. He rubbed his hand over her muzzle, the warm contact making her wish he would hold her tight.
Kind of a problem in bear form, though.
