A Twitch of Tail (Wiccan-Were-Bear)

by Butler, R. E.

  “Maybe what?” Tahlon prompted.

  Shaking his head, Melo shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel different. Antsy. Fall Equinox is tomorrow night, and sometimes that brings changes with it.” He wiped the introspective look off his face and replaced it with a grin. “Wanna go for a run? I told Midas I’d check in with him, and his place isn’t too far away.”

  Tahlon nodded. He hadn’t shifted since he’d been here, and he and Melo hadn’t been hunting together since he left the ambush. Tahlon had missed his brother. Melo went into the house and came out with a soft leather pouch, instructing Tahlon to put his jeans into it, and when Melo had stripped and put his own jeans inside, he slipped the strap over his shoulders like a backpack and shifted.

  Tahlon followed his brother into the woods, and they prowled through the trees together, leisurely chasing small creatures and startling birds, which was always good fun. Melo led the way. The closer they got to the tiger king’s home, the stranger Tahlon felt. He almost felt as if his heart were being squeezed tightly, incessantly. The feeling grew stronger, until they stopped at the back of Midas’ home and shifted into their human forms.

  As he pulled on his jeans, Tahlon said, “Fuck, I feel strange.”

  “Me, too,” Melo said, looking towards the house. Ambush members were milling around inside.

  They walked into the house together through the back sliding glass door as Midas was coming out of the kitchen. Midas greeted them, and Tahlon was aware he greeted the king in return, but it was an automatic response. All he could focus on was a sweet scent in the air. He moved silently toward the couch, where a cub was sitting with his parents. The scent was strong there, and reminded him of brown sugar.

  Melo was next to him, almost mirroring his actions, as he followed the scent from the family room into the kitchen. The refrigerator door was open, and for a moment, he couldn’t figure out where the sweet scent was, until a short brunette popped upright from in front of the fridge with a bottle of creamer.

  “Success!” she spoke and turned, closing the refrigerator.

  And then she saw them, and Tahlon’s eyes locked with hers. Everything in his body heated and tightened as his heart began to pound so hard that he thought it would crack through his ribs and bounce around on the floor.

  He scented the air as they stalked towards the woman. Long, dark brown hair cascaded over her shoulders. She was dressed casually in tight jeans and a short sleeved shirt, her creamy skin mostly hidden from view. Her full lips, colored a glossy pink, were parted slightly, and her generous chest moved with her panting breaths. As they neared her, Tahlon could see that her eyes weren’t blue like he’d originally thought, but rather a vivid purple, unlike anything he’d ever seen.

  He and Melo reached out for her at the same time, and the moment that his hand wrapped around her arm, he felt the connection to her shoot straight through his body to his heart. She was his mate. And not just his, but Melo’s as well. Theirs to share.

  She made a soft sound of surprise, and then her eyes rolled back in her head. Her body slumped towards the ground.

  “Shit!” Tahlon snarled as he snatched her into his arms before she could fall. Melo touched her neck to feel for her pulse as she lay limp in Tahlon’s arms.

  “She’s okay, but we should get her home.”

  “What the fuck did you do?” Midas roared as he came into the kitchen. Tahlon tensed and hugged his mate tighter to his chest as he scanned the area for the closest exits. The front door through the foyer or the hallway behind him through the garage were the two nearest ways out of the home. He took a step backwards towards the garage as Melo stepped in front of him.

  “She’s our mate. She passed out when we touched her, so we’re going to take her to my — our — house to take care of her,” Melo said with an even voice.

  Midas’ mouth dropped open. Several other ambush members had come into the kitchen at the sound of Midas’ angry words and were looking at them in confusion.

  Shaking his head slightly, Midas said, “You don’t even know her.”

  Melo shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

  A young woman came forward, and a male grabbed her arm to keep her back. “Let me just check on her. I’m from her coven.”

  Tahlon looked down at his mate. Coven? She was a witch?

  The woman looked up at the male holding her arm and said, “Manny, please. Melo is one of the ambush. You know he’d never hurt me.”

  Manny looked up at the two of them. “My mate wants to check on her friend. Can she touch her?”

  Tahlon wasn’t crazy about anyone touching his mate, but one of her own coven members might be able to help her. He and Melo both nodded.

  The young woman, who introduced herself as Mari, touched their mate a few times and checked her over.

  “Her name is Wysteria Brannick. She goes by Tera. She’s one of the natural witches in our coven, and she’s only lived here for two months. She told me she wasn’t feeling well earlier. Have you been feeling weird, too?”

  Tahlon and Melo both nodded.

  “What happened exactly?” Mari asked.

  Melo explained how they’d followed Tera’s scent into the kitchen and how she had passed out when they both touched her.

  Manny pulled Mari away gently and wrapped his arms around her as he said, “I could hear Tera’s heart pounding when she arrived. I assumed it was fear from walking into an unfamiliar home surrounded by tigers, but perhaps she could sense you were nearby, even if she didn’t understand exactly what she was feeling.”

  Mari nodded. “She was already weakened from the healing earlier, so she probably just couldn’t handle the connection the first time you two touched her. I know when Manny and I first met, I thought I was having a heart attack.” She laughed lightly.

  “She’ll be okay?” Tahlon was finally able to relax enough to speak. None of the tigers were trying to take her out of his arms.

  “She should be. She has a car out front. You could drive it to your house since you guys ran in your shifts here,” Mari said, picking up a satchel from the island.

  Midas cleared his throat in a way that sounded like an order, and the tigers left the kitchen quickly. “I am cautioning you that when she awakens, if she wants to be taken home and you refuse, I will beat you within an inch of your lives. She is no prisoner, and if she doesn’t want to be your shared mate, then you will respect her. Our alliance with the Wiccan coven is important for everyone here.”

  Melo nodded, and Tahlon ground his teeth together to stop from snarling his outrage. Midas could try to take Tera from them, but it would be the last thing the king ever did. Tera was their mate, and there was no way in hell they were going to let her go. If she was frightened of their connection or needed time to adjust, then they would give that to her, but they wouldn’t leave her side.

  She was their mate and the center of their universe now. If she wanted to leave, they’d just have to convince her that being their mate was the best thing that ever happened to her, because it sure as hell was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

  Chapter 4

  As the darkness began to recede from her and she slowly woke, Tera felt very warm. Not flushed as if she were ill, but just warm. She took in a slow breath and opened her eyes, blinking at a ceiling fan that moved leisurely.

  “Don’t freak out,” a low voice whispered in her right ear, and she froze, suddenly extremely aware that she wasn’t alone and she definitely wasn’t in her own house.

  Then she burst out laughing. “That’s like telling someone not to look down when she’s up high.”

  She turned her head to the right and saw one of the men she’d seen in the kitchen at Midas’ house, the one with short, blond hair.

  The corner of the man’s mouth quirked up. “I suppose so. We weren’t sure what you would remember when you woke up, and I didn’t want you to panic.”

  She looked to her left and saw the other man from the kitchen, the one with lo
ng, curly hair. He was smiling.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  The long-haired one said, “We’re not sure, but we think that because you were weakened by your Wicca healing that when we touched you at the same time, the connection to us overwhelmed your system and you passed out.”

  That sounded plausible. They introduced themselves. Melo was the long-haired one, who was part of the ambush and the king’s personal protector. Tahlon was his brother and planned to join the ambush at the end of October.

  She sat up abruptly, looking around for a clock. “Is it still Friday? I promised to pick up a shift tonight as a favor.”

  Both men sat up, and Melo cupped her face in his big hands. “It’s just after seven on Friday night. Mari called after we brought you here and told us that you might be working tonight at the hospital, so I called and told Dr. Conner that you were taking the night off.”

  Her sudden panic at being late slipped away. She got off the bed and turned to look at the two gorgeous men who had been holding her while she was passed out. “I need to use the bathroom.”

  Melo pointed behind him to an open door and said, “Help yourself. Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  “Thirsty.”

  “I’ll get you something, sweetheart.” He stood and stretched, and her eyes flicked rapidly over his smooth, muscular chest and followed the line of blond hair that trailed from his navel down into his jeans.

  She was aware she was gawking when Melo cleared his throat. Her eyes snapped up to his face, and he was grinning, so she knew he had caught her ogling him. Her cheeks flushed, and she smiled sheepishly and walked into the bathroom, closing the door.

  There were certainly worse ways to wake up than between two gorgeous men. She rubbed at the space over her heart absently, noticing that the anxiety and strange pounding from before she met them had disappeared.

  “Tahlon?” she said, loud enough so he could hear her through the door.

  “Yes, kitta?” he answered immediately, and she could tell from the sound of his voice that he was right outside the door.

  “Are you and Melo mine? I mean, am I your mate? To share?”

  “Yes, kitta. Come out when you’re ready, and we’ll talk.”

  Even through the door, the way he said talk didn’t sound exactly like talk, but hinted at more pleasurable things.

  After using the toilet, she splashed cold water on her face and rinsed her mouth out with mouthwash on the counter. Feeling one hundred percent better now that she was reasonably put together, she opened the door and found Tahlon and Melo sitting at the end of the bed, Melo holding a glass of ice water for her.

  She took it from him and stood just a foot away, looking between the two of them. She’d never seen two more lickably delicious looking men in her entire life, and they were hers. Both of them.

  Brakes squealed in her mind. She didn’t want to rush things. That’s how relationships failed.

  She asked them to tell her about themselves, while she sipped at the water and tried to ignore the heat that spread through her lower body and made her want to go to her knees in front of them and familiarize herself with every inch of their sculpted bodies. Tahlon’s eyes narrowed slightly as Melo began to talk about their lives, and Tera felt like he was seeing right through her, to the bubbling pit of desire brewing inside her.

  She bit her lip and concentrated on what Melo was saying. They were from Florida, and Melo had come up three years earlier and joined with Midas’ ambush. Tahlon was going to leave his ambush and move to Whispering Creek as well. While Melo talked about his job with the ambush construction crew, Tera couldn’t stop thinking about how blue their eyes were, like the most perfect blue she’d ever seen. Like clear, tropical waters or summer skies.

  Tahlon slid off the bed and went to his knees in front of her and all thought escaped her. He lifted the bottom of her shirt slowly, watching her with an intense gaze. He pressed his nose to her stomach and inhaled. Goosebumps erupted over her skin as his mouth opened and his tongue flicked out, tracing her navel.

  “Oh, oh,” she moaned, dropping the cup of ice water and running her hands through his short hair. Her body felt like it was turning to liquid with each short stroke of his tongue across her belly.

  And then hands were turning her head gently, and she was staring into Melo’s handsome face, his eyes darkening with passion. He lowered his mouth to hers, brushing his full lips across hers once and then twice, before licking the seam. She opened her mouth, tugging against Tahlon’s head as Melo slid his tongue into her mouth and kissed her as if they were old lovers.

  Her legs trembled and she felt the button of her jeans open and heard the zipper slide down slowly as Tahlon licked at her exposed flesh. Melo pulled her shirt over her head and unfastened her bra, tossing them to the floor. Then he sank his fingers into her hair and kissed her deeply. He tasted sweet and wild, like raw honey. Tahlon tugged her jeans and panties down her legs, slipping one hand around to the small of her back to hold her.

  Her whole body shook when his tongue found her swollen clit, and she felt like she was going to fall or faint, and she didn’t want to do either. As if sensing her needs, Tahlon picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed, laying her down on her back. Melo joined them, settling on her other side.

  Tahlon growled lightly and kissed her, not tentatively the way that Melo had started their kiss but passionately. Deeply. Fiercely.

  He broke the kiss, moving down the bed and pulling off her shoes. Melo tipped her face towards him, and she touched the lower swell of his lip with her fingertips.

  “I wanted,” she said, pausing in her thoughts as Tahlon jerked her pants off and tossed them aside.

  “I wanted,” she moaned, as Tahlon pushed her legs apart and cool air hit the heated, wet folds of her pussy.

  Melo nuzzled the side of her face. “Wanted what, sweetheart?”

  “To take things slow.”

  Melo whispered in her ear, making her shiver. “We want to claim you, sweetheart. Make love to you together, and mark you so that no one will doubt that you’re ours. We know you’re perfect for us, and we can’t wait to start our lives together. But if you want us to slow down, we will.”

  Tahlon snarled unhappily, and she lifted her head to meet his eyes as he lay between her legs, his big hands wrapped around her thighs. His eyes narrowed.

  “We can go slow, kitta,” Tahlon said with a rough voice, pressing a chaste kiss to her clit and then snaking his tongue out to ever-so-slowly trace around the plump bud.

  She took in a breath as tingles raced up and down her spine while he licked her in leisurely circles. Slow was going to kill her.

  Melo tipped her chin and waited until she could focus enough to look at him. “I’ll make him stop, sweetheart. Do you want to stop?”

  Stop? Was he out of his mind?

  She shivered as Tahlon pushed one thick finger inside her. Panting, she buried her fingers in Melo’s hair and groaned, “It feels too good to stop. Don’t stop. Please.”

  Melo made a sharp, angry sound, and Tahlon stopped sliding his finger in and out of her. “If you rush her when she’s not ready, then she’s going to hate us tomorrow.” Melo looked down at her, cupping her face with his hand. “Sweetheart, it’s in our nature to want to claim you right now, but we can wait until you’re ready. We’re not like human males. We don’t need a long relationship to know when we’ve found the woman who’s right for us. Our cats know right this instant that you’re perfect for us. We’ll never leave you or cheat on you. For the rest of our long lives, it will just be the three of us. Tahl and I will guard you, love you, and worship you forever.”

  Without the dizziness that Tahlon’s tongue and finger had caused, she could think more clearly now. She understood what Melo was telling her, that he and Tahlon weren’t just looking for a lay, but to make her theirs forever. He was saying, in plain terms, that unlike the men in her past, they weren’t going to sex her up and then run; t
hey were hers and she was theirs…forever.

  “I feel like I’ve known you guys forever, even though we’ve only just met. A part of me is afraid to rush into this physical side because it’s not worked for me in the past.”

  Tahlon nipped at her thigh, and she lifted her head as he kissed the small mark he made. “You’re it for us. If you want to wait on the marking for a little while, then at least let me make you come, so I can taste your sweet cream.”

  He purred, licking his lips.

  She shook her head with a small laugh. Sobering, she knew that they were strong enough to force her, no matter what she said, but they weren’t going to do that. She could see that clearly. Just pleasure now or the full marking, they were letting her control what happened next. They were right; they weren’t like human males who wanted all the sex without the commitment. After just a short time with her, they were ready to fully commit forever.

  “I’m ready.” She looked first at Tahlon and then at Melo.

  “For what?” Melo asked.

  “To be yours forever.” Her heart spiked with excitement as she realized that her words were sealing her future. Once they marked her, she was their woman and nothing could change that.

  Tahlon growled lightly. “We’ll always take care of you, Tera.”

  Melo nodded, nuzzling her neck, and stroking his tongue behind her ear. She closed her eyes as her body flooded with desire once more. Melo captured her mouth with his, swiping his tongue against hers with a possessive growl. Tahlon resumed his leisurely lapping at her clit, his finger sliding easily into her wetness, achingly slow.

  Melo traced the curve of her jaw with his fingers before sliding down her neck and thumbing her collarbone. He moved lower, over the swell of her breast, the calluses of his fingertips scraping pleasurably over her nipple. Lifting his mouth from hers, he stared into her eyes for a moment that was at the same time both very brief and an eternity in length. Then he lowered his head, plumping her breast with his hand and stroking his tongue across her nipple. She sighed, closing her eyes as he sucked gently on the tip, grazing it with his teeth and tugging lightly.