“Nope, but I’m not taking any chances with you.”
She gave him an odd look as if she didn’t believe him. That grated on his nerves, but he knew time would change her mind. With her settled in the shower, he locked the bathroom to ensure a bit of privacy and then got a couple towels ready for her.
“Boyd?” She sounded a bit hesitant when she called his name.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I wasn’t sure if you were still in here…I could use some help washing my back.”
He had every intention of staying on this side of the curtain, but when she asked if he would wash her back, he wasn’t about to say no. Stripping off his clothes, he stepped into the shower with her. Damn, Hugh is going to kick my ass for this. But it would be worth every moment.
River was rinsing shampoo out of her hair, and he had the extreme pleasure of watching the suds slide their way over her breasts, down her stomach, and over her beautiful bare pussy. He and his brothers had plenty of hair, it came with being a bear, so River’s soft, silky skin intrigued him. His rock-hard cock strained to get closer to her. This was going to be torture, but he would behave himself even if it killed him.
River reached down between them and wrapped her soapy fingers around his cock. She stroked his length before swirling her finger over the flushed crown. Fuck behaving.
He grabbed her hands and placed them on the wall in front of her. “Don’t move them.” He nipped at the back of her neck and pressed his chest against her back. His cock slipped between her clenched thighs, rubbing along her scalding cunt. If he bent her forward even the slightest bit he could drive himself into her pussy, and the temptation was almost too much to ignore. Except he left the damn condoms in the other room, and that wasn’t part of the plan. He wrapped his other arm around her and cupped her breast while he swirled his finger around the wet, plump lips of her pussy. He felt her clit with every pass and deliberately lightened his touch as his fingers trailed over it.
“Boyd!” River cried out, her body shivering in his arms.
“What do you want, River?” He swirled his fingers around her clit and then down between her legs. He pressed two fingers up into her tight cunt, and she lifted up onto her tiptoes as she gripped the shower curtain with one hand and his arm with the other.
“Oh, fuck me. Please.” Her hips jerked against his hand, and Boyd fought down the urge to lift her up against the wall and give her what she begged for.
“Is this what you need?” He thrust a third finger into her and pressed against her clit with the heel of his palm. “Fuck yourself on my fingers. Show me how you want to feel my cock.”
She shivered and jerked her hips, grinding her clit against his hand as she rolled her hips and forced his fingers deeper inside her. She surged down, and he curled his fingertips deep inside her, rubbing against the perfect spot to drive her insane. And it worked. She didn’t last more than another stroke and she was yelling out her release. He took over and finger-fucked her until a second orgasm had her clenching so hard it felt as though she might crush his fingers.
“Oh, god.” She slumped against him. His cock pounded in agony, wanting release, but River seemed so wiped out, he didn’t want to overtax her. For the first time in his entire life he willed his cock down and took care of the woman in his arms.
His slid his fingers over her sensitive skin, trailing around her thigh and up between the globes of her ass. She moaned and shuddered at the brief touch to her tight rosebud. She was going to love what Hugh and Gavin would do to her. But she was going to need a good night’s sleep first.
Boyd dried her off and carried her to bed. Drying himself off was a challenge because every time the River-scented towels touched his cock, the damn thing pulsed. If it wasn’t that he knew they didn’t have much time left, he would’ve taken care of this thing himself. Although rubbing one off paled in comparison to watching River scream an orgasm while he was deep inside her to feel the vibrations.
His cock jumped at that thought, and Boyd rolled his eyes. Fuck! He needed to get dressed quickly.
Chapter Nine
Gavin’s heart rate didn’t settle down until they had River sequestered in their home. She argued and tried to talk them out of it, but Hugh simply leveled a dark look at her and she stopped. Gavin knew the kinds of games Hugh liked to play, and he’d joined his brother on a few occasions. Boyd enjoyed them to a certain extent, but he preferred to play and tickle over spanking and restraint.
What really concerned him at the moment was the scent around River’s home. Another bear shifter had been sneaking around her home. He and Hugh had wandered around her property trying to follow the scent. Whoever it was had kept to the perimeter of her home but not gone inside. It looked like this shifter was marking his territory, because he and Hugh found fresh claw marks on the trees around her property.
Boyd had taken River inside to pack some of her things. They heard a few arguments breaking out with Boyd finally saying, “Pack, or I’ll pack for you.” When they obviously weren’t packing, Hugh went in to remind their brother what he was supposed to be doing and had come out muttering curses as he rubbed his hand against the front of his pants. By the time they’d gotten back into the car, River had looked completely drained. Boyd had looked like a kid who came out of a candy shop.
They’d brought River to their house, and Gavin had looked at it with fresh eyes, wondering what she might think of it. They had only moved in a few days ago, and the building wasn’t completely finished yet. The walls were bare, and the furnishings were sparse. It was a big open-space concept with lots of exposed wood and big windows. He and his brothers couldn’t stand feeling hampered in any way, and this style made them think they were out in the forest. Of course right now they didn’t like the idea of anyone being able to see in, so Boyd pinned up sheets over the main windows in the living room.
“Maybe we should move into the brewery for a little while,” he commented.
“Sure, we could all curl up in the bottom of a vat to sleep and hope we don’t drown if someone turns on the tap,” River commented.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Boyd replied, and River glared at him.
“I don’t understand why the three of you are acting like this. We had some fun, so what? I don’t know why you think that means you have control over my life. I didn’t get shot at, I wasn’t even anywhere near there, so why all the inconvenience?”
“Sit down,” Gavin ordered the moment she stood up. Her knees buckled and she dropped back down on to the sofa. “Why were you hiding in the brewery?”
“I wasn’t hiding. I told you I popped by for the drink you offered, but you were closed.”
“That’s one,” Hugh said from his stance against the doorframe.
“Why were you hiding at Lars’s in the first place?”
River turned from frowning at Hugh and looked at Gavin. “I wasn’t hiding! Lars invited me over for dinner, and I was tired and felt like crashing at his place.”
“That’s two.”
River turned and looked back at Hugh. “What are you saying?”
“Hugh has this ten-spanks-for-every-lie rule,” Boyd answered her. “You’re up to twenty swats.”
“You’re all nuts. I’m out of here.” River tried to lunge to her feet, but Gavin grabbed her quickly and pulled her down into his lap.
She felt wonderful in his arms, and he loved her rounded bum pressing against his quickly hardening cock. He willed the unruly member down, but it ignored him. River wiggled a bit, obviously noticing his erection, but didn’t look him in the face.
“River, there’s something going on, and we know it. If you don’t trust us enough to tell us what, then we’ll have to accept that, but we aren’t going to let you walk out of here and into any danger.”
“I can take care of myself,” she commented and then flicked her gaze over to Hugh to see if he would dispute her. Thankfully his brother didn’t exacerbate the situation by disagreei
ng with her.
“Maybe so, but we don’t want you in that position. You need a good solid sleep, and I’m going to make certain you get it.”
“Fine.” She sounded so weary that Gavin started feeling bad for pushing her. But if anything more was to happen between them, he wanted her awake and alert and completely aware of her decisions.
“Do you have a spare room?”
“No.” Boyd dropped down onto the sofa next to him and pulled her feet into his lap. He pulled off her sneakers and gently began to massage her foot.
River moaned and rolled her body against his. “God, that feels so good.”
Gavin shot his brother a glare as he tucked River’s head against his shoulder. Boyd smiled smugly at him and continued to rub her feet. She wriggled in his lap and sighed, making him feel like he was about to explode behind his zipper. He gripped her hips and readjusted himself and her so it wasn’t as agonizing.
It didn’t take long at all before River relaxed and her hand slipped up to rest on his chest. Her other hand slid between the cushion and his back. Her breathing deepened, and he felt her press against him. His T-shirt must have ridden up because he could feel her fingertips resting on his skin. That innocent touch was almost as distracting as her hip pressing against his cock.
“She out?” Boyd mouthed, and Gavin nodded. Hugh draped a blanket over her and tucked it in as best he could without disturbing her.
“We’re going to go and check on the brewery and the surrounding areas and make certain that everything’s secure here,” Hugh whispered.
Gavin nodded. His cock might be hard as a rock, but his concern was for the woman in his arms. He settled back and enjoyed the prospect of having her to himself for a while, even if she slept for most of it. She might not completely trust them, but she trusted him enough to sleep in his arms.
He couldn’t get over how innocent she looked without all the eyeliner and red lipstick she normally wore. Scrubbed clean of everything she tried to hide behind, she looked so innocent and in need of protection. He’d heard stories about River’s past, but something didn’t add up. It wasn’t unusual for there to be differences in the details when you were listening to gossip, but the story about River never changed. It was like every person in town repeated the same script word for word, with no elaboration or exaggeration. Her mom had been thrown out of her family for being pregnant and ended up here in Ecstasy Lake when her car broke down. After River’s birth, her mom moved, and then after college River moved back.
He had no reason not to believe any of it, except his gut told him something else was going on. She wasn’t going to tell him any secrets in her sleep, so he lifted his small computer notebook from the side table and balanced it next to him. He owed River a replacement for the bra he destroyed last night, and while he was at it, maybe he would get her a few extra things. He searched a few sites and then found one that suited his needs perfectly.
An hour later, Gavin had managed to put a serious dent in his credit card. The rush delivery didn’t help, but he didn’t care. He had found the perfect website and ordered a number of things he and his brothers would appreciate seeing on her.
River stirred in his arms, her brows tucking together slightly as she sniffed. Not an unusual case for a shifter. They tended to rely on their sense of smell more than any other sense.
“You’re safe here, River. I promise you.”
“You can’t promise things like that.” Her voice was so quiet and held such desperate sadness. “Sooner or later it all changes, and I’ll have to run away again.”
It took a great deal of effort for Gavin to keep his tone even and not react to what she was saying. She wasn’t quite awake yet, and if that meant he could get some information out of her, then he wouldn’t mind in the least.
“We’ll hide you so they’ll never find you.”
“Too late.” She sighed.
He knew that something was after her and she knew it, but he couldn’t protect her if he didn’t know who or why.
“What will happen if they catch you?”
“Breeder,” she sighed before slipping back to sleep.
Gavin couldn’t help the violent rage that rushed to the surface at her word. He’d heard rumors of breeding programs going on at some of the Guardian compounds around the country. They were afraid the shifter genetic code was being too diluted by what they viewed as inter-species marriages.
That was one of the reasons they moved here to Ontario. Stories of a town where you could live the way you wanted to without censure. For three brothers who wanted to share a woman, that sounded like the perfect place for them. The small town they had been living in out East had a strong Guardian presence. They’d been expected to mate three female bear shifters and produce perfect little pure baby bears. Their parents had already picked out the females. Typical of their species, the women were tough and strong willed and didn’t like the idea of being married off either.
So they did the only thing they could do. He, his brothers, and the women left their home and family and the Guardians under the guise of starting their own colony. They had no intention of staying together, and since the six of them left at the same time, everyone assumed they ran off together.
They kept in contact, and last he heard they had gone all the way up to Nunavut and found a community up there where they were safe.
River had snuggled down against his chest and drifted off again. He knew she needed the sleep. He looked over the items he had ordered for her and imagined what she would look like in them. His cock stirred and lengthened, and he grinned to himself. Soon he was going to bury his cock into her pussy, hopefully while his brothers were filling her in other ways. There was nothing better than sharing a woman between them. It was an accident when they found out how much they enjoyed it. But it cemented the bond the three of them had growing up. Living in a stifling community, with a demanding, angry man for a father, they always looked out for each other.
He closed the notebook and set it aside. Shifting carefully so as not to disturb River, he stretched out the length of the sofa and arranged her between him and the back cushions. If anything thought they were going to get to her, they would be coming through him first.
* * * *
River dreamt of being wrapped in Bubble Wrap. The long lengths surrounded her and kept her safe. It clouded her view of the world around her, but that was okay. She felt safe and cuddled and warmer than she’d ever felt in her life. Somewhere beyond her hazy, marbled view, she knew danger lurked. It was a dark shadow that twitched in the corners of her vision. No matter how safe she felt right now, sooner or later the shadow would start popping the bubbles and then she was going to find herself on a breeding table, forced to carry a child that would be taken away from her one day, too.
Pop.
River bolted up out of the dream at the sound. Her heart fluttered wildly in her chest as she tried to shake off the lingering effects of the dream. As her brain cleared she tried to take in her surroundings. Gavin’s large body blocked most of her view of the room.
“Shhh, it’s okay.” Gavin rubbed her arm as he yawned and stretched next to her. “You were asleep.”
The moment River tried to sit up Gavin shifted back to give her room. She had to admit being cocooned between him and the back of the couch was a wonderful feeling. She’d always slept better curled up in a smaller space.
“You were both asleep.” She heard Hugh’s voice but didn’t see him anywhere. “Damn, River. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She looked over the back of the sofa and saw Boyd standing at the kitchen counter. There was a small notebook computer open there and Boyd looked like he’d dropped his glass on the floor.
“It’s okay.” She rubbed her eyes, still trying to shake the feeling that her time was running out. She needed to get away from everyone. She might have been surrounded by protective bubbles in her dream, but awake she knew it was her friends trying to protect her. Someone had tried to “po
p” Lars already, and she couldn’t bear the thought of it happening to anyone else.
Hugh came around the side of the sofa. He smelled like tomato sauce and garlic and fresh bread. In fact, that was all she could smell coming out of the kitchen, and her stomach growled loudly.
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” He smiled down at her and stroked her cheek with his finger. “Dinner will be ready soon.”
“Oh, good, I’m starving.” Gavin sat up, and River instantly missed the warmth. He lifted the blanket and tucked it in over her shoulders. There was an understanding there she didn’t understand, and it made her nervous. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I’m going to set the table. You relax. There’re still shadows under your eyes.”
“How long was I out for?” River lifted her fingers to her cheeks as if she could feel what he saw.
“A few hours.” She watched as Gavin got up and closed the notebook as he passed. Boyd looked up from where he was wiping up the floor with the biggest grin on his face.
“You look better.” Hugh sat down next to her, and she leaned against him. She didn’t understand the deep need she felt to be close to him. The dream had left her a bit unsettled, and she wasn’t entirely certain what to do. But pulling the blanket under her chin and resting her head on his large shoulder made her feel better than she had in a long time. It was an illusion right now. She knew that, but she wanted to hold on to it for a little while longer.
“How did you sleep?” he asked.
“Well, I usually take short naps here and there. I’m not a big sleeper, but I was really out cold there.” Her stomach growled again and she curled into herself at the sound.
“You’ve missed a couple meals, too.” Hugh wrapped his arm around her and rubbed his hand up and down her back. “It’s almost five o’clock.”
“I slept all day?”
“Not all day but a good portion of it. Gavin did, too. He’s been curled up next to you.”
Surrounded By Fur [3xtasy Lake 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 8
