Planet Bear

by Rebecca Royce

  Tomorrow, I would sort things out. I just had to sleep. I didn’t want to be cold anymore, not when there was so much warmth here to be found.

  6

  I didn’t know if I dreamed. At some point, the bed dipped, and Cole must have joined us. I didn’t open my eyes. I just knew it was he who had nestled in behind me. The world faded again. It was my stomach that woke me. It grumbled, needing food. Whatever it was that was changing me, making me feel okay about what should have been lunacy, hadn’t altered my need to eat.

  The bears might not need to eat regularly, but I did.

  They both lay still while light came through the windows. I guessed it was mid-morning. I scooted down the center of the bed as to not wake either of them and padded my way to Finn’s drawers. I simply couldn’t continue to go along in the clothes I’d been wearing for so long. I grabbed Finn’s shirt and put it on. If he didn’t like it, I guessed I’d get to see his temper for the first time.

  Cole’s eyes opened, and he extended his hand to me. “Jessica, come back. The bed is cold without you.”

  He wasn’t really awake. Cole dropped his hand and rolled over. They were back-to-back now, as though all I needed to do was crawl back in. I might have considered it if my stomach didn’t beg me to fill it. I’d come back after I ate.

  I went downstairs. The house was cold, the way the bedroom had been. I looked around. When I’d headed up the night before, I hadn’t thought it at all chilly. Was it possible it wasn’t actually any different in temperature right now? Maybe I was just being sensitive to it now. In any case, I was cold in Finn’s t-shirt that fell past my knees. I hated even opening the fridge, but I stood in front of it, trying to decide what to eat. Since I’d been here, it had been only the one salmon dish and the porridge. I was going to have to do better than that.

  Eggs, it seemed, like salmon, looked very similar, and I soon discovered some other things that seemed familiar. I stumbled through the kitchen and managed to cook myself some food. Eggs and something that reminded me of bacon. I was ravenously hungry. Cole’s footsteps behind me alerted me that I wasn’t alone.

  He sat down in the chair next to me. All of the furniture in this house was huge, and yet with Cole, it looked regular sized. I broke the bacon in half and put it near his mouth. He took a bite and grinned. “I’m the one supposed to be feeding you.”

  I took my own bite of the other half of the bacon. “Did your mother seriously take all of her meals with someone else feeding it to her?”

  “Not every meal.” He shook his head. “My fathers were so busy. There were times it was just her here with us. She fed herself then. But if they were here? Yes, they fed her. They loved it. They’d be utterly upset with us that we’re not. It seems sort of obvious though that you’d rather we not, so I guess we’ll just do things very differently in our relationship.”

  I finished eating. “That was good.”

  I closed my eyes, leaning against the chair. “This chair is too big for me. I’m not complaining. Just stating a fact. Two of me could fit in this chair.”

  “Well, when I go for the clothes I can. . .” His voice trailed off. “Shifters are coming. Four of them just crossed into our territory. I can smell them. Three of them are friends. The fourth turns sides. Back and forth. There’s nothing I hate more. Pick a side. Finn will. . .”

  The aforementioned brother rushed into the room. He was fully dressed, and rather than take the stairs, he leaped over the balcony onto the ground. I gasped. I’d never seen any of them do that before. Apparently, their extra abilities extended to when they weren’t just bears.

  “Do me a favor.” Cole rose. He had something that looked like a medical swabbing device in his hand. “Let me get a sample from your cheek? Okay?”

  I blinked. “For what?”

  “Hurry up. I want her not visible when they get here. They can smell her, that’s fine. Our scent is all over her. That’s a good thing. I don’t want her here for them to see. Not with McDermott coming with them.”

  Cole nodded. He pushed the device in my mouth and swabbed. I wanted to know why, but Finn’s composure held my attention across the room. He was tense. Whoever this McDermott shifter was, he was important.

  They didn’t hold him in high regard. Cole took my arm, grabbed a blanket off the couch, and hustled me into what I thought of as Finn’s office space. It was where he kept disappearing. Computers and screens lined the walls. Dots flashed on those areas and there was a general buzzing noise that I couldn’t hear in the rest of the house. Cole took the swab device he used on me, shoved it into a hole in one of the machines, and then punched in some buttons.

  “I’m going to close you in here. This particular space seals off from the rest of the house. You can let yourself out. Put your hand on that button and hold it down for a solid five seconds. It will unlock. But I’d rather you waited in here until we came to get you.”

  This was all happening really fast. “Cole. . .”

  He kissed me. “Easton was sick. He attacked you because he was already pretty much dead. This guy coming, we’re pretty sure he reports on us to the Derbys. We’re not hiding you, but I don’t want him to have any information other than yes he smelled a human in the house. I don’t want him to be able to describe you. What you look like or how tall you are. He’s not to be trusted around my mate. There’s a bathroom right in that section. Finn has a bed in the corner that pulls down from the wall. There are books.”

  I sighed. “My translator isn’t going to work on books. I can only hear what you’re saying in my language, not read it.”

  He kissed my cheek and shoved the blanket into my arms. “Sorry. This is safety.”

  And just like that, Cole shut me in Finn’s office. Disappointment settled on my shoulders like gravity suddenly weighed more. Or something. They could have asked me. We were going to talk about this at length when I got out of this room. My gaze flew to the door Cole had closed. There were scratch marks all over it. I didn’t know scratch marks by sight like some kind of expert tracker, but I would wager it was a pretty good guess that those were bear marks. Someone had been trapped in here before and clearly not wanted to be.

  I ran my hands over the marks. How long had they left whoever that was in here? I wrapped myself in the blanket and wandered the room. This space was so different than anywhere else in the house. Technology hadn’t seemed like it was much of a factor here. The guys seemed like they lived in practically ancient times. Except in here. This was pretty advanced stuff.

  I knew spaceships, and that was about it. Still, a lot of this looked like space monitoring devices. I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to start pushing buttons randomly. Who knew what he controlled in here? I could launch a missile.

  Of course, if any of those wolves happened to be flying around up there, maybe I would shoot them down. Just because they seemed to like to fire on people for no reason in particular.

  I took the blanket, pulled down Finn’s bed, and lay down. The not reading was going to be a problem. I hadn’t even considered it. I sighed. This was only one of what I was sure would be a million issues. I had nothing to do here. The bears didn’t even travel through space. They weren’t going to need me to deliver supplies. I couldn’t just lie around and be fed.

  Of course, last night had been the greatest night of my life. I didn’t know I could feel that way. Then to wake up between Cole and Finn, all warm and relaxed, only added to the sensation.

  I chewed on my fingernail. Where was Rylan? Was he okay? My head was so full with worry.

  The door opened and closed as Rylan ducked into the room. He grinned at me. “Mission accomplished.”

  I sat up straight. “You got the guy who hurt Easton?”

  “I did. I mean, yes. My bear self did.” He kicked off his shoes. “And Finn was smart as usual, telling me that I had to get back for you. My bear ran. I hate this room, but I’d rather be in here with you than out there listening to everyone say nothing and someh
ow mean everything at the same time. I don’t do politicking. Let them come. I’ll kill them.”

  I slid over, and he lay down next to me. “I was just starting to worry about you.”

  “I’m strong and lethal. Don’t ever worry about me.” He took a deep breath. “You smell like family now. It’s intoxicating. The Durojo scent is all over you, but it’s not enough. Take your shirt off.”

  I should have been either stunned, mad, or embarrassed by that statement. I was none of those things. I yanked Finn’s shirt over my head and threw it to the side, leaving me totally naked in front of Rylan. That was okay. I’d been nude in front of his brothers, and there was just something about all three of them.

  The mating had certainly made me comfortable around them. That was for sure.

  He yanked his own shirt off and, like I couldn’t do it myself, pushed it down over my head until it fell on me. He nodded. “There. Now you’ll smell like me too. Then it’ll be perfect.”

  Rylan was the broadest of all of them in his shoulders. I thought he might have been just slightly shorter than Cole, which still made him tall as all heck. I crooked my finger. “I hear there’s a bathroom back there. I need a shower. Give me five minutes. Then join me.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Yes.”

  I steamed up the bathroom getting the water hot. I quickly washed my hair and body. If this went well, I might not actually spend any time getting clean as much as getting to stand in the hot water with Rylan. The shower door flung open. My five minutes was up.

  He raised his eyebrows slowly. “You want me. I can smell it.”

  “Well, let’s say you couldn’t smell it. Your first hint would have been that I took off my shirt, and the second would be that I invited you into the shower with me.”

  His eyes turned bear. I touched his cheek. “Can you hold the bear off?”

  “He’s not coming out here right now.” He had taken his clothes off before he came in the bathroom, and my gaze went to his cock. He was huge.

  I had been totally disinterested in sex, and now I was a maniac wanting it. “Can I touch you?”

  “Anywhere you want.”

  I took his hand, tugging him under the spray with me. It was warm but not too hot. When he was sufficiently wet, I grasped onto his cock and stroked him, hard. He closed his eyes. “Jessica.”

  “Rylan.” I kissed his chest. “I asked if I could touch you.” I caressed him from balls to tip, and he moaned. I loved the sound.

  He smirked at me. “I thought you meant my chest. Maybe my ass.”

  “My translator just said ass. I think that’s hysterical.” I kissed his chin.

  He breathed in, his hands roaming my body, up and down my arms, my back. “Is that a bad word in your language?”

  I never answered him. Instead, we got lost in kissing. I had been right about the shower being the perfect place to do it. With a group outside in the house, doing whatever they were doing, we were cocooned in this bathroom.

  Or at least I could pretend we were. The thought somewhat dampened my enthusiasm. Could all the people out there hear us? “Are we on display in the sense that they are all listening to us?”

  “No.” He kissed my neck. “They can’t hear anything back here. My grandfather designed this area of the house to be scent proof and sound proof. I would never, ever let you be exposed like that.” He hoisted me up. “Enough of this shower. I want you out of it. I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m going to make a fool of myself in here.”

  At least he hadn’t heard my speech about not liking sex. Seconds later, I was in a towel and over his shoulder. I squealed. It was a funny noise for me to make. I couldn’t say I’d ever done it before. He laid me down on the bed, and his grin was huge.

  “You’re my mate. You fell from the sky, and you found your way home to me. Blows my mind.”

  I winced. “I did a little more than fall from the sky.”

  “I can’t think of you crashing. Makes me want to hurt something, and I’ve got no one to take that out on. So I’ll just repress that and concentrate on your beautiful body. You’ll tell me what I’m doing right and wrong. I’ll learn, fast.”

  I blinked. Laughter threatened and I knew that was absolutely the wrong thing to do at this moment. “Okay. We’ll do that.”

  He nodded. It must have been the affirmation he needed because then he was on top of me. He used his elbows to keep his full weight away. But, he was so close I could feel his heat and his weight like a barrier between me and just everything else that ever was.

  Rylan had told me more than once that he was deadly. But not to me. I could feel that truth, deep inside.

  We kissed, and the noises he made practically drove me to distraction. They were somewhere between growls and moans, sometimes alternating, and just from kissing me, he got harder and harder. He’d wanted instruction. He could have it.

  I took his hand and put it on my breast. Usually, I didn’t find them to be particularly sensitive. It was very whatever when my own hand touched them. But Rylan’s callused fingers were a different thing altogether. He squeezed my nipple, and I cried out. I craved him.

  Rylan took my nipple into his mouth and sucked. I closed my eyes and let him worship me. Why not? If this all just turned out to be a respite before I blew up, then I was going to love every damn second of it. I ran my hands through the back of his thick hair. He sucked harder, driving his hips into the bed. His breathing sped up.

  If he was going to lose it. I wanted him to do it deep inside of me, not anywhere else.

  “Rylan,” I opened my eyes. “Let’s slow down.” I tried to breathe. “So you can be inside of me. Do you want that? To be joined?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  Rylan kissed down my body from my breasts all the way until he was at my pussy. “I. . .” He slapped his forehead. “I’m really being overwhelmed.”

  “Lose it inside of me.”

  He nodded again, and I grabbed on to his shoulders, tugging him to me. I kissed him slowly before I rolled over onto my stomach. “From behind.”

  Rylan adjusted himself until he could push deep inside of me from that angle. We both cried out. I held on to the handles on the top of the bed. They didn’t give me much to brace myself with, but it was better than nothing.

  “This was how I wanted you. This was it.” He breathed in my ear.

  “I know.” I just did. “Take me, Rylan.”

  My muscles had to stretch to accommodate him. This was a new position to me and the penetration was different. At first, I wasn’t at all sure that I liked it. Oh, there was nothing that Rylan could do to me that I wouldn’t find hot, but the movement took a minute for me to adjust to. And then he hit my spot.

  It wasn’t even something I knew I had. Oh, I’d heard about the darn thing in books and from the way other women giggled about it, but I hadn’t known. Not really. Until he rubbed against the area. This was something else entirely. My clit had taken time to warm up, like every pass over it brought more and more pleasure. That had been incredible. But this was sudden and it was all encompassing. I could even see how it might sometimes be too much. Only it was exactly what I needed.

  I lost hold of the headboard, and Rylan held me instead. Plunging in and out of my body until I quivered with need. My orgasm wasn’t going to be far away. It was coming and it was arriving hard.

  “Rylan.” I had to speak his name. I couldn’t see him, but I needed him to hear me. “Oh, Rylan.”

  He shuddered behind me. I could feel his forehead on my back, his warm breath hitting my skin. “Jessica, this is so much. I can’t. . .”

  He didn’t have to say anything. I understood. And with a jerk of his hips, he sent me over the edge. I came on a low moan before my body trembled. I wasn’t sure I could stop if I wanted to. Rylan wasn’t done. It took another minute for his completion, but that was okay. Every second he was inside of me was heaven. I’d never, ever get enough.

  I didn’t let myself
fall asleep naked. There was too much risk that that door was going to open. So, even though I hadn’t worried about it when Rylan and I had been having sex, I did when it was over. I put his t-shirt back on and climbed into the bed. He lay on his side, watching me.

  “I usually hate this space.” He yawned while he covered us both up. “Hate it. But I like it now. You changed my feeling of these rooms.”

  “Why do you hate it? And why do you use blankets at all if you never feel cold?”

  He kissed my cheek. “Because this is the room where I got locked in while my mother was killed. She locked me in here. We didn’t have the way to get out back then. If you were locked in, this is where you stayed until someone let you out. I clawed and clawed at the door. I couldn’t smell anything. Couldn’t hear it. But I knew. She was dying. I could have helped her.”

  I sighed. There was sadness in his eyes, and I knew regret. “You were young, yes? Still battling the bear? And it was harder then?”

  He side-eyed me. “Yes. To this day, I still believe I could have helped her. I’m physically stronger than Finn and Cole. I know that’s weird. Should make me dominant, but my bear likes listening to Finn’s. I like to attack, I think. To fight. Finn is more cautious. That’s why he wins more. He waits. He plots. Even shifted, that’s what he’s like. I could have helped her.” He yawned again. “Sorry, it’s cold out. You must know by now more about that. The blanket? It isn’t that we can’t feel the cold. We just aren’t bothered by it. It does feel better to be covered. We could sleep through the cold with no blanket. It would just kind of suck.”

  I lifted my head. “So when Cole gave me his shirt and said he couldn’t feel the cold out there. . .”

  “He was lying.”

  I laughed. “Got it.”

  “Don’t worry if I doze off. If someone other than Finn or Cole were to figure out we were back here and come, I’d wake instantly.”

  I put my head on his arm. “I trust you, Rylan.”

  He shuddered, and then he kissed me so softly. I almost cried from the gentleness of it. “I’ll never let you down, Jessica. I. . .I’m going to pull it together with the bear.”