****
Shock and disbelief held Silas in thrall. He knew that Salis had taken over briefly. He had been unable to stop him until Angelique had tried to touch his brother and the curse they were under had forced his brother back into the bear form.
Salis raged and roared inside his head, and in Angelique's head too, if the way her eyes filled with tears were any indication.
"What happened to you both? Why is he trapped in the bear?"
Her insightful questions confirmed his suspicions, and his chest grew tight with untold emotions he never thought to experience again since the curse had been placed on them both.
Salis beat him to his answer.
It was my fault. I was young and stupid, and thought myself invincible, especially when it came to the ladies. Turns out even shifters aren't immune to black magic.
Angelique grasped Silas's hand and he knew it was his brother she was reaching out to. He shut his eyes and allowed more of his younger brother to show through to her. He heard her gasp as he changed. His frame grew larger and his muscles bunched, as his brother took over and Silas found himself back in his bear form. The earth was cool under his paws, and his senses heightened. Angelique's confusion and her physical response to his brother made him groan, and the bear's roar filled the field the circus called its home.
He couldn't stay close by while his brother claimed their mate. Mate. It was such a simple word, with such immense power to change a shifter's life. In the past he'd scoffed at the idea of mates. In truth he had been as reckless as his ten-minute younger brother. They had always been close, and after their mother's death, they'd become even more so. Ramoz had found them roaming around in their bear form starving and hungry when they'd been barely old enough to hunt for themselves and had taken them into the circus. A life the brothers had embraced with all the vigor and enthusiasm of their youth. Cirques des Monstres was their home, their family, even more so after that cursed day.
Silas roared his frustration at the heavens. Salis and he had always shared women, but never like this. Jealousy was clawing at his heart with every stroke of Angelique's hands on his brother's skin, every murmured endearment in Salis's ear. The rational side of him knew this what they needed. Angelique needed this time with Salis to truly appreciate the enormity of what and who she was taking on, but he wanted to be the one touching her, and bringing her to completion.
She could never be with just him. The curse would not let this happen. She would always have to be with both of them, and every cell in Silas's body quivered with need, held in the grip of hope and despair. Hope that she would be the one woman to cope with it, despair at the thought she would reject them, and fear for the future.
With ruthless determination he shut off his mind to his brother and the woman who held his future in her small hands, and he took off into the forest. What he needed was to sink his teeth into his prey and then maybe he would forget the feel and taste of Angelique writhing underneath him, and the images of her and Salis together would not hurt quite so much. After all, women always preferred him. It's how they got into this mess in the first place.
Chapter Four
Angelique blinked to get her vision to clear, but it was useless. She even pinched her skin to make sure she was not dreaming, and the familiar stranger Silas had morphed into in front of her eyes, growled his annoyance, and stilled her fingers with his large hand.
The touch branded her; heat seared her flesh and darts of recognition stung across her nerve endings. Her body responded to this man in just the same embarrassingly obvious way it had done to Silas before. Heat rose in her cheeks and she made a dash for the sheet to cover up. He was faster than her through and stalled her movements with a growled, "No. Never cover up for me. You're even more beautiful than I imagined you would be."
Her throat went dry and she swallowed nervously, as he ran just one thick fingertip along her jaw and over her throat, down to where Silas's bite still throbbed in tune to the beats of her heart. His eyes darkened and he dipped his head. Seconds later he inhaled against her neck, his own breath sending puffs of heat along her heated flesh and then he licked the spot his brother marked.
Angelique couldn't stop her groan of need that action evoked, and he grasped hold of her shoulders. His fingers dug into her skin in an act of possession that had more of her juices leak past her pussy lips, and he too groaned out loud.
"So responsive, you are my sweet thing. I knew you would be. I told him from the minute I spotted you in the audience. You're the one we've been waiting for, but he wouldn't believe me. Silas has always been rather dim when it comes to the opposite sex." He yanked her closer to him, so close that the heat of his fully erect cock seared her thigh. "And to think he tasted you first. It should have been me. I can't wait to sink into all that sweet hotness I can scent. How wet are you for me?"
He pulled back slightly and used one hand to grasp her chin to make her look at him. What she saw in the heated depth of his gaze took her breath away completely. Where Silas had been tender he seemed almost cruel, determined to stake what was his, and heaven help her, the reckless side of her, she didn't even know she had, reveled in that animalistic need she saw.
Her cunt clenched in rhythmic waves seemingly desperate to have this man's cock inside her, to be claimed as he put it, and to claim him right back. This felt wrong and all so right at the same time. It was crazy, that's what it was. Every dirty fantasy she'd ever had rolled into one and multiplied. Every erotic dream that had left her gasping for breath and waking up in a sweaty, aroused mess couldn't hold a candle to this.
She gasped when he released the grip he still had on one of her shoulders and slid that hand down her naked body, until he found her swollen folds. He smirked and ran his fingers through the wanton wetness he found there, and she bucked against him.
"So wet, so sweet." He released her and without a further word grasped her hips and pulled. Her body slid down the bed and his hair-roughened thigh parted her legs, before he flung her jelly like limbs over his shoulders and inhaled against her sodden core.
"Hmm, I can smell my brother on you." He grunted the words into her pussy, and the vibrations sent tightening spirals of need through her. Her clit clenched and trembled and she bowed off the bed when he bit down on that bundle of nerves. Salis laughed and did it again and again, the sweet pain morphing into need so fierce her hands fisted in the bed sheets.
"You're so fucking hot, but I don't want my brother's seconds. Turn over and get on your knees for me."
The steely command in his voice brooked no argument and Angelique scrambled to comply. He pushed her upper half back onto the bed, leaving her ass high and exposed in the air, and she trembled when he swirled his fingers through her wetness and then circled her nether hole with his slick fingers.
"Silas may have taken your sweet cunt, but this delicious ass is mine. I'm going to fuck you so hard, sweet thing." One of his slick fingers pushed through the tight ring of muscle and it clamped down on the digit. A high-pitched moan escaped Angelique's lips, and Salis kissed her neck. He trailed surprisingly gentle kisses down her spine and she relaxed around that invading digit in her ass. He added another and another, each time repeating his soothing pass of kisses up and down her back, until she relaxed again and her body scrambled to accept him. He scissored his fingers stretching her, and the burn brought tears to her eyes. Salis chose that moment to circle her clit with his other hand, and arousal overtook all reason, as he slowly and irrevocably pushed her into another orgasm. Just as she hovered on the edge of release, her juices running down the inside of her thigh as though she had sprung a sexual leak, he withdrew.
"Damn it, nooo." She wailed into the cushion, and Salis slapped her ass with enough force to sting. She went rigid, as several more slaps followed, each hitting in a different spot, and she was so close to release again she would have done anything to get off.
"Please … please … just fuck me." The coarse words left her mouth and
Salis pulled her up by her hair and kissed her.
Far from the predatory claim she was expecting this kiss was gentle and seared her very soul with the intensity of the moment. Images of Silas burned behind her close eyelids, and mingled with the ones of the man, who was now running his heavy erection through her pussy lips repeatedly. His beard tickled and his scent increased, his essence exploding on her tongue. Familiar, yet different, it soothed any leftover worries. There was no right or wrong, there was only this moment between her and Salis, and she wanted him with every fiber of her being just like she'd wanted his brother. The truth that she needed both of them hit her square in the face, and she couldn't stop the tears from escaping.
Salis wrenched his lips away and kissed her tears away with murmured endearments in the same guttural language that Silas had used before, and she smiled through her tears.
"It's okay. I'm okay, it's just… where is Silas?"
The words were out before she could stop them and Salis roared. It shook the bed and Angelique's ears rung with the aftermath of those heavy vibrations. An answering roar could be heard from far away and instantly her black mood lifted. Silas's presence filled her soul, and she didn’t need his brother's murmured words to know they were true.
"He's here with us. He's always here, like I'm with him. We are linked, and I'll explain all this, but right now, I need you. Will you be mine?"
The hint of uncertainty in those words whispered into her neck, as he licked the mark his brother had left was all she needed, and she pushed her butt up and against him. His cock twitched against her pussy and they both groaned.
He aligned himself with her tight hole and the slow burn took her breath away as he pushed past the ring of muscle. Her whole body shook in need, and she forced her muscles to relax around the thick invasion of his incredibly hot dick, until she felt him slide all the way in. Angelique was so full, so claimed she drew shuddering breaths into her lungs and Salis circled her clit again.
That little nubbin reacted instantly, sending arrows of pure need through her and she pushed back when he pulled out and then thrust in again. His heavy balls slapped against her pussy lips with every move, and her body climbed with the multitude of sensations assaulting her. Salis's heavy breaths into her neck, his fingers now pushing into her hips where he held onto her with enough force to leave bruises, every thrust into her ass, every whispered encouragement into her mind served to arouse her further, until she lost all sense of time and space. The only awareness the sweet burn in her ass, and the rungs of pleasure she climbed with each breath into her oxygen starved lungs, until Salis tensed behind her. His dick pulsed, the rolling sensations sending her too over the edge, and his heat branded her inside. A sharp pain to her other shoulder made her scream before she tumbled into one never-ending orgasm so intense that the world went black.
****
Silas held his precious bundle in his arms and just watched her sleep. When Salis had roared for him, the urgency of that call had meant he'd opened his mind immediately, and the raw need he'd sensed from their little human had blown any jealousy away. He might not be the one holding her, but the fact that she needed him with her, needed their mental connection to truly let go with his brother had soothed the demons riding him. Salis, too, was held in check by Silas's silent presence. It had almost been as though he had been there in person, the two of them working in perfect tandem to bring about their lover's pleasure, like they'd done in the past.
She's perfect.
Salis's voice in his ear made his grin widen.
"Yes, she is, but we still need to explain this."
I know, which is why you're the one holding her right now. You've always been better with words than me.
Silas laughed, and he could see the bear bow his head through the window.
"That's not what you usually say, bro."
Their bear flashed his teeth in a fur ball impression of an answering grin, and Angelique stirred in Silas's arms, bringing his full attention back to the woman he loved. The truths of this admission made his chest feel tight, not at all helped by Salis's growl in his head.
We love her. It's up to you to convince her of this. I'm counting on you.
Angelique's eyes fluttered open and he smiled when her unfocused gaze settled on his. Recognition sparked her pupils to dilate, and she raised a trembling hand to his face.
"Silas? You're back."
"Yes, little one. I never really left."
"And Salis?" she asked, the slight hitch in her voice making him hold her tighter. His smile deepened at the concern he read in the crystal depths of her expressive eyes. People said that eyes were the mirrors to one's soul, and never had that been truer than for Angelique. She carried her emotions on her face, plain to see for anyone and when she looked at him like this, he'd move heaven and earth to keep that look there.
He nodded towards the open window, and she giggled when Salis popped his head through, another goofy grin on his bear features.
"I knew there was a good reason why I always liked bears." She shrugged her shoulders and winced when the move stretched the just healing skin. He dipped his head and licked each mark in turn and her hiss of pain turned into a moan of pleasure that shot straight to his cock.
She wriggled her ass, and he tightened his hold on her further, holding her still.
"If you keep doing that, I'll forget all my good intentions and sex is not what you need right now. We need to talk, my little activist."
Ours.
Silas and Angelique grinned in unison at the affronted growl in their ears, and she scrambled over to the window and patted the bear's head. Gloriously naked her white skin carried the marks from both their possession and Silas's chest swelled with pride.
He wouldn’t have blamed her if she had run away screaming, but she had surprised him at every turn so far.
"Yours, if you'll have me."
Salis shook his head and gave her a look as if to say she was crazy and Silas pulled her back into his embrace. One hand on his brother's fur, the other buried in Silas's hair she held both of them close, and Silas dropped a kiss on her neck.
Salis, too, licked her shoulder, and she smiled.
"Of course we want you. How could you ever doubt that? You may not want us when I tell you everything."
****
He was talking nonsense. And they would most definitely not want her once they found out she was damaged goods. A roll in the hay so to speak was all well and good, but she had seen the circus. There were families everywhere and these two would want a family too. And that was something Angelique would never be able to give them.
She blinked away the sudden tears and ignored the hot tide of misery threatening to tear her heart into thousands of little pieces. Had it really only been a matter of hours since she met the brothers? She felt as though she'd been waiting for them forever, and she would lose them again just as quickly.
She shut her eyes and shook her head, not wanting to see the condemnation in their eyes when she told them, and she had to tell them. They had a right to know.
"We're cursed, Angelique, and there is no magic cure for us." Silas pitched his voice very low, and the emotion behind those words made her look up at him.
"You're shifters, I get that. I figured it out. I reckoned you must be when I saw all the free roaming animals. Well, I didn't know exactly. But when you changed into your brother like that, I had my answer. I don't think that's a curse. I think that's pretty awesome, you know. I always wished that shifters were more than just a myth. I never imagined I'd actually meet some."
Her bite marks throbbed and pulled her up short as anther thought occurred to her.
"You bit me, both of you. Does that mean…?"
"No."
No.
Both men growled their answer and the wave of disappointment consuming her took her breath away. Did she want this? Did she want to shift into a beautiful creature like the one whose fur she still held in a white knuck
led grip?
Before she could figure out an answer to this question, Silas spoke again, his voice low and urgent.
"If we were normal shifters, then yes, that's the way it would work. But all our bite did was cement our bond to you. It's a promise from us that we will always be there for you. No matter where you are we will sense you, and if you need us we'll be there."
He tipped her chin up and she lost herself in his heated amber gaze for a minute until a lick from Salis's rough tongue along her arm brought her back to the here and now.
"It means you can hear whichever one of us is in the bear form, so we can communicate. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"
Angelique nodded and some of the tension left his big body.
"This places no demands on you, little one. You're free to leave if you want."
We however will always be bonded to you. There will never be another one like you for us. There hasn't been since I messed it all up.
Silas nodded and Salis continued his tale in her head.
Silas and I have always shared women, but on this night, I didn’t want to share. I wanted this one all to myself. She'd agreed to meet me, but when I turned up, it was a trap. They wanted my pelt. Gisela was a young witch in need of a shifter's fur to complete her initiation into the coven. Like the fool I was I played right into their hands…
His voice trailed off and Angelique got a flash of his memories. She saw a beautiful young redhead laughing and coaxing a young Salis along into a clearing, where he was set upon by the hunters. She winced as the arrows pierced his skin, the poison forcing him to shift into his bear, and slowing his reactions.
"I had told him to stay away from the coven." Silas took up the tale and wiped her tears away, and she leaned into his comforting touch. "He didn't listen of course. He never did. He's always been the hot headed one of us, the ones the ladies flocked to."
Don't you listen to him. He did just fine by himself.
Angelique smiled at the affronted tones in her head, and she pulled Salis's bear head down to drop a kiss on his wet nose.
Sinsperationally Yours Page 9
