by Sable Sylvan
One morning, she came back from grocery shopping and hoisted the groceries up the stairs. She opened the door with ease, and then realized that the door opened a little too easily, as she hadn’t had to use her key. Holy frik, she thought. Did I leave the house unlocked? She went inside, and the kitchen was an absolute mess: someone (or something) had eaten plastic boxes of her leftovers and the backdoor was open. Meredith put her groceries away, not about to let a perfectly good cheesecake go to waste, and then went upstairs.
She knocked at Scott’s door. “Scott?” she called. He didn’t answer, so she opened the door: Scott’s room was a mess, messier than she’d seen it the time she was in there before, and a set of clothes was in shreds on the floor, clothes she recognized as Scott’s pajamas.
She headed to another door, keeping herself calm although the sight of the shredded clothes had sent a shiver down her spine. She knocked. “Hello? Nathan? Brandon?” she called. She opened the door: inside, there was another set of shredded clothes.
She opened the last door without even knocking: there wasn’t anyone inside the last bedroom, just a set of shredded clothes that looked like they were the scraps of an outfit that had survived an explosion.
She ran down the stairs to find her purse and call the police, to report three missing persons and a home invasion, but once she got to the kitchen, getting up to lose the door, she noticed that there were three tracks in the snow. They were animal tracks: some four legged animals had run into the woods...and she followed the tracks with her eyes.
Past the backyard, there were three big brown grizzly bears, playing in the snow, covered from snout to tail in the powdery snow. Two bears rolled around in the snow together, tossing and tumbling, while another scratched his back against a tree trunk, causing a hefty amount of snow to fall out of the tree’s branches and onto the bear.
Meredith laughed...but the sound caught the attention of the three bears, which all turned and stared at her. Red gulped: she hadn’t meant to catch their attention. The bears got on their back paws and peered, and once they had their target acquired, the pack set off running...right towards Meredith.
Meredith walked back into the house slowly and then in a hurry as the bears approached, and she closed the sliding glass door and hunkered down under a table. The bears ran up the porch and pawed at the glass...but they didn’t tear the door off its track. Meredith had been closing her eyes, but once the pawing at the glass stopped, she looked at the bears: the three big grizzly bears were watching her, but they weren’t attacking, and on their chests, they each had a swath of crimson red fur.
The mark: Meredith realized she knew those bears. She got up from her hiding place. “Brandon?” she said, opening the sliding door. The bears didn’t attack, although one bear seemed to smile as she said the names.
“Scott?” One of the bears tossed his head.
“Nathan?” The last bear nodded.
“You guys gave me a frikkin’ heart attack!” she said with a laugh, and Scott nudged Meredith’s hand with his head. Meredith gave Scott’s head some scratches and he growled, but it was more like a purr than a growl. Brandon nudged Meredith’s other hand and Meredith pet Brandon’s fur, feeling its thick silkiness in her fingers as she ran her hands through the hair.
“You guys are insane,” she said. “Leave a note next time.”
“Kind of hard when we’re, you know, bears,” said Nathan. Meredith looked up: Nathan had shifted back into his human form and he was stark naked.
“Jeez, that was fast,” said Meredith. “But why are you naked?”
“When I burst into my bear form, my clothes...sometimes suffer,” said Nathan, running a hand through his scraggly hair which had gotten even longer. His beard had gotten even thicker in the last week, and he had even more muscle definition than before as he’d quickly burned through the fat stores he’d tried to replace while eating with Meredith the week before. The muscles rippled and were glossed by streams of water from the snowflakes that frosted Nathan’s body, only to melt quickly from the heat of his bear shifter body. “I just throw the scraps away after I shift, or use them as rags.”
“So every time you shift back into a man, you’re...” said Meredith, turning as crimson as her hair. “Jeez, you’re naked, Nathan, put something on! You’re going to catch a death of cold!”
“Nah, I like the cold,” said Nathan, waggling his eyebrows. “That house gets too hot.”
“Well, I’m cold,” said Meredith, holding her arms. “I’m going in.” Meredith walked inside, the two bears and the naked man following behind her. Meredith walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, needing a rest after the adrenaline filled minutes that had just occurred.
Meredith went to pull up an ottoman, but Scott lay down in front of Meredith and let out a small roar before flipping over and exposing his soft belly, covered in softer downy fur. “He wants you to rub his belly,” said Nathan.
“You speak bear?” said Meredith.
“I am bear,” said Nathan. “I can understand my own frikkin’ language, Red. The place looks nice.” Nathan went to sit down on the couch.
“Oh, heck no, you can’t stick your bare ass on the couch,” said Meredith. “I only just got the man stink out of the upholstery.”
“Fine, fine,” said Nathan, standing up, and although Meredith had been avoiding looking at it, she finally saw Nathan’s schlong. Bear shifter men were bigger in more than just one way: his cock was evidence of that, thick and girthy even while floppy.
“You like what you see?” asked Nathan, looking at Meredith and raising his eyebrows. He looked over the curvy girl: the last week, all he’d dreamed about in his hibernation state was her and her gorgeous body, the way she lit up when she was eating ice cream, the way it had felt to hold her in his arms when they went grocery shopping, and how providing food for her had made him feel warm inside, a warmth he’d never thought he’d feel. She was right there in front of him, admiring him, practically licking her dang lips as she watched his dongle dangle, and he had half a mind to give her a taste.
Meredith hadn’t realized that she’d been staring that hard at his dick and she broke out of her cock trance. “Yeah, sorry,” she said, burning crimson red, and looking down at Scott, rubbing his belly instead, back and forth, and then softly scratching his stomach, which made Scott purr.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Meredith,” said Nathan, leaning against a wall. “Scott sure seems to be enjoying that belly rub, though.”
“Yeah, I had no idea bears were so fluffy,” she admitted.
“Well, that’s Scott’s winter coat,” said Nathan. “During the summer, the hair is a lot thinner, but still thicker than a normal bear’s. Of course, we’re still furrier than most men.” Nathan gestured to his chest: the hair on his chest was thick, necessary for keeping a bear shifter warm in the winter when the fat had burned off, and the streak of red fur across his chest still stood out like a beacon.
Brandon, who had been sitting and watched, roared and got Meredith’s attention. “What do you want?” she asked, watching the bear plod over to the kitchen, where his paws skid slightly on the linoleum tile floor. She resisted the urge to giggle as Brandon pawed at the fridge and couldn’t get it open this time.
“Hey, bears get hungry,” said Nathan. “There’s not a ton to eat during the winter, and none of us stored enough fat this fall, we’ve got to get better about that. That’s why we woke up a day early.”
Meredith opened the fridge and Brandon motioned to a package using his nose. “Should he eat the raw meat?” asked Meredith.
“It’s fine,” said Nathan. “I mean, I personally prefer mine slightly rare, but hey, meat’s meat.”
Meredith opened the package of bacon and took out a slice, and held it in the palm of her hand. Brandon opened his mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth, but he used his long tongue to carefully lift the bacon off of Meredith’s palm and eat it.
“See, that wasn�
�t so scary,” said Nathan, wrapping an arm around Meredith’s waist.
Scott let out a mewl and Meredith walked over. “What does he want?” she asked Nathan.
“Bacon,” said Nathan, and Meredith fed Scott a piece of bacon. “Watch this.” Nathan took half the ration of bacon and tossed it: both Scott and Brandon lunged for it, hitting each other by accidentally head butting one another, but when each bear realized the other was after his pig meat, they pawed at one another, back and forth.
“Nathan, why would you do that?” asked Meredith.
“Calm down, Red,” ordered Nathan. “They’re just playing.”
“It doesn’t look like playing,” said Meredith warily. “And they’re getting bacon grease all over the floor.”
“Good thing we’ve got a housekeeper, right?” asked Nathan, and finally, Scott ripped most of the bacon out of Brandon’s mouth and slurped it down as Brandon shifted back into human form right in front of Meredith, his musculature and bone structure changing first, then the fat and fur disappearing as the bear was replaced with a stark naked man.
“Hey there, Meredith,” said Brandon, huffing and puffing. “Sorry about the mess upstairs: I woke up and couldn’t control my bear, I was too damn hungry, so I let him do his thing...and that woke up the other guys, and their bears too, so we had some fun in the woods. I hope we didn’t worry you.”
“Well, you did....but I learned a lot about bear shifters,” admitted Meredith. “Too bad there’s streaks of meat and fat all over the floor now.”
“It’s fine,” said Nathan, returning from the kitchen with a roll of paper towels. He mopped up the bacon scraps. “There, that better?”
“Lots, but I’m still going to have to wash the floors again so nobody slips,” said Meredith. “Take it outside next time.” Scott got back onto his belly and growled for attention: Meredith knew what he wanted this time and she walked over and rubbed his big bear belly which was now full of delicious hickory smoked pig bits. Scott was always such a sweetheart: Meredith would have never expected him to be the strongest and biggest of the bear shifters. The bear was grizzly but just as much of a teddy bear as the man and responsive to her every touch.
“I like what you did with the place,” said Brandon. “To be honest, I thought that a city girl like you wouldn’t know your way around a mop and a broom, but this place looks good enough to show on the market. I’ve never seen it this nice.”
“I think what Brandon’s trying to say is, you did good, Red,” said Nathan.
“Red...I like that nickname,” said Brandon, looking over Meredith. “It suits you. And hey...I’m sorry I was so, well, grizzly the last time I saw you.”
“You mean the first time we met?” asked Meredith.
“Yeah, that time,” said Brandon. “Sometimes, I swear I must be part donkey shifter, because I can be a real ass.”
“I was definitely in a bad mood that day,” said Meredith. “Given, you know, my grandma’s lease and all.”
“Yeah,” said Nathan. “Brandon...what’s up with the Baxter lease?”
“I didn’t change it,” said Brandon. “No, I swear I didn’t. If it wasn’t you and it wasn’t me, it had to be Scott.”
The man underneath Meredith shifted right beneath her hand so Meredith went from rubbing the tummy of a cuddly bear to massaging the abs of a rock hard naked man. Meredith pulled her hand away once Scott opened his mouth to say, “It wasn’t me, guys.”
“Then who was it?” asked Meredith.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Brandon. “The leases are my domain, and I’ll just draw up a new one for your grandma, a rent control lease at the same rate she was charged before.”
“So I stayed in this house, as your housekeeper, for nothing?” said Meredith crossly.
“Hey, I wouldn’t call what happened between us nothing,” said Nathan.
“What happened between you two?” said Scott with a smile. “Try what happened between me and Red.”
“I guarantee I kissed her first,” said Brandon devilishly. “But I guess it’s up to Red to figure out which of us is the most handsome.”
“You’re all handsome,” said Meredith. “But aren’t bear shifters supposed to be...I don’t know, possessive?”
“Usually they are,” said Nathan. “But we’re...well, we’re different. I’ll put it this way: everyone has a type, and we all just happen to have the same exact type.”
“Uh huh, likely story,” said Meredith, rolling her eyes. “I’m supposed to believe that a bunch of tall, handsome men, bear shifters nonetheless, want a chubby short thing like me?”
“You’re not short, you’re petite,” said Scott. “I can scoop you up in my arms and hold you. That’s what I like in a woman.”
“And you’re curvy, not chubby,” said Brandon. “A woman with natural curves is the kind of woman us shifters can’t resist: you’ve got yourself a little something extra in all the right places, and the last thing a man wants is to have sex with someone as stiff as a rock. Men should be firm, women should be soft, and you’re plush, Meredith, perfect for holding on a cold winter night.”
“Even if you were tall and thin, you’d be gorgeous,” said Nathan. “Tall and thin isn’t my type, but you’ve got that crimson red hair which drives me nuts, if you couldn’t already tell from my mate mark. Even if you chopped all that beautiful hair off, I’d still want you. Who else can put up with me long enough to eat my stew?”
“That’s my grandma’s stew you’re talking about,” teased Meredith. “But I guess you guys are right: if you find me attractive, I’m just going to have to deal with it. I’ve spent two weeks in this house and am nowhere closer to figuring out which one of you I like the best.”
“Then don’t choose,” said Scott. “Just...let yourself have some fun.”
“Yeah,” said Brandon. “After all, you’ve done all this hard work, making our house clean. I’d say you deserve a bonus. Boys, do you agree?”
“Oh yeah,” said Nathan.
“Definitely,” said Scott, scooping Meredith up into his arms and kissing her deeply.
The kiss sent an electric shock through Meredith’s body, which turned her common sense gland to mush. All bets were off. “Let’s do this,” she said, biting her lower lip. All her dreams were about to come true...but in her dreams, she hadn’t had to choose a man at the end.
Chapter Seven
Scott wasted no time in carrying Red up the stairs and into Nathan’s room, pressing her down on the large emperor bed Nathan had in his room. “God, I want you,” said Scott as her put her down.
“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” said Brandon, looking over the beautiful woman on their bed. With her red hair splayed out over the pillow, she was finally right where she belonged: in their bed.
“Too bad she doesn’t realize it,” said Nathan. “But you know, doesn’t change the fact she should be a frikkin’ model.”
“If they used girls like her in underwear ads, all the other girls would get jealous,” said Brandon, leaning onto the bed next to Meredith. “You know that, don’t you, Red? Every woman wants to be you.”
“With my frizzy red hair and all these rolls?” she asked sarcastically. “Yeah, people are just dying for that.”
“Your hair is like fire, and there’s nothing I love more than a good bonfire,” said Nathan, lying on the other side of Red and running his hands through her hair, pulling it off her shoulders and running his fingers through every last tress. “And it’s not frizzy. It’s curly. Healthy. It’s not chemically straightened.”
“Yeah, that’d smell gross,” said Scott, turning Meredith over and onto her back. “Bear shifters can smell all that a mile away. No, a woman like you...with wide hips and huge breasts for bearing bear shifter litters, that’s what a bear wants. So are you gonna give us what we want, or are you gonna make us beg?”
“Are you going to help me out of these clothes?” asked Meredith, answering the question with a question.
“Fine, if a show’s what you want, a show’s what you’re going to get,” retorted Meredith. She got up from the bed and Scott took a seat in the chair while the two shifters lounging on the bed watched Meredith slip off her jeans first and then her hoodie, her red hoodie that had helped her earn her nickname, and then finally, her black t-shirt, leaving Meredith in a bra and a pair of panties. “You still like what you see?”
“Would I be rock-hard if I didn’t?” asked Scott. All the men were still naked, as they hadn’t gotten changed after shifting back into their human forms, and Scott was no exception, except he was actually stroking his cock. Meredith couldn’t believe how big it was: it was huge, even semi-erect.
Meredith turned and looked at the men on the bed: both Nathan and Brandon were hard as well, although they weren’t stroking themselves. She gulped: maybe she was sexier than she knew! She unclasped her bra, uncovering her ample bosom, before she lowered her panties slowly, revealing her honeypot to the men.
“What a woman,” said Nathan, nodding his head.
Brandon said nothing, and just got up from the bed and held Red in his arms and whispered into her ear, “You’re beautiful, baby, absolutely frikkin’ gorgeous.” He pulled away and led her to the bed, putting her back in her place between him and Nathan. Brandon kissed Red, running his hands over her breasts as Nathan rubbed his shaft on Red’s bottom’s slit, feeling her natural moistness and letting his own precum lubricate the slit some more as he warmed up some more.
Both the men had dreamed about being with Red during their hibernation, and Scott was no different: he watched the scene and continued to touch himself, getting ready to tap in when they were ready for him.
