by Sky Winters
This wasn’t good.
Chapter 23
My body quaked in rage as tufts of dark black fur began erupting all over my body. I could feel my muscles contracting and expanding, and I unleashed a hellish roar that made Jake’s face grow white.
“Decker, I’m just fucking around, man, calm down!”
But I was past the point of no return. Jake glanced over at Walker, and I was relieved to find Alex getting shakily to his feet. Just as I had asked him to do, he retreated to watch from a distance. He must have been shaken up from the close call with the baby. I hoped everything was all right.
When Jake saw that I was nowhere near calming down, he shrugged.
“Have it your way,” he said. He bit his thumb (the self-inflicted pain always got him off enough to shift) and his grey colored fur began to cover his body. There was a time I would have given anything to see Jake in his bear form, but now, all I wanted to do was destroy him.
Jake growled at me and I lunged at him, catching his shoulder in my teeth. I was gratified by the salt of his sweat, and the bitter taste of blood.
Jake cried out, slashing at me with his big paws. I barely registered the pain as his claws penetrated my skin. Instead, I focused on my next move. I had seen him fight a thousand times. Now it was my turn.
His favorite move was to go for the throat, even when things were just playful. He felt a surge of power from that, so I was able to evade it when his muzzle tried to find its way to my jugular. Jake whimpered when my sharp teeth grazed his muzzle, and I got a grip on the soft fleshy area of his neck.
I was prevented from making the final move by Walker, who had shifted into his bear form while I was distracted. Walker tackled me from behind, sinking his teeth deep into the skin on the back of my neck. I sank down to the ground as Jake watched, his eyes filled with malice. I hadn’t been able to take them both the first time, how could I manage to take them now?
Walker had me pinned and Jake made his way toward me. I tried to figure out the best way to take them both down, but I was still trying to fight Walker’s teeth. He had been wanting to tear into me for years, and now that he had the chance, he wasn’t going to go easy on me. I was struggling as I tried to get to my feet, but between Jake and Walker’s teeth in my neck, I couldn’t go very far.
A sudden roar echoed in the air, and all of us were startled to see Alex barreling toward us. Jake tried to intercept him, but Alex was faster and much more graceful. He leapt over Jake and landed on top of Walker, sinking his teeth into Walker’s neck. I scrambled out from beneath him and set my sights on Jake.
Jake was dazed as he watched Alex tear into his best friend. Blood was beginning to stain the ground, and I looked away, unable to watch Walker being tortured. I had other things to worry about. Alex was protecting his family, and he was going to do it to the fullest. I didn’t have to babysit him. He would take care of himself.
I caught Jake’s eye and growled, and we began circling each other. Sometimes with him it felt like I would never win, no matter what. But right now, I knew I had a chance. Being with Alex had taught me all there was to know about myself. And I remembered something very useful. Jake was very afraid of me.
I got onto my hind legs, a powerful display. Jake was much smaller than I was when we shifted, and he stood too, but fear was rolling off of him in waves. I roared powerfully and struck him hard in the throat. A deep gash opened up and Jake cowered away from me. I was ready to finish him off and tear him to pieces. But to my surprise, he began to shrink.
“Peace, man! I call a truce!”
He was small and naked and afraid. I had never felt more revulsion for anybody than I felt for Jake in that moment. He was exactly what I thought he was; just an insecure, spoiled brat.
I looked over at Alex and Walker to make sure that everything was okay, and was relieved to find Alex standing over Walker. Walker had shifted back to his human form, too weak to maintain the taxing metabolic state of a bear any longer, and Alex had him pinned to the ground with one huge paw.
I got Alex’s attention and signaled that it was time to shift back to our human forms. Alex looked relieved. He must have been tired; pregnancy was hard enough without having to maintain your bear form.
“I don’t ever want to see you two again,” I growled once we were all facing each other. “This is my pack, now, just as it always was.”
I realized that several members of our pack had come out of the bar to watch the show, and rather than looking angry that their leaders were being outcasted, they looked prouder than I had ever seen them look.
“You heard them,” one burly man said, coming forward and shoving Walker in the back. “Get the hell out of here!”
I took Alex’s hand, and together we watched as Jake and Walker were booed out of New Orleans, leaving us alone with our pack.
Chapter 24
“This is your new home,” I said, helping Alex through the doorway. He was a little bit tired, but the light in his eyes was brighter than I had ever seen it before. “Are you sure the baby’s okay?”
“She’s fine,” Alex assured me. I stared at him for a moment, my heart warm.
“She?”
Alex smiled at me and I pulled him close, kissing him gently on the lips.
“I can’t believe that we actually pulled that off,” I whispered, laughing and tasting his lips.
“I can,” Alex said, stroking down my broad chest. “There are a lot of things you’re capable of, and soon you’ll know every single one of them.”
I considered this for a moment, but quickly forgot as Alex’s lips became more urgent against mine, and my hands developed a mind of their own. I touched him everywhere; from the top of his head, lacing my fingers through his thick blonde hair, down to the small mound of his stomach where our baby girl was growing.
“I love you,” I whispered.
Alex looked up at me, his eyes flashing. “I know. I love you, too.”
I took his hand and led him to the bedroom, doing my best to be tender with him considering his condition. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he was bedridden, and then sex would no longer be an option. I wanted our break from it to be that night, right then, to consecrate our union and the home we were going to share for the rest of our lives.
I kissed Alex tenderly, allowing my lips to linger on his and relishing in the gentle waves of electricity that traveled through my body. He closed his eyes, running his hand down my cheek and under my shirt. I let him pull it over my head, and helped him to remove my belt and the rest of my clothes.
“Let’s try something new,” I said softly, stripping Alex and moving slowly to his waist. I could feel myself growing hard with longing as I took his shaft into my hands and wrapped my mouth around it. He moaned softly as I ran my tongue lightly across the sensitive nerve endings in his penis and finally enveloped it in my mouth.
He moaned loudly, and my cock became swollen with longing as I pleasured him, taking all the time I hadn’t taken before in order to appreciate all of the wonders of his body.
“Stop,” he whispered. “I’m going to come.”
I smiled up at him, and he furrowed his eyebrows.
“Good,” I said. “Then you can do it again when I’m inside of you.”
Alex groaned and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as I worked his shaft in my mouth, using my hands to caress his scrotum and explore the landscape of his body. I touched his nipple gently, making it hard beneath my fingertips, and then began bobbing my head furiously around his cock.
He hissed in pleasure, and soon I was gratified by the taste of his semen.
“Fuck,” he mumbled.
I smiled at him and rolled him onto his side. Miss Abby had told us not to let him put pressure on his stomach, so I caressed his body and held him from the side, gently working myself between the hot opening of his ass.
Alex shuddered in pleasure, and I swallowed hard, biting back a moan as my head, then my entire shaft, disap
peared inside of him. I bucked my hips gently against him, and he slowly writhed, grinding his hips and teaching me the parameters of his pregnant body.
I kissed and sucked the nape of his neck, and he shuddered in pleasure as, again and again, I disappeared inside of him.
My self-control was beginning to wane, and Alex seemed to sense it, because he began to grind me, harder and a little bit faster, until it was all I could do to keep from coming. Alex turned to me, his deep eyes boring into mine, and he kissed me lightly on the lips.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Somehow, that did it, and we climaxed together as our tongues massaged each other. The unexpected explosion was the most powerful of any orgasm I had ever felt, and Alex intertwined his fingers with mine.
“Thank you for being with me,” I said.
“Thank you for being the alpha I knew you were,” he replied.
I kissed his forehead gently and held him close to my chest. And, for the first time, we fell asleep together in the bed we were destined to share for the rest of our lives.
Bear Back
Chapter 1
“What do you mean it’s not going to print this week?” Lewis Olsen cried into the phone. “I’ve been in Mexico for two months, the least you could do is print the article on time!”
Lewis frowned as he listened to his editor-in-chief bumble around for explanations. Lewis was one of the top writers in his field, so when things didn’t go how he expected them to, he could always find new work elsewhere. But he liked his boss, and privately enjoyed making the man feel like he was in hot water.
“Look, it’ll run next week. And we’ll have another assignment ready for you.”
Lewis sighed. “All right. I’ll talk to you later.” They hung up amicably, and Lewis briefly wondered what the next assignment would be. He loved his work, and he loved traveling, but there were times he wished he would be able to relax and stay put in one place.
Lewis glanced at his watch and stretched. He was sitting in the Houston airport, waiting for his flight out of Texas before he could return home to his boyfriend. Peter had been acting extremely needy and catty for the past few months, even before Lewis went to Mexico, and it had been quite trying for Lewis’ patience. Although he was older than Lewis, Peter was quite immature and always wanted to believe that the world revolved around him. Lewis’ first impression had been that the gorgeous man was a victim of his own tendency for drama. But all the same, Lewis hadn’t been able to resist Peter’s lures.
The flight was nothing special—not to mention he was extremely used to flying—and as he headed back to New York, his mind wandered to Peter. It had been months since Lewis had been with a man at all, much less his boyfriend. He was as loyal as they came, so there was no way he would even consider cheating, even if two months was terribly long to go without sex. Now he couldn’t keep his mind off of the sinewy pleasures he would finally be able to experience again when he made it back home to Peter. It had been a far too long and lonely trip.
He had even been tempted by one of the Mexican men he’d been interviewing in the city of Tampico. The man’s eye told Lewis everything he needed to know about him, and he had almost given in to his desires. But images of Peter had flooded Lewis’ mind, and he’d turned the man down by ending the interview early and heading back to his hotel room to relieve some of his frustration on his own.
Lewis had called Peter that night, hoping that hearing his voice would remind him of why it was better to be loyal to him, but he couldn’t get through. And when Peter called back, all he could do was complain about everything under the sun. Lewis forgetting to do his laundry before he left on the trip. How lonely it was to stay in Lewis’ condo alone all day every day because he didn’t have enough money to go out to the clubs and enjoy himself if he wanted to afford groceries.
But Lewis couldn’t suggest that Peter get a job and help pay some of the bills. Peter was a self-proclaimed housewife, and refused to do anything that would require him to lift a finger. The title, Lewis had concluded, didn’t seem to suit him. But he didn’t say anything. Because he loved Peter. Even if he was tempted by another man from time to time…right?
Chapter 2
Peter had been in a foul mood since before Lewis had ever left for Mexico. Lewis thought Peter might want to be able to spend more time with him, so he had requested to leave early after wrapping up the piece in Mexico. He thought the surprise would thrill Peter. Lewis had already planned a romantic dinner date at Peter’s favorite restaurant.
Lewis was relieved to finally be home. He unlocked the door as quietly as possible, hoping to surprise Peter, no matter where he was in the house. Lewis silently sat his bags down and crept through the house, ready to yell “Surprise!” the second he saw Peter.
He wasn’t in the living room, or on the balcony smoking where he usually was. Lewis decided to try the bedroom, and quietly pushed the door open, ready to jump into bed with his sleeping lover.
But what greeted him was a shock. Peter was in the bedroom, but he wasn’t alone. He was standing at the foot of the bed, with another man Lewis recognized from the gay bar kneeling on the ground with Peter’s cock in his mouth.
“Surprise,” Lewis said weakly, unsure whether to fly into a rage or crumple to the floor in tears.
“What the fuck are you doing back so soon?” Peter asked, pushing the other man away and reaching for a blanket to cover his erection.
“Don’t you mean, what the fuck are you doing with your cock in another man’s mouth?” Lewis retorted, his rage mounting.
“It’s not…I was just…”
“What, lonely? You poor baby. Get the fuck out of my house.”
Peter was frozen, staring at Lewis in disbelief. Lewis had never raised his voice to Peter, no matter how frustrated Peter had made him. The perfect patsy.
“Now!”
They gathered up their clothes and Lewis chased them both out of the apartment with his fists balled. He was glad his answer had been to fly into a rage. Peter wasn’t worth the tears. In some way he had known that from the start. But he had let himself get caught up in the idea of being with a handsome, shallow man, even though he knew he should have been smarter than that.
Lewis sank down into one of the chairs at his dining room table and sighed heavily. How could he have let himself fall for such a wily man’s charms? And the worst part was, he had always known on some level exactly what kind of person Peter was. If the world didn’t revolve around him, he would go out in search of people who would make sure that Peter felt like the most important thing in their lives. He wanted to be the center of attention at all times, and when he wasn’t he threw a fit. If he gave Peter a chance, he knew Peter would try to turn this around on him, complain that it was because he was never around.
But Lewis was a grown man. An adult, and a mature one with a great career. He wasn’t going to just drop everything to nurture an attention whore and narcissist. That wasn’t the way they were going to play it, and he would be damned if that’s what Peter demanded. Drop his life and career or else he’ll act out and cheat on Lewis? Like hell!
His cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket and Lewis pulled it out angrily, sure that it was Peter calling to give some half-assed explanation and try to make Lewis feel bad for being the one who had left him alone for two months. He checked the caller ID, ready to throw the phone across the room, but it wasn’t Peter. It was his boss.
“Larry?” he asked, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. If he snapped on Larry the way he wanted to do with Peter, he might not have a job anymore. That would make his day just perfect.
“Hey Lewis, I have the perfect job for you. Are you ready for this?”
Lewis sighed. What would Larry know about the perfect job for him? And what did it matter when it felt like his life was falling apart?
Lewis cringed. He had to pull himself together. It wasn’t as bad as it felt. He would move on, and Peter would soon be a relic
of the past. Everything would be all right.
“What is it, Larry?”
“I know how into environmental issues you are. And you write so much better when you’re passionate about your cause.”
“Uh huh…” Lewis said, biting his tongue to keep from telling Larry to get to the point.
“Black bears are being reintroduced to the Ozark mountains, and I was thinking we should send you there next to cover the reintroduction efforts and chronicle the success. Talk to local officials and enthusiasts, people who might not want the bears to be there. There’s so much opportunity for a story here, I know you’ll find a good angle.”
“The Ozark mountains, huh?” Lewis said thoughtfully. “I suppose that could be interesting.”
“Of course it will be interesting!” Larry exclaimed. “There’s going to be a lot of ground to cover with this one. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to get up close and personal with some bears of your own.”
Bears had always been a private fascination of Lewis’. He had always wanted to see them in person, but his life had taken him to NYC, where he couldn’t always go out into the wilderness, and even the travels for his job kept him mainly in cities. Although northern New York was beautiful, he had always wanted to travel to the mountains and see the wildlife in its natural habitat. Now, apparently, he was going to get the chance.
“Count me in,” Lewis said. “When can I leave?”
“As soon as possible!” Larry said. “I can give you a few weeks home first, of course.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Lewis said. “Get me a flight out tonight. I’m ready now.”
Chapter 3
Lewis boarded the flight with nervous butterflies in his stomach. He hadn’t been expecting to be back on an airplane so soon, but with the way Peter had behaved, he didn’t want to be anywhere near New York. Everything about the city just seemed to reflect exactly the same shallow mindset that Peter had always had. Although it had been pivotal for Lewis’ career to live in the city so close to publishers and people who could recognize his talent, there were a lot of issues that he had with living in a place like New York.
