Jade was just his sister—his other half—as much a part of him as his left arm. He’d give his life for both women, but nothing about them or any other woman incited the kind of mind-crushing craving he had for Autumn and Gunnar both.
Jasper feared he’d lose his heart for the pair of them and would live with a gaping hole in his chest for the rest of his life.
Chapter Three
Autumn slipped back into her loose sundress and turned toward the footsteps coming from the brush behind her. She frowned when only Gunnar came through, a resigned look on his face.
“So, no Jasper, I take it?”
“Something’s holding him back. I think appealing to his libido isn’t the right approach.”
Autumn let out a rueful laugh. She shook her head as she bent it to tie the laces of her loose, gauzy, peach-colored tunic over her breasts.
So much for her show. And so much for the fantasy of an afternoon she’d hoped for with the two men. She had a day, at most, before her estrous began. A day when she could actually maintain a little control over her reactions to a pair of virile males, to give Jasper a little time to ease into the idea of being chosen and marked by a female. Probably better that he’d run if he couldn’t be convinced of a true mating this soon.
“That was your idea,” she reminded Gunnar with a smile, ignoring the apprehensive twist in her gut. “I appreciate your faith in your seductive prowess—it works on me, if it makes you feel better. But I have a feeling as new as he is to his nature and his race, he might respond better to open, honest truth.”
Gunnar stalked across the stone and found his trousers and shirt, tugging them on in a huff.
“You’re frustrated . . . ” Autumn observed, though he wasn’t sporting a hard-on anymore. “Can I help?”
Gunnar glared at her, his red-eyed gaze cutting to her core. How had he managed to turn her so pliant in a matter of weeks since she’d come back? She’d do anything he asked.
“You know what I want, Autumn. And it isn’t your mouth, as talented as you are with it. I’m just pissed.”
“Don’t be angry at him. This is probably too new for him to process. And we have no idea what kinds of sexual experiences he’s had before.”
Gunnar came back to stand in front of her, his tall, broad-shouldered frame blocking out the sun. The rays of light turned his pale, wavy hair into a halo around his head. Autumn resisted brushing her fingers through it. She’d done the same so many times when he was younger, just as an affectionate gesture. Now that every touch shared between them meant so much more, she hesitated. Even touching his hair would set off a domino effect of sensual reactions she didn’t think she could withstand. They shouldn’t even have attempted an afternoon with Jasper, if her libido were any indication. She’d made the mistake of giving into it once before and had regretted it for the last two hundred years.
“I’m not pissed at him.” Gunnar raked his fingers through his damp, white hair, staring back at her desperately, crimson irises practically glowing with purpose. “I’m in love with him. I’m pissed at myself for being so impatient. We . . . you . . . just don’t have time. And it’s so fucking obvious how he feels.”
Autumn closed the distance and wrapped her arms around him. Gunnar enveloped her in his huge, comforting embrace, his cheek resting on top of her head. The dull burn in her core that portended the beginning of her estrous flared up. Masturbating only alleviated it so much, if she did it right. Once it was in full swing, this comforting, platonic contact with any male would be impossible.
If she wanted to mate and conceive this year, they had to do it within the next month, and if they wanted to fulfill their promise to Emma, they had to wait until they were outside. She couldn’t pass through the portal while pregnant, lest she risk miscarrying.
She wanted Jasper with them, needed him, whether he realized it or not. If she’d learned anything from her old mistakes, it was not to discount the overwhelming power she would be filled with once she conceived. Even if she had properly marked the first male she’d conceived with, so long ago, he would never have been enough to balance the power flooding her body from the new life growing inside her.
Emma needed them to follow through. Their offer to replace her mates as guardians outside the Sanctuary was Autumn’s priority. Her own needs had to take second stage. Her old regrets had no place in the middle of their goals.
Her estrous only happened every four years, and once it did, she was always rudely reminded of her obligation to her clan to reproduce. She’d endured it for over two centuries, but since that disastrous and regrettable event when she’d come of age, she’d had no interest whatsoever in mating. Nobody needed to know about that now, though. Two centuries should be enough time to leave behind a painful past. And the only other person who knew about it was so far removed from her, she’d nearly forgotten what he looked like.
Lie to yourself as much as you want—you still remember him vividly.
What she remembered most afterward was running from him. Not out of fear, but out of a need to escape heartbreak.
She’d left the Sundance Clan in the wake of the biggest mistake of her life and joined her Windchaser fathers outside the Sanctuary. She’d become a runner for the next two centuries and loved it. It gave her freedom and an excuse to avoid the past.
She still returned each cycle at the insistence of her parents, though. She was the daughter of a shaman, so a human mate would not do. Yet none of the males she met inside the Sanctuary held any interest for her.
It wasn’t until she’d returned to the Windchaser clan lodge after spending the most recent cycle Outside that her interests shifted. She’d known the Windchaser clan leader’s son, Gunnar, for his entire life—had practically watched him grow up in between her regular jaunts in the human world with her two fathers.
On this trip, she’d seen that Gunnar was no longer the awkward, white-haired boy she remembered, but a fully fleshed-out—and very handsome—mature male. She’d stopped thinking of him like a younger brother, and after only one hug and a whiff of his amazing, woody aroma, she was done with waiting.
Autumn clung to him now just as she had that day a month earlier, breathing deeply of his scent. Her heart skipped a beat when she caught another sweet musk mingled with his. A soft moan escaped her in response to the little spasm that quaked deep in her belly. Jasper.
“Gaia, I smell him all over you,” she whispered, pulling back and pressing her nose to his chest.
Gunnar dug his fingers into her hips. “Autumn,” he said, pushing her back a few inches.
Opening her eyes, she realized she’d unintentionally manifested her claws and had punctured a series of holes in his shirt, the white fabric now tinged red around the edges from his blood.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry.” She snatched her hands away from him and backed up a few steps with her hands stuck under her armpits. She hated when she lost control enough for her claws to come out. Trying to get her breathing under control was another challenge, because all she could smell were their scents. When she looked up at Gunnar again, he was smiling.
“What?” she asked indignantly.
He let out a low chuckle that made the tremor in her middle grow into a steady pulse.
“I was a little worried you had only chosen him as your second for my sake, but now I know that’s not the case. You really are just as in love, aren’t you?”
She gave him a sheepish smile. “Baby, I spent two hundred years worried I was broken. Finding both of you within the span of a month is a dream come true. I am sorry to have to tell you, but as amazing as you are all by yourself, you would never have been enough for me.”
He grinned. “I think that’s a bonus. You do realize that most males would consider that a bonus, right? Or have you been hanging out with too many humans out there in the land of technology and bigotry?”
Autumn blanched at his characterization of the outside world. Did he really think that about the Outside? Gunnar wasn’t that far off, but . . .
“Sorry . . . I . . . sorry,” he said, stepping toward her and resting his hands on her arms.
“No, it’s all right. You’re somewhat on the money, but the humans I’ve spent time with are good people. Just remember that Jasper grew up in that world, so his reactions are probably part and parcel of his interactions with ‘technology and bigotry,’ as you so aptly put it. Being in here will be an adjustment for him.”
“Unless we can convince him to come with us,” Gunnar said.
“All the pieces are there, but I think he needs a little push, where we’ve just been pulling.”
Gunnar’s narrowed his eyes, his lips quirking slyly. “His sister?”
“Yes, and also Emma, his cousin. He worships her.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The princess? He worships her more than he worships you?”
Autumn’s face heated. She’d seen the surreptitious looks Jasper gave her, but didn’t think Gunn had noticed them.
“He’s known them his entire life. They have a deep connection.”
“Kind of like yours and mine,” Gunnar said, without a hint of humor.
Autumn’s gaze shot to his. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve loved you my whole life. The day you finally looked at me the way you look at me now . . . it was the best day ever. I hated the way you treated me like a younger brother. I kind of envy Jasper that he gets to go straight to being loved by you without having to endure the wait. But I guess he’s already been through the same kind of wait as I have. He just didn’t know it was you he was waiting for all along, and not his cousin.”
“It was the best day of my life, too,” Autumn said softly. “But I think we can top it together. And it was us he was waiting for all along. Not just me.”
Gunnar’s eyes held hers and a slow smile grew, along with his understanding.
“I would kiss you right now, if I trusted myself enough,” he said. “Be careful with him when you find him, all right? Make sure he understands what’s at stake. As much as I want a child with you, we can wait. At least until after we’re Outside together.”
“You’re not coming with me to talk to him?” she asked.
Gunnar snorted. “I need a few moments alone, and I think if I’m not with you when you talk to him, you’ll have better luck. He might not be able to look me in the eye, considering our little tryst.” He waved his hand to the shadows of the forest where she’d heard the two men together earlier. Her pussy clenched at the memory.
Autumn took a deep breath, nodded, and gave Gunnar’s arm a squeeze, then turned and made her way to the forest path. His mention of wanting a baby echoed in her mind as she walked. The old ache returned, along with the old regret.
The shift in her desires since seeing Gunnar, and then finding Jasper, still made her head spin. She wanted everything. Not only a pair of mates, but a child with them. Her midsection ached with longing when she thought about it. It wasn’t the same ache of need she felt when near the two men, but a more private need, one she had heard all females felt when they met their true match. She’d considered it ridiculous, until only a few weeks ago.
Then her reunion with Gunnar, followed by finding Jasper near death, had awakened it all in a rush. There wasn’t enough time for a slow courtship. Autumn’s estrous was beginning, would be in full swing soon. If she wanted it all, she had to convince Jasper to admit what she and Gunnar both knew he felt.
That was the easy part. Convincing Jasper to join them Outside before the month was out would be the hard part. Convincing him that her motivations were as much for love as for the preservation of their race would be even harder. She knew he’d already been informed of the circumstances surrounding their enemy and the existence of the other races. Of them all banding together to prepare for an all-out war. What the hell could he possibly be thinking now, except that she was simply desperate to conceive to fulfill the need to build an army for their inevitable war?
How the hell could she convince him it was nothing like that?
For that matter, how could she convince him she didn’t simply want him for breeding stock? After spending years among humans, she had a very different perspective on relationships than most ursa had. Her female human friends were so bound to the idea of the man being the provider and protector, the initiator during sex . . . all alien concepts to her, but alluring in some way. Jasper had grown up in that world. He smelled like that world, and she loved it so much she’d spent her nights imagining herself with Jasper and Gunn, eking out an idyllic little existence out there. And blowing the minds of the humans who witnessed it.
She was still smiling at the idea when a hand clamped over her mouth and a heavy arm wrapped around her torso.
“Scream and I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Defiantly, Autumn tried to scream, but she couldn’t catch her breath enough beyond the constriction of the arm pressed to her windpipe. Her vision grew dark as she clawed at the arm that held her. Just before she blacked out, she recognized his scent and the inflection in the low growl that rumbled in her ear.
Aidan?
Chapter Four
The pounding at his door startled Jasper out of his reverie. He’d been standing at the window watching the sunset, still struggling to avoid thinking about the afternoon. Small blasts of memory plagued him in between reading one of the most convoluted philosophical treatises he’d ever picked up. The library at this place astounded him, but nothing he tried reading managed to take his mind off Autumn and Gunnar, so he’d simply surrendered his mind to thoughts of them. He’d finally worked his way around to a decision of sorts—the decision to at least get them together so he could tell them both how he really felt and why he had to let them go.
The knocking on his door grew louder and more insistent. He finally couldn’t ignore it anymore when the door opened.
“Tell me you agreed. Please.”
Jasper turned from the window and stared, simultaneously aroused and terrified by the huge man who had just burst into his room.
“Agreed with what?” Jasper asked.
Gunnar stalked over to him and gripped him by the shoulders. Their eyes locked and for a second Jasper was sure the other man was going to punch him.
“With this.”
Gunnar’s lips crashed against Jasper’s, his tongue plowing between Jasper’s lips. Jasper’s will crumbled and his hands reflexively went to the sides of Gunnar’s face, holding on for dear life. Christ, the man could kiss. Jasper didn’t think he could ever get tired of what Gunnar could do with his mouth.
Both men were panting hard when Gunnar finally pulled away.
“Fuck,” Jasper whispered. He rubbed at his bruised mouth, smiling a little.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You need to understand that this isn’t a game for us. I don’t know what she told you already, but you and I need to agree to this partnership before she can mate us together.”
“Partnership? What partnership? We barely know each other.” Jasper turned and walked back to one of the reading chairs he’d spent half the afternoon sitting in. Being that close to Gunnar made it too difficult to think. He sank down with a sigh, still wallowing in the emotional repercussions his decision would leave him with.
Gunnar followed and parked himself on the footstool facing Jasper. Their knees brushed together, sending another little zing of pleasure straight to Jasper’s groin.
“I know you enjoyed this afternoon, maybe more than you’d like to admit. And it’s clear as day how much you want Autumn—I’ve seen the way you look at her. But if we can’t come to terms with being her mates together, she’ll have to find someone else. And with the promise we made your cousin, we’re running out of time.”
Jasper’s p
ulse sped up, leaving him a little dizzy. Gunnar’s words were coherent enough, but still so alien Jasper wasn’t sure he’d heard quite right.
He summoned the breath to speak, but his words only managed to come out in a gruff whisper. “Her mates . . . as in plural? Can you just pretend for a minute I have no idea what you’re talking about?”
Gunnar frowned. “I thought she would explain . . . ” After an impatient sigh, he said, “Ursa females frequently choose their mates in pairs. Like your cousin did. Julian and August were a bachelor pair before being called on to service her. She chose them instinctively, thanks to her estrous, but any other female would have had the prerogative to choose them as a unit. Females rarely break up a male pair, anyway. But if a female chooses a pair of males who aren’t already a couple, the pair have to agree to be together before she can mate them. It isn’t easy being a single male around women as fertile as Autumn is.”
“You mean us,” Jasper said, his mind tumbling over the afternoon, trying to reconcile it with his fears. Being cornered and sucked off by a naked man held such a different implication for him. It meant rejection, pain, humiliation.
“Yeah.” Gunnar’s voice cracked with emotion, his eyes glassy with emotion.
That sound, that look, was precisely the opposite reaction from the one Jasper had feared.
“So this afternoon . . . it was more than just for fun, wasn’t it? If I’d gone to Autumn . . . ”
“She probably would have fucked your brains out, if you’d agreed to let her mark you. I would have joined in. It would have been fun, and amazing. But I needed to know you and I were . . . compatible, I guess, before we took that step. So . . . ” Gunnar gave him a hopeful look.
Bitten (Black Mountain Bears Book 2) Page 3
