by Charlie Hart
“Nothing,” she says. I notice her ears are pointed slightly, like my own. People used to make fun of me when I was younger until I started wearing my hair long. The woman’s mouth forming a sly little curve. “I just thought, maybe I knew you from somewhere.”
I frown. “I’ve never been to Diablo Falls before.”
“No, not from Diablo, I mean, another place.” When I don’t respond, she adds, “Another realm?”
“I’m from Canyon City. I work for The Gazette. I’m just here to write a story.”
“Keep your stories to yourself,” she scoffs. Scowling, she pushes her cart away without looking back.
Okay, apparently the people here aren’t too keen on reporters. I gathered that from the bears. Groaning, I try the key again, wondering when I became a person who referred to bears as if they were people.
It’s unnatural.
Isn’t it?
The door finally opens and when I’m in the bathroom, I turn on the shower to ice cold. I’ve never needed to cool down like I do right now. This town is doing something funny to me.
Blurring all the lines.
Because even as I step into the icy shower, there is a truth gnawing at me. They weren’t just bears. And they weren’t just men.
I’m connected to them in ways I don’t understand.
They said I was their mate.
And as I run my hands over my bare body, I can’t help but wonder.
Am I?
I walk down Main Street with my laptop in my messenger bag and pull open the doors of Hellspresso. The coffee is as dark-roasted as the barista. Tallie, the lady working behind the counter, may have bright pink hair but that’s the only cheery thing about her.
“What do you want?” she asks, her lip in a snarl. When I don’t answer right away, she rolls her eyes. “I don’t have all day, you know.”
I bite back a smile. Her attitude doesn’t seem to deter customers, the place is full. Not like any of us have a choice. Hellspresso is the only coffee shop in Diablo Falls.
“I’ll take an iced-vanilla-mocha, extra whip, please.” I smile, hoping it warms her to me. But considering this is my fifth time coming for coffee in two days, you’d think she’d have learned my order by now. I’m not usually so caffeinated, but I’ve had a crazy headache that I’m attributing to the heat. And these lattes seem to help cool me down. Plus, the place is air conditioned with free wi-fi.
I grab my latte from the counter and find an empty table to spread out my things. Pulling up my working document, I stare at my article.
Well, the headline of it, because in forty-eight hours all I’ve managed to do as far as my assignment goes is type, DIABLO FALLS IS HOT THIS SUMMER.
Maybe a little too on the nose.
But God, I swear I’m having heat stroke. I press a paper napkin to my chest where sweat is pooling. And when I take a sip of the latte, I feel ill. Sick to my stomach. Worse, it’s like I’ve had food poisoning.
I run to the bathroom and pull open the door just as a man with fangs is walking out.
Fangs. Literal fangs.
Where the hell am I?
I murmur an excuse to the vampire and slip in, locking the door behind me and proceed to lose my breakfast in the toilet.
Several minutes later, I’ve splashed water on my face and calmed down. Slightly. Maybe I need fresh air.
Grabbing my abandoned computer, I return to the hotel, tossing my latte out as I go. Something was off about that coffee. After asking the woman at the front desk about swimming holes, I’m in my Wrangler, swimsuit under my sundress, with a towel on the passenger seat beside me.
I drive up Blackthorne Mountain to take a left turn when I see the sign for Diablo Falls. The parking lot is nearly full and when I finally find a spot, I grab my towel and walk toward the water.
I’m an open-minded person, but this is no normal swimming hole at the base of a waterfall. It’s gorgeous, sure - a gushing waterfall cascading into the enormous pool of crystal-clear water. But it’s the people, or rather, creatures that have me doubting everything I know about the world.
There are mermaids sunbathing on rocks, a man with a pair of angel wings protruding from his back, a were-man shaking out his fur as a woman bats him playfully with a broomstick.
Confused, and slightly terrified, I decide to walk around the lake to a less populated area. It’s cooler here, in the woods, and I’m finally feeling like my body temperature is dipping.
I came for a swim, but as I walk along the trail in the woods, I feel pulled to explore further into the forest.
I’m not sure where I’m going, but the headache that’s been pulsing for days seems to fade the more I walk. Maybe it’s the pine trees, the sun-warmed soil, the earthy moss. Whatever it is, I keep moving deeper into the woods, chasing a feeling I’ve never felt before.
There’s a feeling in the air, like I’d felt when I’d first driven into this crazy city. Like electricity and chaos and when I stumble over a moss-covered rock, I nearly fall straight into a vortex of swirling color.
I suck in a breath and steady myself.
“What the hell?” I mutter. After everything I’ve seen over the past two days, the swirling, shimmering light shouldn’t faze me. But it does, because I feel it calling me, pulling me, claiming me.
And all I can think about is how I wish Aiden, Maddox, and Keegan were here with me now. But as soon as I think about them, I swear I feel their presence. Hear their bears growl inside my head, their voices demanding to know if I’m alright.
I shake the thought away and refocus on the intense vortex of light in front of me.
Whispering voices buzz in my ear, and involuntarily my hands lifts, reaching out to touch the vortex.
But then I’m thrown back, the wind knocked from my lungs when a blast of something has my back hitting a trunk of a tree.
My vision is just returning when I blink and see a man standing in front of the vortex, and he looks angry.
Poised, almost regal, the man holds himself like royalty, even though he’s probably younger than I am. And his ears are slightly pointed, like the cleaning lady at the hotel. From the fairy tales my mother read to me as a child, I’d make a wager that the guy is an elf, or maybe a fairy.
I’d never thought about my own ears as being anything but an odd little quirk, but now...God, how is any of this real?
The man speaks in a language I don’t recognize, his blue eyes flashing with wrath.
“I don’t know what you’re saying,” I tell him. “But I’m sorry if I did something wrong. I was just hiking and—”
“You don’t even know our language.” The man scoffs, looking down his nose at me. “You who would challenge me for my crown.”
“You have the wrong person. I’m not here to challenge anyone. And I’ll just be going—”
“You’ll go nowhere without my permission.”
That has the woman’s rights activist part of my brain raising my brows. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve come to claim the crown, sister, so come and try and claim it.” A sword appears in his hand, and when he twirls it, blue fire flames from the tip.
The man is clearly crazy.
“I’m not your sister,” I tell him, moving around the tree, and walking backward. “And I promise you, I don’t want your crown.”
His gaze is narrowed on me, the sword still expertly twirling in his hand, the blue fire blazing, threatening. “I can sense my father’s blood running through your veins. And I saw you in the great mirror. If you’d stayed away from Diablo Falls, I may have spared your life. But there is only room for one Fae sovereign in these hills.”
I let out a scream as he rushes toward me, the sword pointed straight at my heart. And I know without any doubt that the man intends to kill me.
Chapter Six
Maddox
I sense the danger before I hear Maisie’s scream. I had taken one look at Aiden and Keegan and we were both shifting into bear form and
rushing through the forest. At first, Maisie successfully pushed me out of her head when I pressed into her thoughts, but the greater her fear grew, the easier it was to enter her mind. And I saw everything, heard the fae king’s claim that she is his sister.
And I also know that she is in mortal danger.
I press my bear harder, knowing we might lose our mate before we fully claimed her. As I rush through the foliage, I let out a growl, ready to strike the fae king down, even though I know it’ll probably end with my head on a pike.
But I need to save my mate. Protect her. That’s all that matters.
Keegan, Aiden, and I form a circle around the fae king, and I see the fear in his eyes. He’s no more than a boy, and from the scent of him, he isn’t full fae. His scent is similar to Maisie’s. Why hadn't I recognized it before?
She’s half fae.
That complicates things, especially if the king’s claims are true, that she has a claim to the crown.
“You dare threaten me, shifters?” the king says, sword still in his hand. But other than twirling it around like a baton, it doesn’t look like he knows how to use it.
I shift into human form, but Keegan and Aiden stay in bear form, ready to strike if needed. “You’re the one threatening our mate.”
The king’s eyes widen. “You’ve claimed her?”
“We have.”
There’s a flash of uncertainty in his gaze, and then he’s stepping backward. Before he disappears into the vortex, he points the sword at Maisie and says, “This isn’t over, sister.”
And then he’s gone.
Maisie lets out a small sob, and I rush toward her, gathering her in my arms.
She is more than she knows, more than I had ever imagined. Her kind older than time itself.
Our mate is half-fae.
And on Blackthorne Mountain, that means she will never belong fully to us, to this place.
She is from another realm, a realm that calls to her. A realm that bear shifters know little about.
Fae aren’t known for their sweetness - they are known for their sly and cunning power. But also, their intelligence. Their quiet strength and their ability to defend their realm.
Maisie is a powerful woman and yet - she is ours.
She may not know it yet, but there is no doubt. Our bears have claimed her as their own, and if she hadn’t submitted to us fully, we wouldn’t have been able to sense her the way we had.
“I don’t understand what just happened,” she says as I lift her in my arms and carry her back down the mountain. “He just came out of nowhere and the things he was saying.”
I’m aware of the looks we get as we pass the lake, three shifters completely naked, carrying a woman who’s still shaking from fear. But no one approaches or asks us questions as we head toward where Maisie said she left her Jeep.
She’s still shaking as I buckle her in.
The three of us, Keegan, Aiden, and I get in the Jeep with her. I jump in the driver’s seat and get us up the mountain, back to our cabin as quickly as possible.
I was pissed when Aiden went behind our backs and placed that ad, but it wasn’t because he wanted to betray us - it was because he knew something we didn’t. Our mate was waiting for the call. When she heard it, she came running.
Even if Maisie doesn’t see it quite like that, in time she will. “We’ll figure it out,” I tell her, knowing she’s in more trouble than she thinks. But I don’t want to scare her.
“He kept saying that I’m his sister,” she says as we pull up to the cabin.
“Why did you come to Diablo Falls, exactly?” Keegan asks as we walk inside the cabin.
She lets me wrap my arm around her and guide her inside.
“I came here for work, to write an article on a vacation destination but ...”
“But what?” Aiden presses.
“But also, because my mother always told me this place was off-limits. Dangerous. I never understood why she’d been so adamant.” Maisie shakes her head. “And now she’s gone, and I can’t ask why she knew about this place. But it’s like, this place knows me.” She plops down on the couch. “God, do you hear the words coming out of my mouth? It all sounds insane.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Aiden asks. I go to the kitchen, grabbing us beers and walk in on Maisie crying, wiping tears from her big, glassy eyes. She’s explaining that her mom died less than a year ago, and right then and there, I know she is mine.
I’ve never been the sensitive type. I’m grumpy and gruff - but when I look at Maisie, all I want to do is wipe her pain away. Protect her from it for the rest of her life.
“It’s nearly five now, and most shops are closing for the day,” Keegan tells her. “But tomorrow we’ll go into town and ask around. Maybe someone knew your mom. Knows her story.”
But I’m worried that whatever that story is will only open a can of worms we might not be able to protect her from - especially if it’s true, that she is the fae king’s sister.
She nods, comforted by his words, and she snuggles against him as he draws her under his arm.
“I don’t know what I would have done today if you three hadn’t come to my rescue.”
“You don’t ever have to worry about being alone. We are here for you, Maisie. Forever.”
She shakes her head. “It sounds insane, right? You just met me.”
“Doesn’t feel like that, though, does it?” I ask, setting the beers down on the coffee table. “It feels like you’ve been ours from the start. But if you go running, we can’t keep you safe. You need to stay where we can watch over you.”
She scoffs. “I don’t need some alpha bear men to be my hero. I’m my own knight-in-shining-armor. I can save myself.”
She grabs a beer, takes a long swig. A smile tries to shove its way on my face. She is more than a two-dimensional princess, that’s for sure.
“Then think of it like this,” I tell her. “Imagine us as your backup. You wanna take center stage, go for it, darling.” She starts to interject, but I cut her off. “Don’t get too haughty with your words. You may say you don’t need a knight, but I’m pretty fucking sure you liked our swords.” I grab my cock then, and grin.
She lets out a laugh and Aiden and Keegan chuckle. “You’re pretty cheesy for a burly mountain man,” she tells me, licking her lips.
“Hey, I just say it like I see it.”
She twists her lips. “And you see me, here. With you?”
I nod. “It’s all we fucking want, Maisie. You.”
Her shoulders fall then, and she stands, stepping toward me. I kiss her, hard. Needing her sweet lips against my mouth, needing her warm body against my chest. I run my hands under her dress, her round ass in my hands, and I groan, needing her in ways she still doesn’t know. Entirely.
She pulls back, looking around the room, a simpering smile on her swollen lips. “Do you bears mind if I stay the night?”
I grin at her, and say honestly, “I’m hoping you stay forever.”
Chapter Seven
Maisie
I don’t know what crazy-heat-stroke-haze brought me to the lake today, but it has led me here. Back to the cabin where only a few days ago I lost my virginity. Shared it, really.
My pussy has been throbbing since I drove away from this cabin, freaking out. Now that I’ve returned, my body is begging me to give myself over to the men again.
I won’t deny myself anything. Not when being here feels so damn good.
And it does. It feels so right, being in their arms, their space. And when Maddox lifts me in his arms and carries me into the bedroom - my bedroom, according to them - a wave of want rushes over me.
“God, I’m so wet for you,” I tell them, pulling my dress up and over my head. The men growl, tearing off their clothes and a smile spreads across my face, loving their adoration and their desire. Their want for me. And me alone.
“Maisie, two days is too damn long,” Keegan groans as he pats the bed. “Come here, ba
by, come here, sit down where you belong.”
I lick my lips, doing as I’m told. He stands before me, and I reach eagerly for his thick cock. God, it’s bigger than I remembered. So hard and long. I dip my head, ready to suck him but he shakes his head.
“No, I need to taste you first,” he demands as he kneels before me and spreads my knees. I close my eyes as he begins to lick my dripping pussy. My body shivering with pleasure as he runs his tongue up and down me.
“God, you’re sweet as cherries, baby. I can’t get enough,” he moans, sucking my clit hard, tight, knowing that it makes my skin prick with excitement. I moan, loving the way his tongue moves so damn fast.
“Come closer,” I tell Aiden and Maddox. “I need to touch you. Please.”
My need to run my hands run up and down their velvety rods is so primal, so unbidden, that I begin to stroke them simultaneously, they each massage one of my round breasts and my nipples get hard as I stroke my lovers.
They love it, rewarding me with groans and kisses. Aiden’s hand runs over my belly, and I feel a warmth there when he does. My body seizes with need.
“Fuck me, Keegan. Please.”
He stands, his hand on my cunt, and I’m dripping with need. He knows it, he knows there is only one cure for this kind of torture. He moves inside of me, and I arch my back, crying out as he begins to fill me up. His cock is so big, so thick, and my pussy begs for more. He knows what I need. He pushes deeper inside my tight hole, fucking me the way I need. The way I never knew was possible. Entirely.
I begin to suck Maddox’s hard cock, wanting him to come in my mouth, and I bounce my head, jacking off Aiden at the same time.
“Fuck,” Aiden groans. “I’m gonna come.”
“Come on my tits,” I tell him. “Please. I need you, all of you, all over me. Fuck me and come on me and mark me as yours.”
He grunts, pleasure filling that big long shaft of his and when it’s time, he jacks himself off over my big round tits, the milky cum seeping over my skin, and Maddox groans, telling me it’s time. I suck him again, harder, wanting that salty cum on my lips before I pull that thick cock from my mouth and let his ribbons of cum shoot over my skin.
