by Charlie Hart
Like an angel.
My angel.
Slowly, her body lowers, and her feet touch the pavement, and the glowing on her skin stops. She blinks at me, and I see the confession in her pale green eyes. “I’m...I’m alive.”
Those words have all three of us bounding toward her, wrapping her in our arms. Our relief tangible.
She laughs softly. “You’re crushing me.”
“Sorry,” I say, pulling back slightly, but not before I kiss her. “Shit, Ruby, we thought we lost you.”
“You did,” she says, frowning. “I...I died. But...”
“You were reborn,” a man says behind us.
I glance over my shoulder and see the hooded man who had first marked her, the man I’d punched, standing there, holding a bundle of something grey in his hands.
“I don’t understand,” Ruby says. “What happened? The curse—”
“There was no curse,” he tells her.
“But my father said—”
“Your mother.” The man grimaces but holds Ruby’s gaze. “She was a willing vessel. But she made one vital mistake. She fell in love.”
“With my father?” Ruby shakes her head in confusion.
“Yes. And it broke her. Angels and humans, especially witches, they can mate, but only for a period of time, until a child is born from the union. A child who will take on the responsibilities of the grey order. After your father found out that your mother was expecting you, he returned to his celestial home, but not before telling your mother what you would become.”
“How do you know this?”
He tilts his head and gives a sad smile. “I was issued to protect her. To protect you. But your mother fled, and she put a spell on you, making it impossible for me to track you. But then I felt your presence in the woods.”
Ruby lets out a shaky breath, and I wrap my arms around her.
“So, she’s alright now?” I ask. “There’s no curse. We can take our mate home.”
“Yes. But...” The hooded man steps forward and I hear Gage growl beside me. Unfazed, the man holds the grey bundle out to Ruby. “You are a Guardian now. There will be a time when you will be called to protect this realm.”
“But I have no powers,” she says, taking the gift.
The man chuckles. “You are more powerful than you can imagine.” And then he disappears, the space where he was, empty like he’d never been there.
“Shit,” Cody says. “Can you do that too?”
We all laugh, the sound full of emotions and questions that still need to be answered.
Ruby leans into me and sighs.
“Time to take you home,” I tell her, then smirk. “Unless you can somehow teleport us all?”
She shakes her head. “This is crazy.”
“You’re alive,” I tell her. “That’s all that matters.”
“And that you’re ours,” Gage adds, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
“Wait,” she says. “Where’s my father?”
“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “He’s fine.” We’d come across him on our way to her. I’d shifted quickly enough to make sure he was alright and told him to meet us back at our cabin.
“You ready to go home?” Cody asks her.
“Yes, but...” She glances down at his naked body and grins. “You might want to shift into bear form.”
We all chuckle, and I say, “I thought you liked us naked.”
“Oh, I do.” She winks. “But I want that view just for myself. Plus, I think I might try out these new powers of mine.”
I raise a brow at her. “What do you mean?”
She smirks up at me and says, “Let’s see who can get home faster.” And just like that, she’s gone.
“Shit,” Gage says, and Cody’s eyes go wide.
But then I can feel her, her essence, her presence, and that sweet little voice of hers rings in my head calling me home.
Epilogue I
Cody
Two months later...
We spent the last few days getting Ruby’s room ready. She says she prefers the loft with us, but we agree that spending time alone with her, and also, giving her space to be by herself, is what will be the best for all of us long term.
As much as I love sharing my mate, her sweet round ass and her perky little tits - there is something special about having time alone with her. When I finish hanging the curtains, the room is ready. I go to the kitchen to find my brothers and my mate. But it’s just Ruby Rose I find, in the kitchen, her hips swaying as she pulls an apple pie from the oven.
“That smells amazing,” I tell her, wrapping my arms around her waist. I kiss her neck and she laughs, swatting me with the pot holder.
“Careful, I don’t want you to burn yourself.”
I chuckle, watching as she sets the pie on the counter to cool. “Can I show you something?” I ask.
She turns off the oven and sets her apron on the kitchen table. Having her here these last few weeks has been incredible - not just because she can cook and clean like a speed demon, and not because she has been the best company out on the Diablo Falls lake when we’ve gone fishing. And not because she has an equally unquenchable sexual appetite. But because when we are together, life makes more sense. There is no restless pacing of Gage, Huck, and I looking for our mate. She is here. And now a peace can settle over us for the first time since we’ve come of age.
I cover her eyes with my hands as I lead her from the kitchen toward her bedroom. As I do, Gage and Huck enter the house and tiptoe into her room.
“Who’s here?” she asks, hearing them, but I just laugh and tell her it must be the wind.
“You’re full of it,” she says, laughing. “I can sense you, all three of you.”
In her room, I uncover her eyes. A gasp escapes her mouth as she takes in the space we have made just for her.
“It’s perfect,” she says, sitting down on the fluffy mattress covered with a soft blue coverlet. “This bed is amazing.” She crawls into the center of the oversized mattress that we had custom made. All the bear families on this mountain mate in groups, so it wasn’t hard to find the right supplier.
Gage and Huck join us.
“We know you love the loft,” Gage says. “But it will be nice to have a place where you can hang your clothing and relax without a cock nudging against your ass.”
She laughs, sitting up in the bed, facing the three of us. “You know I love your cock anywhere you put it.” She bites her bottom lip and looks around the room.
“What is it?” I ask. “You don’t like the curtains, the dresser?”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s all perfect, it’s just...”
Huck laces his fingers with hers. “Then what?”
“I was just thinking it might be kind of crowded, is all.”
Gage frowns. “We told you, we won’t always be here with you. You can kick us out whenever you like.”
She shakes her head again. “That’s not what I mean.”
“What is it then, girl?” Huck asks. “You need more space from us? Is this all too much, too fast?”
We know Ruby Rose has had a hell of a summer. Losing her identity as a daughter and becoming a Grey Guardian. She spends most of her days on the mountain with the other guardians, perfecting her magic, and learning how to wield her unique power. Not to mention, she met us - her mates.
Ruby’s eyes fill with tears, and she wipes them away.
“You’re scaring me,” I say, pulling her into my arms. “Baby, you can tell us.”
“I just, I know the last few months have been full of change and I know you guys want things to settle down, but...” She sits back up and pulls off her sundress, and sits before us naked, so damn beautiful. She presses her hands to her bare belly. “I’m pregnant.”
“Really?” Gage’s face breaks out into a huge smile. “That’s wonderful.”
“It is? You’re not feeling like you just got in too deep with me?”
“Too deep?” I ask. “Ruby, that’s not possible. We told you, you are our everything.”
Huck wipes away the tears from her eyes. “You are going to have the cutest witch-bear baby this mountain has ever seen.”
She laughs. “Only a quarter witch, to be fair. Part witch, part angel, part bear.”
“And part all of us,” I say. “God, I loved you before, but now... well, you just gave us the greatest gift a pack could hope for.”
“But if the baby is a guardian. Her life won’t just be hers, it will belong to the mountain.”
“If he or she is, then she’ll be lucky to have a mother who can guide the way,” I tell her before pulling my naked mate to my chest.
I kiss her, hard, and my brothers undress as I inhale her sweet lips. My fingers run over her wet pussy, opening her up like a flower in bloom. She moans against me as Huck runs his hands over her creamy skin.
I roll away as she straddles him. I take off my clothes, stroking my thick cock as she begins to ride Huck. Watching her get fucked turns me on, and I jerk my cock nice and hard, wanting that cum to flow.
Gage moves behind her, his fingers covered in lube as he opens her tight hole from behind. She whimpers loudly as he begins to fill his mate. I move in front of her on my knees and she takes my cock in her willing mouth.
I love getting sucked off from this angle - as she gets pounded from her cunt and her ass. She loves it so damn much, her holes spreading as they fill her up the way her pussy needs.
Her tiny little tits bounce as they thrust into her, her tongue running up and down my shaft. It won’t take me long to come in her mouth, and I love it when she swallows me, the milky cum sliding down her throat. I grunt in pleasure as she sucks me, her hands on my balls, Huck’s hands massaging those pretty tits. Gage slaps her round ass as he takes her and the whole fucking mountain can hear her when she reaches her climax. Her groans shake the walls of the cabin and stir the wild bear within me.
When we finish, we fall into her bed, our hands resting on her belly. The intensity of the orgy has us breathless and utterly devoted to our girl.
“We need to have a mating ceremony,” Gage says, fingers twining with hers. “I want to make it clear to everyone that you are ours.”
“What would that look like?” she asks.
Huck shrugs. “There aren’t formal weddings here for the bears on Blackthorne. So, we can do whatever we want.”
She nods. “So, we make a commitment, and it bonds us?”
“Were already bound,” I tell her. “This is more symbolic.”
“Like wedding rings,” she says.
“Yeah, but we don’t wear rings, because when we shift, we’d lose them,” I explain. “But we can get you a ring, of course.”
Ruby Rose grins. “Okay, let’s do it.” She scoots out of the bed and Gage, Huck, and I share a look.
“Now?” Gage asks.
“Just hold tight, I’ll be right back,” she says. When her pretty ass cheeks saunter out of the room, Gage, Huck, and I get out of the bed.
“You ready for this?” Huck asks.
“I’ve been waiting for it my entire life,” I tell him.
“God, I love her,” Gage says.
“I can’t believe we’re going to be fathers. How fucking lucky are we?”
She walks back in the room, then, hearing Huck’s words. “We’re the luckiest,” she says, holding her apple pie.
We all laugh. “This is the symbol?” Gage asks.
She shrugs, a big smile playing on her lips. “You said it was my apple pie scent that drew you to me, so I figure, what would be more appropriate than this?”
Gage grabs a stool and sets the pie on it, then we stand in a circle. Huck clears his throat, “How about, our love is as strong as Blackthorne Mountain, as clear as the water in Diablo Falls, as eternal as the magic that binds us all.”
Tears fill Ruby Rose’s eyes. “That’s perfect,” she says as we take one another’s hands. “Did you just come up with that?”
He laughs. “I guess reading all those books did me some good.”
We stand and together we recite the vow. As the words leave our lips, a white fog encircles us and a thick buzz fills the room. The words are not just symbolic, they are permanent. They have created a forcefield that will not let anything penetrate our love.
When the last word is spoken, the fog vanishes, and Ruby Rose lets out a gasp. She holds out her hand and a glittering band of blue-grey light circles her ring finger. Then, with shock, we realize we have all been marked the same way. Huck, Gage, and I have all been gifted light rings that will never fall to the forest floor when we shift. As eternal as our love.
Our love is as strong as Blackthorne Mountain.
As clear as the water in Diablo Falls.
As eternal as the magic that binds us all.
Epilogue II
Ruby
Ten years later...
“Just trust your instincts, Bella,” I tell my oldest daughter, setting a hand on my ever-growing belly. I’m carrying twin boys. Again.
“Will you tell Henry and Luke to stop growling, I can’t concentrate,” Bella says.
I look over at my cubs, eight years old and constantly shifting. It’s a beautiful day on Blackthorne Mountain, but the summer heat is hitting all of us. Why they cancel school in the summer is beyond me. This is the time of year mothers could use a little help. God help me when they are teenagers and it’s mating season, it will be the end of me, I swear.
“Gage, Cody, can you come get the boys?” I call out to my mates who are in the woods, chopping wood. “Take them to the river. Maybe catching fish will help them burn some energy.”
Huck comes out of the house clapping as Bella wields her light. Her arm is straight, the ball of light cupped in her palm. I know it takes lots of focus, but the praise from her Papa Huck seems to relax her and the ball of light glows even brighter.
Bella is the most special of all Grey Guardians. Not only does she protect the mountain, but she can create fields of light to save those who need saving. Creatures great and small.
Her brothers stop rolling around on the ground, and Gage and Cody come from the woods, axes over their shoulders, sweat on their brows. They aren’t wearing any shirts and their chests glisten in the summer heat. Ten years later, and there is still nothing that makes me as hot as my mates.
I look at my daughter, everyone is mesmerized by her talent. Her light brightens, becoming thicker, stronger. My girl will be the greatest Grey Guardian this mountain has ever seen, and pride swells in my chest.
Cody wraps his large arms around me and pulls me into a kiss, Gage is on my other side, his hands on my belly, his mouth nuzzling my neck. Huck chuckles as he approaches, and I can hear the hungry need in that one sound.
Their appetite for me is still unsatiated, and I love that after all this time, I can still bring out the wildness of my mates.
The kids groan, but they’re used to seeing us together. Our family goes completely against cultural norms, but this is Diablo Falls where the unexpected happens, where fairy tale creatures are real, and happily ever afters exist. A place where magic breathes new life and love can bloom in all its unique and perfect forms.
~The End~
The Wife Lottery
Chapter 1
Tia
The room is full of men. Most are tall, all well-built, a mass of muscles and testosterone.
The rough and rugged men of Alaska.
I’ve counted seventy-two already, and more continue to pile in. Each one here for one thing. Me.
Well, me and the other two women who have come here by our own free will to find sanctuary in the wild north. The only cost - our lives.
After tonight, I’ll belong to six of these men.
And they’ll belong to me.
I swallow the anxiety that creeps up my throat, not wanting to reveal my apprehension to anyone. I’ve never been one to be ruled by fear. It was one of my father�
��s greatest frustrations, that he could never bully me into the docile child he wanted.
But right now, fear presses heavy against my chest, as a hundred what ifs race through my mind. The scariest - what if choosing a life here, with these strangers, is worse than the life I would have had back home?
No. That’s impossible. I had to run. If I wanted to taste freedom, of any kind, I had to take this chance.
Of course, when I escaped home on a cargo ship, after hearing rumors about this wild land where honorable men roamed, I didn’t realize I would be forced into marriage - and with six men, instead of one.
I close my eyes, steadying my breath. These men can’t be as horrid as Lawson. A life with him would have been pure hell. At least here, I’m giving myself a chance at a life that has more meaning than being a trophy, owned by a man I loathe.
Still, fear crawls up my throat. There is so much unknown. The Lottery Council explained the situation after I arrived. Nearly dead from exhaustion, and a lack of resources on the ship, I’d signed the papers, agreeing to their terms.
After health and background checks, the men of Alaska are free to purchase lottery tickets, as many as they like, and then add them to the pot for each bride listed.
Tonight, there are three of us.
I look over at Kate. She’s an exotic dark-haired beauty, with olive skin and almond-shaped eyes. Both her and Lilah were on the same ship I arrived on. But of all the rumors we’d heard about this place, being part of a wife lottery wasn’t one of them. I’m not sure I would have come if I’d known.
Kate reaches for my hand clutching it. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll be safe here.”
I pray she’s right and hope that I’ve done a good enough job covering my tracks getting here.
Because if they find me….
I blink rapidly, not wanting to cry on stage with so many men watching me.
Breathe, Tia.
“Besides, you’re gorgeous, Tia. ” The delicate blonde, Lilah, on my right, looks at me with her wide, innocent blue eyes as she speaks. I didn’t know either of the women before I boarded that cargo ship, but there’s a bond between us, a friendship that gives me strength. “You’re going to make your husbands very happy.”
