by Teagan Amici
“Could you hear?”
“Yes, it’s still tiny and faint, but I could hear it. You should be able to soon”.
“What are you guys talking about?” I asked, looking from one to the other in confusion. Bram approached me, putting an arm around my shoulders before kissing me on the forehead.
“Why, the baby’s heartbeat of course. What did you think I was doing?”
“Really? You can hear the heartbeat? So soon? Why can’t Cole?”
Bram tapped his ears.
“Better hearing, remember? If you want to see long distances in the dark, go to Cole. If you want to hear quiet little things, come to me”.
As we walked to the bedroom and climbed onto the bed, I had a little warm feeling in my heart. Bram could hear our baby’s heart beat. I fell asleep that night wrapped in strong male arms, with two male hands resting on my belly, enfolding us all within the love we shared.
Twelve
Over the next couple of days, Blair seemed to invent any number of excuses to go to see Lesley. First, it was to do the tasks he had planned, but once that was done, he seemed to notice little jobs that needed doing around the house, and of course he was the one who volunteered to go and do them. Not that any of us complained, as he was making sure the house was well maintained, but just to make sure that Lesley wasn’t feeling pressured, I called her often for a chat. Ostensibly those chats were from one pregnant woman to another, asking her about what I had ahead of me, but that topic would be quickly exhausted and we would talk about her day, my day, how well she was settling into her house, and I would tell her what progress had been made on my house. I was lucky that the mobile phone booster idea had worked, or I wouldn’t have had the freedom to make calls whenever I wanted to.
On Friday, I mentioned the weekly football game, and invited her over, and for the barbeque afterwards. Lesley of course offered to bring something, and although I told her she didn’t need to bother, she insisted, so I suggested a pavlova, knowing that Blair was partial to them.
I was just putting the finishing touches to a couple of salads in the kitchen when I saw Lesley pull up outside. There wasn’t a warning dust trail any more as the recent rains had settled the dust. I wiped my hands and moved towards the door, smiling as I saw that Blair was the first person to reach Lesley’s car. I had to put a hand over my mouth to hide my widening smile as I saw him reach in to the car to help Lesley out, as her car was so small it was a struggle for her to get out of it, and somehow Blair managed to pull too hard and Lesley ended up falling into his arms. I could see Blair’s face from where I stood and I was a little saddened to see the momentary flash of longing on his face before he set Lesley from him, smiling at her before pointing her towards where I was waiting.
Lesley waddled towards the door while Blair followed in her wake, carrying a cake container that he had retrieved from the back seat. I hustled forward and pulled Lesley in for a hug, welcoming her to my home while looking over her shoulder at Blair. Blair looked at me for a moment before putting the container down on the bench and returning outside. Lesley stepped back and spoke.
“I’d love to look around, but first things first, it’s a long trip here and those roads were a bit bumpy. I need to pee, even though I went just before I left home. Where’s your toilet?”
Laughingly I took Lesley’s hand, leading her through the master bedroom to my bathroom. My bathroom was still the only one operational, but at least Bram had finished the cabinetry so that it was now finished. I didn’t miss Lesley’s wide eyes as she took in the huge round bed, and was thankful that Bram hadn’t yet got around to installing the mirror. I returned to the kitchen and put the kettle on, waiting for Lesley to return. When she did, she couldn’t meet my eyes for a moment before turning to me and drawing a deep breath.
“I can’t help myself, I just have to say it. That bathroom is huge! Don’t think I didn’t notice the three showerheads. So you can all shower together? You have no idea how lucky you are, Diane, I couldn’t even find one decent man, and you found two. Not that I’m jealous, I don’t think I’d be comfortable enough to do what you do, but damn. It would be lovely just to have one man who cared as much for me as both your two do for you”.
I moved to Lesley and took both her hands, drawing her to the window as I spoke.
“Just have patience, Lesley. I’m sure that somewhere out there is someone who is just perfect for you. Just because you chose the wrong one once, doesn’t mean that the right one isn’t waiting for you to be ready to choose him”.
I noticed that Blair had managed to find work to do that kept him near the house, and that Lesley was looking at him as I spoke. I turned my back towards the kettle before Lesley could see the smirk on my face. From what I could see, Lesley wasn’t immune to Blair either. I thought if Blair managed to wait until the time was right, he and Lesley might find happiness together as well. I made two cups of tea, and after putting Lesley’s container in the fridge, we took our cups outside and made our way over to where two comfy outdoor chairs had been set out on the sidelines of the footy field.
“This is an incredible set up”, Lesley said, looking around before attempting to lower herself into a chair. I held out a hand to steady her, then took my seat as she continued. “You guys must really love your footy”.
“Yeah, they do. Mostly it’s a way for them to beat the crap out of each other without me getting angry about it, but they like the game too”. I continued as Lesley looked at me with a crooked eyebrow. “When I got together with Bram and Cole, both of their families were, well, not exactly feuding, but didn’t actually get along. Football was a way for them to bond, while at the same time getting to beat each other up a bit. At first it was a bit more about the beating, but lately it’s been more about the game. Maybe with you here watching, they’ll behave themselves a bit better as well”.
Soon enough, the pre-game rituals started, with me explaining the randomness of team selection to Lesley, and I noticed with glee that Blair not only got picked to play, but somehow managed to be playing while only wearing a pair of shorts, displaying a very nicely muscled abdomen as he ran. Of course, he wasn’t the only shifter who dispensed with a shirt, although Lesley didn’t know that he normally wore a t-shirt while he played. I noticed that Lesley’s eyes followed Blair around the ground, and her interest was observed by most of the assembled shifters as well.
Somehow that seemed to mean that Blair was marked for extra attention in terms of tackling, causing Lesley to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ when Blair was taken to ground frequently. To his credit, Blair gave as good as he got, although I think it was partly because his panther was lurking just under the surface, trying to show off for Lesley. Although Lesley and I had been lazily chatting throughout the game, at half time we headed inside for another bathroom break, and to warm up a little, as we were sitting still, not running around as the men were. When Lesley returned from the bathroom, she turned to me.
“I can see the resemblance between Blair and Cole, but are there other family members out there? I mean, lots of those men seem to have similar skin tones and hair colour, and yet the others are so different”.
I laughed.
“Cole and Blair have a big family, lots of cousins I suppose you would say. They originally came from South America, if you’re wondering about their colouring. Bram’s people are from all over Europe, some are related, some aren’t. Was that what you were asking?”
Lesley turned to me then, her brows drawn together in confusion.
“Maybe. But where are all the women? I mean, there’s only the two of us here, don’t any of their wives and girlfriends like to watch them play?”
I thought about that for a while.
“Well, I think most of them are between girlfriends at the moment. It’s complicated. But we’d better get back out there, or we’ll miss the start of third quarter”.
How to explain the shifters’ lifestyle to Lesley? I knew lots of the men spent time with
human girlfriends, but they kept them separate from their shifter lifestyle. These men weren’t players or anything like that, they felt loneliness just like human males, but didn’t want to become emotionally involved with women that they would outlive, so they tended to keep an emotional distance between themselves and the women they dated, even though they treated the women like princesses while they were with them. I had seen that the shifters had noticed not only Lesley’s interest in Blair, but his interest in her, and although Lesley was immune to it, I could detect the change in mood when we reappeared. I noticed several shifters cast speculative glances between Lesley and Blair, and I noticed a couple of panthers approach Cole, speaking to him quietly before he responded just as quietly.
Blair managed to kick an impossible goal from the boundary line near us, and he turned to us, pumping his fist in the air and smiling at Lesley before his team-mates crowded him to congratulate him. Finally the final siren went, and I opened my mouth to warn Lesley of the men’s traditional method of cooling off, but I was too late. I turned to her and saw her face flame as she watched the men disrobe, but smiled to myself as I saw her eyes seek out one manly backside in particular, before her hand went to her mouth in an attempt to smother a sigh. I chuckled as I stood and offered a hand to help Lesley struggle out of her seat.
“Sorry about that, I forgot to warn you. They always do that, even when it’s a bit nippy like today. Although, a bit of eye candy isn’t always a bad thing, is it?”
Lesley didn’t say anything as she accompanied me into the house, and I steered her towards a chair as I started rummaging in the fridge, pulling items out and placing them on the bench. Fortunately, we had purchased a very large fridge, as well as a matching freezer. Even though there was more space than most families needed, there were still items stacked in every available corner, and I had to juggle things to get everything out without dropping containers on the floor. I put Lesley to work buttering bread rolls, so that she had something to do, and waited for her to speak.
“So, you were saying that girlfriends don’t often come to watch the game? I guess since I’m here as your friend, the guys don’t mind?”
I turned to Lesley and smiled at her, stilling her hand as she dug the knife into the butter.
“Blair doesn’t have a girlfriend, if that’s what you were trying to ask”.
“Um, I wasn’t, well, I’m not, um…. Oh, you must think I’m awful, thinking that Blair could be interested in me right now, I mean, look at me. Not only am I the size of a house, but I’m having someone else’s baby. I’m just being silly”.
“Why would you think that? So you slept with someone else and got pregnant, so what? You’re not still with him, it’s not like you’re cheating on him. You’re free to like whoever you want to, to date whoever you want to. As for being the size of a house, you’re hardly that. Look, I don’t know what the final stages of pregnancy are like, I’m not there yet, maybe you don’t feel attractive, but you are. Any man worth his salt will see that, and will wait until you’re ready to start dating again. Just take your time and let things happen when they happen. I’m going to tell you something now, and if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it. Haven’t you thought it odd that Blair keeps popping up whenever you’re around? Have a think about that, and about maybe why that is”.
The rest of the evening was fun as always. The men always seemed relaxed to have a game at the end of a long work week, and many of them had indicated that they wanted to keep playing even when the house was finished. Everyone was very interested in chatting to Lesley and finding out all about her, although she had to retreat to the couch as she couldn’t stand as long as she would have liked. Somehow Blair always seemed to be near, and I noticed William watching Blair a lot as well. Finally, when Lesley disappeared for one of her frequent bathroom breaks, William quickly took the seat Lesley had vacated, sitting next to me and facing Blair as he sat on a chair he had drawn up near the couch.
“Listen to me quickly, while your woman is gone Blair, as I need to speak before she gets back”.
“She’s not my woman-“ began Blair but he was cut off by a wave of William’s hand.
“Anyone with eyes can see that you want her to be, and that she wants you. I understand why you’re afraid to mate with her right now, she must be just about ready to drop that baby, and you’re worried about whether you would be too rough with her when you claimed her, but don’t wait too long. I waited and I will regret it for the rest of my long and lonely life”.
“What do you mean, William?” I asked, placing a hand on his arm, causing him to look at me.
“I’m sure that Bram has told you that human mates enjoy a longer life once mated? Once, a long time ago, I met the woman who I knew would be my mate. It was in Europe, during the Great War, and she was a nurse at the hospital where I was sent after being injured in battle. I knew she was the one for me, and I could tell she was attracted to me too, but I was reluctant to mate with her, because of the uncertainty of my position. I was afraid that if I was sent back to the front, and died, that she would be alone, without the pack to support her, so I decided to wait until the war was over before claiming her. But I never got the chance. She was attacked by a POW and injured in the struggle to get free, and then she died. If I had only mated with her, she would have survived that injury, but I hesitated, and lost her forever.” He turned to Blair and continued. “Don’t make the same mistake as me, Blair, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.” William looked up before turning to Blair and lowering his voice. “She’s coming back, I’m going home now, I just wanted you to hear what I had to say”.
William stood as Lesley approached, and nodded to her before taking his leave. Lesley seemed to pick up on Blair’s tension, as soon afterwards she announced that it was time for her to go home. Blair wanted to drive Lesley home, claiming that it was dark and she wasn’t familiar with the roads, but she smilingly refused him, saying that it was too far, and if he insisted he could follow her to the main road to see her on her way safely.
Later that night, I relayed the conversation to Bram and Cole, sadly commenting that the war was a hundred years ago, and William had been regretting his loss all that time. Bram leaned over me, kissing me on the cheek.
“I know, I remember when he came home, how shattered he was. It’s only been the last ten or twenty years that he has started to smile again”.
“I feel so sorry for him. Is there only one person for him? Surely he might meet someone else?”
“You forget we believe that there is a soul for each of us. It might be that one day William gets to meet that soul again, although it will be in a different body of course. The odds are astronomical, considering how many people are on this planet, but we can only hope that the Fates are kind, and put that soul in his path so they meet again”.
I turned to Bram, confusion evident on my face.
“If there’s only one soul for each of us, then how do you explain our relationship?”
“A soul can be shattered into two pieces. Sometimes those two pieces will reunite in a new body, sometimes they exist in two bodies. It’s possible that happened at some point in the long distant past. Your soul cried out to ours, and found its match in the two of us”.
“So, you believe that you and Cole share a soul?”
“It’s possible. No-one really knows for sure, but maybe. Look how well we all fit together. Could that work in a normal relationship, with normal jealousies? Now, enough talking, maybe Cole and I should demonstrate how well we work together?”
That was precisely what the two of them did. They seemed to have hatched a plan to frustrate me to the point of exploding, as they each took turns pleasuring me, but stopping short of bringing me to climax, or climaxing themselves. For a long time, I found myself being gently passed from one to the other, chasing a climax that was denied to me. For a while I would be lying on my back with Cole supporting my head and shoulders, while Bram lay atop me, thrusting until I
was shaking with the need for release, sensing that he was close to his own release, then he would suddenly withdraw, sit back and pull me towards him and Cole would enter me from behind, pumping gently, but not letting me climax. If I tried to reach down a hand to stimulate my clitoris, Bram would capture it, and hold my hands in his, kissing me gently but not allowing me the stimulation I craved. Cole would similarly stop himself before climaxing, between the two of them they kept me on the edge of release for much longer than ever before, building my frustration. Finally, I was begging for release, pleading with Bram to stop teasing me and to let me come, and he looked down at me with joy in his eyes before rearing back and thrusting more urgently, grinding himself against me until I at last found myself shuddering with release.
No sooner had I felt Bram enjoy his climax within me, than he pulled out and flipped me so that Cole could slip into me, pushing me into another climax by gently pressuring my clitoris with his hand as he thrust into me from behind, slamming against me and holding tight as he groaned my name, while I spasmed around him, relieved at last to find myself enjoying the multiple climaxes that I had grown accustomed to. I collapsed into Bram’s waiting arms, feeling Cole follow me down and spoon me, sharing his warmth with me. I snuggled into the warmth of my men’s arms, and soon fell into a deep sleep, exhausted after the long tension and my eventual release.
Thirteen
I awoke to an unusual sound – my phone was ringing. Grumpily I tried remembering where it was, and tried to nudge one of the men to help me find it, then I sat bolt upright as I realised that the warmth I was feeling was because I was snuggled in a nest of blankets, but was alone. My phone had stopped ringing by now, the call must have gone through to voicemail, then it started ringing again. I stumbled around in the dark, realising that it must be urgent for someone to be calling in the middle of the night, and finally located it, seeing a glow over on the chest of drawers. I tripped over the unfamiliar tangle of blankets, then grabbed the phone.