“I can remember as a child always wanting to be out in the woods,” Althea said as she stared into the fire. “It was my favorite thing to do, and I got to be free with my Bear for just a little while.”
Billy looked at her. “Did you get to go out a lot? Just to run free?”
Althea’s eyes shifted over to Billy and she shook her head. “I wish. Our mother knew that it was important for us to be able to do that, so she did everything she could to make time for it. She was a busy woman. When the timing was right though, she would make sure we had the proper protection and then just set us free. I can almost hear her laughter still today as she watched us frolic through the leaves, pouncing on each other, speeding off in all directions.”
Billy chuckled, turning his gaze back to the fire. “But once you became an adult you were able to do it anytime you want.”
“I wish,” Althea replied. “The older I got, the more responsibilities I had. The more responsibilities I had, the less time I got to do anything I wanted to do. That sounds bad, but it really isn’t. I was studying, I was preparing, and I loved protecting. My sisters, after getting through their training, went off into the world and had lives, but not me. I joined the security force and made my main place to stay, the castle. I just loved it there.”
Billy put his hands down and scooted closer to her, lifting up his arm and wrapping it over Althea’s shoulder. She turned her head towards him, their faces very close together. While he was still in his human form, she could see the fire in him. For as lighthearted and sweet as he was, he had the ability to switch over to a sensual-ness that Althea felt could set her ablaze.
Slowly he leaned forward, nudging her with his nose as the Bears did when they wanted to show their signs of caring and protection. Althea closed her eyes, nudging back gently, feeling the warmth of his breath against her skin. They moved their heads right and left, until they were barely moving. They both hovered right there, the lips just inches apart, the feeling of need between them so thick Althea wondered if she would continue breathing. After a few moments, Billy leaned in further and pressed his lips to hers. As they kissed, Althea could feel an explosion inside of her. It felt like fireworks were going off in her chest. It was the same exact feeling she had felt with Minco, and it made her head spin.
As their lips parted, Billy flashed her his charming smile. Althea snorted lightly and shook her head as they sat back, his arm still over her shoulder. They were back to that perfect silence again, and it was exactly where Althea wanted to be in that moment. Eventually, Yansa came back from whatever fantastical world of spirits and Ancestors he had disappeared to, a look of complete peace on his face. Althea wondered what that was like, to live with a calmness inside that kept someone so perfectly level. She was a bit jealous of that.
“Did you reach the stars?” Billy asked Yansa as he sat down.
Yansa grinned waving his hand at the sky. “Beyond.”
“What do you pray for?” Althea asked.
Yansa poked at the fire with a stick, sending sparks floating upward toward the sky like a thousand fireflies in the night. “Lots of things, but mostly I meditate or pray to the Ancestors for different outcomes for the various Shifter Clans. But, since you’ve arrived, and my purpose has begun to be fulfilled, I’ve been focusing on the Shifter Community as a whole. Protection, purpose, prosperity.”
“The three P’s,” Billy chuckled as he stood up. “I’m going to hit the hay. I’m exhausted. You night owls have fun out here. Wake me up when it’s time for my watch.”
He looked down at Althea and winked before walking away. Althea chuckled, her cheeks going red. She thought about going to sit next to Yansa, maybe soak in some of that peace, but before she could, Minco came barreling back to the camp with his big shoulders taking down another half of the veil of vines he had previously cut down. He had already changed back into his human form and walked naked back over to the fire.
Althea tried not to stare, since sitting down she was crotch high. “Everything safe out there?”
Minco nodded. “So far. I am tired though.”
She stood up clapping her hands together. “I’ll take a round.”
“No,” Billy yelled from behind her while the others shook their heads.
Althea furled her brow. Yansa stood up and walked over to her. “We can’t let you go out on your own. Not yet.”
Althea looked at him, blinking quickly. “Let me?”
Yansa cleared his throat. “Sorry. We would prefer.” He looked over at Minco, his voice steady and calm. “I’ll take her with me.”
Althea’s head whipped toward Yansa excitedly. “Really? Yes!”
She put her arms up in the air and started walking toward the veil, stripping off her clothes, leaving them in a trail as she went. Her Bear was already wildly excited at the sound of it. She reached the arch that Minco had cut out and put her arms out at Yansa. “Come on! We gotta protect and prowl!”
Yansa put his hand out in warning. “Careful, when you are finding new powers, they tend to also make you…”
Althea had started the changing process, but it constructed itself quicker than ever before. Her body flipped, changing into her Bear in a split second. There was no morphing, no cracking, or syncing of bones, just the change. Her Bear, being much larger than her human form, slammed into the vines and flipped onto its back.
Yansa glanced over at Minco. “…change quicker than normal. She’s fine.”
“I’m fine,” Althea grunted telepathically to the guys as she shook her beautiful silky fur.
She laughed as she pulled herself to her Bear paws and hopped in a circle as she waited for Yansa to disrobe. With her Bear present she felt unboxed, free, finally not stuffed so tightly in her own body. She shook her whole body, starting at the wet black tip of her snout, through her ears, and inch by inch down her spine. She looked over at the guys, her High Alpha bright blue eyes shimmering in the light of the moon.
Yansa folded his clothes carefully, laying them over a log. He walked forward, tattoos covering his arms and chest. Taking in a deep breath, he placed his palms together and began to change. Even his shift was peaceful and calm, his Bear appearing with a light blonde streak running across his side, sitting, licking its paw. It was almost beautiful to watch.
When his eyes raised and met Althea’s she could feel a grin in his stare and it sent fire into her belly. They spoke through their minds, able to open and close their thoughts to other Shifters close by. “Are you ready?”
Althea jumped up. “I’ve been ready for an entire lifetime.”
Yansa ran after her. “Me too.”
Chapter Ten
Yansa and Althea roamed the forest, making circles around the campsite. Althea couldn’t get enough of it, she loved every second of being able to be back in her Bear form. It had been so long for her, and after all, it was half of who she was. With every step of her paws, she could feel as if her Bear was growing stronger and stronger. She stopped for a moment and rose up on her back legs, sniffing a branch much higher than she could ever remember reaching before. She wondered if she was actually getting larger, an effect of finding her mates.
Even Althea’s appearance as her Bear was different. Through her long wavy dark fur was the swirl of white running down her back. It looked as if it had been painted on purpose. She didn’t even notice it until she stopped to clean herself, having jumped in a puddle and splashed mud all over her back. It was familiar, the same mark that her mother had when she used to change into her Bear to play with Althea as a child. Her mother could change into any type of Shifter that she pleased, but she usually stuck to whatever her daughters were.
Her mother shifted differently than her though, it was a whirlwind of sparkling fog that surrounded her entire body, and the way that her animal erupted from inside of her was poetic and beautiful. Althea could remember being a child, wondering why her change was so awkward and uncomfortable. Limbs went everywhere, bones cracked, and all t
oo often by the time she changed back into her human form, tears streamed down her face. As a child it was a painful experience, something her body had to get used to as it too was changing by the day.
Althea sped up, jogging up next to Yansa. “Just being in my Bear reminds me so much of being a child and going through the woods playing. All of my sisters played together but it was like I was in my own little world. I would go for long walks through the forest, taking in all the sights and smells of everything. Everything is so different now. Take this white swirl on my back for example, it wasn’t there the last time I changed.”
Yansa sniffed her fur. “That is the mark of the High Alpha, but not just any High Alpha, the descendent of a queen or king of the Shifters. Your mother gave that to you. I would bet to say that your sisters all have the same kind of mark on their animal.”
On the inside, Althea smiled, feeling comfort in the fact that she had something directly given to her by not just the Ancestors but her mother. She trotted forward, and Yansa watched as she skipped and jumped through the forest, stopping and rolling through the leaves. Her laughter echoed through his head, and Althea felt, just for a little bit, as if she were free. She imagined it was what it would feel like if she weren’t a High Alpha. If she were just a Shifter, free to run and play as her Bear anytime she chose.
Althea didn’t wish for that freedom, she had never wished for it. She loved to be the High Alpha, and had excitedly prepared for it her whole life. But with the guys, there was something different that she had never experienced before. Instead of putting on a brave face, marching forward when she was exhausted, or acting as if she were something she wasn’t, she felt as if she could be herself even if it was only for a little while. When she was with them, she could feel the stress lifting off her shoulders as if they were taking it right from her and they didn’t even ask to do it. They just cared so much for her, she could sense it in every way possible.
Althea rolled over in the leaves and snorted, crossing her eyes and staring at a leaf stuck to her wet nose. Yansa laughed as he lay down next to her gently swatting it away with his large paw. Althea took in the sights and sounds all around her, remembering just how vibrant the world was through her Bear’s eyes. “You know, when I was that child that I talked about, and I was running through the woods on my own, being wild, most of the time I wasn’t even here in this place. I was somewhere else, dreaming of magical lands, making up worlds of my own. All the stresses and scary things of the world would just disappear in the places I created, and they were so beautiful and peaceful. They were what I always imagined making this world like.”
“That sounds like a wonderful place,” Yansa replied.
Althea laughed at herself. “I would meet princes and kings, and walk around the world of constant magic. As an adult it seems so silly, but as a child it was an escape, a place where I could go and be who I wanted to be. Where I wasn’t afraid of anything.”
Yansa nudged Althea with his nose and looked around. “You know, I could take you there. It would only last for a moment but I could really make you see what you envisioned as a child. It would seem so much more real than anything you could have dreamed up in your head. It’s one of the more playful talents that I acquired as a Shaman.”
Very slowly, Althea turned her head toward Yansa and nudged him. “Really? But how do you even know what they were? They were always in my mind.”
“Because the powers of the Shaman are not solitary,” he explained. “The powers of the Shaman are only powerful because they intertwine with the natural powers of everything else. I personally don’t know, but the natural world, the order, the so-called magic around us, it knows.”
She laid there, thinking about what he said, realizing there was so much more to the world than she ever knew. After a few moments of silence, he stood up and moved back. “Come on, change back into your human. I can’t do it in our Bear form.”
Althea stood up, watching Yansa shift back into flesh and blood, hesitating for only a moment before she pulled her own humanity back to the surface. It was simple and graceful, just as she had always dreamed of being. She changed back into her human just as easily as she changed into her Bear. She knew for sure that was one of her newfound powers.
Standing deep in the woods, surrounded by darkness, Yansa stepped close to Althea’s naked body and put his hands up in front of him, palms out. He nodded at Althea who did the same, closing the distance between them. He began to chant, closing his eyes and taking a long deep breath. The sounds of his song reverberated through the forest but it wasn’t strange and foreign, it sounded as if it had belonged there since the beginning. Althea watched him for a moment, meditating, humming deep from his chest. Feeling the energy surrounding them, she closed her eyes as well and focused on the feeling of his skin against hers. The small minute spaces between their hands began to heat up, and Althea opened her eyes, gasping at what she saw.
Keeping her hands firmly against Yansa’s, she looked around in all directions. She was in the same mystical and magical fantastical world that she had dreamed up as a child. It was bright as daylight, the skies were clear crystal blue, and she could see for miles. The grasses waved back and forth in the breeze, the green radiating, almost hard to look at. To her right, something fluttered its wings and she turned her head, laughing as a purple dragonfly swirled around them. Next to them the branches of a tree gently swayed back and forth, the bark made of candy, the leaves just the same.
She was in the kind of place that she could imagine staying forever. It was warm and inviting, and there was no pain or fear there. She wanted to release Yansa’s hands, to walk around that magical world, but before she could she heard his voice whispering through the wind. “Close your eyes. You know you can’t stay here.”
Althea let out a deep breath, and turned her vision back to the hands that hers were placed firmly to. She took one last look at the beautiful sky above her and then closed her eyes tightly once again.
“Open them,” Yansa’s voice said now closer than before.
Althea did as he asked, finding herself right back in the forest where she had been just moments before. Yansa stared at her, waiting for a reaction. Althea dropped her hands to her sides and began to laugh shaking her head. “That was exactly right. That was exactly what I had dreamed of. How did you do that?”
He shook his head, reaching up and running his finger across her forehead. “I didn’t do that, you did. It’s your powers that are growing and I’m just here to stabilize you so that you can do fun things here and there. So that you can do things that you never even dreamed you were capable of. Althea, I don’t think you understand the magnitude of what’s inside of you. You are so much stronger and more powerful than I ever imagined you would be. I could only imagine what it would be like to have you and your sisters together, all of you with your mates, all of you at full strength, battling anything evil that came your way. You will one day be unstoppable. And you get to take pretty cool vacations sometimes.”
Althea chuckled. “That does look like the kind of place I’d like to lounge around in.”
Yansa smiled, watching the excitement in her eyes. “Now, I wouldn’t suggest that you go floating off into these other worlds very often, but every once in a while, it wouldn’t hurt.”
Althea’s eyes shifted from Yansa’s and she looks down, realizing that not only were they both still naked, standing very close to one another, but circling around them, growing brighter by the second was some sort of aura, purple in color. It was so intense that not only could she see it, but she could feel it radiating and pulsing. She lifted her hand and swayed it through the colorful energy, watching it draw to her and dance around her fingertips as if it were alive. There was no temperature to it, or texture, it was just there and it came flowing out of Yansa and Althea connecting between them and dancing around like pixies.
Althea giggled, feeling as if she were in some sort of fairytale. What had always been just the fore
st to her had turned into a wonderland of interesting and fantastic things. She wondered what else was out there, and what else she could do with the right mate. There were so many interesting concepts to having the three of them with her.
“We’re creating energy, an actual visual connection,” Althea said as she watched it.
Yansa leaned forward, putting one hand on her shoulder and hovering his lips next to her ear as he whispered. “You see, when we’re together, all of us, we’re connected on another level. It was meant to be.”
Chapter Eleven
Althea’s lips stayed slightly parted as Yansa’s breath rolled down her neck. She gently closed her eyes as he turned his head, running his lips over her soft skin. As she tilted her head upward, he kissed her shoulder, reaching his hands up and cupping her breasts. His touch was gentle, seductive in ways that Althea never knew to be possible. His cheek brushed up the side of hers, moving slowly until it perched right over her lips.
She slowly opened her eyes, meeting Yansa’s gaze. His eyes had changed from a dark brown to swirling clouds of purple just like their aura. As his lips connected with hers and their bodies pressed firmly together, the pulsing light around them grew larger, taking up the entire clearing they stood in. The swipe of his tongue was sweet on Althea’s lips and she shuddered at the feeling of his fingertips trailing down her skin, resting comfortably in the dip of her back. He turned his head, kissing her passionately, but so gentle she had to open her eyes again to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Slowly Althea and Yansa sunk down into the cool leaves, intertwining their bodies. Althea looked up at Yansa, watching the energy wrap around them, cocooning them in lust and ecstasy. His hand ran gently down her side, pulling her leg around him. He met her gaze with his as he positioned himself, pushing the tip of his large heavenly cock against her. She gasped slightly as he entered her, a rush of power surging through her. She arched, her head falling back and barely touching the ground as they moved in sync, her hips rolling against him as he slowly thrust in and out.
Her Earth Mates Page 6