by Kim Fox
“Mrph,” he grunted through clenched teeth as he pumped his load deep inside her soft pussy.
She threw her head back and moaned, rain splashing on her face, as she came again on his dick. She moved her hips up and down slowly a few more times and then collapsed onto his chest, whimpering and breathing hard.
Beckett kissed her wet hair as the warm rain massaged their naked bodies. He felt himself softening inside her and exhaled long and hard.
If this was what it meant to lose his position than so be it. He had never been so happy as he was right now.
A low rumbling of thunder sounded in the distance and Amanda lifted her head. “We better get out of here before that lightning comes. I don’t want to fly in that and we may be stuck here for a long time if we wait.”
He kissed her lips, grazing her bottom lip with his tongue. “Would that be so bad?”
“I guess not,” she said. “But we can do this again in a dry bed.”
She gathered her wet clothes and put them on. Beckett felt his inner bear at peace for the first time since he saw Amanda’s picture.
Happy now?
His bear purred.
Amanda didn’t like the look of those storm clouds in the distance. She could easily fly in the rain but the oncoming storm was a different matter entirely.
She spotted the camp in the distance and squeezed her legs together. She felt completely satisfied and fulfilled. Beckett’s large cock felt so good inside her. She had come so easily and she felt totally at ease with him. It felt like their bodies were made for each other.
“Are you going to be able to land on that?” Beckett asked, pointing at the muddy runway.
She nodded. She had landed in worse. Amanda could land this plane anywhere. “But you should really get it paved. My girl doesn’t like to get dirty. Unlike me.”
The rain hit the aircraft in dings and pings, sounding like a tin drum orchestra. Her clothes and hair were still drenched but it was nice and warm in the plane. Beckett’s fit body seemed to be radiating heat like a furnace.
Amanda turned the Cessna towards the runway and prepared for landing. She would hit the ground at the slowest speed possible, on the middle of the runway where there was the least amount of puddles.
They floated down to the runway with the airplane hangar open in front of them. It was empty.
“Where is the plane?” Beckett asked, sounding a little panicked.
Ellis, Matteo and the rest of the crew jogged over to the runway as she touched the plane onto the ground. Beckett jumped out of the door into the pouring rain before she even shut down the engine. She turned off the ignition and followed him out.
The guys were crowded around Beckett. Thunder cracked overhead as the day turned dark as night and the rain flew down violently. The wind and hard rain slashed into her.
“Where the hell have you been?” Matteo screamed, with his hands clenched into fists.
The guys were covered in black soot with singed clothes and tired eyes. They looked beat up.
“Where is the plane?” Beckett asked Ellis, ignoring Matteo. It only enraged him further.
“There was a fire headed for the town,” Matteo screamed. A thick vein snaked down his clenched neck. “And our pilot and alpha,” he said the last word sarcastically, “were out whoring around.”
“I crashed the plane,” Finch said, looking down.
“Is everyone okay?” Beckett asked Ellis. Ellis wouldn’t look him in the eyes.
“Some of us got hurt, but we healed. The plane is fucked.”
“The fire?”
“The rain put it out,” Ellis said. “It was a big one. It would’ve burned up everything.”
Amanda’s head started to spin. How could that have happened in the short time they were gone? She looked at her watch and it was almost four o’clock. They had been gone longer than she had thought. This is all my fault.
Matteo burst through the group and stood face to face with Beckett. Amanda stepped back and held her breath, nervous of where this was headed. Matteo looked terrifying.
“This is not the way an alpha should act,” he yelled, his nostrils flaring. The wind and rain picked up in intensity. Thunder cracked above.
“Hey,” Beckett screamed back, pumping his chest out and barring his teeth. Amanda had never heard his voice like that. Up until then he seemed like the nice kind of alpha. But this was a side of him she didn’t know was there. “You don’t question your alpha.”
“You’re not my alpha,” he said, spitting at his feet. “I challenge you!”
The crew held their breath as Beckett and Matteo stepped back from each other, their fierce eyes locked on each other.
Amanda wanted to rush forward and take the blame, beg them not to fight, but she could only stand there, frozen to the muddy ground and watch in horror.
“This is between us,” Beckett yelled to the others, never taking his eyes off his opponent. “You are all forbidden to get involved.”
Matteo pulled off his blackened shirt and threw it to the wet ground. He had a creepy tattoo of a skull, grimacing in pain, on his shoulder.
They both glared at each other as they stripped to their boxers, violent rain hacking at their adrenaline pumped bodies.
Beckett clenched his jaw and stifled a cry as his body expanded like a balloon. Long, brown hairs sprouted out of his skin and his face contorted as his nose elongated. Horrible ripping and snapping sounds sent shivers down Amanda’s spine as she watched in horrified fascination. Matteo’s body was going through the same transformation, only with lighter, shorter brown hairs emerging from his skin.
Lightning lit up the dreadfully grim sky as an enormous Kodiak bear burst out of Beckett’s body. Amanda’s stomach was fluttering as a sudden coldness hit her core. She gasped as Matteo’s twisted body ripped into a snarling, fearsome grizzly bear.
Lightning slashed through the sky, followed by an ominous rumbling of thunder, as the two bears stared each other down. Beckett was the larger bear but the way that Matteo was snarling and snapping his long fangs made Amanda unsure of who would win.
Amanda wanted to hide. She wanted to get into her plane and fly away, but all she could do was watch. Ellis glanced at her with his one eye, his shoulders slumped. He looked sad.
Matteo lunged forward and Beckett charged to meet him. They crashed into each other in a mangle of teeth and claws. Amanda screamed as Matteo landed on top of Beckett, hacking and slashing at him with his meaty paws.
Blood sprayed red from their grappling and brawling bodies. Amanda gasped as Matteo sliced Beckett, leaving an open gash across his heaving chest. The blood around the wound turned his brown fur a wet red. This didn’t look like a fight that would end in submission. It looked like it was going to go to the death.
Amanda couldn’t watch her man get hurt. She turned towards Ellis. His body was stiff, his face grimacing. It looked like he didn’t think his brother would come out on top.
Beckett managed to throw Matteo off and he stood back up. His shoulder was hunched over and blood dripped into the mud, mixing with the rain, around his left foot. His lips curled up in a snarl as he stared his opponent down.
The rain beat down on Amanda. She was drenched and cold. She was shaking, both from the chill in the air and the intensity of the situation.
Thunder blast through the sky and the two bears lunged at each other. This time Beckett landed on top. Amanda cheered under her breath as Beckett got the upper hand. He drew blood from Matteo’s arm and pinned him into the mud.
Rain slammed into his muscled back as he took Matteo’s neck in his mouth. Matteo went limp.
The guys exhaled in relief and a smile crept across Ellis’ face. Matteo had submitted. Beckett was still the alpha.
He stepped off Matteo and the two bears separated. They curled into themselves, twisting in pain and shrinking. The long brown hairs pulled back into Beckett’s skin as his body transformed from a bear back into his human form.
Amanda ran over to Beckett as he lay wet and bleeding in the mud. He was naked, breathing heavily and his face was contorted in pain. Amanda gasped when she saw the deep laceration on his chest. He needed to get to an emergency room.
Ellis brought him his clothes and helped him put on his boxers. Keene and Sander wrapped his arms around their shoulders and dragged him back to his cabin. Finch and Quint were doing the same for Matteo.
Amanda followed closely behind them. She stood outside the entrance of his cabin looking in through the doorway as they placed him on the bed.
Keene, Sander and Ellis walked out leaving him alone, bleeding to death. Amanda was horrified. “He needs an ambulance,” she said.
Keene chuckled. “He’ll be doing push ups by the time the ambulance gets here,” he said.
“He needs some dinner,” Sander said. “After a workout like that he’ll be starving.”
Amanda looked past them to her man writhing in pain on the bed. His chest was covered in blood. The white bed sheets were stained pink. She grabbed Ellis by the shirt. “Please Ellis,” she said. “He’s your brother.”
Ellis placed his hand on hers, in a tender touch. “Bear shifters heal really fast,” he said. “He’ll be fine in a few minutes. Go see him.”
Ellis stood on his toes and looked past Amanda. A Lexus was pulling into the camp. It was Alexi. “Got to go,” he said and ran to meet her.
Amanda timidly stepped into his cabin. It was bigger than the other cabins with an extra sofa and a bigger bed. Perks of being the boss.
Beckett sat up in bed when he saw her. “No stay down,” she said, rushing to his side. “Your chest…” Her hand flew to her mouth and she gasped when she saw the gash. It was just a red line. Completely healed. The smaller cuts on his arms, stomach and back were all faint pink lines that were barely visible. The dried blood on his skin was the only evidence that he had just been in a fight where he nearly died.
“I’m okay,” he said. “This is all standard in a bear fight.”
Her nerves finally cracked, now that the urgency of the situation was finished. “I thought you were going to die,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He shook his head. “A month ago Matteo would never have gotten me on my back like that. Maybe I am getting soft.”
“Are you going to kick him out of the crew?” She couldn’t get the vicious image of Matteo slashing his chest out of her mind.
“No,” he said, pulling her into his arms for a hug. “This is all part of being a bear shifter. It’s natural and healthy for bears to reaffirm the alpha position. Matteo is my brother and I love him. I don’t hold this against him. He was right. I was neglecting my duties.”
“I hate him,” she said.
“Matteo is…complicated. The crew wouldn’t be the same without him. I want him to stay. I need him to stay.”
Amanda hugged his warm body and kissed his neck. There was still a lot to learn about these handsome werebears.
“You’re freezing,” he said. “Why don’t you go take a hot shower and come back and see me before dinner.”
She was chilled to the bone and nothing sounded better right now than a hot shower. She kissed his lips and nodded. She glanced down at his chest one last time to make sure that he was fine. The dreadful gash was just a dull pink line across his chest.
She shivered as she stepped back outside into the rain. She ran across the wet, muddy ground to her cabin.
“Amanda,” a voice called out. It was Alexi. She ran over to meet Amanda, the hood of her jacket protecting her from the rain.
“This never would have happened if you weren’t here,” she said. “The whole town could have been burnt down.”
Amanda opened her mouth to reply but the words were stuck in her throat. She was right.
“You’re no good for him. You’re no good for the clan. An alpha can’t have a mate.” She stared Amanda down. “You’re tearing this clan apart. You should leave before you do any more damage.”
Alexi turned and ran to Ellis’ cabin. Amanda stood in shock, watching her go, her words stinging more than the cold, pelting rain.
five
“Where’s Matteo,” Amanda asked Beckett the next morning by the campfire. The two of them were sitting beside each other sipping on hot coffee while the guys argued in the outdoor kitchen over the breakfast.
“Out hunting,” he replied, looking up at the sky. The sun was back, the only evidence of the dark clouds from yesterday were the puddles of water and mud in the poorly drained areas of the camp. “He was gone when I woke up.”
“That was scary yesterday,” she said, thinking of the look on Matteo’s, bear’s face. He was out for blood. “He’s so intense.”
“His bear has been through a lot,” he said, rubbing his thumb on the coffee cup. “When a bear shifter bonds with his mate, it’s for life. The bear will never move on, even if the mate does.”
“What happened to him?”
“He bonded to a female werebear. Hard. It wasn’t just the bear. Matteo was in love with her too. You should have seen him back then, all smiles and laughs. He was so happy.”
“I can’t imagine him like that,” she said, shaking her head.
“He was,” he said, staring into the fire. “But she left. She broke his heart and she hasn’t been back. His inner bear has been tormenting him ever since.”
“Who was she?”
Beckett took in a deep breath. “My sister.”
Amanda’s mouth dropped. She was about to ask more questions when Quint and Ellis came over with a platter of chopped up fruit and some hot muffins.
“Thank you,” Amanda said, taking a piece of pineapple.
“You look beautiful today,” Quint said. “Your hair looks gorgeous.”
Amanda looked to the ground and smiled shyly. She hadn’t even showered yet.
“Can I get you more coffee?” Ellis asked her. His eyebrow raised over his eye patch. He glanced in her empty mug and took it from her, not waiting for an answer.
Matteo returned from his hunt, with a dead elk over his shoulder. He carried the huge carcass easily. He glanced at Amanda and Beckett sitting by the fire and threw it on the ground. He headed to his cabin without so much as a nod or a wave. The guys stopped what they were doing and watched with tense bodies.
“I should leave,” Amanda blurted out when he disappeared into the cabin. “I’m causing too many problems.”
“No,” Beckett blurted out. “Don’t go. That’s not the solution.”
“Alexi told me that alphas can’t have mates.”
Beckett gazed into the fire. “They can’t. An alpha has to be sharp, ready, and dominant. A mate distracts the bear. It makes them soft, less aggressive.”
“Then I have to leave.” She had no idea where she would go. She couldn’t go back home with her tail between her legs. Maybe up to Alaska. She frowned. Amanda hated the cold.
Beckett grabbed her wrist and squeezed. “Don’t leave,” he said, sounding panicked. “My bear has chosen you. If you leave, I’ll be ruined forever.”
“Well what can we do?” she asked, rubbing his hand.
“There’s only one thing.”
“Go get Matteo,” Beckett ordered Quint.
Thoughts raced through his head but he knew that this was the only way.
“What’s going on Boss?” Keene asked.
Beckett had gathered them all for a crew meeting. He asked Amanda to wait in her cabin. Meetings were for crew members only.
Quint returned with Matteo. They all stood in a circle, with all eyes on Beckett.
“I’m stepping down as alpha,” he said. There was a collective gasp from the guys. “My bear has chosen Amanda as my mate and I want to be with her.”
“What happens now?” Ellis asked.
“I will pass on the position to Matteo unless anyone wants to challenge him for it.”
Matteo’s face broke out in a grin. The other guys looked to the ground, loo
ked to the sky.
“Last chance,” Beckett said. Nobody spoke.
“Alright Matteo. The crew is yours.”
A sneer crept across his face as he turned to Beckett. “On your knees. Submit to me.”
Beckett exhaled hard. He knew this moment would come but he didn’t realize it would be so difficult. His bear was enraged to have to submit to another bear. He was a natural alpha through and through.
He thought of Amanda and how much he wanted to be with her, grow old with her over the years. How it felt to have their naked bodies entwined as one. He was making the right decision. Life would be hell without her.
Ellis was holding his breath as Beckett knelt on the ground before Matteo. Beckett closed his eyes and touched his ear to his shoulder, exposing his neck.
“I am the alpha of the Hudson Crew. Submit to me,” he ordered.
The guys grumbled as they all fell to their knees. Matteo breathed in deep and smiled as the crew submitted to him.
“Up,” he said, waving them up with his hand. “There are going to be some changes,” he said, walking through the men.
Matteo slapped the juice glass out of Quint’s hand. Wine flew onto the ground, staining the dirt red. “No more alcohol,” he ordered. “No more jokes, no more shenanigans and no more laziness.”
He stood before Ellis and stared him down. Ellis kept his eye on the ground. “No more touching your mates in camp. No more kissing, hugging and no more sleepovers. I forbid it.”
Ellis’ shoulders slumped. This was not going as Beckett had planned.
“Amanda!” Matteo yelled. What did he want with her?
Amanda opened the door of her cabin and peeked out. She walked over playing with her hands. “Yes?”
“I have to find a new plane because of you,” Matteo said.
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I can help you fin-”
“That’s enough,” he interrupted. “You’re fired. Get your things and get the hell out of here.”