Bo sensed my discomfort and quickly changed the subject. “The ribs smell delicious. Come on, let’s eat.”
I let him drag me into the clearing knowing I would probably never go myself. The fire burned brightly in the middle, the food cooking on a number of makeshift grill plates. And on the far side, just where the shadows started to win their ground, a mound lay under a tarp. Bo and I watched the lump, wishing that it would move again. But Blaze was gone to us forever and what remained of him would be sacrificed tonight.
“Emma!” A teenage female squealed as she bounced over to me. “Oh my god! I knew you would come back, but no one believed me.”
I hugged Julia for several moments. She had been a mentee of mine. And I’d abandoned her too. “Julia, you’re so tall.”
She jumped away from me and spun in several circles. “Grew another two inches last school year. I think I’m going to be as tall as my dad.” With those words, she looked over her shoulder toward Joshua, a tall man with long, brown hair drinking a beer and giving me a glare. He jerked his chin once and Julia’s excitement instantly vanished. “He doesn’t want me to talk to you.”
I squeezed her hand quickly. “It’s okay. You should go so you don’t get in trouble.”
“Are you staying?”
Am I? With a quick nod, I let the words tumble out. “For now.”
She squealed again and returned to her dad who promptly disciplined her with some harsh words. A few more members of the clan came over to me with the same questions, hesitating to fully welcome me back. I didn’t blame them. I’d broken the cardinal rule—never abandoned your clan.
“Emma.” Brandt’s warmth filled my soul as he stepped up behind me. The clan member I was talking to immediately departed, allowing Brandt to have all of my attention. “Thank you for coming.”
I smiled up at his chiseled jaw and beautiful brown hair hanging across his forehead. “Sure.”
He looked at the lump under the tarp and sighed. “I need to start the ceremony.” Then he turned and touched my shoulder. “Will you stay right here. Next to me?”
Stunned, I stumbled over my words. “Are…are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, I don’t want to jeopardize your position.”
“You won’t,” he said a little too quickly, as though he’d already thought about that possibility. “And if Brennan says anything to you, just tell him this is what I wanted.”
The lump in my throat grew to an unbearable size. I was getting in the middle of two brothers. “Brandt, I don’t want to—”
He leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the lips, stopping my complaint and making a statement in front of everyone else. I didn’t think it was my imagination that the crowd around us went silent. When he pulled back, I was left wanting more. But Brandt just smiled and then clapped his hands to start the ceremony.
Bo sidled up next to me, and I spotted Brennan on the other side of the fire. He didn’t look thrilled to see me here. But I held my head high and did what Brandt asked for.
“Thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate the life of my father, your alpha, Blaze Callaghan.” Everyone shouted up into the sky until Brandt lifted his hand in the air. “Tonight we complete our moksha ceremony to help our alpha seek peace in the afterlife and to help guide all of us to an enlightened state.”
Brandt continued the practiced speech for several more minutes until he finally asked Dixon and his brothers to bring him Blaze’s bear body. This was the part that had always bothered the human side in me. I sensed the impending shift in the twenty plus clan members gathered here tonight. Several were just seconds away from bursting out of their skin. But no one was allowed to change until Brandt did—out of respect, even though he wasn’t their leader yet.
When Dixon, Bo, and Brennan dropped the body at Brandt’s feet and removed the tarp, a round of gasps flitted through the group. Blaze’s extra-large bear body no longer looked like the majestic grizzly he’d been. Instead, a heap of blood and sinewy white cartilage was all that remained. No head. No fur. Just a carcass.
Brandt visibly shook, his bear so close to the surface that my mate wanted to chase him down. He pointed at his father’s body. “This is what they did to your alpha. This is what a coward does. We are not cowards. We are grizzly’s and we will seek our revenge!” The cheers echoed in the surrounded trees, birds scattering from their nighttime resting place. “My father will forever live on inside of us. Join me now to make it so.”
Brandt ripped off his shirt and jeans so quickly I barely had time to marvel at the view. In less than a minute, the grizzly ripped from his skin and he roared into the darkened sky. The power in his voice sent my bear into submissive yet mating mode. She loved that power. Most of the rest of the clan members began their change, grizzlies of all sizes filling up the small space. Brandt roared again, standing up on his hind legs and screaming into the air. When he finished, he landed just inches from his dad’s body…and ripped off a piece of flesh. After he swallowed, he tore into another part. And another. For a full minute the clan watched him eat the carcass and begin the moksha celebration.
And then the others joined in when he stepped away. First the brothers, then Dixon, then one by one via the pecking order that had changed slightly since I left. Julia and the younger bears ate last, just as I was trying to sneak back into the darkness. But Brandt saw me and trotted my way. His grizzly was even bigger than his father’s, so beautiful and magnificent I wondered how I’d ever been able to leave him. His eyes drooped, a sign that he was questioning me.
“I think I should go,” I said. He shook his head and looked at the carcass. “I can’t. I don’t feel right.”
Brandt nudged me against a tree and huffed in my face. He didn’t agree. Then he sniffed the air and made a short, quick barking like sound that called to my bear. It was our sound. Our unique call to each other. My bear roared to life inside and I doubled over in pain. “Brandt, please. I can’t.”
He called to me again.
And suddenly I let the bear win. She wanted to be free. She wanted to run with him. I barely had time to strip out of my clothes before I felt the first sign of the change. Pain tore through my back and down into my hips as the bones stretched and grew into their new size. I screamed, wondering why it hurt so bad. Brandt’s wet nose brushed against my cheek, a small whimper escaping his animal lips. He wanted me to relax, to calm down so that my bear wouldn’t hurt me. After a few deep breaths, I collapsed to the ground and let her have my body and mind. Seconds later, the change was complete and I pushed back up on all fours to standing.
Brandt barked at me again, drawing my attention up. Yet before making eye contact with him, I glanced around the clearing. Every single grizzly watched me intently. Some still chewed pieces of their alpha, others simply watched me with yellow eyes. Somewhere, deep in my human mind I wondered if they’d thought I couldn’t change anymore, but that was a stupid thought and my bear stopped me from analyzing anything else.
Turning back to Brandt, I bowed my head and dropped my gaze. He was my dominant and the bear needed to show that respect. Brandt stepped forward and rested his chin on top of my skull, acknowledging my submission. Then he brushed against me like a cat, covering every inch of my fur with his scent. I shivered inside knowing that this was a ritual leading up to so much more.
He growled, almost like a purr, and continued to rub against me. I stayed still, allowing the intrusion and giving him permission to be that close to me. Over his shoulder, I saw a bear walking slowly toward us. He made it within three feet before Brandt jumped in front of me and let out a warning growl. It was Brennan…not only did I remember his scent but he also had the lightest fur of the entire clan. Brandt took a step toward his brother and tilted his head in challenge. Brennan sat back on his haunches and let out a sound reserved only for his brother. Brandt growled in return and Brennan let out a roar. A fight between two bear brothers.
I made a move to join Brandt’s side but he barked a
t me and ordered me to stand still. At least that was how my bear interpreted it. When Brennan finally backed down, Brandt turned his head and lightly nipped my ear. I was to follow. He made his way toward the fire and the carcass laying there. Only a few pieces remained, even the bones had been consumed by the clan. Brandt wanted me to partake. I refused but my bear was in control. She leaned forward and sniffed in the raw meat and familiar scent of her alpha. Crying up to the stars, she mourned the loss in her own way. Our heart broke all over again, her remembering the times as a grizzly and me remembering flashes of my human life with Blaze.
Brandt and another bear, Bo I realized, both nestled up beside me, one on each side as I cried. They didn’t join me in the noises but they did press their bodies against mine tight enough to calm us both down. Feeling exhausted, I lowered myself to the ground just inches from the remaining pieces of Blaze. Brandt nudged my chin again and looked at his father. He wanted me to eat, but I tried to fight my bear. This was Blaze, his flesh. His grizzly flesh. My brain couldn’t wrap itself around that but my bear didn’t think in the same way. To her, this was the way it was done—as simple as that.
Without further argument or thought, she bit down on a piece of leg meat. The taste of blood and muscle stirred her up and gave her energy again. She wanted to hunt. She wanted to run. So when she finished the last bit of carcass, she stood and roared into the night again. Bo slipped away, understanding that this was a time for me and Brandt only. He barked and huffed in my face and I returned the gesture. Then, with a gleam in his eyes, he took off at a sprint.
I chased him out of the clearing and into the thick forest. The thrill, the excitement, brought me back to a time when I’d been happy in Alaska. Since we were cubs, Brandt and I would hunt each other in these woods. Sometimes it would be me and my brother and Brandt and his brothers. But as we got older, it would more often be just the two of us.
Brandt jumped over a fallen log, splashing through the small creek behind it. I stayed close, my human and my bear loving the feeling of freedom. But when Brandt dodged behind a large boulder, I was surprised when I didn’t find him on the other side. His scent said he’d been there but I couldn’t see him. Sniffing the air, I tried to track his beast. He went east, no south. I took off.
I’d only made it a few feet away before a large body crashed into me. Brandt landed on my back, sending us into a roll down a small embankment. I slammed into small trees and rocks, but Brandt somehow protected my body from most of the impact. When we landed in a stream, he took off at a full sprint again through the water.
In pursuit, I roared into the air. Brandt responded but kept running—taunting me to try and catch him. But I knew where he was taking us, so I scrambled up the embankment and cut across the land where the stream curved. In no time at all, I saw it. The waterfall where we’d always come when having a bad day. Sniffing the air again, I looked for his bear. He was nearby but yet the scent wasn’t as strong.
The crescent moon broke free from the clouds and shone off the water like a beacon. And there, standing on a boulder at the bottom of the falls, was Brandt. In his beautiful, naked human form he waited for me. My bear rumbled inside, a mating sound escaping her jowls. Brandt snapped his head up and smiled when he spotted us.
“Come join me.”
I shook my head and backed up a few steps into the woods. She wanted to be chased, hunted into submission. And I had no control over my bear anymore.
“Do you really want to play this game with me?” Brandt teased, the excitement in his own voice coming through.
I took another step back.
“Very well,” he whispered. In an explosion of energy, he leapt from the rock and shifted into his grizzly before he had all four feet on the ground. He bounded up the step sides, nothing deterring him from his pursuit.
My bear waited until he appeared on the top of the embankment and then she ran directly at him. Just before our two grizzlies were about to crash together, I jumped into the air and twisted our body enough to sail over Brandt. He hadn’t seen the move coming and slid into a tree trying to change directions as quickly as he could. But we waited for him, cooing a sound that could only be interpreted one way.
Brandt froze, listening and twitching his ears with each submissive cry we made. And then he shifted back into human form. On his hands and knees, he lifted his head to see us both. His eyes widened as he watched me shift, the pain of transition no longer taking center stage. As my human eyes focused on him, I whispered his name.
He was on me in an instant. His lips crashed into mine, his tongue pushing inside. My back slammed into a tree as he lifted my hips so I could wrap my legs around his waist. His erection pressed between us with such lovely force I let out a moan. I pulled on his hair, encouraging him to kiss me more deeply. And he complied. Brandt and I knew each other so well that I didn’t have to worry about him interpreting my signals the wrong way.
As he pulled back from the kiss, I rubbed my lips up and down his neck, gently nipping on his shoulder. He trembled and pushed his hands between my legs. I was wet and ready for him, so his growl of content only excited me more.
“I missed you so much,” he breathed into my ear. I bit down a little harder. “Jesus, Emma.” His finger plunged inside and I moaned into the air. It had been way too long since I’d had this kind of contact with a man, let alone this amazing man.
“I want you inside,” I whispered.
But he tensed and stopped teasing my folds. “No.”
“Please,” I begged, rubbing my sex against his cock.
Brandt set me down but held on to my hips. “Not until you’ve been punished.”
My bear roared. She loved to be punished by Brandt. The grin widened on my face even though Brandt tried not to have any expressions. I reached up and rubbed my hands over his stubbled face. “And just how do you plan on punishing me?”
He whipped me around by the hips and pushed me back up against the tree. My breasts and stomach pressed into the bark but the pain only excited me more. Brandt grabbed my wrists and forced them up over my head. His breath tickled my skin along my ear.
“You disobeyed me,” he breathed.
“Yes.”
One hand grasped my wrists while his other hand ran down over the curves of my ass. “And you left me.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and let out a small whimper when he slapped my cheek.
“You’re going to be sorry.” His hand slid around to the front and he pinched my nipple. I cried out in ecstasy. “You must learn how to obey the bear.”
With those words, he plunged inside of me. My body scraped along the tree as he filled me up completely. I moaned against the pine while he slowly moved in and out. Tilting my head to the side, I exposed my neck and pushed my hips back into him. I offered myself, fully, to him and his bear. My mate would never hurt me. I trusted him completely.
With that move, Brandt made a sound somewhere between a growl and a roar which turned me on even more. He was such a dominant man yet knew exactly what to do to please his mate. His fingers teased my clit while his arm stayed wrapped over my hip. His body pushed against mine with each thrust, filling every inch and hitting that special spot inside.
“More,” I begged.
Brandt bit down on my shoulder, not hard enough to draw blood but enough to claim his mate. Heat built in my core and again I wondered how I could have ever left him in the first place. We fit together so perfectly…there was no denying our connection. He was right, I needed to be punished.
“Take me,” I whispered, knowing he would understand.
He made another noise and then quickly dropped us to the ground. I fell on all fours and Brandt took me from behind. Arching my hips up like a cat, I encouraged him to have every single inch of me. He growled and roared and slammed his hips into mine, the slapping sounds louder than the nearby waterfall. My core expanded, the feeling of my pending orgasm warming up and radiating from the center.
His grip tightened seconds before he came. His dick hardened even more, sending me over the edge and causing me to scream out like no one would ever hear me. He shuddered inside, the warm liquid flowing into me as we mated for the first time in almost a year.
And as we finished, my bear settled back down. Content that I was here with Brandt. Content that I was home again.
I hadn’t been able to control myself. Or my bear. Emma was my mate and she was back. I couldn’t resist fucking her no matter how hard I tried.
Her body trembled below mine as I finished. The curves of her ass pressed tightly against my pelvis. Such a tease. She always had been but she’d only ever teased me. No one else ever grabbed her attention, no matter how hard they tried.
Emma slid down to her stomach as I pulled free. Her skin glistened like mine in the moonlight, the mossy ground providing a cushy pad. I lay down on top her, trialing kisses from the dimple in her back up to her neck. Shivering under my lips, I felt like I could never stop touching her.
“I am sorry, Brandt.”
Her words brought me back to the reality that she really wasn’t mine anymore. Rolling off her perfect body, I nestled down beside her and rested my hand across her back. “Why did you leave?” I needed to ask the question even if I didn’t want to hear the answer.
Emma flipped her long hair over her shoulder and turned her head to face me. “I think there were a lot of reasons.” She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again a tear slipped out. I wanted to wipe it away, I didn’t want her to hurt. But I also needed her to explain herself. “And now that I’m here,” she continued softly, “I’m trying to remember what they were.”
I sighed, my bear not satisfied with that answer although he wanted me to keep touching my mate. “Was it me?”
Emma shifted on her side so that she mimicked my position. “No, Brandt. You never did anything wrong.”
Obeying the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 1) Page 4