by Maia Dylan
Cooper tsked as he stepped in front of her, pressing her between them. “Now, love, we really need you to work on your confidence in our ability to keep you safe. Logan and I have got this. You’ve never seen us fight, and although we were calm and docile with you this morning, our bears are mean and just itching for a chance to wipe the floor with the fuckers who think they can take you away from us.”
“Not to mention,” Logan growled, “hand out a little justice for what they did to your father.” Keiko turned to look at her parents, still wrapped in each other’s arms, standing to the side of the area in front of the shrine where the fight was to take place in a few minutes. Seth had made it very clear to the men outside Yamaguchi’s house that he and his men were there simply to support Logan and Cooper, but if they didn’t release her father, their intentions would become a whole lot more deadly.
“And I am looking forward to watching you do that.” Keiko took another deep breath, then stood on tiptoes to take Cooper’s mouth in a hot, hard kiss. She hadn’t anticipated Ken not being overly happy about the move and took his roar of displeasure as a definite side benefit. When she pulled back, slightly dazed, Logan turned her so that she faced him, and he led another kiss. Her heart was pounding and she felt a little light-headed when Logan finally released her. “Right, then, go do your thing. Make it quick and make sure you don’t get hurt too much. I’d hate to have to get angry with you. If you think facing two Yakuza bear shifters in a battle to the death is concerning, wait until you piss me off.”
They both laughed, which was Keiko’s intention, because when they turned to face Hiroki, who was posturing and flexing his muscles with his shirt off in an obvious attempt to intimidate, and Ken, who stood stoic with nothing but hatred in his eyes, her men were laughing. As if they didn’t have a concern or worry in the world.
Keiko started to feel even more light-headed, and realized that she had, in fact, been holding her breath. Taking a few deep breaths she tried to calm her nerves. She had every faith in the world that Logan and Cooper would fight with everything within them to win this challenge, but that didn’t stop her from worrying. Her future would be decided in the next few minutes and that was a very scary prospect.
“Hurry the fuck up, you two,” grumped the man Seth had identified as Grant, from where the rest of the Greenspoint group stood leaning against the trucks they’d driven in on. “That karaoke bar closes at ten tonight and I want to get in a couple of good hours before we head back to Tokyo.”
Ken snarled at the man, his voice changing as he simply shifted mid-roar and, a moment later, a large dark brown beer stood where he had been. The bear rose onto his back legs, swinging his giant head from side to side and roaring his displeasure at, well, probably the world. Hiroki stripped off the shirt he was wearing then went through an aggressive series of karate kata, illustrating his level of skill. The two incited roars of approval from only a couple of the Ussuri members who had come with them. The rest looked a lot more reserved and spent time assessing Seth and his men.
In stark contrast, Keiko’s men strode forward, completely unfazed by the obvious act of intimidation. Logan removed his clothes slowly and deliberately, folding them and placing them in a pile before he shifted into his bear, roughly the same size as Ken’s but darker in color. Keiko was fairly certain that there were other differences, but she was entirely too nervous to detail them. Logan stood calmly, simply staring at the other bear, not showing any aggression whatsoever. Despite that, there was a distinct change in air pressure, and the Ussuri clan members who had been cheering loudly just moments before fell into a strained silence.
Cooper grinned then removed his shirt and folded that in the same precise manner as his brother before moving to stand off to Logan’s left. Keiko watched as he briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them, her smiling, joking lover had disappeared. A fighter with ice in his veins and a target in his sights stood at the ready in his place.
“Have you ever watched your men fight, Keiko?” Keiko never turned her attention away from her men, just simply shook her head at Seth’s questions. “Then you’re in for a treat. Both of them have honed their skills in the cage for years. They started it as a way to release some of the aggression and tension that comes with having the spirit of a half-ton Kodiak bear within you, but for Logan and Cooper it quickly became something that they loved, and they sure as hell excelled at it.”
Ken roared, and then he and Hiroki charged, and that was the start of it. Keiko cried out as both her men seemed to simply stand still, waiting for their adversaries to come to them. This was so crazy! She wanted nothing more than to grab Seth’s car keys, climb into one of the trucks, and mow down the bastards terrorizing her family.
Then, in unison at almost the last minute, Logan and Cooper moved. Logan stood on his powerful back legs, reaching out and swiping at Ken. The two massive bears snarled and roared, using their massive claws on each other before slamming together. Then both bears began wrestling, grappling for purchase against the other, their huge jaws locking as their massive heads wrenched from side to side.
Although the two bears fighting immediately drew Keiko’s attention, the movement to the left had it shifting to Hiroki and Cooper. Both of them were obviously masters of many martial art forms, and with their shifter speed, it was difficult to keep up. Keiko only knew one scored a direct hit when the other would stumble back a little before charging straight back in. A series of roundhouse kicks from Cooper drove Hiroki back until Cooper seemed to leap up and around, and Hiroki took his kick to the left side of his face. Hiroki was spun to the right, and when he stumbled back to his feet, he spat blood and what looked like a couple of teeth to the ground. Then, with a cry of rage, Hiroki attacked in a flurry of arm strikes.
“Ah, classic Cooper,” Seth muttered. “He gets his opponent angry about a good hit—in this case, a kick to the face. Then the opponent starts making bad judgment decisions fueled by anger rather than based on logic or strategy.” Keiko shot him a brief look. Was he crazy? That didn’t look like Hiroki was making any mistakes. That looked like he was kicking Cooper’s ass. “But this has to end. Logan is playing with that Ussuri bear, not wanting to end it until he knows that Cooper has won. Goddamn it! Now, that fucking Ussuri got a good swipe in because Logan was too busy keeping an eye on Cooper. God fucking save me from overprotective older brother bears. Cooper! Stop fucking around and end this. Logan’s being too fucking protective again!”
Even over the roars of the bears and the shouting of the people watching the battle, Keiko heard Cooper cursing at his brother. “For fuck’s sake, Logan! Just end it. I was having fun! And now, you son of a bitch, you’ve made me curse in front of our mate’s mother and her father!”
And in that moment, Keiko knew it was all going to be okay. Cooper seemed to move back, and Hiroki’s eyes gleamed with triumph as he swung wide, obviously going for some kind of endgame move, but he literally played right into Cooper’s hands. Cooper seemed to move into him, using both hands in a forward open-handed punch, straight into Hiroki’s chest. Then he whirled so quickly he was a blur, whipping his elbow up to connect with Hiroki’s throat in a move designed to crush the windpipe and finish the challenge. Hiroki’s look became one of shock as he stood for a brief second, then dropped like a stone to the ground. He never moved again.
“There! Happy now?” Cooper said in a tone that Keiko would have said was a classic younger-brother whine before he turned and stomped in her direction. When he reached her, he was still muttering about overbearing, pun intended, older brothers who needed to cut the umbilical cord. Cooper moved to stand behind Keiko and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Her complete awareness then turned to the bears still battling in front of the Shinto. Logan’s bear seemed to suddenly find strength it hadn’t been using before, pulling the other bear closer and using one huge, clawed hand to pull the bear’s head to the side. Then, his massive jaws bit deep into
the other bear’s neck. Blood began to darken the fur of both animals, and Keiko could see that there were deep, gaping wounds that still bled on both bears as Logan gripped Ken’s bear tighter, pulling him down so that he could put his massive weight behind the bite.
Ken’s bear roared again, this time in fear. He struggled against Logan, thrashing for freedom, but it never came. In a few short moments, Ken’s bear seemed to concede to Logan’s and gave up fighting the inevitable. Once he was sure that Ken was no longer breathing, Logan dropped the bear, pushed up onto his hind legs, and roared so loudly it seemed like the very earth itself trembled. Once the sound died away, Logan dropped back to all fours and walked away from the dead bear, still making threatening noises. A shimmer of air surrounded the fallen animal before Ken’s blood-soaked body lay in the street where the bear had been.
Logan shifted back with a roar that ended in a grunt of pain when he stood as a human once more, blood flowing steadily from what looked like a deep wound in his side.
“Logan!” Keiko yelled before running to him, grabbing his undershirt from the pile on the ground and pressing it to the wound.
“Ow, fuck, Keiko!” Logan hissed. “Be a little gentle, would you? That stings like a bitch.”
Cooper walked up and slapped a hand against Logan’s back. “Oh stop your complaining, you big baby. We won, and we got the girl!”
“Stop it, both of you,” Keiko scolded them both. Their cavalier attitude toward meeting Ken and Hiroki in a battle to the death turned her fear to anger. “You could have been killed!” She continued to scold them as Logan pulled his jeans on and then pulled her into his arms and silenced her protests with his mouth, something he did often. Keiko wasn’t about to complain.
“See?” Keiko pulled back quickly at the sound of her mother’s voice. “I told you the three of them act like they’re already married. They’re destined to be together.”
Keiko raised her eyes to her parents, and seeing her father’s eyes fill with tears, she threw herself forward and into their arms. Words of love and comfort flowed freely in Japanese and in English until all three were laughing through their tears.
“Do you love them?” her father asked, whispering the question in her ear. Keiko glanced over her shoulder at her men and, from the way they looked expectantly at her, she knew they’d overheard her father’s question.
“I do,” she answered, holding their gaze. “I love them both with all my heart.” The smiles that bloomed on their faces told Keiko all she needed to know.
“Although I hate to break up this family reunion,” Seth said, satisfaction and amusement clear in his voice. “But what are y’all going to do now? Logan and Cooper, you are now the alphas of a clan of Ussuri bear shifters that need to be led on the straight and narrow. How are you going to manage that from your big ivory tower in Houston?”
Logan grinned, something he was doing more and more of each day. “That one’s easy. We gave our fealty to you years ago, and that hasn’t changed. So now, I guess you have a second chapter of bears under your leadership. So that decision is yours. As for us? We have to get our mate back to the States, convince her parents to move there with us because they’ll want to be close to their daughter and the children we are very keen to get started on, and, of course, plan a huge, kick-ass wedding.” Logan turned to look right at Keiko, his eyes shining with love for her that was mirrored on the face of his brother. “Isn’t that right, love?”
Keiko smiled, stepped away from her parents, and walked toward her future, wrapping an arm around each of her men as she stepped into their embrace. “Yeah, that sounds just about perfect.”
Chapter 10
Keiko sighed, her heart overflowing and her entire body humming with anticipation. “Tired, love?” Logan asked as he lifted her hand to his lips.
Keiko smiled softly. “Not even slightly. I’m happy, so very happy and excited. Today was absolutely everything I had ever hoped for.” The elevator to their apartment stopped just then, and Logan swept her into his arms and strode out and into the hallway.
“Get the door, Cooper,” Logan muttered as he began to lay soft kisses against her lips. Keiko couldn’t help but giggle at the disgruntled sound Cooper made as he moved to unlock the door and stepped back to allow Logan to carry her over the threshold. It was what was traditionally done on a bride’s wedding day. The arm wrestle at the reception in front of their sloth and her parents to decide who got the honor of doing the carrying, however, was a little less traditional.
“Don’t be a sore loser!” Logan said with a laugh as he walked into the apartment and headed straight for the bedroom, leaving Cooper to close and lock the door.
“I am not a sore loser,” Cooper grumped as he followed them down the hall. “I know that you cheated somehow, and I’ll work it out. Seth got video footage and he’s gonna e-mail it to me so I can look over it. I damn well know you couldn’t have beaten me fair and square.”
Logan gently set her on her feet in their bedroom, and Keiko held out a hand toward Cooper. “Awww, poor baby. Do you feel hard done by? Want me to kiss it better for you?” The instant flare of desire in Cooper’s eyes made his mock pout lose some of its effect.
“Hell yeah, I want you to kiss it better,” Cooper answered. He stepped forward and reached up to cup her face, a soft smile forming on his handsome face. “Have I told you lately that you looked beautiful today, wife?”
Keiko nodded, drowning in the look in his eyes. “Why, yes, my husband, you did. Both my husbands did.” She gasped as her strapless wedding dress loosened dramatically from behind and slid to the floor, leaving her standing there in her wedding lingerie.
“Holy…” Logan groaned from behind her.
“Fuck!” Cooper added with a hiss as they both took a small step back to take in what she was wearing. Or, perhaps more appropriately, what she almost wore. Knowing that tonight was not only her wedding night, but also the night her mates would finally claim her, Keiko had shopped at an exclusive, sexy lingerie store and bought the sheerest pieces they had.
The strapless, sheer white demi bra cupped her breasts just right and lifted them up a little. The shelf of the bra was so low that it stopped just short of her nipples. She wore a matching G-string in the same sheer whitelace, but the waistband was made with a string of small pearls that shone against the olive tone of her skin. Rather than wearing a suspender belt, which she had always thought felt uncomfortable, she wore thigh-high, sheer white stockings, the pale blue garter her mother had given her, and a three-inch pair of Jimmy Choos.
“Turn around, baby,” Logan growled, and Keiko’s entire body shivered at the heat in his tone. Carefully, she turned, reveling in the groans of appreciation from both her men. And didn’t it just do a woman’s ego well when her lovers growled at just looking at her body? Logan’s eyes traveled slowly up her body, lingering over her breasts before sliding to meet her gaze. “You are the hottest damn thing we have ever seen. We have plans for tonight that involve lingering over every delectable inch of you, but after seeing you in this, all of those plans are on hold. First, we need to fuck you and claim you, hard, fast, and now. And, baby, you’ll be keeping the stockings and shoes on for a while.”
Logan reached out a hand and strummed her bare nipples. Keiko groaned and hot liquid pooled between her thighs. She felt Cooper tugging a bra strap from behind, and then it was released and slid from her body. As soon as it was free, Logan stepped in, palmed one breast, and lifted it to his mouth. Keiko cried out as he drew strongly on her, sweeping his tongue over and around her sensitive nipple before releasing her with a sigh.
She stood, slightly swaying as her arousal spiked within her, and she watched in a desire-fueled haze as Logan and Cooper stripped in front of her, throwing their suits to the floor and onto the chair against the wall in haste. In less than a minute, but entirely too long, Cooper stepped in and wrapped his arms around her waist. He claimed her mouth with a soft kiss as one hand slid up her back an
d into her hair, and then as he used his hand to tilt her head to the angle he wanted, he took her mouth in an all-consuming kiss that had her pressing into him and moaning into his mouth. Vaguely she realized that Logan was gently sliding her underwear from her, but her mind was a little blown by the kiss Cooper was laying on her.
She pulled her mouth free and cried out when Logan bit the side of her neck, not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to light a fire within her. Cooper’s mouth slid to the other side of her neck, both of them biting, licking, and sucking against the sensitive skin, making her writhe between them. The smell of her arousal perfumed the air around them and both men growled lowly, pressing their hardened cocks against her.
“Shit!” Cooper hissed as he pulled back. “I wanted to taste that delicious pussy of yours and love on you a little, but you’ve got me so fucking hard for you it’s almost painful! Come, love, come ride me, take me into your beautiful body and let me watch you take your pleasure.”
Keiko whimpered as the heat between her legs began to ache, and her pussy clenched, needing to feel him deep within her. She let Cooper lead her to the foot of the bed, and when he sat on the edge, she crawled up and over him, not needing to be told what to do this time. She settled herself over him, taking him deep and to the hilt in one swift move.
“Sweet Jesus!” Cooper hissed as he arched his back, his head thrown back, a look of unadulterated pleasure on his face. “Fuck, love, you feel so goddamn good wrapped around me.” His hands fell to the soft curve of her hips and urged her to move. She lifted up, then pushed back and down on him again, loving the feel of him hot and hard within her. Placing her hands against his chest, she leaned forward and whipped her hips against him in short, sharp movements that had them both crying out.
Smack! The sound of Logan’s hand slapping her right butt cheek reverberated through the room, making her gasp and stop the movement that had been driving her to a huge release that now hovered just out of reach. The small sting of the slap melted beneath an erotic heat that spread to every erogenous zone in her body.