by Myra Nour
Time ticked by, no way to know how much. Suddenly, a strong electric current ripped through her and leapt across to her mate. The next instant, she was jolted with an exchange of electricity from Raynor’s hand. Cracking her eyes, Briana held her breath. The archway had appeared.
The cave interior was in front of them and three old people stood near the portal. Their expressions were kind and welcoming.
With a tug, Raynor led her to the arch and they stepped through. She was shocked; it was so simple. But then, it’d been all that preparatory work that was hard.
“Welcome back, my children,” the oldest looking male said.
“This is Bhaskar,” her mate introduced him, and then the other two. Respect was prominent in his tone and attitude.
“Did you have any problems?” Gorna asked.
Raynor nodded, his eyes serious.
“Will you excuse us for a short while?” Bhaskar waved an arm at a nearby couch.
Curiosity riveted her, but she realized they wanted Raynor to themselves. Some kind of report she guessed. The four shifters disappeared through a doorway. Would he tell them about her? About the snakewoman?
After five minutes, Briana was too restless; she wanted to see what was going on. Treading softly, she peeked inside the open door; it was small and cozy. All four sat on the floor, holding hands. It reminded her of a séance. Sensing she’d intruded on something ceremonial, she withdrew and sat for another five minutes. Would they never finish? What were they discussing? What did they think of her? She was becoming more nervous as the minutes ticked by.
Her handsome lover joined her on the couch at last, while the three elders sat down in heavily padded chairs across from them.
“Why don’t you share your shifter being?” Chao asked unexpectedly.
Not her, she thought and gave them an uncomfortable stare.
“Not the snakewoman,” Gorna’s dark eyes twinkled in understanding. “The one that will call the twenty-first century home.”
Although she had not mentioned the snakewoman, somehow, they knew about her. Oh God, they must have discussed her. She would ask Raynor later; it must be that ceremony. Perhaps it was their way of exchanging important information.
“But, I don’t know what I am.” She couldn’t keep the tremble from her voice.
“That’s why we asked, my child,” Bhaskar said. “We can help, if you have difficulties.”
Difficulties, she repeated in her head, too scared to ask them what the heck they meant.
They regarded her with calm, reassuring expressions, but the thought of stripping naked in front of three strangers was too much. A vivid blush burned her cheeks.
The three elders looked at each other, then Bhaskar stood and walked off some distance, while Chao and Gorna took positions by their chairs.
“Shifters feel no shame in their forms, no matter which is manifested, including human,” the leader said quietly. “But, we know you were not raised to understand this; therefore, we will make you comfortable with your own kind.”
With that emphatic statement, he unzipped the full-length robe, which reminded her of a wizard’s garment, the exotic, beautiful embroidery marking its hem, lending credence to this thought. The robe fell to his feet, and Bhaskar stepped out of the pooled fabric—a thin, nude old man. Briana was shocked by the fact that even though he looked aged even in human years, he was in very good shape. His chest was firm, his limbs slim but muscular. Her eyes averted from his groin area; it seemed disrespectful.
She noticed movement from Chao and Gorna, and when she turned she saw they’d stripped as well. The male elder was stoutly built, but surprisingly well-endowed across his chest and legs. Gorna was slender as a reed, but her figure was shockingly in good shape as well, her breasts barely drooping at all.
Movement in the other direction drew her eyes back to the leader. Bhaskar was surrounded by a mist. Briana sucked in her breath. She was about to be privileged with a rare sight; she sensed this deep inside. She was more curious than a cat who’d discovered a bag with kitty goodies inside. Raynor had told her what shifters the elders transformed into, but she couldn’t remember, and suddenly didn’t want to. She wanted to be delighted.
It took less than a minute for the light show and foggy haze to dissipate. The creature that appeared was legendary and unbelievable. A huge dragon. It was an iridescent red, with huge leathery wings folded neatly along its back. Unthinking, she hugged her body with a protective gesture, but then shame flushed through her when she recognized Bhaskar’s kind eyes shining from the gigantic head. “You’re magnificent,” she whispered, hoping to make up for her momentary doubt. The dragon dipped its head and she knew she’d been forgiven.
A flash of light drew her attention back to the others. “Oh,” Briana gushed when her eyes landed on a mythical unicorn, so lovely her eyes teared in wonder. White with a hint of blue—just as the stories always told the tale, with a two foot pale blue horn and sky bright eyes to match.
The last shifter was Chao. She had no doubt, for facing her was an awe-inspiring centaur, with Chao’s face and upper body. From his waist down, a majestic black steed pranced—its lower body joining the elder at the horse’s shoulders. He was the most bizarre looking of the three, but still majestic. Now, she could understand why ancient humans both feared and worshiped the rare mystical creatures they spotted.
“Don’t I rate an ‘oh’?” The ever cheerful countenance of Chao drew into a moue of discontent.
“Oh, yes,” she said sincerely. “You just overwhelmed me.”
He laughed, an odd sound, a mixture of human and horse snorting.
“Thank you, all of you.” She turned to each in succession.
The elders dipped their head in acknowledgement, and then looked at her with those wondrous, magical faces and bodies. She knew she could no longer refuse their kind invitation, for she suddenly realized they would help her if she had problems shifting. But, she also knew they extended an honor to her. How she knew this, she didn’t have a clue, but she knew it was fact. To have such prestigious creatures ask to see the true shifter self, was not offered to every shapeshifter that walked into this secret place.
Springing up quickly, Briana let go the last of her qualms, and undressed swiftly until she stood nude. She concentrated on shifting like Raynor had taught her. Pain no longer lanced through her system and the process overtook her as easily as butter melting on a hot stove.
She watched her lover’s face through the mist. When it cleared, he looked as astounded as the day she’d first changed into the snakewoman. What was she?
Glancing down hesitantly, she was shocked too. Her legs were covered in brown hair; no, fur. With her typical wry humor, she thought to herself, she’d never again complain about her leg hairs being too long.
Bringing her hands in front of her face, Briana examined the furry hands, tipped with impressive claws. Next, she brought those hairy hands carefully to her face and touched it all over. Hairy as well. Finally, with a tremble, she turned to Raynor.
“What am I?”
He stepped forward and gripped her hands tightly, a joyful expression on his handsome face. “Same as me, werewolf.”
“Ooh,” she wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but her mate’s whole attitude was so happy, glimmers of pleasure began to radiate throughout her body.
“Is that a good thing?”
“The best,” he answered and then his gaze became disconnected.
Briana continued to hold Raynor’s hands while he slipped into shifting, but she turned to the elders. Without having to ask, they answered her unspoken question.
“It is a wondrous match when mates are the same shapeshifter form,” Bhaskar said.
“Why?”
“Fertility is very low among our people,” he replied. “We don’t know if it’s Earth’s environment or if our people never had high rates to begin with. That’s why there are not large numbers of shapeshifters in existence, and probably
why we have been rarely seen by humans.”
Bhaskar peered at her with a happy expression, one to match Raynor’s. “But, when a mated couple is matched in shifter forms, it increases the chances of them producing offspring.”
“Really?” Her tone was not questioning, but happy.
She felt the change in Raynor’s hand without having to see the fog had dissipated. Briana turned and looked fully at her mate for the first time as a female werewolf. And she thought she’d been turned on the first time she saw him shift? Every molecule in her body wanted to leap onto him, savage him with teeth and claws while she plunged onto his cock.
She trembled and saw by Raynor’s expression, he wanted the same thing. He seemed barely in control of himself.
“My children, we will withdraw into the next chamber and take a break.” With that emphatic statement the three elders shifted in quicksilver speed and walked briskly down a tunnel.
Briana noticed immediately why they’d shifted before leaving. Bhaskar’s head wouldn’t have fit into the tunnel, much less his huge dragon body.
“Why did they leave?”
“To give us privacy.”
Raynor’s voice was deeper than normal, a growling tone underlying it. The new quality of his vocal chords sent shivers down her spine, her reaction issuing from sexual need. His very voice made her horny.
“Privacy?” Her hands stroked down his arms, leaving furrows in his hair.
“They know that mated couples who shift for the first time, in their own time period, have an uncontrollable urge to fuck.”
Briana didn’t like that word under normal circumstances, and had never heard him use it either. But, the savage emotions welling up inside her, wanted release in the most primal form possible. Wanted to feel, think, taste, hear, and smell sex in its rawest state.
Surprising her, he grabbed their clothes, and then quickly bounded across the room to stand in the doorway of the small room he and the elders occupied earlier. “It has a door, in case they come back too soon.”
Licking her lips in anticipation, Briana sprang past her mate and listened while he slammed shut the heavy door. She didn’t turn, wanted to take in his approach with every sense she had at her disposal. His musky, half-human, half-wolf odor wafted around her body like the sweetest perfume. Thick nails clicked on the stone flooring, and she shivered, as if his nails tracked slowly along her spine instead of the floor.
Hair-covered arms came around her middle from behind, yanking her to him with one forceful jerk. His body was hard, the muscles bulging in all the right places, yet also soft because of the fur. It was a delicious sensation, this twining of firmness and softness. Raking his tongue along her neck, he pulled her ear into his mouth, making her whimper as the wet heat assaulted her sensitive earlobe.
Breaking from his grasp abruptly, she fell to her knees and crawled on all fours to a large sheepskin rug. It was even downier than her or Raynor’s hair. Crouching down, she rubbed her face into the plush fabric, and then from her position, turned her face up and back at him. “Come.” Command and yearning was in her voice.
Chapter Twenty
Her mate leapt at her and posed his body over hers. Both hands grabbed her breasts from behind, kneaded and squeezed them with force. She moaned and arched her back. He growled, and then clawed through her fur slightly, so that his talons sleeked down her breasts, teasing, but not cutting into the meat. Claws tweaked her nipples, made them ache to be suckled.
As if sensing her need, he slid off her back and slipped underneath her and Briana shifted her arms to accommodate him beneath her. He played with her breasts from this new position, even slapped them, making them sway tantalizingly in front of his face. Tired of his teasing, she shoved one breast toward his mouth and it opened in a great wolfish grin as he sucked it in with fervor. Greedy, slurping noises emitted from him and moans of wild pleasure from her.
Her lower body was on fire and there was only one way to soothe such a savage beast. “I must have you inside me—now,” she panted.
Raynor grabbed her arms and she knew he planned to flip her over.
“No,” she pulled against his brawny arms. “This way.” She wiggled her hips. “As it should be with our kind.”
Springing up quickly once he moved from beneath her, he repositioned himself behind her. “You mean doggie,” his voice was rough-edged, barely in control.
“Wolfie, if you like.” She laughed deep in her throat, her laughter turning to a tiny howl when he suddenly plunged into her without warning. Pulling back with an agonizingly slow movement that made her squirm, he circled his thrusts, making her lips swell even more.
He was so large; he filled her up. His moves were primordial, untamed, and her body inside became slick in reaction. It hurt slightly, yet it was a pleasurable pain, one she desired more of. “Yes,” she whispered, then said louder, “harder, harder,” wiggling her hips for encouragement.
Raynor needed no encouragement. But, when she panted those words, his hands gripped her hips harder and his furry hips thudded against her butt in a frenzied, steely rhythm that whipped up throbbing responses in her groin.
“Yes,” she screamed, her excitement close to peaking. “Fuck me, my wolf.”
Growling, his body plunged over hers and his teeth sank into her shoulder. She arched her hips upward, meeting him thrust for thrust, groaning and wriggling her lower body in faster circles while her excitement built.
Suddenly, she screamed and bucked. Her mate loosened his hold on her shoulder and slammed into her with mighty lunges, his whole body thrown behind his strokes. A howl cut the air when his seed spurted into her with powerful pumps. That howl made her stomach clench. Her vagina tightened around him like a vise and it shuddered inside around his cock. She answered his primitive howl with one of her own, her clit pulsing, and her folds coating them both with slick wetness.
They fell forward onto the rug; rolling to the side, her mate wrapped her in his arms. She was sated and content. Stroking his furry arm, Briana felt her eyelids become heavy. She was startled from the lassitude that gripped her when she felt the shift coming over her again. At her back, Raynor changed as well.
After her human form reappeared, she twisted around, facing him. He smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear, a tender gesture she found endearing. “Will it always be that hot?”
He chuckled. “We will have more…restraint from now on, but yes, it will seem like we’re caught in the middle of a firestorm each time. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”
“Mmm. I can’t say that’s a bad thing.” She snuggled beneath his chin. They chatted for a few minutes, calming their sensitive systems down to normal levels.
“I hear the elders coming back.”
“Me too.” Briana sat up. “We’d better rejoin them?” she asked a little uncertainly, unsure of Reeshon etiquette.
He sighed in an overly exaggerated fashion. “It wouldn’t be polite to keep them waiting now.” He sprang up and held out a hand to haul her up. “Besides, it’s time for us to be going.”
Briana wanted to ask where they were going, but suddenly she was unclear as to what the future held for them. What if his answer was something she didn’t want to hear?
They redressed quickly. Taking one last look around, she burned the memory of this room into her mind. She never wanted to forget it.
The elders were sitting in the throne-like chairs when they came out. Raynor approached Bhaskar first, took the outstretched hand offered him and touched his forehead to it. Then, he did the same with the other two. It looked archaic to her and extremely respectful.
Following his lead, Briana touched her forehead to each of the elder’s hands. “We are glad you found your way back to us, my child,” Gorna said gently, caressing her cheek after she finished her farewell exchange. The other two nodded their heads in solemn agreement.
When they turned to leave, Bhaskar called after them, “Bring your children to see us.”
/> Raynor said they would, and then held her hand while they started the long trek down the winding tunnels.
She burst the quiet of the trek with an anxious question, “Raynor, I have to know what the elders told you about the snakewoman.”
Stopping, he looked at her, a lovely smile lighting his face. “How do you know they told me anything?”
Shrugging, she chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t, I just hoped you were as curious as me and asked.”
Laughter shook his broad shoulders. “You were right, I did.”
“And?” Irritation edged her voice.
“Nothing to worry about, my love.” He placed one hand along her cheek and stared into her eyes. “They said the memory of the snake goddess is fuzzy, because only one of our ancestor’s ever ran across her.”
She frowned, awaiting further explanation.
“Apparently, according to the memories, she actually was a goddess on her planet, not simply another life form.”
“Oh, come on, Raynor, a real goddess!”
He chuckled and nodded his head.
“But, what does it all mean?” Her heart was pounding. Why had she changed into that creature?
“It means that you probably are a direct descendant of that one ancient shifter; thus, your gene memory is stronger.”
“Nothing more…I’m not going to change into her here, or be weird, or something?”
“No, Briana.” He took her upper arms in his strong hands, making her look up at him. “You will only shift into a werewolf here.” He plastered a lopsided grin on his face. “The only other consequence is, if other shifters hear of this—you may develop a fan club.”
She groaned, and then grabbed his lower arms, shaking him slightly. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”
He appeared on the verge of denying her request by the twist of his lips, or perhaps she was in for some intense teasing, but then he seemed to consider her expression seriously.