“Most of us know, and it was a shameful time for our tribe.”
“Will you tell me?” Jewel asked.
“If you promise to keep an open mind.”
Jewel studied him. His body had tensed, and his eyes were a smoky gray. He held his lips firm and tight together. This wasn’t something he wanted to disclose.
“I’ll try and keep my mind open. I think I deserve the answer as it affected my mother’s life.”
“Enjoy your meal. We’ll talk afterward.”
Jewel cleaned her plate in record time. “I was starving. You’re a good cook.”
Raoul grinned. “That was the extent of my cooking repertoire.”
“I’ll clean up.”
“No,” Raoul said. “We’ll dump it all in the dishwasher and have an after-dinner drink by the fireplace. Then, if you insist, I’ll tell you what happened to the women shifters in our tribe when my great-grandparents were alive.”
They both loaded the dishwasher, and Jewel went into the great room to sit in front of the fire. Raoul followed with two small bowl-shaped glasses with golden liquid in the bottom.
“Cognac, I hope you like brandy.”
“I do. Thank you.” Jewel sipped her drink. Raoul looked uneasy and unhappy. She put her glass down on a nearby table and went to him. He looked up at her in surprise. “Can I sit in your lap?”
“Anytime, sweetheart.” He placed his goblet to the side and opened his arms. Then, when she sat down, he enclosed her in his embrace.
She took a long breath of his scent and kissed his neck. His arms tightened.
“What are we doing here? I have to warn you, you’re playing with fire.”
Jewel glanced at his face. “Would it be easier to talk after we cuddle a bit?”
“I don’t think anything’s going to make it easier, but I’d like to do it that way.”
“Then let’s have our talk later.”
Raoul didn’t wait for her to say more. He held her against his body. Her head lay against his shoulder. Raoul ran his fingers through her hair. “This is your most striking feature. I’ve never seen hair with such a mixture of colors, blonde, gold, and strands of red and dark brown. When you shift into your kitten no one can resist picking you up and petting you.”
“I know. In the past I’ve seldom shifted beyond my cheetah. I don’t like people I’m not close to touching me. This whole day has been stressful. I’m glad it’s over.”
“But you’re relaxed now, I hope.”
“Oh, yes. The dinner was delicious and I’m enjoying seeing another side to you.”
“To be truthful, I didn’t think I had another side. You make me want to be gentle, to slow down, and to listen to what you’re saying. I can’t promise I’ll always remember to be this way with you. We’ll probably still butt heads at times.” He lifted her and laid her on the soft rug in front of the fireplace.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Relax. I’m just going to let you get used to me touching your body and me lying close to you. Say stop anytime you want.”
His fingers slid along the side of her face and outlined her lush lips. She snapped her teeth at him and they laughed together. Leaning down he kissed all along the side of her face, then her eyebrows, her eyelashes, and the edge of her jaw. A soft warmth spread from the center of her chest outward.
I’m falling in love with him and Aleron and it isn’t a slow fall. I’m tumbling right into their arms. I’ve been feeling the same responses to them that they had to me, but I’m so used to denying my real feelings I automatically did the same with them. Today freed me in more ways than letting people know I’m a shifter. It freed me to look at love as a possibility.
“Jewel, are you all right?” Raoul’s worried face looked down at her. “I’ve spoken to you several times and you didn’t respond.”
“I’m fine. I was deep in thought. Sorry.”
Raoul’s familiar grin make her heart beat faster. “I thought I must be losing my touch.” He wriggled his eyebrows at her.
“Not at all. I think I’d like you to make love to me.”
“You have to be sure. I’m not going to push you this time.”
She studied his face that was becoming so dear to her. “I’m sure.”
With one quick swipe her loose blouse was off and on a chair. Next came her bra, and then her shoes, pants, and panties.
Jewel giggled. “You are fast.”
“I didn’t want to give you a chance to change your mind. Remember I’ve been starving a long time.” He stood and removed his clothes.
Firelight played across his long, lean body. His silver-blond hair shone in the flickering light. She soaked in the sight of his six-pack, and his large cock curved toward his flat abdomen. He was beautiful in a totally male way.
He lay to her side and ran his hand through her hair, along her neck and shoulder, then cupped her breast nearest to him. His hand was rough but gentle and his thumb raked across her pebbled nipple. She sighed.
Moving closer, he straddled her body and caressed both breasts. He took his time kissing her nipples then blowing on them, sending an ache straight to her pussy.
She urged him forward so she could touch and explore his cock. He was soft and hard. He had risen on his knees, where she could put her hand around his girth. She cupped his sac and heard a low growl. Glancing up, she gave him a quick grin and then, bending her head, took him in her mouth.
“Oh, sweetheart, that almost blew my head off.”
Jewel licked and tasted him before starting to move her mouth up and down his length. Raoul reached behind and lightly pinched her nipples. A surge of desire shot through her blood as she tightened her lips around his dick. Gently, she moved his balls inside his sac.
“I’m coming, honey.”
Deliberately, Jewel sucked on his cock. She heard his yell of satisfaction and tasted his tangy, salty essence.
Raoul rolled to her side. She put her hand on his chest and felt his heart pounding. He smiled at her and pulled her closer. “I haven’t forgotten about you. As soon as I’m sure I’m not dying, it will be your turn.”
“What if I help you?” Jewel was surprised by her bold behavior. Raoul and Aleron brought out parts of her she’d never exposed before. She’d had her fantasies like most women, but with these two she felt daring enough to truly be herself.
She ran her fingers across his forehead, over his arched eyebrows, down his straight nose, to his firm, sexy lips made for kissing.
“He’s stirring. Keep working and my cock will be waving at you.”
“Men are so boastful when it comes to that part of their anatomy.”
“Damn right. We’re proud.” He reached for his jeans, took out a condom, and put it on. “I’d better sheath my dick if you want to wait on having children.”
A captivating twinkle in his eyes caught her attention. She kissed both eyelids before sucking on his full bottom lip. Her teeth raked along the edge.
Raoul rolled onto her body and ravished her mouth. His tongue licked and tasted every spot. She put her legs around him and raised her hips to rub against his very hard cock. His low growl sent the blood rushing in her veins. Her heart pounded and desire burned in her belly.
Turning her head away from his mouth, she kissed his strong neck and took tiny nibbles on the way down. She stopped where his heartbeat raced near the juncture of his neck and shoulders.
He slid down to bury his face between her thighs. “You smell like sweet flowers and taste like nectar. My dick is so hard it hurts from wanting to be inside you.”
“Then go in me,” she said.
“Not yet. You’re not ready.”
“I am.”
He shook his head and then separated her lower lips. He licked from her clit to her pussy opening. “Your sweetness melts in my mouth.”
Jewel blushed. Would she ever get used to his and Aleron’s blunt compliments? She knew so little about being intimate with a man. H
er first experience had put so many wrong impressions in her head. That and her secret had made her a loner. And she’d definitely not paid any attention to other men who had wanted to approach her. But occasionally, she and a few trusted friends discussed sex and she’d hoped they were right and her first experience was unusual. Raoul and Aleron were bringing out all her repressed desires.
Raoul rubbed his tongue across her nub, and a shot of heat flushed her body. He’d raised her hips to give him better access to lick, taste, and nibble along her lower lips. An aching desire made her pussy walls clench. He raised his head, and his eyes were shining silver. The angles of his face were drawn taut with his desire. He let her hips down and moved his cock against her opening then thrust inside.
She caught her breath as sweet gratification swept through her.
“Am I hurting you?” His husky voice caressed her skin.
“No. Don’t stop now.”
He chuckled and began a steady in and out. She held his hips close to her and met his every stroke. When he began to move quicker she spread her legs wider, and he sank deeper till he was right against her womb.
He kissed her mouth and then her breasts as he made slow, deliberate movements. His teeth bit lightly on her peaked nipple on his last surge forward. A rush of pleasure raced from her center to every cell in her body. She screamed his name.
Raoul moved fast a few more times before he groaned out loudly. The erotic feel of his pulsing cock against her inner pussy walls sent waves of delight along her nerve endings and a special warmth to her heart.
“That was wonderful, sweetheart.” Raoul kissed her and rolled onto his back beside her. For long minutes all that could be heard were the crackling logs and their heavy breathing.
Jewel lay close to his side. She raised her head and looked at him.
“I know, you want to hear the story.” He picked her up and lay on the couch with her in his arms. Staring into the fire, he began to talk.
“It happened when your grandmother would have been very young. I imagine her mother took her and fled because of fear.” He sat up but held Jewel close. “It was a period of shame for our people. Your great-grandmother disappeared before she could be reassured it would never happen again.”
She wanted to rush him to say what happened, but she respected his need to tell it his way. Some sense told her whatever happened he feared the effect it would have on the three of them.
Raoul took a deep breath. “Even back then women shape-shifters were rare. Most shifters have been male. Two of the women shifters had married other shape-shifters. The third one had married one man who was a shifter and one who wasn’t. Since your mother was a shifter, I expect her mother was one of the two who was married to two shifters. But it was the other one, who had married two shifters, that was murdered.”
Jewel gasped and pulled out of his arms to face him. “Murdered?”
“My grandfather told me that one of the men was a bear when he shifted. He was a huge man at all times. He came home one day and his wife and her other husband were in bed together. Nothing unusual in a three-way marriage, but for some reason fury hit him and he shifted. He grabbed his wife and threw her across the room. It was so quick and unexpected she had no time to protect herself or for her other husband to intervene. But she tried to shift in midair before she hit the wall. She didn’t make it, and she broke her neck. He grabbed her by the head and shook her.”
Raoul stopped talking. He lowered his head, but Jewel saw the tears in his eyes before he looked down. She put her hand on his and he kissed her fingers.
After taking a deep breath, he straightened and continued. “Her other husband had shifted and tried to pull the bear away from their wife. But…” He smiled at Jewel. “Like you being faster than me, the bear was stronger than the leopard. He killed them both. When they were found, he had shifted back and sat holding them in his arms, tears running down his face.”
Raoul reached for his cognac and took a long sip. He looked into Jewel’s eyes. “Am I scaring you?”
“Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I never suspected such a sad story.”
“Let me tell you the end, and hopefully we won’t need to discuss it again. The man had no explanation of why he went rogue that day. He admitted he’d been staying away from home more the last few weeks before the killing and that the slightest noise irritated him. His wife and his friend, the other husband, had asked him if there was a problem. She’d tried to be extra loving, but he’d pulled further away. They’d arranged a meeting for him with one of the doctors for the next day. Apparently, that may have been what sent him over the edge. That and seeing them together probably added fuel to the anger he said had been building inside him.”
“What happened to him?” Jewel asked.
“He was shot. He had begged for them to give him the death sentence. He probably would have killed himself if they hadn’t. I would have killed myself if I’d done such a dastardly thing.”
“I wonder if Garth told Rae.”
“Probably not, Rae isn’t a shape-shifter, nor Cad. In all our history the only time anything like this occurred was that time. The doctors checked the brain of the shape-shifter bear after his death, but their findings were inconclusive.
“We thought all the women shifters were gone by now. We knew a woman shifter would have difficulty having children with earthlings because of their shape-shifter gene. And the one who stayed with the tribe only had boys. But obviously your grandmother met someone and had a child, your mother.”
“Why do you think my great-grandmother panicked and left?”
“Grandfather said there was much talk about the women shape-shifters marrying two shape-shifters. None of the other threesomes had ever had problems with jealousy and mental illness is not something familiar to our race. Perhaps with the intermarriage with earthlings the brains of the generations born on earth have made us more susceptible.” He drew a deep sigh. “Whatever I think, your great-grandmother panicked. Her daughter must have been the most important thing in her life. But it had to have cost her dearly to lose the rest of her family, her husbands and sons. No one will ever really understand why she made that decision. And no other women shape-shifters had been born since as far as we knew. Until you surprised us.”
“Were you going to tell me if I hadn’t asked?”
He ran his hand over her face, kissed her mouth gently, and closed his eyes for a second. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Thank you for not lying to me.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s time to head for the gym. But tell me, what happened to the other woman shape-shifter? You said she married two men, but one wasn’t a shifter. Did she leave, too?”
“No. Her husband convinced her she had nothing to fear. But she never had a daughter and none of the female children born since has been a shape-shifter.
“Your great-grandmother only took her daughter. She left her sons behind. It was tragic for her and them. Her husbands and sons grieved for years after she left.”
“Did the woman who died have children?”
“Yes, two boys from the husband who was murdered.”
“How did they know the boys were from the dead husband?”
“Bears only beget bears. When the other husband shifted he was a white leopard and the wife shifted to a silver fox. They were my great-grandparents.” He stood in front of her. “Do you feel different toward me or Aleron?”
“I need time to think about all you’ve said, and I need to talk with my father. That story is frightening. I have a lot to process.” She kissed him. “But the way my body feels toward you two hasn’t changed.”
“That gives me hope. We’d better hurry and dress.”
When they were ready, he put his arm around her and they walked to the truck. “This competition should be interesting. How good is your brother?”
“As Mitch said, he’s beat every man who’s challenged him so far.”
Raoul parked the truck, and
they followed the others into the gym. Jewel and Raoul looked around the room.
“Isn’t that your brother up front, on the right, holding his rifle?”
Jewel saw Payton standing to the side with Mitch. “Yes, it is.” As she watched a couple came toward them. They spoke and shook hands.
“The woman’s holding a rifle. Your brother’s beat every man who’s challenged him. I wonder if he can beat a woman?” Raoul grinned at Jewel. She was aware her shock showed on her face.
“Then I’d say more power to her. But she may damage my brother’s pride forever.” Jewel settled in her seat. “I can’t wait to see them shoot. And you knew it wasn’t a man.”
“I wanted to surprise you, but Payton’s sure to win,” Raoul said as Aleron joined them.
“You sound just as arrogant as every male. But remember, she beat a lot of the males from your tribe to get where she is tonight,” Jewel reminded him.
Aleron kissed her and sat on her other side. “I’m glad to see you two getting along so well.” They all three laughed at his comment.
“Better than ever until I told her the story of the women shape-shifters,” Raoul said.
Aleron looked at her with concern in his eyes. “Are you all right?”
“Do you mean am I scared of you two?”
“Yes.”
Jewel looked away from them. She felt their anxiety regarding her answer. “Give me time to process what Raoul told me. Especially since it pertains to my mother’s family.” She wet her lips. “I’m not sure, but wary maybe the better word.” Jewel saw the worried look pass between Raoul and Aleron. Just then Mitch came to the microphone. Thank goodness. It took their attention taken away from her.
Chapter Eight
“This evening we’re going to see a contest between the best sharpshooter from the third tribe, Averil Stanwic, and the best of our two tribes, Payton Camilius.”
A wall began to pull back, exposing the practice range. Mitch motioned for each of them to choose a spot. They’d be shooting downrange from the spectators, at one target.
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