by Sky Winters
Lance groaned out loud when he felt Orion swell in his hand. The man’s body was so virile and sexy. It was hard for him to restrain himself. If he took Orion’s cock out of the jeans, it would be far too obvious to anybody who might pass by them. He couldn’t risk Orion’s reputation like that, so he had to be slow and steady. But that was almost more fun anyway.
He caught another glance at Orion through the mirror. This time, Orion looked back, his dark eyes flashing with longing. Lance wondered just how long the man would be able to continue multitasking, and made it his own personal mission to find out. If he could make Orion pull over and indulge himself, it would be a huge victory.
Lance stuffed his hand further inside Orion’s pants, gripping the hard head of his cock and giving it a gentle squeeze. A small spurt of hot liquid wetted his hands, and Lance pressed his groin hard against Orion’s back, dragging it sensually toward his firm ass. It sent a wave of heat between them that nearly made Lance lose it, but Orion was gritting his teeth, determined to continue driving. Still Lance could feel Orion’s cock bursting at the seams, every vein pumping with blood and trembling with every movement of Lance’s fingers. If he wasn’t going to give in yet, he would soon.
Lance closed his eyes and rested his head against Orion’s broad back, focusing fully on every curve and texture of Orion’s cock as he slowly stroked it. He couldn’t believe just how much this man’s body could get to him. He’d woken up with the most massive hard-on of his life that morning, just from half-dreaming, half-remembering their encounter in the woods. And now they were heading back, and Lance couldn’t hold himself back. He wanted Orion, and he was determined to get what he wanted.
Suddenly, a deep growl seemed to reverberate from deep within Orion, and the motorcycle swerved off the road and headed down a dirt path through the forest. They rode through the trees for about ten minutes, heading deep into the woods before Orion finally turned the bike off and hopped off, dragging Lance off the bike by his shirt collar.
At first, Lance was scared by the aggression, but when Orion planted his lips firmly on his, Lance moaned in pleasure. Orion worked hurriedly to strip him, roaming his rough hands up and down Lance’s soft, firm torso. He wasted no time in shoving his pants off, leaving his swollen cock erect in the air. He grabbed it and then shoved Lance forward, until he was bent over on all fours on the ground, his knees digging into the dirt of the forest floor.
Then, Orion was inside of him. It was a little bit painful, but the pleasure overrode it, and Lance gasped as desire overwhelmed him. They grunted as Orion unleashed his full power on Lance, plunging inside of him again and again as Lance’s tight body gripped his cock and begged it to stay inside. Every movement Orion made brought Lance closer to the brink of ecstasy.
The power of Orion’s body seemed to be limitless, and both of them were able to fully indulge their longing. Lance stayed bowed down, enjoying the feeling of Orion using his body as a way to pleasure himself. He seemed to know instinctively just how to pleasure Lance, and his cock would sometimes slow down and remain still inside of him, pulsing as Lance became overwhelmed by ecstasy.
Orion’s hand gripped Lance’s cock tightly, and he somehow managed to continue to pleasure Lance as he pleasured himself, keeping a firm but gentle pressure on him and sending electric thrills up through Lance’s shaft and into his abdomen, where a powerful orgasm was brewing. He wouldn’t let himself give in though, not until Orion had taken his fill.
It seemed like Orion had the stamina to go on forever, keeping them both suspended in an unbelievable state of rapture as again and again, his powerful body thrust into Lance, sending waves of bliss through them. It was the single most intense sexual experience Lance had ever had in his life, and Orion didn’t even seem close to finishing.
Lance gritted his teeth as he did his best to keep from giving in to the mounting ecstasy, but Orion leaned down and whispered into his ear.
“Cum.”
Lance cried out as his body finally gave in. It wasn’t until he filled Orion’s hand with the milky pleasure of his climax that Orion finally unleashed his own explosive orgasm. Lance’s body was suddenly filled with a torrent of hot, liquid pleasure, and they came simultaneously. There was something different about this, something that made him feel utterly complete and at peace.
Orion continued to thrust using his powerful abdominal muscles until he had emptied every last drop of his climax into Lance, and then he carefully pulled away and gripped Lance by the hand, pulling him up onto his feet.
“Come,” he said, tugging Lance by the hand and pulling him a little further into the woods. It was a beautiful day, and the sky was a crisp blue, not a cloud in sight. Lance grinned and followed, leaving all of their clothes behind as Orion pulled him deeper into the forest.
Chapter 18
Lance paused when Orion stopped suddenly, turning toward him with an intense look in his dark eyes.
“I came out here to show you something, something that I have never shown anybody else before except for the people in my clan. I hope that you are able to accept me fully, because I want to keep you in my life. I don’t want to be like my father, who gave up on people entirely and became a bitter recluse. I’m not going to spawn a child that I can’t take care of because I forgot how to love. So please, for better or for worse, accept me as I am.”
Before Lance had a chance to answer, Orion unleashed an earth shattering roar and, as he held Lance’s gaze, he began to change.
Lance’s mouth fell open as Orion began to grow. His body, already humongous and powerful, began to sprout dark tufts of black, course hair, and his handsome face began to grow broad, and then more narrow toward the snout, until he resembled a gigantic black bear. He stood proudly in front of Lance, his dark eyes glimmering and full of emotion that was difficult for either of them to express, an emotion a lot like love. Suddenly, Orion started, and moved toward Lance. It took a lot of willpower for Lance not to flinch away. He had never been so close to such a large animal before. But he managed to stay calm, and allow Orion to investigate.
He sniffed Lance, and then moved his cool wet muzzle down to Lance’s abdomen. An unmistakable look of surprise crossed the bear’s face, and his dark eyes widened when he looked back into Lance’s eyes. Lance looked down at his abdomen, wondering what in the world the bear might be thinking, and was shocked to realize that his stomach was swollen and purple. Instead of being afraid however, Lance looked into Orion’s eyes and they shared a moment of quiet understanding. Lance was Orion’s mate now. And for better or for worse, mating with the leader of a bear clan meant that there would be children involved. Lance was going to be a parent.
“What have we here?” An unpleasant and familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind Lance. Orion gritted his teeth and started to growl, squinting his eyes. At the approaching figure. Lance turned around, suddenly realizing that he was still naked, and sighed in frustration when the man who had been taunting him from the hood of his car approached.
“I’m not sure I like the look of this, do you boys?”
A chorus of negative responses came as a group of about five other bear shifters appeared out of nowhere. “Nope.” “Not at all.” “Not one bit.”
“In fact, this looks like something really terrible. What would your father say? Mating with someone who isn’t even within the clan?”
Suddenly, the men started shifting into bears until Lance was completely surrounded by vicious-looking animals. One of them lunged at Lance, ready to tear him apart with his sharp teeth, but Orion jumped in front of him protectively. He let out a warning growl, obviously daring anybody to come toward Lance again.
Most of the smaller bears backed off, but the biggest bear, the one that Lance had begun hating the most, refused to submit. He walked toward Orion, his teeth bared, and struck at him violently. Lance scrambled away to safety behind a nearby tree. He wished that he had brought some kind of a weapon, but he had nothing. There was no way that
he would be able to help Orion fight off these angry bears. He couldn’t even figure out why they were acting so abysmally toward their leader. All he could figure was that they didn’t like him hanging around with someone like Lance. But it seemed to go beyond homophobia. There was something else on their minds.
The fight had already gotten bloody, and part of Orion’s beautiful mane was matted down and shining with the dark liquid. Lance was looking around the ground for a stick to smack the other bear with, when suddenly Orion gained the upper hand. He growled mightily and slammed the man to the ground with a powerful blow. He stood over him, growling viciously, his teeth just centimeters away from the other man’s neck. If he’d wanted to kill him then, he obviously could, but instead Orion appeared to be waiting for him to submit so that it wouldn’t have to come to that.
It seemed as if he was going to refuse, but just in the nick of time, he shifted from his bear form and back into his human form, looking at Orion with irritation and defeat.
“Have it your way,” he growled, scrambling away from the huge black bear and standing with the rest of the men he had brought.
They all walked away, leaving Orion standing in his bear form, heaving in irritation as the adrenaline coursed through him. Lance had never seen Orion fight so viciously before. He knew that he was capable of it, and he had seen a few fistfights, but never anything like this. He’d forgotten how impressive it could be to be near someone so powerful.
Orion finally began to shrink, the fur disappearing from his skin until he was in his human form again. Lance ran toward him as he fell to his knees, gripping a gaping wound on his shoulder.
“Are you all right?” Lance asked, his eyes wide.
“Of course,” Orion said, grinning up at him. “But I think what we need to worry most about right now is getting you inside somewhere.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you’re pregnant.”
Chapter 19
The motorcycle ride back to his mother’s house was quiet. Both of them were exhausted from the fight with the other gang members, and Lance was deep in thought. He had always suspected that the myths about the bear shifters were true, and if they were true, it meant that the mate of the leader was meant to have the children that carried on the next generation of bear shifters. He had never imagined that he would be able to have children of his own, especially not a child growing right inside his body. He couldn’t help but wonder how his mother would feel about it. Did she know that the bear shifters were more than just a myth? Or that men could get pregnant?
When they arrived back at the house, he was relieved to find that his mother wasn’t home yet. Apparently things were going pretty well with Dr. Daniel. It gave him enough time to head up to the bathroom that he and Orion had just fixed up so that he could tend to Orion’s wounds.
“That’s not necessary,” Orion said, gritting his teeth as Lance began to clean the wound.
“Too bad,” Lance replied, digging through the drawer for medical gauze and wrapping up Orion’s shoulder.
When he was finished, Orion stood from the rim of the bathtub and led Lance to his bedroom. “You need to sit down, you’re with child now.”
Lance pursed his lips. He wasn’t sure he would ever get used to hearing Orion say things like that.
“Take off your shirt, we should check the baby and make sure that everything is going alright. It’s not really good for the mothers to endure such stressful situations, especially right after conception.”
Lance obeyed, and was surprised to find that his abdomen had grown even since the encounter in the woods. The discoloration on his belly was growing darker, and Orion studied it seriously.
“You’re going to have to lie low for a while,” Orion said finally. “It looks like the baby is going to be fine, but if you end up having to deal with those guys again there could be problems.”
“What’s the deal anyway?” Lance asked. “I didn’t do anything to them. They’ve been after me from day one. Why?”
Orion sighed, running a hand over his face, and sat down on the bed next to Lance. “Well at first they were just doing their duty to protect the town. It’s hard to tell who’s a friend and who’s a foe here. There are a lot of rival gangs, and some of this territory used to belong to different groups. Unfortunately, the area of Winston was still unsettled by the time the humans began to start building. There have been debates between the bear shifter groups for centuries about who owns this land, and right now, it’s us.
“My gang is here to protect the humans that live here so that none of the other rival bear shifter gangs will hurt them. My father took it really seriously, because his mother was a human. My mother was a human too. But when a bear shifter mates, you become part of the pack. You might not necessarily be able to shift, but certain changes might occur. That’s especially true once you are with child.”
Lance nodded slowly, trying to process it all. “Okay, that makes sense. But I still don’t understand why they would mess with me after seeing me with you today. What’s going on with that?”
“They must have sensed me in the area, and seen me with you. They were always jealous of each other, thinking that whoever I chose was going to become the alpha of the pack. They wanted to be the alphas. So they served me loyally. But they must have been able to sense it when you became pregnant. That means that none of them have a chance anymore, so now you’re in danger, because a lot of them are ruthless and they would do whatever it took to get the power that I have given you.”
Lance was surprised. All he had wanted to do was to love Orion. He had no idea what that fully meant though. What with all this being pregnant and in danger from a bunch of bikers who could turn into bears. But did he regret it? Would he have still done what he did if he had known that he would be in so much danger? All he’d really wanted to do was to take care of his mother. Raising a family had been the bottom of his list. But now it looked as if that was his destiny. He wasn’t sure if he was okay with that.
“I know that you’re probably going to have a hard time with this,” Orion said, putting a hand on his arm. “And if you need help to tell your mother about what’s going on, I’ll be here for you. But I really think that it’s best for you to stay out of sight. I’ll protect the house, but if you leave, you’re going to find yourself in danger.” He squeezed Lance’s arm, hard. “Never leave this house without me. Not until the baby is born. Only then will you be safe. That is when it will be official, that you are my alpha. None of them would dare to mess with you after that. But until then, it’s all fair game. They will do whatever they feel like they have to do in order to get the power of the alpha.”
Lance’s stomach dropped. He had never been in danger like this before. How was he supposed to take care of his mother if he couldn’t even leave the house?
“Try not to worry, okay? I’m going to take care of it.”
Orion’s words were soothing. They were exactly what he needed to hear.
Suddenly, Lance heard a car pull into the driveway and Dr. Daniel’s deep, jovial voice speaking kindly to his mother as he dropped her off.
“Well,” Lance said, “I guess we’re going to have to come clean.”
Orion grinned, and offered his hand to help Lance off the bed. Even though there was danger, they would deal with it together.
Chapter 20
“You mean I’m going to be a grandmother?!”
Lance was taken aback by his mother’s excited response. It was the last thing he had expected to hear from her. When he had told her that he was gay, she hadn’t responded particularly well. But this time, she couldn’t be more excited.
“Orion, I’ve heard things about your family for quite some time, and I just want you to know that I’ve never once looked down on you all for being different. In fact, your mother was a close friend of mine.”
Lance was shocked, but when he looked at Orion, it didn’t seem as if he was surprised at all by the news.
“She told me everything,” Lance’s mother continued, “and for a long time I really wanted to try to do something about your situation. I know your father was devastated by her passing. But don’t worry, son. You have always had a family with us and you always will.”
Lance was dumbfounded as his mother rose unsteadily from her chair and moved forward to embrace Orion. Then, she moved to Lance and hugged him tightly too.
“Why don’t you guys let me cook dinner tonight?” Orion said. “I feel really badly for putting you in danger. And besides, I don’t want to leave Lance alone in his condition.”
“You’ve always been such a sweet boy,” Lance’s mother said, touching his cheek. Orion smiled gently at her, but turned away, obviously uncomfortable with the blatant show of emotion.
“I’m just going to get started, it seems like you to probably have quite a bit to talk about.”
Lance was about to protest and offer his services in the kitchen when Orion turned to him and raised his eyebrow.
“I’m serious Lance, take a load off and sit down. We can’t have anything happening to the baby.”
“Orion is right honey.” His mother nodded gravely. “Bear shifter children grow a lot more rapidly than normal children. In fact, you can probably expect to be due within two weeks rather than nine months. We’re going to have to set up a nursery for the baby, but until then, you’re going to have to stay off your feet. They have very delicate constitutions, especially when they’re mixed with human blood. Orion’s mother had to stay in bed all two weeks. I know you’re not going to like it, but it’s important.”
Lance was shocked by just how knowledgeable his mother was about the bear shifters. She had never told him anything about it. Perhaps she had been sworn to secrecy by Orion’s mother.
“I never knew that about Orion’s mom,” Lance said, sitting down reluctantly. Orion, satisfied to see him off his feet, disappeared into the kitchen.
“I’m sure there are a lot of things neither one of us know about each other. I’m afraid that communication hasn’t always been my strongest suit. And I’m very sorry about that. Maybe we can start fresh. Right now. I know that it’s a little late in life, but it’s better now than never don’t you think?” She offered him a hopeful smile.